scholarly journals New highlights on phytolith structure and occluded carbon location: 3-D X-ray microscopy and NanoSIMS results

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 14699-14727 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Alexandre ◽  
I. Basile-Doelsch ◽  
T. Delhaye ◽  
D. Borshneck ◽  
J. C. Mazur ◽  
...  

Abstract. Phytoliths contain occluded organic compounds called phytC. Recently, phytC content, nature, origin, paleoenvironmental meaning and impact in the global C cycle has been the subject of increasing debate. Inconsistencies were fed by the scarcity of in-situ characterization of phytC in phytoliths. Here we reconstructed at high spatial resolution the 3-dimensional (3-D) structure of harvested grass short cell (GSC) phytoliths using 3-D X-ray microscopy. While this technic has been widely used for 3-D reconstruction of biological systems it has never been applied in high resolution mode to silica particles. Simultaneously, we investigated the location of phytC using Nano-scale Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (NanoSIMS). Our data evidenced that the silica structure contains micrometric internal cavities. These internal cavities were sometimes observed isolated from the outside. Their opening may be an original feature or may result from a beginning of dissolution of silica during the chemical extraction procedure, mimicking the progressive dissolution process that can happen in natural environments. The phytC that may originally occupy the cavities is thus susceptible to rapid oxidation. It was not detected by the nanoSIMS technique. To the contrary another pool of phytC, continuously distributed in and protected by the silica structure was evidenced. Its N/C ratio (0.27) is in agreement with the presence of amino acids. These findings allowed to discuss discrepancies in phytC quantification, evaluate phytC accessibility to oxidation, and reassess the paleo-environmental meaning of opaque features observed in phytoliths by natural light (NL) microcopy. They also should help to reappraise the significance of phytC in the global C cycle.

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 863-873 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Alexandre ◽  
I. Basile-Doelsch ◽  
T. Delhaye ◽  
D. Borshneck ◽  
J. C. Mazur ◽  
...  

Abstract. Phytoliths contain occluded organic compounds called phytC. Recently, phytC content, nature, origin, paleoenvironmental meaning and impact in the global C cycle have been the subject of increasing debate. Inconsistencies were fed by the scarcity of in situ characterizations of phytC in phytoliths. Here we reconstructed at high spatial resolution the 3-D structure of harvested grass short cell (GSC) phytoliths using 3-D X-ray microscopy. While this technique has been widely used for 3-D reconstruction of biological systems it has never been applied in high-resolution mode to silica particles. Simultaneously, we investigated the location of phytC using nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS). Our data evidenced that the silica structure contains micrometric internal cavities. These internal cavities were sometimes observed isolated from the outside. Their opening may be an original feature or may result from a beginning of dissolution of silica during the chemical extraction procedure, mimicking the progressive dissolution process that can happen in natural environments. The phytC that may originally occupy the cavities is thus susceptible to rapid oxidation. It was not detected by the NanoSIMS technique. However, another pool of phytC, continuously distributed in and protected by the silica structure, was observed. Its N/C ratio (0.27) is in agreement with the presence of amino acids. These findings constitute a basis to further characterize the origin, occlusion process, nature and accessibility of phytC, as a prerequisite for assessing its significance in the global C cycle.


Author(s):  
R. E. Herfert

Studies of the nature of a surface, either metallic or nonmetallic, in the past, have been limited to the instrumentation available for these measurements. In the past, optical microscopy, replica transmission electron microscopy, electron or X-ray diffraction and optical or X-ray spectroscopy have provided the means of surface characterization. Actually, some of these techniques are not purely surface; the depth of penetration may be a few thousands of an inch. Within the last five years, instrumentation has been made available which now makes it practical for use to study the outer few 100A of layers and characterize it completely from a chemical, physical, and crystallographic standpoint. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) provides a means of viewing the surface of a material in situ to magnifications as high as 250,000X.


2016 ◽  
Vol 108 (21) ◽  
pp. 211902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xian Chen ◽  
Nobumichi Tamura ◽  
Alastair MacDowell ◽  
Richard D. James

Author(s):  
Shabana Noor ◽  
Richard Goddard ◽  
Fehmeeda Khatoon ◽  
Sarvendra Kumar ◽  
Rüdiger W. Seidel

AbstractSynthesis and structural characterization of two heterodinuclear ZnII-LnIII complexes with the formula [ZnLn(HL)(µ-OAc)(NO3)2(H2O)x(MeOH)1-x]NO3 · n H2O · n MeOH [Ln = Pr (1), Nd (2)] and the crystal and molecular structure of [ZnNd(HL)(µ-OAc)(NO3)2(H2O)] [ZnNd(HL)(OAc)(NO3)2(H2O)](NO3)2 · n H2O · n MeOH (3) are reported. The asymmetrical compartmental ligand (E)-2-(1-(2-((2-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzylidene)amino)-ethyl)imidazolidin-2-yl)-6-methoxyphenol (H2L) is formed from N1,N3-bis(3-methoxysalicylidene)diethylenetriamine (H2valdien) through intramolecular aminal formation, resulting in a peripheral imidazoline ring. The structures of 1–3 were revealed by X-ray crystallography. The smaller ZnII ion occupies the inner N2O2 compartment of the ligand, whereas the larger and more oxophilic LnIII ions are found in the outer O2O2’ site. Graphic Abstract Synthesis and structural characterization of two heterodinuclear ZnII-LnIII complexes (Ln = Pr, Nd) bearing an asymmetrical compartmental ligand formed in situ from N1,N3-bis(3-methoxysalicylidene)diethylenetriamine (H2valdien) through intramolecular aminal formation are reported.


