Effect Of Surface Structure Research Articles

Interfacial Polymerization Produced Magnetic Particles with Nano-Filopodia for Highly Accurate Liquid Biopsy in the PSA Gray Zone.

Magnetic particles are leading separation materials for biological purification and detection. Existing magnetic particles, which almost rely on molecule-level interactions, however, often encounter bottlenecks in highly efficient cell-level separation due to the underestimate of surface structure effects. Here, immune cell-inspired magnetic particles with nano-filopodia (NFMPs) produced by interfacial polymerization for highly efficient capture of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and further accurate clinical diagnosis of prostate cancer are reported . The unprecedented construction of nano-filopodia on polymer-based magnetic particles is achieved by introducing electrostatic interactions in emulsion interfacial polymerization. Due to the unique nano-filopodia, the NFMPs allow remarkably enhanced CTCs capture efficiency (86.5%±2.8%) compared with smooth magnetic particles (SMPs, 35.7%±5.7%). Under the assistance of machine learning by combining with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and free to total PSA (F/T-PSA), the NFMPs strategy demonstrates high sensitivity (100%), high specificity (93.3%), and a high area under the curve (AUC) value (98.1%) for clinical diagnosis of prostate cancer in the PSA gray zone. The NFMPs are anticipated as an efficient platform for CTCs-based liquid biopsy toward early cancer diagnosis and prognosis evaluation.

Research Progress on Low-Surface-Energy Antifouling Coatings for Ship Hulls: A Review.

The adhesion of marine-fouling organisms to ships significantly increases the hull surface resistance and expedites hull material corrosion. This review delves into the marine biofouling mechanism on marine material surfaces, analyzing the fouling organism adhesion process on hull surfaces and common desorption methods. It highlights the crucial role played by surface energy in antifouling and drag reduction on hulls. The paper primarily concentrates on low-surface-energy antifouling coatings, such as organic silicon and organic fluorine, for ship hull antifouling and drag reduction. Furthermore, it explores the antifouling mechanisms of silicon-based and fluorine-based low-surface-energy antifouling coatings, elucidating their respective advantages and limitations in real-world applications. This review also investigates the antifouling effectiveness of bionic microstructures based on the self-cleaning abilities of natural organisms. It provides a thorough analysis of antifouling and drag reduction theories and preparation methods linked to marine organism surface microstructures, while also clarifying the relationship between microstructure surface antifouling and surface hydrophobicity. Furthermore, it reviews the impact of antibacterial agents, especially antibacterial peptides, on fouling organisms' adhesion to substrate surfaces and compares the differing effects of surface structure and substances on ship surface antifouling. The paper outlines the potential applications and future directions for low-surface-energy antifouling coating technology.

Functionalized Thiophosphate and Oxidic Filler Particles for Hybrid Solid Electrolytes

AbstractTo achieve the commercialization of solid‐state‐batteries (SSBs), solid electrolyte properties need to be further improved. The hybrid solid electrolyte (HSE) approach is expected to combine the favorable properties of different solid electrolyte classes and is therefore systematically investigated. Mixing low amounts of thiophosphate or oxide filler particles (FP) into a polyethylene oxide (PEO) polyethylene glycol (PEG) and lithium salt bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonimide (LiTFSI) matrix cannot improve the electrochemical properties. Silanization of the thiophosphate FPs significantly increases the ionic conductivity to 0.1 mS cm−1 at room temperature compared to 0.017 mS cm−1 for a pure PEO solid electrolyte. Moreover, a correlation between the intrinsic conductivity of the FPs and the resulting conductivity of the HSE is observed. Also, the functionalization is successfully transferred to oxide FPs. In addition to an equally significant increase in ionic conductivity, a strong influence of the crystallite size of the FPs on the resulting ionic conductivity of the HSE was found. The discovered effect of FP surface structure on overall HSE conductivity indicates a participation of the FP surface in ion transport and emphasizes the need for tailored filler design in HSE applications.

Effect of Surface Structure of Graphite on the Passivation Ability of Solid Electrolyte Interphases

Effect of Surface Structure of Graphite on the Passivation Ability of Solid Electrolyte Interphases

Ambient Pressure X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy Study of Oxidation Phase Transitions on Cu(111) and Cu(110).

