TY - JOUR A1 - Meiling, T. T. A1 - Schürmann, Robin A1 - Vogel, Stefanie A1 - Ebel, Kenny A1 - Nicolas, C. A1 - Milosavljević, A. R. A1 - Bald, Ilko T1 - Photophysics and chemistry of nitrogen-doped carbon nanodots with high photoluminescence quantum yield N2 - Fluorescent carbon nanodots (CNDs) are very promising nanomaterials for a broad range of applications because of their high photostability, presumed selective luminescence, and low cost at which they can be produced. In this respect, CNDs are superior to well-established semiconductor quantum dots and organic dyes. However, reported synthesis protocols for CNDs typically lead to low photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) and low reproducibility, resulting in a poor understanding of the CND chemistry and photophysics. Here, we report a one-step synthesis of nitrogen-doped carbon nanodots (N-CNDs) from various carboxylic acids, Tris, and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid resulting in high PLQY of up to 90%. The reaction conditions in terms of starting materials, temperature, and reaction time are carefully optimized and their influence on the photophysical properties is characterized. We find that citric acid-derived N-CNDs can result in a very high PLQY of 90%, but they do not Show selective luminescence. By contrast, acetic acid-derived N-CNDs show selective luminescence but a PLQY of 50%. The chemical composition of the surface and core of these two selected N-CND types is characterized among others by high-Resolution synchrotron X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy using single isolated N-CND clusters. The results indicate that photoexcitation occurs in the N-CND core, whereas the emission properties are determined by the N-CND surface groups. KW - Carbon nanodots KW - Fluorescence KW - Synchrotron XPS PY - 2018 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.8b00748 SN - 1932-7447 VL - 122 IS - 18 SP - 10217 EP - 10230 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-45426 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vogel, Stefanie A1 - Ebel, Kenny A1 - Schürmann, Robin M. A1 - Miloavljevic, A. R. A1 - Guliani, A. A1 - Bald, Ilko T1 - Vacuum-UV induced DNA strand breaks – influence of the radiosensitizers 5-bromouracil and 8-bromoadenine N2 - Radiation therapy is a basic part of cancer treatment. To increase the DNA damage in carcinogenic cells and preserve healthy tissue at the same time, radiosensitizing molecules such as halogenated nucleobase analogs can be incorporated into the DNA during the cell reproduction cycle. In the present study 8.44 eV photon irradiation induced single strand breaks (SSB) in DNA sequences modified with the radiosensitizer 5-bromouracil (5BrU) and 8-bromoadenine (8BrA) are investigated. 5BrU was incorporated in the 13mer oligonucleotide flanked by different nucleobases. It was demonstrated that the highest SSB cross sections were reached, when cytosine and thymine were adjacent to 5BrU, whereas guanine as a neighboring nucleobase decreases the activity of 5BrU indicating that competing reaction mechanisms are active. This was further investigated with respect to the distance of guanine to 5BrU separated by an increasing number of adenine nucleotides. It was observed that the SSB cross sections were decreasing with an increasing number of adenine spacers between guanine and 5BrU until the SSB cross sections almost reached the level of a non-modified DNA sequence, which demonstrates the high sequence dependence of the sensitizing effect of 5BrU. 8BrA was incorporated in a 13mer oligonucleotide as well and the strand breaks were quantified upon 8.44 eV photon irradiation in direct comparison to a non-modified DNA sequence of the same composition. No clear enhancement of the SSB yield of the modified in comparison to the non-modified DNA sequence could be observed. Additionally, secondary electrons with a maximum energy of 3.6 eV were generated when using Si as a substrate giving rise to further DNA damage. A clear enhancement in the SSB yield can be ascertained, but to the same degree for both the non-modified DNA sequence and the DNA sequence modified with 8BrA. KW - Vacuum-UV KW - 5-bromouracil KW - 8-bromoadenine PY - 2019 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/c8cp06813e SN - 1463-9084 VL - 21 IS - 4 SP - 1972 EP - 1979 PB - RSC AN - OPUS4-47462 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schürmann, Robin A1 - Ebel, Kenny A1 - Nicolas, C. A1 - Milosavljevic, A. R. A1 - Bald, Ilko T1 - Role of valence band states and plasmonic enhancement in electron-transfer-induced transformation of nitrothiophenol N2 - Hot-electron-induced reactions are more and more recognized as a critical and ubiquitous reaction in heterogeneous catalysis. However, the kinetics of these reactions is still poorly understood, which is also due to the complexity of plasmonic nanostructures. We determined the reaction rates of the hot-electron-mediated reaction of 4-nitrothiophenol (NTP) on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) using fractal kinetics as a function of the laser wavelength and compared them with the plasmonic enhancement of the system. The reaction rates can be only partially explained by the plasmonic response of the NPs. Hence, synchrotron X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements of isolated NTP-capped AuNP clusters have been performed for the first time. In this way, it was possible to determine the work function and the accessible valence band states of the NP systems. The results show that besides the plasmonic enhancement, the reaction rates are strongly influenced by the local density of the available electronic states of the system. KW - Photocatalytic reduction KW - Raman-spectroscopy KW - Hot-electrons KW - Work function KW - Surface KW - Nanaoparticles KW - Scattering KW - Molecule KW - Carriers KW - Layers PY - 2019 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-486464 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.9b00848 SN - 1948-7185 VL - 10 IS - 11 SP - 3153 EP - 3158 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-48646 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -