Fabrication of Biomimetic Super‐Amphiphobic Surfaces Through Plasma Modification of Benzoxazine Films

Summary: In this study, a method for producing super‐amphiphobic surfaces through plasma modification of benzoxazine films is presented. Microroughening and fluorination of the benzoxazine films occurs during the plasma treatment process and a rugged surface with a micro/nano binary structure is formed. The combined effect of low surface energy and substrate roughness results in high advancing contact angles (157° for water, 152° for diiodomethane) and low contact angle hysteresis.

SEM image of a cross‐linked polybenzoxazine film treated with Ar plasma (7 min) heated to 200 °C (1 h) and treated with CF₄ plasma for 30 s.     

Potential energy surface of O2-(H2O) and factors controlling water-to-O2- binding motifs

The potential energy surface (PES) of O(2)(-)(H(2)O) is investigated by varying the interoxygen distance of O(2)(-) via ab initio calculations with a large basis set. Although two stationary points, C(s) and C(2v) conformers, are found along the interoxygen-distance coordinate, only the C(s) conformer is identified as a minimum-energy species. We find a critical distance, r(c), separating these two conformers in the PES. The C(s) conformer prevails at interoxygen distances of O(2)(-) that are less than r(c), while the C(2v) conformer dominates at the distances larger than r(c). The structural features of these two conformers are also discussed. Although the water deformation energy is shown to be the stabilization source responsible for the prevalence of the C(s) cluster conformer at the interoxygen distances of O(2)(-) less than r(c), the ionic hydrogen bonding is the major driving force for transformation of the water binding motif from C(s) to C(2v) when the interoxygen distance of O(2)(-) increases.     

High-speed droplet generation on demand driven by pulse laser-induced cavitation

We report on a pulse laser-driven droplet generation (PLDG) mechanism that enables on-demand droplet generation at rates up to 10,000 droplets per second in a single-layer PDMS-based microfluidic device. Injected droplet volumes can be continuously tuned between 1 pL and 150 pL with less than 1% volume variation.     

Dinitrosyl iron complexes: From molecular electrocatalysts to electrodeposited‐film electrodes for hydrogen evolution reaction

Clean and large‐scale production of hydrogen via water splitting triggered by active, robust, and low‐cost electrocatalysts is a promising and sustainable strategy for energy conversion and storage. In this study, a series of four‐coordinated chelating amine‐bound {Fe(NO)₂}¹⁰ dinitrosyl iron complexes (DNICs) [(L)Fe(NO)₂] were synthesized to investigate how the electronic structure of [Fe(NO)₂] unit of DNICs was tailored to promote the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) triggered by the homogeneous DNICs' molecular catalysts and the heterogeneous DNIC‐derived electrodeposited‐film electrodes. The electrochemical studies demonstrate that HER onset potentials of those DNICs in neutral sodium sulfate aqueous solution are dependent on their IR ν_(NO) stretching frequencies, indicating that the electron‐rich [Fe(NO)₂] core modulated by the synergistic cooperation of the electron‐donating ability and steric effect of methyl‐/hydrogen‐substituted diamine‐coordinated ligands, presumably, benefits the formation of metal‐hydride intermediate to reduce the required onset potential. In contrast with homogeneous catalyst retaining its molecular integrity during the catalytic HER process, it is noticed that DNICs [(L)Fe(NO)₂] act as the precursor of the active heterogeneous HER catalyst during the electrocatalytic HER process. It is presumed that the intermolecular hydrogen‐bonding interactions among DNICs [(L)Fe(NO)₂] may control the particle sizes of DNIC‐derived electrodeposited film to modulate HER efficiency.     

Synthesis of 3,3‐Dimethylglutamic Acid Derivatives as DPP‐IV Inhibitors and Evaluation of Their Chemical Stability

A novel five‐step synthesis of Boc‐3,3‐dimethylglutamic acid α‐ethyl ester 11 is reported. All the steps are high yielding and simple to carry out. By use of the 3,3‐dimethylglutamic acid building block, we successfully discovered a novel class of DPP‐IV inhibitors, Glu‐Pro‐Nitrile dipeptide mimics 2 , with high potency (IC₅₀ < 40 nM). The consequence of 3,3‐dimethyl substituent on the rate of intramolecular cyclization between N‐terminal amine and 5‐position amide bond in different buffer solutions was also evaluated.     

