| In recent years, the multifaceted applications of nanotechnology have gained interest in studies among many research groups. Products produced from nanoparticles (1-200 nm) range from storage media in the microelectronic industries, fabrication of a bio-microprocessor that is compatible with bio-molecules, to lower cost of environmental clean up in aqueous and air pollutions, and have been studied by various physical and chemical methods. Combining physics, chemistry, and materials science, theory and bioscience, nanoscience has led to a higher level of understanding technology. The unique characteristic of nanoparticles---the combination of size and self-assembled system that yields a charged particle surface---makes possible the interaction with other molecules. Syntheses for controlled-size particles are well-studied and can be achieved by many methods. The research presented here introduces novel size-controlled methods of biological and non-biological synthesis of particles size of 8 nm or smaller.; Using a biological molecule as a "bio-nanoreactor" to form a mineral core via biomimetic approaches to nanomaterials synthesis has provided a high degree of control over particle composition under mild synthetic conditions. In the research presented, the ferritin protein is studied because the size advantage and the protein's ability to self-assemble molecules that prevent aggregation or coalescence. The interior core of approximately 8 nm is a perfect template for the synthesis of uniform particles. In nature, ferritin stores Fe3+ but this research shows that ferritin is capable of storing other metal species such as arsenate, molybdate, and vanadate.; Another method of size-controlled synthesis is by the precipitation of titanium oxides from aqueous solutions. TiO2 is of interest primarily for the application of cleaning the environment at a low cost. An attractive feature of this synthetic method is that particle size is controlled by temperature, which yielded consistent particle sizes of 8 nm. The particle composition is controlled by lanthanide-doping and pH adjustments. The composition of the particles was determined analytically using several analytical techniques such as TEM, EDS, and XRD. The highly-active particles synthesized were successfully used in the photocatalytic decomposition of an organic model compound (methyl orange). |
