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Jeremy Sloan

Publications and source records attributed to Jeremy Sloan.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Correlation of structural and electronic properties in a new low-dimensional form of mercury telluride.

Using high resolution electron microscopy and first principles quantum mechanical calculations we have explored the fundamental physics and chemistry of the semiconductor, HgTe grown inside single wall carbon nanotubes. This material forms a low-dimensional structure based on a repeating Hg2Te2 motif in which both atom species adopt new coordination geometries not seen in the bulk. Density-functional theory calculations confirm the stability of this structure and demonstrate conclusively that it arises solely as a consequence of constrained low dimensionality. This change is directly correlated with a modified electronic structure in which the low-dimensional form of HgTe is transformed from a bulk semimetal to a semiconductor.

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PubMed2005

Complement activation and protein adsorption by carbon nanotubes.

As a first step to validate the use of carbon nanotubes as novel vaccine or drug delivery devices, their interaction with a part of the human immune system, complement, has been explored. Haemolytic assays were conducted to investigate the activation of the human serum complement system via the classical and alternative pathways. Western blot and sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) techniques were used to elucidate the mechanism of activation of complement via the classical pathway, and to analyse the interaction of complement and other plasma proteins with carbon nanotubes. We report for the first time that carbon nanotubes activate human complement via both classical and alternative pathways. We conclude that complement activation by nanotubes is consistent with reported adjuvant effects, and might also in various circumstances promote damaging effects of excessive complement activation, such as inflammation and granuloma formation. C1q binds directly to carbon nanotubes. Protein binding to carbon nanotubes is highly selective, since out of the many different proteins in plasma, very few bind to the carbon nanotubes. Fibrinogen and apolipoproteins (AI, AIV and CIII) were the proteins that bound to carbon nanotubes in greatest quantity.

Adsorption↗
PubMed2004

Single-walled carbon nanotubes filled with M OH (M = K, Cs) and then washed and refilled with clusters and molecules.

Heating single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) with molten hydroxides MOH (M = K, Cs) gave MOH@SWNT in good yield; high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) indicated that CsOH in CsOH@SWNT often adopts twisted 1D crystal structures inside SWNTs; treating MOH@SWNT with water at room temperature removes the soluble hydroxide filling and the resulting SWNTs may then be filled using aqueous solutions of uranyl acetate or uranyl nitrate at rt giving SWNTs filled with UO(2) clusters and uranyl acetate molecules.

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PubMed2004

Growing and characterizing one-dimensional crystals within single-walled carbon nanotubes.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have been used as growth templates for spatially confined crystal growth. The comparative crystallization and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy imaging properties of simple binary halides formed by the alkali iodides MI (M = Li, K, Na, Rb and Cs) within SWNTs are described. The most common structure type observed within SWNTs was the rocksalt archetype, although CsI was observed to form both body-centred cubic (bcc) and rocksalt structure types. ThCl4 was found to form a chain structure of Th[Cl]8 polyhedra. HgI2 crystallized within nanotubes with ultra-narrow (i.e. 0.8 nm) capillaries was observed to form helical 2 x 1 layer crystals.

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PubMed2003

An encapsulated helical one-dimensional cobalt iodide nanostructure.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) can be used as templates for the growth of low-dimensional inorganic materials whose structures and properties often differ greatly from those of the bulk. Here we describe the detailed crystallography of an entire helical one-dimensional cobalt diiodide nanostructure encapsulated within a SWNT. This material has an unprecedented twisted double tetrahedral chain structure arising from a rotation of Co(2)I(4) units along its length. The complete nanostructure comprises two distinct regions with oppositely handed helices separated by a short disordered region. The encapsulating SWNT shows a commensurate ovoid distortion reflecting an unexpectedly strong interaction between the nanostructure and the SWNT.

Cobalt↗
PubMed2003

Structural characterization of the n = 5 layered perovskite neodymium titanate using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and image reconstruction.

The structure of Nd(5)Ti(5)O(17) has been refined from a reconstruction of the specimen exit-plane wave restored from a series of incrementally defocused high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) images. The phase of the exit-plane wave shows contrast attributable to the oxygen anion sublattice and coupled with simulations provides confirmation of the composition of the cation sites as a function of sample thickness. The enhanced resolution in the exit-plane wave additionally allows a direct measurement of the 'skewing' of the perovskite slabs.

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PubMed2002

The formation of ReS(2) inorganic fullerene-like structures containing Re(4) parallelogram units and metal-metal bonds.

