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Query: UMLS:C0851184 (thinning)
 11,252 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Despite their immense potential, the ability to control the dispersion and microstructure of carbon nanotubes remains a hurdle for their widespread use. Poly(N-cyclopropylacrylamide), containing 5 mol % pyrene-bearing repeat units (p-PNCPA), is shown to vary the dispersion state of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in water. This is a thermo-responsive polymer whose conformation changes with temperature, which in turn leads to changes in the nanotube dispersion state. Cryo-TEM micrographs show that SWNTs stabilized using p-PNCPA transitions from a more exfoliated to a more bundled state as the aqueous suspension temperature is raised above the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the polymer (approximately 30 degrees C). Viscosity measurements on SWNT/p-PNCPA aqueous suspensions show shear thinning and near Newtonian behavior at 10 and 50 degrees C, respectively. Drying of these suspensions produces composites whose microstructure and electrical conductivity vary with drying temperature. This behavior has significant implications for the processing of carbon nanotubes and tailoring of composite properties. Such stimuli-controlled dispersion of carbon nanotubes could have a variety of applications in nanoelectronics, sensing, and drug and gene delivery systems.
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PMID:Temperature controlled dispersion of carbon nanotubes in water with pyrene-functionalized poly(N-cyclopropylacrylamide). 1973 43

The effects of a series of low molecular weight water-soluble cationic linear peptide analogs (LPAs, <1000 MW) with increasing hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance on lipid bilayer phase behavior and permeability were examined using liposomes composed of zwitterionic dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and mixed zwitterionic/anionic DPPC/dipalmitoylphosphatidylglycerol (DPPG) lipid bilayers. LPAs were synthesized using a previously reported alkyl linkage strategy as Arg-C(n)-Arg-C(n)-Lys, where C(n) represents the saturated alkyl linkage separating the cationic residues (n=4, 7, or 11) (Ye et al., 2007 [1]). Differential scanning calorimetry results show that the cationic LPAs bound to and disrupted DPPC and, to a greater extent, DPPC/DPPG phase behavior. When added to preformed unilamellar liposomes, the LPAs led to significant structural changes based on cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM). Coupling cryo-TEM with carboxyfluorescein leakage studies indicate that the LPAs induced permeabilization through bilayer expansion, which caused membrane thinning. The effects were inconsistent with increasing LPA hydrophobicity, which suggests that a cooperative effect between electrostatic binding and hydrophobic insertion determined the location of LPAs within the bilayer and their membrane activity. Our results for LPA-induced membrane disruption correlate with previous breast cancer cell uptake studies that showed minimal LPA-C(4) uptake, but high LPA-C(11) uptake through a non-endocytic mechanism.
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PMID:Bilayer disruption and liposome restructuring by a homologous series of small Arg-rich synthetic peptides. 1991 94

Sample thinning for TEM observation introduces large changes with respect to the initial strain state of the bulk sample and particularly relaxation via the free surfaces which leads to HOLZ lines splitting in the CBED pattern. This phenomenon has been simulated owing to extensive calculations either in the kinematical or the dynamical framework of electron diffraction mainly using displacement fields resulting from finite element modelling of the sample relaxation. HOLZ line splitting is well reproduced and numerical fits can be used to compare experimental and calculated curves. This paper proposes new analytical solutions for the kinematical equation of electron diffraction. Simple mathematical functions are used to approximate the deformation profiles. We showed that, under certain conditions, the rocking curve profile can be analytically calculated, thus providing some clue to separate different contributions to the rocking curves against deformation profile. These simplified analytical expressions are used to extract the maximum amplitude displacement within the sample with about 10% accuracy. This accuracy can even be improved to 1% with a short adjustment routine. The influence of the shape of the displacement profile on the rocking curves is demonstrated.
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PMID:HOLZ lines splitting on SiGe/Si relaxed samples: analytical solutions for the kinematical equation. 2009 47

