Ultraviolet-visible Light Spectrophotometry Research Articles

Fluorescence 'off-on' probe for lead (II) detection based on Atractylodes III CQDs and bioimaging.

In this work, a type of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) with bright blue emission was readily fabricated through one-step hydrothermal treatment from Atractylodes III. We explored the surface morphology and optical properties of the CQDs using transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction patterns, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and ultraviolet-visible light spectrophotometry. The obtained CQDs possessed good photoluminescence properties, water solubility, and biocompatibility. The fluorescence quantum yield of these was 3.72%. It was found that the fluorescence intensity of CQDs was quenched by picric acid. After adding lead (II), the fluorescence could be effectively recovered. Therefore, an 'off-on' fluorescence probe was designed to detect lead (II) in the range 0-580 μM and the limit of detection was 0.068 μM. In addition, the experiments showed that the CQDs could be successfully used in bioimaging and as a hidden fluorescent ink.

Antibacterial, Antifungal, and Antioxidant Activities of Silver Nanoparticles Biosynthesized from Bauhinia tomentosa Linn.

The biogenic synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) has a wide range of applications in the pharmaceutical industry. Here, we synthesized AgNPs using the aqueous flower extract of Bauhinia tomentosa Linn. Formation of AgNPs was observed using ultraviolet-visible light spectrophotometry at different time intervals. Maximum absorption was observed after 4 h at 420 nm due to the reduction of Ag+ to Ag0. The stabilizing activity of functional groups was identified by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Size and surface morphology were also analyzed using scanning electron microscopy. The present study revealed the AgNPs were spherical in form with a diameter of 32 nm. The face-centered cubic structure of AgNPs was indexed using X-ray powder diffraction with peaks at 2θ = 37°, 49°, 63°, and 76° (corresponding to the planes of silver 111, 200, 220, 311), respectively. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy revealed that pure reduced silver (Ag0) was the major constituent (59.08%). Antimicrobial analyses showed that the biosynthesized AgNPs possess increased antibacterial activity (against Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive) and Escherichia coli (Gram-negative), with larger zone formation against S. aureus (9.25 mm) compared with that of E. coli (6.75 mm)) and antifungal activity (against Aspergillus flavus and Candida albican (with superior inhibition against A. flavus (zone of inhibition: 7 mm) compared with C. albicans (zone of inhibition: 5.75 mm)). Inhibition of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity was found to be dose-dependent with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of 56.77 μg/mL and 43.03 μg/mL for AgNPs and ascorbic acid (control), respectively, thus confirming that silver nanoparticles have greater antioxidant activity than ascorbic acid. Molecular docking was used to determine the mode of antimicrobial interaction of our biosynthesized B. tomentosa Linn flower-powder extract-derived AgNPs. The biogenic AgNPs preferred hydrophobic contacts to inhibit bacterial and fungal sustainability with reducing antioxidant properties, suggesting that biogenic AgNPs can serve as effective medicinal agents.

Wood-based carbon quantum dots for enhanced photocatalysis of MIL-88B(Fe)

Abstract To improve the Fenton-like photodegradation efficiency of MIL-88B(Fe) in visible light, carbon quantum dots (CQDs) were prepared from poplar wood powder as a raw material and added to a precursor solution of MIL-88B(Fe) to prepare CQDs@MIL-88B(Fe) materials using hydrothermal method. CQDs@MIL-88B(Fe) were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Brunner Emmett Teller (BET), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Ultraviolet visible light spectrophotometry (UV–vis), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), photoluminescence spectra (PL), and photocurrent test. In this study, methylene blue (MB) was used as the target pollutant to test the catalytic performance of MIL-88B(Fe) and CQDs@MIL-88B(Fe), and the main free radicals involved in the reaction were determined by adding superoxide dismutase (SOD) and isopropanol (IPA) for comparative experiments. The experimental results show that because CQDs can be used as a photosensitizer and electron trapping agent, the light absorption capacity and photogenic carrier separation efficiency of CQDs@MIL-88B(Fe) were improved. Hence CQDs@MIL-88B(Fe) produced hydroxyl radicals more efficiently. Within 1 h, the degradation rate of MB by CQDs@MIL-88B(Fe) was about 99%. After five cycles of recycling, the degradation rate of MB by CQDs@MIL-88B(Fe) was still 92%. These results indicate that CQDs have good application potential in enhancing Fenton-like photodegradation.

