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Spatio-temporal control of cellular uptake achieved by photoswitchable cell-penetrating peptides
(2015)
The selective uptake of compounds into specific cells of interest is a major objective in cell biology and drug delivery. By incorporation of a novel, thermostable azobenzene moiety we generated peptides that can be switched optically between an inactive state and an active, cell-penetrating state with excellent spatio-temporal control.
In this work we present a CMOS high frequency direct immunosensor operating at 6 GHz (C-band) for label free determination of creatinine. The sensor is fabricated in standard 0.13 μm SiGe:C BiCMOS process. The report also demonstrates the ability to immobilize creatinine molecules on a Si3N4 passivation layer of the standard BiCMOS/CMOS process, therefore, evading any further need of cumbersome post processing of the fabricated sensor chip. The sensor is based on capacitive detection of the amount of non-creatinine bound antibodies binding to an immobilized creatinine layer on the passivated sensor. The chip bound antibody amount in turn corresponds indirectly to the creatinine concentration used in the incubation phase. The determination of creatinine in the concentration range of 0.88–880 μM is successfully demonstrated in this work. A sensitivity of 35 MHz/10 fold increase in creatinine concentration (during incubation) at the centre frequency of 6 GHz is gained by the immunosensor. The results are compared with a standard optical measurement technique and the dynamic range and sensitivity is of the order of the established optical indication technique. The C-band immunosensor chip comprising an area of 0.3 mm2 reduces the sensing area considerably, therefore, requiring a sample volume as low as 2 μl. The small analyte sample volume and label free approach also reduce the experimental costs in addition to the low fabrication costs offered by the batch fabrication technique of CMOS/BiCMOS process.
Double cyclization of short linear peptides obtained by solid phase peptide synthesis was used to prepare bridged bicyclic peptides (BBPs) corresponding to the topology of bridged bicyclic alkanes such as norbornane. Diastereomeric norbornapeptides were investigated by 1H-NMR, X-ray crystallography and CD spectroscopy and found to represent rigid globular scaffolds stabilized by intramolecular backbone hydrogen bonds with scaffold geometries determined by the chirality of amino acid residues and sharing structural features of β-turns and α-helices. Proteome profiling by capture compound mass spectrometry (CCMS) led to the discovery of the norbornapeptide 27c binding selectively to calmodulin as an example of a BBP protein binder. This and other BBPs showed high stability towards proteolytic degradation in serum.
Arsenic-containing fatty acids are a group of fat-soluble arsenic species (arsenolipids) which are present in marine fish and other seafood. Recently, it has been shown that arsenic-containing hydrocarbons, another group of arsenolipids, exert toxicity in similar concentrations comparable to arsenite although the toxic modes of action differ. Hence, a risk assessment of arsenolipids is urgently needed. In this study the cellular toxicity of a saturated (AsFA 362) and an unsaturated (AsFA 388) arsenic-containing fatty acid and three of their proposed metabolites (DMAV, DMAPr and thio-DMAPr) were investigated in human liver cells (HepG2). Even though both arsenic-containing fatty acids were less toxic as compared to arsenic-containing hydrocarbons and arsenite, significant effects were observable at μM concentrations. DMAV causes effects in a similar concentration range and it could be seen that it is metabolised to its highly toxic thio analogue thio-DMAV in HepG2 cells. Nevertheless, DMAPr and thio-DMAPr did not exert any cytotoxicity. In summary, our data indicate that risks to human health related to the presence of arsenic-containing fatty acids in marine food cannot be excluded. This stresses the need for a full in vitro and in vivo toxicological characterisation of these arsenolipids.
