The advancement of nanobiocomposites reinforced with 2D nano-materials plays a pivotal role in enhancing bone tissue engineering. In this study, we introduce a nanobiocomposite that reinforces bovine collagen with 2D nano-talc, a recently exfoliated nano-mineral. These nanobiocomposites were prepared by blending collagen with varying concentrations of 2D nano-talc, encompassing mono- and few-layers talc from soapstone nanomaterial. Extensive characterization techniques including AFM, XPS, nano-FTIR, s-SNOM nanoimaging, Force Spectroscopy, and PeakForce QNM® were employed. The incorporation of 2D nano-talc significantly enhanced the mechanical properties of the nanobiocomposites, resulting in increased stiffness compared to pristine collagen. In vitro studies supported the growth and proliferation of osteoblasts onto 2D nano-talc-reinforced nanobiocomposites, as well as showed the highest mineralization potential. These findings highlight the substantial potential of the developed nanobiocomposite as a scaffold material for bone tissue engineering applications.

The role of defects in two-dimensional semiconductors and how they affect the intrinsic properties of these materials have been a widely researched topic over the past few decades. Optical characterization techniques such as photoluminescence and Raman spectroscopies are important tools to probe the physical properties of semiconductors and the impact of defects. However, confocal optical techniques present a spatial resolution limitation lying in a μm-scale, which can be overcome by the use of near-field optical measurements. Here, we use tip-enhanced photoluminescence and Raman spectroscopies to unveil the nanoscale optical properties of grown MoS2 monolayers, revealing that the impact of doping and strain can be disentangled by the combination of both techniques. A noticeable enhancement of the exciton peak intensity corresponding to trion emission quenching is observed at narrow regions down to a width of 47 nm at grain boundaries related to doping effects. Besides, localized strain fields inside the sample lead to non-uniformities in the intensity and energy position of photoluminescence peaks. Finally, two distinct MoS2 samples present different nano-optical responses at their edges associated with opposite strains. The edge of the first sample shows a photoluminescence intensity enhancement and energy blueshift corresponding to a frequency blueshift for E2g and 2LA Raman modes. In contrast, the other sample displays a photoluminescence energy redshift and frequency red shifts for E2g and 2LA Raman modes at their edges. Our work highlights the potential of combining tip-enhanced photoluminescence and Raman spectroscopies to probe localized strain fields and doping effects related to defects in two-dimensional materials.

In this work, we apply a combination of theoretical techniques to characterize a two-dimensional material with formula B2N2O2, featuring a zigzag array of nitrogen atoms. We predict its energetic, thermal, and dynamic stability and determine its electronic properties, including band structure and mobility evaluation for a phonon-mediated mechanism. We show that the compound is a wideband-gap semiconductor, with parabolic band edges and with large electron and hole mobilities within the deformation potential approach. We ascribe this result to the existence of electronic channels defined by the zigzag array of nitrogen bonds, which define the edges of both conduction and valence bands. We also propose a mechanism to synthesize the compound based on oxygen functionalization and application of pressure. Finally, we show that the results can be generalized to represent a family of 2D compounds.

Moiré superlattices of two-dimensional heterostructures arose as a new platform to investigate emergent behaviour in quantum solids with unprecedented tunability. To glean insights into the physics of these systems, it is paramount to discover new probes of the moiré potential and moiré minibands, as well as their dependence on external tuning parameters. Hydrostatic pressure is a powerful control parameter, since it allows to continuously and reversibly enhance the moiré potential. Here we use high pressure to tune the minibands in a rotationally aligned MoS2/WSe2 moiré heterostructure, and show that their evolution can be probed via moiré phonons. The latter are Raman-inactive phonons from the individual layers that are activated by the moiré potential. Moiré phonons manifest themselves as satellite Raman peaks arising exclusively from the heterostructure region, increasing in intensity and frequency under applied pressure. Further theoretical analysis reveals that their scattering rate is directly connected to the moiré potential strength. By comparing the experimental and calculated pressure-induced enhancement, we obtain numerical estimates for the moiré potential amplitude and its pressure dependence. The present work establishes moiré phonons as a sensitive probe of the moiré potential as well as the electronic structures of moiré systems.

Osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone cancer. Despite therapeutic progress, survival rates for metastatic cases or that do not respond well to chemotherapy remain in the 30% range. In this sense, the use of nanotechnology to develop targeted and more effective therapies is a promising tool in the fight against cancer. Nanostructured hydroxyapatite, due to its biocompatibility and the wide possibility of functionalization, is an interesting material to design nanoplatforms for targeted drug delivery. These platforms have the potential to enable the use of natural substances in the fight against cancer, such as curcumin. Curcumin is a polyphenol with promising properties in treating various types of cancer, including osteosarcoma. In this work, hydroxyapatite (n-HA) nanorods synthesized by the hydrothermal method were investigated as a carrier for curcumin. For this, first-principle calculations based on the Density Functional Theory (DFT) were performed, in which the modification of curcumin (CM) with the coupling agent (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) was theoretically evaluated. Curcumin was incorporated in n-HA and the drug loading stability was evaluated by leaching test. Samples were characterized by a multi-techniques approach, including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV–visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (FRX), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), zeta potential analysis (ζ), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that n-HAs with a 90 nm average size were obtained and successful incorporation of curcumin in the nanostructure was achieved. Cell viability and the number of osteosarcoma cells were decreased by CMAP-HA treatment. Furthermore, the stability test suggests that hydroxyapatite nanoparticles present great potential for the transportation of curcumin in the bloodstream, crediting this system for biological performance evaluations aiming at the treatment of osteosarcomas. Keywords: nanostructures, curcumin, hydroxyapatite, osteosarcoma.

