Template functions of particle monolayers on hydrophobic solid substrates

The template function of cationic particle monolayers bearing quaternary ammonium groups on their surfaces towards anionic colloids was investigated in this paper. Monodispersed cationic polymer particles having quaternary ammonium groups were self-organized on octadecylated glass plates through hydrophobic interaction. The morphology of the resulting particle monolayers was changed by tuning hydrophilic–hydrophobic balance of particles to fabricate aggregated type and dispersed type of particle monolayers. Gold and silver colloids were selectively deposited onto the particle monolayers through electrostatic interaction. The deposited gold and silver colloids on particle monolayers showed plasmon absorbance. Fluorescent silica colloids were also selectively deposited on particle monolayers to permit fluorescence labeling of the particle monolayers. Cationic particle monolayers fabricated on hydrophobic solid octadecylated were found to effectively work as templates for the deposition of above mentioned inorganic colloids.     

Interfacial deposition of functionalized copolymers onto nanoemulsions produced by the solvent displacement method

Cationic nanoemulsions containing an oily core as potential carriers of nucleic acids were prepared by a solvent displacement method in the presence of a nonionic surfactant (Pluronic F68). With a view to functionalize such nanoemulsions for further incorporation of a fusogenic peptide, a poly(maleic anhydride-alt-methyl vinyl ether) (M _n=67,000) grafted with variable amount of acetylspermine (or acetylspermidine) and decylamine was nanodeposited during the nanoemulsion formation step. Functionalized nanoemulsions were characterized in terms of particle size (by quasi-elastic light scattering and electron microscopy), electrophoretic mobility and long-term stability as a function of the amount of polymer used in the formulation. It was found that increases in the level of the copolymer led to a reduction in the particle size and a decrease in colloidal stability. In addition, the incorporation of the grafted copolymers at the interface of the nanoemulsions was clearly evidenced, a shift towards low pH at the point of zero charge being attributed to the formation of carboxylic groups induced by hydrolysis of the residual maleic anhydride groups of the copolymer. Received: 1 September 2000 / in revised form: 29 November 2000 Accepted: 12 December 2000     

A direct method for measuring adsorption from solution onto solids

A direct method of measuring solution adsorption onto a solid has been developed. The results are exactly the same as those given by the conventional method of measuring the change in composition of the solution upon contacting the adsorbent. The development is cast in the terms of Gibbsian surface concepts, from which the correct thermodynamic significance of adsorption measurements made by directly analyzing material adsorbed on the solid can be understood. The method was tested for the adsorption of Na-Laurate and n-hexanol from aqueous and n-decane solutions, and typical isotherms are presented. The various realized and potential advantages of the method are discussed. The most important of these are the ability to measure adsorption in complex systems with a negligible change in solution composition, and the possibility of ameliorating in certain situations some of the difficulties in measuring adsorption at high concentrations or on low surface area solids.     

A study of the deposition of polymeric material onto surfaces from fluorocarbon RF plasmas

A series of fluorocarbon gases, viz., CF₄, C₂F₆, C₃F₈, and CHF₃, have been compared for their relative tendencies to deposit polymeric material onto various surfaces, including Si and SiO₂, under RF plasma conditions. The plasmas were examined by optical emission spectroscopy. C₃F₈ and CHF₃ were found to produce the highest yields of polymers, although these exhibited significant differences in structure (as shown by XPS and IR) and differences in thermal stability, both of which could be minimized by replacing the C₃F₈ gas with a C₃F₈/H₂ mixture. The polymers produced from CHF₃ under the conditions of the present study were found to accumulate preferentially onto Si rather than SiO₂, as verified by the technique of Rutherford backscattering spectrometry.     

A simple and rapid method for the determination of particle size in emulsions from ultrasound data

Oil droplet size in emulsions can be determined from ultrasound velocity and attenuation spectra. We show that explicit solutions of the acoustic scattering matrix may be used to rapidly calculate a mean particle size for a limited but useful range of particle sizes. Our technique is well suited to in-line measurement. Both modelling and experiment indicate that the main scattering mechanism is thermal scattering. Calculations using the explicit solutions have been compared with experimental results from sunflower oil-in-water emulsions.     

