Mixture Of Phases Research Articles

The Role of Hydrogen Incorporation into Amorphous Carbon Films in the Change of the Secondary Electron Yield.

Over the last few years, there has been increasing interest in the use of amorphous carbon thin films with low secondary electron yield (SEY) to mitigate electron multipacting in particle accelerators and RF devices. Previous works found that the SEY increases with the amount of incorporated hydrogen and correlates with the Tauc gap. In this work, we analyse films produced by magnetron sputtering with different contents of hydrogen and deuterium incorporated via the target poisoning and sputtering of CxDy molecules. XPS was implemented to estimate the phase composition of the films. The maximal SEY was found to decrease linearly with the fraction of the graphitic phase in the films. These results are supported by Raman scattering and UPS measurements. The graphitic phase decreases almost linearly for hydrogen and deuterium concentrations between 12% and 46% (at.), but abruptly decreases when the concentration reaches 53%. This vanishing of the graphitic phase is accompanied by a strong increase of SEY and the Tauc gap. These results suggest that the SEY is not dictated directly by the concentration of H/D, but by the fraction of the graphitic phase in the film. The results are supported by an original model used to calculate the SEY of films consisting of a mixture of graphitic and polymeric phases.

A magnetic field augmented ultra-thin layer chromatography coupled surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy separation of hemozoin from bacterial mixture

Malaria is considered as one the most widespread disease with highest possibility of co-infection at all levels of the disease prognosis. Rapid detection and discrimination of malaria from other co-infections remains a challenge. Hemozoin is a metabolic biproduct of malaraia possessing paramagnetic property due to presence of iron at its centre. Here, we report a label free, rapid and highly sensitive magnetic field based ultra-thin layer chromatography (UTLC) coupled with surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) technique for detection and separation of hemozoin from a bacterial mixture. Highly optimized silver nanorods chip fabricated using glancing angle deposition (GLAD) is explored for the UTLC-SERS separation. These chips possessing channel like characteristic and high surface to the volume ratio serve as excellent UTLC plates. The magnetic nature of hemozoin has been exploited for its separation from the mixture of P. aeruginosa (Gram-negative) and S. aureus (Gram-positive) by allocating a 0.6 T magnet over the UTLC flow setup. The solvent front migrated approximately to a distance of 13 mm from the sample point due to the magnetic environment. Spatially resolved SERS data was collected along the mobile phase and separation of mixture was confirmed. Further, staining of hemozoin, P. aeruginosa and S. aureus was done using methylene blue, acridine orange and rhodamine 6 G respectively. The separation was confirmed for the stained analytes. The present developed method provides plate height as low as 18 µm and hemozoin detection limit as <10 parasites/mL. Therefore, we establish a highly specific and sensitive technique capable of separating small amounts of bioanalytes, aiding in the removal of co-infections from the disease at a very early stage of infection.

Understanding the evolution of microstructure, phase homogeneity, electrochemical characteristics and surface chemistry of electrodeposited MnCrCoFeNiCu high entropy alloy coating with reinforcement of carbon nanotubes

MnCrCoFeNiCu high entropy alloy (HEA) coatings with varying volume fractions of carbon nanotube (CNT) were electrodeposited on mild steel. Morphology, phase constitution, wettability, surface oxide chemistry and corrosion of coatings were examined. Coating morphology became finer with initial CNT incorporation and then transformed to rougher surface for higher CNT volume fractions. Pristine HEA coating contained mixture of body centre cubic (bcc) and face centre cubic (fcc) phases. With the CNT addition phase homogenization happened and for the HEAC3 coating (from electrolyte with 5 mg/L concentration of CNT) single phase bcc microstructure was obtained. The phase mixture however re-evolved for the higher CNT incorporation due to CNT agglomeration and reduction in the metal-CNT interfaces. Water contact angle was 127° for HEA_C3 coating. All the HEA-CNT coatings exhibited higher corrosion resistance than the pristine HEA coating, corrosion rate trend was however not monotonic with CNT volume fraction and maximum corrosion resistance was observed for the HEA_C3 coating. Surface oxide chemistry of exposed sample showed stabler oxide over the HEA-CNT coatings when compared to the oxides of the pristine HEA coating. Higher corrosion resistance of the HEA_C3 coating was due to compact morphology, hydrophobicity, phase homogenization and evolution of stable surface oxides.

