TY - JOUR A1 - Zhang, Shanshan A1 - Liu, Yue A1 - Machatschek, Rainhard Gabriel A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Ultrathin collagen type I films formed at the air-water interface JF - MRS advances : a journal of the Materials Research Society (MRS) N2 - Collagen-based biomaterials with oriented fibrils have shown great application potential in medicine. However, it is still challenging to control the type I collagen fibrillogenesis in ultrathin films. Here, we report an approach to produce cohesive and well-organized type I collagen ultrathin films of about 10 nm thickness using the Langmuir-Blodgett technique. Ellipsometry, rheology, and Brewster angle microscopy are applied to investigate in situ how the molecules behave at the air-water interface, both at room temperature and 37 degrees C. The interfacial storage modulus observed at room temperature vanishes upon heating, indicating the existence and disappearance of the network structure in the protein nanosheet. The films were spanning over holes as large as 1 mm diameter when transferred at room temperature, proving the strong cohesive interactions. A highly aligned and fibrillar structure was observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and optical microscopy. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1557/s43580-021-00160-8 SN - 2059-8521 VL - 7 IS - 4 SP - 56 EP - 62 PB - Springer Nature Switzerland AG CY - Cham ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sperlich, Eric A1 - Köckerling, Martin T1 - Cluster salts [Nb6Cl12(HIm)(6)]A(n) (with HIm=1H-imidazole and A=Mineral Acid Anion, n=1 or 2) made in and with Bronsted-basic ionic liquids and liquid mixtures JF - ChemistryOpen N2 - Four new hexanuclear niobium cluster compounds of the general formula [Nb6Cl12(HIm)(6)](A)(n) . x(solvent molecule) (HIm=1H-imidazole, A=mineral acid anion, Cl- (n=2) (1), (SO4)(2-) (n=1) (2), (CrO4)(2-) (n=1) (3), and (HAsO4)(2-) (n=1) (4)) were prepared. Their synthesis can be done in basic ionic liquids, which form on the addition of a mineral acid, which also delivers the counter anion for the final cluster compound, to an excess of the 1H-imidazole. Some addition of an auxiliary solvent, like methanol, improves the speed of crystallisation. The cluster unit comprises a hexanuclear Nb-6 unit of octahedral shape with the edges bridged by Cl atoms and the exo sites being occupied by N-bonded 1H-imidazole ligands. The cluster cation carries sixteen cluster-based electrons. Between the NH groups of the ligands of the cluster unit, the anions and the co-crystallised water (1), or 1H-imidazole and methanol molecules (2, 3, and 4) a network of hydrogen bonds exists. KW - cluster KW - ionic liquid KW - structure elucidation KW - heterocyclic ligand KW - Niobium Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/open.202000266 SN - 2191-1363 VL - 10 IS - 2 SP - 248 EP - 254 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Roy, Parna A1 - Mukherjee, Arpita A1 - Mondal, Pritha A1 - Bhattacharyya, Biswajit A1 - Narayan, Awadhesh A1 - Pandey, Anshu T1 - Electronic structure and spectroscopy of I-III-VI2 nanocrystals BT - a perspective JF - The journal of physical chemistry : C, Nanomaterials and interfaces N2 - I-III-VI2 semiconductor nanocrystals have been applied to a host of energy conversion devices with great success. Large scale implementation of device concepts based on these materials has, however, been somewhat stymied by the strong role of defects in determining the optoelectronic characteristics of these materials. Here we present a perspective view of the role of electronic structure and defects on the physical properties, particularly the spectroscopy, of this family of materials. Applications of these materials are further discussed in this context. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.1c10922 SN - 1932-7447 SN - 1932-7455 VL - 126 IS - 17 SP - 7364 EP - 7373 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Madani, Amiera A1 - Anghileri, Lucia A1 - Heydenreich, Matthias A1 - Möller, Heiko Michael A1 - Pieber, Bartholomäus T1 - Benzylic fluorination induced by a charge-transfer complex with a solvent-dependent selectivity switch JF - Organic letters / publ. by the American Chemical Society N2 - We present a divergent strategy for the fluorination of phenylacetic acid derivatives that is induced by a charge-transfer complex between Selectfluor and 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine. A comprehensive investigation of the conditions revealed a critical role of the solvent on the reaction outcome. In the presence of water, decarboxylative fluorination through a