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Glycolide was polymerized in bulk by means of four different ROPPOC catalysts: tin(II) 2-ethylhexanoate (SnOct2), dibutyltin bis(pentafluoro-phenoxide) (BuSnOPF),zinc biscaproate (ZnCap), and zinc bis(pentafluoro-phenyl sulfide) (ZnSPF). The temperature was varied between 110 and 180°C and the time between 3 h and 7 days. For the few polyglycolides (PGAs) that were soluble extremely high molecular masses were obtained. The MALDI TOF mass spectra had all a low signal-to-noise ration and displayed the peaks of cyclic PGAs with a“saw-tooth pattern ”indicating formation of extended-ring crystallites in the mass range below m/z 2500. The shape of DSC curves varied considerably with catalyst and reaction conditions, whereas the long-distance values measured by SAXS were small and varied little with the polymeriza-tion conditions.
A corrosion study is performed on six variations of titanium grade 5 (Ti6Al4V) samples. Samples are prepared in different conditions by variation of preanodization, postanodization, and picosecond-laser (ps-laser) surface treatment, while polished and anodized samples serve as reference. Microcones and nanosized periodic surface features are successfully produced on Ti6Al4V samples. The morphology and topography of the structures are visualized by scanning electron microscopy and white light interference microscopy. Furthermore, the relative electrochemically active surface area (ECSA) is determined for the ps-laser-treated samples. It is determined that the preanodized and laser-treated sample has 3.5 times larger ECSA than a polished sample, and that the laser-treated sample has 4.1 times larger area. Moreover, Tafel analysis is performed to determine the corrosion properties of the samples. It is shown that the corrosion resistance improves for both laser-structured samples after the anodization. To further study the surface of the samples, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements are conducted. The study indicates that the ps-laser-treated and anodized Ti6Al4V is suitable to be used for the fabrication of bone screws and plates due to its improved corrosion resistance as compared to nonanodized samples.
There is only sparse empirical data on the settling velocity of small, non-buoyant microplastics thus far, although it is an important parameter governing their vertical transport within aquatic environments. This study reports the settling velocities of 4031 exemplary microplastic particles. Focusing on the environmentally most prevalent particle shapes, irregular microplastic fragments of four different polymer types (9–289 µm) as well as five discrete length fractions (50–600 µm) of common nylon and polyester fibers were investigated, respectively. All settling experiments were carried out in quiescent water using a specialized optical imaging setup. The method has been previously validated in order to minimize disruptive factors, e.g. thermal convection or particle interactions, and thus enable the precise measurements of the velocities of individual microplastic particles (0.003–9.094 mm/s). Based on the obtained data, ten existing models for predicting a particle’s terminal settling velocity were assessed. It is concluded that models, which were specifically deduced from empirical data on larger microplastics, fail to provide accurate predictions for small microplastics. Instead, a different approach is highlighted as a viable option for computing settling velocities across the microplastics continuum in terms of size, density and shape.
AbstractMicroplastics (MP) can be detected in all environmental systems. Marine and terrestrial aquatic systems, especially the transported suspended solids, have often been the focus of scientific investigations in the past. Sediments of aquatic river systems, on the other hand, were often ignored due to the time‐consuming sample preparation and analysis procedures. Spectroscopic measurement methods counting particle numbers are hardly suitable as detection methods, because there are plenty of natural particles next to a small number of MP particles. Integral methods, such as thermoanalytical methods are determining the particle mass independently of the inorganic components.In this study, a workflow for sample preparation via density separation and subsequent analysis by thermal extraction desorption‐gas chromatography/mass spectrometry is presented, which leads to representative and homogeneous samples and allows fast and robust MP mass content measurements suitable for routine analysis. Polymers were identified and quantified in all samples. Polyethylene and styrene‐butadiene rubber are the dominant polymers, besides polypropylene and polystyrene. Overall, total polymer masses between 1.18 and 337.0 µg/g could be determined. Highest MP concentrations in riverbed sediment are found in sites characterized by low flow velocities in harbors and reservoirs, while MP concentrations in sandy/gravelly bed sediments with higher flow velocities are small.
The plastic value chain, central part of modern living, caused environmental pollution and bioaccumulation of plastic nanoparticles (PNPs). Their ubiquitous presence in different environmental and biological compartments has become a serious threat to human health and ecosystems. Frequently used plastic materials such as polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene (PE) have been detected in the form of PNPs in the food chain, soil, water and air, as well as in human feces and blood. In this study, we aimed to provide novel insights in endocrine disrupting properties of PNPs using in vitro estrogen receptor (ER) transactivation assay. The effects of PP-NPs, PE-NPs and PS-NPs and their mixture on T47D-KBluc cell line stably transfected with luciferase as reporter enzyme was evaluated by means of cytotoxicity, cellular uptake and ER activation. Tested dose range for PNPs was 0.001 – 10 mg/L. Both cellular uptake and cytotoxicity for all PNPs was found to be dose-dependent. Only the highest dose of PP-NPs and PE-NPs induced apoptosis and cell death, while PS-NPs were not cytotoxic in tested dose range. For tested concentrations, PP-NPs and PE-NPs showed significant agonistic activity on ER, while PS-NPs cannot be considered ER active. When, applied as mixture, PNP demonstrated additive toxicity effects compared to the effect of each individual PNPs. Additivity was also observed for ER agonistic effect of PNPs mixture according to the benchmark dose-addition modelling approach. This study provides missing science-based evidence on endocrine disrupting effects of PE-NPs, PP-NPs, PS-NPs and their mixtures and highlights the importance of considering unintentional, aggregate and combined exposure to different PNPs in risk management.
The LOBSTER (Deringer et al., 2011;Maintz et al., 2013 ,2016 ;Nelson et al., 2020 ) software aids in extracting quantum-chemical bonding information from materials by projecting the plane-wave based wave functions from density functional theory (DFT) onto an atomic orbital basis. LobsterEnv, a module implemented in pymatgen (Ong et al., 2013) by some of the authors of this package, facilitates the use of quantum-chemical bonding information obtained from LOBSTER calculations to identify neighbors and coordination environments. LobsterPy is a Python package that offers a set of convenient tools to further analyze and summarize the LobsterEnv outputs in the form of JSONs that are easy to interpret and process. These tools enable the estimation of (anti) bonding contributions, generation of textual descriptions, and visualization of LOBSTER computation results. Since its first release, both LobsterPy and LobsterEnv capabilities have been extended significantly. Unlike earlier versions, which could only automatically analyze Crystal Orbital Hamilton Populations (COHPs) (Dronskowski & Blöchl, 1993), both can now also analyze Crystal Orbital Overlap Populations (COOP) (Hughbanks & Hoffmann, 1983) and Crystal Orbital Bond Index (COBI) (Müller et al., 2021). Extracting the information about the most important orbitals contributing to the bonds is optional, and users can enable it as needed. Additionally, bonding-based features for machinelearning (ML) studies can be engineered via the sub-packages “featurize” and “structuregraphs”. Alongside its Python interface, it also provides an easy-to-use command line interface (CLI) that runs automatic analysis of the computations and generates a summary of results and publication-ready figures. LobsterPy has been used to produce the results in Ngo et al. (2023), Chen et al. (2024), Naik et al. (2023), and it is also part of Atomate2 (2023) bonding analysis workflow for generating bonding analysis data in a format compatible with the Materials Project (Jain et al., 2013) API.
