Search results for "INTERFACE"

Surface Characteristics Control the Attachment and Functionality of (Chimeric) Avidin

2018

The physical adsorption (physisorption) of proteins to surfaces is an important but incompletely understood factor in many biological processes and is of increasing significance in bionanotechnology as well. Avidin is an important protein because of strong avidin–biotin binding, which has been exploited in numerous applications. We have undertaken thorough experimentation on the physisorption of avidin, to chemically different flat surfaces of Si and graphite and also to the curved version of the latter, on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) of different diameters. The difference in the behavior of avidin on Si versus graphite is drastic; on Si, avidin deposits as single globular tetramer…

Polymeric drug delivery micelle-like nanocarriers for pulmonary administration of beclomethasone dipropionate

2017

In this paper, the potential of novel polymeric micelles as drug delivery systems for Beclomethasone Dipropionate (BDP) administration into the lung is investigated. These nanostructures are obtained starting from α,β-poly(N-2-hydroxyethyl)-D,L-aspartamide (PHEA), which was subsequently functionalized with O-(2-aminoethyl)-O’-methylpolyethylenglycole (PEG2000), ethylenediamine (EDA) and lipoic acid (LA), obtaining PHEA-PEG2000-EDA-LA graft copolymer. Empty and drug-loaded micelles possess adequate chemical-physical characteristics for pulmonary administration such as spherical shape, slightly positive surface charge and mean size of about 200 nm. Besides, BDP-loaded micelles, obtained …

Control of CaCO3 Crystallization by Demixing of Monolayers

2006

In this paper we describe how to template a demixed monolayer into a spatially patterned inorganic replica. For this purpose a new amphiphilic monomer was synthesized which can be polymerized both in solution and in the monolayer of a Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) trough. Since it inhibits the crystallization of CaCO3, it can be used--in combination with stearic acid (nucleation-promotor)--to control CaCO3 crystals formed under the monolayer. Investigations of the two-component monolayer (Langmuir isotherms and AFM measurements of transferred films) show--in the biphasic region--demixing in solid analogue stearic acid domains and the liquid analogue phase of the monomer. Crystallization of CaCO3 s…

Against Expectations: Unassisted RNA Adsorption onto Negatively Charged Lipid Bilayers

2019

The composition and physicochemical properties of biological membranes can be altered by diverse membrane integral and peripheral proteins as well as by small molecules, natural and synthetic. Diverse oligonucleotides have been shown to electrostatically interact with cationic and bivalent ion loaded zwitterionic liposomes, leading to the formation of oligonucleotide-liposome aggregates. However, interaction of RNAs with other membrane surfaces remains ill understood. We used the nonnatural RNA10 to investigate RNA binding to anionic and net-uncharged membrane surfaces. RNA10 had initially been selected in a screen for nonnatural RNA motives that bind to phosphatidylcholine liposomes in the…

Protein-lipid interactions at the air-water interface.

2010

International audience; Protein−lipid interactions play an important role in a variety of fields, for example in pharmaceutical research, biosensing, or food science. However, the underlying fundamental processes that govern the interplay of lipids and proteins are often very complex and are therefore studied using model systems. Here, Langmuir monolayers were used to probe the interaction of a model protein with lipid films at the air−water interface. The protein β-lactoglobulin (βlg) is the major component in bovine milk serum, where it coexists with the milk fat globular membrane. During homogenization of milk, βlg adsorbs to the interface of lipid fat globules and stabilizes the oil-in-…

Epitaxial growth of molybdenum on TiO2(110)

2003

Abstract Molybdenum was deposited on blue (i.e. non-stoichiometric) TiO2(1 1 0) surface using a very low deposition rate (less than 0.05 eqML min−1). The resulting deposit was investigated by means of X-ray photoelectron diffraction (XPD), LEED and XPS. Just after deposition, the film is mainly constituted of metallic molybdenum, contains oxygen homogeneously dispersed through the whole deposit and the broad features detected in XPD scans are interpreted as a coarse epitaxy between TiO2(1 1 0) surface and the (0 0 1) face of bcc molybdenum. The orientation relationship is: Mo(1 0 0)[0 0 1]//TiO2(1 1 0)[0 0 1]. After annealing the deposit at 673 K, XPD scans become sharper and epitaxy is ach…

Effect of kinks and concerted diffusion mechanisms on mass transport and growth on stepped metal surfaces

1997

Abstract We study the effect of kinks and concerted atomic mechanisms on diffusion processes relevant to metal-on-metal homoepitaxy on fcc metal surfaces vicinal to the fcc (100) direction. First, we carry out extensive finite-temperature molecular dynamics simulations based on the effective medium theory to search for diffusion mechanisms that dominate the mass transport perpendicular and parallel to step edges. Then, the energetics of these processes are studied by ground state calculations. Our results show that kinks play an important role for diffusion both across and along step edges. In particular, the combined effect of kinks and concerted exchange is found to be able to remove loca…

Dynamics of multilayer adsorption: a Monte Carlo simulation

1992

Abstract The growth of an adsorbed film at an initially empty surface which is exposed at time t = 0 to a gas is studied within the framework of a kinetic lattice gas model by Monte Carlo simulation. The model includes an attractive potential V ( z ) between adsorbed particles at distance z from the surface, V(z) = −A z 3 and a nearest-neighbor attractive interaction between the gas atoms. Several choices of the surface potential depth A , corresponding to different sequence of layering transitions, are considered. The Monte Carlo process assumes random evaporation/condensation events of gas atoms in adsorbed layers close to the surface, while surface diffusion is disregarded. For temperatu…

Interface Diffusion Controlled Sintering of Atomically Clean Surfaces of Metals

2003

Competition between surface reaction and diffusion of gold deposited onto ZrTe3

2003

Abstract Surface reaction and diffusion of gold, deposited onto the (0 0 1) ZrTe 3 van der Waals (vdW) surface, is studied by transmission electron and scanning tunneling microscopy. It is shown that both processes compete at temperatures as low as room temperature. In case of diffusion the deposited gold mostly disappears from the surface and intercalates into the vdW gaps of the substrate. Residual unreacted gold agglomerates are rather mobile and are often displaced by the scanning tip along the [1 0 0] direction of the substrate. In case of reaction, which usually takes place at somewhat higher substrate temperatures, grains of Zr 3 Te 2 , AuTe 2 and/or Au 2 Te 3 are formed. Contrary to…