Hyperpolarized Long-T1 Silicon Nanoparticles for Magnetic Resonance Imaging
J. W. Aptekar, M. C. Cassidy, A. C. Johnson, R. A. Barton, M. Y. Lee, A. C. Ogier, C. Vo, M. N. Anahtar, Y. Ren, S. N. Bhatia, C. Ramanathan, D. G. Cory, A. L. … 展开作者
J. W. Aptekar, M. C. Cassidy, A. C. Johnson, R. A. Barton, M. Y. Lee, A. C. Ogier, C. Vo, M. N. Anahtar, Y. Ren, S. N. Bhatia, C. Ramanathan, D. G. Cory, A. L. Hill, R. W. Mair, M. S. Rosen, R. L. Walsworth, C. M. Marcus
Silicon nanoparticles are experimentally investigated as a potential hyperpolarized, targetable MRI imaging agent. Nuclear T_1 times at room temperature for a variety of Si nanoparticles are found to be remarkably long (10^2 to 10^4 s) - roughly consistent with predictions of a core-shell diffusion model - allowing them to be transported, administered and imaged on practical time scales without significant loss of polarization. We also report surface functionalization of Si nanoparticles, comparable to approaches used in other biologically targeted nanoparticle systems.
Future decades will experience tons of silicon waste from various sources, with no reliable recycling route. The transformation of bulk silicon into SiO2 nanoparticles is environmentally significant because it provides a way to recycle residual silicon waste. To address the needs of silicon recycling, we develop a top-down approach that achieves 100% conversion of bulk silicon to silica nanoparticles with outcome sizes of 8-50 nm. In addition to upcycling the potential of silica, our method also possesses several advantages, such as simplicity, scalability and controllable particle size distri…
Nanoscale Structure and Energy Dissipation Behaviour of Tungsten Disulphide and Gold Nanoparticles and Nanoclusters Investigated by Advanced Microscopy Techniques
Embedding silicon nanoparticles in an intermetallic matrix is a promising strategy to produce remarkable bulk anode materials for lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries with low potential, high electrochemical capacity and good cycling stability. These composite materials can be synthetized at a large scale using mechanical milling. However, for Si-Ni3Sn4 composites, milling also induces a chemical reaction between the two components leading to the formation of free Sn and NiSi2, which is detrimental to the performance of the electrode. To prevent this reaction, a modification of the surface chemistry…
Thin films from the lanthanum vanadate nanoparticles were successfully grown by pulsed laser deposition method on glass and silicon substrates for the first time. Morphology and thickness of the films depend on a type of substrate and a number of pulses. The films are of 27 to 220 nm thickness and formed by very small particles up to 20 nm and also can contain single nanoparticles with dimensions 40 to 60 nm and sometimes agglomerates of nanoparticles. Spectral properties of the samples have been investigated and discussed. The vanadate films deposited on the silicon substrates lead to appeara…
In this work, we report a new stop-band formation mechanism by performing the atomistic Green's function calculation and the wave-packet molecular dynamics simulation for a system with germanium-nanoparticle array embedded in a crystalline silicon matrix. When only a single nanoparticle is embedded, the local resonance, induced through destructive interference between two different phonon wave paths, gives rise to several sharp and significant transmittance dips. On the other hand, when the number of embedded nanoparticles further increases to ten, a stop band with complete phonon reflection i…
We theoretically analyse the hybrid Mie-exciton optical modes arising from the strong coupling of excitons in organic dyes or transition-metal dichalcogenides with the Mie resonances of high-index dielectric nanoparticles. Detailed analytic calculations show that silicon--exciton core--shell nanoparticles are characterised by a richness of optical modes which can be tuned through nanoparticle dimensions to produce large anticrossings in the visible or near infrared, comparable to those obtained in plexcitonics. The complex magnetic-excitonic nature of these modes is understood through spectral…
Many biological materials exhibit a multiscale porosity with small, mostly nanoscale pores as well as large, macroscopic capillaries to simultaneously achieve optimized mass transport capabilities and lightweight structures with large inner surfaces. Realizing such a hierarchical porosity in artificial materials necessitates often sophisticated and expensive top-down processing that limits scalability. Here we present an approach that combines self-organized porosity based on metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) with photolithographically induced macroporosity for the synthesis of single-cry…
