New windows on earth and planetary interiors

2002 ◽  
Vol 66 (5) ◽  
pp. 791-811 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. Hemley ◽  
H. K. Mao

AbstractRecent diamond-anvil cell experiments are providing windows of unprecedented clarity on the interiors of the Earth, other planets, and their moons from high P-T studies of the materials that comprise these bodies. With recent advances in techniques, the component minerals can be examined with a growing array of in situ methods over an expanding range of conditions that extend to hundreds of gigaspascals in pressure and thousands of degrees in temperature. Such investigations reveal that major, if not profound, changes in physical and chemical properties of these materials occur with depth. This information is crucial for understanding the materials basis of regional to global structure and processes documented by a wealth of recent observational and geophysical data. This paper reviews selected recent studies of major planet-forming minerals, focusing on key examples that illustrate different microscopic origins of macroscopic behaviour. This comparative mineralogical approach provides insight into phenomena occurring over a wide range of length scales. For terrestrial planets, the high-pressure behaviour of representative silicates, oxides and sulphides is examined. This includes the silicate perovskite assemblages that form the bulk of the Earth's lower mantle, for which a number of new findings concerning effects of non-stoichiometry and defect properties, pressure-induced electronic and magnetic transitions, and rheology have been obtained. High P-T studies of Fe-Ni alloys, together with various light elements, provide constraints on the composition, structure and dynamics of terrestrial planet cores. Water is a key component of many planetary bodies; as ice it undergoes numerous high-pressure transformations and as a volatile component it is involved in potentially important high P-T mineral reactions and is incorporated in dense mineral phases. Striking behaviour is observed in other molecular systems, including CO2 and CH4 and their mixtures with H2O; these form new phases, some relevant at the relatively modest conditions of deep marine sediments, others at the extreme states found in the deepest planetary interiors. Additional high P-T interactions between rare gases and ices and silicates are also documented. For the large planets, the most abundant ‘mineral’ is hydrogen, which has been shown to undergo novel mineral/gas reactions, possibly in cloud decks deep within the dense atmospheres of these bodies.

2006 ◽  
Vol 10 (09) ◽  
pp. 1083-1100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Bottari ◽  
David D. Díaz ◽  
Tomás Torres

Phthalocyanines are an interesting class of aromatic macrocycles which possess unique physical and chemical properties that make them excellent building blocks for the construction of molecular materials. Among the different functional groups that can be incorporated into the phthalocyanine's skeleton, the alkynyl group is one of the most interesting; this is confirmed by the large number of organic synthetic materials constructed from acetylene-based scaffolds due its rigidity and linearity, allowing high exciton and electron coupling between chromophore units. Additionally, these systems are particularly important, considering the wide range of functional group interconversions that the triple bond may permit. This account represents a concise overview of the most important contributions on the synthesis and applications of mono- and poly-alkynyl-substituted phthalocyanine-based molecular systems, towards the development of new functional molecular materials.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1891
Author(s):  
Antonio Reina ◽  
Trung Dang-Bao ◽  
Itzel Guerrero-Ríos ◽  
Montserrat Gómez

Metal nanoparticles have been deeply studied in the last few decades due to their attractive physical and chemical properties, finding a wide range of applications in several fields. Among them, well-defined nano-structures can combine the main advantages of heterogeneous and homogenous catalysts. Especially, catalyzed multi-step processes for the production of added-value chemicals represent straightforward synthetic methodologies, including tandem and sequential reactions that avoid the purification of intermediate compounds. In particular, palladium- and copper-based nanocatalysts are often applied, becoming a current strategy in the sustainable synthesis of fine chemicals. The rational tailoring of nanosized materials involving both those immobilized on solid supports and liquid phases and their applications in organic synthesis are herein reviewed.


NANO ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 2150050
Author(s):  
Zhaoyu Han ◽  
Sen Li ◽  
Shaoxian Yin ◽  
Zhi-Qin Wang ◽  
Yanfei Cai ◽  
...  

Being the newest member of the 2D materials family, 2D-nanosheet possesses many distinctive physical and chemical properties resulting in a wide range of potential applications. Recently, it was discovered that 2D COF can adsorb single-stranded DNA (ss-DNA) efficiently as well as usefully to quench fluorophores. These properties make it possible to prepare DNA-based optical biosensors using 2D COF. While practical analytical applications are being demonstrated, the fundamental understanding of binding between 2D COF and DNA in solution received relatively less attention. In this work, we carried out a systematic study to understand the adsorption and desorption kinetic, mechanism, and influencing factors of ss-DNA on the surface of 2D COF. We demonstrated that shorter DNAs are adsorbed more rapidly and bind more tightly to the surface of 2D COF. The adsorption is favored by a higher pH. The different buffer types also can affect the adsorption. In Tris-HCl solution, the adsorption reached highest efficiency. By adding the complementary DNA (cDNA), desorption of the absorbed DNA on 2D COF can be achieved. Further, desorption efficiency can also be exchanged by various surfactant in solution. These findings are important for further understanding of the interactions between DNA and COFs and for the optimization of DNA and COF-based devices and sensors.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Yablonskaya ◽  
E. Buravleva ◽  
K. Novikov ◽  
V. Voeikov

Hydrated fullerene C60 (HyFn) is a supramolecular object in which the nanosized fullerene molecule is enclosed in a multilayer shell of water molecules. Despite the fact that fullerene C60 is chemically rather inert, aqueous solutions of HyFn exhibit a wide spectrum of biological activity in particular in low and ultra-low concentrations. Thus, physical and chemical properties of aqueous solutions of HyFn in a wide range of its dilutions are of interest. Here we compared some physical and chemical properties of aqueous systems prepared by successive 100-fold dilutions of HyFn (10–7 M) with deionized water, with their intensive shaking at each stage up to the calculated HyFn concentration of 10–31 M and of the corresponding “dilutions” of deionized water prepared in the same manner (controls). We studied the character of рН changes in dilutions when titrating them with HCl and NaOH. It turned out that HyFn dilutions had significantly higher buffering capacity against acidification with HCl than control water “dilutions.” At the highest acidity reached pH in all HyFn dilutions was almost 0.3 units higher than in the respective controls. Average buffering capacity of HyFn dilutions and water controls when titrated with NaOH did not differ. However, differences in buffering capacity could be seen between consecutive dilutions of HyFn at their titration either with NaOH or with HCl. Most prominent differences were observed between consecutive HyFn dilutions in the range of calculated concentrations 10–17–10–31 M titrated with NaOH while no significant differences in pH between equivalent “dilutions” of control water were observed. Similar though less prominent variations in buffering capacity between consecutive HyFn dilutions titrated with HCl were also noticed. Thus, titration with an acid and especially with an alkali made it possible to reveal differences between individual dilutions of HyFn, as well as differences between HyFn dilutions and corresponding dilutions of water. These features may be due to complexity in the structural properties of aqueous systems, which, supposedly, can arise due to the emergence of heterogenous aqueous regions (“clouds”) in the course of their dilutions with intensive mixing at each stage. In order to find out if such heterogeneity is a characteristic for HyFn dilutions we used the method of drying microsphere-containing droplets, whose aqueous base were either HyFn dilutions in the range of calculated HyFn concentration 10–7–10–31 M or respective water controls. It was found that a significant part of HyFn dilutions is characterized by mesoscopic heterogeneity. It showed up by the tendency of microspheres to concentrate in a specific way resembling ornaments once the droplets had dried. As the degree of HyFn dilution increased, the number of dried droplets with an ornament-like microsphere distribution increased. Same was also observed in water control drops. However, for the dilutions of HyFn equivalent to concentrations 10–19–10–31 M the percentage of complexly structured dried up droplets reached 60–80%, while for dried out drops of respective water controls it did not exceed 15–20%. Thus, the physicochemical properties of high dilutions of hydrated fullerene differ not only from each other dependently on the dilution level, but also from those of high dilutions of water, which can be explained by the structuredness and heterogeneity of these aqueous systems. Therefore, upon dilution process the properties of the solutions change according to complex and non-linear laws so that final dilutions cannot be identical in their properties and features to those of the initial solutions (before dilutions process) and to the untreated water. Dilution process, in view of the aforementioned, should not be underestimated when analyzing properties of the solutions, having shown to be able to affect dramatically properties of the solutions.


