The DCA (Drug Control Authority), Malaysia, has implemented the phase 3 registration of traditional medicines on 1 January 1992, with special emphasis on the quality, efficacy, and safety (including the presence of heavy metals) in all pharmaceutical dosage forms of traditional medicine preparations. As such, a total of 100 products in various pharmaceutical dosage forms of a herbal preparation, containing Tongkat Ali, were analyzed for mercury content using cold vapor atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Results showed that 36% of the above products possessed 0.52 to 5.30 ppm of mercury and, therefore, do not comply with the quality requirement for traditional medicines in Malaysia. Out of these 36 products, 5 products that possessed 1.05 to 4.41 ppm of mercury were in fact have already registered with the DCA, Malaysia. However, the rest of the products that contain 0.52 to 5.30 ppm of mercury still have not registered with the DCA, Malaysia. Although this study showed that only 64% of the products complied with the quality requirement for traditional medicines in Malaysia pertaining to mercury, they cannot be assumed safe from mercury contamination because of batch-to-batch inconsistency.
A gas sensor array was developed in a 10 × 10 mm(2) space using Screen Printing and Pulse Laser Ablation Deposition (PLAD) techniques. Heater, electrode, and an insulator interlayer were printed using the screen printing method on an alumina substrate, while tin oxide and platinum films, as sensing and catalyst layers, were deposited on the electrode at room temperature using the PLAD method, respectively. To ablate SnO(2) and Pt targets, depositions were achieved by using a 1,064 nm Nd-YAG laser, with a power of 0.7 J/s, at different deposition times of 2, 5 and 10 min, in an atmosphere containing 0.04 mbar (4 kPa) of O(2). A range of spectroscopic diffraction and real space imaging techniques, SEM, EDX, XRD, and AFM were used in order to characterize the surface morphology, structure, and composition of the films. Measurement on the array shows sensitivity to some solvent and wood smoke can be achieved with short response and recovery times.
Nanocrystalline SnO(x) (x = 1-2) thin films were prepared on glass substrates by a simple chemical bath deposition method. Triethanolamine was used as complexing agent to decrease time and temperature of deposition and shift the pH of the solution to the noncorrosive region. The films were characterized for composition, surface morphology, structure and optical properties. X-ray diffraction analysis confirms that SnO(x) thin films consist of a polycrystalline structure with an average grain size of 36 nm. Atomic force microscopy studies show a uniform grain distribution without pinholes. The elemental composition was evaluated by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The average O/Sn atomic percentage ratio is 1.72. Band gap energy and optical transition were determined from optical absorbance data. The film was found to exhibit direct and indirect transitions in the visible spectrum with band gap values of about 3.9 and 3.7 eV, respectively. The optical transmittance in the visible region is 82%. The SnO(x) nanocrystals exhibit an ultraviolet emission band centered at 392 nm in the vicinity of the band edge, which is attributed to the well-known exciton transition in SnO(x). Photosensitivity was detected in the positive region under illumination with white light.
Matched MeSH terms: Tin Compounds/chemical synthesis*; Tin Compounds/chemistry
Metal nanoparticles having interesting shapes can be prepared in aqueous solutions through simple reductions of metal ions with the presence of some additive reagents, such as cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and hexamethylenetetramine. In this review, some successful results for shape-controlled synthesis of metal nanoparticles in our group are summarized, which includes the synthesis of palladium nanocubes, palladium nanobricks, gold nanotripods. In addition, combining with indium tin oxide electrode surfaces, shape-controlled growth is shown to be possible to form gold nanoplates and copper oxide nanowires. Even in relatively mild synthetic conditions, interesting shape-controlled synthesis of metal nanoparticles is possible.
