TY - JOUR A1 - Caetano, Daniel L. Z. A1 - Carvalho, Sidney Jurado de A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Cherstvy, Andrey G. T1 - Critical adsorption of multiple polyelectrolytes onto a nanosphere BT - splitting the adsorption-desorption transition boundary JF - Interface : journal of the Royal Society N2 - Employing extensive Monte Carlo computer simulations, we investigate in detail the properties of multichain adsorption of charged flexible polyelectrolytes (PEs) onto oppositely charged spherical nanoparticles (SNPs). We quantify the conditions of critical adsorption-the phase-separation curve between the adsorbed and desorbed states of the PEs-as a function of the SNP surface-charge density and the concentration of added salt. We study the degree of fluctuations of the PE-SNP electrostatic binding energy, which we use to quantify the emergence of the phase subtransitions, including a series of partially adsorbed PE configurations. We demonstrate how the phase-separation adsorption-desorption boundary shifts and splits into multiple subtransitions at low-salt conditions, thereby generalizing and extending the results for critical adsorption of a single PE onto the SNP. The current findings are relevant for finite concentrations of PEs around the attracting SNP, such as the conditions for PE adsorption onto globular proteins carrying opposite electric charges. KW - nanoparticles KW - polyelectrolytes KW - electrostatics KW - critical adsorption KW - phase-transition boundary Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2020.0199 SN - 1742-5689 SN - 1742-5662 VL - 17 IS - 167 PB - Royal Society CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sarhan, Radwan Mohamed A1 - Koopman, Wouter-Willem Adriaan A1 - Schuetz, Roman A1 - Schmid, Thomas A1 - Liebig, Ferenc A1 - Koetz, Joachim A1 - Bargheer, Matias T1 - The importance of plasmonic heating for the plasmondriven photodimerization of 4-nitrothiophenol JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Metal nanoparticles form potent nanoreactors, driven by the optical generation of energetic electrons and nanoscale heat. The relative influence of these two factors on nanoscale chemistry is strongly debated. This article discusses the temperature dependence of the dimerization of 4-nitrothiophenol (4-NTP) into 4,4′-dimercaptoazobenzene (DMAB) adsorbed on gold nanoflowers by Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS). Raman thermometry shows a significant optical heating of the particles. The ratio of the Stokes and the anti-Stokes Raman signal moreover demonstrates that the molecular temperature during the reaction rises beyond the average crystal lattice temperature of the plasmonic particles. The product bands have an even higher temperature than reactant bands, which suggests that the reaction proceeds preferentially at thermal hot spots. In addition, kinetic measurements of the reaction during external heating of the reaction environment yield a considerable rise of the reaction rate with temperature. Despite this significant heating effects, a comparison of SERS spectra recorded after heating the sample by an external heater to spectra recorded after prolonged illumination shows that the reaction is strictly photo-driven. While in both cases the temperature increase is comparable, the dimerization occurs only in the presence of light. Intensity dependent measurements at fixed temperatures confirm this finding. KW - enhanced raman-scattering KW - charge-transfer KW - metal KW - nanoparticles KW - catalysis KW - AU KW - 4-nitrobenzenethiol KW - aminothiophenol KW - photocatalysis KW - wavelength Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-38627-2 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 9 PB - Macmillan Publishers Limited CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cui, Qianling A1 - Yashchenok, Alexey A1 - Zhang, Lu A1 - Li, Lidong A1 - Masic, Admir A1 - Wienskol, Gabriele A1 - Moehwald, Helmuth A1 - Bargheer, Matias T1 - Fabrication of Bifunctional Gold/Gelatin Hybrid Nanocomposites and Their Application JF - ACS applied materials & interfaces N2 - Herein, a facile method is presented to integrate large gold nanoflowers (similar to 80 nm) and small gold nanoparticles (2-4 nm) into a single entity, exhibiting both surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and catalytic activity. The as-prepared gold nanoflowers were coated by a gelatin layer, in which the gold precursor was adsorbed and in situ reduced into small gold nanoparticles. The thickness of the gelatin shell is controlled to less than 10 nm, ensuring that the small gold nanoparticles are still in a SERS-active range of the inner Au core. Therefore, the reaction catalyzed by these nanocomposites can be monitored in situ using label-free SERS spectroscopy. In addition, these bifunctional nanocomposites are also attractive candidates for application in SERS monitoring of bioreactions because of their excellent biocompatibility. KW - core-shell nanostructure KW - gold KW - hybrid material KW - gelatin KW - nanoparticles KW - surface-enhanced Raman scattering Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/am5000068 SN - 1944-8244 VL - 6 IS - 3 SP - 1999 EP - 2002 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cui, Qianling A1 - Shen, Guizhi A1 - Yan, Xuehai A1 - Li, Lidong A1 - Moehwald, Helmuth A1 - Bargheer, Matias T1 - Fabrication of Au@Pt multibranched nanoparticles and their application to in situ SERS monitoring JF - ACS applied materials & interfaces N2 - Here, we present an Au@Pt core-shell multibranched nanoparticle as a new substrate capable of in situ surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), thereby enabling monitoring of the catalytic reaction on the active surface. By careful control of the amount of Pt deposited bimetallic Au@Pt, nanoparticles with moderate performance both for SERS and catalytic activity were obtained. The Pt-catalyzed reduction of 4-nitrothiophenol by borohydride was chosen as the model reaction. The intermediate during the reaction was captured and clearly identified via SERS spectroscopy. We established in situ SERS spectroscopy as a promising and powerful technique to investigate in situ reactions taking place in heterogeneous catalysis. KW - nanoparticles KW - gold KW - core-shell nanostructure KW - surface-enhanced Raman scattering KW - heterogeneous catalysis KW - bimetallic nanoparticles Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/am504709a SN - 1944-8244 VL - 6 IS - 19 SP - 17075 EP - 17081 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER -