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    High-throughput screening Raman microspectroscopy for assessment of drug-induced changes in diatom cells
    (Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2019) Rüger J.; Mondol A.S.; Schie I.W.; Popp J.; Krafft C.
    High-throughput screening Raman spectroscopy (HTS-RS) with automated localization algorithms offers unsurpassed speed and sensitivity to investigate the effect of dithiothreitol on the diatom Phaedactylum tricornutum. The HTS-RS capability that was demonstrated for this model system can be transferred to unmet analytical applications such as kinetic in vivo studies of microalgal assemblages. © 2019 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
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    Engineering Kitaev exchange in stacked iridate layers: Impact of inter-layer species on in-plane magnetism
    (Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2019) Yadav, R.; Eldeeb, M.S.; Ray, R.; Aswartham, S.; Sturza, M.I.; Nishimoto, S.; Van Den Brink, J.; Hozoi, L.
    Novel functionalities may be achieved in oxide electronics by appropriate stacking of planar oxide layers of different metallic species, MOp and M′Oq. The simplest mechanism allowing the tailoring of the electronic states and physical properties of such heterostructures is of electrostatic nature - charge imbalance between the M and M′ cations. Here we clarify the effect of interlayer electrostatics on the anisotropic Kitaev exchange in H3LiIr2O6, a recently proposed realization of the Kitaev spin liquid. By quantum chemical calculations, we show that the precise position of H+ cations between magnetically active [LiIr2O6]3- honeycomb-like layers has a strong impact on the magnitude of Kitaev interactions. In particular, it is found that stacking with straight interlayer O-H-O links is detrimental to in-plane Kitaev exchange since coordination by a single H-ion of the O ligand implies an axial Coulomb potential at the O site and unfavorable polarization of the O 2p orbitals mediating the Ir-Ir interactions. Our results therefore provide valuable guidelines for the rational design of Kitaev quantum magnets, indicating unprecedented Kitaev interactions of ≈40 meV if the linear interlayer linkage is removed.
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    Expansion of the (BB)Ru metallacycle with coinage metal cations: Formation of B-M-Ru-B (M = Cu, Ag, Au) dimetalacyclodiboryls
    (Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2018) Eleazer, B.J.; Smith, M.D.; Popov, A.A.; Peryshkov, D.V.
    In this work, we introduce a novel approach for the selective assembly of heterometallic complexes by unprecedented coordination of coinage metal cations to strained single ruthenium-boron bonds on a surface of icosahedral boron clusters. M(i) cations (M = Cu, Ag, and Au) insert into B-Ru bonds of the (BB)-carboryne complex of ruthenium with the formation of four-membered B-M-Ru-B metalacycles. Results of theoretical calculations suggest that bonding within these metalacycles can be best described as unusual three-center-two-electron B-M⋯Ru interactions that are isolobal to B-H⋯Ru borane coordination for M = Cu and Ag, or the pairs of two-center-two electron B-Au and Au-Ru interactions for M = Au. These transformations comprise the first synthetic route to exohedral coinage metal boryl complexes of icosahedral closo-{C2B10} clusters, which feature short Cu-B (2.029(2) Å) and Ag-B (2.182(3) Å) bonds and the shortest Au-B bond (2.027(2) Å) reported to date. The reported heterometallic complexes contain Cu(i) and Au(i) centers in uncharacteristic square-planar coordination environments. These findings pave the way to rational construction of a broader class of multimetallic architectures featuring M-B bonds.
