TY - JOUR A1 - Kneipp, Janina A1 - Zancajo, Victor M.R. A1 - Diehn, S. A1 - Filiba, N. A1 - Elbaum, R. T1 - Spectroscopic Discrimination of Sorghum Silica Phytoliths JF - Frontiers in Plant Science N2 - Grasses accumulate silicon in the form of silicic acid, which is precipitated as amorphous silica in microscopic particles termed phytoliths. These particles comprise a variety of morphologies according to the cell type in which the silica was deposited. Despite the evident morphological differences, phytolith chemistry has mostly been analysed in bulk samples, neglecting differences between the varied types formed in the same species. In this work, we extracted leaf phytoliths from mature plants of Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench. Using solid state NMR and thermogravimetric analysis, we show that the extraction methods alter greatly the silica molecular structure, its condensation degree and the trapped organic matter. Measurements of individual phytoliths by Raman and synchrotron FTIR microspectroscopies in combination with multivariate analysis separated bilobate silica cells from prickles and long cells, based on the silica molecular structures and the fraction and composition of occluded organic matter. The variations in structure and composition of sorghum phytoliths suggest that the biological pathways leading to silica deposition vary between these cell types. KW - Phytoliths KW - Biosilicification KW - Raman KW - Sorghum KW - Solid state NMR KW - Synchrotron FTIR PY - 2019 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-502672 DO - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2019.01571 VL - 10 SP - 1571 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne AN - OPUS4-50267 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Heck, Christian A1 - Kanehira, Y. A1 - Kneipp, Janina A1 - Bald, Ilko T1 - Amorphous Carbon Generation as a Photocatalytic Reaction on DNA-Assembled Gold and Silver Nanostructures JF - Molecules N2 - Background signals from in situ-formed amorphous carbon, despite not being fully understood, are known to be a common issue in few-molecule surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Here, discrete gold and silver nanoparticle aggregates assembled by DNA origami were used to study the conditions for the formation of amorphous carbon during SERS measurements. Gold and silver dimers were exposed to laser light of varied power densities and wavelengths. Amorphous carbon prevalently formed on silver aggregates and at high power densities. Time-resolved measurements enabled us to follow the formation of amorphous carbon. Silver nanolenses consisting of three differently-sized silver nanoparticles were used to follow the generation of amorphous carbon at the single-nanostructure level. This allowed observation of the many sharp peaks that constitute the broad amorphous carbon signal found in ensemble measurements. In conclusion, we highlight strategies to prevent amorphous carbon formation, especially for DNA-assembled SERS substrates. KW - Amorphous carbon KW - DNA origami KW - SERS KW - Nanoparticle dimers KW - Nanolenses PY - 2019 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-486484 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24122324 SN - 1420-3049 VL - 24 IS - 12 SP - Article Number: 2324-1 EP - 10 PB - MDPI AN - OPUS4-48648 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Palantöken, Sinam A1 - Bethke, K. A1 - Zivanovic, V. A1 - Kneipp, Janina A1 - Rademann, Klaus A1 - Kalinka, Gerhard T1 - Cellulose hydrogels physically crosslinked by glycine: Synthesis, characterization, thermal and mechanical properties JF - Journal of Applied Polymer Science N2 - Biopolymers are very efficient for significant applications ranging from tissue engineering, biological devices to water purification. There is a tremendous potential value of cellulose because of ist being the most abundant biopolymer on earth, swellability, and functional groups to be modified. A novel, highly efficient route for the fabrication of mechanically stable and natural hydrogels is described in which cellulose and glycine are dissolved in an alkaline solution of NaOH and neutralized in an acidic solution. The dissolving temperature and the glycine amount are essential parameters for the self-assembly of cellulose chains and for Tuning the morphology and the aggregate structures of the resulting hydrogels. Glycine plays the role of a physical crosslinker based on the Information obtained from FTIR and Raman spectra. Among the prepared set of hydrogels, CL5Gly30 hydrogels have the highest capacity to absorb water. The prepared CL5Gly30 gels can absorb up to seven times their dry weight due to its porous 3-D network structure. CL5Gly10 hydrogel exhibits 80% deformation under 21 N force executed. The method developed in this article can contribute to the application of heavy metal adsorption in aqueous solutions for water purification and waste management. KW - Biopolymer KW - Cellulose KW - Hydrogel KW - Natural KW - Synthesis PY - 2019 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-486845 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/APP.48380 SN - 1097-4628 SN - 0021-8995 VL - 136 SP - 48380, 1 EP - 11 PB - Wiley CY - USA AN - OPUS4-48684 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -