Flame spray deposition of nanocrystalline dense Ce0.8Gd0.2O2 − δ thin films: Deposition mechanism and microstructural characterization

Nanocrystalline dense sub-micron thin films of Ce_0.8Gd_0.2O_2 − δ have been successfully deposited by flame spray deposition. The deposition mechanism has been identified as droplet deposition. The deposition temperature of the substrate was as low as 200 °C and the deposition rate ∼ 30 nm/min. Under these conditions the droplets have a very limited residence time in the hot zone of the flame and are deposited as liquid, forming smooth films free of particles. They exhibited a dense and crack-free microstructure. Grain growth, lattice constant, crystallographic density and surface roughness have been investigated as a function of annealing temperature. The good quality of the films, in association with the high deposition rates at low deposition temperatures shows the preeminence of the flame spray method for depositing thin films for micro-solid oxide fuel cells.     

FAS grafted superhydrophobic ceramic membrane

The hydrophobic properties of γ-Al₂O₃ membrane have been obtained by grafting fluoroalkylsilane (FAS) on the surface of the membrane. The following grafting parameters were studied: the eroding time of the original membrane, the grafting time, the concentration of FAS solution and the multiplicity of grafting. Hydrophobicity of the membranes was characterized by contact angle (CA) measurement. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was used to investigate the weight loss process (25–800 °C) of the fluoroalkylsilane grafted on Al₂O₃ powders under different grafting conditions. The morphologies of the membranes modified under different parameters were examined by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and the surface roughness (Ra) was measured using white light interferometers. A needle-like structure was observed on the membrane surface after modification, which causes the change of Ra. On the results above, we speculated a model to describe the reaction between FAS and γ-Al₂O₃ membrane surface as well as the formed surface morphology.     

Observation of the lower hybrid waves near the three-dimensional null pair

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in plasma, which is thought to play important roles both in laboratory and natural plasmas through affecting magnetic topology, heating and accelerating particles. During an event on Oct. 1st, 2001, the Cluster tetrahedron circled around the magnetic reconnection region several times, and Xiao et al. first identified the null pair and found that the spectrum of the null-point oscillation shows the maximum power near the lower-hybrid frequency. In this paper we report the observation of electromagnetic and electrostatic wave enhancements near lower hybrid frequency associated with the reconnection process near the null pair. The lower hybrid waves (LHWs) with quasi-perpendicular propagation were identified and also confirmed by the power law of the spectrum of electric and magnetic fields. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40325012, 40390151, 40574073, 40574074, and 40640420563), the Research Foundation from Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. 40174043), and the China Plan on the International Polar Year     

Novel synthesis of polyimide–polyhybridsiloxane block copolymers via polyhydrosilylation: Characterization and physical properties

The insertion of soft polysiloxane segments into a polyimide backbone introduces changes in its properties (processability, low surface tension, gas permeability, and lower dielectric constant). Generally, these polyimide–polysiloxane copolymers are synthesized by the condensation of a dianhydride with an aromatic diamine and an amine telechelic polysiloxane, or by transimidization between an aminopyridine‐terminated oligoimide and an amine end‐capped oligosiloxane. This study investigated another route to obtain perfectly alternating polyimide–polyhybridsiloxane (PI–PHSX) block copolymers. The hydrosilylation, widely studied previously, was performed to elaborate copolymers from an allyl telechelic polyimide and a hydrosilane telechelic polyhybridsiloxane. The use of a telechelic polyhybridsiloxane as a soft segment brought better thermostability and better chemical resistance in comparison with an oligosiloxane based on ? Si(CH₃)₂? O? units. Using the same allyl telechelic polyimide moiety but varying the size of the hybrid siloxane part, we obtained different PI–PHSX block copolymers, leading to thermoplastic elastomers (TPE). We investigated the effect of the soft‐segment length on the thermal resistance, activation energy of thermal degradation, mechanical behavior, and surface properties of a series three PI–PHSX block copolymers containing 36, 54, and 75 wt % polyimide. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 39: 2414–2425, 2001     

