► A new superhydrophobic surface with UV and anti-corrosion properties. ► Layer-by-layer deposition of titania and silica nanoparticles. ► Functionalized with PTES ...(1H,1H,2H,2H-Perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane). ► Static contact angles >165°, advanced angles >170° and slide angle<1°.
Both TiO2 and SiO2 coated steel surfaces containing micro- and nanoscale binary structures with different surface roughness were successfully fabricated by means of a facile layer by layer deposition process followed by heat treatment. The resulting surfaces were modified by the low free energy chemical PTES (1H,1H,2H,2H-Perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane). The experimental results of wettability exhibit that such modified surfaces have a strong repulsive force to water droplets, their static contact angles exceed 165°, receding angle>160°, advanced angles>170° and slide angle<1°. The resulting surfaces not only exhibit superhydrophobic properties but also show strong UV resistance (after coating SiO2 on top of TiO2) and strong stability to various solvents including 0.01% HCl solution.
Highly transparent and UV-resistant superhydrophobic arrays of SiO2-coated ZnO nanorods are prepared in a sequence of low-temperature (<150 °C) steps on both glass and thin sheets of PET (2 × 2 ...in.2), and the superhydrophobic nanocomposite is shown to have minimal impact on solar cell device performance under AM1.5G illumination. Flexible plastics can serve as front cell and backing materials in the manufacture of flexible displays and solar cells.
Precise identification and in-depth understanding of defects in nanomaterials can aid in rationally modulating defect-induced functionalities. However, few studies have explored vacancy defects in ...ligand-stabilized metal nanoclusters with well-defined structures, owing to the substantial challenge of synthesizing and isolating such defective metal nanoclusters. Herein, a novel defective copper hydride nanocluster, Cu36H10(PET)24(PPh3)6Cl2 (Cu36; PET: phenylethanethiolate; PPh3: triphenylphosphine), is successfully synthesized at the gram scale via a simple one-pot reduction method. Structural analysis reveals that Cu36 is a distorted half cubic nanocluster, evolved from the perfect Nichol’s half cube. The two surface copper vacancies in Cu36 are found to be the principal imperfections, which result in some structural adjustments, including copper atom reconstruction near the vacancies as well as ligand modifications (e.g., substitution, migration, and exfoliation). Density functional theory calculations imply that the above-mentioned defects have a considerable influence on the electronic structure and properties. The modeling suggests that the formation of defective Cu36 rather than the perfect half cube is driven by the enlargement of the energy gap between the highest occupied molecular orbital and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of the nanocluster. The structural evolution induced by the surface copper atom vacancies provides atomically precise insights into the defect-induced readjustment of the local structure and introduces new avenues for understanding the chemistry of defects in nanomaterials.
We explored biexciton generation via carrier multiplication (or multiple-exciton generation) by high-energy photons and by multiple-photon absorption in Ag2S quantum dots (QDs) using femtosecond ...broad-band transient absorption spectroscopy. Irrespective of the size of the QDs and how the multiple excitons are generated in the Ag2S QDs, two distinct characteristic time constants of 9.6–10.2 and 135–175 ps are obtained for the nonradiative Auger recombination of the multiple excitons, indicating the existence of two binding excitons, namely, tightly bound and weakly bound excitons. More importantly, the lifetimes of multiple excitons in Ag2S QDs were about 1 and 2 orders of magnitude longer than those of comparable size PbS QDs and single-walled carbon nanotubes, respectively. This result is significant because it suggests that by utilizing an appropriate electron acceptor, there is a higher possibility to extract multiple electron–hole pairs in Ag2S QDs, which should improve the performance of QD-based solar cell devices.
How to repel hot water from a superhydrophobic surface? Yu, Zhe-Jun; Yang, Jieyi; Wan, Fang ...
Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability,
01/2014, Letnik:
2, Številka:
27
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Superhydrophobic surfaces, with water contact angles greater than 150° and slide angles less than 10°, have attracted a great deal of attention due to their self-cleaning ability and excellent ...water-repellency. It is commonly accepted that a superhydrophobic surface loses its superhydrophobicity in contact with water hotter than 50 °C. Such a phenomenon was recently demonstrated by Liu et al. J. Mater. Chem ., 2009, 19 , 5602, using both natural lotus leaf and artificial leaf-like surfaces. However, our work has shown that superhydrophobic surfaces maintained their superhydrophobicity, even in water at 80 °C, provided that the leaf temperature is greater than that of the water droplet. In this paper, we report on the wettability of water droplets on superhydrophobic thin films, as a function of both their temperatures. The results have shown that both the water contact and slide angles on the surfaces will remain unchanged when the temperature of the water droplet is greater than that of the surface. The water contact angle, or the slide angle, will decrease or increase, however, with droplet temperatures increasingly greater than that of the surfaces. We propose that, in such cases, the loss of superhydrophobicity of the surfaces is caused by evaporation of the hot water molecules and their condensation on the cooler surface.