2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 1934578X1200700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhanjie Xu ◽  
Peng Du ◽  
Peter Meiser ◽  
Claus Jacob

Proanthocyanidins represent a unique class of oligomeric and polymeric secondary metabolites found ubiquitously and in considerable amounts in plants and some algae. These substances exhibit a range of rather surprising physical and chemical properties which, once applied to living organisms, are translated into a multitude of biological activities. The latter include antioxidant properties, cancer chemoprevention, anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic effects as well as some exceptional, yet highly interesting activities, such as anti-nutritional and antimicrobial activity. Despite the wide range of activities and possible medical/agricultural applications of proanthocyanidins, many questions still remain, including issues related to bioavailability, metabolism and the precise biochemical, extra- and intracellular targets and mode(s) of action of these highly potent materials. Among the various physical and chemical interactions of such substances, strong binding to proteins appears to form the basis of many of their biological activities. Once easy-to-use synthetic methods to produce appropriate quantities of pure proanthocyanidins are available, it will be possible to identify the prime biological targets of these oligomers, study oligomer-protein interactions in more detail and develop possible practical applications in medicine and agriculture.


2018 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 00197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Wystalska ◽  
Krystyna Malińska ◽  
Renata Włodarczyk ◽  
Olga Chajczyk

Pyrolysis of biomass residues from agriculture and food processing industry allows production of biochars with diverse physical and chemical properties for a wide range of applications in agriculture and environmental protection. Biochars produced from pelletized sunflower husks through slow pyrolysis in the range of temperatures (480–580°C) showed total carbon of 70.53%–81.96%, total nitrogen of 1.2%, alkaline pH (9.37–10.32), low surface area (0.93–2.91 m2 g-1) and porosity of 13.23–15.43%. Higher pyrolysis temperatures resulted in lower biochar yields. With the increase in temperature the content of organic matter, nitrogen, Ca and Mg decreased whereas the increase in temperature resulted in higher contents of total carbon and phosphorus. Produced biochars showed potential for agricultural applications.


2013 ◽  
Vol 543 ◽  
pp. 72-75
Author(s):  
Balakrishnan Karthikeyan ◽  
Marimuthu Murugavelu

The emergence of nanoparticles (NPs) has opened new opportunities in analytical chemistry [. These NPs exhibit different properties and functionalities when compared to monometallic particles. In particular, they show enhanced selectivity and reactivity when used as catalysts and sensors [2-. The NPs have large surface area, high surface free energy, good biocompatibility and suitability, and it has been used in constructing electrochemical biosensors [7, . The fascinating physical and chemical properties of NPs offer excellent prospects for a wide range of bio sensing applications [ . Uric acid (UA) is the principal final product of purine metabolism in the human body [1. It has been shown that extreme abnormalities of UA levels are symptoms of several diseases (e.g. gout, hyper uricaemia and LeschNyhan syndrome)[11,1.In general, electro active UA can be irreversibly oxidized in aqueous solution and the major product is allantoin [1. In continuation of our interest with the bimetal nanoparticle (BNP) sensing here in this study, we employed Ag/Pt BNPs for detecting of UA.


2013 ◽  
Vol 1505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kexin Chen

ABSTRACTGraphene, a monolayer of sp2-bonded carbon atoms, has been attracting worldwide interests because of its unique two-dimensional structure, various fascinating properties and a wide range of intriguing potential applications. The graphene research is very active in China and has been developing rapidly in the past few years, which covers nearly all the areas related to graphene including theories, synthesis, physical and chemical properties, and applications. Over 100 research institutions have been involved in graphene research with fast-growing project supports. In this paper, the status of graphene research in China is first discussed based on the number of publications and patents as well as the institutions involved. Then the projects and fundings from both government and companies for graphene research are briefly introduced. Finally, the highlights of graphene research in China are reviewed, which include chemical vapor deposition growth and transfer, mass production, and assembly of graphene, and its applications in energy storage, sensing, composites and solar cells.


1987 ◽  
Vol 105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takuji Goda ◽  
Hirotsugu Nagayama ◽  
Akihiro Hishinuma ◽  
Hideo Kawahara

AbstractA new coating process of silicon dioxide (SiO2) “LPD” process, has been developed recently. Silicon dioxide (SiO2) film can be deposited on any substrate at the room temperature by immersing in hexafluorosilicic acid (H2SiF6).In this study, physical and chemical properties of the “LPD- SiO2” film were investigated by using XPS, IR, ellipsometry, and etch rate measurement. The properties of this film deposited at the room temperature were almost the same as those of plasma CVD. The “LPD-SiO2” film without annealing was contained traces of F and OH. However, by annealing, F and OH were rapidly evaporated from the film and the film was getting densified.As the “LPD-SiO2” film deposited at the room temperature showed very good results of chemical etching rate and of step coverage, it is expected that it is possible to use this “LPD- SiO2” film in the wide range of industrial area.


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