Stabilization of cubic phase in Y-doped (BaSr)(Fe1-xYx)O3-δ perovskites: Sol-gel synthesis, Raman and photoluminescent characteristics

Attempt has been made here to synthesize yttrium doped (Ba0.90Sr0.10)(Fe1-xYx)O3-δ (x = 0 – 0.20) oxides by sol-gel technique to study the influence of yttrium with regard to phase(s), strain, Raman and photoluminescent behaviour. It exhibits perovskite-type cubic and mixture of cubic and orthorhombic phases for x = 0 - 0.10 and > 0.10, respectively. The cubic lattice parameter increases linearly (a ∼4.019 - 4.054 Å, space group Pm3 m, Z = 1) with yttrium, leading to lattice expansion. Similarly, the average bond length also increases linearly (dc ∼ 2.426 - 2.447) with ‘x’. The bond angles along O-B-O and B-O-B are deviated due to the tilting and rotation of BO6 octahedra. Raman spectra reveal no band formation for the cubic phase of composition but appear for orthorhombic phase with x > 0.10. It consist bands at ∼130, 148, 222, and 372, and a broad band at ∼690 cm-1, associated with Ba/Sr bonded vibration, symmetric stretching of oxygen, and occurrence of oxygen vacancies. The photoluminescence spectra reveal peaks at ∼339, 411, 456, 486.5, and 525.5 nm (say; for x = 0.05), assigned to charge transfer transition O2p to iron and/or yttrium, interface trapping-induced radiative defects as well as shallow surface defects, and huge oxygen vacancies with trapped electrons, etc. These findings make materials useful in membrane technology.

Simulation for performance of storage unit with analyzing water freezing in presence of nanoparticles

The influences of loading alumina with different range of diameter and concentration have been considered in this study. The single phase mixture for predicting the features of nanomaterial was incorporated and equations in unsteady form were presented. For deriving the solution of the model, Galerkin method was used incorporating implicit technique. Validation tests have been provided and reasonable accuracy has been obtained. The geometry has tree shape fins which can help to accelerate the process. Although increasing size of powder can augment the interaction of them, the freezing time increases if the size of particles increases greater than 40 nm. Adding nano-powders can decrease the required time by about 41.26 %. With the changing size of nanoparticles, firstly, freezing time decreases about 20.02 % then it increases about 49.33 %. The minimum required time for freezing is 3991.58 s and this period happens when dp = 40 nm and ϕ = 0.04.

Cryogen and heat treatments of boron-lacquered high-strength cast iron

This work investigated the effect of the interrupted isothermal quenching and subsequent cryogenic treatment. It studied aspects of direct hardening with the purpose of creating specific hardening structures in the matrix of high-strength cast iron. Here boron microalloying was used and the investigation focused on deeply refined structures with less than 0.002% sulfur content. The influence of thermal and cryogenic treatment on the evolution of the phase transformation and composition was studied. To obtain different structures in the metal matrix, four groups of samples were prepared, and were subjected to different duration of austenitization at 950 °C. The process of formation of the bainite phase was carried out at 400 °C and interrupted at controlled intervals of 7, 15, 30, 45, 60 and 75 min. The samples were then hardened in liquid nitrogen.This paper presents for the first time a novel approach of step-wise interrupted austenisation followed by cryogenic quenching of cast iron, which is usually impossible as cast irons cracks in all attempts of hardening them from high temperatures. The combination of isothermal hardening and cryogenic processing allows to induce in a controlled manner a wide range of structural mixtures of bainite and martensitic phases.

Gas phase multicomponent detection and analysis combining broadband dual-frequency comb absorption spectroscopy and deep learning

In absorption spectroscopy, analysis of multicomponent gas mixtures becomes challenging when absorption features overlap (blended spectra). Here we propose a gas sensor which can accurately identify the species and retrieve the concentrations of components in a gaseous mixture in a broad spectrum. The sensor integrates a mid-infrared dual-frequency comb laser source for spectrum acquisition and a deep learning algorithm for spectral analysis. The sensor was tested on gas phase mixtures of methane, acetone and water vapor. A prototype sensor was assessed in realistic scenarios in real time. We also systematically analyzed and presented explicit visualizations to explain the underlying working mechanism of the algorithms.