Low-temperature growth of indium tin oxide (ITO) nanowires (NWs) was obtained on catalyst-free amorphous glass substrates at 250 °C by Nd:YAG pulsed-laser deposition. These ITO NWs have branching morphology as grown in Ar ambient. As suggested by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), our ITO NWs have the tendency to grow vertically outward from the substrate surface, with the (400) plane parallel to the longitudinal axis of the nanowires. These NWs are low in electrical resistivity (1.6×10⁻⁴ Ω cm) and high in visible transmittance (~90–96%), and were tested as the electrode for organic light emitting devices (OLEDs). An enhanced current density of ~30 mA cm⁻² was detected at bias voltages of ~19–21 V with uniform and bright emission. We found that the Hall mobility of these NWs is 2.2–2.7 times higher than that of ITO film, which can be explained by the reduction of Coulomb scattering loss. These results suggested that ITO nanowires are promising for applications in optoelectronic devices including OLED, touch screen displays, and photovoltaic solar cells.
Reactions of 5-benzyloxy-4-methylpent-2-enyl(tributyl)stannane with aldehydes promoted by bismuth(III) iodide were usefully stereoselective in favour of the (E)-1,5-anti-6-benzyloxy-5-methylalk-3-en-1-ols. Similar stereoselectivity was observed for reactions of analogous 5-benzyloxy-4-methylpent-2-enyl bromides with aldehydes when promoted by a low valency bismuth species prepared by reduction of bismuth(III) triiodide with powdered zinc so providing a "tin-free" procedure. The analogous reactions of 4-benzyloxypent-2-enyl(tributyl)stannane with aldehydes promoted by bismuth(III) iodide were also stereoselective but gave lower yields. Attempted 1,6-stereocontrol using these reactions resulted in only modest stereoselectivities. Aspects of the chemistry of the products were studied in particular their stereoselective conversion into aliphatic compounds with methyl bearing stereogenic centres at 1,5,9,13- and 1,3,5-positions along the aliphatic chain. Mechanistically, allylic organobismuth species may be involved in both sets of reactions but this was not confirmed although the similar stereoselectivities observed for both the bismuth(III) iodide mediated reactions of the pent-2-enylstannanes and the low-valency bismuth promoted reactions of the pent-2-enyl bromides are consistent with participation of similar intermediates.
This work describes the incorporation of SiNWs/AuNPs composite as a sensing material for DNA detection on indium tin-oxide (ITO) coated glass slide. The morphology of SiNWs/AuNPs composite as the modifier layer on ITO was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The morphological studies clearly showed that SiNWs were successfully decorated with 20 nm-AuNPs using self-assembly monolayer (SAM) technique. The effective surface area for SiNWs/AuNPs-modified ITO enhanced about 10 times compared with bare ITO electrode. SiNWs/AuNPs nanocomposite was further explored as a matrix for DNA probe immobilization in detection of dengue virus as a bio-sensing model to evaluate its performance in electrochemical sensors. The hybridization of complementary DNA was monitored by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) using methylene blue (MB) as the redox indicator. The fabricated biosensor was able to discriminate significantly complementary, non-complementary and single-base mismatch oligonucleotides. The electrochemical biosensor was sensitive to target DNA related to dengue virus in the range of 9.0-178.0 ng/ml with detection limit of 3.5 ng/ml. In addition, SiNWs/AuNPs-modified ITO, regenerated up to 8 times and its stability was up to 10 weeks at 4°C in silica gel.
An inexpensive single-step carbon-assisted thermal evaporation method for the growth of SnO2-core/ZnO-shell nanostructures is described, and the ethanol sensing properties are presented. The structure and phases of the grown nanostructures are investigated by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. XRD analysis indicates that the core-shell nanostructures have good crystallinity. At a lower growth duration of 15 min, only SnO2 nanowires with a rectangular cross-section are observed, while the ZnO shell is observed when the growth time is increased to 30 min. Core-shell hierarchical nanostructures are present for a growth time exceeding 60 min. The growth mechanism for SnO2-core/ZnO-shell nanowires and hierarchical nanostructures are also discussed. The sensitivity of the synthesized SnO2-core/ZnO-shell nanostructures towards ethanol sensing is investigated. Results show that the SnO2-core/ZnO-shell nanostructures deposited at 90 min exhibit enhanced sensitivity to ethanol. The sensitivity of SnO2-core/ZnO-shell nanostructures towards 20 ppm ethanol gas at 400 °C is about ~5-times that of SnO2 nanowires. This improvement in ethanol gas response is attributed to high active sensing sites and the synergistic effect of the encapsulation of SnO2 by ZnO nanostructures.