A soft lithography method to generate arrays of microstructures onto hydrogel surfaces

Materials bearing microscale patterns on the surface have important biomedical applications such as scaffolds in tissue engineering, drug delivery systems, sensors, and actuators. Hydrogels are an attractive class of materials that has excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability, and tunable mechanical properties that meet the requirements of the aforementioned applications. Generating patterns of intricate microstructures onto the hydrogel surfaces, however, is challenging due to properties such as the crosslinking density, low mechanical strength, adhesion, or chemical incompatibility of hydrogels with various molds. Here, we report the use of a soft lithography technique to successfully transfer arrays of micropillars onto a poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate)‐based hydrogel. The swelling of the hydrogel in solvents, such as phosphate‐buffered saline, deionized water, 60% ethanol, and absolute ethanol, facilitates the reproducible replication of the pattern. Furthermore, the micropillar pattern promotes the attachment of HeLa cells onto this hydrogel which is not inherently adhesive when unpatterned. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2018 , 56, 1144–1157     

A microfluidic membrane chip for in situ fouling characterization

A new method for non-invasive in situ monitoring of a microfiltration process is described. In microfiltration systems, local information on the deposition characteristics can be used to determine the cake behavior during a filtration run. Typically, non-invasive methods of fouling study are restricted to specialized membranes, or require highly complex systems. This study employs the use of synthetic embedded channel membranes, with channels separated by a porous structure (active membrane). The characteristics of the active membrane have been analyzed. Deposition on the membrane surface can be observed and monitored optically across the width of the feed channel. This can be used to observe the liquid hydrodynamics in the channel as well as the local cake properties in time. In dead end filtration, it has been observed that with 6 μm particles, the cake initially deposits towards the end of the membrane. However, as filtration continues, the deposition changes with more local deposition towards the channel entrance, leading to a more homogeneous cake layer.     

Deposition of Oral Bacteria and Polystyrene Particles to Quartz and Dental Enamel in a Parallel Plate and Stagnation Point Flow Chamber

The aim of this paper is to determine to what extent (i) deposition of oral bacteria and polystyrene particles, (ii) onto quartz and dental enamel with and without a salivary conditioning film, (iii) in a parallel plate (PP) and stagnation point (SP) flow chamber and at common Peclet numbers are comparable. All three bacterial strains showed different adhesion behaviors, and even Streptococcus mitis BMS, possessing a similar cell surface hydrophobicity as polystyrene particles, did not mimic polystyrene particles in its adhesion behavior, possibly as a result of the more negative ζ potentials of the polystyrene particles. The stationary endpoint adhesion of all strains, including polystyrene particles, was lower in the presence of a salivary conditioning film, while also desorption probabilities under flow were higher in the presence of a conditioning film than in its absence. Deposition onto quartz and enamel surfaces was different, but without a consistent trend valid for all strains and polystyrene particles. It is concluded that differences in experimental results exist, and the process of bacterial deposition to enamel surfaces cannot be modeled by using polystyrene particles and quartz collector surfaces.     

A turbidimetric method to measure isoelectric points and particles deposition onto massive substrates

A simple experimental approach was developed to determine the adhesion rate of particles onto massive substrate. Turbidimetry measurements are used to follow the evolution of particle concentration in a suspension in dynamic contact with the walls of a vessel made of different materials. This method allows to rapidly obtain qualitative results about the adhesion of metallic oxides particles on massive substrates. Adhesion of particles of charged latex onto glass was used to validate the approach and was shown to be a method to determine isoelectric points (IEP) of massive substrates. Then, the adhesion of an iron oxide (hematite) particles onto several substrates was studied to determine the reactivity of current labware (glass, polypropylene) and on a metal (aluminum) commonly found in industrial fouling problems. Adhesion of hematite was found to be pH-dependant, and occurs only below ca. 6 (glass) or 7 (polypropylene), and above 7 (aluminum). DLVO calculations were performed to model the hematite/water/glass system and are consistent with the experimental results. Experiments at temperature 7–50 °C have shown an increasing of the adhesion rate from 7 to 40 °C, then a constant value until 50 °C.     