AbstractThe high-temperature corrosion behaviors of the equimolar CrCoNi medium-entropy alloy and CrMnFeCoNi high-entropy alloy were studied in a gas atmosphere consisting of a volumetric mixture of 10% H2O, 2% O2, 0.5% SO2, and 87.5% Ar at 800 °C for up to 96 h. Both alloys were initially single-phase fcc with a mean grain size of ~ 50 μm and a homogeneous chemical composition. The oxide layer thickness of CrMnFeCoNi increased linearly with exposure time while it remained constant at ~ 1 μm for CrCoNi. A Cr2O3 layer and minor amounts of (Co,Ni)Cr2O4 developed on the latter while three oxide layers were detected on the former, i.e., a thin and continuous chromium rich oxide layer at the oxide/alloy interface, a dense (Mn,Cr)3O4 layer in the center and a thick and porous layer of Mn3O4 and MnSO4 at the gas/oxide interface. Additionally, a few metal sulfides were observed in the CrMnFeCoNi matrix. These results were found to be in reasonable agreement with thermodynamic calculations.
The production of plastics is rising since they have been invented. Micro, submicro- and nanoplastics are produced intentionally or generated by environmental processes, and constitute ubiquitous contaminants which are ingested orally by consumers. Reported health concerns include intestinal translocation, inflammatory response, oxidative stress and cytotoxicity. Every digestive milieu in the gastrointestinal tract does have an influence on the properties of particles and can cause changes in their effect on biological systems. In this study, we subjected plastic particles of different materials (polylactic acid, polymethylmethacrylate, melamine formaldehyde) and sizes (micro- to nano-range) to a complex artificial digestion model consisting of three intestinal fluid simulants (saliva, gastric and intestinal juice). We monitored the impact of the digestion process on the particles by performing Dynamic Light Scattering, Scanning Electron Microscopy and Asymmetric Flow Field-Flow Fractionation. An in vitro model of the intestinal epithelial barrier was used to monitor cellular effects and translocation behavior of (un)digested particles. In conclusion, artificial digestion decreased cellular interaction and slightly increased transport of all particles across the intestinal barrier. The interaction with organic matter resulted in clear differences in the agglomeration behavior. Moreover, we provide evidence for polymer-, size- and surface-dependent cellular effects of the test particles.
We present Jobflow, a domain-agnostic Python package for writing computational workflows tailored for high-throughput computing applications. With its simple decorator-based approach, functions and class methods can be transformed into compute jobs that can be stitched together into complex workflows. Jobflow fully supports dynamic workflows where the full acyclic graph of compute jobs is not known until runtime, such as compute jobs that launch
other jobs based on the results of previous steps in the workflow. The results of all Jobflow compute jobs can be easily stored in a variety of filesystem- and cloud-based databases without the data storage process being part of the underlying workflow logic itself. Jobflow has been intentionally designed to be fully independent of the choice of workflow manager used to dispatch the calculations on remote computing resources. At the time of writing, Jobflow
workflows can be executed either locally or across distributed compute environments via an adapter to the FireWorks package, and Jobflow fully supports the integration of additional workflow execution adapters in the future.
Titanium and its alloys are known to allow the straightforward laser-based manufacturing of ordered surface nanostructures, so-called high spatial frequency laser-induced periodic surface structures (HSFL). These structures exhibit sub-100 nm spatial periods – far below the optical diffraction limit. The resulting surface functionalities are usually enabled by both, topographic and chemical alterations of the nanostructured surfaces. For exploring these effects, multi-method characterizations were performed here for HSFL processed on Ti–6Al–4V alloy upon irradiation with near-infrared ps-laser pulses (1030 nm, ≈1 ps pulse duration, 1–400 kHz) under different laser scan processing conditions, i.e., by systematically varying the pulse repetition frequency and the number of laser irradiation passes. The sample characterization involved morphological and topographical investigations by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), tactile stylus profilometry, as well as near-surface chemical analyses hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) and depth-profiling time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). This provides a quantification of the laser ablation depth, the geometrical HSFL characteristics and enables new insights into the depth extent and the nature of the non-ablative laser-induced near-surface oxidation accompanying these nanostructures. This allows to answer the questions how the processing of HSFL can be industrially scaled up, and whether the latter is limited by heat-accumulation effects.
Inputs of plastic impurities into the environment via the application of fertilizers are regulated in Germany and the EU by means of ordinances. Robust and fast analytical methods are the basis of legal regulations. Currently, only macro- and large microplastic contents (>1 mm) are measured. Microplastics (1–1,000 µm), are not yet monitored. Thermal analytical methods are suitable for this purpose, which can determine the mass content and can also be operated fully automatically in routine mode. Thermal extraction desorption-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TED-GC/MS) allows the identification of polymers and the determination of mass contents in solid samples from natural environments. In accordance with the German or European Commission (EC) Fertiliser Ordinance, composting plants should be monitored for microplastic particles with this method in the future. In this context a compost plant was sampled. At the end of the rotting process, the compost was sieved and separated in a coarse (>1 mm) and a fine fraction (<1 mm). The fine fraction was processed using density separation comparing NaCl and NaI as possible salt alternative and screened for microplastic masses by TED-GC/MS with additional validation and quality assurance experiments. With TED-GC/MS total microplastics mass contents of 1.1–3.0 μg/mg in finished compost could be detected with polyethylene mainly. What differs much to the total mass of plastics in the coarse fraction with up to 60 μg/mg, which were visually searched, identified via ATR-FTIR and gravimetrically weighted.
A giant Zn segregation transition is revealed using CALPHAD-integrated density-based modeling of segregation into Fe grain boundaries (GBs). The results show that above a threshold of only a few atomic percent Zn in the alloy, a substantial amount of up to 60 at.% Zn can segregate to the GB. We found that the amount of segregation abruptly increases with decreasing temperature, while the Zn content in the alloy required for triggering the segregation transition decreases. Direct evidence of the Zn segregation transition is obtained using high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy. Base on the model, we trace the origin of the segregation transition back to the low cohesive energy of Zn and a miscibility gap in Fe-Zn GB, arising from the magnetic ordering effect, which is confirmed by ab-initio calculations. We also show that the massive Zn segregation resulting from the segregation transition greatly assists with liquid wetting and reduces the work of separation along the GB. The current predictions suggest that control over Zn segregation, by both alloy design and optimizing the galvanization and welding processes, may offer preventive strategies against liquid metal embrittlement.
A new concept for the ecotoxicological assessment of plastics under consideration of aging processes
(2023)
Microplastics are widely distributed in aquatic and terrestrial environments, but up to now less is known about (eco)toxicological impacts under realistic conditions. Research so far has focused mainly on impacts on organisms by fresh, single‐origin plastic fragments or beads. However, plastics found in the environment are complex in composition, this means different polymer types and sources, with and without additives and in all stages of age, and therefore, in a more or less advanced stage of degradation. For oxidized degradation products that might be released from plastic materials during aging, there is a lack of information on potentially adverse effects on aquatic biota. The latter is of particular interest as oxidized degradation products might become more water soluble due to higher polarity and are more bioavailable, therefore. The present study focused on plastic leachates of polystyrene (PS) and polylactic acid (PLA), which were derived from alternating stress by hydrolysis and ultraviolet (UV) radiation—representing a realistic scenario in the environment. Test specimens of PS, PLA, or a PLA/PS layer (each 50%) were alternately exposed to UV radiation for 5 days followed by hydrolysis for 2 days, for several weeks alternating. Ecotoxicological effects of the storage water (artificial freshwater) of the test specimens and additionally, in a second experimental setup, the effects of five potential polymer degradation products were detected by 72 h algae growth inhibition tests with Desmodesmus subspicatus. Results clearly indicate inhibitory effects on algae growth by contaminants in the storage water of stressed plastics with increasing growth inhibition of proceeding hydrolysis and UV stress times. Different polymers caused variable inhibitions of algae growth with stronger inhibitions by PS and less effects by PLA and the mixed layer of both. Moreover, not microplastic particles but the resulting dissolved degradation products after aging caused the ecotoxicological effects—with strong effects by the oxidized degradation products. The existing data highlight the relevance of plastic aging as a framework for microplastic ecotoxicity evaluation and allow a proof of concept.
A fast method for microplastic detection is thermal extraction desorption‐gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TED‐GC/MS), which uses polymer‐specific thermal decomposition products as marker compounds to determine polymer mass contents in environmental samples. So far, matrix impacts of different environmental matrices on TED‐GC/MS performance had not yet been assessed systematically. Therefore, three solid freshwater matrices representing different aquatic bodies with varying organic matter contents were spiked with a total of eight polymers. Additionally, for the first time, the two biodegradable polymers polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) and polylactide (PLA) were analysed using TED‐GC/MS. The methodological focus of this work was on detectability, quality of signal formation as well as realisation of quantification procedures and determination of the limit of detection (LOD) values. Overall, TED‐GC/MS allowed the unambiguous detection of the environmentally most relevant polymers analysed, even at low mass contents: 0.02 wt% for polystyrene (PS), 0.04 wt% for the tyre component styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) and 0.2 wt% for polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE) and PBAT. Further, all obtained LOD values were increased in all matrices compared to the neat polymer without matrix. The LOD of the standard polymers were increased similarly (PS: 0.21–0.34 μg, SBR: 0.27–0.38 μg, PP: 0.32–0.36 μg, PMMA: 0.64–1.30 μg, PET: 0.90–1.37 μg, PE: 3.80–6.99 μg) and their decompositions by radical scission processes were not significantly influenced by the matrices. In contrast, matrixspecific LOD increases of both biodegradable polymers PBAT (LOD: 1.41–7.18 μg) and PLA (0.84–20.46 μg) were observed, probably due to their hetero‐functional character and interactions with the matrices. In conclusion, the TED‐GC/MS performance is not solely determined by the type of the polymers but also by the composition of the matrix.
Ring-expansion polymerizations (REPs) catalyzed by two cyclic tin catalysts (2-stanna-1.3-dioxa-4,5,6,7-dibenzazepine [SnBiph] and
2,2-dibutyl-2-stanna-1,3-dithiolane [DSTL]) are performed at 140 °C in bulk.
Small amounts (4 vol%) of chlorobenzene or other solvents are added to
facilitate transesterification reactions (ring–ring equilibration) in the solid poly(l-lactide)s. In the mass range up to m/z 13 000 crystalline PLAs displaying a so-called saw-tooth pattern in the MALDI-TOF mass spectra are obtained indicating the formation of extended-ring crystals. The characteristics of extended-ring crystallites and folded-ring crystallites are discussed. Furthermore, extremely high melting temperatures (Tm’s up to 201.2 °C) and melting enthalpies (𝚫Hm’s up to 106 J g−1)) are found confirming that 𝚫Hm max, the 𝚫Hm of a perfect crystal, is around or above 115 J g−1 in contrast to literature data.
We demonstrate a strategy for simulating wide-range X-ray scattering patterns, which spans the small- and wide scattering angles as well as the scattering angles typically used for Pair Distribution Function (PDF) analysis. Such simulated patterns can be used to test holistic analysis models, and, since the diffraction intensity is on the same scale as the scattering intensity, may offer a novel pathway for determining the degree of crystallinity.
The "Ultima Ratio" strategy is demonstrated on a 64-nm Metal Organic Framework (MOF) particle, calculated from Q < 0.01 1/nm up to Q < 150 1/nm, with a resolution of 0.16 Angstrom. The computations exploit a modified 3D Fast Fourier Transform (3D-FFT), whose modifications enable the transformations of matrices at least up to 8000^3 voxels in size. Multiple of these modified 3D-FFTs are combined to improve the low-Q behaviour. The resulting curve is compared to a wide-range scattering pattern measured on a polydisperse MOF powder. While computationally intensive, the approach is expected to be useful for simulating scattering from a wide range of realistic, complex structures, from (poly-)crystalline particles to hierarchical, multicomponent structures such as viruses and catalysts.
Microplastic particles with sizes between 1 to 1000 μm are widely distributed worldwide. Origin, transport pathways and fate are poorly known, as sampling, sample preparation and detection methods are major challenges. In addition, reference materials that mimic environmental particles are lacking. Most challenging is the yield of MP particle production and the need for resource-intensive grinding with liquid nitrogen. In this paper, a machine is designed to produce aged microplastic particles as reference material candidates with high yield. The machine is based on ultraviolet aging of a thin foil and mechanical fragmentation using clean air. An example of aging and fragmentation of high density polyethylene with additional physical and chemical characterization of shape, size, aging state by carbonyl index and density is presented.
Showcasing research from the Federal Institute for Material Research and Testing Berlin and Fraunhofer Institute for Celltherapy and Immunology Branch Bioanalytics and Bioprocesses Potsdam.
