New Thermodynamics for Evaluating the Surface‐phase Enrichment in the Lower Surface Tension Component

Regarding the surface phase of liquid mixtures as a thermodynamic phase, ideal surface phases are designed so that at fixed bulk‐phase composition, real and ideal surface phases have the same chemical composition and identical limiting slopes for the dependence of surface tension on mole fraction. Standard chemical potentials are introduced for surface phase components, and quasi‐exact expressions are worked out to compute ideal surface tensions and surface‐phase compositions of real liquid mixtures. Guidelines for choosing molecular models to estimate the molar surface area of pure constituents are given. Ideal and excess surface tensions are calculated by using literature data for aqueous ethanol solutions at 298 K. These results show treatment based on Butler’s equations grossly overestimate predicted surface tensions, thus leading to lower ethanol content in the surface phase. These inaccuracies are ascribed to the use of molar surface areas in model equations that are too small.     

Analytical expressions for the electrical potential near planar, cylindrical, and spherical surfaces for symmetric electrolytes

The conjecture of Tuinier (J. Colloid Interface Sci. 258 (2003) 45) for the electrical potentials near a cylindrical surface and near a spherical surface under the conditions of symmetric electrolyte and large scaled radius are derived by solving the corresponding Poisson-Boltzmann equation. The surface charge density-surface potential relations for these surfaces are also derived under the conditions of constant surface potential. We show that the level of surface charge density for planar, cylindrical, and spherical surfaces follows the order spherical surface > cylindrical surface > planar surface.     

Molecular dynamics simulations of polyelectrolyte adsorption

We have performed molecular dynamics simulations of polyelectrolyte adsorption at oppositely charged surfaces from dilute polyelectrolyte solutions. In our simulations, polyelectrolytes were modeled by chains of charged Lennard-Jones particles with explicit counterions. We have studied the effects of the surface charge density, surface charge distribution, solvent quality for the polymer backbone, strength of the short-range interactions between polymers and substrates on the polymer surface coverage, and the thickness of the adsorbed layer. The polymer surface coverage monotonically increases with increasing surface charge density for almost all studied systems except for the system of hydrophilic polyelectrolytes adsorbing at hydrophilic surfaces. In this case the polymer surface coverage saturates at high surface charge densities. This is due to additional monomer-monomer repulsion between adsorbed polymer chains, which becomes important in dense polymeric layers. These interactions also preclude surface overcharging by hydrophilic polyelectrolytes at high surface charge densities. The thickness of the adsorbed layer shows monotonic dependence on the surface charge density for the systems of hydrophobic polyelectrolytes for both hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces. Thickness is a decreasing function of the surface charge density in the case of hydrophilic surfaces while it increases with the surface charge density for hydrophobic substrates. Qualitatively different behavior is observed for the thickness of the adsorbed layer of hydrophilic polyelectrolytes at hydrophilic surfaces. In this case, thickness first decreases with increasing surface charge density, then it begins to increase.     

On the surface modification of microchannels for microcapillary electrophoresis chips

This paper presents systematic investigation of the microchannel surface properties in microCE chips. Three popular materials for microCE chips, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), quartz, and glass, are used. The zeta potentials of these microchannels are calculated by measuring the EOF velocity to evaluate the surface properties after surface modification. The hydrophobic PDMS is usually plasma-treated for microCE applications. In this study, a new method using a high-throughput atmospheric plasma generator is adopted to treat the PDMS surface under atmospheric conditions. In this approach, the cost and time for surface treatment can be significantly reduced compared with the conventional vacuum plasma generator method. Experimental results indicate that new functional groups could be formed on the PDMS surface after treatment, resulting in a change in the surface property. The time-dependent surface property of the plasma-treated PDMS is then measured in terms of the zeta potential. Results show that the surface property will reach a stable condition after 1 h of plasma treatment. For glass CE chips, two new methods for changing the microchannel surface properties are developed. Instead of using complicated and time-consuming chemical silanization procedures for CE channel surface modification, two simple and reliable methods utilizing organic-based spin-on-glass and water-soluble acrylic resin are reported. The proposed method provides a fast batch process for controlling the surface properties of glass-based CE channels. The proposed methods are evaluated using PhiX-174 DNA maker separation. The experimental data show that the surface property is modified and separation efficiency greatly improved. In addition, the long-term stability of both coatings is verified in this study. The methods proposed in this study show potential as an excellent solution for glass-based microCE chip surface modification.     