Efficient oxygen supply is a continuing challenge for the fabrication of successful tissue engineered constructs with clinical relevance. In an effort to enhance oxygen delivery we report the ...feasibility of using fluorinated zeolite particles embedded in three-dimensional (3-D) polyurethane scaffolds as novel oxygen vectors. First, 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane was successfully coupled to zeolite framework particles to examine the dose-dependent dissolved oxygen concentration. Following this, the fluorinated-zeolite (FZ) particles were embedded in 3-D tissue engineering polyurethane scaffolds. Our data demonstrates an even distribution of FZ particles in the 3-D scaffolds without affecting the scaffold porosity or pore size. Human coronary artery smooth muscle cell (HCASMC) proliferation on FZ-containing polyurethane (PCU-FZ) scaffolds was significantly greater than on control scaffolds (
P
=
0.05). Remarkably, cell infiltration depths on the PCU-FZ scaffolds was double that on PCU control scaffolds. Taken together, our data suggest the potential of PCU-FZ scaffolds for tissue engineering with enhanced oxygen delivery to cells.
Visible light transparent, UV-shielding and superhydrophobic nanostructured coatings have been successfully fabricated through a facile layer-by-layer deposition of TiO(2) and SiO(2) nanoparticles. ...The coatings are composed of an underlying UV-shielding TiO(2) layer and a top fully covered protective SiO(2) layer. The resulting coatings can block 100% of UVB and UVC and almost 85% of UVA. The fabricated surfaces have contact angles exceeding 165° after coating with organic PTES (1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane) molecules. The transparent superhydrophobic surfaces exhibit extremely strong UV stability. All coatings retain the initial UV-shielding and superhydrophobic properties even after exposure to 275 nm UV light with a light intensity of 75 mW cm(-2) for 12 h.
Pramanicin (PMC) is an antifungal agent that was previously demonstrated to exhibit antiangiogenic and anticancer properties in a few in vitro studies. We initially screened a number of PMC analogs ...for their cytotoxic effects on HCT116 human colon cancer cells. PMC-A, the analog with the most potent antiproliferative effect was chosen to further interrogate the underlying mechanism of action. PMC-A led to apoptosis through activation of caspase-9 and -3. The apoptotic nature of cell death was confirmed by abrogation of cell death with pretreatment with specific caspase inhibitors. Stress-related MAPKs JNK and p38 were both activated concomittantly with the intrinsic apoptotic pathway. Moreover, pharmacological inhibition of p38 proved to attenuate the cell death induction while pretreatment with JNK inhibitor did not exhibit a protective effect. Resistance of Bax -/- cells and the protective nature of caspase-9 inhibition indicate that mitochondria play a central role in PMC-A induced apoptosis. Early post-exposure elevation of cellular Bim and Bax was followed by a marginal Bcl-2 depletion and Bid cleavage. Further analysis revealed that Bcl-2 downregulation occurs at the mRNA level and is critical to mediate PMC-A induced apoptosis, as ectopic Bcl-2 expression substantially spared the cells from death. Conversely, forced expression of Bim proved to significantly increase cell death. In addition, analyses of p53-/- cells demonstrated that Bcl-2/Bim/Bax modulation and MAPK activations take place independently of p53 expression. Taken together, p53-independent transcriptional Bcl-2 downregulation and p38 signaling appear to be the key modulatory events in PMC-A induced apoptosis.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The effect of electrode area, electrolyte concentration, temperature, and light intensity (up to 218 sun) on PV electrolysis of water is studied using a high concentrated triple-junction (3-J) ...photovoltaic cell (PV) connected directly to an alkaline membrane electrolyzer (EC). For a given current, the voltage requirement to run an electrolyzer increases with a decrease in electrode sizes (4.5, 2.0, 0.5, and 0.25 cm2) due to high current densities. The high current density operation leads to high Ohmic losses, most probably due to the concentration gradient and bubble formation. The EC operating parameters including the electrolyte concentration and temperature reduce the voltage requirement by improving the thermodynamics, kinetics, and transport properties of the overall electrolysis process. For a direct PV–EC coupling, the maximum power point of PV (P max) is matched using EC I–V (current–voltage) curves measured for different electrode sizes. A shift in the EC I–V curves toward open-circuit voltage (V oc) reduces the P op (operating power) to hydrogen efficiencies due to the increased voltage losses above the equilibrium water-splitting potential. The solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiencies remained comparable (∼16%) for all electrode sizes when the operating current (I op) was similar to the short-circuit current (I sc) irrespective of the operating voltage (V op), electrolyzer temperature, and electrolyte concentration.
Sonication assisted anodization of titanium in a fluorinated ethylene glycol and water electrolyte using Ti itself as a cathode is investigated. The prepared anodic film has a highly ordered ...nanotube-array surface architecture. The resulting TiO2 nanotubes at potential 20-40 V have various diameters (30-100 nm), tube length (3-12 mu m) and wall thicknesses (6-15 nm). The tube diameter and wall thickness are increased with the anodization time while the overall length of the nanotube arrays is controlled by the duration of the anodization time. In addition, apart from the anodization time, formation of nanotubes is governed by the distance and supplied voltages between the two electrodes, for a given electrolyte. The crystal structure and surface morphology of the annealed anodic films are investigated by XRD and SEM, respectively. The corresponding photoelectrochemical water splitting efficiency (PCE) was calculated under UV light. Our results show a very high PCE under UV (315-400 nm, 100 mW/cm2) irradiation. The maximum value of PCE for hydrogen generation obtained was 29% which is one of the best results reported in literature,
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![[Cu36H10(PET)24(PPh3)6Cl2] ...](http://api.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/image/issn/XR4PS5YY4K/0002-7863_1943-2984_1520-5126/small "[Cu36H10(PET)24(PPh3)6Cl2] Reveals Surface Vacancy Defects in Ligand-Stabilized Metal Nanoclusters")