The encapsulation of ReO(x) within ReS(2) inorganic fullerene-like cages is described for the first time. The encapsulate was prepared by the sulfidization of both hand-milled and ball-milled samples of ReO(2); partial conversion of the oxide to the sulfide was achieved with the degree of sulfidization depending on the exposure to the sulfidizing agent, H(2)S.

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PubMed2002

Metastable one-dimensional AgCl(1)-(x)I(x) solid-solution wurzite "tunnel" crystals formed within single-walled carbon nanotubes.

High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and spatially resolved electron loss spectroscopy have revealed that a eutectic mixture of AgCl and AgI crystallizes within single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as metastable AgCl(1-)(x)I(x) 1D solid solution crystals. The incorporated halide crystals form wurzite "tunnel" structures with locally varying Cl:I ratios and reduced Ag coordination.

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PubMed2002

Bimetallic nanoparticles aligned at the tips of carbon nanotubes.

Cluster-derived bimetallic nanoparticles have been deposited onto multi-wall carbon nanotubes and shown to be generally homogeneously dispersed, of uniform small sizes, of the same composition as the starting mixed-metal clusters, and to have a tendency to align at the tips of the tubules.

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PubMed2002

Magnetism and structural chemistry of the n = 1 Ruddlesden-Popper phases La4LiMnO8 and La3SrLiMnO8.

Polycrystalline samples of La4LiMnO8 and La3SrLiMnO8 have been studied by a combination of X-ray diffraction (XRD), neutron diffraction (ND), 6Li MAS NMR, electron microscopy (EM), and magnetometry. Room-temperature XRD and ND measurements suggest that both compounds have the K2NiF4 structure, with a disordered arrangement of Li and Mn over the six-coordinate sites. However, MAS NMR and EM demonstrate the presence of local 1:1 Li:Mn order on these sites, and EM shows that although cation order is well-developed in each xy sheet of corner-sharing octahedra, the sheets are stacked randomly along z. The structures are best described as paracrystalline, and many of the concepts of conventional crystallography are inapplicable. Magnetometry and low-temperature ND experiments show that, despite their paracrystallinity, the two compounds are ordered antiferromagnetically with susceptibility maxima at 26 and 18 K, respectively, and with ordered magnetic moments of 3.61(6) and 2.3(1) muB per Mn cation at 2 K. Anisotropic peak broadening reveals a 2D character in the magnetic behavior of both compounds, and La3SrLiMnO8 is well-modeled as a quadratic layer S = 3/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

Structural characterization of atomically regulated nanocrystals formed within single-walled carbon nanotubes using electron microscopy.

The structural chemistry of nanoscale materials encapsulated within single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) is reviewed. SWNTs form atomically thin channels within a restricted diameter range, and their internal van der Waals surfaces regulate the growth behavior of encapsulated crystals in a precise fashion, leading to atomically regulated growth. The structural properties of these systems are largely dictated by the structural chemistry of the bulk material, although significant deviations from bulk structures are often observed, with lower surface coordinations and substantial lattice distortions.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1998

15R SrMn(1-)(x)()Fe(x)()O(3)(-)(delta) (x approximately 0.1); A New Perovskite Stacking Sequence.

A polycrystalline sample of a new phase in the Sr-Fe-Mn-O system has been prepared by standard solid-state techniques. Characterization at room temperature by X-ray diffraction, high-resolution electron microscopy, Mössbauer spectroscopy and neutron diffraction has led to it being described as a 15-layered, rhombohedral (15R) perovskite [space group R&thremacr;m: a = 5.4489(1) Å, c = 33.8036(7) Å] with a previously unobserved structure. The pseudo close-packed SrO(3) layers have a (cchch)(3) stacking sequence such that the occupation of the interstitial 6-coordinate sites by Mn (or Fe) leads to the formation of Mn(2)O(9) units which are linked to each other either directly by a common vertex, or indirectly via a single, vertex-sharing MnO(6) octahedron. The stoichiometry of the compound was determined to be SrMn(0.915(5))Fe(0.085(5))O(2.979(3)). The face-sharing sites are occupied by 0.957(3)Mn/0.043(3)Fe while the exclusively corner-linked sites show a higher Fe occupation; 0.745(4)Mn/ 0.255(4)Fe. A neutron diffraction experiment carried out at 3 K indicated the presence of long-range magnetic order with the Mn(4+) cations aligned antiferromagnetically with an ordered moment of 2.26(3)&mgr;(B)/Mn(4+). Both the neutron and the susceptibility data are consistent with the Fe cations remaining magnetically disordered to 3 K. The latter data show T(N) = 220 K, and suggest that some spin frustration is present at low temperatures.

Journal Article↗