Segregation and Stability in Surface Alloys: PdxRu1−x/Ru(0001) and PtxRu1−x/Ru(0001)

The stability of PdRu/Ru(0001) and PtRu/Ru(0001) surface alloys and the tendency for surface segregation of Pd and Pt subsurface guest metals in these surface alloys is studied by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). Atomic resolution STM imaging and AES measurements reveal that upon overgrowing the surface alloys with a 1–2 monolayer Ru film and subsequent annealing to the temperatures required for initial surface alloy formation, the Ru‐covered Pd (Pt) atoms float back to the outermost layer. The lateral distribution of these species is also essentially identical to that of the initial surface alloys, before overgrowth by Ru. In combination, this clearly demonstrates that the surface alloys represent stable surface configurations, metastable only towards entropically favored bulk dissolution, and that there is a distinct driving force for surface segregation of these species. Consequences of these data on the mechanism for surface alloy formation are discussed.     

氧等离子体改性聚乙烯表面的疏水性过回复机制

用200 W射频容性耦合氧等离子体处理低密度聚乙烯(LDPE)表面1 min, 研究了老化温度及时间对LDPE表面成分、 形貌和润湿性的影响. 扫描电子显微镜结果表明, 等离子体改性LDPE表面出现纳米凸点织构, 在60和90 ℃老化24 h后纳米凸点织构特征基本保持稳定. X射线光电子能谱分析表明, 等离子体改性LDPE表面经60 ℃老化24 h后, C—C含量由76.9%增至83.0%, C—O, CO和O—CO含量分别由16.4%, 2.2%和4.5%降至13.1%, 1.9%和2.0%. 经90 ℃老化24 h后, C—C含量较60 ℃老化表面增至84.1%, C—O含量分别降至10.1%, CO和O—CO含量分别增至3.1%和2.7%. 等离子体改性LDPE表面接触角由97.2°降至42.3°, 经60 ℃老化24 h后接触角增至95.9°, 经90 ℃老化24 h后接触角增至104.2°, 等离子体改性LDPE表面发生“疏水性过回复”. 根据含有粗糙因子的接触角随时间演变模型, 得到了具有纳米凸点织构LDPE表面在不同老化温度下的可移动极性基团所占面积分数(\begin{array}{c}{f}_m^p\end{array})、 固定极性基团所占面积分数(\begin{array}{c}{f}_{\mathit{im}}^p\end{array})和特征时间常数(τ)3个成分重构参数, 解释了“疏水性过回复”现象.     

Surface conservation laws at microscopically diffuse interfaces

In studies of interfaces with dynamic chemical composition, bulk and interfacial quantities are often coupled via surface conservation laws of excess surface quantities. While this approach is easily justified for microscopically sharp interfaces, its applicability in the context of microscopically diffuse interfaces is less theoretically well-established. Furthermore, surface conservation laws (and interfacial models in general) are often derived phenomenologically rather than systematically. In this article, we first provide a mathematically rigorous justification for surface conservation laws at diffuse interfaces based on an asymptotic analysis of transport processes in the boundary layer and derive general formulae for the surface and normal fluxes that appear in surface conservation laws. Next, we use nonequilibrium thermodynamics to formulate surface conservation laws in terms of chemical potentials and provide a method for systematically deriving the structure of the interfacial layer. Finally, we derive surface conservation laws for a few examples from diffusive and electrochemical transport.     

Activity Coefficients in the Surface Phase of Liquid Mixtures

A novel equation for evaluating surface activity coefficients is obtained from a recent thermodynamic formalism describing the surface phase of liquid mixtures. The input quantities are the surface tension, bulk activity coefficients and pure constituent thermophysical properties. It is demonstrated thermodynamically that the order of magnitude of each component surface and bulk activity coefficients must be the same. This order is intrinsically associated with the sign of excess surface tension. Reliable activity coefficients of ethanol and water in the surface phase of their mixtures are computed and reported for the first time, by using literature data for the required input quantities. It is shown that the so‐called transferring method for estimating surface activity coefficients is severely flawed, because it leads to contradictory values of predicted excess surface tensions depending on which component this prediction is based.     

Some problems concerning the definition of a dividing surface and its influence on the calculation of thermodynamical parameters of small clusters

We discuss the influence of several definitions of the dividing surface on the size dependence of surface tension and surface stress. Among others we apply the original definition of Gibbs for the “surface of tension” (SOT) and the “equimolecular dividing surface” (EMDS). We show that from physical reasons the surface tension must only include curvature terms up to the quadratic term. The considerations are illustrated for microclusters of simple geometric configurations.     