Development of a New, Fully Validated LC-MS/MS Method for the Analysis of Flibanserin in Pharmaceutical Preparations and Comparison of the Chromatographic Performance with Six Stationary Phase Types

Background: Initially synthesized as an antidepressant and potentially rapid onset of action, flibanserin (FLB) was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in August 2015 with a warning to dispense the drug through a dedicated risk management program, despite the removal of HSDD from the DSM-5TM. The drug is the first noteworthy FDA-approved drug for treating premenopausal women with acquired, generalized HSDD. Objective: In literature, studies are plasma analyses or metabolite determinations to meet pharmacokinetic analyses and some analytical targets. For this reason, in this thesis, a new method has been developed for analysing FLB from pharmaceutical preparations, which is our target, providing all optimization conditions and method validity parameters. Methods: The chromatographic separation was also investigated using Chromolith® and Ascentis® Express models with a total of six stationary phases. The mobile phase mixture was acetonitrile:ammonium formate (0.020 M, pH 6.0) and was used at the ratio (60:40, v/v). The optimum column temperature was chosen as 40.0±0.1°C, and the autosampler thermostat temperature was chosen as 15±0.1°C. The sample injection volume is optimized to be 1 μL. Results: The developed method is linear in the range of 2.63–105.0 ng/mL, and the regression coefficient is 0.999 intraday and 0.986 interday. In the method, LOD and LOQ were obtained as 128 pg/mL and 384 pg/mL, respectively. In addition, the ANOVA P values were calculated as 0.586 and 0.914, respectively, in the validation studies conducted intraday and interday. Conclusion: FLB chromatographic behaviors were studied and compared in detail with six different stationary phases. The developed method was fully validated according to the ICH Q2 (R1) guideline, and its pseudo-pharmaceutical formulation was analyzed.

Application of Box-Behnken Design and Response Surface Methodology for Selecting the Optimum RP-HPLC Conditions for the Simultaneous Determination of Paracetamol and Diclofenac Sodium Along With Three Skeletal Muscle Relaxants in Three Different Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms.

An isocratic HPLC method has been developed and validated for estimating paracetamol and diclofenac sodium simultaneously with three skeletal muscle relaxants, namely, methocarbamol, tizanidine hydrochloride and chlorzoxazone in their pure standard mixtures and in different multi-component dosage forms in a single chromatographic run. HPLC separation was achieved on a C18 Inertsil ODS-3V 5μm column (250 × 4.6mm) using a mobile phase mixture containing acetonitrile and 25mM phosphate buffer (pH7.4 adjusted with NaOH) in the proportion of (39.7:60.3, v/v) pumped at 1.2mL/min flow rate with UV detection at 220nm. An experimental design was used by applying Plackett-Burman design for screening the most critical predictors affecting the chromatographic separation and Box-Behnken design for optimizing the selected predictors and creating the response surface between the selected predictors and the interested responses. ICH recommendations were applied for validating the proposed method with regard to linearity, precision, accuracy, selectivity, limits of detection and quantitation, and robustness. There are many applications for the optimized method that can be applied for routine estimation of the cited drugs in laboratories of quality control and pharmaceutical industries to save money and time and to reduce material waste and effort.

Anomalous bluish-green light emitting features of europium doped barium aluminate (BaAl2O4:Eu2+) phosphor

Eu doped barium aluminate is an important material for light emitting devices. Here we report structural, optical absorption and emission features of 1–5 % Eu doped barium aluminate phosphor and explore its ‘anomalous’ emission feature. The structural analysis suggests that the undoped sample has a mixture of BaAl2O4 and BaAl12O19. On the other hand, the samples doped with Eu have a mixture of BaAl2O4, Ba(Al2O4) and BaAl12O19 phases. Among these, the major phase in all the samples was BaAl2O4. The undoped sample shows a high absorption peak at around 209 nm followed by three weak intensity peaks apparent at around 250, 288 and 338 nm. In contrast, all the doped samples show three maxima at around 209, 266 and 340 nm. The position and intensity of these absorption maxima are found to vary with the Eu concentration. The optical bandgap of the undoped sample is estimated to be 5.05 eV and it is found to reduce to 4.68 eV after doping of Eu at 5 %. All the samples produce common PL emission peaks centred at ∼405, 428 and 456 nm due to potential oxygen vacancies. The doped samples show additional peaks at around 485, 518 and 657 nm due to Eu2+ and Eu3+ ions. In particular, the sample doped with 2 % of Eu produces a strong anomalous emission band of Eu2+ ion in the bluish-green region. Our study reveals that the broadband bluish-green emission of Eu2+ ions can be achieved when the barium aluminate crystal is doped by 2 % of Eu. When the host is doped by Eu at >2 % or <2 %, the emission band associated with oxygen vacancies dominates over the Eu2+ emission.