Fluid force microscopy combines the positional accuracy and force sensitivity of an atomic
force microscope (AFM) with nanofluidics via a microchanneled cantilever. However, adequate loading and cleaning procedures for such AFM micropipettes are required for various application situations. Here, a new frontloading procedure is described for an AFM micropipette functioning as a force- and pressure-controlled microscale liquid dispenser. This frontloading
procedure seems especially attractive when using target substances featuring high
costs or low available amounts. Here, the AFM micropipette could be filled from the tip side with liquid from a previously applied droplet with a volume of only a few μL using a short low-pressure pulse. The liquid-loaded AFM micropipettes could be then applied for experiments in air or liquid environments. AFM micropipette frontloading was evaluated with the well-known organic fluorescent dye rhodamine 6G and the AlexaFluor647-labeled antibody goat anti-rat IgG as an example of a larger biological compound. After micropipette usage, specific cleaning procedures were tested. Furthermore, a storage method is described, at which the AFM micropipettes could be stored for a few hours up to several days without drying out or clogging of the microchannel. In summary, the rapid, versatile and cost-efficient
frontloading and cleaning procedure for the repeated usage of a single AFM micropipette is beneficial for various application situations from specific surface modifications through to local manipulation of living cells, and provides a simplified and faster handling for already known experiments with fluid force microscopy.
The simulation of the optical properties of supramolecular aggregates requires the development of methods, which are able to treat a large number of coupled chromophores interacting with the environment. Since it is currently not possible to treat large systems by quantum chemistry, the Frenkel exciton model is a valuable alternative. In this work we show how the Frenkel exciton model can be extended in order to explain the excitonic spectra of a specific double-walled tubular dye aggregate explicitly taking into account dispersive energy shifts of ground and excited states due to van der Waals interaction with all surrounding molecules. The experimentally observed splitting is well explained by the site-dependent energy shift of molecules placed at the inner or outer side of the double-walled tube, respectively. Therefore we can conclude that inclusion of the site-dependent dispersive effect in the theoretical description of optical properties of nanoscaled dye aggregates is mandatory.
cis-Diamminedichloroplatinum(II) (Cisplatin) is one of the most important and frequently used cytostatic drugs for the treatment of various solid tumors. Herein, a laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) method incorporating a fast and simple sample preparation protocol was developed for the elemental mapping of Cisplatin in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). The method allows imaging of the spatially-resolved elemental distribution of platinum in the whole organism with respect to the anatomic structure in L4 stage worms at a lateral resolution of 5 μm. In addition, a dose- and time-dependent Cisplatin uptake was corroborated quantitatively by a total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (TXRF) method, and the elemental mapping indicated that Cisplatin is located in the intestine and in the head of the worms. Better understanding of the distribution of Cisplatin in this well-established model organism will be instrumental in deciphering Cisplatin toxicity and pharmacokinetics. Since the cytostatic effect of Cisplatin is based on binding the DNA by forming intra- and interstrand crosslinks, the response of poly(ADP-ribose)metabolism enzyme 1 (pme-1) deletion mutants to Cisplatin was also examined. Loss of pme-1, which is the C. elegans ortholog of human poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP-1) led to disturbed DNA damage response. With respect to survival and brood size, pme-1 deletion mutants were more sensitive to Cisplatin as compared to wildtype worms, while Cisplatin uptake was indistinguishable.
Complementary to the well-established zwitterionic monomer 3-((3-methacrylamidopropyl)dimethylammonio) propane-1-sulfonate (SPP), the closely related monomers 2-hydroxy-3-((3-methacrylamidopropyl) dimethylammonio)propane-1-sulfonate (SHPP) and 4-((3-methacrylamidopropyl)dimethylammonio)-butane-1-sulfonate (SBP) were synthesised and polymerised by reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerisation, using a fluorophore labeled RAFT agent. The polyzwitterions of systematically varied molar masses were characterised with respect to their solubility in water and aqueous salt solutions. Both poly(sulfobetaine)s show thermoresponsive behaviour in water, exhibiting phase separation at low temperatures and upper critical solution temperatures (UCST). For both polySHPP and polySBP, cloud points depend notably on the molar mass, and are much higher in D2O than in H2O. Also, the cloud points are effectively modulated by the addition of salts. The individual effects can be in parts correlated to the Hofmeister series for the anions studied. Still, they depend in a complex way on the concentration and the nature of the added electrolytes, on the one hand, and on the detailed nature of the spacer group separating the anionic and the cationic charges of the betaine moiety, on the other hand. As anticipated, the cloud points of polySBP are much higher than the ones of the analogous polySPP of identical molar mass. Surprisingly, the cloud points of polySHPP are also somewhat higher than the ones of their polySPP analogues, despite the additional hydrophilic hydroxyl group present in the spacer separating the ammonium and the sulfonate moieties. These findings point to a complicated interplay of the various hydrophilic components in polyzwitterions with respect to their overall hydrophilicity. Thus, the spacer group in the betaine moiety proves to be an effective additional molecular design parameter, apparently small variations of which strongly influence the phase behaviour of the polyzwitterions in specific aqueous environments.
Upconversion NaYF4:Yb:Er nanoparticles co-doped with Gd3+ and Nd3+ for thermometry on the nanoscale
(2015)
In the present work, the upconversion luminescence properties of oleic acid capped NaYF4:Gd3+:Yb3+:Er3+ upconversion nanoparticles (UCNP) with pure β crystal phase and Nd3+ ions as an additional sensitizer were studied in the temperature range of 288 K < T < 328 K. The results of this study showed that the complex interplay of different mechanisms and effects, causing the special temperature behavior of the UCNP can be developed into thermometry on the nanoscale, e.g. to be applied in biological systems on a cellular level. The performance was improved by the use of Nd3+ as an additional dopant utilizing the cascade sensitization mechanism in tri-doped UCNP.
Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit der ganzheitlichen Betrachtung der Fluideigenschaften eines unterpermischen Reservoirs am Geothermie Forschungsstandort Groß Schönebeck (GrSk) bei Reservoirbedingungen und im Betrieb der Geothermieanlage. Die Untersuchungen zur Fluidherkunft ergeben, dass es sich um ein konnates Wasser meteorischen Ursprungs ohne den Einfluss der darüberliegenden Zechsteinwässer handelt. Die Ionen und Isotopenverhältnisse im Formationswasser gelöster Komponenten in GrSk belegen einen gemeinsamen Genesepfad mit Wässern anderer Rotliegend-Reservoire des Nordostdeutschen Beckens (NEGB). Die Isotopenverhältnisse von ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ≈ 0,7158 und von δ³⁴SV CDT ≈ 4,1 ‰ des Sulfats weisen auf die Anreicherung des Fluids mit schweren Isotopen durch die Fluid Gestein-Wechselwirkung mit Vulkaniten und Rotliegend Sandsteinen des Unteren Perms hin.
Das im Formationswasser bei Reservoirbedingungen gelöste Gas (Gas/Wasser ≤ 2 bei STP) enthält Stickstoff (δ¹⁵NAir ≈ 0,6 ‰) und thermogenes Methan (δ¹³CV-PDB ≈ - 18 ‰) aus organischen Karbonablagerungen (Kerogen Typ - III Kohlen) hoher Reife. Die Isotopenverhältnisse der Edelgase belegen eine krustale Herkunft des Gasgemisches. Die berechnete Verweilzeit τ (⁴He) der Gase im Reservoir liegt zwischen 275 und 317 Ma und überschreitet damit bei gegebener Konzentration von Mutternukliden im Reservoirgestein das allgemein angenommene Zeitalter der Sedimentgruppe. Das lässt sich durch eine Zuwanderung von Gasen aus älteren Sedimentfolgen erklären.
Die Veränderungen der physikochemischen Fluidparameter während des Anlagenbetriebs sind hauptsächlich temperaturbedingt. Bei stabilen Produktionsbedingungen und einer Temperatur von ca. 100 °C stabilisieren sich auch die Fluideigenschaften. Bei In situ Bedingungen übertage beträgt die Dichte ρ = 1,1325 ± 0,0002 g ∙ mL⁻¹, das Redoxpotential Eh = -105,5 ± 1,3 mV und der pH = 6,61 ± 0,002. Die relative Zusammensetzung der Gasphase bei stabilen Produktionsbedingungen zeigt dagegen eine geringe Erhöhung des Stickstoffanteils sowie des Anteils der Kohlenwasserstoffe (Ethan, Propan, usw.) und Abnahme des relativen Methananteils im Laufe des Betriebs.
Die quantitative Untersuchung der sekundären mineralischen Ausfällungen im Fluid mittels sequentieller Extraktion zeigte, dass Schwermetalle als eine Hauptkomponente der Fluidfestphase größtenteils in Verbindung mit organischen Molekülen vorliegen. Experimente zum Einfluss organischer Verbindungen unterschiedlicher Substanzklassen auf eine Mobilisierung der Schwermetalle aus dem Reservoirgestein ergaben, dass die Verbindungen wie Fettsäuren und PAK (polyzyklische aromatische Kohlenwasserstoffe) die Freisetzung von Kupfer, Nickel, Chrom und Blei verhindern bzw. zu derer Immobilisierung beitragen. Im Gegensatz dazu wird die Mobilität von Zink in Anwesenheit von diesen Verbindungen erhöht. Niedermolekulare Monocarbonsäuren und stickstoffhaltige Heteroaromaten tragen, mit Ausnahme von Blei, zur Freisetzung bzw. Mobilisierung von Schwermetallen aus dem Reservoirgestein bei.
Die gewonnenen Erkenntnisse dieser Arbeit bestätigen das Risiko massiver Ausfällungen auf der kalten Seite der Geothermieanlage bei Inbetriebnahme des Kraftwerks, wenn keine an den Fluidchemismus angepassten Präventionsmethoden eingesetzt werden. Die Isotopenzusammensetzung der Fluidkomponenten sowie geringfügige Schwankungen der Gaszusammensetzung im kontinuierlichen Anlagenbetrieb lässt eine Kommunikation des unterpermischen Reservoirs mit dem darunter liegenden Oberkarbon vermuten, was eine nachträgliche Veränderung der Fluidzusammensetzung beim Dauerbetrieb der Anlage bedeuten kann.
The size and morphology control of precipitated solid particles is a major economic issue for numerous industries. For instance, it is interesting for the nuclear industry, concerning the recovery of radioactive species from used nuclear fuel.
The precipitates features, which are a key parameter from the post-precipitate processing, depend on the process local mixing conditions. So far, the relationship between precipitation features and hydrodynamic conditions have not been investigated.
In this study, a new experimental configuration consisting of coalescing drops is set to investigate the link between reactive crystallization and hydrodynamics. Two configurations of aqueous drops are examined. The first one corresponds to high contact angle drops (>90°) in oil, as a model system for flowing drops, the second one correspond to sessile drops in air with low contact angle (<25°). In both cases, one reactive is dissolved in each drop, namely oxalic acid and cerium nitrate. When both drops get into contact, they may coalesce; the dissolved species mix and react to produce insoluble cerium oxalate. The precipitates features and effect on hydrodynamics are investigated depending on the solvent. In the case of sessile drops in air, the surface tension difference between the drops generates a gradient which induces a Marangoni flow from the low surface tension drop over the high surface tension drop. By setting the surface tension difference between the two drops and thus the Marangoni flow, the hydrodynamics conditions during the drop coalescence could be modified. Diols/water mixtures are used as solvent, in order to fix the surface tension difference between the liquids of both drops regardless from the reactant concentration. More precisely, the used diols, 1,2-propanediol and 1,3-propanediol, are isomer with identical density and close viscosity. By keeping the water volume fraction constant and playing with the 1,2-propanediol and 1,3-propanediol volume fractions of the solvents, the mixtures surface tensions differ up to 10 mN/m for identical/constant reactant concentration, density and viscosity. 3 precipitation behaviors were identified for the coalescence of water/diols/recatants drops depending on the oxalic excess. The corresponding precipitates patterns are visualized by optical microscopy and the precipitates are characterized by confocal microscopy SEM, XRD and SAXS measurements. In the intermediate oxalic excess regime, formation of periodic patterns can be observed. These patterns consist in alternating cerium oxalate precipitates with distinct morphologies, namely needles and “microflowers”. Such periodic fringes can be explained by a feedback mechanism between convection, reaction and the diffusion.
Ziel dieser Arbeit war die Synthese und Charakterisierung von neuartigen fluoreszierenden Copolymeren zur Analytdetektion in wässrigen Systemen. Das Detektionssystem sollte ein einfaches Schalten der Fluoreszenz bei Analytbindung „Aus“ bzw. Verdrängung „An“ ermöglichen. Dafür wurde die Synthese eines funktionalisierten Monomers so geplant, dass sich Fluorophor und Analyt innerhalb derselben Monomereinheit in direkter Nachbarschaft zueinander befinden. So sollten bei Erkennung des Analyten durch eine mit einem Fluoreszenzlöscher funktionalisierte Erkennungsstruktur Fluorophor und Löscher in einen vorgegebenen Abstand zueinander gezwungen und die Fluoreszenz des Fluorophors effizient gelöscht werden. Bei anschließender Verdrängung der Erkennungseinheit durch einen stärker bindenden Analyten sollte die Fluoreszenz wieder „angeschaltet“ werden. Eine weitere Zielstellung für das Detektionssystem war eine hohe Löslichkeit und Fluoreszenzintensität in Wasser. Da die Anwendung solcher Sensoren besonders in der Medizin und Biologie, z.B. für Schnellerkennungstest von Pathogenen, von Interesse ist, ist die Kompatibilität mit wässrigen Medien essentiell. Die funktionalisierten Monomere wurden frei radikalisch mit N Vinyl-pyrrolidon bzw. N Vinyl¬caprolactam zu wasserlöslichen, fluoreszierenden Copolymeren umgesetzt. In den N-Vinyl¬pyrrolidon-Polymeren (PNVP) wurde RhodaminB, in den thermoresponsiven N Vinyl¬caprolactam-Polymeren (PNVCL) ein Naphthalsäureimid als Fluorophor verwendet. Während Rhodamine eine hohe Fluoreszenzintensität, gute Quantenausbeuten und hohen Extinktionskoeffizienten in Wasser zeigen, sind Naphthalsäure¬imide umgebungssensitive Chromophore, die bei Änderung ihrer Lösungsmittelumgebung, wie z.B. beim Kollaps eines thermoresponsiven Polymers in Wasser, ihre Fluoreszenzintensität und Quantenausbeute drastisch ändern können. Der Vorteil der hier verwendeten Strategie der Monomersynthese liegt darin, dass bei jeder spezifischen Analytdetektion durch eine Erkennungseinheit die Fluoreszenz effizient gelöscht bzw. bei Verdrängung durch einen stärker bindenden Analyten wieder „angeschaltet“ wird. Dieses Prinzip wird bereits vielfach in der Biologie in sogenannten „Molecular Beacons“ ausgenutzt, wobei ein Fluorophor und ein Löscher durch spezifische DNA Basenpaarung in einen vorgegebenen Abstand zueinander gezwungen werden und so ein „Schalten“ der Fluoreszenz ermöglichen. Aufgrund der vorgegebenen Struktur der DNA Basensequenzen ist es jedoch nicht direkt auf andere Erkennungsreaktionen übertragbar. Daher wurde ein Modellsystem entwickelt, welches die Möglichkeit bietet Analyt, Erkennungseinheit und Signalgeber variabel, je nach Anforderungen des Systems, auszutauschen. So soll es möglich sein, den Sensor a priori für jede Erkennungs¬reaktion zu verwenden. Als Modell Bindungs¬paare wurden ß Cyclodextrin/Adamantan und Con¬cana¬valinA/Mannose ausgewählt. Adamantan bzw. Mannose wurde als Analyt zusammen mit dem Fluorophor in das Polymer eingebunden. ß Cyclo¬dextrin (ß CD) bzw. ConcanavalinA (ConA) wurde als Erkennungsstruktur an einem Fluoreszenzlöscher immobilisiert. Polymer-basierte Fluoreszenzsensoren sind in der Fachliteratur gut dokumentiert. In der Regel sind Signalgeber und Analyt jedoch statistisch im Polymer verteilt, da sie sich entweder in unterschiedlichen Monomereinheiten befinden oder die Funktionalisierung durch eine polymeranaloge Umsetzung erfolgt. Der gewählte Ansatz Fluorophor und Analyt innerhalb derselben Monomereinheit einzubinden, soll bei jeder Erkennungsreaktion des Analyten zu einer Änderung der Signalintensität des Fluorophors führen. Eine hohe Signalintensität bei Analytdetektion ist wünschenswert, insbesondere für Erkennungsreaktionen, die mit möglichst geringem apparativem Aufwand, am besten mit dem bloßen Auge zu verfolgen sein sollen. Des Weiteren ist es möglich den Fluorophorgehalt im Polymer genau einzustellen und so Selbstlöschung zu vermeiden. Die synthetisierten Polymere haben einen Fluorophorgehalt von 0,01 mol% bis 0,5 mol%. Für die RhodaminB haltigen Polymere zeigte sich, dass ein Fluorophorgehalt unterhalb 0,1 mol% im Polymer die höchsten Ausbeuten, Molmassen und Quantenausbeuten liefert. Für die Naphthalsäureimid haltigen Polymere hingegen wurden auch für einen Fluorophorgehalt von bis zu 1 mol% hohe Ausbeuten und Molmassen erreicht. Die Naphthalsäureimid haltigen Polymere haben jedoch in wässriger Lösungsmittelumgebung nur geringe Quantenausbeuten. Als Fluoreszenzlöscher wurden Goldnanopartikel synthetisiert, die mit den entsprechenden Erkennungsstrukturen (ß-CD oder ConA) für den verwendeten Analyten funktionalisiert wurden. Goldnanopartikel als Löscher bieten den Vorteil, dass ihre Dispergierbarkeit in einem Lösemittel durch Funktionalisierung ihrer Hülle gezielt gesteuert werden kann. Durch die hohe Affinität von Goldnanopartikeln zu Thiolen und Aminen konnten sie mit Hilfe einfacher Syntheseschritte mit Thio ß CD Derivaten bzw. ConA funktionalisiert werden. In der hier vorgelegten Arbeit sollte ein Modellsystem für einen solches fluoreszenz-basiertes Detektionssystem in Wasser entwickelt werden. Nachfolgend werden die zu erfüllenden strukturellen Voraussetzungen für die Synthese eines solchen Sensors nochmals zusammengefasst:
1. Verwendung eines Fluorophors, der eine hohe Signalintensität zeigt.
2. Analyt bzw. Erkennungseinheit soll sich im Abstand von wenigen Nanometern zum Signalgeber befinden, um bei jeder Detektionsreaktion die Signalintensität des Signalgebers beeinflussen zu können.
3. Die Detektionseinheit benötigt eine funktionelle Gruppe zur Immobilisierung. Immobilisierung kann z.B. durch Einbindung in ein Polymer erfolgen.
4. Der Fluorophor soll bei Änderung seiner lokalen Umgebung, durch Binden eines Löschers oder Änderung seiner Lösemittelumgebung seine Fluoreszenzeigenschaften drastisch ändern.
5. Die Reaktion sollte schnell und mit möglichst geringem apparativem Aufwand, am besten mit bloßem Auge zu verfolgen sein.
Für das ß-CD/Adamantan Modellsystem wurde ein Fluoreszenz Aus/An Sensor entwickelt, der bei Binden ß CD funktionalisierter Goldnanopartikel an das polymergebundene Adamantan die Fluoreszenz des RhodaminB Fluorophors effizient löscht und bei Verdrängung der Goldnanopartikel wieder zurück gewinnt. Dies konnte auch mit bloßem Auge verfolgt werden.
Für die Naphthalsäureimid Monomere, die mit NVCL copolymerisiert wurden, wurde abhängig von der lokalen Umgebung des Fluorophors eine unterschiedliche Verstärkung der Fluoreszenzintensität bei Überschreiten des Trübungspunktes des Polymers gefunden. Dabei zeigte sich, dass die Einführung eines Abstandshalters zwischen Polymerrückgrat und Fluorophor zu einer großen Fluoreszenz¬verstärkung führt, während sich ohne Abstandshalter die Fluoreszenzintensität bei Über¬schreiten des Trübungspunktes kaum ändert.