In this work we apply first principles calculations to investigate the stability trends of mixed boron, nitrogen and carbon diamondol-like compounds. Several distinct geometric models are tested by varying the stoichiometry and position of boron and nitrogen dopants. We verify the special stability of a complete boron nitride compound – the bonitrol –, and we show that carbon substitutions in the bonitrol structure may also lead to stable systems. The electronic characterization of the resulting compounds indicates a rich phenomenology, with metallic, semimetallic, half-metallic and semiconducting behaviors.

Phyllosilicate minerals, which form a class of naturally occurring layered materials (LMs), have been recently considered as a low-cost source of two-dimensional (2D) materials. Clinochlore [Mg5Al(AlSi3)O10(OH)8] is one of the most abundant phyllosilicate minerals in nature, exhibiting the capability to be mechanically exfoliated down to a few layers. An important characteristic of clinochlore is the natural occurrence of defects and impurities which can strongly affect their optoelectronic properties, possibly in technologically interesting ways. In the present work, we carry out a thorough investigation of the clinochlore structure on both bulk and 2D exfoliated forms, discussing its optical features and the influence of the insertion of impurities on its macroscopic properties. Several experimental techniques are employed, followed by theoretical first-principles calculations considering several types of naturally-ocurring transition metal impurities in the mineral lattice and their effect on electronic and optical properties. We demonstrate the existence of requirements concerning surface quality and insulating properties of clinochlore that are mandatory for its suitable application in nanoelectronic devices. The results presented in this work provide important informations for clinochlore potential applications and establish a basis for further works that intend to optimize its properties to relevant 2D technological applications through defect engineering.

In this work, we employ first-principles calculations to investigate the optical properties of boron nitride nanoribbons with reconstructed edges. We found that because of the presence of homopolar B-B and N-N bonds in the edges, such nanoribbons, unlike boron nitride nanotubes, absorb light and have non-null optical conductivity in the visible and infrared range. The stoichiometry and distribution of the homopolar bonds in the edges change the absorption, reflectance, refraction index, and optical conductivity of nanoribbons, which may allow the tuning of those properties. Regarding the absorption in the infrared and visible range, the nanoribbons with B excess are almost unaffected by the direction of light incidence. On the other hand, the direction of light incidence strongly affects the intensity of the absorption peaks of nanoribbons with N excess in the region. At ultraviolet and above non-cylindrical geometry of the ribbons with the homopolar bonds at the edges also lead to a dependence of the optical properties with the direction of light incidence.

We employed first-principles calculations to investigate the fluorination of silicon carbide nanosheets. We found that the Si atoms are the energetically favorable adsorption sites for F atoms in silicon carbide nanosheets in all studied cases. The strain caused by the fourfold coordinated Si atoms in the flat SiC nanosheet determines the relative position of the adsorbed F atoms: occupying nearest-neighbor Si sites if they bound sheet’s opposing sides or away from each other if they are on the same side of the sheet. The fluorinated nanosheets’ electronic and magnetic properties are weakly dependent on which side of the sheet the F atoms bind; however, they are strongly dependent on the relative distance between them. For F atoms adsorbed on nearest-neighbor Si sites, the system is a small gap p-type semiconductor with 1 μB per adsorbed atom. On the other hand, if F atoms do not occupy nearest-neighbor Si sites, the system is a metal with 1/2 μB per adsorbed atom. The adsorption of F atoms strongly affects the optical properties of SiC sheets inducing optical anisotropy regarding the direction of the incidence of light.

Despite several theoretically proposed two-dimensional (2D) diamond structures, experimental efforts to obtain such structures are in initial stage. Recent high-pressure experiments provided significant advancements in the field, however, expected properties of a 2D-like diamond such as sp3 content, transparency and hardness, have not been observed together in a compressed graphene system. Here, we compress few-layer graphene samples on SiO2/Si substrate in water and provide experimental evidence for the formation of a quenchable hard, transparent, sp3-containing 2D phase. Our Raman spectroscopy data indicates phase transition and a surprisingly similar critical pressure for two-, five-layer graphene and graphite in the 4–6 GPa range, as evidenced by changes in several Raman features, combined with a lack of evidence of significant pressure gradients or local non-hydrostatic stress components of the pressure medium up to ≈ 8 GPa. The new phase is transparent and hard, as evidenced from indentation marks on the SiO2 substrate, a material considerably harder than graphene systems. Furthermore, we report the lowest critical pressure (≈ 4 GPa) in graphite, which we attribute to the role of water in facilitating the phase transition. Theoretical calculations and experimental data indicate a novel, surface-to-bulk phase transition mechanism that gives hint of diamondene formation.

Co-, Ni-, and Mn-doped BiFeO3 (BFO) ceramics were synthesized herein through a solid-state reaction. All doped BFO samples exhibit visible-light response, and the Co- and Ni-doped BFO samples present enhanced ferromagnetic order at room temperature. All doped samples show secondary phases in minor quantities. Optical spectra reveal two absorptions bands, indicating multiple electron transitions for BFO and its secondary phases. M − H hysteresis loops suggest enhanced ferromagnetism in the Co- and Ni-doped BFO samples because of magnetic spinel CFP and NFO phases, respectively, whereas changes in oxygen vacancies and Fe–O–Fe bond angle play minor roles in the ferromagnetic behavior.