Vibra cell vxc500

DND–OH was synthesised as depicted in Fig. 2a following the protocol in Krueger et al.^{29 (link)}. First (2.33 g) DND powder was dried under rotary evaporation in toluene to yield (~2 g) dry powder (14% H₂O mass). (2 g) of dry DND powder was suspended in (120 mL) anhydrous tetrahydrofuran (THF) under a dry N₂-vented reflux apparatus. 1 M BH₃·THF (SigmaAldrich cat. #:176192) (20 mL) was added dropwise with stirring to the suspension and heated under reflux for 24 h^{29 (link)}. Once cool, the solution was neutralised by dropwise addition of 2 M aq. HCl until bubble production ceased. The DND–OH product was washed 4 times with DI water followed by 10 times with acetone using the following 3-step process cycle: (1) centrifugation to form a sample pellet (70 k × g RCF, 4 mins), (2) supernatant replacement with fresh solvent and (3) ultrasonic (US) resuspension using a Sonics Vibra-Cell VXC500 equipped with a 3 mm tapered probe (3:1 duty cycle 40% power, 3 mins or until dispersed). Washes in acetone instead of water were required to pellet the DND sample after the first few DI water wash cycles. A final wash with DI water was performed with the supernatant reaching a neutral pH 7. The sample was dried under rotary evaporation and stored in a vacuum desiccator until use.Figure 2

(a) Silanization reaction scheme and (b) example DND TA products (idealized representations).