The promises and perfidy of cryomicroscopy and analysis

Author(s):  
Patrick Echlin

The unusual title of this short paper and its accompanying tutorial is deliberate, because the intent is to investigate the effectiveness of low temperature microscopy and analysis as one of the more significant elements of the less interventionist procedures we can use to prepare, examine and analyse hydrated and organic materials in high energy beam instruments. The promises offered by all these procedures are well rehearsed and the litany of petitions and responses may be enunciated in the following mantra.Vitrified water can form the perfect embedding medium for bio-organic samples.Frozen samples provide an important, but not exclusive, milieu for the in situ sub-cellular analysis of the dissolved ions and electrolytes whose activities are central to living processes.The rapid conversion of liquids to solids provides a means of arresting dynamic processes and permits resolution of the time resolved interactions between water and suspended and dissolved materials.The low temperature environment necessary for cryomicroscopy and analysis, diminish, but alas do not prevent, the deleterious side effects of ionizing radiation.Sample contamination is virtually eliminated.

2008 ◽  
Vol 600-603 ◽  
pp. 461-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Henry ◽  
Peder Bergman ◽  
Erik Janzén

We report on the luminescence spectra related to Ti impurity in both 4H- and 6H-SiC polytypes. The spectrum depends strongly on the polarization. They are two families of lines in 4H and three in 6H. The main no-phonon line of each family is shown as a triplet and its phonon structure contains both sharp and broad replicas. The higher energy family has also extra lines at high energy appearing when the temperature increases. The spectra can be detected with excitation energy below the excitonic bandgap and even with excitation energy below the spectrum itself. Time-resolved photoluminescence reveals 0.1 ms long lifetime at low temperature.


2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Bartnik ◽  
W. Skrzeczanowski ◽  
H. Fiedorowicz ◽  
P. Wachulak ◽  
T. Fok

AbstractIn this work, a comparative study of low-temperature plasmas, induced in a gaseous nitrogen by photoionization of the gas using two different irradiation systems, was performed. Both systems were based on laser-produced Xe plasmas, emitting intense extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation pulses in a wide wavelength range. The essential difference between the systems concerned formation of the EUV beam. The first one utilized a dedicated ellipsoidal mirror for collecting and focusing of the EUV radiation. This way a high radiation fluence could be obtained for ionization of the N2 gas injected into the vacuum chamber. The second system did not contain any EUV collector. In this case, the nitrogen to be ionized was injected into the vicinity of the Xe plasma. In both cases, energies of emitted photons were sufficient for dissociative ionization, ionization of atoms or even ions. The resulting photoelectrons had also sufficiently high energy for further ionizations or excitations. Low-temperature plasmas, created this way, were investigated by spectral measurements in the EUV, ultraviolet (UV) and visible (VIS) spectral ranges. Time-resolved UV/VIS spectra, corresponding to single-charged ions, molecules, and molecular ions, were recorded. Numerical simulations of the molecular spectra were performed allowing one to estimate vibrational and rotational temperatures of plasmas created using both irradiation systems.


Author(s):  
Ozer Unal

Interest in ceramics as thermal barrier coatings for hot components of turbine engines has increased rapidly over the last decade. The primary reason for this is the significant reduction in heat load and increased chemical inertness against corrosive species with the ceramic coating materials. Among other candidates, partially-stabilized zirconia is the focus of attention mainly because ot its low thermal conductivity and high thermal expansion coefficient.The coatings were made by Garrett Turbine Engine Company. Ni-base super-alloy was used as the substrate and later a bond-coating with high Al activity was formed over it. The ceramic coatings, with a thickness of about 50 μm, were formed by EB-PVD in a high-vacuum chamber by heating the target material (ZrO2-20 w/0 Y2O3) above its evaporation temperaturef >3500 °C) with a high-energy beam and condensing the resulting vapor onto a rotating heated substrate. A heat treatment in an oxidizing environment was performed later on to form a protective oxide layer to improve the adhesion between the ceramic coating and substrate. Bulk samples were studied by utilizing a Scintag diffractometer and a JEOL JXA-840 SEM; examinations of cross-sectional thin-films of the interface region were performed in a Philips CM 30 TEM operating at 300 kV and for chemical analysis a KEVEX X-ray spectrometer (EDS) was used.