Investigation of the influence of Eu, Yb, and Eu:Yb codoping on ZnO highly-crystalline nanofibers prepared by electrospinning method

Facile synthesis method of undoped and rare earth metals (REM) doped (RE = Yb, Eu and Eu:Yb) one-dimensional ZnO nanostructures with high REM concentration using electrospinning followed by calcination at 500 °C were carried out. One-dimensional (1D) ceramic nanostructures were characterized in terms of morphology, structure, and optical properties. The analysis carried out revealed highly crystalline nature of ZnO wurtzite structure and hybrid nanofibers with a mixture of crystalline phases. High-resolution X-Ray Photon Spectroscopy spectra confirmed successful Eu and Yb modification of ZnO lattice revealing the existence of Eu2+, Eu3+ and Yb3+ ions. The optical properties results showed reduction in optical energy band gap from 3.02 eV to 2.55 eV for undoped and Eu:Yb doped ZnO 1D nanostructures, respectively. The influence of Eu, Yb, and Eu:Yb codoping on ZnO electrospun nanostructures was investigated, and potential application of such obtained nanofibers was proposed as photon upconversion material for photocatalysis.

Influence of Li3BO3 on the stability of Li1.5Al0.5Ge1.5(PO4)3 glass-ceramics with Li4Ti5O12 anode

All-solid-state Li+ batteries have a number of advantages over traditional batteries with a liquid electrolyte. One of the key problems related to their creation is the choice of compatible materials. In this work, the chemical and thermal stability of Li1.5Al0.5Ge1.5(PO4)3 solid electrolyte versus Li4Ti5O12 anode was studied. Nanostructured Li4Ti5O12 powder with the mean particle size of about 500 nm was synthesized by sol-gel method. NASICON-type structured Li1.5Al0.5Ge1.5(PO4)3 solid electrolyte obtained by the crystallization of the monolithic glass exhibits a high lithium-ion conductivity (5·10−4 S cm−1 at 25 °C) and a compact microstructure. The thermal behavior of their mechanical mixture and the resistance of the solid electrolyte|electrode half-cells were investigated. The influence of Li3BO3 addition on the interface between the solid electrolyte and composite anode is also discussed. According to DSC data, the interaction of Li1.5Al0.5Ge1.5(PO4)3 with Li4Ti5O12 begins at 545 °C, while Li3BO3 leads to a slight increase in their thermal stability up to 632 °C. It was established that Li2TiO3 and TiO2 impurities are formed after annealing the Li1.5Al0.5Ge1.5(PO4)3:Li4Ti5O12 mixture at 600 and 700 °C. However, Li3PO4 and AlPO4 phases begin to appear after annealing the studied mixture at 800 °C. In case of the Li3BO3-containing mixture, Li4B2O5, Li3PO4, LiTi2O4 and AlPO4 phases are formed only after annealing at 700 °C, while heating at 800 °C leads to the complete degradation of the Li1.5Al0.5Ge1.5(PO4)3 solid electrolyte. The resistance of the cells with Li4Ti5O12 anode decreases when the annealing temperature rises from 500 to 800 °C. The introduction of Li3BO3 into the composite anode leads to an increase in the interface resistance under the same heat treatment conditions.

