Stability of rare‐earth‐doped spherical yttria‐stabilized zirconia synthesized by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis

Phase stability is one of the crucial requirements for any material that can be used at elevated temperature applications such as thermal barrier coating (TBC). The most traditional TBC material, partially stabilized zirconia, limits the operating temperature due to its phase transformation. Conversely, the low thermal conductivity of fully stabilized zirconia (YSZ) may enable effective reduction in the surface temperature on the coated component, while avoiding deleterious phase transitions, although still being subjected to sintering and grain growth. It has been reported that addition of rare‐earths as dopants to YSZ can significantly increase resistance to grain growth at high temperature. Keeping this under consideration, this work investigates the role of rare‐earths (lanthanum and gadolinium) in increasing thermal stability of YSZ microspheres, the building blocks for high‐temperature photonics for reflective TBC. The spheres were produced by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis, and the doping led to significant improvement of stability by significant inhibition of grain growth. While the individual dopants showed significant growth and sintering inhibition up to 900°C, co‐doping with 4% (in mol) of each (Gd and La) led to coarsening resistance up to 1000°C for 3 hours, when particles retained reasonable spherical features with nanometric crystallite sizes.     

Monomolecular and Bimolecular Recombination of Electron–Hole Pairs at the Interface of a Bilayer Organic Solar Cell

While it has been argued that field‐dependent geminate pair recombination (GR) is important, this process is often disregarded when analyzing the recombination kinetics in bulk heterojunction organic solar cells (OSCs). To differentiate between the contributions of GR and nongeminate recombination (NGR) the authors study bilayer OSCs using either a PCDTBT‐type polymer layer with a thickness from 14 to 66 nm or a 60 nm thick p‐DTS(FBTTh₂)₂ layer as donor material and C₆₀ as acceptor. The authors measure JV‐characteristics as a function of intensity and charge‐extraction‐by‐linearly‐increasing‐voltage‐type hole mobilities. The experiments have been complemented by Monte Carlo simulations. The authors find that fill factor (FF) decreases with increasing donor layer thickness (L_p) even at the lowest light intensities where geminate recombination dominates. The authors interpret this in terms of thickness dependent back diffusion of holes toward their siblings at the donor–acceptor interface that are already beyond the Langevin capture sphere rather than to charge accumulation at the donor–acceptor interface. This effect is absent in the p‐DTS(FBTTh₂)₂ diode in which the hole mobility is by two orders of magnitude higher. At higher light intensities, NGR occurs as evidenced by the evolution of s‐shape of the JV‐curves and the concomitant additional decrease of the FF with increasing layer thickness.     

Tetrahydroisoquinolines: New Inhibitors of Neutrophil Extracellular Trap (NET) Formation

Neutrophils are short‐lived leukocytes that migrate to sites of infection as part of the acute immune response, where they phagocytose, degranulate, and form neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). During NET formation, the nuclear lobules of neutrophils disappear and the chromatin expands and, accessorized with neutrophilic granule proteins, is expelled. NETs can be pathogenic in, for example, sepsis, cancer, and autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, the identification of inhibitors of NET formation is of great interest. Screening of a focused library of natural‐product‐inspired compounds by using a previously validated phenotypic NET assay identified a group of tetrahydroisoquinolines as new NET formation inhibitors. This compound class opens up new avenues for the study of cellular death through NET formation (NETosis) at different stages, and might inspire new medicinal chemistry programs aimed at NET‐dependent diseases.     

