Sunlight and water are among the most plentiful and sustainable resources of energy. Natural phot... more Sunlight and water are among the most plentiful and sustainable resources of energy. Natural photosystem II in the plants uses these resources in ecofriendly manner for the production of atmospheric oxygen and energy. Inspired by this natural process, the development of artificial catalytic system to facilitate the solar-induced water splitting for the continuous production of hydrogen is the holy grail of the chemist and energy experts to meet the future energy demand at minimal environmental cost. Despite considerable research efforts dedicated to this area in the last decade, the development of highly efficient, stable and economic photocatalysts remain a challenging task for the large scale H2 production from water. Polyoxometalates (POMs)-based materials are emerging photo/photoelectrocatalysts in this quest owing to their multi-electron redox potential and fast reversible charge transfer properties, which are the essential requirements of photo-assisted water splitting catalys...
Hierarchically porous nanostructured anatase TiO2macrobeads prepared by using emulsion-templated ... more Hierarchically porous nanostructured anatase TiO2macrobeads prepared by using emulsion-templated polyacrylamide beads as the sacrificial exotemplates for efficient photodegradation of dyes/microbes.
Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials, especially 2D organic nanomaterials with unprecedentedly dive... more Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials, especially 2D organic nanomaterials with unprecedentedly diverse and controlled structure, have attracted decent scientific interest. Among the preparation strategies, the top-down approach is one of the considered low-cost and scalable strategies to obtain 2D organic nanomaterials. However, some factors of their layered counterparts limited the development and potential applications of 2D organic nanomaterials, such as type, stability, and strict synthetic conditions of layered counterparts. We report a class of layered solvent knitting hyper-cross-linked microporous polymers (SHCPs) prepared by improving Friedel-Crafts reaction and using dichloroalkane as an economical solvent, stable electrophilic reagent, and external cross-linker at low temperature, which could be used as layered counterparts to obtain previously unknown 2D SHCP nanosheets by method of ultrasonic-assisted solvent exfoliation. This efficient and low-cost strategy can produce p...
Gold and silver nanoparticles were prepared by reducing aqueous solutions of the respective metal... more Gold and silver nanoparticles were prepared by reducing aqueous solutions of the respective metal salts with sodium acrylate (SA), which also acts as capping agent. Gold nanoparticles were also prepared using poly(sodium acrylate) (PSA) with various molecular weights (2100, 5100, 15 000, and 30 000 g/mol). These polymers act as both reducing and stabilizing agents for the gold nanoparticles. Gold nanoparticles formed using SA are nearly spherical and have a narrow size distribution (11-17 nm). These particles are similar in size and stability to those formed by the conventional citrate reduction method. PSA-stabilized gold nanoparticles are somewhat less uniform in size but also highly stable. The polymer-stabilized gold particles can be used to form composite polymer films with optical properties that depend on the volume fraction of gold.
Based on protein folding considerations, a pentapeptide ligand, CALNN, which converts citratestab... more Based on protein folding considerations, a pentapeptide ligand, CALNN, which converts citratestabilized gold nanoparticles into extremely stable, water-soluble gold nanoparticles with some chemical properties analogous to those of proteins, has been designed. These peptide-capped gold nanoparticles can be freeze-dried and stored as powders that can be subsequently redissolved to yield stable aqueous dispersions. Filtration, size-exclusion chromatography, ion-exchange chromatography, electrophoresis, and centrifugation can be applied to these particles. The effect of 58 different peptide sequences on the electrolyte-induced aggregation of the nanoparticles was studied. The stabilities conferred by these peptide ligands depended on their length, hydrophobicity, and charge and in some cases resulted in further improved stability compared with CALNN, yielding detailed design criteria for peptide capping ligands. A simple strategy for the introduction of recognition groups is proposed and demonstrated with biotin and Strep-tag II.
Sunlight and water are among the most plentiful and sustainable resources of energy. Natural phot... more Sunlight and water are among the most plentiful and sustainable resources of energy. Natural photosystem II in the plants uses these resources in ecofriendly manner for the production of atmospheric oxygen and energy. Inspired by this natural process, the development of artificial catalytic system to facilitate the solar-induced water splitting for the continuous production of hydrogen is the holy grail of the chemist and energy experts to meet the future energy demand at minimal environmental cost. Despite considerable research efforts dedicated to this area in the last decade, the development of highly efficient, stable and economic photocatalysts remain a challenging task for the large scale H2 production from water. Polyoxometalates (POMs)-based materials are emerging photo/photoelectrocatalysts in this quest owing to their multi-electron redox potential and fast reversible charge transfer properties, which are the essential requirements of photo-assisted water splitting catalys...
Hierarchically porous nanostructured anatase TiO2macrobeads prepared by using emulsion-templated ... more Hierarchically porous nanostructured anatase TiO2macrobeads prepared by using emulsion-templated polyacrylamide beads as the sacrificial exotemplates for efficient photodegradation of dyes/microbes.
Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials, especially 2D organic nanomaterials with unprecedentedly dive... more Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials, especially 2D organic nanomaterials with unprecedentedly diverse and controlled structure, have attracted decent scientific interest. Among the preparation strategies, the top-down approach is one of the considered low-cost and scalable strategies to obtain 2D organic nanomaterials. However, some factors of their layered counterparts limited the development and potential applications of 2D organic nanomaterials, such as type, stability, and strict synthetic conditions of layered counterparts. We report a class of layered solvent knitting hyper-cross-linked microporous polymers (SHCPs) prepared by improving Friedel-Crafts reaction and using dichloroalkane as an economical solvent, stable electrophilic reagent, and external cross-linker at low temperature, which could be used as layered counterparts to obtain previously unknown 2D SHCP nanosheets by method of ultrasonic-assisted solvent exfoliation. This efficient and low-cost strategy can produce p...
Gold and silver nanoparticles were prepared by reducing aqueous solutions of the respective metal... more Gold and silver nanoparticles were prepared by reducing aqueous solutions of the respective metal salts with sodium acrylate (SA), which also acts as capping agent. Gold nanoparticles were also prepared using poly(sodium acrylate) (PSA) with various molecular weights (2100, 5100, 15 000, and 30 000 g/mol). These polymers act as both reducing and stabilizing agents for the gold nanoparticles. Gold nanoparticles formed using SA are nearly spherical and have a narrow size distribution (11-17 nm). These particles are similar in size and stability to those formed by the conventional citrate reduction method. PSA-stabilized gold nanoparticles are somewhat less uniform in size but also highly stable. The polymer-stabilized gold particles can be used to form composite polymer films with optical properties that depend on the volume fraction of gold.
Based on protein folding considerations, a pentapeptide ligand, CALNN, which converts citratestab... more Based on protein folding considerations, a pentapeptide ligand, CALNN, which converts citratestabilized gold nanoparticles into extremely stable, water-soluble gold nanoparticles with some chemical properties analogous to those of proteins, has been designed. These peptide-capped gold nanoparticles can be freeze-dried and stored as powders that can be subsequently redissolved to yield stable aqueous dispersions. Filtration, size-exclusion chromatography, ion-exchange chromatography, electrophoresis, and centrifugation can be applied to these particles. The effect of 58 different peptide sequences on the electrolyte-induced aggregation of the nanoparticles was studied. The stabilities conferred by these peptide ligands depended on their length, hydrophobicity, and charge and in some cases resulted in further improved stability compared with CALNN, yielding detailed design criteria for peptide capping ligands. A simple strategy for the introduction of recognition groups is proposed and demonstrated with biotin and Strep-tag II.
Uploads
Papers by Irshad Hussain