Effect of Mo addition on the mechanical and tribological properties of magnetron sputtered TiN films

Ternary-based titanium nitride (TiN) thin films have drawn attention toward rational applications due to their wear resistance, high hardness, and corrosion resistance. The influence of Mo content on the structural, tribological, and mechanical properties of TiN films is reported in this study. The microstructure and elemental composition of the as-deposited TiMoN films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), nanoindentation, and ball-on-disc wear tests. XRD results showed that the as-sputtered TiMoN films consisted of a formation of solid solution of TiN and MoN mixture phases. With 18 at. % of Mo, the mechanical property of TiMoN films was enhanced, and the film exhibited a high hardness of 28 GPa. Moreover, this addition led to a wear rate of 0.40 and 6.34 × 10−6 mm3/Nm and to lower the friction coefficient to values lower than the corresponding binary TiN film. This was attributed to the multi-phase strengthening and higher (H/E, H3/E2) values, which indicate that the mechanical properties and the wear resistance of TiN can be enhanced by alloying with Mo.

Review on Nano-Emulsion Drug Delivery System and Formulation, Evaluation and Their Pharmaceutical Applications

Nano-emulsion drug delivery system such as develop to eliminate the limitations with traditional drug administration system. This review provided a good overview of the recent advances in the Nano-emulsion drug delivery system. These are nano-sized submicron emulsions developed to enhanced the circulates of active pharmaceutical ingredients to targeted site. Nano-emulsion is a homogeneous mixture of lipid and aqueous phase and stabilization is obtained through the use of an effective substance such as emulsifying agents. The droplet size has been range between the 50-500 nm. The size and shape of the substance distributed throughout the usual process differentiates of emulsion, micro-emulsion, and nano-emulsion. Nano-emulsion gives a novel dosage form for less water solubility drugs and increases pharmacological activity of drugs. Nano-emulsion is used in the future cosmetic industry, diagnostic testing, drug treatment, and biotechnology. This analysis aims to include brief information on the nano-emulsion, advantages, disadvantages, limitations of nano-emulsion, types of nano-emulsion, components of formulations, surface active agents (Surfactant), preparation methods, characterization methods with strong attention of different pharmaceutical applications of nano-emulsion in a different area such as cancer and tumors therapy, targeted drug delivery, mucosal vaccine, trans-dermal drug delivery system.

Superionic Conductivity in Sodium Zirconium Chloride-Based Compounds.

All-solid-state sodium batteries are attracting intensive attention, and chloride-based solid electrolytes are promising candidates for use in such batteries because of their high chemical stability and low Young's modulus. Here, we report new superionic conductors based on polyanion-added chloride-based materials. Na0.67 Zr(SO4 )0.33 Cl4 showed a high ionic conductivity of 1.6 mS cm-1 at room temperature. X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that the highly conducting materials are mainly a mixture of an amorphous phase and Na2 ZrCl6 . The conductivity might be dominated by the electronegativity of the central atom of the polyanion. Electrochemical measurements reveal that Na0.67 Zr(SO4 )0.33 Cl4 is a sodium ionic conductor and is suitable for use as a solid electrolyte in all-solid-state sodium batteries.

Phase Behavior of Ternary Polymer Mixtures in a Common Solvent.

The Edmond-Ogston model for phase separation is extended to ternary polymer mixtures in a common solvent (de facto a quaternary mixture). The model assumes a truncated virial expansion of the Helmholtz free energy up to the second-order terms in the concentration of the polymers, and the second virial coefficients (B11, B22, B33, B12, B13, B23) are the six parameters of the model. New results from this model are presented in relation to earlier work on binary mixtures: a necessary condition for the virial coefficients for the occurrence of phase separation in two or three phases, an analysis of the different regions of (local) thermodynamic instability using the Descartes sign rule, an expression for the critical curves, a relation between the tangents in points along the critical curve, a relation between the concentration of components in the different phases according to the so-called Lambert-W function, and a consistency check for the composition of coexisting phases in ternary mixtures. The obtained results are evaluated in the maximally symmetric version of the model, where (B11, B22, B33) are equal and (B12, B13, B23) are equal, which leads to two remarkable observations: the concentration range over which two phases are formed is relatively narrow; not all phase separation occurs within a Gibbs triangle, but also, "out-of-Gibbs-triangle" binodals are observed. These results lead to a deeper insight into the phase behavior of ternary mixtures and show promise as a stepping stone toward modeling phase separation in mixtures with many components.

Element distribution of grading in red mud at different temperatures based on TIMA and EDS analysis.