Bio-SAXS of single-stranded DNA-binding proteins: Radiation protection by the compatible solute ectoine.
We aimed to increase the possible undisturbed exposure time during bio-SAXS measurements of single-stranded DNA-binding proteins. Therefore small angle X-ray scattering was performed on Gene-V Protein (G5P/GVP), which is involved in DNA repair processes. To achieve this, irradiations were performed in presence and absence of the hydroxyl-radical scavenger and osmolyte Ectoine, which showed efficient radiation protection and prevented protein aggregation, thus allows for a non-disturbing way to improve structure-determination of biomolecules.
This study reflects typical consumer textile washing behaviour while taking into account existing standards in the household appliance and garment industries. Two garments were washed repeatedly with artificial dirt and detergent 30 times. The collected washing water was separated using fractional filtration. Textile physical tests were used to follow property changes of the garments, the microplastic release is determined using thermoextraction/desorbtion–gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and the total organic carbon was measured as a sum parameter for the organic bonded carbon. This article shows the importance of a reality‐based approach when investigating microplastics of textile origin in the laundry care process. Deposits of detergent and dirt on the textiles were detected. The total mass of sieve residues was much higher than the release of synthetic polymers. The cotton content of the garments causes a much higher fibre release than synthetic fibres. Both will lead to false results by purely gravimetric analysis because nonpolymer fibres will be included microplastic mass. The results cannot be generalised only by the main polymer type, knowledge of the textile construction must be included for final evaluation.
Large, ink-bottle-shaped pores in mesocellular foams (MCFs) are desired for various applications requiring enhanced mass transfer or the immobilization of larger compounds. Hence, the cylindrical pores of COK-12, an ordered mesoporous silica structurally comparable to SBA-15 but synthesized at room-temperature at quasi-neutral pH, are chemically swollen into ink-bottle pores. Therefore, p-xylene is used as a more sustainable swelling agent compared to popular alternatives. Its high boiling point allows for an additional thermal aging step to amplify the mesostructure enlargement without needing additional chemicals. For COK-12, the MCFs obtained at room temperature reach an unprecedented plateau for the modal mesopore cell and window diameter of 19.9 and 5.5 nm, respectively, with an underlying broad pore size distribution and distorted hexagonal lattice up to 14.5 nm, involving hexagonal and spherical structures. The combined chemical and thermal swelling resulted in the selective enlargement of the window diameter to more than 200% and a slightly increased cell diameter, pore size distribution, and hexagonal lattice distortion in comparison to the room temperature synthesis. Such materials are thought to be promising alternatives to SBA-15-based MCFs, often utilizing toxic catalysts during synthesis. The presented results pave the way for enhanced adsorptive, catalytic, and drug delivery performances for COK-12-based materials.
Functionalized Ti3C2Tx nanosheets based biosensor for point-of-care detection of SARS-CoV‑2 antigen
(2023)
MXenes are considered a promising class of two-dimensional materials with extraordinary physical and electrochemical properties. Distinguished features like high specific surface area and outstanding electrical conductivity make them suitable for electrochemical biosensing applications. Here, we report the development of a biosensor involving the functionalized MXene−titanium carbide nanosheets (Ti3C2Tx-NS) and monoclonal antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein (anti-SARS-CoV-2 mAb) to design a point-of-care device for detection of the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein (SARS-CoV-2 NP) antigen. Few-layered titanium carbide nanosheets (denoted as FL-Ti3C2Tx-NS) have been synthesized using a single-step etching and delamination method and characterized using optical and electron microscopy techniques revealing the suitability for immunosensing applications. Binding studies revealed the excellent affinity between the biosensor and the SARS-CoV-2 NP. Electrochemical detection of SARS-CoV-2 NP is performed using differential pulse voltammetry and read by a smartphone-based user interface. The proposed FL-Ti3C2Tx-NS based biosensor offers the detection of SARS-CoV-2 NP with a limit of detection of 0.91 nM in a wide detection range in spiked saliva samples. Additionally, there is no cross-reactivity in the presence of potential interferants like SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein and bovine serum albumin. These findings demonstrate the potential of MXenes in developing a rapid and reliable tool for SARS-CoV-2 NP detection. While we report the biosensing of SARS-CoV-2 NP, our system also paves the way for the detection of other SARS-CoV-2 antigens like spike protein or other biomolecules based on antigen−antibody interactions.
In recent years, thermoextraction/desorption-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TED-GC/MS) has been developed as a rapid detection method for the determination of microplastics (MP) mass contents in numerous environmentally relevant matrices and, in particular, for the measurement of polymers in water samples without time-consuming sample preparation. The TED-GC/MS method was applied to investigate a typical European municipal wastewater system for possible MP masses. Such investigations are important in view of the recent revision of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive. Four different representative sampling sites were selected: greywater (domestic wastewater without toilet), combined sewer, and influent and effluent of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). All samples were collected by fractional filtration. Filtration was carried out over mesh sizes of 500, 100, 50, and in some cases, 5 µm. Polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS) were detected in all samples, with the PE fraction dominating in all cases. Styrene-butadiene rubber which serves as an indication of tire abrasion, was only found in the influent of the WWTP. The highest MP mass contents were found in the combined sewer, so MP can become a source of pollution during heavy rain events when the capacity limits of the effluent are reached, and the polluted effluent is released uncontrolled into the environment. Based on the studies, MP retention from the WWTP could be estimated to be approximately 96%. Few trends in polymer type or mass contents were detected within the different fractions of the samples or when comparing samples to each other.
Tracking waterborne microplastic (MP) in urban areas is a challenging task because of the various sources and transport pathways involved. Since MP occurs in low concentrations in most wastewater and stormwater streams, large sample volumes need to be captured, prepared, and carefully analyzed. The recent research in urban areas focused mainly on MP emissions at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), as obvious entry points into receiving waters. However, important transport pathways under wet-weather conditions are yet not been investigated thoroughly. In addition, the lack of comprehensive and comparable sampling strategies complicated the attempts for a deeper understanding of occurrence and sources. The goal of this paper is to (i) introduce and describe sampling strategies for MP at different locations in a municipal catchment area under dry and wet-weather conditions, (ii) quantify MP emissions from the entire catchment and two other smaller ones within the bigger catchment, and (iii) compare the emissions under dry and wet-weather conditions. WWTP has a high removal rate of MP (>96%), with an estimated emission rate of 189 kg/a or 0.94 g/[population equivalents (PEQ · a)], and polyethylene (PE) as the most abundant MP. The specific dry-weather emissions at a subcatchment were ≈30 g/(PEQ · a) higher than in the influent of WWTP with 23 g/(PEQ · a). Specific wet-weather emissions from large sub-catchment with higher traffic and population densities were 1952 g/(ha · a) higher than the emissions from smaller catchment (796 g/[ha · a]) with less population and traffic. The results suggest that wet-weather transport pathways are likely responsible for 2–4 times more MP emissions into receiving waters compared to dry-weather ones due to tire abrasion entered from streets through gullies. However, more investigations of wet-weather MP need to be carried out considering additional catchment attributes and storm event characteristics.
