TY - JOUR A1 - Cui, Qianling A1 - Yashchenok, Alexey A1 - Li, Lidong A1 - Moehwald, Helmuth A1 - Bargheer, Matias T1 - Mechanistic study on reduction reaction of nitro compounds catalyzed by gold nanoparticles using in situ SERS monitoring JF - Colloids and surfaces : an international journal devoted to the principles and applications of colloid and interface science ; A, Physicochemical and engineering aspects N2 - Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy has emerged in recent years as a promising and powerful technique to investigate the reaction mechanism of heterogeneous catalysis. In this work, the reduction reaction of 4-nitrothiophenol (4-NTP) to its corresponding amino derivate catalyzed by gold took place between the gold nanoshell and gold nanostar. Due to the strong binding of thiol group to the gold surface, the molecular configuration of 4-NTP was fixed with NO2 group towards outside. The direct contact of NO2 group with catalytic gold nanostars ensured the reduction reaction went smoothly, which was monitored by SERS spectroscopy. The NO2 vibration Raman band showed a unique blue-shift without any appearance of dimerization product, indicating this catalytic reaction might follow a monomolecular mechanistic pathway. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. KW - Surface-enhanced Raman scattering KW - Heterogeneous catalysis KW - Gold nanoparticles KW - Reaction mechanism KW - Monomolecular reaction Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2015.01.075 SN - 0927-7757 SN - 1873-4359 VL - 470 SP - 108 EP - 113 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam 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 - 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 - Xia, Bihua A1 - Mitzscherling, Steffen A1 - Masic, Admir A1 - Li, Lidong A1 - Bargheer, Matias A1 - Moehwald, Helmuth T1 - Preparation of gold nanostars and their study in selective catalytic reactions JF - Colloids and surfaces : an international journal devoted to the principles and applications of colloid and interface science ; A, Physicochemical and engineering aspects N2 - In this work, gold nanostars (AuNSs) with size around 90 nm were prepared through an easy one-step method. They show excellent catalytic activity and large surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity at the same time. Surprisingly, they exhibited different catalytic performance on the reduction of aromatic nitro compounds with different substituents on the para position. To understand such a difference, the SERS spectra were recorded, showing that the molecular orientation of reactants on the gold surface were different. We anticipate that this research will help to understand the relationship of the molecular orientation with the catalytic activity of gold nanoparticles. KW - Nanoparticles KW - Gold KW - Catalytic reaction KW - Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) KW - Molecular orientation Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2014.10.028 SN - 0927-7757 SN - 1873-4359 VL - 465 SP - 20 EP - 25 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER -