Germania nanoparticles and nanocrystals at room temperature in water and aqueous lysine sols

Interactions between Metal Oxides and Biomolecules: from Fundamental Understanding to Applications

Metallo-oxide (MO)-based bioinorganic nanocomposites promise unique structures, physicochemical properties, and novel biochemical functionalities, and within the past decade, investment in research on materials such as ZnO, TiO₂, SiO₂, and GeO₂ has significantly increased. Besides traditional approaches, the synthesis, shaping, structural patterning, and postprocessing chemical functionalization of the materials surface is inspired by strategies which mimic processes in nature. Would such materials deliver new technologies? Answering this question requires the merging of historical knowledge and current research from different fields of science. Practically, we need an effective defragmentation of the research area. From our perspective, the superficial accounting of material properties, chemistry of the surfaces, and the behavior of biomolecules next to such surfaces is a problem. This is particularly of concern when we wish to bridge between technologies in vitro and biotechnologies in vivo. Further, besides the potential practical technological efficiency and advantages such materials might exhibit, we have to consider the wider long-term implications of material stability and toxicity. In this contribution, we present a critical review of recent advances in the chemistry and engineering of MO-based biocomposites, highlighting the role of interactions at the interface and the techniques by which these can be studied. At the end of the article, we outline the challenges which hamper progress in research and extrapolate to developing and promising directions including additive manufacturing and synthetic biology that could benefit from molecular level understanding of interactions occurring between inanimate (abiotic) and living (biotic) materials.

Surfactant-free synthesis of GeO2 nanocrystals with controlled morphologies

The morphological evolution of GeO₂ NPs followed by altering water/ethanol ratio in a surfactant-free approach.

Pauling's third rule beyond the bulk: chemical bonding at quartz-type GeO2surfaces

In an age of high-performance computing, classical chemical concepts still have their place, and may be applied using new tools.

Preparation of hexagonal GeO2 particles with particle size and crystallinity controlled by peptides, silk and silk-peptide chimeras

Synthesis of α-quartz like (hexagonal) GeO₂ by a biomimetic approach using peptides, silk and silk-peptide chimeras to control precipitation yield, particle morphology, size and crystallinity of the mineral.

Aqueous solution synthesis of reduced graphene oxide-germanium nanoparticles and their electrical property testing

Aqueous solution synthesis of reduced graphene oxide-germanium nanoparticles (RGO-GeNPs) was developed using graphene oxide (GO) as stabilizer, which could be conducive to obtain better excellent electrical properties. The information about morphology and chemical composition of the nanomaterials were obtained by TEM, FTIR, EDS, and XRD measurements. Stable aqueous dispersibility of RGO-GeNPs was further improved by poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS) to obtain amphiphilic polymer-coated RGO-GeNPs (PSS-RGO-GeNPs). A possible mechanism to interpret the formation of RGO-GeNPs was proposed. The as-synthesized RGO-GeNPs showed excellent battery performance when used as an anode material for Li ion batteries. The resulting nanocomposites exhibited high specific capacity and good cycling stability after 80 cycles. This study showed a facile strategy to synthetize graphene and Ge nanocomposites which can be a hopeful anode material with excellent electrical properties for lithium ion batteries.