In this paper, element distribution patterns of red mud particles with different grading temperatures were explored based on TIMA and EDS, and alkali removal performance of different particle sizes under high temperature grading was compared. The results show that non-clay phases in the particles coagulate with the clay phases of different sodium contents during stacking process, thus forming a mixture phase containing clay phase and other impurities. The potential of grading utilization of red mud is displayed by process mineralogy studies. The elements and phases of different particle sizes of red mud cannot be effectively separated by grading at room temperature. Due to high-temperature grading, red mud is divided into three particle sizes, namely, a (above 100 μm), b (38-100 μm), and c (below 38 μm), with Na2O contents of 3.25%, 2.31%, and 8.13%, respectively, decreasing to 1.00%, 0.27%, and 2.99% after alkali removal. The different elements and phases of red mud can be effectively separated by high-temperature grading, which promotes the classification of different particle sizes and the comprehensive utilization of red mud.

Site Disorder as a Predictor for Compositionally Complex 5RE2Zr2O7 Ceramic Phase Stability

AbstractPhase formation and stability of five component compositionally complex rare earth zirconates (5RE2Zr2O7) were investigated by X‐ray diffraction and electron microprobe analysis. Zirconates with different rare earth compositions (LaNdSmEuDy, LaNdSmEuYb, LaNdEuErYb, LaNdDyErYb, SmEuDyYHo, LaYHoErYb, and DyYHoErYb) were synthesized at 1700°C and 2000°C by the solid‐state method to investigate the effect of A‐site site disorder (δA) on phase stability. Increased site disorder results from mixed cation occupancy with localized crystallographic strain and bond disorder. Compositions LaNdSmEuDy (δA = 4.6) and LaNdSmEuYb (δA = 6.0) produced a single pyrochlore phase and compositions SmDyYHoErYb (δA = 2.8), LaYHoErYb (δA = 6.2), and DyYHoErYb (δA = 1.7) produced a single fluorite phase. High δA compositions LaNdEuErYb (δA = 6.9) and LaNdDyErYb (δA = 7.2) produced a pyrochlore and fluorite phase mixture at 1700°C. Single phase was obtained for the latter composition at 2000°C. Of the single phase compositions calcined at 1700°C, LaNdSmEuYb and LaYHoErYb (both with largest δA) showed decomposition to mixed fluorite and pyrochlore phases during lower temperature anneals, indicating entropic stabilization. Comparison with prior work shows a temperature dependence of the critical δA for phase stability, and compositions near it are expected to be entropy stabilized.

Transesterification of Palm Oil Catalyzed by CaO/SiO2 Prepared from Limestone and Rice Husk Silica

In this study, CaO/SiO2 composites were prepared from rice husk silica (RH-SiO2) and limestone from a local company. The composites with different mass ratios of CaO to SiO2 (1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:5, and 1:10) were synthesized using the sol-gel technique and characterized using XRF, XRD, and SEM. The composites were then used as catalysts for the transesterification of palm oil, with the main purpose to investigate the effect of catalyst compositions on the percentage of conversion of the oil. The results of XRD and SEM confirm the existence of RH-SiO2 as an amorphous material, and CaO as crystalline material, while the composites are a mixture of amorphous and crystalline phases. The catalysts were then used in transesterification experiments and the percentage of oil conversion was calculated. To confirm the successful conversion of palm oil into fatty acid methyl esters, the products of the reactions were analyzed using GC-MS. The experimental results demonstrated that the composites prepared exhibit catalytic activity, with the highest conversion (60%) achieved using the catalyst with the CaO to SiO2 ratio of 1:3.

Thermodynamic Study of the Electric Field Effect on Liquid-Vapor Mixture at Equilibrium: An Analysis on a Water-Ethanol Mixture.

In this paper, the effect of electric fields on phase equilibria through polarization is investigated. A relation is derived for the chemical potential of a system, where the electric field is localized over a liquid phase mixture in equilibrium with a vapor phase mixture. This relation is then applied to a water-ethanol mixture to explore the effect of polarization-based electric fields on the liquid phase composition. It is observed that the quadratic dependence on electric field strength produces little effect below field strengths of approx. 10 MV/m. However, above this field strength, the mole fraction of water in the liquid phase grows rapidly, increasing by a factor of 8 for a water vapor phase fraction of 0.2 and a field strength of 500 MV/m, which approaches the dielectric breakdown strength of water. Nonetheless, this field strength could be achievable with microfluidic experimental setups.