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Article history: Well-crystallized bismuth subcarbonate ((BiO)2CO3) nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by
Received 4 July 2009 water-in-oil (w/o) microemulsion-assisted hydrothermal method. In this synthesis, bismuth citrate and
Received in revised form 9 December 2009 urea are used as the precursors and the thermal decomposition of citrate leads to the formation of major
Accepted 24 December 2009
carbonate anion. The reaction, nucleation and growth steps are confined inside the water droplets and
Available online 11 January 2010
hence uniform and well-crystallized spherical nanoparticles are formed. Importantly, these
nanoparticles exert comparable anti-Helicobacter pylori activities to the clinically used drug, colloidal
Keywords:
bismuth subcitrate (CBS), which offers a promise for development of new nanomedicines.
A. Inorganic compounds
A. Nanostructures
ß 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
C. Electron microscopy
C. X-ray diffraction
0025-5408/$ – see front matter ß 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.materresbull.2009.12.035
R. Chen et al. / Materials Research Bulletin 45 (2010) 654–658 655
gastritis. To our knowledge, this is the first report of bismuth be matched to the standard data of tetragonal (BiO)2CO3 (JCPDS No.
subcarbonbate nanoparticles. 41-1488). Broadening of diffraction peaks indicated the small
crystal size exhibited by (BiO)2CO3 nanoparticles since the line-
2. Experimental width is inversely proportional to the size of nano-crystallite [28].
The presence of few weak unidentified diffraction peaks were
2.1. Materials attributed to the thimbleful impurities. X-ray photoelectron
spectroscopy (XPS) was used to evaluate the oxidation state and
Bismuth citrate and urea were purchased from Aldrich. composition of the solid bismuth sample (Fig. 1b). In the high-
Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) was purchased from resolution X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), two strong peaks in
Lancaster. n-Pentanol and n-hexane were purchased from Ajax the Bi region at 158.7 and 164.0 eV were assigned to the Bi(4f)
Finechem. All the reagents were analytical grade and used directly binding energy (Fig. 1c). The peaks in the carbon region at 284.6
without further purification. and 287.9 eV and oxygen region at 530.0 eV correspond to the
C(1s) and O(1s) transition respectively (Fig. 1d and e). The ratio of
2.2. Synthesis the peak integrations was found to be near 2:1:5 for Bi, C and O,
respectively.
In a typical experiment, 3.64 g CTAB (10 mmol, 0.1 M) was Fig. 2 shows the TEM (a and b) and high-resolution TEM (c and
dissolved in 9.0 mL n-pentanol (83 mmol) and 89.7 mL n-hexane d) images of (BiO)2CO3 nanoparticles prepared by w/o micro-
(0.69 mol) in a 100 mL round bottom flask, followed by addition of emulsion-assisted with hydrothermal process. Spherical and
1.3 mL of 50 mM bismuth citrate (65 mmol) to the oil phase. The nearly uniform nanoparticles can be observed in the whole
mixture was stirred for 15 min to form a yellow transparent sample, Fig. 2a and b. The range of the particle size varies from 5 to
microemulsion. 0.66 g urea (10 mmol) was added to the mixture 15 nm, with an average diameter and standard deviation to be
with vigorous stirring for 12 h in order to dissolve all the urea. The about 9.2 and 1.0 nm (see Fig. S1). The particle size distribution of
mixture was then sonicated for 30 min, and transferred to a Teflon- these nanoparticles is relatively narrow, indicative of uniform
lined stainless steel autoclave to perform hydrothermal process at (BiO)2CO3 nanoparticles being formed. It is in good agreement with
150 8C for 4 h. After the hydrothermal process, the solid products the estimated nanoparticle size from the XRD data (12.6 nm).
were collected and washed with ethanol and water several times Lattice fringes can be clearly observed from the HRTEM images of
by centrifugation. The samples were finally dried in a desiccator for (BiO)2CO3 nanoparticles, suggesting that the (BiO)2CO3 nanopar-
few days at room temperature for further characterization. ticles are well-crystallized and have a high order of crystallinity
(Fig. 2c and d). The interplanar distance (d-spacing) is about
2.3. Characterization 3.723 Å, in well agreement with the literature value of (0 1 1) plane
of tetragonal (BiO)2CO3 (3.72 Å, JCPDS No. 41-1488). The corre-
The structures of the obtained products were characterized by sponding SAED pattern of selected individual (BiO)2CO3 nanopar-
X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) using Philips PW1830 powder X- ticles showed orderly arranged spots, which is a typical diffraction
ray diffractometer with graphite monochromatized Cu Ka radia- pattern for single crystal structure materials, again indicative of a
tion (l = 1.540562 Å) and nickel filter. The scanning rate is high order of crystallinity (Fig. 2c, inset). The inset of Fig. 2b shows
0.58 min1 in the 2u range from 20 to 708. X-ray photoelectron the corresponding SAED pattern which is performed at a selected
spectroscopy (XPS) of the solid product was performed on a area of (BiO)2CO3 nanoparticles. It exhibits several diffraction ring
Physical Electronic 5PHI 5600 with monochromatic Al Ka X-ray patterns, which is characteristic for a polycrystallized structure.
