8 research outputs found
Nanoporous Carbon from Oil Palm Leaves via Hydrothermal Carbonization-Combined KOH Activation for Paraquat Removal
In this study, nano-porous carbon was completely obtained from oil palm leaves (OPL) by hydrothermal pretreatment with chemical activation, using potassium hydroxide (KOH) as an activating agent. Potassium hydroxide was varied, with different ratios of 1:0.25, 1:1, and 1:4 (C: KOH; w/w) during activation. The physical morphology of nano-porous carbon has a spongy, sponge-like structure indicating an increase in specific surface area and porosity with the increasing amount of KOH activating agent. The highest specific surface area of OPL nano-porous carbon is approximately 1685 m2·g−1, with a total pore volume of 0.907 cm3·g−1. Moreover, the OPL nano-porous carbon significantly showed a mesoporous structure designed specifically to remove water pollutants. The adsorptive behavior of OPL nano-porous carbon was quantified by using paraquat as the target pollutant. The equilibrium analyzes were explained by the Langmuir model isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetics. The maximum efficiency of paraquat removal in wastewater was 79%, at a paraquat concentration of 400 mg·L−1, for 10 min in the adsorption experiment. The results of this work demonstrated the practical application of nano-porous carbon derived from oil palm leaves as an alternative adsorbent for removing paraquat and other organic matter in wastewater
Annealed ZnO/Al2O3 Core-Shell Nanowire as a Platform to Capture RNA in Blood Plasma
RNA analytical platforms gained extensive attention recently for RNA-based molecular analysis. However, the major challenge for analyzing RNAs is their low concentration in blood plasma samples, hindering the use of RNAs for diagnostics. Platforms that can enrich RNAs are essential to enhance molecular detection. Here, we developed the annealed ZnO/Al2O3 core-shell nanowire device as a platform to capture RNAs. We showed that the annealed ZnO/Al2O3 core-shell nanowire could capture RNAs with high efficiency compared to that of other circulating nucleic acids, including genomic DNA (gDNA) and cell-free DNA (cfDNA). Moreover, the nanowire was considered to be biocompatible with blood plasma samples due to the crystalline structure of the Al2O3 shell which serves as a protective layer to prevent nanowire degradation. Our developed device has the potential to be a platform for RNA-based extraction and detection
Deposition of silicon nitride films using chemical vapor deposition for photovoltaic applications
Observations of the initial stages on reactive gas-timing sputtered TaO thin films by dynamic in situ spectroscopic ellipsometery
Spectroscopic study on amorphous tantalum oxynitride thin films prepared by reactive gas-timing RF magnetron sputtering
Reusability, LongâLife Storage and Highly Sensitive Zirconium Nitride (ZrN) SurfaceâEnhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) Substrate Fabricated by Reactive GasâTiming Rf Magnetron Sputtering
Abstract Transition metal nitrides (TMN) are promising material alternative to replace noble metals in the field of plasmonic applications, especially surfaceâenhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Here  we demonstrate a practical surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate using zirconium nitride (ZrN) thin films grown by reactive gasâtiming (RGT) rf magnetron sputtering. The tailored properties of ZrN thin film exploited for SERS activity could be achieved to obtain a highly sensitive ZrN thin film SERS substrate with the enhancement factor (EF) of 1.24 Ă 106 and 4.8 %RSD at 1626 cmâ1 toward methylene blue (MB) analyte which are comparable to the optimized Au sputtered thin films (EF=1.18 Ă 106 and with 5.1%RSD).  We find that the spatial plasmonic hotspots on the surface of ZrN SERS substrate controlled by the turnâon timing of Ar:N2 sputtered gas sequence, leading to the discrete conductive surface profile, strongly relates to nonâstoichiometric composition and the degree of (200)âoriented texture at the surface of ZrN thin film. Furthermore, ZrN thin film SERS substrates exhibit an excellent recyclability more than 30 cycles with simple cleaning process and a storage time longer than 6 months. The detection and reusability of ZrN SERS substrate on the low concentration of trinitrotoluene (TNT) for homeland security are also performed