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    PTFEP-Al2O3 hybrid nanowires reducing thrombosis and biofouling
    (Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2019) Haidar, Ayman; Ali, Awadelkareem A.; Veziroglu, Salih; Fiutowski, Jacek; Eichler, Hermann; Müller, Isabelle; Kiefer, Karin; Faupel, Franz; Bischoff, Markus; Veith, Michael; Aktas, Oral Cenk; Abdul-Khaliq, Hashim
    Thrombosis and bacterial infection are major problems in cardiovascular implants. Here we demonstrated that a superhydrophobic surface composed of poly(bis(2,2,2-trifluoroethoxy)phosphazene) (PTFEP)-Al2O3 hybrid nanowires (NWs) is effective to reduce both platelet adhesion/activation and bacterial adherence/colonization. The proposed approach allows surface modification of cardiovascular implants which have 3D complex geometries. © 2019 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
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    Top-down fabrication of ordered arrays of GaN nanowires by selective area sublimation
    (Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2019) Fernández-Garrido, Sergio; Auzelle, Thomas; Lähnemann, Jonas; Wimmer, Kilian; Tahraoui, Abbes; Brandt, Oliver
    We demonstrate the top-down fabrication of ordered arrays of GaN nanowires by selective area sublimation of pre-patterned GaN(0001) layers grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy on Al2O3. Arrays with nanowire diameters and spacings ranging from 50 to 90 nm and 0.1 to 0.7 µm, respectively, are simultaneously produced under identical conditions. The sublimation process, carried out under high vacuum conditions, is analyzed in situ by reflection high-energy electron diffraction and line-of-sight quadrupole mass spectrometry. During the sublimation process, the GaN(0001) surface vanishes, giving way to the formation of semi-polar {1103} facets which decompose congruently following an Arrhenius temperature dependence with an activation energy of (3.54 ± 0.07) eV and an exponential prefactor of 1.58 × 1031 atoms per cm2 per s. The analysis of the samples by lowerature cathodoluminescence spectroscopy reveals that, in contrast to dry etching, the sublimation process does not introduce nonradiative recombination centers at the nanowire sidewalls. This technique is suitable for the top-down fabrication of a variety of ordered nanostructures, and could possibly be extended to other material systems with similar crystallographic properties such as ZnO. © 2019 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
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    Phase change thin films for non-volatile memory applications
    (Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2019) Lotnyk, A.; Behrens, M.; Rauschenbach, B.
    The rapid development of Internet of Things devices requires real time processing of a huge amount of digital data, creating a new demand for computing technology. Phase change memory technology based on chalcogenide phase change materials meets many requirements of the emerging memory applications since it is fast, scalable and non-volatile. In addition, phase change memory offers multilevel data storage and can be applied both in neuro-inspired and all-photonic in-memory computing. Furthermore, phase change alloys represent an outstanding class of functional materials having a tremendous variety of industrially relevant characteristics and exceptional material properties. Many efforts have been devoted to understanding these properties with the particular aim to design universal memory. This paper reviews materials science aspects of chalcogenide-based phase change thin films relevant for non-volatile memory applications. Particular emphasis is put on local structure, control of disorder and its impact on material properties, order-disorder transitions and interfacial transformations. © 2019 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
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    Solvent influence on the surface morphology of P3HT thin films revealed by photoemission electron microscopy
    (Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2019) Niefind, Falk; Karande, Shubhangi; Frost, Frank; Abel, Bernd; Kahnt, Axel
    Only rigorous understanding of the relationship between the nanoscale morphology of organic thin films and the performance of the devices built from them will ultimately lead to design rules that can guide a structured development on the field of organic electronics. Despite great effort, unraveling the nanoscale structure of the films is still a challenge in itself. Here we demonstrate that photoemission electron microscopy can provide valuable insights into the chain orientation, domains size and grain boundary characteristics of P3HT films spun cast from different solvents at room as well as at elevated temperatures. © 2019 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
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    Reconfigurable assembly of charged polymer-modified Janus and non-Janus particles: From half-raspberries to colloidal clusters and chains
    (Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2019) Marschelke, Claudia; Diring, Olga; Synytska, Alla