Microplastic (MP) contamination in natural water circulation is a concern for environmental issues and human health. Various types of polymer materials have been identified and were detected in MP analytic test procedures. Beyond MP polymer type, particle size and form play a major role in water analysis due to possible negative toxicologic effects on flora and fauna. However, the correct quantitative measurement of MP size distribution over several orders of magnitude is strongly influenced by sample preparation, filtration materials and processes, and microanalytical techniques, as well as data acquisition and analysis. In this paper, a reference methodology is presented aiming at an improved quantitative analysis of MP particles. An MP analysis workflow is demonstrated including all steps from reference materials to sample preparation, filtration handling, and MP particle size distribution analysis. Background-corrected particle size distributions (1–1000 µm) have been determined for defined polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) reference samples. Microscopically measured particle numbers and errors have been cross-checked with the total initial mass. In particular, defined reference MP samples (PE, PET) are initially characterized and applied to filtration experiments. Optical microscopy imaging on full-area Si filters with subsequent image analysis algorithms is used for statistical particle size distribution analysis. To quantify the effects of handling and filtration, several blind tests with distilled water are carried out to determine the particle background for data evaluation. Particle size distributions of PE and PET reference samples are qualitatively and quantitatively reproduced with respect to symmetry, and maximum and cut-off diameter of the distribution. It is shown that especially MP particles with a radius of >50 µm can be detected and retrieved with high reliability. For particle sizes <50 µm, a significant interference with background contamination is observed. Data from blank samples allows a correction of background contaminations. Furthermore, for enhanced sampling statistics, the recovery of the initial amount of MP will be qualitatively shown. The results are intended as an initial benchmark for MP analytics quality. This quality is based on statistical MP particle distributions and covers the complete analytic workflow starting from sample preparation to filtration and detection. Microscopic particle analysis provides an important supplement for the evaluation of established spectroscopic methods such as Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy or Raman spectroscopy.
Trace elements play an important role in the fine-tuning of complex material properties. This study focuses on the correlation of microstructure, lattice misfit and creep properties. The compositionally complex alloy Al10Co25Cr8Fe15Ni36Ti6 (in at. %) was tuned with high melting trace elements Hf and W. The microstructure consists of a γ matrix, γ' precipitates and the Heusler phase and it is accompanied by good mechanical properties for high temperature applications. The addition of 0.5 at.% Hf to the Al10Co25Cr8Fe15Ni36Ti6 alloy resulted in more sharp-edged cubic γ′ precipitates and an increase in the Heusler phase amount. The addition of 1 at.% W led to more rounded γ′ precipitates and the dissolution of the Heusler phase. The shapes of the γ' precipitates of the alloys Al9.25Co25Cr8Fe15Ni36Ti6Hf0.25W0.5 and Al9.25Co25Cr8Fe15Ni36Ti6Hf0.5W0.25, that are the alloys of interest in this paper, create a transition from the well-rounded precipitates in the alloy with 1% W containing alloy to the sharp angular particles in the alloy with 0.5% Hf. While the lattice misfit has a direct correlation to the γ' precipitates shape, the creep rate is also related to the amount of the Heusler phase. The lattice misfit increases with decreasing corner radius of the γ' precipitates. So does the creep rate, but it also increases with the amount of Heusler phase. The microstructures were investigated by SEM and TEM, the lattice misfit was calculated from the lattice parameters obtained by synchrotron radiation measurements.
Mechanochemistry offers a unique opportunity to modify and manipulate crystal forms, often providing new products as compared with conventional solution methods. While promising, there is little known about how to control the solid form through mechanochemical means, demanding dedicated investigations. Using a model organic cocrystal system (isonicotinamide:glutaric acid), we here demonstrate that with mechanochemistry, polymorphism can be induced in molecular solids under conditions seemingly different to their conventional thermodynamic (thermal) transition point. Whereas Form II converts to Form I upon heating to 363 K, the same transition can be initiated under ball milling conditions at markedly lower temperatures (348 K). Our results indicate that mechanochemical techniques can help to reduce the energy barriers to solid form transitions, offering new insights into controlling polymorphic forms. Moreover, our results suggest that the nature of mechanochemical transformations could make it difficult to interpret mechanochemical solid form landscapes using conventional equilibrium-based tools.
X-ray fluorescence imaging is a well-established tool in materials characterization. In this work, we present the adaption of coded aperture imaging to full-field X-ray fluorescence imaging at the synchrotron. Coded aperture imaging has its origins in astrophysics, and has several advantages: Coded apertures are relatively easy to fabricate, achromatic, allow a high photon throughput, and high angular acceptance. Coded aperture imaging is a two-step-process, consisting of the measurement process and a reconstruction step. Different programs have been written, for the raytracing/forward projection and the reconstruction. Experiments with coded aperture in combination with a Color X-ray Camera and an energy-dispersive area detector, have been conducted at the BAMline. Measured samples were successfully reconstructed, and gave a 9.1-fold increase in count rate compared to a polycapillary optic.
Raman spectroscopy is a well established tool for the analysis of vibration spectra, which then allow for the determination of individual substances in a chemical sample, or for their phase transitions. In the time-resolved-Raman-sprectroscopy the vibration spectra of a chemical sample are recorded sequentially over a time interval, such that conclusions for intermediate products (transients) can be drawn within a chemical process. The observed data-matrix M from a Raman spectroscopy can be regarded as a matrix product of two unknown matrices W and H, where the first is representing the contribution of the spectra and the latter represents the chemical spectra. One approach for obtaining W and H is the non-negative matrix factorization. We propose a novel approach, which does not need the commonly used separability assumption. The performance of this approach is shown on a real world chemical example.
BAM is currently building up a platform of novel nanoRMs relying on iron oxide nanoparticles of different shape, size and surface chemistry. Iron oxide was chosen as a core material because of its relevance to the material and life sciences.
As a first candidate of this series, we present cubic iron oxide nanoparticles with a nominal edge length of 8 nm. These particles were synthesized by thermal decomposition of iron oleate in high boiling organic solvents adapting well-known literature procedures. After dilution to a concentration suitable for electron microscopy (TEM and SEM) as well as for small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements, the candidate nanoRM was bottled and assessed for homogeneity and stability by both methods following the guidelines of ISO 17034 and ISO Guide 35.