We have investigated the formation of laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS or ripples) on silicon upon excitation with p-polarized excimer laser pulses in the deep ultraviolet region (wavelength = 193 nm, pulse duration = 20 ns). Well-pronounced ripples with a period close to the laser wavelength were observed for pulse numbers N = 100 or higher, and the ripple period increased with the angle of incidence. While these results seem to be qualitatively consistent with the standard Sipe-theory, we observed a fundamentally different ripple formation mechanism and ripple morphology. At …
Ultrashort laser pulses allows to deliver electromagnetic energy to matter causing its localized heating that can be used for both material removal via ablation/evaporation and drive interface chemical reactions. Here, we showed that both mentioned processes can be simultaneously combined within straightforward laser nanotexturing of Si wafer in functionalizing solution to produce a practically relevant metal-semiconductor surface nano-morphology. Such unique hybrid morphology represent deep-subwavelength Si LIPSSs with a extremely short period down to 70 nm with their high-aspect-ratio nanotr…
Monocrystalline silicon solar cells with photo-absorbing morphology can amplify light-trapping properties within the absorber layer and help to fabricate cost-effective solar cells. In this paper, the effect of different parameters namely temperature and time of Cu-assisted chemical etching was thoroughly investigated for the optimization of the light absorption properties. P-type monocrystalline wafers were selectively treated with Cu(NO3)2.3H2O:HF:H2O2:DI water solution at 50 deg.C for five different time duration. The entire process was repeated at five different temperatures for 20min as w…
In this article, we present new samples of lamellar magnetic nanocomposites based on the self-assembly of a polystyrene-b-poly(n-butyl methacrylate) diblock copolymer synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization. The polymer films were loaded with magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles covered with polystyrene chains grown by surface initiated-ATRP. The nanostructuration of the pure and magnetically loaded copolymer films on silicon was studied by atomic force microscopy, ellipsometry, neutron reflectivity and contact angle measurement. The present study highlights the strong influence of th…
Gallium is a plasmonic material offering ultraviolet to near-infrared tunability, facile and scalable preparation, and good stability of nanoparticles. In our contribution, we experimentally demonstrate the link between the shape and size of individual gallium nanoparticles and their optical properties. To this end, we utilize scanning transmission electron microscopy combined with electron energy loss spectroscopy. Lens-shaped gallium nanoparticles with a diameter between 10 nm and 200 nm were grown directly on a silicon nitride membrane using an in-house developed effusion cell operated at u…
We develop an electronic-temperature dependent interatomic potential $Φ(T_\text{e})$ for unexcited and laser-excited silicon. The potential is designed to reproduce ab initio molecular dynamics simulations by requiring force- and energy matching for each time step. $Φ(T_\text{e})$ has a simple and flexible analytical form, can describe all relevant interactions and is applicable for any kind of boundary conditions (bulk, thin films, clusters). Its overall shape is automatically adjusted by a self-learning procedure, which finally finds the global minimum in the parameter space. We show that $Φ…
Formation of surface plasmon modes in sodium nanoclusters containing 20-300 atoms was studied using the GW method. It is shown that in the small Na nanoparticles up to 2 nm in size, the loss function $Im[ε^{-1}]$ is dominated by a single peak corresponding to localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). For particles of 2 nm and more, a resonance corresponding to surface plasmon polariton (SPP) oscillations begins to form, as well as a resonance corresponding to volume plasmon (VP) excitations. Considering the above, the linear size of a particle in the range of 0.7-3.7 nm can be estimated as t…
