Vera Butova

Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry · REACTIVITY OF SOLID SURFACES

Plant hormones have been well known since Charles Darwin as signaling molecules directing plant metabolism. Their action and transport pathways are at the top of scientific interest and were reviewed in many research articles. Modern agriculture applies phytohormones as supplements to achieve desired physiological plant response. Auxins are a class...

Three UiO-66 samples were prepared by solvothermal synthesis using the defect engineering approach with benzoic acid as a modulator. They were characterized by different techniques and their acidic properties were assessed by FTIR spectroscopy of adsorbed CO and CD3CN. All samples evacuated at room temperature contained bridging µ3-OH groups that i...

The population growth tendency leads to an increase in demand for food products, and in particular, products obtained from the processing of plants. However, there are issues of biotic and abiotic stresses that can significantly reduce crop yields and escalate the food crisis. Therefore, in recent years, the development of new methods of plant prot...

Sugar production is accompanied by the formation of waste in the form of beet pulp. In this study, a procedure is described for turning sugar beet pulp waste into structured carbon materials for making electrodes in supercapacitors. The overall sustainable path is to produce sugar for human consumption and prepare high‐quality carbon material for e...

La-doped nanostructured NiO films are fabricated by the sol-gel spin-coating technique on a fluorine-doped tin-oxide glass. The atomic-force microscopy of La : NiO films demonstrates a change in the grain size of the film due to doping with La. X-ray diffraction shows that La : NiO films are of a nanocrystalline nature, the crystallite size decreas...

For effective soil remediation, it is vital to apply environmentally friendly and cost-effective technologies following the notion of green sustainable development. In the context of recycling waste and preserving nutrients in the soil, biochar production and utilization have become widespread. There is an urgent need to develop high-efficiency bio...

Agriculture is the most massive material circulation activity of humans, with significant annual volumes of production as well as substantial amounts of waste. Transforming agricultural wastes into high‐value‐added products is the key to sustainable development with efficient usage of renewable resources. The present study demonstrates the fine‐tun...

The structure and properties of nanoparticles are greatly influenced by the synthesis method and the stabilizer used in their preparation. The paper presents the results of the effect of various stabilizers (gelatin, sodium citrate, sodium borohydride) on the structure, synthesis, and tribotechnical properties of silver nanoparticles. The mechanism...

Modern implants are often based on silicon-doped hydroxyapatite for enhanced biological activity. Such materials still have drawbacks, such as high probability of bacterial infections on their surface during surgery. In this work, we obtained germanium-substituted calcium phosphates, which are isostructural to silicon-substituted hydroxyapatite and...

We report a new one-step room-temperature electrochemical synthesis of γ-Fe2O3@MIL-88a magnetic composite. Anode from metallic iron was used as Fe-source. We did not use any toxic or hazardous solvents. A careful, comprehensive characterization of the obtained material was applied, including a synchrotron experiment. The γ-Fe2O3@MIL-88a composite c...

Beneficial features of biocompatible high-capacity UiO-66 nanoparticles, mesoporous SiO2, and folate-conjugated pluronic F127 were combined to prepare the core-shell UiO-66@SiO2/F127-FA drug delivery carrier for targeted cellular uptake in cancer treatment. UiO-66 and UiO-66-NH2 nanoparticles with a narrow size and shape distribution were used to f...

One of the priority tasks in the process of chemical synthesis is study of nanoparticles morphological features. The key characteristics of materials at the molecular level are the size and geometric shape of the structure of the nanomaterials studied. One of the most effective methods for characterizing the morphology of nanoparticles is the trans...

We report an eco-friendly, simple, and scalable method of FeF2 cathode production. MIL-88A was synthesized in a water medium without any additives. It was used as a source of iron (3+) ions during pyrolysis. The porous structure of such a sacrificial agent allowed us to incorporate poly-vinylidene fluoride molecules as a guest component into a host...

Current research fields of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which are being developed in the last 5-10 years by Russian scientific institutions and universities, are generalized. The review encompasses the design, synthesis, topological description, and prediction of MOF properties, the development of methods for their chemical engineering and modi...

A rapid, facile, and environmentally benign strategy to electrochemical oxidation of metallic tungsten under pulse alternating current in an aqueous electrolyte solution was reported. Particle size, morphology, and electronic structure of the obtained WO3 nanopowders showed strong dependence on electrolyte composition (nitric, sulfuric, and oxalic...

We report the synthesis of a new effective cobalt-based composite for catalytic reduction of water pollutant - p-nitrophenol. ZIF-67 and its Zn-substituted analog have been used as precursors for the catalyst preparation. Their pyrolysis has resulted in cobalt nanoparticles embedded into N-doped carbon substrates. We have used polyvinylidene fluori...

Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) are interesting materials for use in several aspects: energy storage material, gas sensing, and photocatalysis. The thermal stability and pyrolysis process are crucial to determine the active phase of the material. A deep understanding of the pyrolysis mechanism is in demand. So, the thermodynamics and combust...

Behavior of Pt/C catalysts obtained by the platinum deposition on standard and nitrogen-doped carbon supports with different microstructure has been studied in the oxygen electroreduction reaction in an acidic electrolyte. The catalysts based on the modified supports are characterized by a uniform spatial distribution of small-sized (1.5–2 nm) Pt n...

This paper presents the results of a comparative geometric-topological calculation of possible conduction pathways for the Li ⁺ cation in LiRW2O8, where R is a cation M³⁺. Topological analysis based on Voronoi tessellation was performed using the ToposPro software package. We used two critical sets of parameters to construct conductivity channels....

A zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) electrode is a good candidate as an anode material.

The optimization of the electrolyte composition for a canonical cathode such as LiCoPO4 olivine. The implemented succinic anhydride within a liquid electrolyte LiPF6 and dissolved in carbonate/diethyl considerably improves the discharge capacity of the electrode are shown. The introduction of succinic anhydride into the solid/electrolyte interphase...

The long-term performance of batteries depends strongly on the 3D morphology of electrode materials. Morphological changes, i.e., particle fracture and surface deterioration, are among the most prominent sources of electrode degradation. A profound understanding of the fracture mechanics of electrode materials in micro- and nanoscale dimensions req...

X-ray photodynamic therapy (XPDT) has been recently considered as an efficient alternative to conventional radiotherapy of malignant tissues. Nanocomposites for XPDT typically consist of two components—a nanophosphor which re-emits X-rays into visible light that in turn is absorbed by the second component, a photosensitizer, for further generation...

It is known that the initiation of photodynamic therapy (PDT) in deep-seated tumors requires the use of X-rays to activate the reactive oxygen species generation in deep tissues. The aim of this paper is to synthesize X-ray nanophosphors and analyze their structural and luminescence characteristics to push the PDT process deep into the body. The ar...

Here, we report a new photosensitive metal-organic framework (MOF) that was constructed via the modification of UiO-66-NH2 with diarylethene molecules (DAE, 4-(5-Methoxy-1,2-dimethyl-1H-indol-3-yl)-3-(2,5-dimethylthiophen-3-yl)-4-furan-2,5-dione). The material that was obtained was a highly crystalline porous compound. The photoresponse of the modi...

We report the results of the application of UiO-66 derivates for dye removal. This complex process includes two parallel mechanisms. The first one is the adsorption of the dye into the pores of MOF. The second one is photocatalytic degradation. We used two linkers for MOF synthesis: 1,4-benzene dicarboxylate and 1,4-naphthalene dicarboxylate. The i...

The thermal decomposition of the MIL-88A metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is studied, for the first time, at various heating rates under air and Nitrogen. The precursors of a MIL-88A material revealed water evaporation and remaining solvent molecules in the framework structure at low-temperatures range while at the high-temperatures range, the organ...

Two metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), UiO-66 and UiO-66-NH2, were considered as containers for bioactive chemicals. We provide a synthesis technique, which allowed the production of these materials suitable for biomedical applications. Both MOFs were characterized as single-phase porous materials composed of nanoparticles (30-65 nm) with a ζ-potenti...

The ever-increasing biomedical application of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) implies increasing demand in their scalable and high-throughput production, with finely tuned and well-controlled characteristics. One of the options to meet the demand is microbial production by nanoparticles-synthesizing bacteria. This approach has several benefits over t...

LiCoPO4 was synthesized in a short time by a microwave-assisted solvothermal technique at 220°C. The as-prepared samples are characterized as belonging to the Pn21a symmetry group, having poor electrochemical performance, and low specific capacity around 30 mAh/g. Further, activation at 700°C under air and argon increased the specific capacity to 5...

Innovations often play an essential role in the acceleration of the new functional materials discovery. The success and applicability of the synthesis results with new chemical compounds and materials largely depend on the previous experience of the researcher himself and the modernity of the equipment used in the laboratory. Artificial intelligenc...

The different ratios of Indium-doped cadmium oxide thin films were deposited on a glass substrate by a sol-gel assisted spin coating technique. The structure of the films was analyzed using XRD and depicts the amorphous nature of the doped films. All the films are highly transparent, and the value of transparency is around 80 % in the visible regio...

Electrochemical characterization of the novel sodium iron titanate Na0.9Fe0.45Ti1.55O4 was performed upon cycling in the Li-ion half-cell. The material exhibited stable cycling in the voltage range 2–4.5 V, and the number of alkali ions extracted per formula unit was approximately half of the Na stoichiometry value. Using laboratory X-ray absorptio...

We report a new simple, fast, scalable technique for MOF-801 synthesis. The effect of modulators on crystallinity, size, and shape of particles, porosity, hydrogen and water uptake was traced using two mono-carboxylic acids with various concentrations. We also showed that slow heating and small grains in powder samples are optimal for fast water re...

Synthesis of the MIL-100 metal-organic framework particles was carried out by hydrothermal (HT) and microwave (MW)-assisted methods. Transmission electron microscopy showed formation of microparticles in the course of hydrothermal synthesis and nanoparticles for microwave-assisted synthesis. Powder X-ray diffraction confirmed formation of larger cr...

We report here fast (15 min) microwave-assisted solvothermal synthesis of zeolitic imidazolate framework material (ZIF-7). We have optimized solvent composition to achieve high porosity and hydrogen capacity and narrow particle size distribution. It was shown that synthesis in N,N-diethylformamide (DEF) results in a layered ZIF-7 III phase, while N...

We report the effect of various Bi:Ti ratios x:1 (x = 0.5–3) on the phase formation of sodium-bismuth titanate Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 (NBT) during hydrothermal synthesis (230°С, 3 MPa, 96 h) from titanium oxide and bismuth hydroxide in 20 M NaOH solution. It was shown that single-phase ceramics with perovskite structure could be obtained at x = 0.5–0.9 usi...

LiCoPO4 (LCP) is a promising high voltage cathode material but suffers from low conductivity and poor electrochemical properties. These properties can be improved by coating with a conductive carbon layer. Ongoing research is focused on the protective layer with good adhesion and inhibition of electrolyte decomposition reactions. In the present wor...

Synchrotron-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy and scattering are known in situ probes of metal nanoparticles (NPs). A limited number of laboratory techniques allow post-synthesis diagnostics of the active metal surface area. This work demonstrates the high potential of infrared spectroscopy as an in situ laboratory probe for the growth of metal N...

Conventional photodynamic therapy (PDT) has proved effective in the management of primary tumors and individual metastases. However, most cancer mortality arises from wide-spread multiple metastases. The latter has thus become the principal target in oncology, and X-ray induced photodynamic therapy (XPDT or PDTX) offers a great solution for adaptin...

Post-synthetic modification of MOFs allows tuning the properties according to desired applications. The incorporation of photoactive molecules introduces sensitivity to radiation properties to the matrix of MOFs. We report on the theoretical analysis of possible ways of construction photoactive MOFs from UiO-67 and spiropyran molecules containing d...

: We report here a simple two-stage synthesis of zinc–cobalt oxide nanoparticles. We used Zn/Co-zeolite imidazolate framework (ZIF)-8 materials as precursors for annealing and optional impregnation with a silicon source for the formation of a protective layer on the surface of oxide nanoparticles. Using bimetallic ZIFs allowed us to trace the phase...

Sol–gel-assisted spin coating technique has been employed to deposit Ce-doped cadmium oxide films (CdO) thin films on a glass substrate. Structural analysis carried out by XRD revealed that the films are polycrystalline and crystallize in a cubic structure. The preferential directions for the CdO growth are (2 0 0), and (2 1 0) and doping of Ce ion...

The formation of palladium hydrides is a well-known phenomenon, observed for both bulk and nanosized samples. The kinetics of hydrogen adsorption/desorption strongly depends on the particle size and shape, as well as the type of support and/or coating of the particles. In addition, the structural properties of hydride phases and their distribution...

Constructing excellent heterojunction to improve the photocatalytic performance of materials is critically important. Herein, we report an effective simple, easy preparation method for α-Fe2O3@MoS2QDs nanocomposite via two two-step process, including hydrothermal and ultrasonication approaches. The as-prepared materials were characterized using X-r...

Zn–F co-doped TiO2 nanomaterials were prepared by the sol-gel method. The effect of various amounts of modifying additives (0.1–2 mol% Zn and 0.1–4 mol% F) and calcined temperature (500–900 °C) on the properties of the obtained materials were studied. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, UV–Vis spectros...

We present a detailed study of the effect of benzoic acid as a modulator on the properties of UiO-66 type MOFs with two linkers 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate (BDC) and 1,4-naphthalenedicarboxylate (NDC). We used four compositions of MOFs with molar ratios BDC/NDC 100/0, 75/25, 50/50, and 0/100. For each composition effect of benzoic acid (BA) additive o...

Two new photochromic spiropyrans containing carboxyl groups in the hetarene part of the molecule and being of interest as modifiers of metal-organic frameworks to give them photo-controlled functions are obtained by the cyclocondensation reaction of 5-carboxy-1,2,3,3-tetramethyl-3H-indolium iodide with corresponding 2,4-diformylphenols. The structu...

We report an accurate study of phase formation in the Zr⁴⁺/terephthalic acid system under MW heating at 220 °C. We have focused on water and/or acetic acid additives on the phase composition of the product. In our recent work, we have claimed that water plays a crucial role in UiO-66 phase formation during solvothermal synthesis. This trend was obs...

We report a new way to enhance halogen capping properties of ZIF-8 and to protect its structure in a slightly acidic medium. We observed that triethylamine additive in hydrothermal conditions results in modification of the ZIF-8 structure. Triethylamine molecules, which are trapped inside pores, increase the rate of iodine sorption both from hexane...

The effect of magnetoactive cations on the stability and properties of Aurivillius phases (1) Bi5Ti2(TiFe)1−x(NiNb)xO15, (2) Bi4Ti3−2.5x(Nb1/2Fe1/2)x(Nb2/3Ni1/3)1.5xO12, (3) Bi3Ti1−2.5xNb1+1.5x(Fe1/2Ni1/2)xO9, (4) Bim+1Fem−3Ti(3−x)(Ni1/3Nb2/3)xO3m+3 has been investigated. The range of existence of solid solutions was found to be limited to the valu...

Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF-8) thin films were fabricated via layer by a layer deposition method. The investigation of X-ray diffraction (XRD) of the ZIF-8 powder form was seen to be polycrystalline with a single cubic-phase structure. The lattice parameters and Miller index were calculated using Rietveld refinement by Fullprof software. X...

Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF-8) thin films were fabricated via layer by a layer deposition method. The investigation of X-ray diffraction (XRD) of the ZIF-8 powder form was seen to be polycrystalline with a single cubic-phase structure. The lattice parameters and Miller index were calculated using Rietveld refinement by Fullprof software. X...

This study focuses on the potential transforming sunflower husk wastes into innovative green products to be used for the recultivation of contaminated soils. This transformation makes it possible to utilize the large quantity plant breeding by-products to obtain a highly porous biosorbent. Optimal conditions for the preparation of bisorbents can be...

The preferences of the end members of the lanthanide series (Er³⁺, Tm³⁺, Yb³⁺ and Lu³⁺) for Bi and Fe sites in BiFeO3 were investigated in this paper using X-ray powder diffraction. It was shown that: (1) the crystal structure of the BiFeO3-derived solid solutions remains rhombohedral in the Ln³⁺ concentration range from 0.01 to 0.1; (2) for the Er...

The set of compositions with Fe²⁺ in the system NaxFex/2Ti2–x/2O4 has been prepared by solid-state reactions in the inert atmosphere at 1050 °С. The oxidation state of iron was confirmed using the XANES method. Na0.88Fe0.44Ti1.56O4 is the new four-element compound in Na2O–“FeO”–TiO2 system. According to the X-ray powder data, it is orthorhombic, Pn...

We have synthesized NaCoPO4 and LiCoPO4 via microwave-assisted solvothermal synthesis. The local atomic structure around Co atoms was characterized by means of Co K-edge XANES spectroscopy. Using X-ray diffraction, we have identified two NaCoPO4 phases with Pnma and P65 space groups (lattice parameters a=10.26 Å, b=5.93 Å , c=4.74 Å, and a=10.1...

BiMnO3 exhibit multiferroic properties, which attract much attention due to numerous potential applications. The most well-investigated and traditional techniques for synthesizing this material include high-pressure and high-temperature treatment. In this way, soft chemistry synthesis of BiMnO3 is desirable. Even though the formation of BiMnO3 at a...

We report two successful synthesis techniques resulted in single-phase Zn-ZIF-65 with a high specific surface area. The solvothermal method allowed to obtain large well-shaped crystals used for single-crystal XRD. We report a new MW assisted technique, which leads to a fast formation of ZIF-65 with hierarchical pore system; obtained samples contain...

In this study, we demonstrate the preparation and characterization of small palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs) on modified ceria support (Pd/CeO2) using wet impregnation and further reduction in an H2/Ar flow. The obtained particles had a good dispersion, but their small size made it difficult to analyze them by conventional techniques such as transm...

We have tested for iodine sorption properties a variety of samples with ZIF-8 structure and various Zn/Co ratios (100/0, 95/5, 75/25, 50/50 and 0/100 in mol%). For iodine saturation, an excess of sublimated iodine crystals was used. We have observed that the prevailing trend for all compositions is adsorption of most of the iodine molecules by the...

This study investigates the impact of iodine, chlorine and bromine adsorption on the structure of bimetallic Co/Zn zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs). The experimental Co and Zn K-edges XANES (X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure) spectra of Zn0.5Co0.5C8H10N4 synthesized by microwave synthesis were measured before and after halogens treatment.

We describe the synthesis and corresponding full characterization of the set of UiO-66 metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate (C6H4(COOH)2, hereafter H2BDC) and 1,4-naphthalenedicarboxylate (C10H6(COOH)2, hereafter H2NDC) mixed linkers with NDC contents of 0, 25, 50, and 100%. Their structural (powder X-ray diffraction, PXRD)...

We report a careful investigation of a selective phase formation in the zirconium – terephthalic acid system during the solvothermal synthesis, which could result in UiO-66 (Zr6O6(OH)4(BDC)6) or MIL-140A (ZrO(BDC))...

The bimetallic Zn/Co-ZIF MOFs with different Zn:Co ratio were produced by microwave-assisted solvothermal synthesis. The morphological, structural and electronic properties of the obtained materials were probed with different experimental techniques (XRD, TEM, TGA, BET, UV-Vis, IR, Co and Zn K-edge XANES). The result of the overall characterization...