Electrochemical deposition of Ni on F-doped SnO<Subscript>2</Subscript> substrate and its post-annealing for use as current collector of dye-sensitized solar cell

Current collector is an important part of nanostructured dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), which reduces ohmic loss. In the present work, Ni current collector was electrochemically deposited on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) for use as current collector of DSSC. The adhesion of Ni to FTO was improved by post-annealing in ambient atmosphere. A new method was proposed to prevent Ni coating from oxidation during annealing. According to this method, a carbon over-layer was applied on Ni coating, which protected Ni from oxidation. Visual inspection and X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed the effectiveness of this method in protection of Ni coating from oxidation. Furthermore, the effect of current collector on photovoltaic performance of DSSCs was investigated using current density-voltage curve measurement and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy methods. It was observed that post-annealing in ambient atmosphere, under protection of carbon over-layer, improves both the adhesion of Ni current collector to FTO and the photovoltaic performance of DSSC. However, Ni oxidation during post-annealing of Ni current collector, without carbon over-layer, significantly decreased the photovoltaic parameters of DSSC. The above observations were explained by considering the series resistance of DSSC.     

Surface potential and resistance measurements for detecting wear of chemically-bonded and unbonded molecularly-thick perfluoropolyether lubricant films using atomic force microscopy

The wear of perfluoropolyether (PFPE) lubricants applied on Si(100) and an Au film on Si(100) substrate at ultralow loads was investigated by using atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based surface potential and resistance measurements. Surface potential data is used in detecting lubricant removal and the initiation of wear on the silicon substrate. The surface potential change is attributed to the change in the work function of the silicon after wear, and electrostatic charge build-up of debris in the lubricant. It was found that coatings that are partially bonded, i.e., containing a mobile lubricant fraction, were better able to protect the silicon substrate from wear compared to the fully bonded coating. This enhanced protection is attributed to a lubricant replenishment mechanism. However, an untreated lubricant coating exhibited considerable wear as it contains a smaller amount of lubricant bonded to the substrate relative to the partially bonded and fully bonded coatings. A sample subjected to shear is shown to have improved wear resistance, and this enhancement is attributed to chain reorientation and alignment of the lubricant molecules. The detection of wear of PFPE lubricants on Au by an AFM-based resistance measurement method is demonstrated for the first time. This technique provides complementary information to surface potential data in detecting substrate exposure after wear and is a promising method for studying the wear of conducting films.     

土壤中钢铁表面防护层缺陷的电化学检测

基于电化学阻抗谱技术建立了实验室检测钢铁表面防护层破损与剥离的电化学方法。提出了在一定频率范围内以电极阻抗幅值比Ｋ的变化关系作为防护层缺陷状态的表征。用此方法测定了土壤中阴极保护的表面涂覆不同状态石油沥青防护层的Ａ３钢模拟度片,得到了较为满意的结果。     

An automatic and quantitative on-chip cell migration assay using self-assembled monolayers combined with real-time cellular impedance sensing

Cell migration is crucial in many physiological and pathological processes including embryonic development, immune response and cancer metastasis. Traditional methods for cell migration detection such as wound healing assay usually involve physical scraping of a cell monolayer followed by an optical observation of cell movement. However, these methods require hand-operation with low repeatability. Moreover, it's a qualitative observation not a quantitative measurement, which is hard to scale up to a high-throughput manner. In this article, a novel and reliable on-chip cell migration detection method integrating surface chemical modification of gold electrodes using self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) and real-time cellular impedance sensing is presented. The SAMs are used to inhibit cell adherence forming an area devoid of cells, which could effectively mimic wounds in a cell monolayer. After a DC electrical signal was applied, the SAMs were desorbed from the electrodes and cells started to migrate. The process of cell migration was monitored by real-time impedance sensing. This demonstrates the first occurrence of integrating cellular impedance sensing and wound-forming with SAMs, which makes cell migration assay being real-time, quantitative and fully automatic. We believe this method could be used for high-throughput anti-migratory drug screening and drug discovery.     

