Influence of Solution Volume on the Dissolution Rate of Silicon Dioxide in Hydrofluoric Acid

Experimental data and modeling of the dissolution of various Si/SiO₂ thermal coatings in different volumes of hydrofluoric acid (HF) are reported. The rates of SiO₂‐film dissolution, measured by means of various electrochemical techniques, and alteration in HF activity depend on the thickness of the film coating. Despite the small volumes (0.6–1.2 mL) of the HF solution, an effect of SiO₂‐coating thickness on the dissolution rate was detected. To explain alterations detected in HF activity after SiO₂ dissolution, spectroscopic analyses (NMR and FTIR) of the chemical composition of the solutions were conducted. This is associated with a modification in the chemical composition of the HF solution, which results in either the formation of an oxidized species in solution or the precipitation of dissolution products. HF₂^? accumulation in the HF solution, owing to SiO₂ dissolution was identified as the source of the chemical alteration.     

Determination of phytic acid and inositolphosphates in barley

Phytic acid (PA) and lower inositolphosphates (InsP(n) ) is the main storage form of phosphorus in grains or seeds. The content of PA and InsP(n) in different varieties of barley was analyzed by capillary isotachophoresis and online-coupled capillary isotachophoresis with CZE. The electrolytes (in demineralized water) for the isotachophoretic analysis consisted of 10?mM HCl, 14?mM glycylglycine, and 0.1% 2-hydroxyethylcellulose (leading) and 10?mM citric acid (terminating). The optimized electrolytes for the online coupling isotachophoresis with zone electrophoresis analysis were mixtures of 5?mM HCl, 7?mM glycylglycine, and 0.1% 2-hydroxyethylcellulose (leading), 20?mM citric acid, 10?mM glycylglycine, and 0.1% 2-hydroxyethylcellulose (background) and 10?mM citric acid (terminating). PA and all studied InsP(n) were separated within 25?min and detected by a conductivity detector. Simple sample preparation (acidic extraction), sufficient sensitivity, speed of analysis, and low running cost are important attributes of the electrophoretic methods. The method was used for the determination of PA and InsP(n) in barley varieties within an ongoing research project.     

Nanodrop on a nanorough hydrophilic solid surface: contact angle dependence on the size, arrangement, and composition of the pillars

A two-dimensional nanodrop on a hydrophilic solid surface decorated with nanopillars is examined using a nonlocal density functional theory. It is shown that, in contrast to the commonly used Wenzel formula, even an extremely small roughness can considerably increase the contact angle. The contact angle depends on the distance between pillars, their height and width, as well as their composition. It was found that for all selected pillar heights and compositions, the largest contact angle is obtained when the distance between pillars acquires a size at which the liquid molecules can no longer penetrate between them. The further decrease in the interpillar distance decreases the contact angle, in qualitative agreement with the Cassie-Baxter formula. Considering pillars of various compositions, the role of the gradient of the fluid-solid interaction potential is examined. The presence of such a gradient does not allow the formation of a stable nanodrop on the surface. However, asymmetrical metastable nanodrops can be formed.     

Quantum and classical study of surface characterization by three-dimensional helium atom scattering

Exact time-dependent wavepacket calculations of helium atom scattering from model symmetric, chiral, and hexagonal surfaces are presented and compared with their classical counterparts. Analysis of the momentum distribution of the scattered wavepacket provides a convenient method to obtain the resulting energy and angle resolved scattering distributions. The classical distributions are characterized by standard rainbow scattering from corrugated surfaces. It is shown that the classical results are closely related to their quantum counterparts and capture the qualitative features appearing therein. Both the quantum and classical distributions are capable of distinguishing between the structures of the three surfaces.     

