A unified model description of mobile and localized adsorption: I. MFA with nonadditive lateral interactions — an application to disordered adsorbed monolayer on a structureless substrate

A simple model is used to treat mobile adsorption on a structureless substrate. The influence of temperature on the state of motion of adsorbed particles is described by means of an interpolation formula used earlier in the theory of hindered rotation, whereas the influence of the nearest-neighbour potential with varying degree of coverage is accounted for in terms of a “free area”, available for individual particle motion, for which a simple analytical expression, based on an harmonic oscillator approximation, is obtained. An irregularity in the long range order of the adsorbed monolayer is introduced in terms of “varying distances”, resp. of varying energy bonds between the particles in dependence of the number of nearest neighbours actually present in the first coordination sphere of each particle (nonadditivity of the bonds).     

A unified model description of mobile and localized adsorption: II. Adsorption on crystalline surfaces — a gradual transition between mobile and localized adsorption

The model used in Part I is now extended to account for the periodic potential of the substrate. The influence of the energetical structure of the substrate on the state of motion of a single particle is allowed for at varying degree of coverage so that the gradual transition from localized to mobile adsorption with growing temperature may be described. The impact of the energetical characteristics of adsorbate and adsorbent on the critical parameters of the adsorption isotherms is investigated. These parameters are also considerably influenced when non-additivity of the lateral bonds is taken into account. On a perfectly smooth substrate, as well as in the case of potential wells of the substrate coinciding in size with the diameter of the adatoms, the model predicts the impossibility of a first order phase transition between “additive” and “nonadditive” phases. The last result could be related to the problem of 2D melting, provided the degree of disorder in both adsorbate phases is adequately expressed in terms of varying nonadditivity of the energy bonds.     

Massenspektrometrische untersuchungen der kondensation von dünnen schichten auf fremden unterlagen: II. Wachstums- und desorptionskinetik von Ag auf W

The growth and desorption kinetics of silver films on clean polycrystalline tungsten were investigated with a mass-spectrometric technique. The growth of the crystal phase started in the third monolayer by nucleation. This process occurred initially with increasing supersaturation until steady-state growth conditions were established. The evaporation coefficient β for the room-temperature films was unity. For the high-temperature films β was found to be lower than 1. The light and scanning micrographs showed that the silver films consist of isolated islands with strong epitaxial orientation to the substrate. The thermal desorption spectra confirmed qualitatively the island structure of the deposit. The kinetics data were explaned by the formation of diffusion zones around the growing cluster.     

A novel gel deformation technique for fabrication of ellipsoidal and discoidal polymeric microparticles

A simple fabrication technique for anisotropic particles of ellipsoidal/discoidal shape has been developed, based on stretching/compressing of oil-in-water emulsion templates embedded into an elastic aqueous gel; a range of solid anisotropic microparticles have been fabricated by polymerising of the deformed oil drops in the elastic gel matrix and their shape and aspect ratios have been studied as a function of the gel deformation.     

Fabrication of magnetically-functionalized lens- and donut-shaped microparticles by a surface-formation technique

We report a simple method for the preparation of magnetically-functionalized lens-like and donut-shaped polymeric microparticles, based on spreading a magnetite-doped paraffin-polymer solution at the air/water interface in the presence of an external magnetic field. We examine the parameters that affect the particle morphology and interfacial aggregation behaviour.     

Polymer-Modified Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Affect Photosystem II Photochemistry,Intersystem Electron Transport Carriers and Photosystem I End Acceptors in Pea Plants

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) have recently been attracting the attention of plant biologists as a prospective tool for modulation of photosynthesis in higher plants. However, the exact mode of action of SWCNT on the photosynthetic electron transport chain remains unknown. In this work, we examined the effect of foliar application of polymer-grafted SWCNT on the donor side of photosystem II, the intersystem electron transfer chain and the acceptor side of photosystem I. Analysis of the induction curves of chlorophyll fluorescence via JIP test and construction of differential curves revealed that SWCNT concentrations up to 100 mg/L did not affect the photosynthetic electron transport chain. SWCNT concentration of 300 mg/L had no effect on the photosystem II donor side but provoked inactivation of photosystem II reaction centres and slowed down the reduction of the plastoquinone pool and the photosystem I end acceptors. Changes in the modulated reflection at 820 nm, too, indicated slower re-reduction of photosystem I reaction centres in SWCNT-treated leaves. We conclude that SWCNT are likely to be able to divert electrons from the photosynthetic electron transport chain at the level of photosystem I end acceptors and plastoquinone pool in vivo. Further research is needed to unequivocally prove if the observed effects are due to specific interaction between SWCNT and the photosynthetic apparatus.     

Preparation of aqueous gel beads coated by lipid bilayers

Novel giant liposome microcapsules have been fabricated based on aqueous gel cores encapsulated with a lipid bilayer. The method involves templating of lipid-stabilised water-in-oil emulsions after gelling the aqueous phase with a suitable hydrocolloid.     

Contact angles of colloid silica and gold particles at air-water and oil-water interfaces determined with the gel trapping technique

We have used the recently developed gel trapping technique (GTT) to determine the three-phase contact angles of submicrometer silica particles partially coated with octadecyl groups. The particles were spread at air-water and decane-water surfaces, and the aqueous phase was subsequently gelled with a nonadsorbing polysaccharide. The particles trapped at the surface of the aqueous gel were lifted by molding with curable poly(dimethylsiloxane) and imaged with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to determine the particle contact line diameter which allows their contact angle at the original air-water or oil-water interface to be estimated. We report for the first time the use of the GTT for characterizing the contact angle of individual submicrometer particles adsorbed at liquid interfaces. The SEM images also reveal the structure of the particle monolayer at the interface and the structure of adsorbed particle aggregates. We have also determined the contact angles of agglomerated gold powder microparticles at the air-water and the decane-water interfaces. It was found that agglomerated gold particles demonstrate considerably higher contact angles than those on flat gold-coated surfaces.     

A Model for Hydration Interactions between Apoferritin Molecules in Solution

We have studied how non-DLVO forces between molecules of the globular protein apoferritin in solution affect its osmotic second virial coefficient. A model explaining the effects of the solution ionic strength and pH on the interprotein interaction is developed, to give a physical interpretation of recently published experimental findings showing that the second virial coefficient of the protein apoferritin, supported by acetate buffer, goes through a minimum as a function of ionic strength. At low ionic strengths, the apoferritin second virial coefficient initially decreases with increasing sodium ion concentration, as DLVO theory predicts. However, non-DLVO hydration forces due to overlapping of the Stern layers of the protein molecules increase the second virial coefficient with further increase of sodium ion concentration, again as found experimentally at higher ionic strengths. The non-DLVO effect arises from ionic exchange between hydrogen and sodium ions at the protein surface. An adsorption shell of hydrated sodium ions forms around the protein molecules with increasing buffer concentration.