Electrode and electrodeless impedance measurement for determination of orange juices parameters

Electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is a non-destructive, rapid and real-time measurement method which does not require special high-tech measurement devices and can be applied to food quality assessment. This method is rapid, effective and affords low-cost investigation of the product. The conventional EIS method requires a set of metal electrodes in direct contact with the medium to be measured. The complicated electrochemical processes on the electrodes-electrolyte interface could substantially affect the value of the impedance measured. The present study sought to explore the possibilities of using the impedance method for quality control in orange juices, to introduce the electrodeless method of electrolyte impedance measurement and to compare this with the conventional impedance methods. The electrical properties of the orange juices were described with the help of an equivalent circuit. An equivalent circuit was designed with constant phase element approximation. The values of the equivalent circuit components were fitted using a non-standard algorithm inspired by the behaviour of actual ant colonies. Implementing the electrodeless method obviated the electrodes phenomena effects and the behaviour of the electrolyte is similar to inductance. The proposed electrodeless method is generally applicable to measuring the electrochemical properties of electrolytes.     

Corrosion behavior in artificial seawater of thermal-sprayed WC-CoCr coatings on mild steel by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

The corrosion behavior in artificial seawater of different as-sprayed ceramic-metallic (cermet) coatings applied on low-alloy steel was studied. Five conditions, associated to modifications of the composition of the powder or deposition parameters were evaluated. The degradation mechanisms were studied during extended immersion tests using conventional electrochemical measurement and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The extended immersion tests reveal that these as-thermal-sprayed coatings present a cathodic behavior compared with steel. During the first hours of immersion, the electrolyte infiltrates the defects of the coatings, which then result to the local degradation of the substrate accelerated by the galvanic coupling with the cermet coating. Optical observations and Raman analyses reveal the formation of calcium carbonates like aragonite on the cermet surface, very close to the appearance of local anodic sites. The cross-sectioned views reveal the infiltration of the corrosive solution, and the depth penetration of the degradation of steel substrate probably due to the acidification of the anodic sites.     

Impedance measurement technique for high-sensitivity cell detection in microstructures with non-uniform conductivity distribution

Particle detection in microstructures is a key procedure required by modern lab-on-a-chip devices. Unfortunately, state of the art approaches to impedance measuring as applied to cell detection do not perform well in regions characterized by non-homogeneous physical parameters due, for example, to the presence of air-liquid interfaces or when the particle-electrode distance is relatively high. This paper presents a robust impedance measurement technique and a circuit for detecting cells flowing in microstructures such as microchannels and microwells. Our solution makes use of an innovative three-electrode measurement scheme with asymmetric polarization in order to increase cell detection ability in microstructures featuring large electrode distances of up to 100 μm as well as to limit signal loss due to cell position relative to the electrodes. Compared to standard techniques, numerical simulations show that, with the proposed approach, the cell detection sensitivity is increased by more than 40%. In addition, we propose a custom circuit based on division instead of difference between signals, as in standard differential circuits, so as to reduce the baseline signal drift induced by non-homogeneous conductivity. A simplified analytical model shows an increase in the signal-to-noise-ratio comprised in the range 3.9-5.9. Experimental results, carried out using an open-microwell device made with flexible printed circuit board technology, are in agreement with simulations, suggesting a six-fold increase of the signal-to-noise ratio compared to the differential measurement technique. We were thus able to successfully monitor the process of isolating K562 leukemia cells inside open-microwells determining all single-cell events with no false positive detection.     

水性环氧铝粉涂层/碳钢体系的腐蚀电化学行为

应用电化学阻抗谱(EIS)和扫描振动电极技术(SVET)研究了碳钢基体上含人造缺陷的水性环氧铝粉涂层浸泡在3.5%NaCl溶液中的腐蚀电化学行为.结果表明,浸泡初期,涂层缺陷处为阳极活性区,涂层阻抗随时间延长逐渐降低,活性区逐渐扩展;之后,由于腐蚀产物的自修复作用使整个涂层/金属界面电化学反应活性降低,导致涂层阻抗快速增加.浸泡后期,由于腐蚀介质渗入到涂层/基体界面,出现了更多的阳极活性区,涂层产生破坏剥离.     