The surface structure effect on the oxidation of Cu has been investigated by performing ambient-pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (APXPS) on Cu(111) and Cu(110) surfaces under oxygen pressures ranging from 10-8 to 1 mbar and temperatures from 300 to 750 K. The APXPS results show a subsequential phase transition from chemisorbed O/Cu overlayer to Cu2 O and then to CuO on both surfaces. For a given temperature, the oxygen pressure needed to induce initial formation of Cu2 O on Cu(110) is about two orders of magnitude greater than that on Cu(111), which is in contrast with the facile formation of O/Cu overlayer on clean Cu(110). The depth profile measurements during the initial stage of Cu2 O formation indicate the distinct growth modes of Cu2 O on the two surface orientations. We attribute these prominent effects of surface structure to the disparities in the kinetic processes, such as the dissociation and surface/bulk diffusion over O/Cu overlayers. Our findings provide new insights into the kinetics-controlled process of Cu oxidation by oxygen.

The influence of cone structure and wettability on vaporization nucleation

Surface wettability and surface structure are critical factors that affect vaporization nucleation. However, their coupling effects on nucleation have yet to be thoroughly studied. This study employs molecular dynamics (MD) techniques to investigate the impact of nanostructures and walls with varying wettability on vaporization nucleation. Theoretical analysis verification demonstrate that increasing the hydrophobic ratio of the hybrid wall or adding a cone structure to the wall reduces the vaporization nucleation time.Previous studies did not separate the “surface area” and “cone height” factors when examining the relationship between cone surface structure and boiling. In this work, we analyzed the factors that affect vaporization nucleation. We found that increased surface area shortens nucleation time, and when the surface area is the same, higher cone heights lead to shorter nucleation times. Additionally, we examined the coupling effect of surface structure and wettability on nucleation. The results indicate that an increased proportion of hydrophobic walls with identical surface structures enhances the likelihood of nucleation. Furthermore, hydrophilic wall-hydrophobic cones with the same hydrophilic-hydrophobic ratio are more prone to nucleation than hydrophobic wall-hydrophilic cones. These findings provide insights into the design of nanostructures to enhance heat transfer involving boiling.

Effect of surface structure on electrochemical properties in Li1.2Ni0.2Ti0.6O2 cathode material

Effect of surface structure on electrochemical properties in Li1.2Ni0.2Ti0.6O2 cathode material

Effect of Preparation Processes on Structural Thermal Stability and Collision Energy Dissipation of Common Antirelaxation Coatings on Quartz Substrates.

Paraffin and octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) coatings can alleviate collisions between alkali-metal atoms and cell walls and then prolong the atomic spin-polarization lifetime. The surface structure and collision effects of these antirelaxation coatings, as well as the methods to avoid antirelaxation invalidity, have been the focus of researchers. This study investigated the thermolability of coating surface structure and the collision interactions between alkali metal atoms and coatings, considering the influence of various coating preparation factors, where this collision interaction is indirectly analyzed by measuring the collision energy dissipation between an atomic force microscopy (AFM) probe and the atoms on the coating surface. We found that appropriate evaporation time, carbochain length, and postannealing process can enhance the thermostability of the paraffin coating and eliminate its morphological defects. Furthermore, the OTS/water concentration, the soaking time, and the type of solvent have different levels of influence on the cluster formation and the thermostability of the OTS coatings. Moreover, the antirelaxation performance of coatings has been shown to be characterized by counting the energy dissipated when the AFM probe collides with the antirelaxation coating, replacing the conventional light-atom interaction- based method for measuring the relaxation characteristics, but requiring specific coating preparation factors to be maintained.

Fractal characteristics of coal surface structure during low-temperature oxidation and its effect on oxidizability

Pore structure and surface morphology are the key factors affecting coal spontaneous combustion. However, there are few studies that focus on quantitative descriptions of them. This paper presents an investigation into the evolution of the surface physical structure of different metamorphic coal during low-temperature oxidation. Specific surface area analyzer and atomic force microscopy were used to quantify the physical structure. The results indicate that the average pore size of coal decreases as the temperature increase, with low-metamorphic coal demonstrating a more pronounced reduction. Conversely, the specific surface area exhibits a gradual increase with temperature, particularly for the lignite. The evolution of surface morphology gradually changes from the fluctuation of low temperature to a flat surface with fewer high peaks. Meanwhile, the fractal dimension increasing with temperature also explain that the pore structure and surface morphology tend to become more complex during coal oxidation, especially the lignite. That is, the slopes of the fitting lines of fractal dimension vs temperature are higher for XLT coal than for YL coal and SG coal. The effect of coal surface structure on oxidizability is interpreted by the pore connectivity and oxygen adsorption on the surface during the coal oxygen compound reaction.

