Catalytic activity of glucose oxidase after dielectrophoretic immobilization on nanoelectrodes

Dielectrophoresis (DEP) is an AC electrokinetic effect that is proven to be effective for the immobilization of not only cells, but also of macromolecules, for example, antibodies and enzyme molecules. In our previous work, we have already demonstrated the high catalytic activity of immobilized horseradish peroxidase after DEP. To evaluate the suitability of the immobilization method for sensing or research in general, we want to test it for other enzymes, too. In this study, glucose oxidase (GOX) from Aspergillus niger was immobilized on TiN nanoelectrode arrays by DEP. Fluorescence microscopy showed the intrinsic fluorescence of the immobilized enzymes flavin cofactor on the electrodes. The catalytic activity of immobilized GOX was detectable, but a fraction of less than 1.3% of the maximum activity that was expected for a full monolayer of immobilized enzymes on all electrodes was stable for multiple measurement cycles. Therefore, the effect of DEP immobilization on the catalytic activity strongly depends on the used enzyme.     

Benefiting from information-rich multi-frequency AC voltammetry coupled with chemometrics on the example of on-line monitoring of leveler component of electroplating bath

Simultaneous application of multiple sinusoidal waveforms perturbations superimposed onto DC staircase step significantly enriches current response. The measured current is characterized by a matrix of data rather than a conventional voltammetric output in a form of a vector. This increase of the dimensionality of the current response and therefore the wealth of analytical information is achieved without compromising the time of analysis. The natural approach for compression of such data and extraction of relevant information is by utilizing multi-way chemometric decomposition techniques. An electroplating solution presents a very challenging analyte for electroanalysis as its constituents interact synergistically with each other during both the plating process and its simulation during electroanalysis. For some components the mechanism is not entirely understood. Therefore, the only way to benefit from the analytical data is by employing soft modeling. The electrode processes involving additives rely heavily on adsorption and, indirectly, on electron transfer kinetics for which AC voltammetry is an analytical technique capable of delivering informative signals. This paper presents a rigorous universal method for calculating and validating an exemplary multi-way calibration of a leveler component in a copper electroplating bath used in the semiconductor industry. The method presented employs comparatively Parallel Factor Analysis coupled with Inverse Least Squares Regression and multi-linear Partial Least Squares. The calibration training set consists of multi-frequency AC voltammetric data subjected to pretreatments aiming to select informative independent variables and exclude outliers.     

A DFT study of DMC formation on Rh‐doped Cu/AC surfaces

The activity and selectivity of heterogeneous catalysts can be significantly improved by dispersion of another active component in the metal substrate. The impact of Rh promoter on the formation of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) via oxidative carbonylation of methanol on Cu–Rh/AC (activated carbon) catalyst was investigated by density functional theory calculations. The most stable configurations of reacting species (CO, OH, CH₃O, monomethyl carbonate, and DMC) adsorbed on the Cu⁰(zero‐valent copper)/AC and Cu–Rh/AC surfaces were determined on the basis of the calculated results. The reaction energy and activation energy of the rate‐limiting steps on the Cu–Rh/AC and Cu⁰/AC surfaces were compared. The activation energies of the rate‐limiting step of CO insertion into dimethoxide are 206.3 and 304.8 kJ mol^?1 on the Cu–Rh/AC and Cu⁰/AC surfaces, respectively. The activation energies of the rate‐limiting step of CO insertion into methoxide are 78.5 and 92.7 kJ/mol on the Cu–Rh/AC and Cu⁰/AC surfaces, respectively. The calculated results indicate that the addition of Rh atom has a significant effect on decreasing the active energy the main pathway for DMC formation. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Vibrational spectroscopy,electrical characterization,nonlinear optical properties and DFT calculation of (NEt4)(H2AsO4)(H3AsO4)2

An organic-inorganic compound of tetraethylammonium dihydrogenarsenate bis(arsenic acid) salts of formula (NEt₄)(H₂AsO₄)(H₃AsO₄)₂, a potential new nonlinear optical material, was prepared by a slow evaporation technique and characterized by IR and Raman spectroscopy accomplished with DFT calculation and electrical-dielectrical measurements. The structure has been solved using direct method and refined by least-squares analysis. In this case, the structure consists of infinite parallel two-dimensional planes built of mutually H₂AsO₄^?, H₃AsO₄ tetrahedra connected by strong O–H?O hydrogen bonding giving birth to trimers. The geometry, first hyperpolarizability and harmonic vibrational wavenumbers were calculated by means of density functional theory (DFT) with the B3LYP/6-31G(d) level of theory. Good consistency was found between the calculated and the experimental structure, IR, and Raman results. The first hyperpolarizability β_tot of the title compound is about 1.75 times more than that of the reference crystal KDP. The complex impedance has been investigated in relation to the temperature and frequency ranges 297 and 373 K and 1 to 100 KHz, respectively. The conductivity temperature variation shows a typical Arrhenius-type behavior with a linear dependence on logarithm of conductivity. Transport properties in this material appear to be due to proton hopping mechanism.     