2014 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 2078-2080 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Witala ◽  
Jun Han ◽  
Andreas Menzel ◽  
Kim Nygård

It is shown that small-angle X-ray scattering from binary liquid mixtures close to the critical point of demixing can be used forin situcharacterization of beam-induced heating of liquid samples. For demonstration purposes, the proposed approach is applied on a well studied critical mixture of water and 2,6-lutidine. Given a typical incident X-ray flux at a third-generation synchrotron light source and using a 1.5 mm-diameter glass capillary as sample container, a beam-induced local temperature increase of 0.45 ± 0.10 K is observed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 1110-1117 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. V. Vitorino ◽  
Y. Fuchs ◽  
T. Dane ◽  
M. S. Rodrigues ◽  
M. Rosenthal ◽  
...  

A compact high-speed X-ray atomic force microscope has been developed forin situuse in normal-incidence X-ray experiments on synchrotron beamlines, allowing for simultaneous characterization of samples in direct space with nanometric lateral resolution while employing nanofocused X-ray beams. In the present work the instrument is used to observe radiation damage effects produced by an intense X-ray nanobeam on a semiconducting organic thin film. The formation of micrometric holes induced by the beam occurring on a timescale of seconds is characterized.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 202
Author(s):  
Miranda Martinez ◽  
Anil R. Chourasia

The Ti/SnO2 interface has been investigated in situ via the technique of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Thin films (in the range from 0.3 to 1.1 nm) of titanium were deposited on SnO2 substrates via the e-beam technique. The deposition was carried out at two different substrate temperatures, namely room temperature and 200 °C. The photoelectron spectra of tin and titanium in the samples were found to exhibit significant differences upon comparison with the corresponding elemental and the oxide spectra. These changes result from chemical interaction between SnO2 and the titanium overlayer at the interface. The SnO2 was observed to be reduced to elemental tin while the titanium overlayer was observed to become oxidized. Complete reduction of SnO2 to elemental tin did not occur even for the lowest thickness of the titanium overlayer. The interfaces in both the types of the samples were observed to consist of elemental Sn, SnO2, elemental titanium, TiO2, and Ti-suboxide. The relative percentages of the constituents at the interface have been estimated by curve fitting the spectral data with the corresponding elemental and the oxide spectra. In the 200 °C samples, thermal diffusion of the titanium overlayer was observed. This resulted in the complete oxidation of the titanium overlayer to TiO2 upto a thickness of 0.9 nm of the overlayer. Elemental titanium resulting from the unreacted overlayer was observed to be more in the room temperature samples. The room temperature samples showed variation around 20% for the Ti-suboxide while an increasing trend was observed in the 200 °C samples.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. G. Karydas ◽  
T. Pantazis ◽  
C. Doumas ◽  
A. Vlachopoulos ◽  
P. Nomikos ◽  
...  

In-situ X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF) of ancient artifacts from the excavation area was performed using a novel X-ray instrumentation, composed of a portable silicon PIN thermoelectrically cooled X-ray detector, a miniature X-ray source, and portable data acquisition devices. The main objective of the analyses in Akrotiri was to explore the potential of the technique to provide answers to a wide range of archaeometric questions regarding the bulk composition of metal alloys, especially of gold, the characterization of corrosion products in bronze artifacts, identification of inorganic elements which are fingerprints of the minerals used in wall-painting pigments, and of the painting materials and techniques used for the decoration of clay vase surfaces. Among the analysed artifacts are a unique gold ibex, a bronze dagger and blade, various pigments from the wall paintings of room 3 in Xeste 3, decoration pigments from rosettes of faience, a bichrome jug, and other clay vases. The results of the in-situ XRF survey, primarily those of the bulk composition and soldering technology of the gold ibex, are discussed and compared with literature.


2010 ◽  
Vol 663-665 ◽  
pp. 542-545 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bing Jie Zhu ◽  
Xin Wei Wang ◽  
Mei Fang Zhu ◽  
Qing Hong Zhang ◽  
Yao Gang Li ◽  
...  

The PANI/ITO conducting nanocomposites have been synthesized by in-situ polymerization. The obtained nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffraction pattern, scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared. Electrical conductivity measurements on the samples pressed into pellets showed that the maximum conductivity attained 2.0 ± 0.05 S/cm for PANI/ITO nanocomposites, at ITO doping concentration of 10 wt%. The results of the present work may provide a simple, rapid and efficient approach for preparing PANI/ITO nanocomposites.


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