Crystal-face dependence and photoetching-induced increases of dye-sensitized photocurrents at single-crystal rutile TiO2 surfaces

Dye-sensitized photocurrents at (100)-, (001)-, and (110)-cut TiO(2) rutile surfaces were increased by photoetching of TiO(2), but the increasing ratio strongly depended on the cut crystal faces and the illumination intensity for the photoetching. For the (110)-cut surface, the photocurrent increase was moderately large and in proportion to the increase in the surface area of TiO(2) induced by the photoetching, irrespective of the illumination intensity for the photoetching. On the other hand, the photocurrent increases for the (001)- and (100)-cut surfaces, especially that for the (001)-cut surface, were prominent and largely exceeded the increases in the surface area. The results were explained by taking into account the following factors: (1) The (001)- and (100)-cut surfaces were thermodynamically unstable in contrast to the (110)-cut surface and had thicker inactive surface layers (or higher densities of surface defects), produced by surface reconstruction during heat treatment of TiO(2) at 550 degrees C in a hydrogen atmosphere for getting n-type semiconductivity. (2) Photoetching not only increased the surface area through formation of nanoholes and grooves at the surface but also effectively removed the thin inactive surface layers (or surface defects).     

Oxygen vacancy O-terminated surface: The most exposed surface of hexagonal WO3 (001) surface

It is known that exposed surface determines material’s performance. WO₃ is widely used in gas sensing and its working surface is proposed to control its sensitivity. However, the working surface, or most exposed surface with detailed surface structure remain unclear. In this paper, DFT calculation confirmed that oxygen vacancy O-terminated surface is the most exposed hexagonal WO₃ (001) surface, judging from competitive adsorption of CO and O₂, working surface determination for CO sensing and comparison of oxygen vacancy formation energies on different h-WO₃ (001) surfaces. It is found that DFT can be a useful alternate for exposed surface determination. Our results provide new perspectives and performance explanations for material research.     

Surface Energetics Evolution during Processing of Epoxy Resins

The surface energetics evolution throughout the entire curing process of two epoxy resins is predicted using a previously developed semiempirical relationship between surface tension and the solubility parameter. Evolution of the temperature and time of both the solubility parameter and density is investigated and used for this prediction, as is the concept of molar volume or mass of the interacting element. The theoretical prediction is compared with measured surface tensions. Experimental data are determined at different times during an isothermal curing process by the Wilhelmy wetting force method for surface tension with viscous drag corrections. Once corrections for viscous effects on measured surface tensions are made, very good agreement is found for the surface energetics evolution. Moreover, the total surface energies of solid cured epoxy resins, which cannot be directly measured, can be estimated with this prediction. Finally, this study provides a tool for further understanding the final adhesive properties of polymeric material considering the time evolution of surface energetics during processing. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.     

Dynamic scaling for Eley‐Rideal reactions over rough surface

Eley‐Rideal reaction mechanism is studied over rough surface of random deposition model. Two types of rough surface are considered: (1) different rough surface with same surface density and (2) different rough surface with different surface density. Dynamic scaling theory, which is generally applied to the growing surface, is applied for this reaction mechanism to obtain the temporal and spatial scaling parameters α and β. The scaling parameters are found to be negative in contrast to the positive scaling parameters in surface growth model. The values of β are the same for both types of surface whereas the values of α are different. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 36: 286–292, 2004     

Competition-based transfer of carbohydrate expression information from a cell-adhered surface to a secondary surface

An information transfer strategy was developed for the visualization of carbohydrate expression by the competition of a primary cell-adhered solid surface with a carbohydrate assembled surface as an artificial secondary surface for one species. The strategy could be effectively utilized for in situ monitoring of dynamic carbohydrate expression on an adhesive cell surface.     

Surface-imprinted polyurethane having affinity sites for ampicillin

Affinity sites for an antibacterial drug, ampicillin, were created on the surface of polyurethane using the technique of non-covalent molecular imprinting. This was achieved by polymerizing aminophenylboronic acid in the presence of the ampicillin as a template. The extent of adsorption of the drug by the imprinted surface is nearly five times higher than the non-imprinted surface. The in vitro release studies have shown that the drug is retained for a prolonged period on the imprinted surface while it is rapidly released from the non-imprinted surface. These modified materials were subjected to interactions with two bacterial strains, E. Coli and S. aureus. These species could not adhere to the imprinted surface, further showing the ability of the surface to retain the drug for a prolonged period of time. The non-imprinted surface retained the bacterial strains, reflecting the lack of the drug on the surface. This novel approach seems to be useful for creating surfaces capable of retaining components of interest through non-covalent interactions to impart specific features, such as improved blood compatibility and antibacterial properties. [diagram in text].     