Hierarchical Si/ZnO trunk-branch nanostructures (NSs) have been synthesized by hot wire assisted chemical vapor deposition method for trunk Si nanowires (NWs) on indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate and followed by the vapor transport condensation (VTC) method for zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs) which was laterally grown from each Si nanowires (NWs). A spin coating method has been used for zinc oxide (ZnO) seeding. This method is better compared with other group where they used sputtering method for the same process. The sputtering method only results in the growth of ZnO NRs on top of the Si trunk. Our method shows improvement by having the growth evenly distributed on the lateral sides and caps of the Si trunks, resulting in pine-leave-like NSs. Field emission scanning electron microscope image shows the hierarchical nanostructures resembling the shape of the leaves of pine trees. Single crystalline structure for the ZnO branch grown laterally from the crystalline Si trunk has been identified by using a lattice-resolved transmission electron microscope. A preliminary photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell testing has been setup to characterize the photocurrent of sole array of ZnO NR growth by both hydrothermal-grown (HTG) method and VTC method on ITO substrates. VTC-grown ZnO NRs showed greater photocurrent effect due to its better structural properties. The measured photocurrent was also compared with the array of hierarchical Si/ZnO trunk-branch NSs. The cell with the array of Si/ZnO trunk-branch NSs revealed four-fold magnitude enhancement in photocurrent density compared with the sole array of ZnO NRs obtain from VTC processes.
Indium tin oxide (ITO) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) anti-reflective coatings (ARCs) were deposited on a (100) P-type monocrystalline Si substrate by a radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering. Polycrystalline ITO and anatase TiO2 films were obtained at room temperature (RT). The thickness of ITO (60 to 64 nm) and TiO2 (55 to 60 nm) films was optimized, considering the optical response in the 400- to 1,000-nm wavelength range. The deposited films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The XRD analysis showed preferential orientation along (211) and (222) for ITO and (200) and (211) for TiO2 films. The XRD analysis showed that crystalline ITO/TiO2 films could be formed at RT. The crystallite strain measurements showed compressive strain for ITO and TiO2 films. The measured average optical reflectance was about 12% and 10% for the ITO and TiO2 ARCs, respectively.
A nanocrystalline SnO2 thin film was synthesized by a chemical bath method. The parameters affecting the energy band gap and surface morphology of the deposited SnO2 thin film were optimized using a semi-empirical method. Four parameters, including deposition time, pH, bath temperature and tin chloride (SnCl2·2H2O) concentration were optimized by a factorial method. The factorial used a Taguchi OA (TOA) design method to estimate certain interactions and obtain the actual responses. Statistical evidences in analysis of variance including high F-value (4,112.2 and 20.27), very low P-value (<0.012 and 0.0478), non-significant lack of fit, the determination coefficient (R2 equal to 0.978 and 0.977) and the adequate precision (170.96 and 12.57) validated the suggested model. The optima of the suggested model were verified in the laboratory and results were quite close to the predicted values, indicating that the model successfully simulated the optimum conditions of SnO2 thin film synthesis.
In photosynthesis, a very small amount of the solar energy absorbed is transformed into chemical energy, while the rest is wasted as heat and fluorescence. This excess energy can be harvested through biophotovoltaic platforms to generate electrical energy. In this study, algal biofilms formed on ITO anodes were investigated for use in the algal biophotovoltaic platforms. Sixteen algal strains, comprising local isolates and two diatoms obtained from the Culture Collection of Marine Phytoplankton (CCMP), USA, were screened and eight were selected based on the growth rate, biochemical composition and photosynthesis performance using suspension cultures. Differences in biofilm formation between the eight algal strains as well as their rapid light curve (RLC) generated using a pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) fluorometer, were examined. The RLC provides detailed information on the saturation characteristics of electron transport and overall photosynthetic performance of the algae. Four algal strains, belonging to the Cyanophyta (Cyanobacteria) Synechococcus elongatus (UMACC 105), Spirulina platensis. (UMACC 159) and the Chlorophyta Chlorella vulgaris (UMACC 051), and Chlorella sp. (UMACC 313) were finally selected for investigation using biophotovoltaic platforms. Based on power output per Chl-a content, the algae can be ranked as follows: Synechococcus elongatus (UMACC 105) (6.38×10(-5) Wm(-2)/µgChl-a)>Chlorella vulgaris UMACC 051 (2.24×10(-5) Wm(-2)/µgChl-a)>Chlorella sp.(UMACC 313) (1.43×10(-5) Wm(-2)/µgChl-a)>Spirulina platensis (UMACC 159) (4.90×10(-6) Wm(-2)/µgChl-a). Our study showed that local algal strains have potential for use in biophotovoltaic platforms due to their high photosynthetic performance, ability to produce biofilm and generation of electrical power.