Activity of AC electrokinetically immobilized horseradish peroxidase

Dielectrophoresis (DEP) is an AC electrokinetic effect mainly used to manipulate cells. Smaller particles, like virions, antibodies, enzymes, and even dye molecules can be immobilized by DEP as well. In principle, it was shown that enzymes are active after immobilization by DEP, but no quantification of the retained activity was reported so far. In this study, the activity of the enzyme horseradish peroxidase (HRP) is quantified after immobilization by DEP. For this, HRP is immobilized on regular arrays of titanium nitride ring electrodes of 500 nm diameter and 20 nm widths. The activity of HRP on the electrode chip is measured with a limit of detection of 60 fg HRP by observing the enzymatic turnover of Amplex Red and H₂O₂ to fluorescent resorufin by fluorescence microscopy. The initial activity of the permanently immobilized HRP equals up to 45% of the activity that can be expected for an ideal monolayer of HRP molecules on all electrodes of the array. Localization of the immobilizate on the electrodes is accomplished by staining with the fluorescent product of the enzyme reaction. The high residual activity of enzymes after AC field induced immobilization shows the method's suitability for biosensing and research applications.     

Promotion effect of adsorbed water/OH on the catalytic performance of Ag/activated carbon catalysts for CO preferential oxidation in excess H2

Activated carbon (AC) supported silver catalysts were prepared by incipient wetness impregnation method and their catalytic performance for CO preferential oxidation (PROX) in excess H₂ was evaluated. Ag/AC catalysts, after reduction in H₂ at low temperatures (≤200 °C) following heat treatment in He at 200 °C (He200H200), exhibited the best catalytic properties. Temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) results indicated that silver oxides were produced during heat treatment in He at 200 °C which were reduced to metal silver nanoparticles in H₂ at low temperatures (≤200 °C), simultaneously generating the adsorbed water/OH. CO conversion was enhanced 40% after water treatment following heat treatment in He at 600 °C. These results imply that the metal silver nanoparticles are the active species and the adsorbed water/OH has noticeable promotion effects on CO oxidation. However, the promotion effect is still limited compared to gold catalysts under the similar conditions, which may be the reason of low selectivity to CO oxidation in PROX over silver catalysts. The reported Ag/AC-S-He catalyst after He200H₂00 treatment displayed similar PROX of CO reaction properties to Ag/SiO₂. This means that Ag/AC catalyst is also an efficient low-temperature CO oxidation catalyst.     

Voltammetric Determination of Allura Red AC onto Carbone-paste Electrode Modified by Silica with Embedded Cetylpyridinium Chloride

In current study the carbon-paste electrode modified by silica with embedded cetylpyridinium chloride for determination of Allura Red AC have been developed. The optimal conditions were determined to be for the square-wave voltammetric quantification: pH=2, E_ads=300 mV, t_ads=300 s, amplitude – 40 mV, frequency – 25 Hz and potential scan rate is 250 mV sec⁻¹. The calibration plot has linearity in the concentration ranges 0.04–0.2 μM and 0.2–1.00 μM. The LOD and LOQ are equal to 0.005 μM and 0.015 μM respectively. The crafted sensor has been applied successfully to model solutions and in jelly candies analysis with RSD no more than 10 %.     

Induced Electronic and Thermal Effects of 86 MeV Nickel Ions in Bisphenol-A Polycarbonate

Bisphenol-A polycarbonate films were irradiated with 86 MeV swift heavy nickel ions at varying fluences, ranging from 1 × 10¹¹ to 1 × 10¹³ ions cm^?2, under vacuum at room temperature, to analyze the induced electrical and thermal modifications. AC conductivity measurements and UV-visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques were applied to analyze the changes. A significant, exponential increase in conductivity at higher frequency was observed with the increase of nickel ion fluence. UV-visible analysis corroborated the results of the AC conductivity measurement, revealing the increase in size of the carbon clusters embedded in the polymer network, with the increase of heavy ion fluence. FTIR analysis revealed the formation of alkene and alkyne end groups at higher doses, which further supported the suggestion that the variation in electrical properties induced by the ion irradiation of the polymer was due to development of a carbonaceous phase inside the polymer due to the irradiation. Thermal analysis, i.e., TGA and DSC patterns, showed that chain-scission was the leading phenomena in the heavy ion-irradiated polycarbonate samples, resulting in degradation of their thermal stability.