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Now showing 1 - 10 of 22
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    Electron beam induced dehydrogenation of MgH2 studied by VEELS
    (Cham : Springer International Publishing AG, 2016) Surrey, Alexander; Schultz, Ludwig; Rellinghaus, Bernd
    Nanosized or nanoconfined hydrides are promising materials for solid-state hydrogen storage. Most of these hydrides, however, degrade fast during the structural characterization utilizing transmission electron microscopy (TEM) upon the irradiation with the imaging electron beam due to radiolysis. We use ball-milled MgH2 as a reference material for in-situ TEM experiments under low-dose conditions to study and quantitatively understand the electron beam-induced dehydrogenation. For this, valence electron energy loss spectroscopy (VEELS) measurements are conducted in a monochromated FEI Titan3 80–300 microscope. From observing the plasmonic absorptions it is found that MgH2 successively converts into Mg upon electron irradiation. The temporal evolution of the spectra is analyzed quantitatively to determine the thickness-dependent, characteristic electron doses for electron energies of both 80 and 300 keV. The measured electron doses can be quantitatively explained by the inelastic scattering of the incident high-energy electrons by the MgH2 plasmon. The obtained insights are also relevant for the TEM characterization of other hydrides.
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    Dataset on permeability of wings from owls and non-silently flying birds
    (Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier, 2024) Geyer, Thomas F.; Windisch, Thomas; Fritzsche, Christoph; Sarradj, Ennes
    The very soft and flow-permeable plumage is among the special adaptations of the owl that the silent flight is attributed to. Using a specially designed apparatus that provides a low-speed volume flow of air through a small sample of porous material, measurements of the air flow permeability were performed in accordance to ISO 9053 on a total of 39 prepared wing specimen from six different bird species, including three species of silently flying owls and three non-silently flying bird species. The resulting data set described in the present paper contains the static airflow resistance measured at different positions on the wing.
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    A Review on Nano Ti-Based Oxides for Dark and Photocatalysis: From Photoinduced Processes to Bioimplant Applications
    (Basel : MDPI, 2023) Querebillo, Christine Joy
    Catalysis on TiO2 nanomaterials in the presence of H2O and oxygen plays a crucial role in the advancement of many different fields, such as clean energy technologies, catalysis, disinfection, and bioimplants. Photocatalysis on TiO2 nanomaterials is well-established and has advanced in the last decades in terms of the understanding of its underlying principles and improvement of its efficiency. Meanwhile, the increasing complexity of modern scientific challenges in disinfection and bioimplants requires a profound mechanistic understanding of both residual and dark catalysis. Here, an overview of the progress made in TiO2 catalysis is given both in the presence and absence of light. It begins with the mechanisms involving reactive oxygen species (ROS) in TiO2 photocatalysis. This is followed by improvements in their photocatalytic efficiency due to their nanomorphology and states by enhancing charge separation and increasing light harvesting. A subsection on black TiO2 nanomaterials and their interesting properties and physics is also included. Progress in residual catalysis and dark catalysis on TiO2 are then presented. Safety, microbicidal effect, and studies on Ti-oxides for bioimplants are also presented. Finally, conclusions and future perspectives in light of disinfection and bioimplant application are given.
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    Biomass Alginate Derived Oxygen-Enriched Carbonaceous Materials with Partially Graphitic Nanolayers for High Performance Anodes in Lithium-Ion Batteries
    (Basel : MDPI, 2022) Sun, Xiaolei; Chen, Yao; Li, Yang; Luo, Feng
    Lithium-ion batteries with high reversible capacity, high-rate capability, and extended cycle life are vital for future consumer electronics and renewable energy storage. There is a great deal of interest in developing novel types of carbonaceous materials to boost lithium storage properties due to the inadequate properties of conventional graphite anodes. In this study, we describe a facile and low-cost approach for the synthesis of oxygen-doped hierarchically porous carbons with partially graphitic nanolayers (Alg-C) from pyrolyzed Na-alginate biopolymers without resorting to any kind of activation step. The obtained Alg-C samples were analyzed using various techniques, such as X-ray diffraction, Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope, and transmission electron microscope, to determine their structure and morphology. When serving as lithium storage anodes, the as-prepared Alg-C electrodes have outstanding electrochemical features, such as a high-rate capability (120 mAh g−1 at 3000 mA g−1) and extended cycling lifetimes over 5000 cycles. The post-cycle morphologies ultimately provide evidence of the distinct structural characteristics of the Alg-C electrodes. These preliminary findings suggest that alginate-derived carbonaceous materials may have intensive potential for next-generation energy storage and other related applications.