Photocatalytic properties of TiO2-SiO2 sandwich multilayer films prepared by sol-gel dip-coating

TiO2–SiO2 sandwich multilayer films on sapphire substrates were prepared via the sol–gel method and their structural and photocatalytic properties were investigated. The samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and ultraviolet–visible light spectrophotometry. The photocatalytic activities of the samples were evaluated based on their photodegradation of methylene blue in an aqueous solution. The presence of SiO2 in the sandwich structure generated more trap levels and improved photocatalytic activity. In particular, the presence of SiO2 in the second layer from the surface resulted in superior photocatalytic activity owing to the thinner TiO2 layer at the surface, which allowed holes to reach the surface easily to react with methylene blue.

Band Offsets, Optical Conduction, Photoelectric and Dielectric Dispersion in InSe/Sb2Te3 Heterojunctions

InSe based heterojunction devices gain importance in optoelectronic applications in NIR range as multipurpose sensors. For this reason, InSe/Sb2Te3 heterojunctions are constructed as NIR sensors by the thermal evaporation technique. The structural, optical, dielectric and photoelectric properties of InSe/Sb2Te3 heterojunctions are explored by X-ray diffraction and ultraviolet-visible light spectrophotometry techniques. The structural analyses revealed the preferred growth of polycrystalline hexagonal Sb2Te3 onto amorphous InSe as a major phase. Optically, the coating of Sb2Te3 onto InSe enhanced the light absorbability of InSe by more than 18 times, redshifts the energy band gap, increased the dielectric constant by ~5 times and increased the optical conductivity by 35 times in the NIR range of light. A conduction and valance band offsets of 0.40 and 0.68 eV are determined for the InSe/Sb2Te3 heterojunction devices. In addition, the Drude-Lorentz fittings of the optical conductivity indicated a remarkable increase in the plasmon frequency values upon depositing of Sb2Te3 onto InSe. The illumination intensity and time dependent photocurrent measurements resulted in an enhancement in the photocurrent values by one order of magnitude. The response time of the devices is sufficiently short to nominate the InSe/Sb2Te3 heterojunction devices as fast responding NIR sensors suitable for optoelectronic applications.

Enhancing the optoelectronic performance of As2Se3 thin films via Ag slabs sandwiching

In this work, the effects of insertion of Ag slabs of thicknesses of 50, 100 and 200 nm between layers of arsenic selenide are reported. The glassy structured As2Se3 is characterized by X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, ultraviolet-visible light spectrophotometry and impedance spectroscopy techniques. While the two stacked layers of As2Se3 exhibited high absorption and energy band gap values that nominate them for optoelectronic applications, the Ag slabs enhanced the light absorbability by 3.98, 5.77, 6.13 times and shrunk the energy band gap by 1.16 %, 7.40 % and 13.8 % for Ag slabs of thicknesses of 50, 100 and 200 nm, respectively. In addition, even though the As2Se3/As2Se3 layers exhibited negative capacitance effect in the frequency domain of 0.01–1.80 GHz, the insertion of Ag slabs removed the negative capacitance effect and forced the capacitance spectra to exhibit resonance at critical frequency of value of 0.23 GHz. The modeling of the capacitance spectra have shown that the geometrical capacitance is increased by one order of magnitude upon Ag slabs insertion. The dynamic capacitance is limited by electrons (holes) plasmonic interaction at the interface between the As2Se3/Ag/As2Se3 layers. Furthermore, the capacitance- voltage characteristics of the As2Se3/Ag/As2Se3 films confirmed the suitability of the devices to exhibit MOS device features. The characteristics of the stacked layers of As2Se3 indicate their multi-functionality as an optical absorbers/receivers and as microwave cavities.

Light absorption properties of brown carbon (BrC) in autumn and winter in Beijing: Composition, formation and contribution of nitrated aromatic compounds

Nitro-aromatic compounds (NACs) are an important part of brown carbon because of their strong light absorbing properties in the visible and near ultraviolet regions. In this study, the concentration and formation mechanism of eight NACs, as well as their relative contribution to the light absorption of methanol-extracted BrC, were determined from fine particle samples collected in Beijing using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry and ultraviolet–visible light spectrophotometry. The average concentrations of the eight NACs were 20.27 ± 12.40 ng m−3 and 74.17 ± 50.66 ng m−3 in autumn and winter, respectively. Among the detected NACs, 4-nitrophenol (4NP) and 4-nitrocatechol (4NC) were the most abundant compounds. The correlation analysis showed that the NACs other than 2,4-dinitrophenol (2,4-DNP) are strongly intercorrelated. Significant correlations among nitro catechols (NCs), nitro salicylic acids (NSAs) and NO2 support their proposed origin from secondary formation in the presence of •OH + NO2 (daytime process) or •NO3+NO2 (nighttime process). Significant correlations among nitrate, sulfate and NSAs were also found, indicating that the nitration of salicylic acid by nitric acid and sulfuric acid was another possible mechanism formation of NSAs. The methanol-extracts in winter had much higher light absorption than those in autumn, which is in agreement with the trend of NACs but contrary to the trends of PM2.5, water soluble ions, organic carbon and elemental carbon. The average absorption Ångström exponents (AAEs) during autumn and winter were 4.62 and 5.55, respectively, suggesting that secondary transformation were the main sources of BrC. The light absorption of NACs accounted for 1.17% and 3.18% of the total methanol-soluble BrC light absorption at λ = 365 nm in autumn and winter, respectively, while their masses only accounted for 0.16% and 0.44% of the OC, respectively, demonstrating that although NACs are not the major contributor to BrC, but they are strong BrC chromophores, and their influence on solar radiation should be included in future modeling work.

In Situ Observation of Heat-Assisted Hexagonal-Orthorhombic Phase Transitions in Se/Ag/Se Sandwiched Structures and Their Effects on Optical Properties

In this work, two selenium layers of 500-nm thickness, nano-sandwiched with Ag nanosheets of 100-nm thickness (Se/Ag/Se), are subjected to in situ monitoring of the structural and optical transitions during heating over a temperature range of 303–473 K by x-ray diffraction and ultraviolet–visible light spectrophotometry, respectively. The Se/Ag/Se thin films are observed to exhibit a transformation from an amorphous to a polycrystalline phase at 343 K. Increasing the temperature above 363 K enhances the crystallinity of the hexagonal phase, reduces the microstrain, increases the crystallite size and reduces the defect density. Accordingly, the optical absorption spectra are redshifted upon heating. The redshift is accompanied by a transition in the energy band gap from 2.03 eV to 1.85 eV as the material structural phase is transformed from amorphous to polycrystalline. Increasing the temperature causes the energy band gap to shrink. Another permanent phase transformation from hexagonal to orthorhombic is detected when the Se/Ag/Se system is allowed to cool. Scanning electron microscopy images show that the phase transformation converts the grains of Se/Ag/Se films from wire-shaped to nanotubes. The second phase transformation causes a blueshift in the absorption coefficient spectra and increases the energy band gap. The structural and optical parameter enhancements achieved via heating render the Se thin films more suitable for optoelectronic applications.

Quantitative Analysis of Branched-chain Amino Acids in Five Nutritional Supplements Using a Leucine Dehydrogenase Assay (P23-004-19)

Abstract Objectives The objective of this experiment was to determine the branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) content in five different sport nutrition supplements compared to the amount claimed on the label. Methods To measure the BCAA content of five nutritional supplements, a leucine dehydrogenase enzyme assay was used. This enzyme catalyzes the reaction of turning the given BCAA (L-leucine, L-valine, and L-isoleucine), water, and NAD+ into their respective metabolite, NH3, NADH, and H+. Ultraviolet-visible light spectrophotometry (UV/Vis) was used at 340 nm to create a standard curve. This curve uses the Beer-Lambert Law to measure NADH concentration from absorbance. NADH is in a 1:1 ratio with each BCAA molecule thus relaying the content of the given sample. The assay is specific to the three BCAAs in their free form. Other amino acids, as well as BCAAs in oligopeptides, do not interfere with this experiment. Products including oligo- and polypeptides were not included for testing. The assay was performed for each product and ran against a known standard (≥98% L-leucine) for validation. Due to different supplements having different BCAA amounts per serving, % content of the claimed amount was measured. Results Compared to the amount provided by the labels of each supplement, BCAA content was on average only 61% of the manufacturer claims when compared to ≥98% L-leucine. This shows that these BCAA supplements do not meet label claims for BCAA content (P < 0.01). Conclusions The five tested nutritional supplements contain significantly less branched-chain amino acid content than claimed on the label. This experiment can be expanded on in the future to test content of other BCAA containing supplements to determine how common underdosing is in the industry as a whole. Funding Sources The author claims no funding sources.