The particle sizes obtained by both STEM-in-SEM and TEM are in excellent agreement with a minimum Feret of 8.3 nm ± 0.7 nm. The aspect ratio (AR) of the iron oxide cubes were extracted from the images as the ratio of minimum Feret to Feret resulting in an AR of 1.18 for TEM to 1.25 for SEM. Alternatively, a rectangular bounding box was fitted originating from the minimum Feret and the longest distance through the particle in perpendicular direction. This led to AR values of 1.05 for TEM and 1.12 for SEM, respectively. The results confirm the almost ideal cubic shape.
Water treatment with activated carbon (AC) is an established method for the removal of organic micropollutants and natu ral organic matter. However, it is not yet possible to predict the removal of individual pollutants. An appropriate material characterization, matching adsorption processes in water, might be the missing piece in the puzzle. To this end, this study examined 25 diferent commercially available ACs to evaluate their material properties. Frequently reported analyses, including N2 adsorption/desorption, CHNS(O), point of zero charge (PZC) analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, were conducted on a selected subset of powdered ACs. Inorganic elements examined using X-ray fuorescence and X-ray difraction spectroscopy revealed that relative elemental contents were distinctive to the individual AC’s raw material and activation procedure. This study also is the frst to use thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) coupled to Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to conduct quantitative analyses of functional surface oxygen groups (SOGs: carboxylic acid, anhydride, lactone, phenol, carbonyl, and pyrone groups) on such a large number of ACs. The comparably economical TGA method was found to provide good surrogates for the PZC by pyrolytic mass loss up to 600 ◦C (ML600), for the oxygen content by ML1000 and for the carbon content by oxidation. Mass loss profles depict the AC’s chemistry like fngerprints. Furthermore, we found that SOG contents determined by TGA-FTIR covered a wide individual range and depended on the raw material and production process of the AC. TGA and TGA-FTIR might therefore be used to identify the suitability of a particular AC for a variety of target substances in diferent target waters. This can help practitioners to control AC use in waterworks or wastewater treatment plants.
In order to bridge the gap between lab-scale and industrial-scale production of graphene it is necessary to develop processes, equipment and measurement procedures to control the material features. One of the crucial reasons of graphene’s limited commercialization is the lack of standard procedures to properly characterize and define the material chemical and structural properties down to the nanometer level. This leads to many issues regarding material synthesis repeatability, inappropriateness choice of measurands and measurement reproducibility which heavily affect the consistency of the material performance.
In our study, a comparative analysis is performed on two different series (G5 and G6) of industrial graphene powders, each series produced with four types of functionalization: raw graphene, oxygen-functionalized, nitrogen-functionalized and fluorine-functionalized. All the 8 sample variants were analyzed from a chemical and morphological point of view in the form of powders prepared as slightly pressed in metallic sample holders.
The results of the comparative chemical analyses XPS and EDS show a good agreement in the concentration values for all the elements present in the samples, despite the different analysis volumes addressed by the two techniques. For this reason, the samples can be considered homogeneous in both lateral and vertical direction.
A clear influence of the morphology on the composition is evident. Therefore, such correlative measurements of morphology and composition are necessary for a comprehensive characterization of industrial graphene flakes.
The thickness of thin films can be measured by various methods, e.g., profilometry, ellipsometry, atomic force microscopy (AFM), or X-ray reflectometry. For the additional determination of thin film composition, techniques like X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) or mass spectrometry-based techniques can be used. An alternative non-destructive technique is electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). This method assumes a sample of homogenous (bulk) chemical composition, so that it cannot be usually applied to thin film samples. However, in combination with the thin film software StrataGEM, the thickness as well as the composition of such films on a substrate can be determined.
This has been demonstrated for FeNi on Si and SiGe on Al2O3 film systems. For both systems five samples with different elemental composition and a reference were produced and characterised by Korean research institute KRISS using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), Rutherford backscattering (RBS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). These samples were used for an international round robin test.
In 2021, a new and open-source thin film evaluation programme called BadgerFilm has been released. It can also be used to determine thin film composition and thickness from intensity ratios of the unknown sample and standards (k-ratios).
In this contribution, we re-evaluated the data acquired for the FeNi and SiGe systems using the BadgerFilm software package and compared the resulting composition and thickness with the results of the established StrataGEM software and other reference methods. With the current evaluation, the BadgerFilm software shows good agreement with the composition and thickness calculated by StrataGEM and as the reference values provided by the KRISS.
The conversion of solar energy into electricity and solar fuels is of crucial importance for a green and sustainable future. Water splitting using semiconductor photo-catalysts is considered a sustainable method to produce clean hydrogen (H2) fuel. Nevertheless, H2 photo-production efficiency remains still low, although extensive research works to understand better the mechanisms of the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) and the Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER) are being carried out. In this respect, TiO2 is a key photoactive material, usually employed with a co-catalyst deposited onto the surface to enhance charge carriers’ separation and catalyze surface charge transfer reactions. The deposition of a co-catalyst on the TiO2 nanoparticle surface represents one successful way to enhance the activity of the photocatalyst through a modification of its surface and redox properties. In this context, high-resolution scanning electron microscopy coupled with elemental analysis by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) is fundamental for studying and understanding the effect of the nanoparticle morphology on the functional properties of shape-controlled TiO2 crystals (bipyramides, platelets, and elongated particles). Different types of metal-semiconductor combinations, TiO2 shapes and dopant metals (Ag, Pt, etc) and metal concentrations will be discussed.
CS particles show unique properties by merging individual characteristics of the core and the shell materials. An alteration particularly in their surface roughness affects the final performance of the particles in the targeted application. Quantitative evaluation of the roughness of CS microparticles is, however, a challenging task employing microscopic techniques being scarce and showing large differences in terms of methodology and results.
In our previous work, we have reported a systematic study with a reliable analysis tool, which evaluates profile roughness quantitatively, for individual core-shell microparticles using electron microscopy (EM) images of both types, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and transmission mode SEM (or TSEM). The SEM images contain two-dimensional (2D) information, therefore, provide profile roughness data only from the projection in the horizontal plane (in other words, from the “belly”) of a spherical particle. The present study offers a practical procedure to give access to more information by tilting the sample holder and hence allowing images of a single particle to be recorded at different orientations under the same view angle. From the analysis of these images, extended information on surface roughness of the particle can be extracted. Thus, instead of obtaining 2D information from a single SEM image, three-dimensional (3D) information is obtained from 2D projections recorded at different particle orientations.
Nanosafety is becoming increasingly important as nanomaterials are widely used in industrial processes and consumer products. For nanotoxicity measurements prior sterilization of the samples is necessary, but as structure activity relationships are made with properties of pristine particles, the question arises, if the sterilization process has an impact on the physico-chemical properties of nanoparticles and thus on the biological behavior.
