Using light to bioactivate surfaces: A new way of creating oriented, active immunobiosensors

Ultraviolet light can be used to immobilize biomolecules onto thiol reactive surfaces in order to, e.g., make biosensors. The mechanism involves light-induced formation of free, reactive thiol groups in disulphide containing molecules. This technology allows for the creation of arrays of biomolecules with a high degree of reproducibility, circumventing the need for often expensive nano/micro-dispensing technologies. The ultimate size of the immobilized spots is defined by the focal area of the UV beam. Light-induced immobilization has the added benefit that the immobilized molecules will be spatially oriented and covalently bound to the surface. In this paper, we demonstrate the utility of a sensor array created with the new sensor technology when integrated into a microfluidic system. Protein arrays made using light-induced immobilization showed successful antigen/antibody binding in a flow cell allowing the visualisation of real time binding and enzyme activity. This new technology is ideal for the creation of protein/DNA microarrays, can replace present micro-dispensing arraying technologies and is ideal as a molecular imprinting technology.     

Corona-induced graft polymerization for surface modification of porous polyethersulfone membranes

Graft polymerization of acrylic acid (AA) onto porous polyethersulfone (PES) membrane surfaces was developed using corona discharge in atmospheric ambience as an activation process followed by polymerization of AA in aqueous solution. The effects of the corona parameters and graft polymerization conditions on grafting yield (GY) of AA were investigated. The grafting of AA on the PES membranes was confirmed by ATR-FTIR and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. Porosimetry measurements indicate the average pore diameters and porosities of the modified membranes decrease with the increase of the GY. The hydrophilicity and surface wetting properties of the original and modified membranes were evaluated by observing the dynamic changes of water contact angles. It is found that the grafting of AA occurs not only on the membrane surfaces, but also on the pore walls of the cells inside the membrane. The permeability experiments of protein solution reveal that the grafting of PAA endows the modified membranes with enhanced fluxes and anti-fouling properties. The optimized GY of AA is in the range of 150-200 μg/cm². In addition, the tensile experiments show the corona discharge treatment with the power lower than 150 W yields little damage to the mechanical strength of the membranes.     

Core-level electronic properties of nanostructured NiO coatings

Nanostructured NiO films with different thicknesses were grown on nanoporous alumina membrane substrates by reactive evaporation of Ni in an oxygen atmosphere. The reactive deposition process was assisted by a low energy oxygen ion-beam in order to increase the NiO input into the pores. Surface morphology and structure of the films were analyzed by SEM and XPS. SEM observations reveal a well adhered film of NiO on the substrate. This film appears to be uniform and presents a rather irregular nanostructured morphology, built of NiO clusters with sizes ranging between 5 and 30 nm. The core-level electronic properties of this nanostructured NiO film result to be similar to those of an ultrathin film about one monolayer thick. This behaviour can be explained by the large surface to volume ratio of both systems.     

膜蒸馏装置热容腔流场数值模拟的可行性分析

本文运用CFD软件,采用水作为工质,在第Ⅲ代膜组件基础上,对旋转切向入流空气隙膜蒸馏热容腔内的流场进行了模拟计算,通过数值模拟结果与实验数据的比较分析,验证了针对膜组件热容腔进行理论模拟所设置的物理模型和边界条件是符合实际的,理论模拟值和实验值的误差在20%范围内,其结果较为理想.     

单分子荧光检测在生命科学中的应用

文章对单分子荧光检测在分子马达、离子通道、信号分子、蛋白折叠、蛋白构象变化动力学、酶活性反应、细胞过程实时观察等生命科学领域中的应用进行了介绍.这些研究结果表明,单分子荧光检测在研究生物大分子的活动规律与机制方面不但有着无法替代的优越性,而且有着广阔的发展空间.     

Multicomponent Interference Phenomena in Ion Exchange Columns

Extensive computer simulations of multicomponent ion exchange processes in fixed beds are reported. The simulations are based on the local equilibrium theory developed by Helfferich and Klein. The simulations illustrate through computer graphics how the various ions separate and migrate in a column. Detailed concentration profiles as a function of time are shown for cyclic chromatographic operations such as elution, displacement, and selective displacement processes. The simulations elucidate the main features of the interference phenomena as a result of solute competition for the sorbent sites. These simulations also provide important guidelines for designing bulk separation processes, for example, the strategies of recovery, the choices of cyclic operations, feed size, presaturant, eluant, and displacer.     