The influence of a biosurfactant, cholic acid (CA), on the phase transition, microstructure, and rheological properties of two salt-free catanionic surfactant systems, (i) tetradecyltrimethylammonium laurate (TTAL) vesicular solution and (ii) a mixture solution of tetradecyltrimethylammonium hydroxide (TTAOH)/lauric acid (LA)/H(2)O, was investigated. The TTAL vesicular system remains homogeneous at 25 degrees C up to 9.8 mmol.L(-1) CA. At low concentrations of CA, the addition of CA causes a decrease in the viscosity of TTAL vesicular solutions. Upon further addition, the viscosity increases. When LA is gradually substituted by CA in the TTAOH/LA/H(2)O system with equimolar TTAOH and LA to form the TTAOH/(CA + LA)/H(2)O system, the influence of the molar fraction of CA, x = n(CA)/(n(LA) + n(CA)), on the phase transition and rheological behavior was also investigated. With increasing x, the system changes from a birefringent L(alpha) phase of equimolar TTAOH and LA into an L(1)/L(alpha) double-phase, and a single L(1) phase. In the birefringent L(alpha) phase of x = 0.2, cryo-TEM observations demonstrate that vesicles and tube-like and branched tube structures coexist, indicating that the unique structure of CA has a significant influence on the phase transformations of the mixtures. At higher x value, x = 0.5, a dilute solution was obtained, with a lower viscosity comparable to water. However, at x from 0.25 to 0.5, the system exhibits characteristic worm-like micelles with shearing thinning behavior at low and high shear rates but a Newtonian fluid behavior at intermediate shear rate range. At x = 0.2, the sample separates into two phases. The upper phase also shows shear thinning behavior and a narrow plateau at intermediate shear rate. At x < 0.2, the system exhibits similar rheological behavior to the original TTAL vesicular solution. For comparison, an investigation of the cetyltrimethylammonium hydroxide (CTAOH)/LA/H(2)O system with long chain cationic surfactant is also reported. The results of these studies may provide a better understanding of biological membranes and the effects of biosurfactants on surfactant phase transitions.
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PMID:Influence of cholic acid on phase transition, rheological behavior, and microstructures of salt-free catanionic surfactant mixtures. 2022 46

Poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) nanocomposite structure was studied as a function of the filler percentage loading. The resulting state of dispersion was evaluated by XRD and TEM, and the interfacial attrition between PBS chain and lamellar platelets by the melt rheological properties. Hybrid organic inorganic (O/I) layered double hydroxide (LDH) organo-modified by oleate anions was used as filler. It was found that the confinement supplied by the LDH framework forces the interleaved organic molecule to be more distant from each other than in the case of oleate salt, this having as an effect to decrease strongly the homonuclear intermolecular (1)H(1)H dipolar interaction. An additional consequence of this relatively free molecular rotation, affecting the (13)C CPMAS response as well, is to facilitate the delamination of the 2D-stacked layers during extrusion since an quasi-exfoliated PBS:Mg(2)Al/oleate structure is observed for filler loading lower than 5% w/w. This is in association to a non-linear viscoelasticity in the low-omega region and the observed shear-thinning tendency compares better than other PBS:silicate nanocomposite derivatives and is here explained by the presence of a percolated LDH nanoparticle network. Indeed the plastic deformation in the low-omega region is found to be restricted by well-dispersed LDH tactoids in association with a rather strong attrition phenomenon between tethered oleate anions and PBS chains.
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PMID:Strong interfacial attrition developed by oleate/layered double hydroxide nanoplatelets dispersed into poly(butylene succinate). 2060 78

The chemistry of mussel adhesion has commanded the focus of much recent research activity on wet adhesion. By comparison, the equally critical adhesive processing by marine organisms has been little examined. Using a mussel-inspired coacervate formed by mixing a recombinant mussel adhesive protein (fp-151-RGD) with hyaluronic acid (HA), we have examined the nanostructure, viscosity, friction, and interfacial energy of fluid-fluid phase-separated coacervates using the surface forces apparatus and microscopic techniques. At mixing ratios of fp-151-RGD:HA resulting in marginal coacervation, the coacervates showed shear-thickening viscosity and no structure by cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM). However, at the mixing ratio producing maximum coacervation, the coacervate showed shear-thinning viscosity and a transition to a bicontinuous phase by cryo-TEM. The shear-thinning viscosity, high friction coefficient (>1.2), and low interfacial energy (<1 mJ m(-2)) observed at the optimal mixing ratio for coacervation are promising delivery, spreading and adhesion properties for future wet adhesive and coating technologies.
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PMID:Viscosity and interfacial properties in a mussel-inspired adhesive coacervate. 2154 67

Cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) is a powerful method to image native state morphologies of nanoscale soft and hard objects suspended in solvents. Sample preparation is a critical step toward producing images at length and time scales of interest. We demonstrate a nearly shear-free sample thinning method which simultaneously allows imaging of evolving nanostructures at subsecond time scales. This device breaks the trade-off between high shear and short time scales typical in current cryo-TEM sample preparation methods. We demonstrate the low-shear feature of the new method by imaging wormlike micelles, showing an interconnected network, in contrast to the traditional sample preparation method which shows aligned micelles at similar time points. The time resolution of this method is demonstrated by imaging morphologies of calcium carbonate (formed through the reaction of calcium chloride with sodium carbonate) at subsecond time scales, capturing its evolution from an amorphous to a crystalline state. The impact of hyperbranched polyglycerol additives on the amorphous to crystalline transition in calcium carbonate at short times is examined. Early images at low shear provide unique fundamental insights into mechanisms of nanostructure evolution, thus offering a new paradigm for research in materials sciences, soft matter, and biological sciences.
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PMID:Shear free and blotless cryo-TEM imaging: a new method for probing early evolution of nanostructures. 2232 59

