Colloid stability of thymine-functionalized gold nanoparticles

Gold nanoparticles surface-coated with thyminethiol derivatives containing long hydrocarbon chains have been prepared. The diameter of the particles is 2.2 and 7.0 nm, respectively, with a relatively narrow size distribution. Thyminethiol derivatives are attached to the gold particle surfaces with thymine moieties as the end groups. The colloid stability of the gold nanoparticles as a function of the type and concentration of monovalent salt, pH, and particle size was investigated in alkaline, aqueous solutions. The gold particles are stable in concentrated NaCl and KCl solutions, but are unstable in concentrated LiCl and CsCl solutions. The larger gold particles are more sensitive to salt concentration and aggregate at lower salt concentrations. The reversible aggregation and dispersion of the gold particles can be controlled by changing the solution pH. The larger gold particles can be dispersed at higher pH and aggregate faster than the smaller particles, due to stronger van der Waals forces between the larger particles. Hydration forces play an important role in stabilizing the particles under conditions where electrostatic forces are negligible. The coagulation of the gold nanoparticles is attributed to van der Waals attraction and reduced hydration repulsion in the presence of LiCl and CsCl.     

The influence of polymer structure and morphology on talc wettability

Advancing water contact angles were measured on freshly cleaved talc faces as well as on talc particles. The intrinsic hydrophobicity of talc was shown to be due to the dominance of the apolar components of the work of adhesion. Polyacrylamides and polysaccharides adsorb onto the surface of talc, displaying strikingly different morphologies. Adsorbed amount, apparent layer thickness, and polymer structure control talc wettability.     

Synchrotron X‐ray footprinting on tour

Synchrotron footprinting is a valuable technique in structural biology for understanding macromolecular solution‐state structure and dynamics of proteins and nucleic acids. Although an extremely powerful tool, there is currently only a single facility in the USA, the X28C beamline at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS), dedicated to providing infrastructure, technology development and support for these studies. The high flux density of the focused white beam and variety of specialized exposure environments available at X28C enables footprinting of highly complex biological systems; however, it is likely that a significant fraction of interesting experiments could be performed at unspecialized facilities. In an effort to investigate the viability of a beamline‐flexible footprinting program, a standard sample was taken on tour around the nation to be exposed at several US synchrotrons. This work describes how a relatively simple and transportable apparatus can allow beamlines at the NSLS, CHESS, APS and ALS to be used for synchrotron footprinting in a general user mode that can provide useful results.     

Ultraheavy Yukawa-bound states of fourth-generation at Large Hadron Collider

A study of bound states of the fourth-generation quarks in the range of 500?C700 GeV is presented, where the binding energies are expected to be mainly of Yukawa origin, with QCD subdominant. Near degeneracy of their masses exhibits a new ??isospin??. The production of a colour-octet, isosinglet vector meson via $q\bar q \to \omega_8$ is the most interesting. Its leading decay modes are $\pi_8^\pm W^\mp$ , $\pi_8^0Z^0$ , and constituent quark decay, with $q\bar q$ and $t\bar t'$ and $b\bar b'$ subdominant. The colour octet, isovector pseudoscalar ?? ₈ meson decays via constituent quark decay, or to Wg. This work calls for more detailed study of fourth-generation phenomena at LHC.     

Electrowetting: a model for contact-angle saturation

 Electrowetting (EW) involves the application of an electric potential across a solid–liquid (SL) interface, which modifies the wetting properties of that interface by reducing the SL surface energy and induces a contact-angle change without altering either the bulk liquid or solid properties. Reversible contact angles are achieved at low potentials, while the application of high potentials results in contact-angle saturation and system instabilities. In the present work, an EW system consisting of a substrate (plate or rod) coated with a thin Au underlayer, a dielectric (parylene) layer of various thickness and a 100-nm layer of fluoropolymer (Teflon AF1600) is studied both theoretically and experimentally. A theoretical consideration of the EW effect, taking into account the detailed structure of the electrical double layer, and a model for the saturation of the contact angle observed at high applied potentials are presented. The theoretical treatment presented here confirms that the EW effect is, in the most part, due to polarization of the dielectric, as opposed to purely a rearrangement of the double layer, and explains why no dependence of the EW effect on the electrolyte concentration has been observed. The theory is only applicable over a limited potential range, and we have developed a model that predicts the potential at which this limit occurs. This is the potential at which the SL surface energy becomes zero. The limiting potential is dependent only on the bulk liquid and solid properties and is thus fixed for a given system. Experimentally, the limiting potential corresponds to the onset of contact-angle saturation, although variations in the exact angle of saturation are not uncommon due to the kinetic effects involved in a real system as opposed to a strict thermodynamic analysis. The model predicts that for an EW device in which an aqueous droplet can be forced to completely wet a hydrophobic surface, a surface with basically the same surface energy as the liquid is required. Received: 2 January 1998 Accepted: 21 March 1998     

Inverse backscattering in two dimensions

We interpretN=2 superconformal field theories (SCFTs) formulated by Kazama and Suzuki via Goddard-Kent-Olive (GKO) construction from a viewpoint of the Lie algebra cohomology theory for the affine Lie algebra. We determine the cohomology group completely in terms of a certain subset of the affine Weyl group. We find that this subset describing the cohomology group can be obtained from its classical counterpart by the action of the Dynkin diagram automorphisms. Some algebra automorphisms of theN=2 superconformal algebra are also formulated. Utilizing the algebra automorphisms, we study the field identification problem for the branching coefficient modules in the GKO-construction. Also the structure of the Poincaré polynomial defined for eachN=2 theory is revealed.Dedicated to Professor Noboru Tanaka on his sixtieth birthday     

Preparation of silica-on-titania patterns with a wettability contrast

The preparation of patterned inorganic surfaces consisting of silica (SiO2) and titania (TiO2) is described. The approach is based on a combination of standard photolithography and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Silicon wafers coated with a titania layer (40 nm) were patterned by use of a positive photoresist and then a thin silica layer (10-40 nm) was plasma-deposited. The photoresist was removed by decomposition at 800 degrees C. The inorganic patterned surfaces possessed excellent high-temperature resistance. Since the silica patches were effectively dehydroxylated during the thermal treatment, the patterns consisted of moderately hydrophobic (silica) and hydrophilic (titania) domains with a significant wettability contrast (40 degrees for water). The surface was further hydrophobized with a self-assembled monolayer of fluoroalkylsilane (FAS) and exposed to UV light. The FAS layer was locally oxidized on the TiO2 patches and the wettability contrast was maximized to 120 degrees (the highest possible value on smooth surfaces).     

Marangoni effects in aqueous polypropylene glycol foams

The foam behavior of three polypropylene glycols covering the molecular weight range between 192 and 725 g/mol has been examined. Static and dynamic surface tension data, as well as bubble size distribution and retention time in the foam, were incorporated into a simple model of foam stability. The latter clearly indicates that surface tension differences between the plateau border and lamellar region adjacent to the bubble surface are the dominant factor in controlling foamability, causing liquid flow in the direction opposite to liquid drainage, a process termed the Marangoni effect.     

Inverse scattering for high-resolution interferometric microscopy

We extend the applicability of inverse scattering for optical coherence tomography (OCT) to the case of high numerical aperture focusing optics. We include the effects of tight focusing so that the approach is applicable to any interferometric microscopy method. The applicability to modalities, such as OCT and optical coherence microscopy, enables computed reconstruction of three-dimensional volumes from en face temporal ranging data. Simulations show that the computed structure outside of the focal plane exhibits spatially invariant resolution on par with the resolution achieved at the focal plane.