Theoretical insights into the hydroxyl-promoted H2 releasing reaction after H2O splitting on Pu-oxide surfaces

Within DFT+U-D3 scheme, we systematically investigate the reaction of H2O on Pu-oxide surfaces to reveal the effects of *H/*OH produced by water splitting on subsequent H2 releasing and surface oxidation. We find that both *H and *OH can promote H2 releasing, especially when PuO2 reduced to α-Pu2O3, but the micro mechanisms of *H/*OH driven H2 releasing process on PuO2(111) are different from α-Pu2O3(111) surface. On PuO2(111) surface, the adsorbed H2O and *H/*OH show a dynamic coupling with the localized electron/hole polarons induced by *H/*OH. Due to the significant heterogeneity of surface structure and Pu-coordination of α-Pu2O3(111), *H and *OH produce non-localized and localized electron polarons respectively, and notably facilitate the first-round exothermic H2 releasing process. After the first-round reaction, the residual surface O prefers to migrate into the inner layer to oxidize the α-Pu2O3 matrix, then the surface is recovered with *OH and ready for further H2 releasing reaction. Thus, we predict the eventual cyclic reaction on α-Pu2O3(111) surface, H2O + Pu2O3→*OH H2(g) + Pu2O3+, which can continually emit H2. In sum, our study provides new insights into the effects of surface structure and polarons on H2 releasing reaction, which we believe is of value to the Pu corrosion science.

Tuning wettability of nickel-based electrode by micro-nano surface structure to boost OER catalysis

Electrolysis of water is a green and environmentally friendly hydrogen production method, but its low oxygen evolution reaction (OER) efficiency hinders its large-scale application. A major strategy to improve the catalytic performance of OER is constructing the micro-nano structure on the surface of the catalyst. However, the exact effects of micro-nano surface structure, such as roughness, morphology and hierarchical structure on the catalytic performance have not been systematically studied. Herein, Nickel-Cobalt-Cerium Oxide (Ni-Co-CeO2) catalytic electrodes with the different micro-nano surface structures are fabricated by magnetic field-induced scanning electrodeposition. The effects of the micro-nano surface structure on catalytic performance are investigated. The results show that the micro-nano surface structure of Ni-Co-CeO2 catalytic electrodes has a great influence on the wetting state, which may lead to the Wenzel-Cassie transition, resulting in severe degradation of catalytic performance. By optimizing the micro-nano surface structure, the Ni-Co-CeO2 catalytic electrode has the best catalytic performance with the overpotential of 309 mV for OER to achieve the current density of 10 mA/cm2 and the corresponding Tafel slopes of 39.52 mV/dec. The study also demonstrates that the magnetic field-induced scanning electrodeposition is an efficient and simple method for tuning the micro-nano surface structure of electrodes to boost the OER efficiency.

The effect of surface and porous structure on long-term performance of carbon powder cathodes without binder, during a 300-day trial in microbial fuel cells

The performance of microbial fuel cell (MFC) highly depends on the selection of appropriate electrode materials, in particular – cathodes. Herein, two different activated carbons (CWZ-22 and CWZ-35) without binder, as well as the activated carbon modified with silica nanoparticles (CWZ-22/Si), were used to improve the performance of air cathodes. Nearly one year of operation of materials varying in surface area and microporous structure revealed significant differences in their dynamic behaviour. CWZ-22 with lower surface area and a smaller micropore size, reached an internal resistance (Rint) of 162 Ω, and a maximum power density of 23.3 W m−3. CWZ-22/Si, coated with silane-siloxane-based silicone microemulsion displayed a drop of maximum power generation by 10%. CWZ-35, with higher surface area, but also higher micropore size, displayed 22.8 W m−3 and Rint of 159 Ω. The monitoring of electrochemical and performance parameters indicated an improved long-term behaviour of the cathodes in the following order: CWZ-22 > CWZ-22/Si > CWZ-35. This is the first work in which the pore size distribution and surface area are demonstrated to have a long-term impact on cathodic fouling, and, depending on these properties, this impact may be either positive or negative on MFC performance.