Author(s):  
Alan Beckett

Low temperature scanning electron microscopy (LTSEM) has been evaluated with special reference to its application to the study of morphology and development in microorganisms. A number of criteria have been considered and have proved valuable in assessing the standard of results achieved. To further aid our understanding of these results, it has been necessary to compare those obtained by LTSEM with those from more conventional preparatory procedures such as 1) chemical fixation, dehydration and critical point-drying; 2) freeze-drying with or without chemical vapour fixation before hand.The criteria used for assessing LTSEM for the above purposes are as follows: 1)Specimen immobilization and stabilization2)General preservation of external morphology3)General preservation of internal morphology4)Exposure to solvents5)Overall dimensional changes6)Cell surface texture7)Differential conformational changes8)Etching frozen-hydrated material9)Beam damage10)Specimen resolution11)Specimen life


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haitao Chen ◽  
Renhua Li ◽  
Anqi Guo ◽  
Yu Xia

AbstractThe poor stability of CsPbX3 (X = Cl, Br, I) perovskite nanocrystals is the most impediment to its application in the field of photoelectrics. In this work, monodisperse CsPbBr3/TiO2 nanocrystals are successfully prepared by coating titanium precursor on the surface of colloidal CsPbBr3 nanocrystals at room temperature. The CsPbBr3/TiO2 nanocomposites exhibit excellent stability, remaining the identical particle size (9.2 nm), crystal structures and optical properties. Time-resolved photoluminescence decay shows that the lifetime of CsPbBr3/TiO2 nanocrystals is about 4.04 ns and keeps great stability after lasting two months in the air. Results show that the coating of TiO2 on CsPbBr3 NCs greatly suppressed the anion exchange and photodegradation, which are the main reasons for dramatically improving their chemical stability and photostability. The results provide an effective method to solve the stability problem of perovskite nanostructures and are expected to have a promising application in optoelectronic fieldsArticle highlights 1. Prepared the all-inorganic CsPbBr3/TiO2 core/shell perovskite nanocrystals by an easy method. 2. Explored its essences of PL and lifetime of the synthesized CsPbBr3/TiO2 perovskite nanocrystals. 3. CsPbBr3/TiO2 nanocrystals show the great thermal stability after the post-annealing. 4. The CsPbBr3/TiO2 nanocrystals have a high PLQY and have a promising application in solar cells.


Author(s):  
Shaohua Han ◽  
Zhongzhong Zhang ◽  
Pengxiang Ruan ◽  
Shiwen Cheng ◽  
Dingqi Xue

Additive manufacturing has been proven to be a promising technology for fabricating high-performance dies, molds, and conformal cooling channels. As one of the manufacturing methods, wire and arc additive manufacturing displays unique advantages of low cost and high deposition rate that are better than other high energy beam-based ones. This paper presents a preliminary study of fabricating integrated cooling channels by CMT-based wire and arc additive manufacturing process. The deposition strategies for fabricating circular cross-sectional cooling channels both in conformal and straight-line patterns have been investigated. It included optimizing the welding torch angle, fabricating the enclosed semicircle structure and predicting the collision between the torch and constructed part. The cooling effect test was also conducted on both the conformal cooling channel and straight-line cooling channel. The results affirmed a higher cooling efficiency and better uniform cooling effect of the conformal cooling channel than straight-line cooling channel.


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 6182-6189
Author(s):  
Dariusz M. Niedzwiedzki

Photophysical properties of N719 and Z907, benchmark Ru-dyes used as sensitizers in dye-sensitized solar cells, were studied by static and time-resolved optical spectroscopy at room temperature and 160 K.


2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (04) ◽  
pp. P04002-P04002 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Bagli ◽  
L Bandiera ◽  
P Dalpiaz ◽  
V Guidi ◽  
A Mazzolari ◽  
...  

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