A Surface Masking Technique for the Determination of Plasma Polymer Film Thickness by AFM

A method for the determination of coating film thicknesses at nanometer resolution based on surface masking and atomic force microscopy (AFM) is described. A polymeric mask is used to cover part of a substrate during the deposition of thin polymeric coatings by plasma polymerization, allowing the production of well defined polymer steps of heights of a few tens of nanometers. Tapping mode AFM has been employed to analyze the topography of these steps at high resolution. This method has also allowed accurate measurement of the kinetics of the deposition of plasma polymer films over a range of exposure times. XPS analysis of different substrate surfaces following mask removal found barely detectable residues, suggesting that the underlying surface chemistry remains unchanged, and accessible for further modification. In combination with quartz crystal microgravimetry, the method has been applied to the measurement of the density of plasma polymer coatings in the thickness range 4–50 nm.     

Spatially resolved force spectroscopy of bacterial surfaces using force-volume imaging

Force spectroscopy using the atomic force microscope (AFM) is a powerful technique for measuring physical properties and interaction forces at microbial cell surfaces. Typically for such a study, the point at which a force measurement will be made is located by first imaging the cell using AFM in contact mode. In this study, we image the bacterial cell Shewanella putrefaciens for subsequent force measurements using AFM in force-volume mode and compare this to contact-mode images. It is known that contact-mode imaging does not accurately locate the apical surface and periphery of the cell since, in contact mode, a component of the applied load laterally deforms the cell during the raster scan. Here, we illustrate that contact-mode imaging does not accurately locate the apical surface and periphery of the cell since, in contact mode, a component of the applied load laterally deforms the cell during the raster scan. This is an artifact due to the deformability and high degree of curvature of bacterial cells. We further show that force-volume mode imaging avoids the artifacts associated with contact-mode imaging due to surface deformation since it involves the measurement of a grid of individual force profiles. The topographic image is subsequently reconstructed from the zero-force height (the contact distance between the AFM tip and the surface) at each point on the cell surface. We also show how force-volume measurements yield applied load versus indentation data from which mechanical properties of the cell such as Young's modulus, cell turgor pressure and elastic and plastic energies can be extracted.     

Electrochemical Aptasensor with Layer‐by‐layer Deposited Polyaniline for Aflatoxin M1 Voltammetric Determination

Mycotoxins are highly toxic metabolites of some fungi that frequently contaminate water, food and feed and hence cause several human and animal diseases. In this work, a new approach to the fast and reliable determination of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in water and milk has been proposed with reagent free protocol of signal measurement. For this purpose, DNA aptamer selective to AFM1 was entrapped between two thin layers of polyaniline (PANI) electrodeposited on glassy carbon electrode. The incubation of the aptasensor in the AFM1 solution results in remarkable decrease of the PANI intrinsic activity monitored by direct current voltammetry or electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Appropriate calibration curves were linear in the range from 3 to 90 ng/L with limit of detection (LOD) 1–5 ng/L depending on the measurement mode. Mechanism of signal generation involves shielding electrostatic interactions between the PANI and aptamer in the surface layer and variation of its redox activity attributed to the emeraldine form of PANI. Selectivity of the response was proved by similar experiments with aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxin A and by comparison of the results with those obtained with non‐specific aptamer in the sensing layer. Simple protocol for milk pretreatment has been proposed for reliable detection of AFM1 on the level of its threshold limited values (20 ng/L).     