Classical stochastic theory for the sticking probability of atoms scattered on surfaces

A stochastic theory is formulated for the sticking probability of a projectile scattered from a surface. The theory is then explored by applying it to a generalized Langevin equation model of the scattering dynamics. The theory succeeds in describing the known features of trapping on surfaces. At low energies sticking will occur only if there is an attractive interaction between the projectile and the surface. The probability of sticking at low energies is greater the lower the temperature and the deeper the attractive well of the particle as it approaches the surface. The sticking probability in the absence of horizontal friction tends to be lower as the stiffness of the surface increases. However, in the presence of horizontal friction, increased stiffness may lead to an increase in the sticking coefficient. A cos(2)(θ(i)) scaling is found only in the absence of corrugation and horizontal friction. The theory is then applied successfully to describe experimentally measured sticking probabilities for the scattering of Xe on a Pt(111) surface.     

Single particle tracking in systems showing anomalous diffusion: the role of weak ergodicity breaking

Anomalous diffusion has been widely observed by single particle tracking microscopy in complex systems such as biological cells. The resulting time series are usually evaluated in terms of time averages. Often anomalous diffusion is connected with non-ergodic behaviour. In such cases the time averages remain random variables and hence irreproducible. Here we present a detailed analysis of the time averaged mean squared displacement for systems governed by anomalous diffusion, considering both unconfined and restricted (corralled) motion. We discuss the behaviour of the time averaged mean squared displacement for two prominent stochastic processes, namely, continuous time random walks and fractional Brownian motion. We also study the distribution of the time averaged mean squared displacement around its ensemble mean, and show that this distribution preserves typical process characteristics even for short time series. Recently, velocity correlation functions were suggested to distinguish between these processes. We here present analytical expressions for the velocity correlation functions. The knowledge of the results presented here is expected to be relevant for the correct interpretation of single particle trajectory data in complex systems.     

Relative weak mixing is generic

A classical result of Halmos asserts that among measure preserving transformations the weak mixing property is generic. We extend Halmos' result to the collection of ergolic extensions of a fixed, but arbitrary,aperiodic transformation T_0. We then use a result of Ornstein and Weiss to extend this relative theorem to the general(countable) amenable group.     

Enhanced In situ Activity of Peroxidases and Lignification of Root Tissues after Exposure to Non-Thermal Plasma Increases the Resistance of Pea Seedlings

Improving the germination of economically important crops and the condition of young plants is a major challenge currently facing agricultural practice. Pea (Pisum sativum L.) is one of the four most important cultivated legumes, along with groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.), soybean (Glycine max L.) and beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Due to the high protein content (23–33%), there is an interest in growing this crop as a source of protein for humans and animals. In this study, we focused on the effect of Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma (CAPP) on the decontamination and germination of pea seeds, on young seedling growth and production parameters, and on increasing their resistance and mechanical strength. We can state that germination increased by 10 to 25% after plasma treatment, and the most significant decontamination effect was detected when using non-thermal plasma generated in the ambient air (A-variants) and in the nitrogen atmosphere (N-variants). The increased in situ activity of peroxidases (POX) in the cell walls of A-variants and N-variants is also closely related to the increase in the mechanical strength of the cell walls and thus contributes to the higher resistance of these seedlings. This is also illustrated by the differences in lignin deposition among the different variants after CAPP treatment. To our knowledge, this is the first study concerning the influence of CAPP on the lignification of root tissues and on increasing the strength and resistance of plants.

     

Zeolites with Continuously Tuneable Porosity

Zeolites are important materials whose utility in industry depends on the nature of their porous structure. Control over microporosity is therefore a vitally important target. Unfortunately, traditional methods for controlling porosity, in particular the use of organic structure‐directing agents, are relatively coarse and provide almost no opportunity to tune the porosity as required. Here we show how zeolites with a continuously tuneable surface area and micropore volume over a wide range can be prepared. This means that a particular surface area or micropore volume can be precisely tuned. The range of porosity we can target covers the whole range of useful zeolite porosity: from small pores consisting of 8‐rings all the way to extra‐large pores consisting of 14‐rings.