The structure of Lennard-Jones dimerizing spheres near a hard wall from the nonuniform wertheim Ornstein-Zernike equation

A dimerizing model of Lennard-Jones particles near a hard wall is studied using the inhomogeneous or second order Wertheim Ornstein-Zernike equation and the inhomogeneous associative Percus-Yevick closure. We investigate the influence of the degree of dimerization on the shape of the density profiles and on inhomogeneous pair correlation functions. This work was supported in parts by KBN of Poland (the Grant No. 3T09A 06210) and by Cray Research, Inc., of Mexico under its University Research and Development Grant Program. Garcia.     

Preparation of PEGMA-functionalized latex particles. 1. System styrene/PEGMA

Polymeric particles have been prepared by emulsion polymerization of styrene in presence of poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (PEGMA). The influence of the functional monomer concentration on the particle size and particle size distribution was studied. Obtained particles show dramatic change of size with temperature. This thermal sensitivity can be influenced by the amount of the PEGMA grafted onto the particle surface as well as by the presence of crosslinking agents in the reaction mixture. It is assumed that particles have a core-shell structure and the brush-like PEGMA-rich shell layer induces the collapse at elevated temperatures.     

Preparation of PEGMA-functionalized latex particles. 2. System styrene/<Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-vinylcaprolactam

In a previous paper [Pich A, Lu Y, Adler H-J (2003) Colloid Polym Sci (submitted)], the synthesis of polystyrene-poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (PST/PEGMA) particles has been described. In the present paper polymeric particles have been prepared by emulsion co-polymerization of styrene/N-vinylcaprolactam (ST/VCL) or styrene/n-butylacrylate (ST/BA) mixtures in presence of poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (PEGMA). The influence of the monomer composition and PEGMA concentration on the particle size and particle size distribution was studied. Increase of VCL content in reaction mixture leads to dramatic increase of the final particle size. Particle size distribution becomes broader at higher VCL contents. Poly(ST/VCL) particles show dramatic change of the size with the temperature.     

Strange quark mass from the invariant mass distribution of Cabibbo-suppressed tau decays

Quark mass corrections to the hadronic width play a significant role only for the strange quark. The complete determination of decays into strange hadronic final states performed by ALEPH allows the extraction of the strange spectral function. New results on strange decay modes from other experiments are also incorporated into the present analysis. Using as input moments of the spectral function the analysis leading to the determination of is conducted using reasonable theoretical constraints on the nonperturbative components. Careful attention is paid to the treatment of the perturbative expansions of the moments which exhibit convergence problems. The result obtained, , is stable over the scale from down to about 2 GeV. Its evolution yields and . Received: 22 May 2001 / Published online: 5 November 2001     

Growth of hydroxyapatite nanocrystals on polymer particle surface

In the present paper, we describe the preparation of hybrid particles consisting of polymeric core with deposited hydroxyapatite (HAp) nanocrystals. Polystyrene submicron particles modified by β-diketone groups have been used as templates for the growth of HAp. Hybrid particles with HAp nanocrystal content between 7 and 50 wt% have been prepared. Microscopy studies indicate that hybrid particles exhibit “raspberry” morphology, and HAp nanoparticles are not homogeneously distributed on the polymer particle surface. The increase in the HAp content on the polymer particle surface reduces the colloidal stability of the hybrid particles because of the vanishing of the surface charge.     

Reversible Deactivation of Enzymes by Redox‐Responsive Nanogel Carriers

Novel redox‐responsive polymeric nanogels that allow highly efficient enzyme encapsulation and reversible modulation of enzyme activity are developed. The nanogel synthesis and encapsulation of enzyme are performed simultaneously via in situ crosslinking of pyridyldisulfide‐functionalized water‐soluble reactive copolymers, which are synthesized via reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer copolymerization. Obtained nanogels with loaded cellulase demonstrate very good colloidal stability in aqueous solutions. The enzymatic activity of cellulase is greatly reduced when encapsulated in the nanogels and rapidly recovered in 10 × 10⁻³ m dithiothreitol solution. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)‐based experiments indicate that the recovered enzymatic activity is mainly ascribed to the release of the enzyme due to the degradation of the disulfide crosslinking network after addition of dithiothreitol (DTT), instead of the enhanced substrate transport rate. The developed enzyme immobilization method opens new possibilities for reversible activation/deactivation of enzymes and opens up new directions for targeted protein therapy and biotechnology applications.

     

Spreading of nanofluids driven by the structural disjoining pressure gradient

This paper discusses the role of the structural disjoining pressure exerted by nanoparticles on the spreading of a liquid film containing these particles. The origin of the structural disjoining pressure in a confined geometry is due to the layering of the particles normal to the confining plane and has already been traced to the net increase in the entropy of the system in previous studies. In a recent paper, Wasan and Nikolov (Nature, 423 (2003) 156) pointed out that the structural component of the disjoining pressure is strong enough to move a liquid wedge; this casts a new light on many applications-most notably, detergency. While the concept of spreading driven by the disjoining pressure is not new, the importance of the structural disjoining pressure arises from its long-range nature (as compared to the van der Waals' force), making it an important component of the overall force balance near the contact line. In this paper, we report on a parametric study of the spreading phenomena by examining the effects of nanoparticle size, concentration and polydispersity on the displacement of an oil-aqueous interface with the aqueous bulk containing nanoparticles. The solution of the extended Laplace-Young equations for the profile of the meniscus yields the position of the nominal contact line under the action of the structural disjoining pressure. Simulations show that the displacement of the contact line is greater with a high nanoparticle volume fraction, small particles for the same volume fraction, monodispersed (in size) particles rather than polydispersed particles and when the resisting capillary pressure is small, i.e., when the interfacial tension is low and/or the radius of the dispersed phase drop/bubble is large.     

Synthesis and characterization of polypyrrole dispersions prepared with different dopants

Stable polypyrrole dispersions were prepared by chemical oxidative polymerization of pyrrole in an aqueous medium containing different anionic salts - sodium benzoate, potassium hydrogen phthalate and sodium hydrogen succinate. Results of the elemental analysis and FT-IR spectroscopy confirmed that the anionic salts are incorporated in the conducting polymers and functioned as the dopants. The retardation of pyrrole polymerization was observed when a certain amount of the salt was used as dopant. SEM images of polypyrrole dispersions indicate large spherical particles (150-180nm). The conductivity of polypyrrole composites has also been investigated.