有机涂层环境适应性研究进展

综述了有机涂层自然环境试验方法和实验室加速试验方法。自然环境试验方法主要有大气环境试验和海水环境试验;实验室加速试验方法不但包括模拟太阳光、热、湿热、盐雾等环境的实验室试验,还有综合模拟试验。还介绍了检测有机涂层老化的宏观分析方法、微观分析方法和电化学分析方法。其中宏观分析方法主要介绍了涂层附着力试验方法,微观分析方法则主要介绍了扫描电镜(SEM)、X射线光电子能谱仪(XPS)、傅里叶红外光谱(FTIR)及电化学交流阻抗谱法(EIS)。讨论了近年发展起来的有机涂层老化的各种机理,例如自由基降解的光老化降解机理,亲水性基团的水降解机理,热氧机理,臭氧及污染物影响的老化机理等。     

Reinforcement of phosphorylated graphene oxide on the anticorrosive properties of waterborne acrylate-epoxy resin coatings

Abstract

Phosphorylated graphene oxide (PedGO) was synthesized through the in-situ phosphate esterification method with urea as catalyst and then embed into waterborne acrylate-epoxy resin emulsion (AE) coating to modify the coating. The TEM and AFM indicated that phosphate was uniformly decorated on GO sheets, forming a large phosphorylated graphene oxide sheets. The PedGO improved the water vapor permeability and the coating adhesion strength after 30?days of immersion in 3.5% NaCl of AE coatings, respectively. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements (EIS) revealed that the PedGO-modified AE (PedGO/AE) was an outstanding barrier against corrosive media compared with AE or GO-modified AE (GO/AE). Scratch tests also showed that the corrosion-promotion effect of PedGO in AE was inhibited. The enhanced corrosion protection performance was observed because on the one hand the PedGO can greatly prolonged the diffusion pathway of corrosive media in the coating matrix; on the other hand the organic phosphate on the PedGO formed the passivation membrane with metal ions by chelation in the corrosion region, which can prevented the contact of corrosive medium and metal.     

TiO_2光电化学电池催化氧化甲基红

以钛基TiO2薄膜为光阳极,研究了光电化学电池中阳极光催化降解偶氮染料甲基红的动力学.结果表明,短接光电化学电池分隔了光催化过程的阴、阳极反应,有利于抑制光生载流子的复合,提高光催化氧化速率.相同实验条件下短路光电流越大,则甲基红降解速率越高.在基底和TiO2薄膜之间夹层SnO2得到组装电极Ti/SnO2/TiO2,进一步提高了光生载流子的分离效率;同时采用电化学阻抗谱(EIS)评价了电极的光催化性能.     

Analysis of degradation processes of C/C composites and coating layers with tracer elements in an air-acetylene flame by two-dimensional atomic absorption spectrometry

This paper describes a novel measurement technique for in-situ monitoring of the degradation processes of coated C/C composites (carbon fiber-reinforced carbon composites) in combusting fields. The samples tested in this experiment were C/C composites with double coating layers of SiC and glass materials doped with Ca and/or Mg as tracer elements. These samples were exposed in an C₂H₂/air flame emitted the diatomic molecules, and the light from the Mg-Ca hollow cathode lamp passed through the flame around the sample. The spectrally and spatially resolved images of emission were observed with a spectro CCD camera developed by our group. In this work, two-dimensional atomic absorption spectrometry by using the spectro CCD camera was applied to in-situ monitor the degradation processes of each coating layer and the substrate. The results indicated that the temporal changes in the spatial distribution of atomic absorption caused by Ca and Mg atoms proved to be a good measure for in-situ monitoring of the degradation processes of coated C/C composites in a high temperature flame.     

TiO2光电化学电池催化氧化甲基红

以钛基TiO₂薄膜为光阳极，研究了光电化学电池中阳极光催化降解偶氮染料甲基红的动力学. 结果表明，短接光电化学电池分隔了光催化过程的阴、阳极反应，有利于抑制光生载流子的复合，提高光催化氧化速率. 相同实验条件下短路光电流越大，则甲基红降解速率越高. 在基底和TiO₂薄膜之间夹层SnO₂得到组装电极Ti/SnO₂/TiO₂，进一步提高了光生载流子的分离效率；同时采用电化学阻抗谱（EIS）评价了电极的光催化性能.     

