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    Photophysics of Anionic Bis(4H-imidazolato)CuI Complexes
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2022) Seidler, Bianca; Tran, Jens H.; Hniopek, Julian; Traber, Philipp; Görls, Helmar; Gräfe, Stefanie; Schmitt, Michael; Popp, Jürgen; Schulz, Martin; Dietzek‐Ivanšić, Benjamin
    In this paper, the photophysical behavior of four panchromatically absorbing, homoleptic bis(4H-imidazolato)CuI complexes, with a systematic variation in the electron-withdrawing properties of the imidazolate ligand, were studied by wavelength-dependent time-resolved femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. Excitation at 400, 480, and 630 nm populates metal-to-ligand charge transfer, intraligand charge transfer, and mixed-character singlet states. The pump wavelength-dependent transient absorption data were analyzed by a recently established 2D correlation approach. Data analysis revealed that all excitation conditions yield similar excited-state dynamics. Key to the excited-state relaxation is fast, sub-picosecond pseudo-Jahn-Teller distortion, which is accompanied by the relocalization of electron density onto a single ligand from the initially delocalized state at Franck-Condon geometry. Subsequent intersystem crossing to the triplet manifold is followed by a sub-100 ps decay to the ground state. The fast, nonradiative decay is rationalized by the low triplet-state energy as found by DFT calculations, which suggest perspective treatment at the strong coupling limit of the energy gap law.
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    Nanoparticles Can Wrap Epithelial Cell Membranes and Relocate Them Across the Epithelial Cell Layer
    (Washington, DC : ACS Publ., 2018-7-24) Urbančič, Iztok; Garvas, Maja; Kokot, Boštjan; Majaron, Hana; Umek, Polona; Cassidy, Hilary; Škarabot, Miha; Schneider, Falk; Galiani, Silvia; Arsov, Zoran; Koklic, Tilen; Matallanas, David; Čeh, Miran; Muševič, Igor; Eggeling, Christian; Štrancar, Janez
    Although the link between the inhalation of nanoparticles and cardiovascular disease is well established, the causal pathway between nanoparticle exposure and increased activity of blood coagulation factors remains unexplained. To initiate coagulation tissue factor bearing epithelial cell membranes should be exposed to blood, on the other side of the less than a micrometre thin air-blood barrier. For the inhaled nanoparticles to promote coagulation, they need to bind lung epithelial-cell membrane parts and relocate them into the blood. To assess this hypothesis, we use advanced microscopy and spectroscopy techniques to show that the nanoparticles wrap themselves with epithelial-cell membranes, leading to the membrane’s disruption. The membrane-wrapped nanoparticles are then observed to freely diffuse across the damaged epithelial cell layer relocating epithelial cell membrane parts over the epithelial layer. Proteomic analysis of the protein content in the nanoparticles wraps/corona finally reveals the presence of the coagulation-initiating factors, supporting the proposed causal link between the inhalation of nanoparticles and cardiovascular disease.
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    Nanoscale Spatiotemporal Diffusion Modes Measured by Simultaneous Confocal and Stimulated Emission Depletion Nanoscopy Imaging
    (Washington, DC : ACS Publ., 2018-6-12) Schneider, Falk; Waithe, Dominic; Galiani, Silvia; Bernardino de la Serna, Jorge; Sezgin, Erdinc; Eggeling, Christian
    The diffusion dynamics in the cellular plasma membrane provide crucial insights into molecular interactions, organization, and bioactivity. Beam-scanning fluorescence correlation spectroscopy combined with super-resolution stimulated emission depletion nanoscopy (scanning STED–FCS) measures such dynamics with high spatial and temporal resolution. It reveals nanoscale diffusion characteristics by measuring the molecular diffusion in conventional confocal mode and super-resolved STED mode sequentially for each pixel along the scanned line. However, to directly link the spatial and the temporal information, a method that simultaneously measures the diffusion in confocal and STED modes is needed. Here, to overcome this problem, we establish an advanced STED–FCS measurement method, line interleaved excitation scanning STED–FCS (LIESS–FCS), that discloses the molecular diffusion modes at different spatial positions with a single measurement. It relies on fast beam-scanning along a line with alternating laser illumination that yields, for each pixel, the apparent diffusion coefficients for two different observation spot sizes (conventional confocal and super-resolved STED). We demonstrate the potential of the LIESS–FCS approach with simulations and experiments on lipid diffusion in model and live cell plasma membranes. We also apply LIESS–FCS to investigate the spatiotemporal organization of glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins in the plasma membrane of live cells, which, interestingly, show multiple diffusion modes at different spatial positions.
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    Silicon Powder-Based Wafers for Low-Cost Photovoltaics: Laser Treatments and Nanowire Etching
    (New York, NY [u.a.] : Hindawi Publ. Corp., 2018) Jia, G.; Plentz, J.; Gawlik, A.; Azar, A.S.; Stokkan, G.; Syvertsen, M.; Carvalho, P.A.; Dellith, J.; Dellith, A.; Andrä, G.; Ulyashin, A.
    In this study, laser-treated polycrystalline Si (pc-Si) wafers, fabricated by wire sawing of hot-pressed ingots sintered from Si powder, have been investigated. As-cut wafers and those with high-quality thin Si layers deposited on top of them by e-beam have been subjected to laser irradiation to clarify typical trends of structural modifications caused by laser treatments. Moreover, possibility to use laser-treated Si powder-based substrates for fabrication of advanced Si structures has been analysed. It is established that (i) Si powder-based wafers with thicknesses 180 μm can be fully (from the front to back side) or partly (subsurface region) remelted by a diode laser and grain sizes in laser-treated regions can be increased; (ii) a high-quality top layer can be fabricated by crystallization of an additional a-Si layer deposited by e-beam evaporation on top of the pc-Si; and (iii) silicon nanowires can be formed by metal-assisted wet chemical etching (MAWCE) of polished Si powder-based wafers and as-cut wafers irradiated with medium laser power, while a surface texturing on the as-cut pc-Si wafers occur, and no nanowires can form in the region subject to a liquid phase crystallization (LPC) caused by high-power laser treatments.
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    Excited-State Dynamics in Borylated Arylisoquinoline Complexes in Solution and in cellulo
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2023) Yang, Tingxiang; Valavalkar, Abha; Romero‐Arenas, Antonio; Dasgupta, Anindita; Then, Patrick; Chettri, Avinash; Eggeling, Christian; Ros, Abel; Pischel, Uwe; Dietzek‐Ivanšić, Benjamin
    Two four-coordinate organoboron N,C-chelate complexes with different functional terminals on the PEG chains are studied with respect to their photophysical properties within human MCF-7 cells. Their excited-state properties are characterized by time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopy and fluorescence lifetime microscopy. The excited-state relaxation dynamics of the two complexes are similar when studied in DMSO. Aggregation of the complexes with the carboxylate terminal group is observed in water. When studying the light-driven excited-state dynamics of both complexes in cellulo, i. e., after being taken up into human MCF-7 cells, both complexes show different features depending on the nature of the anchoring PEG chains. The lifetime of a characteristic intramolecular charge-transfer state is significantly shorter when studied in cellulo (360±170 ps) as compared to in DMSO (∼960 ps) at 600 nm for the complexes with an amino group. However, the kinetics of the complexes with the carboxylate group are in line with those recorded in DMSO. On the other hand, the lifetimes of the fluorescent state are almost identical for both complexes in cellulo. These findings underline the importance to evaluate the excited-state properties of fluorophores in a complex biological environment in order to fully account for intra- and intermolecular effects governing the light-induced processes in functional dyes.