Investigation of viscous flow phenomena in a rotating system

In this work we have investigated viscous flow in a rotating system. The system consists of a horizontally oriented cylindrical drum rotating around the center and a fixed plate as a scraping internal tool. By this plate the inner volume is divided into two separate chambers. No mass transport between the chambers can take place. The drum is completely or partially filled with a highly viscous, optically transparent silicon oil. In the second case the remaining space is filled with air as a passive phase. Depending on the settings in the system, which are the rotational speed of the drum, material properties of the liquid and the volume ratio of the two phases, different flow phenomena can be observed [1, 2]. For the characterization of the flow dimensionless ratios given by the Reynolds number Re, the Froude number Fr, the Capillary number Ca and the volumetric filling degree F are used. The system is investigated applying the experimental method of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) as well as suitable models of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The goal of this investigation is to identify the velocity fields in the liquid phase for a better understanding of the observed phenomena. The results obtained by the different methods are presented and discussed. (© 2009 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A Diene‐Containing Noncanonical Amino Acid Enables Dual Functionality in Proteins: Rapid Diels–Alder Reaction with Maleimide or Proximity‐Based Dimerization

Here, we describe a diene‐containing noncanonical amino acid (ncAA) capable of undergoing fast and selective normal electron‐demand Diels–Alder (DA) reactions following its incorporation into antibodies. A cyclopentadiene derivative of lysine (CpHK) served as the reactive handle for DA transformations and the substrate for genetic incorporation. CpHK incorporated into antibodies with high efficiency and was available for maleimide conjugation or self‐reaction depending on position in the amino acid sequence. CpHK at position K274 reacted with the maleimide drug‐linker AZ1508 at a rate of ≈79 m ^?1 s^?1 to produce functional antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) in a one‐step process. Incorporation of CpHK at position S239 resulted in dimerization, which covalently linked antibody heavy chains together. The diene ncAA described here is capable of producing therapeutic protein conjugates with clinically validated and widely available maleimide compounds, while also enabling proximity‐based stapling through a DA dimerization reaction.     

Two hydro­chlorides of 7‐methyl‐3,7,11,17‐tetra­aza­bi­cyclo­[11.3.1]­heptadeca‐1(17),13,15‐triene

The X‐ray structure determinations of the two title com­pounds, namely 7‐methyl‐7,17‐di­aza‐3,11‐diazo­niabi­cyclo[11.3.1]­hep­ta­deca‐1(17),13,15‐triene dichloride monohydrate, C₁₄H₂₆N₄²⁺·2Cl^?·H₂O, (I), and 7‐methyl‐17‐aza‐3,7,11‐triazo­niabi­cyclo­[11.3.1]­heptadeca‐1(17),13,15‐triene 2.826‐chloride 0.174‐nitrate, C₁₄H₂₇N₄³⁺·2.826Cl^?·0.174NO₃^?, (II), are re­ported. Protonation occurs at the secondary amine N atoms in (I) and at all three amine N atoms in (II) to which the Cl^? ions are linked via N—H?Cl hydrogen bonds. The macrocyclic hole is quite different in both structures, as is observed by comparing particularly the N3?N4 distances [2.976 (4) and 4.175 (4) Å for (I) and (II), respectively]. In (II), a Cl^? ion alternates with an NO₃^? ion in a disordered structure.     

1,6‐Anhydro‐2,3‐di‐O‐benzyl‐5C‐[(R)‐ethoxycarbonyl(hydroxy)methyl]‐β‐l‐altrofuranose

The crystal structure of the title compound, C₂₄H₂₈O₈, has been determined. The conformation of the furan­ose ring can be described as 58% ideal envelope ^OE conformer and 42% ideal twisted ^OT₁ conformer. The 1,3‐dioxane ring adopts a chair conformation with the anhydro‐O atom pointing upwards. Both phenyl rings are quasi‐perpendicular to the mean plane of the furan­ose ring. The hydrogen bonding is intermolecular and consists of infinite chains parallel to the a axis.     

Electroosmotic flow analysis of a branched U-turn nanofluidic device

In this paper, we present the analysis of electroosmotic flow in a branched -turn nanofluidic device, which we developed for detection and sorting of single molecules. The device, where the channel depth is only 150 nm, is designed to optically detect fluorescence from a volume as small as 270 attolitres (al) with a common wide-field fluorescent setup. We use distilled water as the liquid, in which we dilute 110 nm fluorescent beads employed as tracer-particles. Quantitative imaging is used to characterize the pathlines and velocity distribution of the electroosmotic flow in the device. Due to the device's complex geometry, the electroosmotic flow cannot be solved analytically. Therefore we use numerical flow simulation to model our device. Our results show that the deviation between measured and simulated data can be explained by the measured Brownian motion of the tracer-particles, which was not incorporated in the simulation.