single-electron oxidation is dominant. Non-aqueous conditions result in the clean formation of alpha-fluoro-alpha-arylcarboxylic acids. KW - Charge transfer KW - Halogenation KW - Oxidation KW - Reaction products KW - Reagents Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.orglett.2c02050 SN - 1523-7060 SN - 1523-7052 VL - 24 IS - 29 SP - 5376 EP - 5380 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wojcik, Michal A1 - Brinkmann, Pia A1 - Zdunek, Rafał A1 - Riebe, Daniel A1 - Beitz, Toralf A1 - Merk, Sven A1 - Cieslik, Katarzyna A1 - Mory, David A1 - Antonczak, Arkadiusz T1 - Classification of copper minerals by handheld laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and nonnegative tensor factorisation JF - Sensors N2 - Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) analysers are becoming increasingly common for material classification purposes. However, to achieve good classification accuracy, mostly noncompact units are used based on their stability and reproducibility. In addition, computational algorithms that require significant hardware resources are commonly applied. For performing measurement campaigns in hard-to-access environments, such as mining sites, there is a need for compact, portable, or even handheld devices capable of reaching high measurement accuracy. The optics and hardware of small (i.e., handheld) devices are limited by space and power consumption and require a compromise of the achievable spectral quality. As long as the size of such a device is a major constraint, the software is the primary field for improvement. In this study, we propose a novel combination of handheld LIBS with non-negative tensor factorisation to investigate its classification capabilities of copper minerals. The proposed approach is based on the extraction of source spectra for each mineral (with the use of tensor methods) and their labelling based on the percentage contribution within the dataset. These latent spectra are then used in a regression model for validation purposes. The application of such an approach leads to an increase in the classification score by approximately 5% compared to that obtained using commonly used classifiers such as support vector machines, linear discriminant analysis, and the k-nearest neighbours algorithm. KW - LIBS KW - NTF KW - HALS KW - classification KW - copper minerals Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185152 SN - 1424-8220 VL - 20 IS - 18 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kaya, Kerem A1 - Debsharma, Tapas A1 - Schlaad, Helmut A1 - Yagci, Yusuf T1 - Cellulose-based polyacetals by direct and sensitized photocationic ring-opening polymerization of levoglucosenyl methyl ether JF - Polymer Chemistry N2 - This study aims to explore the photoinitiated cationic ring-opening polymerization of levoglucosenyl methyl ether (LGME), a chemical obtained from the most abundant biomass - cellulose. Direct and sensitized photopolymerizations of LGME using photoinitiators acting at the near UV or visible range in conjunction with diphenyliodonium hexafluoroantimonate (DPI) yielded unsaturated polyacetals with varying molar masses and distributions. Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/d0py01307b SN - 1759-9954 SN - 1759-9962 VL - 11 IS - 43 SP - 6884 EP - 6889 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yan, Runyu A1 - Oschatz, Martin A1 - Wu, Feixiang T1 - Towards stable lithium-sulfur battery cathodes by combining physical and chemical confinement of polysulfides in core-shell structured nitrogen-doped carbons JF - Carbon N2 - Despite intensive research on porous carbon materials as hosts for sulfur in lithium-sulfur battery cathodes, it remains a problem to restrain the soluble lithium polysulfide intermediates for a long-term cycling stability without the use of metallic or metal-containing species. Here, we report the synthesis of nitrogen-doped carbon materials with hierarchical pore architecture and a core-shell-type particle design including an ordered mesoporous carbon core and a polar microporous carbon shell. The initial discharge capacity with a sulfur loading up to 72 wt% reaches over 900 mA h g(sulf)(ur)(-1) at a rate of C/2. Cycling performance measured at C/2 indicates similar to 90% capacity retention over 250 cycles. In comparison to other carbon hosts, this architecture not only provides sufficient space for a high sulfur loading induced by the high-pore-volume particle core, but also enables a dual effect of physical and chemical confinement of the polysulfides to stabilize the cycle life by adsorbing the soluble intermediates in the polar microporous shell. This work elucidates a design principle for carbonaceous hosts that is capable to provide simultaneous physical-chemical confinement. This is necessary to overcome the shuttle effect towards stable lithium-sulfur battery cathodes, in the absence of additional membranes or inactive metal-based anchoring materials. KW - lithium-sulfur battery KW - sulfur KW - porous carbon KW - cathode KW - polysulfides Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2020.01.046 SN - 0008-6223 SN - 1873-3891 VL - 161 SP - 162 EP - 168 PB - Elsevier Science CY - Amsterdam [u.a.] ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zhang, Pengfei A1 - Behl, Marc A1 - Balk, Maria A1 - Peng, Xingzhou A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Shape-programmable architectured hydrogels sensitive to ultrasound JF - Macromolecular rapid communications N2 - On-demand motion of highly swollen polymer systems can be triggered by changes in pH, ion concentrations, or by heat. Here, shape-programmable, architectured hydrogels are introduced, which respond to ultrasonic-cavitation-based mechanical forces (CMF) by directed macroscopic movements. The concept is the implementation and sequential coupling of multiple functions (swellability in water, sensitivity to ultrasound, shape programmability, and shape-memory) in a semi-interpenetrating polymer network (s-IPN). The semi-IPN-based hydrogels are designed to function through rhodium coordination (Rh-s-IPNH). These coordination bonds act as temporary crosslinks. The porous hydrogels with coordination bonds (degree of swelling from 300 +/- 10 to 680 +/- 60) exhibit tensile strength sigma(max) up to 250 +/- 60 kPa. Shape fixity ratios up to 90% and shape recovery ratios up to 94% are reached. Potential applications are switches or mechanosensors. KW - cavitation-based mechanical force KW - rhodium-phosphine coordination bonds KW - semi-IPN hydrogels KW - shape-memory effect Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/marc.201900658 SN - 1022-1336 SN - 1521-3927 VL - 41 IS - 7 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Akarsu, Pinar A1 - Grobe, Richard A1 - Nowaczyk, Julius A1 - Hartlieb, Matthias A1 - Reinicke, Stefan A1 - Böker, Alexander A1 - Sperling, Marcel A1 - Reifarth, Martin T1 - Solid-phase microcontact printing for precise patterning of rough surfaces BT - using polymer-tethered elastomeric stamps for the transfer of reactive silanes JF - ACS applied polymer materials N2 - We present a microcontact printing (mu CP) routine suitable to introduce defined (sub-) microscale patterns on surface substrates exhibiting a high capillary activity and receptive to a silane-based chemistry. This is achieved by transferring functional trivalent alkoxysilanes, such as (3-aminopropyl)-triethoxysilane (APTES) as a low-molecular weight ink via reversible covalent attachment to polymer brushes grafted from elastomeric polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stamps. The brushes consist of poly{N-[tris(hydroxymethyl)-methyl]acrylamide} (PTrisAAm) synthesized by reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT)-polymerization and used for immobilization of the alkoxysilane-based ink by substituting the alkoxy moieties with polymer-bound hydroxyl groups. Upon physical contact of the silane-carrying polymers with surfaces, the conjugated silane transfers to the substrate, thus completely suppressing ink-flow and, in turn, maximizing printing accuracy even for otherwise not addressable substrate topographies. We provide a concisely conducted investigation on polymer brush formation using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and ellipsometry as well as ink immobilization utilizing two-dimensional proton nuclear Overhauser enhancement spectroscopy (H-1-H-1-NOESY-NMR). We analyze the mu CP process by printing onto Si-wafers and show how even distinctively rough surfaces can be addressed, which otherwise represent particularly challenging substrates. KW - microcontact printing KW - capillary-active substrates KW - silane chemistry KW - PDMS surface grafting KW - surface patterning KW - shuttled RAFT-polymerization Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsapm.1c00024 SN - 2637-6105 VL - 3 IS - 5 SP - 2420 EP - 2431 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mazarei, Elham A1 - Barker, John R. T1 - CH2 + O-2 BT - reaction mechanism, biradical and zwitterionic character, and formation of CH2OO, the simplest Criegee intermediate JF - Physical chemistry, chemical physics : PCCP ; a journal of European Chemical Societies N2 - The singlet and triplet potential surfaces for the title reaction were investigated using the CBS-QB3 level of theory. The wave functions for some species exhibited multireference character and required the CASPT2/6-31+G(d,p) and CASPT2/aug-cc-pVTZ levels of theory to obtain accurate relative energies. A Natural Bond Orbital Analysis showed that triplet (CH2OO)-C-3 (the simplest Criegee intermediate) and (CH2O2)-C-3 (dioxirane) have mostly polar biradical character, while singlet (CH2OO)-C-1 has some zwitterionic character and a planar structure. Canonical variational transition state theory (CVTST) and master equation simulations were used to analyze the reaction system. CVTST predicts that the rate constant for reaction of (CH2)-C-1 + O-3(2) is more than ten times as fast as the reaction of (CH2)-C-3 ((XB1)-B-3) + O-3(2) and the ratio remains almost independent of temperature from 900 K to 3000 K. The master equation simulations predict that at low pressures the (CH2O)-C-1 + O-3 product set is dominant at all temperatures and the primary yield of OH radicals is negligible below 600 K, due to competition with other primary reactions in this complex system. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/d1cp04372b SN - 1463-9076 SN - 1463-9084 VL - 24 IS - 2 SP - 914 EP - 927 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Riemer, Nastja A1 - Riemer, Martin A1 - Krüger, Mandy A1 - Clarkson, Guy J. A1 - Shipman, Michael A1 - Schmidt, Bernd T1 - Synthesis of arylidene-beta-lactams via exo-selective Matsuda-Heck arylation of methylene-beta-lactams JF - The journal of organic chemistry : JOC N2 - exo-Methylene-beta-lactams were synthesized in two steps from commercially available 3-bromo-2-(bromomethyl)-propionic acid and reacted with arene diazonium salts in a Heck-type arylation in the presence of catalytic amounts of Pd(OAc)(2) under ligand-free conditions. The products, arylidene-beta-lactams, were obtained in high yields as single isomers. The beta-hydride elimination step of the Pd-catalyzed coupling reaction proceeds with high exo-regioselectivity and E-stereoselectivity. With aryl iodides, triflates, or bromides, the coupling products were isolated only in low yields, due to extensive decomposition of the starting material at elevated temperatures. This underlines that arene diazonium salts can be superior arylating reagents in Heck-type reactions and yield coupling products in synthetically useful yields and selectivities when conventional conditions fail. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.joc.1c00638 SN - 0022-3263 SN - 1520-6904 VL - 86 IS - 13 SP - 8786 EP - 8796 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Balischewski, Christian A1 - Choi, Hyung-Seok A1 - Behrens, Karsten A1 - Beqiraj, Alkit A1 - Körzdörfer, Thomas A1 - Gessner, Andre A1 - Wedel, Armin A1 - Taubert, Andreas T1 - Metal sulfide nanoparticle synthesis with ionic liquids state of the art and future perspectives JF - ChemistryOpen N2 - Metal sulfides are among the most promising materials for a wide variety of technologically relevant applications ranging from energy to environment and beyond. Incidentally, ionic liquids (ILs) have been among the top research subjects for the same applications and also for inorganic materials synthesis. As a result, the exploitation of the peculiar properties of ILs for metal sulfide synthesis could provide attractive new avenues for the generation of new, highly specific metal sulfides for numerous applications. This article therefore describes current developments in metal sulfide nano-particle synthesis as exemplified by a number of highlight examples. Moreover, the article demonstrates how ILs have been used in metal sulfide synthesis and discusses the benefits of using ILs over more traditional approaches. Finally, the article demonstrates some technological challenges and how ILs could be used to further advance the production and specific property engineering of metal sulfide nanomaterials, again based on a number of selected examples. KW - Ionic liquids KW - ionic liquid crystals KW - ionic liquid precursors KW - metal KW - sulfides KW - catalysis KW - electrochemistry KW - energy materials KW - LED KW - solar KW - cells Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/open.202000357 SN - 2191-1363 VL - 10 IS - 2 SP - 272 EP - 295 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Quan, Ting A1 - Haerk, Eneli A1 - Xu, Yaolin A1 - Ahmet, Ibbi A1 - Höhn, Christian A1 - Mei, Shilin A1 - Lu, Yan T1 - Unveiling the formation of solid electrolyte interphase and its temperature dependence in "Water-in-Salt" supercapacitors JF - ACS applied materials & interfaces N2 - "Water-in-salt" (WIS) electrolytes have emerged as an excellent superconcentrated ionic medium for high-power energy storage systems such as supercapacitors due to their extended working potential compared to the conventional dilute aqueous electrolyte. In this work, we have investigated the performance of WIS supercapacitors using hollow carbon nanoplates as electrodes and compared it to that based on the conventional "salt-in-water" electrolytes. Moreover, the potentiostatic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy has been employed to provide an insightful look into the charge transport properties, which also, for the first time, reveals the formation of a solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI and their temperature-dependent impedance for charge transfer and adsorption. Furthermore, the effect of temperature on the electrochemical performance of the WIS supercapacitors in the temperature range from 15 to 60 degrees C has been studied, which presents a gravimetric capacitance of 128 F g(-1) and a volumetric capacitance of 197.12 F cm(-3) at 55 degrees C compared to 87.5 F g(-1) and 134.75 F cm(-3) at 15 degrees C. The in-depth understanding about the formation of SEI layer and the electrochemical performance at different temperatures for WIS supercapacitors will assist the efforts toward designing better aqueous electrolytes for supercapacitors. KW - "water-in-salt" KW - supercapacitor KW - solid electrolyte interphase KW - electrochemical impedance spectroscopy KW - temperature effect Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c19506 SN - 1944-8244 SN - 1944-8252 VL - 13 IS - 3 SP - 3979 EP - 3990 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Ramadan, Shahenda A1 - Guerrero, Paula A1 - Nedielkov, Ruslan A1 - Klishin, Nikolai A1 - Dimova, Rumiana A1 - Silva, Daniel V. A1 - Möller, Heiko T1 - Building a mimetic system for unraveling protein-protein interactions on membranes T2 - European biophysics journal : with biophysics letters ; an international journal of biophysics Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00249-021-01558-w SN - 0175-7571 SN - 1432-1017 VL - 50 IS - SUPPL 1 SP - S153 EP - S153 PB - Springer CY - Berlin ; Heidelberg ; New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Behl, Marc A1 - Balk, Maria A1 - Lützow, Karola A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Impact of block sequence on the phase morphology of multiblock copolymers obtained by high-throughput robotic synthesis JF - European polymer journal : EPJ N2 - The chemical nature, the number length of integrated building blocks, as well as their sequence structure impact the phase morphology of multiblock copolymers (MBC) consisting of two non-miscible block types. We hypothesized that a strictly alternating sequence should favour phase segregation and in this way the elastic properties. A library of well-defined MBCs composed of two different hydrophobic, semi-crystalline blocks providing domains with well-separated melting temperatures (T(m)s) were synthesized from the same type of precursor building blocks as strictly alternating (MBCsalt) or random (MBCsran) MBCs and compared. Three different series of MBCsalt or MBCsran were synthesized by high-throughput synthesis by coupling oligo(e-caprolactone) (OCL) of different molecular weights (2, 4, and 8 kDa) with oligotetrahydrofuran (OTHF, 2.9 kDa) via Steglich esterification in which the molar ratio of the reaction partners was slightly adjusted. Maximum of weight average molecular weight (M-w) were 65,000 g center dot mol(-1), 165,000 g center dot mol(-1), and 168,000 g center dot mol(-1) for MBCsalt and 80,500 g center dot mol(-1), 100,000 g center dot mol(-1), and 147,600 g center dot mol(-1) for MBCsran. When Mw increased, a decrease of both Tms associated to the melting of the OCL and OTHF domains was observed for all MBCs. T-m (OTHF) of MBCsran was always higher than Tm (OTHF) of MBCsalt, which was attributed to a better phase segregation. In addition, the elongation at break of MBCsalt was almost half as high when compared to MBCsran. In this way this study elucidates role of the block length and sequence structure in MBCs and enables a quantitative discussion of the structure-function relationship when two semi-crystalline block segments are utilized for the design of block copolymers. KW - Multiblock copolymers KW - Sequence structure KW - Phase morphology KW - Polymer KW - library KW - Robotic synthesis KW - High-throughput Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2020.110207 SN - 0014-3057 SN - 1873-1945 VL - 143 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schlappa, Stephanie A1 - Brenker, Lee Josephine A1 - Bressel, Lena A1 - Hass, Roland A1 - Münzberg, Marvin T1 - Process characterization of polyvinyl acetate emulsions applying inline photon density wave spectroscopy at high solid contents JF - Polymers / Molecular Diversity Preservation International N2 - The high solids semicontinuous emulsion polymerization of polyvinyl acetate using poly (vinyl alcohol-co-vinyl acetate) as protective colloid is investigated by optical spectroscopy. The suitability of Photon Density Wave (PDW) spectroscopy as inline Process Analytical Technology (PAT) for emulsion polymerization processes at high solid contents (>40% (w/w)) is studied and evaluated. Inline data on absorption and scattering in the dispersion is obtained in real-time. The radical polymerization of vinyl acetate to polyvinyl acetate using ascorbic acid and sodium persulfate as redox initiator system and poly (vinyl alcohol-co-vinyl acetate) as protective colloid is investigated. Starved-feed radical emulsion polymerization yielded particle sizes in the nanometer size regime. PDW spectroscopy is used to monitor the progress of polymerization by studying the absorption and scattering properties during the synthesis of dispersions with increasing monomer amount and correspondingly decreasing feed rate of protective colloid. Results are compared to particle sizes determined with offline dynamic light scattering (DLS) and static light scattering (SLS) during the synthesis. KW - photon density wave spectroscopy KW - multiple light scattering KW - emulsion KW - polymerization KW - process analytical technology KW - polyvinyl acetate Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13040669 SN - 2073-4360 VL - 13 IS - 4 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Koc, Julian A1 - Schardt, Lisa A1 - Nolte, Kim A1 - Beyer, Cindy A1 - Eckhard, Till A1 - Schwiderowski, Philipp A1 - Clarke, Jessica L. A1 - Finlay, John A. A1 - Clare, Anthony S. A1 - Muhler, Martin A1 - Laschewsky, André A1 - Rosenhahn, Axel T1 - Effect of dipole orientation in mixed, charge-equilibrated self-assembled monolayers on protein adsorption and marine biofouling JF - ACS applied materials & interfaces N2 - While zwitterionic interfaces are known for their excellent low-fouling properties, the underlying molecular principles are still under debate. In particular, the role of the zwitterion orientation at the interface has been discussed recently. For elucidation of the effect of this parameter, self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on gold were prepared from stoichiometric mixtures of oppositely charged alkyl thiols bearing either a quaternary ammonium or a carboxylate moiety. The alkyl chain length of the cationic component (11-mercaptoundecyl)-N,N,N-trimethylammonium, which controls the distance of the positively charged end group from the substrate's surface, was kept constant. In contrast, the anionic component and, correspondingly, the distance of the negatively charged carboxylate groups from the surface was varied by changing the alkyl chain length in the thiol molecules from 7 (8-mercaptooctanoic acid) to 11 (12-mercaptododecanoic acid) to 15 (16-mercaptohexadecanoic acid). In this way, the charge neutrality of the coating was maintained, but the charged groups exposed at the interface to water were varied, and thus, the orientation of the dipoles in the SAMs was altered. In model biofouling studies, protein adsorption, diatom accumulation, and the settlement of zoospores were all affected by the altered charge distribution. This demonstrates the importance of the dipole orientation in mixed-charged SAMs for their inertness to nonspecific protein adsorption and the accumulation of marine organisms. Overall, biofouling was lowest when both the anionic and the cationic groups were placed at the same distance from the substrate's surface. KW - SAM KW - antifouling coatings KW - zwitterionic KW - XPS KW - Navicula perminuta KW - Ulva linza KW - SPR Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c11580 SN - 1944-8244 SN - 1944-8252 VL - 12 IS - 45 SP - 50953 EP - 50961 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Machatschek, Rainhard Gabriel A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Fundamental insights in PLGA degradation from thin film studies JF - Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society and of the Japanese Society of Drug Delivery Systems N2 - Poly(lactide-co-glycolide)s are commercially available degradable implant materials, which are typically selected based on specifications given by the manufacturer, one of which is their molecular weight. Here, we address the question whether variations in the chain length and their distribution affect