Flux enhancement of cellulose nitrate membrane through plasma assisted route for waste and mud water treatment

AbstractFouling of polymeric membranes is a common problem due to its hydrophobic nature. Plasma assisted surface modification of polymeric membranes are immensely popular method in particular for the improvement of antifouling and adhesive properties. The effect of low‐pressure nitrogen plasma on surface morphology, hydrophilicity, structure, permeate flux and ageing effect for the cellulose nitrate polymer membrane are studied in the present work. The cylindrical Langmuir probe and optical emission spectroscopy are used to characterize the plasma. The macro void creation and pore enlargement effects have been observed from scanning electron microscopy images due to the surface etching of the membrane after plasma treatment. The atomic force microscopy analysis shows a prominent enhancement of the surface roughness of the plasma treated membrane. Wettability of membrane is studied as a function of plasma treatment time for treated and untreated membrane. From the contact angle measurement, it is found that the hydrophilicity of the plasma treated membranes increases with plasma treatment time. From gravity filtration process, the enhancement of permeate flux for both waste water and mud water are observed after plasma treatment. The ageing mechanism of the treated membranes is investigated for 30 days for different plasma treatment time. The hydrophobic recovery of plasma treated membranes is significant for initial ageing period of 7 days, after that it has shown almost stable in nature. A theoretical model is developed to study the hydrophilic recovery of plasma treated membranes. It is observed that the experimental results show a very good agreement with the theoretical results.

Electrode particulate materials for advanced rechargeable batteries: A review

The demand for large-scale energy storage is increasing due to the decreasing non-renewable resources and deteriorating environmental pollution. Developing rechargeable batteries with high energy density and long cycle performance is an ideal choice to meet the demand of energy storage system. The development of excellent electrode particles is of great significance in the commercialization of next-generation batteries. The ideal electrode particles should balance raw material reserves, electrochemical performance, price and environmental protection. Among them, the development of electrode particulate materials with excellent electrochemical properties is the top priority at present. In this review, the typical researches of electrode materials are summarized in terms of crystal structure, morphology, pore structure, surface and interface regulation. Firstly, the structural characteristics and improvement methods of transition metal oxides, polyanionic compounds, Prussian blue and their analogues are introduced. Then, the different effects of particulate morphology, pore, surface and interface structure on the performance of electrode materials are discussed. For designing high-performance electrode materials, preparation route should be set according to the particle properties of the materials and the synergistic effect of various optimization methods should be adopted. At the same time, in addition to the electrode materials, other components of the rechargeable batteries, such as current collector, separator and electrolytes, should be optimized to improve the overall performance of the batteries. This review would provide important guiding principle for designing high-performance electrode particulate materials.

Formation mechanism for stable system of nanoparticle/protein corona and phospholipid membrane

In the physiological environment, nanoparticles (NPs) interact with proteins to form a protein-rich layer on the surface which is called "protein corona". Understanding and analyzing the formation process of protein corona and protein corona-nanoparticles is of great significance for biological related nano research. Many separation techniques have been used to analyze the composition of protein corona, but in situ analysis of protein corona is still absent. With the development of detection technology, sum frequency generation (SFG) is an effective instrument to analyze the surface protein structure and dynamic changes of protein corona in situ. In this work the molecular mechanism and surface structure effect of the interaction between nanoparticles with surface protein corona (S-NPP) and phospholipid membrane were studied. When S-NPP interacts with phospholipid membrane, the bond affinity network formed by the binding water can stabilize S-NPP around the lipid bilayer. In this process, S-NPP can be found wrapped in the hydration shell. This ultimately leads to a more moderate interaction between particles and phospholipid membrane.

Organic Matter Transfer Caused by Concentration Difference Creates TC4 Surfaces with Switchable Wettability.

In this paper, low-cost electrochemical processing and heat treatment were adopted to fabricate titanium alloy surfaces with switchable wettability. Meanwhile, surface structure, roughness, and oxide content were regulated by electrochemical processing voltage. The effects of surface structure, roughness, oxide content, temperature, and time of heat treatment on switchable wettability were investigated. In addition to suitable structural conditions, surface chemistry is also crucial to preparing metal surfaces with switchable wettability. The surface chemistry of electrochemical processed surfaces was changed by organic matter transfer during heat treatment. In a certain voltage range, suitable surface structure, high roughness, and surface oxide content by high voltage contribute to the organic matter transfer. In a certain range of heating temperature and time, the concentration difference of organic matter is the premise of organic matter transfer. Concurrently, the higher the temperature, the faster the speed of organic matter transfer. Different from other relevant studies, the hypothesis that the concentration difference promotes organic matter transfer is proposed and verified by interesting experiments. The difference concentration of organic matter between the environment and the samples, as well as between the two samples, was created to promote organic matter transfer. Therefore, the electrochemical processed surfaces with switchable wettability were obtained by organic matter transfer in two ways.

