Zinc Oxide Nanowire Decorated Single‐Use Electrodes for Electrochemical DNA Detection

The surfaces of pencil graphite electrodes (PGEs) were decorated with zinc oxide nanowires (ZnO NWs) for the electrochemical detection of nucleic acids. ZnO NWs were synthesized through simple hydrothermal method. PGEs decorated with ZnO NWs (ZnO NW/PGEs) were electrochemically characterized through cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) following morphological characterization through transmission (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Enhanced sensor response obtained using ZnO NW/PGEs contrary to the bare PGE (control) samples. Our preliminary results simply reveal the potential of combining ZnO NWs with disposable sensor technology for the electrochemical detection of DNA.     

Synergistic corrosion inhibition effect of 1-ethyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium tetrafluoroborate and iodide ions for low carbon steel in HCl solution

Investigation into the corrosion inhibition of low carbon steel in 0.1-M HCl solution by 1-ethyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium (EMTFB) and the effect of KI addition on the inhibition efficiency was carried out using potentiodynamic polarization (PDP) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and surface analysis (scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX)) techniques. Results show that EMTFB suppresses low carbon steel dissolution in the corrosive environment. Inhibition efficiency increased with the increase in EMTFB concentration. Addition of iodide ions to EMTFB raises inhibition efficiency from 75 to 98%. PDP results indicate that EMTFB affects majorly anodic reactions while EMTFB + KI act as cathodic-type inhibitor. The adsorption of EMTFB onto low carbon steel surface is by physical adsorption mechanism and follows Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. SEM and EDAX results confirm the adsorption of EMTFB alone and in combination with KI onto the steel surface.     

All Solution‐Based Fabrication of Copper Oxide Thin Film/Cobalt‐Doped Zinc Oxide Nanowire Heterojunctions

Versatile and intriguing solution‐based processes are utilized to synthesize nanostructured materials for device applications to reduce material production and device fabrication costs. This study presents results on the fabrication and characterization of copper oxide (CuO) coated cobalt‐doped zinc oxide nanowires (Co‐doped ZnO NWs)‐based heterojunction diodes prepared by a two‐step synthesis route through combined hydrothermal growth and sol–gel spin coating. Highly dense, well‐ordered, undoped, and Co‐doped ZnO NWs were successfully grown by hydrothermal method. Complementary CuO thin films were synthesized by sol–gel method and subsequently coated onto both undoped and Co‐doped ZnO NWs through spin‐coating technique. Enhanced diode properties with a rectification ratio of 10³ at ±2 V and an ideality factor of n = 2.4 (in dark) were obtained for Co‐doped ZnO NWs‐based heterojunction diodes. The obtained results demonstrated that the investigated heterojunction diode structure fabricated by facile and cost‐effective solution‐based processes can be a promising candidate for the next generation optoelectronic devices.     

Influence of thermal annealing on microstructural,morphological, optical properties and surface electronic structure of copper oxide thin films

In this study, effect of the post-deposition thermal annealing on copper oxide thin films has been systemically investigated. The copper oxide thin films were chemically deposited on glass substrates by spin-coating. Samples were annealed in air at atmospheric pressure and at different temperatures ranging from 200 to 600°C. The microstructural, morphological, optical properties and surface electronic structure of the thin films have been studied by diagnostic techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, ultraviolet–visible (UV–VIS) absorption spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The thickness of the films was about 520 nm. Crystallinity and grain size was found to improve with annealing temperature. The optical bandgap of the samples was found to be in between 1.93 and 2.08 eV. Cupric oxide (CuO), cuprous oxide (Cu₂O) and copper hydroxide (Cu(OH)₂) phases were observed on the surface of as-deposited and 600 °C annealed thin films and relative concentrations of these three phases were found to depend on annealing temperature. A complete characterization reported herein allowed us to better understand the surface properties of copper oxide thin films which could then be used as active layers in optoelectronic devices such as solar cells and photodetectors.     

Effect of electroless etching parameters on the growth and reflection properties of silicon nanowires

Vertically aligned silicon nanowire (Si NW) arrays have been fabricated over large areas using an electroless etching (EE) method, which involves etching of silicon wafers in a silver nitrate and hydrofluoric acid based solution. A detailed parametric study determining the relationship between nanowire morphology and time, temperature, solution concentration and starting wafer characteristics (doping type, resistivity, crystallographic orientation) is presented. The as-fabricated Si NW arrays were analyzed by field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and a linear dependency of nanowire length to both temperature and time was obtained and the change in the growth rate of Si NWs at increased etching durations was shown. Furthermore, the effects of EE parameters on the optical reflectivity of the Si NWs were investigated in this study. Reflectivity measurements show that the 42.8% reflectivity of the starting silicon wafer drops to 1.3%, recorded for 10 μm long Si NW arrays. The remarkable decrease in optical reflectivity indicates that Si NWs have a great potential to be utilized in radial or coaxial p-n heterojunction solar cells that could provide orthogonal photon absorption and enhanced carrier collection.     

