Overall, it was found that despite the increased awareness of interdisciplinarity and the essential reference to ethics, many scientific articles use it with little competence, considering it only a "humanitarian" enrichment. In fact, as we understand, reflecting a year after the outbreak of the pandemic, although Covid-19 is leading scientists to increasingly recognise the importance of ethical issues, there is still a lot of confusion that could be helped by establishing international guidelines to act as a moral compass in times of crisis.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12553-021-00570-6.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12553-021-00570-6.We study interface properties of CoPcF x and FePcFx (x = 0 or 16) on niobium-doped SrTiO3(100) surfaces using mainly X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy. For all studied molecules, a rather complex, bidirectional charge transfer with the oxide substrate was observed, involving both the macrocycle and the central metal atom. For molecules of the first monolayer, an electron transfer to the central metal atom is concluded from transition metal 2p core level photoemission spectra. The number of interacting molecules in the first monolayer on the oxide surface depends on the central metal atom of the phthalocyanine, whereas the substrate preparation has minor influence on the interaction between CoPc and SrTiO3(100). Differences of the interaction mechanism to related TiO2 surfaces are discussed.Chlorine is found to be a suitable element for the modification of polymeric carbon nitride properties towards an efficient visible-light photocatalytic activity. In this study, chlorine-doped polymeric carbon nitride (Cl-PCN) has been examined as a photocatalyst in the hydrogen evolution reaction. The following aspects were found to enhance the photocatalytic efficiency of Cl-PCN (i) unique location of Cl atoms at the interlayers of PCN instead of on its π-conjugated planes, (ii) slight bandgap narrowing, (iii) lower recombination rate of the electron-hole pairs, (iv) improved photogenerated charge transport and separation, and (v) higher reducing ability of the photogenerated electrons. The above factors affected the 4.4-fold enhancement of the photocatalytic efficiency in hydrogen evolution in comparison to the pristine catalyst.Noble metal nanomaterials are particularly suitable as photothermal transduction agents (PTAs) with high photothermal conversion efficiency (PCE) due to local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). Studies on different gold-platinum (Au-Pt) bimetal nanoparticles exhibiting the LSPR effect have provided a new idea for the synthesis of excellent PTAs. But there is no simple and scalable method for the controllable synthesis of Au-Pt nanoparticles with adjustable LSPR wavelength range. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/etomoxir-na-salt.html In this work, the effects of Ag+ and K2PtCl4 on the deposition of Pt on the surface of gold nanorods (AuNRs) were investigated. A fast, precise, and controlled synthesis of dumbbell-like Pt-coated AuNRs (Au@Pt NRs) under mild conditions is proposed. The synthesized Au@Pt NRs have a longitudinal LSPR wavelength of 812 nm, which is very close to a common laser wavelength of 808 nm. The Au@Pt NRs exhibit excellent photothermal properties when irradiated with a laser. The temperature increased by more than 36 °C after irradiation for 10 min, with a PCE of about 78.77%, which is much higher than that of AuNRs (57.33%). In addition, even after four on/off cycles, the Au@Pt NRs are able to maintain the photothermal properties and retain their optical properties, indicating that they have excellent photothermal stability and reusability.Recent studies with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and the history of silver metal as a broad-spectrum bactericidal and virucidal agent, places silver as one of the future biocidal candidates in the field of nanomedicine to eliminate bacteria and viruses, especially multidrug resistant ones. In this review, we have described the various morphologies of AgNPs and correlated the enhanced bactericidal activity with their prominent 111 facets. In addition to prioritizing the characterization we have also discussed the importance of quantifying AgNPs and silver ion content (Ag+) and their different mechanisms at the chemical, biological, pharmacological, and toxicological levels. The mechanism of action of AgNPs against various bacteria and viruses including the SARS-CoV-2 was analyzed in order to understand its effectiveness as an antimicrobial agent with therapeutic efficacy and low toxicity. Further, there is the need to characterize AgNPs and quantify the content of free Ag+ for the implementation of new systematic studies of this promising agent in nanomedicine and in clinical practice.A novel reconstruction of a two-dimensional layer of KBr on an Ir(111) surface is observed by high-resolution noncontact atomic force microscopy and verified by density functional theory (DFT). The observed KBr structure is oriented along the main directions of the Ir(111) surface, but forms a characteristic double-line pattern. Comprehensive calculations by DFT, taking into account the observed periodicities, resulted in a new low-energy reconstruction. However, it is fully relaxed into a common cubic structure when a monolayer of graphene is located between substrate and KBr. By using Kelvin probe force microscopy, the work functions of the reconstructed and the cubic configuration of KBr were measured and indicate, in accordance with the DFT calculations, a difference of nearly 900 meV. The difference is due to the strong interaction and local charge displacement of the K+/Br- ions and the Ir(111) surface, which are reduced by the decoupling effect of graphene, thus yielding different electrical and mechanical properties of the top KBr layer.A novel solution combustion synthesis of nanoscale spinel-structured Co3O4 powder was proposed in this work. The obtained material was composed of loosely arranged nanoparticles whose average diameter was about 36 nm. The as-prepared cobalt oxide powder was also tested as the anode material for Li-ion batteries and revealed specific capacities of 1060 and 533 mAh·g-1 after 100 cycles at charge-discharge current densities of 100 and 500 mA·g-1, respectively. Moreover, electrochemical measurements indicate that even though the synthesized nanomaterial possesses a low active surface area, it exhibits a relatively high specific capacity measured at 100 mA·g-1 after 100 cycles and a quite good rate capability at current densities between 50 and 5000 mA·g-1.