Laminar natural convection over a slender vertical frustum of a cone

The problem of laminar, natural convection flow over a slender frustum of a cone is treated in this paper. The governing differential equations are solved by a combination of quasi-linearization and finite-difference methods. Numerical solutions are obtained for Pr=0.7 and for a range of values of the transverse curvature parameter. It is shown that the effect of transverse curvature is of great significance in such flows.

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Laminare natürliche Konvektion an einem dünnen, senkrechten Kegelstumpf

Zusammenfassung In diesem Bericht ist das Problem der laminaren natürlichen Konvektionsströmung an einem dünnen Kegelstumpf behandelt. Die maßgebliche Differentialgleichung ist durch eine Verbindung von Quasilinearisation und Differenzenverfahren gelöst. Eine numerische Lösung für Pr=0.7 wird für verschiedene Werte eines Krümmungsparameters angegeben. Es ist gezeigt, daß in solchen Strömungen dieser Krümmungsparameter eine große Bedeutung besitzt.

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Nomenclature f dependent variable, defined in Eq. (7) - g dependent variable, defined in Eq. (7) - g_e gravitational acceleration - h heat transfer coefficient, or -grid - k heat conductivity, or -grid - L characteristic length - Nu Nusselt number - Pr Prandtl number - r radial distance from the axis of the cone - R transverse curvature effect ratio, defined in Eq. (23) - Re Reynold number - T temperature - u, v velocity components in the x- and y-directions, respectively - x, y rectangular coordinates Greek letters dimensionless temperature, definedinEq. (4) - bulk modulus - cone angle - dynamic viscosity - stream function - , independent variable, defined in (7) - transverse curvature parameter     

Influences of material source,wafer process and location on silicon die fracture strength

Experimental Techniques -     

Laminar film condensation on a horizontal disk

Heat and Mass Transfer - The problem of two-dimensional, steady film condensation on a finite-size, isothermal horizontal disk is studied for the case in which a cold plate faces upwards. The...     

Rapid Characterization of Bacterial Lipids with Ambient Ionization Mass Spectrometry for Species Differentiation

Ambient ionization mass spectrometry (AIMS) is both labor and time saving and has been proven to be useful for the rapid delineation of trace organic and biological compounds with minimal sample pretreatment. Herein, an analytical platform of probe sampling combined with a thermal desorption–electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry (TD-ESI/MS) and multivariate statistical analysis was developed to rapidly differentiate bacterial species based on the differences in their lipid profiles. For comparison, protein fingerprinting was also performed with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) to distinguish these bacterial species. Ten bacterial species, including five Gram-negative and five Gram-positive bacteria, were cultured, and the lipids in the colonies were characterized with TD-ESI/MS. As sample pretreatment was unnecessary, the analysis of the lipids in a bacterial colony growing on a Petri dish was completed within 1 min. The TD-ESI/MS results were further performed by principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) to assist the classification of the bacteria, and a low relative standard deviation (5.2%) of the total ion current was obtained from repeated analyses of the lipids in a single bacterial colony. The PCA and HCA results indicated that different bacterial species were successfully distinguished by the differences in their lipid profiles as validated by the differences in their protein profiles recorded from the MALDI-TOF analysis. In addition, real-time monitoring of the changes in the specific lipids of a colony with growth time was also achieved with probe sampling and TD-ESI/MS. The developed analytical platform is promising as a useful diagnostic tool by which to rapidly distinguish bacterial species in clinical practice.     

Characterization of Nano‐porous TiO2 Film Prepared by Sol‐gel Process and Its Application to Dye‐sensitized Solar Cell

In this paper, effects of ethylene glycol (EG) and indium tin oxide (ITO) solution on the morphology, porosity, and roughness of TiO₂ film prepared by sol‐gel process were investigated and discussed. Initially, the addition of EG were used to control the viscosity of the solution and it was found to increase the pore size of TiO₂ film. The various TiO₂ films were investigated and characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) and then assembled to dye‐sensitized solar cell (DSSC) to measure the photoelectric conversion efficiency. The optimum efficiencies of 1.32% with J_sc and V_oc of 2.99 mA/cm² and 0.80 V, respectively, were obtained by the TiO₂ film prepared from a solution containing 20 wt% EG.