This question will be addressed in this talk. For this purpose, results from SEM and EDS measurements are combined with those of a novel lab-based HAXPES spectrometer in order to obtain a more complete picture. At the end, an influence of sterilization will be evident, which indicates a restructuring of the nanoparticles owing to sterilization.
An investigation of microplastic (MP) occurrence in a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent with tertiary treatment was carried out. Representative sample volumes of 1 m3 were taken by applying a fractionated filtration method (500, 100, and 50 µm mesh sizes). The detection of MP mass fractions by thermal extraction desorption–gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TED-GC/MS) was achieved without the previously required additional sample pretreatment for the first time. Different types of quantification methods for the evaluation of TED-GC/MS data were tested, and their accuracy and feasibility have been proven for real samples. Polyethylene, polystyrene, and polypropylene were identified in effluent samples. The polymer mass content varied significantly between 5 and 50 mg m−3. A correlation between the MP load and the quantity of suspended matter in the WWTP effluents, particle size distribution, particle type, and operation day (i.e., weekday, season, and capacity) was not found. It can be concluded that a meaningful assessment of WWTPs requires a comprehensive sampling campaign with varying operation conditions.
The continuously increasing use of plastics is supposed to result in a rising exposure of MNPs to humans. Available data on human health risks of microplastics after oral uptake increased immensely in the past years and indicates very likely only low risks after oral consumption. Concerning nanoplastics, uptake, transport and potential adverse effects after oral uptake are less well understood. This study aims to investigate differences between microplastic particles and particles in the submicron- and nanoscaled size derived from food-relevant polymers with a particle size range consistent with higher potential for cellular uptake, fate, and effects when applied to human intestinal and liver cells. This work includes the development of cellular and subcellular detection methods for synthetic polymeric particles in the micro- and nanometer-range, using Scanning Electron Microscopy, Small-Angle X-ray and Dynamic Light Scattering methods, Asymmetric Flow Field Flow Fractionation, octanol-water fractionation, fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. Polylactic acid (250 nm and 2 μm (polydisperse)), melamine formaldehyde (366 nm) and polymethylmethacrylate (25 nm) were thoroughly characterized. The submicro- and nanoplastic test particles showed an increased uptake and transport quantity through intestinal cells. Both types of particles resulted in observed differences of uptake behavior, most likely influenced by different lipophilicity, which varied between the polymeric test materials. Toxic effects were detected after 24 h only in overload situations for the particles in the submicrometer range. This study provides further evidence for gastrointestinal uptake of submicro- and nanoplastics and points towards differences regarding bioavailability between microplastics and smaller plastic particles that may result following the ingestion of contaminated food and beverages. Furthermore, the results reinforce the importance for studying nanoplastics of different materials of varying size, surface properties, polymer composition and hydrophobicity.
The Gay-Berne model is studied numerically with a choice of parameters allowing for the formation of a discotic liquid crystal at low temperatures. We show that the model has strong virial potential-energy correlations in the isotropic phase at high temperatures, i.e., it obeys the criterion for the existence of isomorphs, which are curves of approximately invariant structure and dynamics. These properties are demonstrated to be approximately invariant in reduced units along the isomorph studied. The isomorph is described well by the constant density-scaling exponent 11.5, a number that is significantly larger than the density-scaling exponents of various Lennard-Jones models that are always below 6.
The ease with which an energetic material can be initiated by mechanical impact is a critical parameter directing material safety and application. While impact sensitivity metrics are traditionally derived experimentally, recent developments have highlighted that the phenomenon is amenable to first principles simulation. In this chapter, we will outline a fully ab initio approach to predict the relative impact sensitivities of energetic materials based on the mechanochemical principles that link the impact event to vibrational energy transfer.
This mechanism is key to rationalizing how a mechanical impact—which deposits energy into the low-frequency lattice vibrations—results in a molecular response. By simulating the vibrational energy levels (the so-called phonon density of states, PDOS) using first-principles computational methods (typically dispersion-corrected plane-wave density functional theory, PW-DFT) we can calculate the relative rate of energy propagation from the delocalized low-energy lattice vibrations through to the localized molecular modes. The latter traps the energy, which eventually results in bond rupture through heightened vibrational excitation.
This method, based on vibrational up-pumping, offers a route toward predicting the impact sensitivities of a broad range of energetic materials, provided the crystal structure of the compound (or salt or co-crystal) is known. While it does not offer insight into the sensitizing roles undoubtedly played by crystal defects or grain boundaries, it does provide a level of understanding at the molecular and crystal packing levels. Correspondingly, this approach offers a feedback mechanism to chemists and materials scientists to guide the design of new materials with desired impact sensitivity behavior.
We report dielectric and calorimetric studies on metathesis and addition-type polytricyclononenes, both based on the same monomer bearing three pendant OSiMe3 groups. For the addition-type polymer, dielectric spectroscopy reveals a β*-process related to the microporosity, whereas for its metathesis counterpart, the segmental dynamics manifests as an α-process related to a glass transition. Besides active dielectric processes, a significant conductivity contribution is detected for both samples which for the microporous additiontype polymer is three orders of magnitude greater than for the metathesis polymer. The broadband dielectric spectroscopy is complemented by detailed calorimetric investigations, comprising DSC, FSC, and TMDSC. The calorimetric methods detected the glass transition for the metathesis polymer in agreement with the observed dielectric α-process. Furthermore, the already reported gas transport properties for both polymers are compared, setting them in correlation with the observed molecular mobility and conductivity behavior. The discussed results reflect significant differences in molecular mobility of the two polymers affecting the appearance of microporosity which strongly determines the gas transport properties.
Die große Herausforderung in der Detektion von Mikroplastik (MP)‑Partikeln (1-1000 µm) besteht darin, sie neben Millionen von natürlichen Partikeln in Umweltproben nachzuweisen. Zum Aufspüren von Senken, Eintragspfaden und für Monitoring-Kampagnen ist ein schnelles, automatisiertes Verfahren unerlässlich. Ein solches Verfahren wurde an der Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) mit der ThermoExtraktion/Desorption-Gaschromatographie-Massenspektrometrie (TED-GC/MS) in den letzten Jahren entwickelt.
The vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) is currently a potential candidate for stationary energy storage. A major challenge is the unintended vanadium transport through the separator, which results in a fade of capacity. To overcome this issue, it is necessary to understand the transport processes in the membrane on a more fundamental level. In this work, the vanadium species distribution in Nafion™ 117 after cyclization was investigated. Two membranes, one from a charged VRFB and another from a discharged VRFB, were analyzed using ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV/VIS) and X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy (XANES). Little difference between the two membranes was recognizable according to the UV/VIS results. In comparison, the XANES results showed that the membrane from the charged VRFB contains more V3+ than VO2+, whereas for the discharged case, more VO2+ is present in the membrane.