A controllable electrochemical synthesis to convert reduced graphene oxide (rGO) from graphite flakes was introduced and investigated in detail. Electrochemical reduction was used to prepare rGO because of its cost effectiveness, environmental friendliness, and ability to produce rGO thin films in industrial scale. This study aimed to determine the optimum applied potential for the electrochemical reduction. An applied voltage of 15 V successfully formed a uniformly coated rGO thin film, which significantly promoted effective electron transfer within dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Thus, DSSC performance improved. However, rGO thin films formed in voltages below or exceeding 15 V resulted in poor DSSC performance. This behavior was due to poor electron transfer within the rGO thin films caused by poor uniformity. These results revealed that DSSC constructed using 15 V rGO thin film exhibited high efficiency (η = 1.5211%) attributed to its higher surface uniformity than other samples. The addition of natural lemon juice (pH ~ 2.3) to the electrolyte accelerated the deposition and strengthened the adhesion of rGO thin film onto fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glasses.
The effect of TiO₂ nanoparticle (NP) content on the improvement of poly(9,9'-di-n-octylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl) (PFO)/Fluorol 7GA organic light emitting diode (OLED) performance is demonstrated here. The PFO/Fluorol 7GA blend with specific ratios of TiO₂ NPs was prepared via a solution blending method before being spin-coated onto an indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate to act as an emissive layer in OLEDs. A thin aluminum layer as top electrode was deposited onto the emissive layer using the electron beam chamber. Improvement electron injection from the cathode was achieved upon incorporation of TiO₂ NPs into the PFO/Fluorol 7GA blend, thus producing devices with intense luminance and lower turn-on voltage. The ITO/(PFO/Fluorol 7GA/TiO₂)/Al OLED device exhibited maximum electroluminescence intensity and luminance at 25 wt % of TiO₂ NPs, while maximum luminance efficiency was achieved with 15 wt % TiO₂ NP content. In addition, this work proved that the performance of the devices was strongly affected by the surface morphology, which in turn depended on the TiO₂ NP content.
Copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS) is a promising material for harvesting solar energy due to its abundance and non-toxicity. However, its poor performance hinders their wide application. In this paper gold (Au) nanoparticles are successfully incorporated into CZTS to form Au@CZTS core-shell nanostructures. The photocathode of Au@CZTS nanostructures exhibits enhanced optical absorption characteristics and improved incident photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE) performance. It is demonstrated that using this photocathode there is a significant increase of the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of a photoelectrochemical solar cell of 100% compared to using a CZTS without Au core. More importantly, the PCE of Au@CZTS photocathode improved by 15.8% compared to standard platinum (Pt) counter electrode. The increased efficiency is attributed to plasmon resonance energy transfer (PRET) between the Au nanoparticle core and the CZTS shell at wavelengths shorter than the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) peak of the Au and the semiconductor bandgap.