Tuning the Wettability of a Commercial Silane Product to Induce Superamphiphobicity for Stone Protection

Silane-based materials are used for the protection of heritage and modern buildings. A versatile method is developed to tune the wetting properties of a typical silane-based material from hydrophobicity to superamphiphobicity, thus enhancing the protective efficacy against rainwater and organic pollutants. A commercially available silane product is blended with a fluoropolymer to lower the surface energy and silica (SiO2) nanoparticles to affect the surface morphologies of the produced coatings on marble. Contact angles of water and oil drops are measured on the coating surfaces which were prepared using 16 different combinations of fluoropolymer and nanoparticle concentrations. It is shown that the synergistic effect of surface structure and chemistry can lead to the production of coatings that possess superamphiphobic properties. The wetting properties of a selected non-wettable coating are further characterised using a custom-made, fully-automated device (Kerberos) which monitors simultaneously the deformation of the liquid interface, spreading and sliding of the drop along the sample surface during tilting. Several tests are carried out to evaluate the durability of the selected superamphiphobic coating, offering overall promising results. The versatile method can be used to impart superamphiphobicity to the surfaces of various materials. The method developed herein can be adopted to tune the wetting properties of other silane-based commercial products which are used for the protection of buildings.

Graphene oxide as an anti-corrosion coating on carbon steel: effect of surface structure and wettability of steel

ABSTRACT According to the literature data graphene oxide cannot be easily used as an anti-corrosion barrier on metals and alloys, especially on carbon steel. This article shows that the oxidised form of graphene can improve the electrochemical corrosion parameters of carbon steel, if necessary modifications on the surface structure and wettability of steel are made prior to the coating step. In this study, the effects of surface roughness and hydrophilicity of carbon steel on the anti-corrosion performance of the electrophoretically deposited graphene oxide were investigated by potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The results showed that increasing the roughness and hydrophilicity of the bare steel surface promotes the mechanical interlocking/adhesion between the graphene oxide and steel and this improves the protective performance of the deposited graphene oxide barrier on steel.

High-efficient laser-based bionic surface structuring for enhanced surface functionalization and self-cleaning effect

In this work, a laser-based surface functionalization method combining laser surface texturing and silicone oil-assisted heat treatment was developed to fabricate superhydrophobic surface. Two bionic surface patterns, i.e., duck feather pattern and shark skin pattern were designed and fabricated using different laser processing parameters. 3-D digital microscope, scanning electron microscope, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were utilized to analyze the surface morphology and chemistry of the laser functionalized surface. Self-cleaning test was conducted to compare the dust removal ability between the untreated surface and laser functionalized surface. The rough hierarchical surface structure was induced by laser texturing process, and the heat treatment process with silicone oil led to the formation of low surface energy. With the combined effects of surface structure and chemistry, the fabricated surface exhibits superior superhydrophobicity. Moreover, the laser functionalized superhydrophobic surface exhibits good self-cleaning ability, and highly efficient dust removal process was observed owing to the bouncing removal of water droplets. This work is not only simple and convenient, but also significantly reduces the production cost and enhances time efficiency for fabrication of superhydrophobic surface, and thus shows strong potential for applications in diverse areas.

Porous BCP ceramics with nanoscale whisker structure accelerate bone regeneration by regulating inflammatory response

Inflammation-induced by biomaterials is a critical event to determine the success and efficiency of tissue repair. Macrophages are a major population that participates the biomaterial induced inflammation. The response of macrophages depends on the characteristics of biomaterials, thus causing a cascade reaction in subsequent biological processes. In this study, porous biphase calcium phosphate (BCP) ceramics with the different surface structures were constructed to compare the effect of surface structure on bone generation potential, and further reveal the inflammation-involved mechanism. Our results demonstrated that macrophages on three ceramics showed distinct morphologies and spreading areas. The nanoscale whisker structure did induce more bone generation in the mice thigh muscle. The in vitro result revealed that nanoscale whisker structure could drive macrophage polarization towards M1-like phenotype, indicated by a higher expression of pro-inflammatory specific markers (iNOS and CCR7), and mass secretion of TNF-α. Further research indicated that additional TNF-α could promote the osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). However, excess addition of TNF-α showed an opposite effect on the osteogenic differentiation of MSCs by initiating the NF-κB signaling pathway, which suppresses the osteogenesis process.