Effect of substrate on the phase transformation of TiO2 in pearlescent pigment

The TiO₂/substrate pearlescent pigments were prepared by the hydrolysis of TiOCl₂ on the substrate followed by a calcinations process. The natural mica (muscovite), synthetic mica (fluorophlogopite) and -alumina flake were selected as the substrates for pearlescent pigments. The effect of substrate on the anatase to rutile (A–R) phase transformation of TiO₂ was studied. The A–R phase transformation of TiO₂ during the preparation of pearlescent pigments and their proportion in the TiO₂ layer have been analyzed by XRD measurements. The phase compositions of TiO₂ layer in each pearlescent pigment are quite different depending on the substrates. The TiO₂ layer deposited on -alumina has higher rutile fraction than those on the natural and synthetic mica. The XPS analysis showed that the cations originally present in the substrates diffused into the TiO₂ layer. The TiO₂ layer deposited on -alumina contains Al, while those on the natural and synthetic mica substrates contain Si and K in addition to Al. The metal cations diffusing from the substrate into TiO₂ layer might retard the A–R phase transformation of TiO₂. The suppressing effect on the A–R transformation of TiO₂ by mixed cations seems to be much stronger than that of single cation, resulting in relatively higher rutile fraction in the case of TiO₂ layer deposited on -alumina.     

Mechano-electrochemistry of a passive surface using an in situ micro-indentation test

Depassivation–repassivation of iron surfaces in boric–borate solutions were investigated by using the micro-indentation test. A pair of current peaks due to repair of the passive film following rupture of the film were observed during a series of indenter drives, i.e., loading and unloading of the indenter. The shape of the current peak depended on environmental conditions (conductivity and pH of the solution) and substrate conditions (mechanical processing history, alloyed element) as well as indentation conditions (repetition, maximum depth, and maximum load). Plastic deformation of the surface was accompanied by surface depassivation, while no depassivation occurred during the elastic deformation, indicating that the passive film on iron has a ductile property. The solution conditions did not affect the scale of depassivation but affected the rate of repassivation. Dislocations in the substrate made surface depassivation difficult but enhanced reactivity during the repassivation. The test also revealed that type-312L stainless steel has high corrosion resistance in a concentrated NaCl solution.     

Sn self-doped α-Fe2O3 nanobranch arrays supported on a transparent,conductive SnO2 trunk to improve photoelectrochemical water oxidation

We produced hierarchically branched Fe₂O₃ nanorods on a Sb:SnO₂ transparent conducting oxide (TCO) nanobelt structure as photoanodes for photoelectrochemical water splitting. Single-crystalline SnO₂ nanobelts (NBs) surrounded by Fe₂O₃ nanorods (NRs) were synthesized by thermal evaporation, then underwent chemical bath deposition and annealing. When Fe₂O₃ was crystallized by annealing, Sn was diffused from SnO₂ NBs and incorporated to Fe₂O₃ NRs, which was confirmed through Energy dispersive spectroscopy. Unlike previous high temperature sintering (∼800 °C), Sn doped hematite NRs were obtained at a low temperature (∼650 °C). This occurred since SnO₂ NBs directly connected to Fe₂O₃ NRs are an abundant source of Sn dopant. The 3D hematite NRs on SnO₂ NBs annealed at 650 °C produce a photocurrent density of 0.88 mA/cm² at 1.23 V vs. RHE, which is 3 times higher than that of hematite NRs on a fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrate annealed at the same temperature. The enhanced photocurrent is attributed to the improved electrical conductivity of Fe₂O₃ NRs by Sn doping, the efficient electron transport pathway by TCO nanowire and the increased surface area by hierarchically branched structure.     

Green tea powder supplementation enhances fermentation and antioxidant activity of set-type yogurt

Food Science and Biotechnology - Yogurt is a fermented dairy food produced by growth of lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Green tea is associated with beneficial health effects. Thus, the aim of this...     

Effect of Kombucha on gut-microbiota in mouse having non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Food Science and Biotechnology - Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common liver disorders. Possible links have been recently found between the gut-microbiota and the host...     

Hybrid approach of parallel implementation on CPU–GPU for high-speed ECDSA verification

The Journal of Supercomputing - Since the advent of deep belief network deep learning technology in 2006, artificial intelligence technology has been utilized in various convergence areas, such as...     

The latent learning model to derive semantic relations of words from unstructured text data in social media

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Unstructured text data is very important in many applications because it reflects the thought of the people who create this data. However, it is difficult to...     

Enhancement of total phenolic and isoflavone-aglycone contents and antioxidant activities during Cheonggukjang fermentation of brown soybeans by the potential probiotic Bacillus subtilis CSY191

Changes in β-glycosidase activity, total phenolic and isoflavone contents, and antioxidant activities during the fermentation of brown soybeans (Galmi) fermented food cheonggukjang by the potential probiotic Bacillus subtilis CSY191 were investigated. The total phenolic and isoflavone-glycoside and -aglycone contents as well as ABTS radical scavenging activity and FRAP assays of extracts increased, but malonylglycoside content decreased after a steaming process. It was found that fermentation enhanced the total phenolic and isoflavone-aglycone and -malonylglycoside contents, corresponding to antioxidant activities increased, but isoflavone-glycoside content decreased. The highest levels of daidzein, glycitein, and gensitein were present at concentrations of 156.5 μg/g, 10.2 μg/g, and 2.5 μg/g after 48 h of fermentation. In addition, ABTS radical scavenging activity and FRAP assay increased significantly during fermentation. We suggest that the high antioxidant activity of cheonggukjang of brown soybeans might be related to the markedly higher levels of total phenolic content and isoflavone-aglycones achieved during fermentation.     

Comparative studies on major nutritional components of black waxy rice with giant embryos and its rice bran

The concentration of nutrients in brown rice is mainly associated with embryo size. Various beneficial components have been purified from rice bran. Recently developed black waxy rice with a giant embryo (‘Milyang 263’, BGE), which is the ge ^t mutant of the GE gene, was selected and analyzed to produce high quality nutritional components. γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) content in BGE rice bran, one of the most important nutritional compounds in rice, showed a 10.6-fold increase (2.66±0.48 mg/g) compared to that of BGE brown rice (0.25±0.01 mg/g). In addition, brown rice and BGE rice bran showed enriched amylopectin (94.5±0.5 and 97.0±0.0%) and bioactive anthocyanin [Cy-3-G: 75.15±4.18 (brown rice), 82.97±0.81 (rice bran) and Pn-3-G: 1.52±0.50 (brown rice), 4.33±0.20 (rice bran); mg/100 g] contents. These results suggest that BGE rice bran can be used as an excellent raw material to efficiently produce high quality essential amino acids, cyanidin-3 glycoside-enriched anthocyanins, and GABA.