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    A size dependent evaluation of the cytotoxicity and uptake of nanographene oxide
    (London [u.a.] : RSC, 2015) Mendes, Rafael Gregorio; Koch, Britta; Bachmatiuk, Alicja; Ma, Xing; Sanchez, Samuel; Damm, Christine; Schmidt, Oliver G.; Gemming, Thomas; Eckert, Jürgen; Rümmeli, Mark H.
    Graphene oxide (GO) has attracted great interest due to its extraordinary potential for biomedical application. Although it is clear that the naturally occurring morphology of biological structures is crucial to their precise interactions and correct functioning, the geometrical aspects of nanoparticles are often ignored in the design of nanoparticles for biological applications. A few in vitro and in vivo studies have evaluated the cytotoxicity and biodistribution of GO, however very little is known about the influence of flake size and cytotoxicity. Herein, we aim at presenting an initial cytotoxicity evaluation of different nano-sized GO flakes for two different cell lines (HeLa (Kyoto) and macrophage (J7742)) when they are exposed to samples containing different sized nanographene oxide (NGO) flakes (mean diameter of 89 and 277 nm). The obtained data suggests that the larger NGO flakes reduce cell viability as compared to smaller flakes. In addition, the viability reduction correlates with the time and the concentration of the NGO nanoparticles to which the cells are exposed. Uptake studies were also conducted and the data suggests that both cell lines internalize the GO nanoparticles during the incubation periods studied.
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    Surface Modified β-Ti-18Mo-6Nb-5Ta (wt%) Alloy for Bone Implant Applications: Composite Characterization and Cytocompatibility Assessment
    (Basel : MDPI, 2023) Escobar, Michael; Careta, Oriol; Fernández Navas, Nora; Bartkowska, Aleksandra; Alberta, Ludovico Andrea; Fornell, Jordina; Solsona, Pau; Gemming, Thomas; Gebert, Annett; Ibáñez, Elena; Blanquer, Andreu; Nogués, Carme; Sort, Jordi; Pellicer, Eva
    Commercially available titanium alloys such as Ti-6Al-4V are established in clinical use as load-bearing bone implant materials. However, concerns about the toxic effects of vanadium and aluminum have prompted the development of Al- and V-free β-Ti alloys. Herein, a new alloy composed of non-toxic elements, namely Ti-18Mo-6Nb-5Ta (wt%), has been fabricated by arc melting. The resulting single β-phase alloy shows improved mechanical properties (Young’s modulus and hardness) and similar corrosion behavior in simulated body fluid when compared with commercial Ti-6Al-4V. To increase the cell proliferation capability of the new biomaterial, the surface of Ti-18Mo-6Nb-5Ta was modified by electrodepositing calcium phosphate (CaP) ceramic layers. Coatings with a Ca/P ratio of 1.47 were obtained at pulse current densities, −jc, of 1.8–8.2 mA/cm2, followed by 48 h of NaOH post-treatment. The thickness of the coatings has been measured by scanning electron microscopy from an ion beam cut, resulting in an average thickness of about 5 μm. Finally, cytocompatibility and cell adhesion have been evaluated using the osteosarcoma cell line Saos-2, demonstrating good biocompatibility and enhanced cell proliferation on the CaP-modified Ti-18Mo-6Nb-5Ta material compared with the bare alloy, even outperforming their CaP-modified Ti-6-Al-4V counterparts.
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    Blood platelet enrichment in mass-producible surface acoustic wave (SAW) driven microfluidic chips
    (Cambridge : RSC, 2019) Richard, Cynthia; Fakhfouri, Armaghan; Colditz, Melanie; Striggow, Friedrich; Kronstein-Wiedemann, Romy; Tonn, Torsten; Medina-Sánchez, Mariana; Schmidt, Oliver G.; Gemming, Thomas; Winkler, Andreas
    The ability to separate specific biological components from cell suspensions is indispensable for liquid biopsies, and for personalized diagnostics and therapy. This paper describes an advanced surface acoustic wave (SAW) based device designed for the enrichment of platelets (PLTs) from a dispersion of PLTs and red blood cells (RBCs) at whole blood concentrations, opening new possibilities for diverse applications involving cell manipulation with high throughput. The device is made of patterned SU-8 photoresist that is lithographically defined on the wafer scale with a new proposed methodology. The blood cells are initially focused and subsequently separated by an acoustic radiation force (ARF) applied through standing SAWs (SSAWs). By means of flow cytometric analysis, the PLT concentration factor was found to be 7.7, and it was proven that the PLTs maintain their initial state. A substantially higher cell throughput and considerably lower applied powers than comparable devices from literature were achieved. In addition, fully coupled 3D numerical simulations based on SAW wave field measurements were carried out to anticipate the coupling of the wave field into the fluid, and to obtain the resulting pressure field. A comparison to the acoustically simpler case of PDMS channel walls is given. The simulated results show an ideal match to the experimental observations and offer the first insights into the acoustic behavior of SU-8 as channel wall material. The proposed device is compatible with current (Lab-on-a-Chip) microfabrication techniques allowing for mass-scale, reproducible chip manufacturing which is crucial to push the technology from lab-based to real-world applications. © The Royal Society of Chemistry.