Ultra-fine particles release from hardcopy devices: sources, real-room measurements and efficiency of filter accessories

The release of ultra-fine particles (UFP, d < 0.1 µm) from hardcopy devices such as laser printers into the indoor environment is currently a topic of high concern. The general emission behavior of a printer can be examined by conducting emission test chamber measurements with particle-counting devices. Chamber experiments with modified laser printers operated without toner or paper also revealed UFP emissions. On the basis of these results we reasonably doubt the opinion that UFPs primarily originate from the toner. Instead, the high-temperature fuser unit is assumed to be one source for ultra-fine particle emission. UFP release typically follows the flow path of the cooling air which may leave the printer casing at various points (e.g. the paper tray). This limits the usability of the commercial filter systems available because the released particles could leave the printer without passing through the filter. Chamber measurements with various filter systems retrofitted to a laser printer demonstrate different efficiencies of UFP reduction. Complementary experiments were carried out in an office room. Here the decay of the particle concentration after a print job was about ten times slower than in the test chamber. A toxicological assessment of the emitted particles requires that their chemical composition be known. Due to the low mass of the released UFPs chemical analysis needs a prior enrichment on a feasible media. Experiments using electrostatic precipitation showed a flame retardant (tri-xylyl phosphate) whose concentration on the media was dependent on the number of pages printed. Whether this compound was particle-bound could not be determined.     

Determination of CFTR densities in erythrocyte plasma membranes using recognition imaging

CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) is a cAMP-regulated chloride (Cl(-)) channel that plays an important role in salt and fluid movement across epithelia. Cystic fibrosis (CF), the most common genetic disease among Caucasians, is caused by mutations in the gene encoding CFTR. The most predominant mutation, F508del, disturbs CFTR protein trafficking, resulting in a reduced number of CFTR in the plasma membrane. Recent studies indicate that CFTR is not only found in epithelia but also in human erythrocytes. Although considerable attempts have been made to quantify CFTR in cells, conclusions on numbers of CFTR molecules localized in the plasma membrane have been drawn indirectly. AFM has the power to provide the needed information, since both sub-molecular spatial resolution and direct protein recognition via antibody-antigen interaction can be observed. We performed a quantification study of the CFTR copies in erythrocyte membranes at the single molecule level, and compared the difference between healthy donors and CF patients. We detected that the number of CFTR molecules is reduced by 70% in erythrocytes of cystic fibrosis patients.     

Temperature dependence of the energy dissipation in dynamic force microscopy

The dissipation of energy in dynamic force microscopy is usually described in terms of an adhesion hysteresis mechanism. This mechanism should become less efficient with increasing temperature. To verify this prediction we have measured topography and dissipation data with dynamic force microscopy in the temperature range from 100?K up to 300?K. We used 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic-dianhydride (PTCDA) grown on KBr(001), both materials exhibiting a strong dissipation signal at large frequency shifts. At room temperature, the energy dissipated into the sample (or tip) is 1.9?eV/cycle for PTCDA and 2.7?eV/cycle for KBr, respectively, and is in good agreement with an adhesion hysteresis mechanism. The energy dissipation over the PTCDA surface decreases with increasing temperature, yielding a negative temperature coefficient. For the KBr substrate, we find the opposite behaviour: an increase of dissipated energy with increasing temperature. While the negative temperature coefficient in the case of PTCDA agrees rather well with the adhesion hysteresis model, the positive slope found for KBr points to a hitherto unknown dissipation mechanism.     

Distance dependent spectral tuning of two coupled metal nanoparticles

The spectral properties of two spherical metallic nanoparticles of 80 nm in diameter are examined with regard to the interparticle distance and relative polarization of the excitation light. One Au nanoparticle is attached to a scanning fiber probe and the second to a scanning substrate. This configuration allows three-dimensional and arbitrary manipulation of both distance and relative orientation with respect to the incident light polarization. As supported by numerical simulations, a periodic modulation of the coupled plasmon resonance is observed for separations smaller than 1.5 microm. This interparticle coupling affects the scattering cross section in terms of spectral position and spectral width as well as the integral intensity of the Mie-scattered light.     

Steam purification for the removal of graphitic shells coating catalytic particles and the shortening of single-walled carbon nanotubes

Purification and shortening of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) is carried out by treatment with steam. During the steam purification the graphitic shells coating the catalytic metal particles are removed. Consequently, the exposed catalytic particles can be easily dissolved by treatment with hydrochloric acid. No damage to the carbon nanotube tubular structure is observed, even after prolonged treatment with steam. Samples are characterized by HRTEM, TGA, magnetic measurements, Raman spectroscopy, AFM, and XPS.