A method for determining the mean translational energy of particles desorbed from solid surfaces

A method for determinig the mean molecular translational energy in gas flows of low intensity (10¹²–10¹⁴ molec. s^–1) has been proposed. The method was verified using various gases (H₂, N₂, O₂, and CO₂ flowing into a vacuum out of a heated capillary. The translational energies were determined for CO and N₂ molecules desorbing from the surface of polycrystalline Ir. The translational temperature (T _tr) measured for CO equals 650±90 K and almost coincides with the surface temperature (T _s = 600 K). In the case of nitrogen molecules,T _tr = 4600±500 K atT _s = 500 K. The method proposed is applicable to the determination of the spatial distribution of molecular beam particles.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 1, pp. 30–34, January, 1995.The authors express their gratitude to A. V. Sklyarov for fruitful discussions during the elaboration of the theoretical basis and technical realization of the method.The reseach was carried out with the partial financial support of the International Science Foundation (Grant MBN 000).     

采用简易方法合成直接乙醇固体氧化物燃料电池海胆状Pd催化层

在室温下,通过电位置换反应在固体氧化物燃料电池的Ni-YSZ(钇掺杂氧化锆)阳极表面制备海胆状Pd催化层。该催化层的结构和性能通过SEM、XRD和电化学等表征手段进行表征。结果表明,三维纳米花状Pd催化剂是由在Ni-YSZ阳极表面形成的多条纳米棒有序的组合而成。通过在Ni/YSZ阳极表面引入该催化层,相比与传统Ni-YSZ阳极,燃料电池的最高功率和稳定性都获得了很大的提升。该研究表明,电位置换反应是一种很高效的在传统Ni-YSZ阳极表面制备纳米抗积炭的功能层的方法。     

A hybrid dielectrophoretic and hydrophoretic microchip for particle sorting using integrated prefocusing and sorting steps

This work explores dielectrophoresis (DEP)‐active hydrophoresis in sorting particles and cells. The device consists of prefocusing region and sorting region with great potential to be integrated into advanced lab‐on‐a‐chip bioanalysis devices. Particles or cells can be focused in the prefocusing region and then sorted in the sorting region. The DEP‐active hydrophoretic sorting is not only based on size but also on dielectric properties of the particles or cells of interest without any labelling. A mixture of 3 and 10 μm particles were sorted and collected from corresponding outlets with high separation efficiency. According to the different dielectric properties of viable and nonviable Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells at the medium conductivity of 0.03 S/m, the viable CHO cells were focused well and sorted from cell sample with a high purity.     

A new simulation model for electrochemical metal deposition

A new atomistic simulation model for electrochemical systems is presented. It combines microcanonical molecular dynamics for the electrode with stochastic dynamics for the solution, and allows the simulation of electrochemical deposition and dissolution for specific electrode potentials. As first applications the deposition of silver and platinum on Au(1 1 1) have been studied; both flat surfaces and surfaces with islands have been considered. The two systems behave quite differently: Ag on Au(1 1 1) grows layer by layer, while Pt forms a surface alloy on Au(1 1 1), which is followed by three-dimensional growth.     

气固表面多原子分子振动能量传递过程的新模拟法

本文对气固表面分子相互作用过程进行了新的考察, 能量传递效率随温度上升而降低是分子能量分布转变的自然结果, 催化作用的起因是深的解吸位阱的存在, 振动能量调节系数的数值可以大于1。新处理法在定性和定量方面都是成功的。     

A new room-temperature deposition technique for optical coatings

We describe a new coating method Laminar Flow Coating (LFC) technique developed to obtain highly reflective (HR) laser damage resistant sol-gel multidielectric coatings. Such coatings are used in high-power lasers for inertial confinement fusion experiments (ICF). This technique uses substrates in an upside-down position and a travelling wave of coating solution is transported with a laminar motion under the substrate surface with a tubular dispense unit. This creates a thin-film coating by solvent evaporation. Satisfactory results have been obtained on 20-cm square glass substrates regarding the optical performances, the thickness uniformity, the edge-effects and the laser damage resistance. This deposition technique combines the advantages of both classical techniques: the non-exclusive substrate geometry such as in dip-coating and the small solution consumption such as in spin-coating.The association of sol-gel colloidal suspensions and LFC coating process has been demonstrated as a promising way to produce inexpensive specific optical coatings [1].     