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    Magnetofluidic platform for multidimensional magnetic and optical barcoding of droplets
    (Cambridge : RSC, 2014) Lin, Gungun; Makarov, Denys; Medina-Sánchez, Mariana; Guix, Maria; Baraban, Larysa; Cuniberti, Gianaurelio; Schmidt, Oliver G.
    We present a concept of multidimensional magnetic and optical barcoding of droplets based on a magnetofluidic platform. The platform comprises multiple functional areas, such as an encoding area, an encoded droplet pool and a magnetic decoding area with integrated giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensors. To prove this concept, penicillin functionalized with fluorescent dyes is coencapsulated with magnetic nanoparticles into droplets. While fluorescent dyes are used as conventional optical barcodes which are decoded with an optical decoding setup, an additional dimensionality of barcodes is created by using magnetic nanoparticles as magnetic barcodes for individual droplets and integrated micro-patterned GMR sensors as the corresponding magnetic decoding devices. The strategy of incorporating a magnetic encoding scheme provides a dynamic range of ~40 dB in addition to that of the optical method. When combined with magnetic barcodes, the encoding capacity can be increased by more than 1 order of magnitude compared with using only optical barcodes, that is, the magnetic platform provides more than 10 unique magnetic codes in addition to each optical barcode. Besides being a unique magnetic functional element for droplet microfluidics, the platform is capable of on-demand facile magnetic encoding and real-time decoding of droplets which paves the way for the development of novel non-optical encoding schemes for highly multiplexed droplet-based biological assays.
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    Microstructural defects in hot deformed and as-transformed τ-MnAl-C
    (Lausanne : Elsevier, 2021) Zhao, P.; Feng, L.; Nielsch, K.; Woodcock, T.G.
    In this study, detailed microstructural characterisation has been conducted in both as-transformed and hot deformed samples of τ-MnAl-C using transmission electron microscopy. After hot deformation, true twins, dislocations, intrinsic stacking faults and precipitates of Mn3AlC are the main defects in the recrystallised grains. True twins and order twins were distinguished based on differences in their diffraction patterns. A significant fraction of non-recrystallised grains existed, which had microstructures based on combinations of high densities of true twins, dislocations, and deformation bands. The formation of the Mn3AlC precipitates was confirmed and related to the reduction of saturation magnetization and the increase in the Curie temperature of τ-MnAl-C after hot deformation. Antiphase boundaries, which are believed to act as nucleation sites for reverse domains, were not observed in the hot deformed sample.
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    Exchange Bias Effect of Ni@(NiO,Ni(OH)2) Core/Shell Nanowires Synthesized by Electrochemical Deposition in Nanoporous Alumina Membranes
    (Basel : MDPI, 2023) García, Javier; Gutiérrez, Ruth; González, Ana S.; Jiménez-Ramirez, Ana I.; Álvarez, Yolanda; Vega, Víctor; Reith, Heiko; Leistner, Karin; Luna, Carlos; Nielsch, Kornelius; Prida, Víctor M.
    Tuning and controlling the magnetic properties of nanomaterials is crucial to implement new and reliable technologies based on magnetic hyperthermia, spintronics, or sensors, among others. Despite variations in the alloy composition as well as the realization of several post material fabrication treatments, magnetic heterostructures as ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic coupled layers have been widely used to modify or generate unidirectional magnetic anisotropies. In this work, a pure electrochemical approach has been used to fabricate core (FM)/shell (AFM) Ni@(NiO,Ni(OH)2) nanowire arrays, avoiding thermal oxidation procedures incompatible with integrative semiconductor technologies. Besides the morphology and compositional characterization of these core/shell nanowires, their peculiar magnetic properties have been studied by temperature dependent (isothermal) hysteresis loops, thermomagnetic curves and FORC analysis, revealing the existence of two different effects derived from Ni nanowires’ surface oxidation over the magnetic performance of the array. First of all, a magnetic hardening of the nanowires along the parallel direction of the applied magnetic field with respect their long axis (easy magnetization axis) has been found. The increase in coercivity, as an effect of surface oxidation, has been observed to be around 17% (43%) at 300 K (50 K). On the other hand, an increasing exchange bias effect on decreasing temperature has been encountered when field cooling (3T) the oxidized Ni@(NiO,Ni(OH)2) nanowires below 100 K along their parallel lengths.