Investigation of the structural and optoelectronic properties of the Se/Ga2S3 heterojunctions

In the current study, the structural and optical properties of the Se/Ga2S3 heterojunctions are investigated by means of X-ray diffraction and ultraviolet–visible light spectrophotometry techniques. The optical interface which was prepared by the physical vapor deposition technique, comprises a polycrystalline orthorhombic selenium layer of thickness of 500 nm coated with amorphous layer of 200 nm thick Ga2S3. The top layer is observed to cause yield stress on the Se layer leading to strained type interface. Optically, the evaporation of Ga2S3 onto selenium blue shifted the energy band gap of Se. The conduction and valence band offsets exhibited values of 1.28 and 0.20 eV, respectively. On the other hand, the optical conductivity spectra which were studied and modeled by the Drude-Lorentz approach in the terahertz frequency domain of 275–675 THz revealed enhanced optical conduction parameters. The use of Se as substrate to Ga2S3 enhanced the drift mobility and plasmon frequency of the Ga2S3. The value of the drift mobility reached 64 cm2/Vs at plasmon frequency of 2.04 GHz. In addition, the Se/Ga2S3 interface are observed to exhibit high biasing dependent photosensitivity to visible light irradiation. Such properties of this interface nominate it for use in optoelectronics including visible light communications.

Characterization of TlInS1.8Se0.2 as advanced functional crystals

In this work, selenium doped TlInS1.8Se0.2 crystals are used to fabricate multifunctional devices that can handle more than one duty at a time. After revealing the morphological, compositional, structural and optical properties of the doped crystal, it is sandwiched between Ag and carbon metals. The crystals are characterized by means of ultraviolet-visible light spectrophotometry, impedance spectroscopy and illumination dependent current-voltage characteristics techniques. While the optical spectroscopy allowed determining the energy band gap of the crystals as well as the optical conductivity in the terahertz frequency domain, the impedance spectroscopy allowed identifying the conductance and reflectance spectra in the gigahertz frequency domain. The two techniques reveal promising characteristics presented by optical switching at 2.20 eV and band pass filtering properties in mega/gigahertz frequency domains. On the other hand, the analysis of the current (I)- voltage (V) characteristics which are recorded in the dark and under photoexcitation of unfiltered tungsten light in the light power range of 25–130 mW, revealed light intensity dependent rectifying properties. Particularly, the modeling of the experimental I-V curves in accordance with the Richardson Schottky and Chueng's theoretical approaches have shown that the Schottky diode ideality factor, series resistance and barrier height decreases with increasing light power. Such behavior indicates wide tunability of the device when used as photosensors. With the features presented by small size, photosensitivity, gigahertz/terahertz spectral responses, the device can be promising element for use in visible light and microwave communications.

Effect of Au/Ge substrate on the properties of GaSe

In this work, the effect of glass/Ge and Au/Ge substrate on the structural, optical and electrical properties of the GaSe thin films is investigated by means of X-ray diffraction, ultraviolet-visible light spectrophotometry and impedance spectroscopy techniques, respectively. While the glass/Ge, glass/GaSe and glass/Ge/GaSe are observed to exhibit amorphous nature of structure, the Au/Ge, and Au/Ge/GaSe are of polycrystalline nature. The formation of the Ge/GaSe interface exhibited high conduction band offset of value of ∼0.90 eV and enhanced the light absorbability of GaSe at 1.47 eV by 80 times. In addition, the modeling of the dielectric spectra for the Ge/GaSe interface revealed optical conductivity parameters presented by scattering time at femtosecond level and improvement of the drift mobility. Moreover, the impedance spectroscopy measurements have shown that with the increasing frequency, the Au/Ge/GaSe/Yb interface exhibit increasing trend of variation in the resistance causing high impedance mode associated with negative capacitance values below 1300 MHz. The effect is completely reversed in the higher range of frequency. These features of the Ge/GaSe interface nominate it as plasmonic interface, microwave cavities and as voltage amplifiers in low power nanoscale devices.

Physical properties of neodymium tin oxide pyrochlore ceramics

AbstractIn this work, physical properties of neodymium tin oxide pyrochlore ceramics prepared by solid state reaction technique are investigated by means of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, ultraviolet-visible light (UV-Vis) spectrophotometry and temperature dependent electrical resistivity measurements. The pyrochlore is observed to have a cubic FCC crystal lattice with lattice parameter of 10.578 Å. The planes of the cubic cell are best oriented in the [2 2 2] direction. From the X-ray, the UV-Vis spectrophotometry and the electrical resistivity data analysis, the grain size, strain, dislocation density, optical and thermal energy band gaps, localized energy band tail states and resistivity activation energies are determined and discussed. The pyrochlore is observed to have an optical energy band gap of ~3.40 eV. This value corresponds to 365 nm UV light spectra which nominates the neodymium tin oxide pyrochlore ceramics for the use as UV sensors.

Design and Characterization of the Ge/Ga2S3 Heterojunction

In this work, the formation and properties of Ga2S3 thin films deposited onto polycrystalline Ge substrates are studied by means of scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray analyzer, Raman spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction techniques, ultraviolet–visible light spectrophotometry in the range of 300–1100 nm and by ac signal power spectroscopy in the range of 0.2–3.0 GHz. The first four techniques allowed the determining of the stoichiometry, the vibrational frequencies, the lattice parameters, the plane orientations, the strain and the defect density for the interface. In addition, it was observed that the Ge/Ga2S3 interface exhibited conduction and valence band offsets of 0.83 eV and 0.82 eV, respectively, and the real part of the dielectric spectra experimentally exhibited four resonance peaks centered at frequencies above 357 THz. Moreover, the computational analysis of the imaginary part of the dielectric constant via the Drude–Lorentz model has shown that the interface wave filtering properties are controlled by the electron–plasmon coupling with plasma frequencies in the range of 1.33–2.30 GHz. The drift mobility of electrons in this range was found to be 15.61 cm2/Vs. The real ability of the interface to control wave propagation was confirmed with ac signals propagating tests. The plasmonic features of the interface nominate it for use in microwave cavities and as wireless terahertz receivers.

Low-temperature synthesis and investigations on photocatalytic activity of nanoparticles BiFeO3 for methylene blue and methylene orange degradation and some toxic organic compounds

The photocatalytic BiFeO3 perovskite nanoparticles were fabricated by gel combustion method using polyvinyl alcohol and corresponding metal nitrate precursors under the optimum mild conditions such as pH 2, gel formation temperature of 80 °C, metal/polyvinyl alcohol molar ratio of 1/3, metal molar ratio Bi/Fe of 1/1 and calcination temperature at 500 °C for 2 h. The prepared sample was characterized by x-ray diffraction, field scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Brunauer–Emmetl–Teller nitrogen adsorption method at 77 K, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible light spectrophotometry, and thermal analysis. The effects of molar ratios of starting material and calcination temperature on phase formation and morphology were investigated. The degradation of methylene blue, methylene orange and some toxic organic compounds such as phenol and diazinon under visible light irradiation by photocatalytic BiFeO3 nanoparticles were evaluated at different parameters and conditions such as the light intensity determined from the light source to the measured sample, the addition H2O2, reaction time and the regeneration performance. Obtained results showed that the synthesized perovskite BiFeO3 nanoparticles for the optimized sample have a size smaller than 50 nm and the high mean surface area of 50 m2 g−1. Degradation efficiency was almost 90.0% for methylene blue and 80.0% for methylene orange with added H2O2 after 30 min of reaction. After the 3rd time of regeneration, the BiFeO3 nanoparticles still have 92.8% of the degradation performance for removing methylene blue. Phenol and diazinon toxic compound were degraded with the performance of 92.42% and 85.7%, respectively, for 150 min

Dielectric Dispersion in Ga2S3 Thin Films

In this work, the structural, compositional, optical, and dielectric properties of Ga2S3 thin films are investigated by means of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersion X-ray analysis, and ultraviolet—visible light spectrophotometry. The Ga2S3 thin films which exhibited amorphous nature in its as grown form are observed to be generally composed of 40.7 % Ga and 59.3 % S atomic content. The direct allowed transitions optical energy bandgap is found to be 2.96 eV. On the other hand, the modeling of the dielectric spectra in the frequency range of 270–1,000 THz, using the modified Drude-Lorentz model for electron-plasmon interactions revealed the electrons scattering time as 1.8 (fs), the electron bounded plasma frequency as ~0.76–0.94 (GHz) and the reduced resonant frequency as 2.20–4.60 ×1015 (Hz) in the range of 270–753 THz. The corresponding drift mobility of electrons to the terahertz oscillating incident electric field is found to be 7.91 (cm 2/Vs). The values are promising as they nominate the Ga2S3 thin films as effective candidates in thin-film transistor and gas sensing technologies.

Optical interactions in the InSe/CdSe interface

In this work, the structural and optical properties of the InSe/CdSe heterojunction are investigated by means of X-ray diffraction and ultraviolet-visible light spectrophotometry techniques. The hexagonal CdSe films that were deposited onto amorphous InSe and onto glass substrates at a vacuum pressure of 10−5 mbar, exhibited interesting optical characteristics. Namely, the absorption, transmission, and reflection spectra that were recorded in the incident light wavelength range of 300–1100 nm, for the InSe, CdSe, and InSe/CdSe interface revealed direct allowed transition energy bandgaps of 1.44, 1.85, and 1.52 eV, respectively. The valence-band offset for the interface is found to be 0.36 eV. On the other hand, the dielectric constant spectral analysis displayed a large increase in the real part of the dielectric constant associated with decreasing frequency below 500 THz. In addition, the optical conductivity spectra that were analyzed and modeled in accordance with the Drude theory displayed a free-carrier average scattering time of 0.4 fs and a drift mobility of 6.65 cm2 V−1 s−1 for the InSe/CdSe interface. The features of this interface nominate it as a promising member for the production of optoelectronic Schottky channels and as thin-film transistors.

Structural and optical characterization of film deposited by pulsed plasma thruster plume

In order to study the characteristics of the films deposited by pulsed plasma thruster plume and assess contamination arising from the exhaust plume, the compositions of the pulsed plasma thruster plume are studied by means of mass spectrum analysis, the structural properties of the films deposited at different angles on the cathode side of the thruster are investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared absorption spectroscopy, and the optical properties of the films are studied by ultraviolet-visible light spectrophotometry. The results show that the plume consists primarily of C, F, CF, CF2, CF3, that low fluorine-carbon ration carbon fluorine films are deposited by pulsed plasma thruster plume, and that the chemical bondings and structures of these films present different trends in different regions with 30 degree angle as the boundary. These films basically show that they have strong absorption properties for wavelengths below 500 nm and have enhanced reflective characteristics. Due to influence of the characteristics of the deposited films, the optical properties of these films present signigicant angular dependences.

Fluorescence and Structural Degradation in Composite Resins as a Function of Temperature*

Detecting composite resin upon postmortem examination can be difficult. Ultraviolet illumination has been suggested to ease location of this material; however, this may not be advisable in incineration situations. Understanding of the chemical and physical properties of resin as a function of temperature is an important parameter in identification of this material in incineration circumstances. Twenty-seven discs of resin, Quixx (Dentsply), Filtek Supreme (3 M), and Tetric Ceram (Ivoclar) were prepared and exposed to increasing heating conditions of 200 degrees C-900 degrees C in 100 degrees C increments for 30 min. Analysis was performed with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible light spectrophotometry, scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, optical microscopy, and UV illumination. Characterization of the material occurred at each temperature range. The organic components and the fluorescence properties were lost at temperatures above 300 degrees C. The inorganic component remained through 900 degrees C. This information can aid in detection of resin in high temperature circumstances.

Rheology and dispersion behavior of high‐impact polystyrene/ethylene–vinyl acetate copolymer/TiO2 nanocomposites

AbstractTiO2 nanoparticles were introduced into high‐impact polystyrene (HIPS) in the form of a master batch in which TiO2 was predispersed in composites of HIPS and ethylene–vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) by melt compounding. The resulting materials were analyzed with a Rosand Precision rheometer, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and ultraviolet–visible light spectrophotometry. The results showed that the introduction of TiO2 nanoparticles into HIPS influenced the apparent viscosity of the composites to a rather small extent. The addition of EVA could regulate the rheological behavior of the HIPS/TiO2 master batch greatly. EVA helped the dispersions of the agglomerates of TiO2 nanoparticles in the flow; this was featured by the distinct yielding in the flow after the introduction of EVA, as well as the large change in the non‐Newtonian indices. The dispersions of the HIPS/TiO2 master batch in the HIPS matrix were improved greatly by the addition of EVA. TiO2 nanoparticles were dispersed randomly in HIPS/EVA/TiO2 nanocomposites. The dispersion improvement of the HIPS/EVA/TiO2 master batch was also proved by atomic force microscopy and ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy investigations. The mechanical properties of HIPS/EVA/TiO2 nanocomposites with low TiO2 contents were slightly higher than those of pure HIPS. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100: 4434–4438, 2006