Predicting the proton conductivity of perfluorosulfonic acid membrane via combining statistical thermodynamics and molecular dynamics simulation

The electrochemical properties of a perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) membrane are estimated using a combination of molecular dynamics simulation and statistical thermodynamic model. We obtain all parameters in an ionic conductivity model from an atomistic simulation and remove all adjusted model parameters. From a microscopic point of view, the hydrated PFSA membrane shows micro‐phase segregation which separated into hydrophilic and hydrophobic phases. Our present work originates with this phenomenon and we treat this phase segregation as if it is a continuous phase for each of which the proton (H⁺) is transported inside the PFSA membrane/solvent (water and alcohols) mixture. The chemical potential for a given system is estimated using a molecular simulation technique to predict the van der Waals interaction energy between the polymer and solvent. In addition, the self diffusion coefficients are calculated from the molecular dynamics simulation. We study various polymer/solvent compositions to understand the concentration dependence of self diffusion coefficient. Our self diffusion coefficients and also the predicted final ionic conductivity agree well with previously reported experimental data. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 49: 1455–1463, 2011     

Aspects of fatigue failure mechanisms in polymer fuel cell membranes

The swelling‐driven fatigue behavior of polymer fuel cell membranes during relative humidity (RH) cycling is investigated. In particular, swelling‐induced membrane stresses are obtained from a numerical model simulating fuel cell RH cycle tests, and compared to the lifetimes obtained experimentally from tests conducted in the absence of electrochemical effects. A strong correlation between the lifetimes of the membranes in the actual tests and model results is obtained. In general, higher RH (or swelling) amplitude results in larger stress amplitudes and shorter lifetime, that is, fewer cycles to failure. Tensile stresses are needed for forming local cavities in the membrane, which may eventually lead to craze formation. Cavitation is less likely to occur in compressed membrane at high humidities. The stress–lifetime plots for polymer fuel cell membranes exhibit similar features to those observed for other polymers. The crazing criterion for polymers suggests that craze initiation during RH cycling is more likely to occur in the low compression regions, such as under the channels, which is in agreement with experimental observations. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 49: 1506–1517, 2011     

Surface properties of plasma membrane vesicles isolated from melon (Cucumus melo L.) root cells differing in salinity tolerance

The hypotheses that genotypic differences in salinity tolerance may result from (i) differences in global surface charge density or (ii) from differences in global Ca²⁺ binding were tested. An attempt was made to correlate the differing salinity tolerance of four melon cultivars with surface properties of vesicles extracted from the plasma membrane (PM) of their root cells. Surface characterization involved measurements of electrophoretic mobility and sorption of ⁴⁵Ca²⁺ to the vesicles in the presence of varying concentrations of Ca²⁺, Na⁺ and Mg²⁺. Irrespective of salinity tolerance, vesicles from the four cultivars yielded similar ζ potentials under similar conditions, indicating similar global surface charge densities. Sorption studies with vesicles from two cultivars differing in salinity tolerance predicted independently this result of equal surface charge density. The estimated global binding affinities of Ca²⁺, Na⁺ and Mg²⁺ to the PM of both cultivars were the same with binding coefficients of 50, 0.8 and 9 M⁻¹, respectively. Consequently, the hypotheses enumerated above to interpret genotypic differences in salinity toxicity are rejected. However, vesicles from the salt-resistant strain sorbed 19% more Ca²⁺ per given amount of protein in the membrane, indicating the existence of a larger number of negatively charged surface sites per given amount of protein and a smaller amount of protein per given area of membrane. Genotypic differences in site-specific Ca²⁺-binding affinity (e.g. at ion channels) remain a viable hypothesis for genotypic differences in salinity tolerance.     

浆态反应器中铁／活性炭催化剂上还原研究

众所周知，费托合成（Fischer-Tropsch synthesis,FTS)反应是一个有理论与应用价值的研究课题。数十年来，学者们已发现了铁系，钴系和钌系等具有优良FTS反应性能的催化剂体系，铁／活性炭（Fe/Activated Carbon,AC)催化剂是中国科学院大连化学物理研究所八十年代末开发的一类费托合成催化剂，由于活性炭载体发达的孔结构使得该催化剂上FTS反应产物中汽油，柴油选择性高（烃类碳数小于20）和油收率大（C5^ ,112g/m^3 sysgaa)^[1,2]，具有工业放大前景。本文采用1L浆态床反应器，应用不同的还原方法（原位高压还原和反应器外还原）和XRD物相表征手段，了铁／活性炭催化剂在浆态床中的还原与反应问题，得到了一些有用的信息。