    Understanding the dynamic and reversible assembly of colloids and particles into complex constructs, inspired by natural phenomena, is of fundamental significance for the fabrication of multi-scale responsive and reconfigurable materials. In this work, we investigate the pH-triggered and reconfigurable assembly of structures composed of binary mixtures of oppositely charged polyacrylic acid (PAA)-modified non-Janus and poly(2-dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (PDMAEMA)/poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM)-modified Janus particles driven by electrostatic interactions. Three different target structures are visible both in dispersions and in dry state: half-raspberry structures, colloidal clusters and colloidal chains depending on the mass, numerical and particle size ratio. All formed structures are well-defined and stable in a certain pH range. Half-raspberry-like structures are obtained at pH 6 and numerical ratios NJP/PAA-HP of 1 : 500 (for 200-PAA-HP), 1 : 44 (for 450-PAA-HP) and 1 : 15 (for 650-PAA-HP), respectively, due to electrostatic interactions between the central JP and the excessive PAA-HP. Colloidal chains and cluster-like structures are generated at numerical ratios NJP/PAA-HP of 4 : 5 (for 200-PAA-HP), 4 : 3 (for 450-PAA-HP), and 4 : 1 (for 650-PAA-HP). Moreover, the smaller the size of a "connecting" PAA colloid, the larger is the average length of a colloidal chain. Depending on the particle size ratio SJP/PAA-HP, some of the observed structures can be disassembled on demand by changing the pH value either close to the IEP of the PDMAEMA (for half-raspberries) or PAA (for colloidal clusters and chains) and then reassembled into new stable structures many times. The obtained results open a pathway to pH-controlled reconfigurable assembly of a binary mixture composed of polymeric-modified non-Janus and Janus particles, which allow the reuse of particle building blocks. © 2019 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
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    Microfluidic-assisted silk nanoparticle tuning
    (Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2019) Wongpinyochit, Thidarat; Totten, John D.; Johnston, Blair F.; Seib, F. Philipp
    Silk is now making inroads into advanced pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. Both bottom-up and top-down approaches can be applied to silk and the resulting aqueous silk solution can be processed into a range of material formats, including nanoparticles. Here, we demonstrate the potential of microfluidics for the continuous production of silk nanoparticles with tuned particle characteristics. Our microfluidic-based design ensured efficient mixing of different solvent phases at the nanoliter scale, in addition to controlling the solvent ratio and flow rates. The total flow rate and aqueous : solvent ratios were important parameters affecting yield (1 mL min−1 > 12 mL min−1). The ratios also affected size and stability; a solvent : aqueous total flow ratio of 5 : 1 efficiently generated spherical nanoparticles 110 and 215 nm in size that were stable in water and had a high beta-sheet content. These 110 and 215 nm silk nanoparticles were not cytotoxic (IC50 > 100 μg mL−1) but showed size-dependent cellular trafficking. Overall, microfluidic-assisted silk nanoparticle manufacture is a promising platform that allows control of the silk nanoparticle properties by manipulation of the processing variables.
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    A bio-based route to the carbon-5 chemical glutaric acid and to bionylon-6,5 using metabolically engineered Corynebacterium glutamicum
    (Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2018) Rohles, Christina Maria; Gläser, Lars; Kohlstedt, Michael; Gießelmann, Gideon; Pearson, Samuel; del Campo, Aránzazu; Becker, Judith; Wittmann, Christoph
    In the present work, we established the bio-based production of glutarate, a carbon-5 dicarboxylic acid with recognized value for commercial plastics and other applications, using metabolically engineered Corynebacterium glutamicum. The mutant C. glutamicum AVA-2 served as a starting point for strain development, because it secreted small amounts of glutarate as a consequence of its engineered 5-aminovalerate pathway. Starting from AVA-2, we overexpressed 5-aminovalerate transaminase (gabT) and glutarate semialdehyde dehydrogenase (gabD) under the control of the constitutive tuf promoter to convert 5-aminovalerate further to glutarate. The created strain GTA-1 formed glutarate as a major product, but still secreted 5-aminovalerate as well. This bottleneck was tackled at the level of 5-aminovalerate re-import. The advanced strain GTA-4 overexpressed the newly discovered 5-aminovalerate importer NCgl0464 and formed glutarate from glucose in a yield of 0.27 mol mol−1. In a fed-batch process, GTA-4 produced more than 90 g L−1 glutarate from glucose and molasses based sugars in a yield of up to 0.70 mol mol−1 and a maximum productivity of 1.8 g L−1 h−1, while 5-aminovalerate was no longer secreted. The bio-based glutaric acid was purified to >99.9% purity. Interfacial polymerization and melt polymerization with hexamethylenediamine yielded bionylon-6,5, a polyamide with a unique structure.