Textile supercapacitors‐based on MnO2/SWNT/conducting polymer ternary composites

This paper describes a simple and fast process for the fabrication of flexible and textile‐based supercapacitors. Symmetric electrodes made up of binder‐free ternary composites of manganese oxide (MnO₂) nanoparticles, single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) and a conducting polymer (either polyaniline (PANI) or poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene)–poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)) were layer‐by‐layer deposited onto cotton substrates by dip coating method. Solid‐state supercapacitor devices were assembled using a gel electrolyte. Specific capacitances of 294 F/g and 246 F/g were obtained for MnO₂/SWNT/PANI and MnO₂/SWNT/PEDOT:PSS ternary nanocomposite supercapacitors, respectively. Power densities for these supercapacitors were 746.5 W/kg and 640.5 W/kg for MnO₂/SWNT/PANI and MnO₂/SWNT/PEDOT:PSS, respectively. Good capacity retention (more than 70%) upon cycling over 1000 times was achieved for both electrode compositions. Supercapacitors demonstrated in this work would be well suited as disposable power sources for wearable and intelligent textiles. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Phase Identification of La-Doped Hard Magnetic Barium Ferrite Using Artificial Neural Network

A model based on an artificial neural network (ANN) was designed for the simulation and estimation of 2 theta and intensity values obtained by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) of pure and La-doped barium ferrite powders which have been synthesized in ammonium nitrate melt. Its performance is evaluated by the influences of different La content, sintering temperature, Fe/Ba ratio, and washed in HCl (or not washed in HCl) samples. The XRD patterns of samples estimated by the ANN agree well with the experimental values, indicating that the model is reliable and adequate.     

Species Diversity and Pheno‐ and Genotypic Antibiotic Resistance Patterns of Staphylococci Isolated from Retail Ground Meats

The presence and species diversity of staphylococci in 250 ground beef and lamb meat samples obtained from Diyarbakir, Turkey were investigated. The presence of the 16S rRNA gene, mecA, nuc, pvl, and femA was analyzed by multiplex PCR. Pheno‐ and genotypic antibiotic resistance profiles of 208 staphylococci isolates were established. Of the ground beef and ground lamb samples, 86.4% and 62.4% were positive for staphylococci, respectively. Staphylococcus aureus, S. saprophyticus, S. hominis, S. lentus, S. pasteuri, S. warneri, S. intermedius, and S. vitulinus made up 40.8%, 28.8%, 11%, 3.8%, 3.8%, 2.4%, 2.4%, and 2.4% of isolates, respectively. Of the 85 S. aureus isolates, 40%, 47%, and 5.8% carried femA, mecA, and pvl, respectively, whereas the corresponding rates for the 118 coagulase‐negative staphylococci (CoNS) were 0%, 10.1%, and 0%, respectively. We determined from the 208 isolates, the highest antibiotic resistances were to tetracycline and oxytetracycline (85.5%), followed by penicillin (51.4%), novobiocin (45.6%), ampicillin (39.9%), and doxycycline (31.7%), using the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Inst. (CLSI) method. All isolates were sensitive to gentamycin, ofloxacin, and tobramycin, but 2.3% of the S. aureus isolates had resistance to vancomycin. The staphylococci isolates carried tet(K), blaZ, tet(L), tet(W), cat, tet(S), tet(M), ermB, ermA, and ermC antibiotic resistance genes at rates of 59%, 51.7%, 36.9%, 31.8%, 27.2%, 27.2%, 24.4%, 18.1%, 7.9%, and 3.9%, respectively.     

Highly Efficient Room Temperature Synthesis of Silver‐Doped Zinc Oxide (ZnO:Ag) Nanoparticles: Structural,Optical, and Photocatalytic Properties

Synthesis of silver‐doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Ag) nanoparticles through precipitation method has been reported. The synthesis was conducted at room temperature and no subsequent thermal treatment was applied. ZnO nanoparticles were characterized by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), fourier transmission infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and ultraviolet‐visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy. Detailed crystallographic investigation was accomplished through Rietveld refinement. The effect of silver content on structural and optical properties of resultant ZnO nanoparticles has been reported. It was found that silver doping results in positional shifts for the XRD peaks and the absorption band edge of ZnO. These were attributed to the substitutional incorporation of Ag⁺ ions into Zn²⁺ sites within the ZnO crystal. In addition, higher silver incorporation resulted in smaller size for ZnO nanoparticles. The photocatalytic activity of the ZnO:Ag nanoparticles was also determined by methylene orange (MO) degradation studies and compared to that of undoped ZnO. Improved photocatalytic activity was obtained for ZnO:Ag nanoparticles. It has been shown that an optimum amount of silver dopant is required to obtain maximum photocatalytic activity.