Determining the efficacy of a nanotechnology media product in enhancing children’s engagement with nanotechnology

Public engagement in nanotechnology media products can lead to a greater interest in understanding of nanotechnology. A study was undertaken to determine middle school student engagement in Nanooze, a magazine featuring nanotechnology research that has been developed for a young adult audience. Teachers at 116 Detroit middle schools distributed two issues of the magazine to their students, and surveys were collected from 870 students after reading the magazines. Results suggest that the majority of students liked reading the magazine and learned something about nanotechnology. Engagement in nanotechnology led to understanding of nanotechnology. The Nanooze magazine was an effective medium for engaging middle school students in learning about nanotechnology.     

Nano organic carbon and soot in turbulent non-premixed ethylene flames

Spectral optical techniques are combined to characterise the distribution of large-molecule soot precursors, nanoparticles of organic carbon, and soot in two turbulent non-premixed ethylene flames with differing residence times. Laser-induced fluorescence, laser-induced incandescence and light scattering are used to define distributions across the particle size distribution. From the scattering and laser-induced emission measurements it appears that two classes of particles are formed. The first ones are preferentially formed in the fuel-rich region of the flame closer to the nozzle, have sizes of the order of few nanometers but are not fully solid particles, because the constituent molecules still maintain their individual identity exhibiting strong broadband fluorescence in the UV. The second class of particles constituted by solid particles, with sizes of the order of tens of nanometers are able to absorb a sufficient number of photons to be heated to incandescent temperatures. These larger particles are formed at larger residence times in the flame since they are the result of slow growth processes such as coagulation or carbonization. The flames are also modeled in order to produce mixture fraction maps. A new discovery is that nanoparticles of organic carbon concentration, unlike soot, does correlate well with mixture fraction, independent of position in the flame. This is likely to be a significant benefit to future modelling of soot inception processes in turbulent non-premixed flames.     

Examining metal nanoparticle surface chemistry using hollow-core, photonic-crystal, fiber-assisted SERS

In this Letter, we demonstrate the efficacy of hollow core photonic crystal fibers (HCPCFs) as a surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) platform for investigating the ligand exchange process on the surface of gold nanoparticles. Raman measurements carried out using this platform show the capability to monitor minute amounts of surface ligands on gold nanoparticles used as an SERS substrate. The SERS signal from an HCPCF exhibits a tenfold enhancement compared to that in a direct sampling scheme using a cuvette. Using exchange of cytotoxic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide with α-methoxy-ω-mercaptopoly(ethylene glycol) on the surface of gold nanorods as an exemplary system, we show the feasibility of using HCPCF SERS to monitor the change in surface chemistry of nanoparticles.     

Theoretical diagnostic and prediction of physical properties of quaternary InGaAsP compound using artificial neural networks optimized by the Levenberg Maquardt algorithm

The quaternaries \(In_{1 - x} Ga_{x} As_{y} P_{1 - y}\) are the main promising elements for the fabrication of optoelectronic devices. The adjustment of their physical parameters is assumed by the change of the molar fraction \(x\) and \(y\). These parameters can be affected by the variation of temperature and pressure. To make the theoretical diagnosis of these materials, it is fundamental to know the energy gap ‘\(\varvec{E}_{\varvec{g}}\)’ and the lattice parameter ‘\(a\)’, over a wide range of chemical compositions \(0 \le x \le 0.47\) and \(0 \le y \le 1\), at different temperatures and pressures. We show that by using the Artificial Neural Network method optimized by the Levenberg Maquardt algorithm ANN-LM, it is possible to obtain results very close to the experiment. The scatter plot and error calculation show that the ANN-LM model provides more accurate values of the lattice parameter than those calculated by Vegard’s law. On the other hand, the energy gap values \(Eg (x, y, T)\) estimated, using the ANN-LM model, proved to be close to the experimental values that those calculated by the empirical equations. In addition, the ANN-LM method allowed us to estimate with great accuracy the values of the energy gap at different temperatures and pressures \(Eg (P, T)\). Our work provides crucial information on the physical properties of the quaternary without the use of approximations, and without taking into account the hypothesis of a perfect agreement between \(InGaAsP\) and \(InP\) substrate.     

Current status of the TwinMic beamline at Elettra: a soft X‐ray transmission and emission microscopy station

The current status of the TwinMic beamline at Elettra synchrotron light source, that hosts the European twin X‐ray microscopy station, is reported. The X‐ray source, provided by a short hybrid undulator with source size and divergence intermediate between bending magnets and conventional undulators, is energy‐tailored using a collimated plane‐grating monochromator. The TwinMic spectromicroscopy experimental station combines scanning and full‐field imaging in a single instrument, with contrast modes such as absorption, differential phase, interference and darkfield. The implementation of coherent diffractive imaging modalities and ptychography is ongoing. Typically, scanning transmission X‐ray microscopy images are simultaneously collected in transmission and differential phase contrast and can be complemented by chemical and elemental analysis using across‐absorption‐edge imaging, X‐ray absorption near‐edge structure or low‐energy X‐ray fluorescence. The lateral resolutions depend on the particular imaging and contrast mode chosen. The TwinMic range of applications covers diverse research fields such as biology, biochemistry, medicine, pharmacology, environment, geochemistry, food, agriculture and materials science. They will be illustrated in the paper with representative results.     

A study of void size growth in nonequilibrium stochastic systems of point defects

We study properties of voids growth dynamics in a stochastic system of point defects insolids under nonequilibrium conditions (sustained irradiation). It is shown thatfluctuations of defect production rate (external noise) increase the critical void radiuscomparing to a deterministic system. An automodel regime of void size growth in astochastic system is studied in detail. Considering a homogeneous system, it is found thatexternal noise does not change the universality of the void size distribution function;the mean void size evolves according to classical nucleation theory. The noise increasesthe mean void size and spreads the void size distribution. Studying dynamics of spatiallyextended systems it was shown that vacancies remaining in a matrix phase are able toorganize into vacancy enriched domains due to an instability caused by an elastic latticedeformation. It is shown that dynamics of voids growth is defined by void sinks strengthwith void size growth exponent varying from 1/3 up to 1/2.