Soluble monolayers of n-decyl glucopyranoside and n-decyl maltopyranoside. Phase changes in the gaseous to the liquid-expanded range

To examine the transition from the gaseous to the liquid-expanded monolayer state, surface tension data were recorded for n-decyl beta-d-glucopyranoside (Glu) and n-decyl beta-d-maltopyranoside (Mal) solutions at low concentrations and at different temperatures. Comparisons were also made with n-decyl beta-d-thiomaltopyranoside (S-Mal) solutions at room temperature. The transitions observed occur at very low concentrations and surface pressures, about 0.5% of the critical micelle concentration (cmc) and between 0.8 and 1 mN/m for Glu and Mal at 22 degrees C. For S-Mal the transition is recorded for a concentration of 0.5% of the cmc as well, but the surface pressure is lower, about 0.4 mN/m. The gradual change in molecular area about the transition is from about 500 to 200 A(2) and 400 to 150 A(2) for Mal and Glu, respectively, and from about 800 to 250 A(2) for S-Mal. The comparatively large molecular areas after the transitions are incompatible with the notion that a coherent hydrocarbon film would cover the entire surface already at this stage. Standard surface thermodynamics was applied to elucidate the nature of these transitions in combination with two model concepts: The formation of an infinite network of surfactant molecules and, second, the formation of surface micelles. Hard-disk simulation results were employed to quantify the additional surface pressure after the transition attributed to the formation of surface micelles. In conclusion the formation of surface micelles is plausible as the hard-disk model is capable of accounting for the additional surface pressure increase with acceptable accuracy. Further, vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy was used to investigate the transition for Mal. Using the distinct feature of the non-hydrogen-bonded OH ("free OH") at 3700 cm(-)(1) for probing the surface water state, it could be determined that the surface holds a sizable fraction of unperturbed surface water even after the transition from the Henry range. The decrease in the free OH signal was found to correlate with the increase in surface density of surface micelles.     

Applicability of the BET method for determining surface areas of microporous metal-organic frameworks

The surface area is one of the most important quantities for characterizing novel porous materials. The BET analysis is the standard method for determining surface areas from nitrogen adsorption isotherms and was originally derived for multilayer gas adsorption onto flat surfaces. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a relatively new class of crystalline, porous materials that have been shown to exhibit very large BET surface areas. These materials are microporous and possess surfaces that are far from flat. In some MOFs, adsorption occurs through a pore-filling mechanism rather than by layer formation. Thus, it is unclear whether BET surface area numbers reported for these materials are truly meaningful. Given the standard practice of reporting BET surface areas for novel porous materials, a critical test of the BET method is much needed. In this work, grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations were used to predict adsorption isotherms for nitrogen in a series of MOFs. The predicted isotherms were used as pseudoexperimental data to test the applicability of the BET theory for obtaining surface areas of microporous MOFs. BET surface areas calculated from the simulated isotherms agree very well with the accessible surface areas calculated directly from the crystal structures in a geometric fashion. In addition, the surface areas agree well with experimental reports in the literature. These results provide a strong validation that the BET theory can be used to obtain surface areas of MOFs.     

纳米KH颗粒的热稳定性及其化学反应活性

考察了纳米尺寸的KH颗粒在不同温度热处理后比表面积的变化及其与化学反应活性之间的关系.纳米KH热处理后，比表面积随着热处理温度升高而减小，但单位表面的化学反应活性却增大.表明热处理改变了KH表面的状态，说明大的比表面积是构成纳米KH高活性的一个主要原因，而具有高表面能的表面也是高活性的一个重要因素.纳米KH具有使苯乙烯快速聚合的催化作用.     

The ion sensitivity of surface conductive single crystalline diamond

Charge build-up at the solid/aqueous interface is a ubiquitous phenomenon that determines the properties of interfacial electrical double layers. Due to its unique properties, the surface of diamond offers an attractive platform to investigate charging mechanisms in aqueous solutions. We investigate the surface charge by studying the ion sensitivity of H-terminated single crystalline diamond surface conductive layers. The effect of monovalent and divalent salts has been probed at different pH values. For a pH above 3.5, increasing the ionic strength results in a decrease of the surface conductivity, in contrast to the results obtained for pH below 3.5. Electrokinetic experiments are in good agreement with the surface conductivity measurements, showing an isoelectric point at pH 3.5 for the H-terminated diamond surface. We discuss the results in terms of the Coulombic screening by electrolyte ions of the surface potential, which is induced by a pH-dependent surface charge. The origin of this surface charge is discussed in terms of charge regulation by amphoteric hydroxyl surface groups and unsymmetrical adsorption of hydroxide and hydronium ions induced by the hydrophobic nature of the H-terminated diamond surface. This surface charge can have important consequences for processes governed by the diamond/aqueous interface, such as electron transfer to charged redox molecules, adsorption of charged molecules and proteins, and ion sensitivity.