A photoelectrochemical (PEC) sensor with excellent sensitivity and detection toward copper (II) ions (Cu2+) was developed using a cadmium sulphide-reduced graphene oxide (CdS-rGO) nanocomposite on an indium tin oxide (ITO) surface, with triethanolamine (TEA) used as the sacrificial electron donor. The CdS nanoparticles were initially synthesized via the aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition (AACVD) method using cadmium acetate and thiourea as the precursors to Cd2+ and S2-, respectively. Graphene oxide (GO) was then dip-coated onto the CdS electrode and sintered under an argon gas flow (50 mL/min) for the reduction process. The nanostructured CdS was adhered securely to the ITO by a continuous network of rGO that also acted as an avenue to intensify the transfer of electrons from the conduction band of CdS. The photoelectrochemical results indicated that the ITO/CdS-rGO photoelectrode could facilitate broad UV-visible light absorption, which would lead to a higher and steady-state photocurrent response in the presence of TEA in 0.1 M KCl. The photocurrent decreased with an increase in the concentration of Cu2+ ions. The photoelectrode response for Cu2+ ion detection had a linear range of 0.5-120 μM, with a limit of detection (LoD) of 16 nM. The proposed PEC sensor displayed ultra-sensitivity and good selectivity toward Cu2+ ion detection.
Titanium dioxide (TiO2
) nanoparticles thin film has been successfully synthesized by a spray pyrolysis deposition method
by using an air compressor on a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate and was annealed at different temperature. TiO2
is the most common oxide as an electrode in dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) which still has chances of improvements to
increase its efficiency as an electrode. The efficiency of a DSSC was relatively low but modifications on every part of a
DSSC were currently in research progress and an increase in adsorbed dye molecules was considered a potential. Thus,
the influences of annealing temperature on structural and morphological properties of TiO2
have been studied using
X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), respectively, while the efficiency of
the films in a solar cell was studied by a solar simulator. The FESEM result showed several degrees of porosity obtained
by varying the annealing temperature. The crystallinity of TiO2 investigated by XRD showed that the crystallinity of the
TiO2
thin films was generally unaffected by the annealing temperature. The relationship between the properties and the
efficiency of the films as an electrode was also studied
Titanium dioxide (TiO2
) with various morphologies has been successfully synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method
at 150o
C for 10 h using titanium butoxide (TBOT) as a precursor, deionized (DI) water and hydrochloric acid (HCl) on
a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate. The influences of HCl volume on structural and morphological properties
of TiO2
have been studied using x-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM),
respectively. The result showed that several morphologies such as microsphere, microrods, nanorods and nanoflowers
were obtained by varying the volume of hydrochloric acid. The crystallinity of titanium dioxide enhanced with the
increasing of hydrochloric acid volume.
A novel third generation H2O2 biosensor is fabricated using multiporous SnO2 nanofiber/carbon nanotubes (CNTs) composite as a matrix for the immobilization of redox protein onto glassy carbon electrode. The multiporous nanofiber (MPNFs) of SnO2 is synthesized by electrospinning technique from the tin precursor. This nanofiber shows high surface area and good electrical conductivity. The SnO2 nanofiber/CNT composite increases the efficiency of biomolecule loading due to its high surface area. The morphology of the nanofiber has been evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Cyclic Voltammetry and amperometry technique are employed to study and optimize the performance of the fabricated electrode. A direct electron transfer between the protein's redox centre and the glassy carbon electrode is established after fabrication of the electrode. The fabricated electrode shows excellent electrocatalytic reduction to H2O2. The catalysis currents increases linearly to the H2O2 concentration in a wide range of 1.0 10-6-1.4×10-4M and the lowest detection limit was 30nM (S/N=3). Moreover, the biosensor showed a rapid response to H2O2, a good stability and reproducibility.
In this paper, Taguchi experimental design technique was applied for optimization of chromium (Cr)/silver (Ag)/indium
tin oxide (ITO) SPR sensor for operation in near infrared region. Four factors were considered which include wavelength,
thickness of Cr, thickness of Ag, and thickness of ITO. Finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) method was used in numerical
analysis for minimum reflectance (Rmin) and full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) performance parameters. The results
obtained from the Taguchi method shows that the optimized parameter for Rmin was 785 nm of wavelength, Cr (1 nm),
Ag (40 nm) and ITO (20 nm), whereas the optimized parameter for FWHM was 785 of wavelength, Cr (0 nm), Ag (40 nm)
and ITO (0 nm). In short, the optimum parameters for achieving the desired performance of sensor were successfully
predicted using Taguchi optimization method.