A comprehensive analysis of impedance of the electrochemical cell

A comprehensive impedance characteristics of two electrodes electrochemical cell has been presented. In this method a multisinusoidal current excitation signal is used. The change of potential of both the electrodes are all registered as a function of time. The proposed method gives the possibility of determining the impedance of both electrodes individually as well as the impedance of a two-electrode system. Additional application of short time Fourier transform of time registers allows the determination of changes in the measured impedance values over time. In order to present the possibilities of the proposed technology it was applied to a process of charging commercially available electrochemical cell NiCd. The new measurement methodology allows understanding the dynamics of processes occurring in a electrochemical cell. This is the basis for the development of effective and affordable electro-catalysts. Thanks to results obtained with Dynamic Electrochemical Impedance spectroscopy (DEIS) method it is possible to understand the mechanisms and kinetics of processes occurring in electrochemical cells while charging.     

Characterisation of roof tile coating degradation using nano-indentation test and surface profilometry

Nano-science and nano-technology have been extensively explored to develop functional and smart coating systems. In this context, it is important to investigate novel characterisation methodologies for surface feature measurement and evaluation of diverse coating systems at nano and micrometrical scales which cannot be implemented by conventional tests. In this study, nano-indentation test have been carried out to characterise the environmental degradation of a polymer coating on a building material substrate. Multiple locations were selected for nano-indention for analysis and evaluation. It has shown that the coating weathering led to a reduction in deformation depth and an increase of hardness and modulus. Furthermore, the weathering resulted in surface quality degradation, which was characterised by hugely reduced surface homogeneity in terms of standard deviations in deformation, hardness and modulus. The coating degradations were also characterised by surface roughness measurement by profilometry. There were significant differences in surface roughness at the micrometrical scale for coatings with varying environmental degradations. They were quantified in terms of surface roughness statistics. The micro morphologies of the coating were observed by SEM which showed a good agreement with results from nano-indentation test and surface roughness measurement. This study demonstrates that nano-indentation test and surface roughness measurement are viable methodologies to evaluate specialised polymer coating systems and to characterise their degradations at the nano and micrometrical scales.     

Long-term equilibrium potential and electrochemical impedance study of Ag/AgCl electrodes used in Harned Cell measurements of pH

A long term study of the voltage and electrochemical impedance characteristics of Ag/AgCl electrodes used in Harned Cell measurement of pH is presented. By all the measures investigated the electrodes are shown to degrade only slowly until approximately 200 days after manufacture, after which time the rate of degradation and critical failure of the electrodes increases. The absolute voltage drift of the electrodes may not be easily measured, so parameters determined directed or indirectly by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy have been assessed as a method to produce an alternative indication of electrode integrity. In this respect, resistance to charge transfer has been shown to be a very sensitive measure of changes in the characteristics of the electrodes, and the most closely related to the observed changes in voltage. Evidence is presented to support the hypothesis that the majority of electrode degradation (excluding critical failure) comes from the increased blocking of the microporous structure of the electrodes.     

AlF3包覆LiNi0.45Mn0.45Co0.10O2锂离子电池正极材料的结构表征和 电化学性能研究

通过共沉淀与固相反应法制备层状的LiNi0.45Mn0.45Co0.10O2, 并利用X射线衍射(XRD)和电子扫描显微镜(SEM)测定材料的结构和形貌. 在2.5～4.5 V范围内, 以0.1 C (28 mA&#8226;g－1)放电, LiNi0.45Mn0.45Co0.10O2正极材料的起始放电容量达到167.2 mAh&#8226;g－1, 但循环性能较差. 当采用AlF3包覆后, 材料的循环性能得到明显改善. 利用电化学阻抗谱(EIS)技术探索AlF3包覆对正极材料的电化学性能改善机理, 实验结果表明: AlF3包覆层能够阻止电解液对正极材料的溶解和侵蚀, 稳定其层状结构, 同时降低了电极界面阻抗. 因此AlF3包覆技术是一种改善LiNi0.45Mn0.45Co0.10O2材料电化学性能的有效方法和工具.