Twice recrystallized L-lactide was polymerized with a dozen of different tin or bismuth catalysts in bulk at 160°C for 24 h and was annealed at 150°C afterwards. In two cases Tm values above 197.0°C were obtained. The parameters causing a scattering of the DSC data were studied and discussed. The samples prepared with SnCl2, 2,2-dibutyl-2-stanna-1,3-ditholane (DSTL) or cyclic tin(II) bisphenyldioxide (SnBiph) were subject to annealing programs with variation of time and temperatures, revealing that the Tm´s did not increase. However, an increase of Hm was achieved with maximum values in the range of 93-96 J g-1 corresponding to crystallinities off around 90%. Further studies were performed with once recrystallized L-lactide. Again, those samples directly crystallized from the polymerization process showed the highest Tm values. These data were compared with the equilibrium Tm0 and Hm0 data calculated by several research groups for perfect crystallites. A Tm0 of 213+/-2°C and a Hm0 of 106 J g-1 show the best agreement with the experimental data. The consequences of annealing for the thickness growth of crystallites are discussed on the basis of SAXS measurements. Finally, a comparison of cyclic and linear poly L-lactide)s is discussed.
The characterization of technical lignins is a key step for the efficient use and processing of this material into valuable chemicals and for quality control. In this study 31 lignin samples were prepared from different biomass sources (hardwood, softwood, straw, grass) and different pulping processes (sulfite, Kraft, organosolv). Each lignin was analysed by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FT-IR) spectroscopy. Statistical analysis of the ATR-FT-IR spectra by means of principal component analysis (PCA) showed significant differences between the lignins. Hence, the samples can be separated by PCA according to the original biomass. The differences observed in the ATR-FT-IR spectra result primarily from the relative ratios of the p-hydroxyphenyl, guaiacyl and syringyl units. Only limited influence of the pulping process is reflected by the spectral data. The spectra do not differ between samples processed by Kraft or organosolv processes. Lignosulfonates are clearly distinguishable by ATR-FT-IR from the other samples. For the classification a model was created using the k-nearest neighbor (k NN) algorithm. Different data pretreatment steps were compared for k=1…20. For validation purposes, a 5-fold cross-validation was chosen and the different quality criteria Accuracy (Acc), Error Rate (Err), Sensitivity (TPR) and specificity (TNR) were introduced. The optimized model for k=4 gives values for Acc = 98.9 %, Err = 1.1 %, TPR = 99.2 % and TNR = 99.6 %.
A case study on the TEM analysis of the size and shape distribution of TiO2 bipyramidal nanoparticles prepared on TEM grids was included in the recently published ISO standard ISO 21363. It was agreed to organize at a later stage a second inter-lab comparison with the nanoparticles distributed to the participants as a liquid suspension. Protocols for uniform nanoparticle deposition on suited supports developed and optimized within the EMPIR nPSize project are also prepared to be distributed. For this, we have chosen the VAMAS platform (www.vamas.org) which offers an excellent international infrastructure of laboratories with high competence in nanoparticle measurement. The VAMAS technical working area dedicated to nanoparticle measurement is TWA 34 ‘Nanoparticle populations’. For this type of nanoparticles, the size and shape distributions are the primary parameters to be reported. Due to the good deposition protocols developed, an automated image analysis is enabled (in contrast to the manual analysis of irregular TiO2 nanoparticles.
In parallel with the TiO2 nanoparticle exercise, two spherical SiO2 nanoparticle samples with bi-modal size distributions (nominal relative number concentrations of 1:1 and 10:1) are prepared for a second VAMAS inter-lab comparison. Here, the nanoparticle concentration is the primary parameter to be measured. For the imaging methods it is targeted to measure the relative nanoparticle concentrations of the two modes. For the absolute nanoparticle concentration to be measured by imaging methods it is necessary to control the volume of the liquid suspension deposited on the substrate and to obtain such a homogeneous nanoparticle deposition on the substrate which allows to count (or extrapolate) all the deposited particles.
A particle roughness analysis tool, based on electron microscopy images (SEM and TEM). The influence of various parameters on the calculated roughness was also investigated: the setting of the proper threshold, accelerating voltage, etc. The samples were gradually tilted to extend imaging information of more than only one projection. Furthermore, the measurement uncertainty of the profile roughness of particles associated to various orientations was estimated.
As part of the development of a library of accurate and efficient methods for measurement of nanoparticle properties, we develop and optimize a method for the efficient analysis of nanoparticle size distribution from suspensions via microprinting and digital analysis of electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) images, with the ultimate aim of automated quantitative concentration analysis (calculated from drop volume). A series of different nanoparticle suspensions (gold, latex, and SiO2 in varying sizes and concentrations) were printed onto TEM grids in a 4 x 4 array in the concentration range 7x10^8 to 1x10^11 nanoparticles/mL and imaged with SEM. Concentrations and printing conditions (temperature, relative humidity) were varied in order to minimize the coffee-ring effect.
Additive manufacturing is well established for plastics and metals, and it gets more and more implemented in a variety of industrial processes. Beside these well-established material platforms, additive manufacturing processes are highly interesting for ceramics, especially regarding resource conservation and for the production of complex three-dimensional shapes and structures with specific feature sizes in the µm and mm range with high accuracy. The usage of ceramics in 3D printing is, however, just at the beginning of a technical implementation in a continuously and fast rising field of research and development. The flexible fabrication of highly complex and precise 3D structures by means of light-induced photopolymerization that are difficult to realize using traditional ceramic fabrication methods such as casting and machining is of high importance. Generally, slurry-based ceramic 3D printing technologies involve liquid or semi-liquid polymeric systems dispersed with ceramic particles as feedstock (inks or pastes), depending on the solid loading and viscosity of the system. This paper includes all types of photo-curable polymer-ceramic-mixtures (feedstock), while demonstrating our own work on 3D printed alumina toughened zirconia based ceramic slurries with light induced polymerization on the basis of two-photon absorption (TPA) for the first time. As a proven exemplary on cuboids with varying edge length and double pyramids in the µm-range we state that real 3D micro-stereolithographic fabrication of ceramic products will be generally possible in the near future by means of TPA. This technology enables the fabrication of 3D structures with high accuracy in comparison to ceramic technologies that apply single-photon excitation. In sum, our work is intended to contribute to the fundamental development of this technology for the representation of oxide-ceramic components (proof-of-principle) and helps to exploit the high potential of additive processes in the field of bio-ceramics in the medium to long-term future.
The scientific and practical challenge of detecting microplastics (MPs) in the environment in a targeted and rapid manner is solved by innovative coupling of thermogravimetric analysis with mass spectrometric methods.
Fast identification and quantitative determination of most thermoplastic polymers and elastomers is possible by using thermal extraction Desorption gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (TED-GC–MS).