In the present paper, the effect of residual stress on the mechanical behavior of thin hard coatings has been investigated by a new methodology based on the combined use of focused ion beam (FIB) micro-machining techniques and nanoindentation testing. Surface elastic residual stress were determined by nanoindentation testing on Focused Ion Beam (FIB) milled micro-pillars. The average residual stress present in a 3.8 microm CAE-PVD TiN coating on WC-Co substrate was calculated by the comparison of two different sets of load-depth curves, the first one obtained at centre of stress relieved pillars, the second one on the undisturbed (residually stressed) surface. Results for stress measurement were in good agreement with the estimate obtained by XRD (sin2 psi method) analysis on the same sample, adopting the same elastic constants. In addition, nanoindentation on stress relieved pillars also allowed to perform a more accurate evaluation of elastic modulus and hardness of the coating. The effect of residual stress on crack propagation modes was quantitatively analyzed by high-load nanoindentation and application of energy methods for fracture toughness evaluation. It is found that compressive residual stress plays a relevant role in determining the fracture behavior and failure modes of the coating. Finally, Microstructural observations of the deformation mechanisms of the TiN coating were performed by TEM analysis on the cross section of the indentation, obtained by FIB lamella thinning. Results showed that plastic deformation at the nanoscale essentially occurs by formation of shear bands inside the columnar grains, independently of residual stress. A transition between intra-granular shear deformation and columnar grain sliding is also observed as a function of the applied load.
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PMID:On the influence of residual stress on nano-mechanical characterization of thin coatings. 2240 Feb 73

TAT peptide is one of the best-characterized cell penetrating peptides derived from the transactivator of transcription protein from the human immunodeficiency virus 1. The aim of this study was to investigate the interaction between TAT peptide and partially negatively-charged phospholipid bilayer by using lamellar neutron diffraction. The main findings are the existence of a contiguous water channel across the bilayer in the presence of TAT peptide. Taken in combination with other observations, including thinning of the lipid bilayer, this unambiguously locates the peptide within the lipid bilayer. The interaction of TAT peptide with anionic lipid bilayer, composed of an 80:20 mixture of DOPC and DOPS, takes place at two locations. One is in the peripheral aqueous phase between adjacent bilayers and the second is below the glycerol backbone region of bilayer. A membrane thinning above a peptide concentration threshold (1mol%) was found, as was a contiguous transbilayer water channel at the highest peptide concentration (10mol%). This evidence leads to the suggestion that the toroidal pore model might be involved in the transmembrane of TAT peptide. We interpret the surface peptide distribution in the peripheral aqueous phase to be a massive exclusion of TAT peptide from its intrinsic location below the glycerol backbone region of the bilayer, due to the electrostatic attraction between the negatively-charged headgroups of phospholipids and the positively charged TAT peptides. Finally, we propose that the role that negatively-charged headgroups of DOPS lipids play in the transmembrane of TAT peptide is less important than previously thought.
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PMID:Insertion of TAT peptide and perturbation of negatively charged model phospholipid bilayer revealed by neutron diffraction. 2364 91

Bioactive glass nano-powders with the same chemical composition and different particle characteristics were synthesized by acid-catalyzed (the glass is called BG1) and acid-base catalyzed (BG2) sol-gel processes. Morphological characteristics of powders were determined by TEM and BET methods. The powders were separately mixed with 3% hyaluronic acid solution to form a paste. In vitro reactivity of pastes was determined by soaking them in simulated body fluid. Rheological behaviors of paste in both rotation and oscillation modes were also measured. The results showed that BG1 particles was microporous with mean pore diameter of 1.6 nm and particle size of ~300 nm while BG2 was mesoporous with average pore diameter of 8 and 17 nm and particle size of 20-30 nm. The paste made of BG2 revealed better washout resistance and in vitro apatite formation ability than BG1. According to the rheological evaluations, both pastes exhibited shear thinning but non-thixotropic behavior, meanwhile paste of BG2 had higher viscosity than BG1. The oscillatory tests revealed that the pastes were viscoelastic materials with more viscous nature. Both pastes could be completely injected through standard syringe using low compressive load of 5-50 N. Overall, The biocomposites can potentially be used as bioactive paste for the treatment of hard and even soft tissues.
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PMID:Development of injectable biocomposites from hyaluronic acid and bioactive glass nano-particles obtained from different sol-gel routes. 2391 Feb 71


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