TY - JOUR A1 - Zhang, Kun A1 - Carrod, Andrew J. A1 - Del Giorgio, Elena A1 - Hughes, Joseph A1 - Rurack, Knut A1 - Bennet, Francesca A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Harrad, Stuart A1 - Pikramenou, Zoe T1 - Luminescence Lifetime-Based Sensing Platform Based on Cyclometalated Iridium(III) Complexes for the Detection of Perfluorooctanoic Acid in Aqueous Samples N2 - Luminescence lifetimes are an attractive analytical method for detection due to its high sensitivity and stability. Iridium probes exhibit luminescence with long excited-state lifetimes, which are sensitive to the local environment. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is listed as a chemical of high concern regarding its toxicity and is classified as a “forever chemical”. In addition to strict limits on the presence of PFOA in drinking water, environmental contamination from industrial effluent or chemical spills requires rapid, simple, accurate, and cost-effective analysis in order to aid containment. Herein, we report the fabrication and function of a novel and facile luminescence sensor for PFOA based on iridium modified on gold surfaces. These surfaces were modified with lipophilic iridium complexes bearing alkyl chains, namely, IrC6 and IrC12, and Zonyl-FSA surfactant. Upon addition of PFOA, the modified surfaces IrC6-FSA@Au and IrC12-FSA @Au show the largest change in the red luminescence signal with changes in the luminescence lifetime that allow monitoring of PFOA concentrations in aqueous solutions. The platform was tested for the measurement of PFOA in aqueous samples spiked with known concentrations of PFOA and demonstrated the capacity to determine PFOA at concentrations >100 μg/L (240 nM). KW - Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) KW - Cyclometalated iridium (III) complexes KW - Luminescent lifetime KW - Optically active surfaces KW - ToF-SIMS PY - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-594535 UR - https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.analchem.3c04289 VL - 96 IS - 4 SP - 1565 EP - 1575 PB - American Chemical Society (ACS) AN - OPUS4-59453 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mrkwitschka, Paul A1 - Rühle, Bastian A1 - Kuchenbecker, Petra A1 - Löhmann, Oliver A1 - Lindemann, Franziska A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan T1 - Embedding and cross-sectioning as a sample preparation procedure for accurate and representative size and shape measurement of nanopowders N2 - Reliable measurement of the size of polydisperse, complex-shaped commercial nanopowders is a difficult but necessary task, e.g., for regulatory requirements and toxicity risk assessment. Suitable methods exist for the accurate characterization of the size of non-aggregated, stabilized, spherical and monodisperse nanoparticles. In contrast, industrial nanoscale powders usually require dedicated sample preparation procedures developed for the analysis method of choice. These nano-powders tend to agglomerate and/or aggregate, a behavior which in combination with an innate broad particle size distribution and irregular shape often significantly alters the achievable accuracy of the measured size parameters. The present study systematically tests two commercially available nanoscale powders using different sample preparation methods for correlative analysis by scanning electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, Brunauer–Emmet–Teller method and differential mobility analysis. One focus was set on the sample preparation by embedding nanoparticles in carbon-based hot-mounting resin. Literature on this topic is scarce and the accuracy of the data extracted from cross sections of these particles is unclearly stated. In this paper systematic simulations on the deviation of the size parameters of well-defined series of nanoparticles with different shapes from the nominal value were carried out and the contributing factors are discussed. KW - Nanopowder KW - Electron microscopy KW - Sample preparation KW - Cross-sectioning KW - Cerium oxide KW - Zinc oxide PY - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-593289 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 14 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Springer Nature CY - London AN - OPUS4-59328 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sordello, F. A1 - Prozzi, M. A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Pellegrino, F. T1 - Increasing the HER efficiency of photodeposited metal nanoparticles over TiO2 using controlled periodic illumination N2 - Although the use of noble metal catalysts can increase the efficiency of hydrogen evolution reaction, the process is still limited by the characteristics of the metal-hydrogen (M−H) bond, which can be too strong or too weak, depending on the metal employed. Studies revealed that the hydrogen affinity for the metal surface (i.e. H absorption/desorption) is regulated also by the potential at the metal nanoparticles. Through controlled periodic illumination (CPI) of a series of metal/TiO2 suspensions, here we demonstrated that an increase of the HER efficiency is possible for those photodeposited metals which have a Tafel slope below 125 mV. Two possible explanations are here reported, in both of them the M−H interaction and the metal covering level play a prominent role, which also depend on the prevailing HER mechanism (Volmer-Heyrovsky or Volmer-Tafel). KW - Controlled periodic illumination KW - Hydrogen evolution reaction KW - Titanium dioxide KW - Photoreforming KW - Volcano plot KW - Sabatier KW - Nanoparticles PY - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-589875 VL - 429 SP - 1 EP - 7 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-58987 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -