Apparent Layer Thickness Research Articles

Characterization of β-lactoglobulin adsorption on silica membrane pore surfaces and its impact on membrane emulsification processes

Protein adsorption plays a key role in membrane fouling in liquid processing, but the specific underlying molecular mechanisms of β-lactoglobulin adsorption on ceramic silica surfaces in premix membrane emulsification have not been investigated yet.In this study, we aimed to elucidate the β-lactoglobulin adsorption and its effect on the premix membrane emulsification of β-lactoglobulin-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions. In particular, the conformation, molecular interactions, layer thickness, surface energy of the adsorbed β-lactoglobulin and resulting droplet size distribution are investigated in relation to the solvent properties (aggregation state of β-lactoglobulin) and the treatment of the silica surface (hydrophilization).The β-lactoglobulin adsorption is driven by attractive electrostatic interactions between positively charged amino acid residues, i.e., lysin and negatively charged silanol groups, and is stabilized by hydrophobic interactions. The strong negative charges of the treated silica surfaces result in a high apparent layer thickness of β-lactoglobulin. Although the conformation of the adsorbed β-lactoglobulin layer varies with membrane treatment and the solvent properties, the β-lactoglobulin adsorption offsets the effect of hydrophilization of the membrane so that the surface energies after β-lactoglobulin adsorption are comparable. The resulting droplet size distribution of oil-in-water emulsions produced by premix membrane emulsification are similar for treated and untreated silica surfaces.

Wall slip mechanisms in direct and inverse emulsions

We carry out a series of experiments with the aim of completing our knowledge of wall slip characteristics, through a deductive approach based on macroscopic behavior observations. More precisely, we use model materials (direct and inverse emulsions) and determine the variations of wall slip properties depending on the material parameters (droplet size, concentration) and boundary conditions of the flow (free surface or flow between two solid surfaces, normal force, flow beyond yielding, and coated or rough surface). The wall slip characteristics are determined from long creep tests at different levels and from internal measurements of the velocity profile in the capillary or the Couette flow as determined by magnetic resonance imaging. First, we show that the slip yield stress is due either to edge effects in relation with evaporation then pinning around the line of contact or to a kind of adhesion of the suspended elements to the wall. This adhesion effect varies with the characteristics of the solid surface (interaction with elements, roughness), and wall slip (below the yield stress) disappears when the adhesion or adherence leads to a wall slip yield stress expected to be larger than the material yield stress. Then, we show that, below the yield stress, the slip velocity vs shear stress (from which the slip yield stress has been removed) relationship is linear. The corresponding value for the apparent slip layer made of interstitial liquid appears to be independent of the concentration and to vary only slightly with the droplet size. Moreover, it is independent of the normal force (below the critical value inducing elongation) and other experimental conditions, e.g., it is the same for free surface flows. Although the origin of this phenomenon remains to be found, the following scheme appears to be consistent with all observations: the droplets are attracted at a very short distance from the wall, forming regions of the small area in which the liquid layer thickness is very small, the shear stress being dominated by the shear in these regions. Finally, this apparent layer thickness increases at the approach of the yield stress and beyond, or if a slightly rough surface is used, leading to a faster (quadratic?) variation of the slip velocity as a function of the stress.

Comparison of sporadic sodium layer characteristics observed at different time resolutions

Abstract. Sporadic sodium (Nas) layers, occurring in roughly the same height range as ionospheric sporadic-E layers, were first detected by lidar some 30 yr ago. Nas layers have a typical thickness of a few hundred meters to a few km, with peak atom concentrations several times that of the background layer. Despite a great deal of excellent work over the past decades, the source of Nas layers is still not altogether clear, partly as a result of our incomplete knowledge of Nas layer characteristics. In this paper we concentrate on some typical case studies chosen from the ~127 h of sporadic sodium layer observations made at a time resolution of 1.5 s at Yanqing (115.97° E, 40.47° N), Beijing, China. This is a much better time resolution than what has been employed in most earlier measurements. The results show that the Nas layer peak heights are dispersed at slightly different although adjacent heights. When averaged over several minutes, as has been the case with most earlier measurements, the height scatter results in an apparent layer thickness of a few km. We conclude, therefore, that these dispersed peaks at different but adjacent heights constitute the 5 min Nas layer. Similar to the observations of sporadic-E-ion (Es) layers and meteor rate, we observe quasi-periodic fluctuations on a timescale on the order of several minutes in the peak height and the peak density of sporadic layers, which is a universal feature but concealed by the lower temporal resolution previously adopted. Spatially localized multiple scatterers and multiple thin layers with similar apparent movement in Nas layers are also found. We discuss the possible formation mechanism by the direct deposition of large swarms of micrometeoroids and demonstrate a typical example of meteor trails evolving into a Nas layer, which suggests that this mechanism might indeed occur.

The influence of beam energy on apparent layer thickness using ultralow energy O2+ SIMS on surface Si1−xGex

AbstractA technique that employs energy sequencing, i.e. depth profiling a sample for a range of beam energies and then extrapolating the profile shape to zero beam energy, has been proposed as a means for removing the effects of atomic mixing and surface transient behavior. Here we have tested this approach in an attempt to establish the accurate thickness of a superficial (∼30 nm) Si1−xGex (x ∼ 0.3) layer. The conditions used were near‐normal incidence O2+ and the energy range 0.25–2.5 keV. Energy‐dependent apparent layer thicknesses were extracted for numerous points (90, 85, 75, 50, 21 and 10%) across the decaying Ge signal between the SiGe and underlying Si. A monotonic increase in apparent layer thickness was found as the energy was reduced across the range 2.5–0.4 keV. However, for beam energies < 0.4 keV, the apparent layer thickness was found to decrease suggesting that an increase in the relative surface‐to‐bulk erosion rate had outweighed any decrease in the true width of the transient region. This effect may be inescapable or caused by a nanometre‐scale Ge rich layer at the surface. The behavior found here shows that the ‘zero beam energy’ profile shape is not necessarily closest to the truth. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Bias dependence of apparent layer thickness and Moiré pattern on NaCl/Cu(001)

Bias-dependent features of the insulating NaCl layer grown on Cu(001) have been investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS). The apparent layer thickness of the NaCl film is variable at bias voltages ranging from 2.8 to 3.2 V as well as from 4.0 to 5.0 V, and the Moiré pattern induced by NaCl–Cu lattice mismatch also shows bias dependence. The z–V ( dz/ dV–V) curves and dI/ dV mapping measurements reveal that the resonant tunneling between the image potential states (IPSs) on Cu(001) and the Fermi level of the STM tip leads to drastic variations of these features.

Dependence of the apparent thickness of the unstirred layer at the intestinal mucosa on nutrient concentration

The thickness of the intestinal unstirred layer determined with glycine is shown to increase from 247 ± 12 to 319 ± 14 μm (p < 0.001) as its concentration is raised from 5 to 40 mM; with glucose raised from 10 to 40 mM, the apparent value increases from 316 ± 13 to 380 ± 26 μm, because at higher concentrations the nutrients penetrate deeper to the bases of intestinal villi. The weak positive correlation between the apparent layer thickness (assayed with glucose, maltose, sucrose, alanine, leucine, and Gly-Ala in rats) and the parameter characterizing the rate of nutrient uptake (maximal short-circuit current response to nutrient) contradicts the assertion that the transporters are distributed uniformly along the villus height but because of high absorption in the upper part the nutrients do not reach the deeper transporters. It appears that the transporter distribution along the villi is nonuniform. The described method may serve to study the topography of nutrient transporters.

How Polymer Surface Diffusion Depends on Surface Coverage

Measurements are presented of how surface diffusion of flexible polymers at the solid−liquid interface is controlled by surface coverage. Surface coverage is varied over the full range from dilute to saturated surface coverage. The method of measurement is fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), and the systems are poly(ethylene oxide) (PEG) and dextran adsorbed onto methyl-terminated self-assembled monolayers in buffered aqueous solution. A detailed study of PEG (Mw = 10 800 g mol-1) shows nonmonotonic behavior. The translational diffusion coefficient (D) at first increases with increasing surface concentration, presumably because the number of adsorption sites per molecule decreases as chains switch from pancake to loop−train−tail conformation. Excellent fits to behavior characteristic of a single diffusion process argue against aggregation or crystallization in the adsorbed state. In-situ ellipsometry measurements appear to rule out conformation changes to a hypothetical helical structure, as this would introduce birefringence to the adsorbed polymer layer causing deviations from the observed linear growth of apparent layer thickness with increasing surface coverage. For all three samples studied (PEG of Mw = 10 800 and 20 000 g mol-1 and also dextran with Mw = 10 000 g mol-1), D at surface coverages larger than the estimated surface overlap concentration slow by 1 order of magnitude, presumably reflecting crowding and entanglement with neighboring chains.