A new surface roughening method for glass capillary columns. Sodium chloride deposition from suspension

A method is described for roughening the surface of glass capillary columns for subsequent coating with polar stationary phases. A suspension of sodium chloride, obtained by addition of a saturated solution of sodium chloride in methanol to 1,1,1-trichloroethane, is passed through the column at velocities of 1–5 cm/s. During passage of the suspension, particles of sodium chloride deposit spontaneously on the column wall. The amount of sodium chloride deposited on the column wall is a function of the volume of the suspension passed through and of the contact time of the suspension and the column wall. Ultimately the amount of sodium chloride per unit surface area approaches a maximum. Columns covered with this maximum amount of sodium chloride were prepared with high reproducibility and coated with a number of polar stationary phases. Various factors that influence the stability of the suspension and the deposition of sodium chloride are discussed and minimum requirements are given. A theoretical model is proposed for the mechanism of deposition of sodium chloride particles on the glass wall.     

A direct solid sampling electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry method for the determination of silicon in biological materials

A solid sampling electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry method for direct determination of trace silicon in biological materials was developed and applied to analysis of pork liver, bovine liver SRM 1577b and pure cellulose. The organic matrix was destroyed and expelled from the furnace in the pyrolysis stage involving a step-wise increasing the temperature from 160 °C to 1200 °C. The mixed Pd/Mg(NO₃)₂ modifier has proved to be the optimum one with respect to the achievement of maximum sensitivity, elimination of the effect of the remaining inorganic substances and the possibility of using calibration curves measured with aqueous standard solutions for quantification. For the maximum applicable sample amount of 6 mg, the limit of detection was found to be 30 ng g^− 1. The results were compared with those obtained by different spectrometric methods involving sample digestion, by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry using slurry sampling, by wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and by radiochemical neutron activation analysis. The method seems to be a promising one for analysis of biological materials containing no significant fraction of silicon in form of not naturally occurring volatile organosilicon compounds. The still incessant serious limitations and uncertainties in the determination of trace silicon in solid biological materials are discussed.     

A direct solid sampling electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometric method for determination of trace elements in zirconium dioxide

A direct solid sampling electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometric method for determination of Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Li, Mn, Ni and Zn in zirconium dioxide has been developed. Using optimised experimental conditions, very effective in-situ analyte/matrix separation was achieved without any chemical modification. After the measurement, the matrix residue could easily be tipped out from the platform. In the determination of Cr, before sampling, the platform bottom was covered with carbon powder. Quantification was performed using calibration curves measured with aqueous standard solutions pipetted onto the matrix residue from a previous sample run. Sample amounts between 0.5 and 40 mg were applied for each analysis cycle. The accuracy was determined by comparison of the results with those obtained by radiochemical neutron activation analysis and by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry using liquid sampling of digests and slurry sampling. For the nine elements assayed, the limits of detection achievable by this method are between 0.06 ng g^–1 (Cd) and 2.3 ng g^–1 (Fe).Dedicated to the memory of Wilhelm Fresenius     

A quick analytical method using direct solid sample introduction and GC-ECD for pesticide residues analysis in crops

In this work, an analytical method for GC using direct solid sample introduction was developed to tackle the problem regarding quick detection of pesticide residue in crops and large-scale screening of samples. 10 mg of the crop solid sample without sample pre-treatment was directly introduced into a modified split/splitless injector for GC analysis. A split/splitless injector was modified to quickly remove oxygen and low boiling-point matrices of the sample. The whole sampling procedure was simple and it required less than 5 min. The experimental parameters including injector-port temperature, removal of oxygen and low boiling point matrices, size and the amount of the solid sample, oven temperature program were studied. Satisfactory recoveries of 6 pesticides (methyl parathion, fenitrothion, aldrin, dieldrin, endosulfan, o,p′-DDT) were obtained in maize and rice sample. Relative standard deviation was less than 15%. Experimental results showed that the proposed method was quick and reliable for pesticide residues analysis in crops.