the degradation behavior of Poly[(rac-lactide)-co-glycolide]s (PDLLGA). The hydrolysis was studied in ultrathin films at the air-water interface in order to rule out any morphological effects. We found that both for purely hydrolytic degradation as well as under enzymatic catalysis, the molecular weight has very little effect on the overall degradation kinetics of PDLLGAs. The quantitative analysis suggested a random scission mechanism. The monolayer experiments showed that an acidic micro-pH does not accelerate the degradation of PDLLGAs, in contrast to alkaline conditions. The degradation experiments were combined with interfacial rheology measurements, which showed a drastic decrease of the viscosity at little mass loss. The extrapolated molecular weight behaved similar to the viscosity, dropping to a value near to the solubility limit of PDLLGA oligomers before mass loss set in. This observation suggests a solubility controlled degradation of PDLLGA. Conclusively, the molecular weight affects the degradation of PDLLGA devices mostly in indirect ways, e.g. by determining their morphology and porosity during fabrication. Our study demonstrates the relevance of the presented Langmuir degradation method for the design of controlled release systems. KW - PDLLGA KW - Degradation KW - Langmuir monolayer Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconrel.2019.12.044 SN - 0168-3659 SN - 1873-4995 VL - 319 SP - 276 EP - 284 PB - Elsevier CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schürmann, Robin A1 - Titov, Evgenii A1 - Ebel, Kenny A1 - Kogikoski Junior, Sergio A1 - Mostafa, Amr A1 - Saalfrank, Peter A1 - Milosavljević, Aleksandar R. A1 - Bald, Ilko T1 - The electronic structure of the metal-organic interface of isolated ligand coated gold nanoparticles JF - Nanoscale Advances N2 - Light induced electron transfer reactions of molecules on the surface of noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) depend significantly on the electronic properties of the metal-organic interface. Hybridized metal-molecule states and dipoles at the interface alter the work function and facilitate or hinder electron transfer between the NPs and ligand. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements of isolated AuNPs coated with thiolated ligands in a vacuum have been performed as a function of photon energy, and the depth dependent information of the metal-organic interface has been obtained. The role of surface dipoles in the XPS measurements of isolated ligand coated NPs is discussed and the binding energy of the Au 4f states is shifted by around 0.8 eV in the outer atomic layers of 4-nitrothiophenol coated AuNPs, facilitating electron transport towards the molecules. Moreover, the influence of the interface dipole depends significantly on the adsorbed ligand molecules. The present study paves the way towards the engineering of the electronic properties of the nanoparticle surface, which is of utmost importance for the application of plasmonic nanoparticles in the fields of heterogeneous catalysis and solar energy conversion. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/d1na00737h SN - 2516-0230 VL - 4 IS - 6 SP - 1599 EP - 1607 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Harmanli, İpek A1 - Tarakina, Nadezda A1 - Antonietti, Markus A1 - Oschatz, Martin T1 - "Giant" nitrogen uptake in ionic liquids confined in carbon pores JF - Journal of the American Chemical Society N2 - Ionic liquids are well known for their high gas absorption capacity. It is shown that this is not a solvent constant, but can be enhanced by another factor of 10 by pore confinement, here of the ionic liquid (IL) 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate (EmimOAc) in the pores of carbon materials. A matrix of four different carbon compounds with micro- and mesopores as well as with and without nitrogen doping is utilized to investigate the influence of the carbons structure on the nitrogen uptake in the pore-confined EmimOAc. In general, the absorption is most improved for IL in micropores and in nitrogen-doped carbon. This effect is so large that it is already seen in TGA and DSC experiments. Due to the low vapor pressure of the IL, standard volumetric sorption experiments can be used to quantify details of this effect. It is reasoned that it is the change of the molecular arrangement of the ions in the restricted space of the pores that creates additional free volume to host molecular nitrogen. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c00783 SN - 0002-7863 SN - 1520-5126 VL - 143 IS - 25 SP - 9377 EP - 9384 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER -