0000000000143588
AUTHOR
Kimmo Lahtonen
Fractal-like Hierarchical CuO Nano/Microstructures for Large-Surface-to-Volume-Ratio Dip Catalysts
Dip catalysts are attracting interest in both academia and industry for catalyzing important chemical reactions. These provide excellent stability, better recoverability, recyclability, and easy scale-up. Using the unique microstructures of leaf skeletons, we present a fractal-like hierarchical surface that can be used as a versatile and efficient dip catalyst. Copper oxide microcactuses with nanoscalar features were fabricated onto the Bauhinia racemosa leaf skeletons via a combination of physical vapor deposition, electroplating, and chemical oxidation methods. The coated leaf skeletons have a very high surface area, and the three-dimensional (3D) morphology allows the reactants to encoun…
Improved antifouling properties and selective biofunctionalization of stainless steel by employing heterobifunctional silane-polyethylene glycol overlayers and avidin-biotin technology
AbstractA straightforward solution-based method to modify the biofunctionality of stainless steel (SS) using heterobifunctional silane-polyethylene glycol (silane-PEG) overlayers is reported. Reduced nonspecific biofouling of both proteins and bacteria onto SS and further selective biofunctionalization of the modified surface were achieved. According to photoelectron spectroscopy analyses, the silane-PEGs formed less than 10 Å thick overlayers with close to 90% surface coverage and reproducible chemical compositions. Consequently, the surfaces also became more hydrophilic, and the observed non-specific biofouling of proteins was reduced by approximately 70%. In addition, the attachment of E…