Mössbauer study of the transition metal phosphorus trichalcogenide FePS3 and spin glass Mn0.5Fe0.5PS3

The transition metal phosphorus trichalcogenides MnPS₃ and the FePS₃ are CdCl₂ type layered compounds, where the transition metal ions form a hexagonal lattice. While these compounds order anti-ferromagnetically at low temperature, the magnetic structures are different. We have reported that these mixtures Mn_0.5Fe_0.5PS₃ is a spin glass with a glass transition temperature T _g=33.7 K. Then, in this work, we report that the results of the temperature variation of the ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectra of FePS₃ and Mn_0.5Fe_0.5PS₃, in detail. In the anti-ferromagnetic state of FePS₃, the hyperfine magnetic field H _int increases with decreasing temperature and the Isomer shift I. S. increases slightly with decreasing temperature. However in Mn_0.5Fe_0.5PS₃, the two broadened peaks are observed and the two peaks became a single peak with decreasing temperature at about 50.0 K, which is higher than T _g=33.7 K. In the spin glass Mn_0.5Fe_0.5PS₃, the Mössbauer spectra suggest that the magnetic interactions exist far above T _g.     

Laser Sculpting of Atomic sp,sp2, and sp3 Hybrid Orbitals

Atomic sp, sp², and sp³ hybrid orbitals were introduced by Linus Pauling to explain the nature of the chemical bond. Quantum dynamics simulations show that they can be sculpted by means of a selective series of coherent laser pulses, starting from the 1s orbital of the hydrogen atom. Laser hybridization generates atoms with state‐selective electric dipoles, opening up new possibilities for the study of chemical reaction dynamics and heterogeneous catalysis.     

Determination of trypsin activity using a gold electrode modified with a nanocover composed of graphene oxide and thionine

We report on an electrochemical method for the determination of the activity of trypsin. A multi-functional substrate peptide (HHHAKSSATGGC-HS) is designed and immobilized on a gold electrode. The three His residues in the N-terminal are able to recruit thionine-loaded graphene oxide (GO/thionine), a nanocover adopted for signal amplification. Once the peptide is cleaved under enzymatic catalysis by trypsin (cleavage site: Lys residue), the His residues leave the electrode, and the GO/thionine cannot cover the peptide-modified electrode anymore. Thus, the changes of the electrochemical signal of thionine, typically acquired at a voltage of -0.35 V, can be used to determine the activity of trypsin. A detection range of 1 × 10⁻⁴ to 1 U, with a detection limit of 3.3 × 10⁻⁵ U, can be achieved, which is better than some currently available methods. In addition, the method is highly specific, facile, and has the potential for the detection of trypsin-like proteases.

Graphene oxide was adopted as a nanocover for the development of a sensitive electrochemical method to detect the activity of trypsin.

     

Aerogel microspheres based on cellulose nanofibrils as potential cell culture scaffolds

Crosslinked poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/cellulose nanofibril (CNF) hybrid aerogel micro-spheres with two different particle sizes were fabricated via a combination of the water-in-oil (W/O) emulsification process and the freeze-drying process. The aerogel micro-spheres were highly porous with a bulk density as low as 0.0047 g/cm³ for the large microspheres. The pore size of the microspheres ranged from nano- to micro-meters. Preliminary biocompatibility assays of the aerogel microspheres were investigated with NIH 3T3 cells to explore their potential application as cell culture scaffolds. The highly crosslinked aerogel microspheres were robust and were able to maintain their shape during the cell culture process. The live/dead assay showed that the cells could be seeded, attached, and proliferated on the surface of PVA/CNF aerogel microspheres. The fluorescence images showed that some of the cells migrated into the inner pores of the microspheres. Moreover, the large microspheres with larger average pore sizes had a higher cell count than that of the small microspheres. This study confirms that the PVA/CNF aerogel microspheres fabricated in this work are nontoxic and biocompatible. Furthermore, the interconnected, highly porous nanofibrous structure of the microspheres can successfully facilitate cell attachment, differentiation, and proliferation.     

聚苯氧基磷酸联苯二酚酯/聚磷酸铵膨胀阻燃剂对环氧树脂阻燃性能影响研究

以聚苯氧基磷酸联苯二酚酯(PBPP)与聚磷酸铵(APP)组成复合阻燃剂,对环氧树脂(EP)进行阻燃改性.通过氧指数(LOI)、垂直燃烧(UL-94)、热失重(TGA)、锥形量热(CONE)和扫描电镜(SEM)等方法研究改性环氧树脂的阻燃性能和阻燃机理.结果表明,PBPP/APP体系对EP具有较好的阻燃性能,阻燃剂添加量为10%时能使环氧树脂的氧指数提高到29.6%,垂直燃烧等级达到UL94 V-0级,残炭量大大增加;平均热释放速率下降45.7%,热释放速率峰值下降51.0%,有效燃烧热平均值下降21.1%;TGA、CONE、SEM等综合分析显示了PBPP/APP改性后的环氧树脂比纯环氧树脂具有更高的热稳定性,燃烧后能够形成连续、致密、封闭、坚硬的焦化炭层,在聚合物表面产生有效覆盖、隔绝了氧气,改善了环氧树脂的燃烧性能.     

Using GPU parallelization to perform realistic simulations of the LPCTrap experiments

We performed classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in order to search the conditions for efficient sympathetic cooling of highly charged ions (HCIs) in a linear Paul trap. Small two-component ion Coulomb crystals consisting of laser-cooled ions and HCIs were characterized by the results of the MD simulations. We found that the spatial distribution is determined by not only the charge-to-mass ratio but also the space charge effect. Moreover, the simulation results suggest that the temperature of HCIs do not necessarily decrease with increasing the number of laser-cooled ions in the cases of linear ion crystals. We also determined the cooling limit of sympathetically cooled ¹⁶⁵Ho¹⁴⁺ ions in small linear ion Coulomb crystals. The present results show that sub-milli-Kelvin temperatures of at least 10 Ho¹⁴⁺ ions will be achieved by sympathetic cooling with a single laser-cooled Be⁺.     

Precision measurements with LPCTrap at GANIL

The experimental achievements and the results obtained so far with the LPCTrap device installed at GANIL are presented. The apparatus is dedicated to the study of the weak interaction at low energy by means of precise measurements of the β ? ν angular correlation parameter in nuclear β decays. So far, the data collected with three isotopes have enabled to determine, for the first time, the charge state distributions of the recoiling ions, induced by shakeoff process. The analysis is presently refined to deduce the correlation parameters, with the potential of improving both the constraint deduced at low energy on exotic tensor currents (⁶He¹⁺) and the precision on the V _{u d} element of the quark-mixing matrix (³⁵Ar¹⁺ and ¹⁹Ne¹⁺) deduced from the mirror transitions dataset.     

Trans-membrane electron transfer in red blood cells immobilized in a chitosan film on a glassy carbon electrode

We have studied the trans-membrane electron transfer in human red blood cells (RBCs) immobilized in a chitosan film on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE). Electron transfer results from the presence of hemoglobin (Hb) in the RBCs. The electron transfer rate (k _s) of Hb in RBCs is 0.42 s^?1, and <1.13 s^?1 for Hb directly immobilized in the chitosan film. Only Hb molecules in RBCs that are closest to the plasma membrane and the surface of the electrode can undergo electron transfer to the electrode. The immobilized RBCs displayed sensitive electrocatalytic response to oxygen and hydrogen peroxide. It is believed that this cellular biosensor is of potential significance in studies on the physiological status of RBCs based on observing their electron transfer on the modified electrode.