In this thesis we investigate the evaporation behaviour of sessile droplets of aqueous saline solutions on planar inert and metallic surfaces and characterise the corrosion phenomenon for iron surfaces. First we study the evaporation behaviour of sessile salty droplets on inert surfaces for a wide range of salt concentrations, relative humidities, droplet sizes and contact angles. Our study reveals the range of validity of the well-accepted diffusion-controlled evaporation model and highlights the impact of salt concentration (surface tension) gradients driven Marangoni flows on the evaporation behaviour and the subsequent salty deposit patterns. Furthermore we study the spatial-temporal evolution of sessile droplets from saline solutions on metallic surfaces. In contrast to the simple, generally accepted Evans droplet model, we show that the corrosion spreads ahead of the macroscopic contact line with a peripheral film. The three-phase contact line is destabilized by surface tension gradients induced by ionic composition changes during the course of the corrosion process and migration of cations towards the droplet perimeter. Finally we investigate the corrosion behaviour under drying salty sessile droplets on metallic surfaces. The corrosion process, in particular the location of anodic and cathodic activities over the footprint droplet area is correlated to the spatial distribution of the salt inside the drying droplet.
What are the fundamental laws for the adsorption of charged polymers onto oppositely charged surfaces, for convex, planar, and concave geometries? This question is at the heart of surface coating applications, various complex formation phenomena, as well as in the context of cellular and viral biophysics. It has been a long-standing challenge in theoretical polymer physics; for realistic systems the quantitative understanding is however often achievable only by computer simulations. In this study, we present the findings of such extensive Monte-Carlo in silico experiments for polymer–surface adsorption in confined domains. We study the inverted critical adsorption of finite-length polyelectrolytes in three fundamental geometries: planar slit, cylindrical pore, and spherical cavity. The scaling relations extracted from simulations for the critical surface charge density sc—defining the adsorption–desorption transition—are in excellent agreement with our analytical calculations based on the ground-state analysis of the Edwards equation. In particular, we confirm the magnitude and scaling of sc for the concave interfaces versus the Debye screening length 1/k and the extent of confinement a for these three interfaces for small ka values. For large ka the critical adsorption condition approaches the known planar limit. The transition between the two regimes takes place when the radius of surface curvature or half of the slit thickness a is of the order of 1/k. We also rationalize how sc(k) dependence gets modified for semi-flexible versus flexible chains under external confinement. We examine the implications of the chain length for critical adsorption—the effect often hard to tackle theoretically—putting an emphasis on polymers inside attractive spherical cavities. The applications of our findings to some biological systems are discussed, for instance the adsorption of nucleic acids onto the inner surfaces of cylindrical and spherical viral capsids.
Upconversion NaYF4:Yb:Er nanoparticles co-doped with Gd3+ and Nd3+ for thermometry on the nanoscale
(2015)
In the present work, the upconversion luminescence properties of oleic acid capped NaYF4:Gd3+:Yb3+:Er3+ upconversion nanoparticles (UCNP) with pure β crystal phase and Nd3+ ions as an additional sensitizer were studied in the temperature range of 288 K < T < 328 K. The results of this study showed that the complex interplay of different mechanisms and effects, causing the special temperature behavior of the UCNP can be developed into thermometry on the nanoscale, e.g. to be applied in biological systems on a cellular level. The performance was improved by the use of Nd3+ as an additional dopant utilizing the cascade sensitization mechanism in tri-doped UCNP.
NaYF4:Yb:Er nanoparticles (UCNP) were synthesized under mild experimental conditions to obtain a pure cubic lattice. Upon annealing at different temperatures up to Tan = 700 °C phase transitions to the hexagonal phase and back to the cubic phase were induced. The UCNP materials obtained for different Tan were characterized with respect to the lattice phase using standard XRD and Raman spectroscopy as well as steady state and time resolved upconversion luminescence. The standard techniques showed that for the annealing temperature range 300 °C < Tan < 600 °C the hexagonal lattice phase was dominant. For Tan < 300 °C hardly any change in the lattice phase could be deduced, whereas for Tan > 600 °C a back transfer to the α-phase was observed. Complementarily, the luminescence upconversion properties of the annealed UCNP materials were characterized in steady state and time resolved luminescence measurements. Distinct differences in the upconversion luminescence intensity, the spectral intensity distribution and the luminescence decay kinetics were found for the cubic and hexagonal lattice phases, respectively, corroborating the results of the standard analytical techniques used. In laser power dependent measurements of the upconversion luminescence intensity it was found that the green (G1, G2) and red (R) emission of Er3+ showed different effects of Tan on the number of required photons reflecting the differences in the population routes of different energy levels involved. Furthermore, the intensity ratio of Gfull/R is highly effected by the laser power only when the β-phase is present, whereas the G1/G2 intensity ratio is only slightly effected regardless of the crystal phase. Moreover, based on different upconversion luminescence kinetics characteristics of the cubic and hexagonal phase time-resolved area normalized emission spectra (TRANES) proved to be a very sensitive tool to monitor the phase transition between cubic and hexagonal phases. Based on the TRANES analysis it was possible to resolve the lattice phase transition in more detail for 200 °C < Tan < 300 °C, which was not possible with the standard techniques.
We investigate the ergodic properties of a random walker performing (anomalous) diffusion on a random fractal geometry. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations of the motion of tracer particles on an ensemble of realisations of percolation clusters are performed for a wide range of percolation densities. Single trajectories of the tracer motion are analysed to quantify the time averaged mean squared displacement (MSD) and to compare this with the ensemble averaged MSD of the particle motion. Other complementary physical observables associated with ergodicity are studied, as well. It turns out that the time averaged MSD of individual realisations exhibits non-vanishing fluctuations even in the limit of very long observation times as the percolation density approaches the critical value. This apparent non-ergodic behaviour concurs with the ergodic behaviour on the ensemble averaged level. We demonstrate how the non-vanishing fluctuations in single particle trajectories are analytically expressed in terms of the fractal dimension and the cluster size distribution of the random geometry, thus being of
purely geometrical origin. Moreover, we reveal that the convergence scaling law to ergodicity, which is known to be inversely proportional to the observation time T for ergodic diffusion processes, follows a power-law BT� h with h o 1 due to the fractal structure of the accessible space. These results provide useful measures for differentiating the subdiffusion on random fractals from an otherwise closely related process, namely, fractional Brownian motion. Implications of our results on the analysis of single particle tracking experiments are provided.
Brownianmotion is ergodic in the Boltzmann–Khinchin sense that long time averages of physical observables such as the mean squared displacement provide the same information as the corresponding ensemble average, even at out-of-equilibrium conditions. This property is the fundamental prerequisite for single particle tracking and its analysis in simple liquids. We study analytically and by event-driven molecular dynamics simulations the dynamics of force-free cooling granular gases and reveal a violation of ergodicity in this Boltzmann-Khinchin sense as well as distinct ageing of the system. Such granular gases comprise materials such as dilute gases of stones, sand, various types of powders, or large molecules, and their mixtures are ubiquitous in Nature and technology, in particular in Space. We treat—depending on the physical-chemical properties of the inter-particle interaction upon their pair collisions—both a constant and a velocity-dependent
(viscoelastic) restitution coefficient e. Moreover we compare the granular gas dynamics with an effective single particle stochastic model based on an underdamped Langevin equation with time dependent diffusivity. We find that both models share the same behaviour of the ensemble mean squared displacement (MSD) and the velocity correlations in the limit of weak dissipation. Qualitatively, the reported non-ergodic behaviour is generic for granular gases with any realistic dependence of e on the impact velocity of particles.
Exposure to organic mercury compounds promotes primarily neurological effects. Although methylmercury is recognized as a potent neurotoxicant, its transfer into the central nervous system (CNS) is not fully evaluated. While methylmercury and thiomersal pass the blood–brain barrier, limited data are available regarding the second brain regulating interface, the blood–cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) barrier. This novel study was designed to investigate the effects of organic as well as inorganic mercury compounds on, and their transfer across, a porcine in vitro model of the blood–CSF barrier for the first time. The barrier system is significantly more sensitive towards organic Hg compounds as compared to inorganic compounds regarding the endpoints cytotoxicity and barrier integrity. Whereas there are low transfer rates from the blood side to the CSF side, our results strongly indicate an active transfer of the organic mercury compounds out of the CSF. These results are the first to demonstrate an efflux of organic mercury compounds regarding the CNS and provide a completely new approach in the understanding of mercury compounds specific transport.