The Influence of Polymer Structure and Morphology on Talc Wettability

Advancing water contact angles were measured on freshly cleaved talc faces as well as on talc particles. The intrinsic hydrophobicity of talc was shown to be due to the dominance of the apolar components of the work of adhesion. Polyacrylamides and polysaccharides adsorb onto the surface of talc, displaying strikingly different morphologies. Adsorbed amount, apparent layer thickness, and polymer structure control talc wettability.

Some aspects of atom probe specimen preparation and analysis of thin film materials

Some of the factors in the preparation of atom probe specimens of metallic multilayer thin films have been investigated. A series of Ti/Nb multilayer films were sputtered deposited on n-doped Si [0 0 1] substrates with either 5 or 0.05 Ω cm resistivity. Each wafer was pre-fabricated into a series of 5 μm×5 μm× ≈80 μm island posts by photolithography and reactive ion etching. Once the film was grown on the wafer, a Si post was mounted to either a tungsten or stainless steel fine tip needle that was mechanically crimped to a Cu tube for handling. The specimen was then loaded into a Focus Ion Beam instrument where a sacrificial Pt cap was in situ deposited onto the surface of the film and subsequently annularly ion milled into the appropriate geometry. The Pt cap was found to be an effective method in reducing Ga ion damage and implantation into the film during milling. The multilayers deposited on the high resistivity Si exhibited uncontrolled field evaporation which lead to high mass tails in the mass spectra, a reduction in the mass resolution, high background noise, propensity for “flash-failure”, and a variation in the apparent layer thickness as the experiment elapsed in time. The multilayers deposited on lower resistivity Si did not suffer from these artifacts.

Transient phenomena and impurity relocation in SIMS depth profiling using oxygen bombardment: pursuing the physics to interpret the data

High detection sensitivity in bulk analysis or depth profiling by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) can only be achieved, for positively charged ions, if the nearsurface regions of the sputter eroded sample are fully oxidized. Using oxygen primary ions, a stationary oxidation state is established after some time of bombardment during which period the sputtering yield decreases and the ionization probability increases. The physical and chemical processes occurring during the transient period are reviewed with emphasis on the results for impurity analysis in silicon, i.e. the matrix material that has been studied most thoroughly in the past. The transient decrease in sputtering yield gives rise to a depth scale offset and an associated apparent shift of impurity profiles towards the surface. The effect is largest at normal beam incidence, ca. 1 nm /keV (O + 2 ), in which case silicon is fully oxidized. The transition depth, i.e. the depth sputtered before achieving a stable ion yield is about twice as large and increases as the impact angle is turned away from normal. The shift and the depth scale offset can be measured safely using thin (delta) layers of isotopically pure tracers, for example 30 Si in 28 Si. Boron delta layers can serve as secondary standards because this impurity behaves almost the same as the host silicon atoms. The profile shift observed with other common dopants may contain contributions due to unidirectional relocation, often driven by segregation away from the surface. At O + 2 energies below about 0.7 keV the transition depths fall below the thickness of typical native oxides, so that the transient changes in sputtering yield and ionization probability can disappear. The transient phenomena may be described by a simple sputtering-oxidation model that connects the depth scale offset to other observable parameters like the initial and final sputtering yield, the transition fluence and the oxide thickness.

Topography and stratigraphy of Martian polar layered deposits

Topography and stratigraphy of young sediments in the Martian north polar region are being studied from high-resolution Viking Orbiter images to test and constrain theories of terrain evolution driven by cyclical climate change. Several steepened slopes upon which layers are exposed in section were found to have local relief of 200 to 800 m and slopes ranging from 1 to 8°. First attempts to calculate average layer thicknesses from portions of sections yielded results ranging from 14 to 46 m, linearly correlated with slope. In some cases, under the assumption of short-range lateral continuity, a greater number of layers was inferred to be present than was actually resolved on a particular section. When apparent layer thickness are revised accordingly, the correlation with slope is destroyed. We conclude that images of the shallowest-sloping sections of layered deposits should yield the most stratigraphic information, and layers thinner than 14 m may occur; indeed, they may even be common or typical. Because of the sensitivity of summer frost distribution to local slope and other properties of exposed strata, interseasonal comparisons of images promise to enhance the capability to detect layers and differentiate them by material properties.