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Rare earth atoms exhibit several interesting properties, for example, large magnetic moments and luminescence. Introducing these atoms into a different matrix can lead to a material that shows multiple interesting effects. Holmium atoms were incorporated into an iron oxide nanoparticle and the concentration of the dopant atom was changed in order to determine its influence on the host crystal. Its magnetic and magneto-optical properties were investigated by vibrating sample magnetometry and Faraday rotation measurements. The luminescent characteristics of the material, in solution and incorporated in a polymer thin film, were probed by fluorescence experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we describe for the first time the synthesis of new chiral nanosized metal oxide surfaces based on chiral self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) coated with metal oxide (TiO2) nanolayers. In this new type of nanosize chiral surface, the metal oxide nanolayers enable the protection of the chiral self-assembled monolayers while preserving their enantioselective nature. The chiral nature of the SAM/TiO2 films was characterized by variety of unique techniques, such as second-harmonic generation circular dichroism (SHG-CD), quartz crystal microbalance, and chiral adsorption measurements with circular dichroism spectroscopy. The chiral resolution abilities of the SAMs coated with metal oxide (TiO2) nanolayers were investigated in the crystallization of a racemic mixture of threonine and glutamic acid. Our proposed methodology for the preparation of nanoscale chiral surfaces described in this article could open up opportunities in other fields of chemistry, such as chiral catalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]