source. The microstructures and morphologies were analyzed with This is consistent with the result of a single crystal structure of
selected area electron diffraction (SAED), transmission electron individual (BiO)2CO3 nanoparticles deduced previously. The
microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution transmission electron observed SAED pattern in Fig. 2b, is the sum of different single-
microscopy (HRTEM), which were carried out on a Philips Tecnai crystallized (BiO)2CO3 nanoparticles since each of them show a
20 electron microscope using an accelerating voltage of 200 kV. different orientation and crystal plane. Energy-dispersive spec-
Energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis was applied to investigate troscopy (EDX) was also used to analyze the elemental composi-
the component, which was performed on an Oxford Instruments tions of these (BiO)2CO3 nanoparticles (see Fig. S2). The presence of
INCA with a scanning range from 0 to 20 keV. bismuth, carbon and oxygen peaks is obviously attributed to the
(BiO)2CO3 nanoparticles, while the presence of carbon coupled
2.4. Biological studies and measurement with copper peaks is probably corresponding to the carbon coated
copper grid.
H. pylori 26695 (a gift from Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, the It has been reported previously that bismuth nitrate pentahy-
University of Hong Kong) was cultured on Brucella agar (Difco) drate and urea were the precursors in the synthesis of bismuth
plates supplemented with 10% defibrinated sheep blood at 37 8C oxide nanoparticles [29]. The reaction involves thermal hydrolysis
under microaerophilic conditions (5% CO2, 4% O2 and 91% N2), of urea to produce hydroxide (OH) [25,30] and subsequent
maintained by Campypak Plus (BBL). A series of bismuth condensation of Bi(OH)3 intermediate to give rise to the desired
compounds with different concentrations were added to each Bi2O3 (Eqs. (1)–(3)):
well which contains the same amount of H. pylori suspensions and
D
cultured at 37 8C under microaerophilic conditions (5% CO2, 4% O2 ðNH2 Þ2 CO þ 3H2 O!CO2 þ 2NHþ
4 þ 2OH
(1)
and 91% N2) for 3–4 days. Together with the control, the optical
density at 600 nm (OD600) of each well was measured and the Bi3þ þ 3OH ! BiðOHÞ3 (2)
bacterial survival percentages were determined.
D
2BiðOHÞ3 !Bi2 O3 þ 3H2 O (3)
3. Result and discussion
Interestingly, (BiO)2CO3 nanoparticles were obtained when
The as-synthesized bismuth products were first characterized bismuth citrate, instead of bismuth nitrate, was used as the
by powder XRD analysis and the result was depicted in Fig. 1a. The substrate in this study. The only difference is the incorporation of
powder XRD pattern showed strong diffraction peaks, which could citrate anions in the substrate comparing with the previous
656 R. Chen et al. / Materials Research Bulletin 45 (2010) 654–658
Fig. 1. Powder XRD spectrum of (BiO)2CO3 nanoparticles (a) and XPS spectra of (BiO)2CO3 nanoparticles at low resolution and high resolution (b) at bismuth (Bi(4f), c), carbon
(C(1s), d) and oxygen (O(1s), e) region.
studies, therefore, a possible source of the carbonate anions in the the oil phase [31,32]. The surfactant molecules surrounding the
product may come from the thermal decomposition of citrate water droplets, facilitate the formation of spherical reverse
anions. Whereas the carbonate anions generated may then replace micelles with uniform size at nano-scale [33], leading to
one of the oxide anions in Bi2O3 and contribute to the formation of formation of a uniform shape and size of (BiO)2CO3 nanoparticles,
(BiO)2CO3. Therefore, the bismuth citrate acts not only as bismuth as illustrated in Fig. 3. In the microemulsion system, the anionic
precursor but also as the source of carbonate and oxygen. bismuth citrate and polar urea dissolves in the polar water
The water-in-oil (w/o) microemulsion-assisted hydrothermal droplets. Before hydrothermal process, continuous coalescence
method may play an important role for fabrication of well- and decoalescence of water droplets due to Brownian motion lead
separated (BiO)2CO3 nanoparticles. The water-in-oil (w/o) micro- to the even distribution of the substrates among the water
emulsion provides a size-confined nanoreactor for nucleation and droplets [16]. This ensures the high local reactant concentration
growth. It is a thermodynamically stable heterogeneous system in and results in fast nucleation, which further leads to rapid
which water droplets with sizes less than 100 nm, are dispersed in formation of small and substantial amount of nuclei [25]. During
R. Chen et al. / Materials Research Bulletin 45 (2010) 654–658 657
Fig. 2. TEM (a and b) and HRTEM (c and d) images of (BiO)2CO3 nanoparticles. The insets of (b) and (c) show the corresponding SAED pattern of the selected area of
nanoparticles and individual nanoparticle, respectively.
the hydrothermal process, a high pressure and high temperature formed, the surfactant molecules will immediately cap on the
environment is established inside the Teflon vessel. Under this surface of the particles and prevent them from coagulation. Upon
condition, a supercritical phase or near-supercritical phase may removal of the solvent, these capped nanoparticles will coagulate
be achieved. Compounds can therefore be well crystallized at this together due to the Van der Waal interaction between the
region and give the expected single-crystallized nanoparticles hydrocarbon tails. This may explain why some (BiO)2CO3
[34]. The synthesis of nanomaterials using supercritical fluid has nanoparticles are surrounded by some amorphous materials in
been well documented [35,36]. Once the colloidal particles are the TEM images.