Search results for "layer"

The effect of the surface disordered layer on the photoreactivity of titania nanoparticles

2017

It is well known that the surface of metal oxide catalysts presents, usually, non-crystalline species containing impurities and low coordinated cations, which are observed in HRTEM images as a disordered layer of amorphous phase. Despite of being these species more accessible and less stable than the crystalline catalysts components, they have been rarely considered when analysing the catalyst activity. In this work, we have studied the effect of a treatment with HCl solution at pH = 0 on the characteristics of the disordered layer in two commercial anatase TiO2 samples, using techniques such as TGA, 1H MAS-NMR and HRTEM, and by determining these sample photocatalytic activity for the 4-nit…

2018

We report a novel multi-step method for the preparation of ordered mesoporous titania scaffolds and show an illustrative example of their application to solar cells. The method is based on (monolayer) colloidal nanosphere lithography that makes use of polystyrene nanoparticles organised at a water–air interface and subsequently transferred onto a solid substrate. A titania precursor solution (titanium(IV) isopropoxide in ethanol) is then drop-cast onto the monolayer and left to “incubate” overnight. Surprisingly, instead of the expected inverse monolayer-structure, a subsequent calcination step of the precursor yields an ordered monolayer of hollow titania nanospheres with a wall thickness …

TiO2 anatase films obtained by direct liquid injection atomic layer deposition at low temperature

2014

International audience; TiO2 thin films were grown by direct liquid injection atomic layer deposition (DLI-ALD) with infrared rapid thermal heating using titanium tetraisopropoxide and water as precursors. This titanium tetraisopropoxide/water process exhibited a growth rate of 0.018 nm/cycle in a self-limited ALD growth mode at 280 degrees C. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy analyses have shown a smooth surface with a low roughness. XPS results demonstrated that the films were pure and close to the TiO2 stoichiometric composition in depth. Raman spectroscopy revealed that the films were crystallized to the anatase structure in the as-deposited state at low temperatu…

Tailoring the Structural, Optical, and Photoluminescence Properties of Porous Silicon/TiO2 Nanostructures

2015

The structural, optical, and photoluminescence properties of porous silicon (PSi)/titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanostructures were investigated. PSi structures consisting of macro- and mesoporous layers were fabricated by metal-assisted chemical etching, and then TiO2 was introduced inside the PSi matrix using the atomic layer deposition technique. We performed scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, ellipsometry, and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy to characterize the prepared and annealed PSi/TiO2 nanostructures. TEM and Raman analyses revealed that TiO2 had a crystalline anatase stru…

Comparison of aerosol size distributions measured at ground level and calculated from inversion of solar radiances

2005

Ground-based sunphotometry measurements can be used to investigate atmospheric aerosol optical properties, such as the volume size distribution, an important parameter in the study of the effect of aerosol on atmospheric processes. Most inversion algorithms assume constant aerosol optical characteristics over the whole air column. In this work we present observational evidence of the limitations of this simplifying assumption in cases where the aerosol vertical structure is highly inhomogeneous. During the field campaign VELETA 2002, carried out in Granada (Spain), a quite complete characterization of the atmospheric aerosol was obtained by simultaneously measuring the columnar aerosol char…

Homogeneous Langmuir-Blodgett Film of Double-Chain Ammonium Amphiphile Complexed with Anionic Polymer

1988

Heterogeneous textures suggesting the coexistence of a fluid and a solid phase were found both in a surface monolayer and in a deposited Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) film of double-chain ammonium amphiphiles by fluorescence microscopy. Although an annealing of the surface monolayer at 40°C allowed crystal growth, the heterogeneous phase separation remained in the LB film. A drastic change of the fluorescence image shows that the recrystallization of the complexed monolayer with anionic polymers conducted the homogeneous monolayer.

Anionic Lipids Modulate the Activity of the Aquaglyceroporin GlpF

2015

AbstractThe structure and composition of a biological membrane can severely influence the activity of membrane-embedded proteins. Here, we show that the E. coli aquaglyceroporin GlpF has only little activity in lipid bilayers formed from native E. coli lipids. Thus, at first glance, GlpF appears to not be optimized for its natural membrane environment. In fact, we found that GlpF activity was severely affected by negatively charged lipids regardless of the exact chemical nature of the lipid headgroup, whereas GlpF was not sensitive to changes in the lateral membrane pressure. These observations illustrate a potential mechanism by which the activity of an α-helical membrane protein is modula…

Conductance and Ion Selectivity of a Mesoscopic Protein Nanopore Probed with Cysteine Scanning Mutagenesis

2005

Nanometer-scale proteinaceous pores are the basis of ion and macromolecular transport in cells and organelles. Recent studies suggest that ion channels and synthetic nanopores may prove useful in biotechnological applications. To better understand the structure-function relationship of nanopores, we are studying the ion-conducting properties of channels formed by wild-type and genetically engineered versions of Staphylococcus aureus alpha-hemolysin (alphaHL) reconstituted into planar lipid bilayer membranes. Specifically, we measured the ion selectivities and current-voltage relationships of channels formed with 24 different alphaHL point cysteine mutants before and after derivatizing the c…

Comparative analysis of the electrostatics of the binding of cationic proteins to vesicles: Asymmetric location of anionic phospholipids

2009

The role of electrostatics is studied in the adsorption of cationic proteins to zwitterionic phosphatidylcholine (PC) and anionic PC/phosphatidylglycerol (PG) mixed small unilamellarvesicles (SUVs). For model proteins the interaction is monitored vs. PG content at low ionic strength. The adsorption of lysozyme and myoglobin (isoelectric point, pl 7-11) is investigated in SUVs, along with changes of the fluorescence emission spectra of the cationic proteins, via their adsorption on SUVs. In the Gouy-Chapman formalism, the activity coefficient goes with the square of charge number. Deviations from the ideal model could indicate the asymmetric location of the anionic phospholipid in the bilaye…

Watching adsorption and electron beam induced decomposition on the model system Mo(CO)(6)/Cu(111) by X-ray absorption and photoemission spectroscopies

2013

Abstract An in-depth study of the first steps of electron beam assisted growth of Mo from molybdenum hexacarbonyl on Cu(1 1 1) has been carried out exploiting the complementarity of X-ray photoemission and X-ray absorption spectroscopies. Frank van der Merwe (2D) growth mode has been observed for the completion of the two first monolayers of adsorbed molecules through a simple physisorption process. Irradiation of the Mo(CO)6 deposit by 1 keV electron beam induces a modification of molybdenum coordination, the average number of C-neighbors decreasing from 6 to 3. Decomposed molecules remain on the surface after annealing at 520 K and organize themselves, the molybdenum atoms moving in Cu(1 …