scholarly journals Shear Induced TiO2 Nano Structure Using Brush-Coating for Liquid Crystal Alignment

Crystals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 860
Author(s):  
Jong In Jang ◽  
Hae-Chang Jeong
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Crystal ◽  
Sol Gel ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Annealing Process ◽  
Film Deposition ◽  
Shearing Stress ◽  
Alignment Layer ◽  
Nano Structure ◽  
One Step ◽  
Brush Coating

We have developed a very useful and cost-effective liquid crystal (LC) alignment layer of brush-coated TiO2 that is solution-processable for twisted nematic (TN) LC cells. TiO2 was prepared via the sol-gel method. The TiO2 solution was brush-coated on the substrate, followed by an annealing process. During the brush-coating process, a retracting force is generated on the deposited TiO solutions along the coating direction. The annealing process hardens the TiO2 and generates shearing stress arising from the retracting force along the brush-coating direction. The shearing stress created highly oriented nano/microstructure and uniformly aligned LCs with a stable pretilt angle of 0.6°. TN mode LC cells based on brush-coated TiO2 exhibited a performance of 12.5 ms of response and a threshold voltage of 1.8 V. Our brush-coated TiO2 incorporates two steps of the film deposition and alignment process into one step.

Calorimetric Sensor for Ethanol Using Ni2+-nitrilotriacetic Acid (NTA) Resin Immobilized Alcohol Dehydrogenase (ADH)

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 795-799
Author(s):  
YongJin Li
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effective ◽  
Nitrilotriacetic Acid ◽  
Repeated Measurements ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Calorimetric Sensor ◽  
Controlled Pore Glass ◽  
Pore Glass ◽  
One Step ◽  
Immobilization Matrix ◽  
Enzyme Thermistor

Background: A simple, fast and economic analytical method for the determination of ethanol is important for clinical, biological, forensic and physico-legal purposes. Methods: Ni2+-NTA resin was used as an immobilization matrix for the simple one-step purification/ immobilization of his6-tagged ADH. Different alcohols with a concentration range of 0.5-50% V/V, namely methanol, ethanol and propanol were measured using prepared ADH enzyme thermistor. The ethanol content of Tsingtao beer was tested as a real sample containing alcohol. Reproducibility and stability of prepared ADH enzyme thermistor were also investigated by repeated measurements. Results: In comparison to the controlled pore glass (a common used support for the immobilization of enzyme) used in thermal biosensor, the use of Ni2+-NTA resin not only led to simple one-step purification/ immobilization by his6-tagged ADH binding to Ni2+-NTA resin, but also made the immobilizing supports reusable. The prepared biosensor can be used to determine ethanol and methanol by the calorimetric measurement. A linear range of 1 -32% (V/V) and 2-20% (V/V) was observed for ethanol and methanol, respectively. The detection limits were 0.3% (V/V) and 1% (V/V) for ethanol and methanol, respectively. The tested ethanol concentration of Tsingtao beer was 4.5% V/V, which is comparable with the labeled alcohol by volume (ABV) 4.80%. Conclusion: Ni2+-NTA resin, as an immobilization matrix in ET sensor, provides a simple one-step purification/immobilization for His6-tagged recombinase and a reusable immobilization matrix. The prepared biosensor exhibits good repeatability and stability. Such a new biosensor shows great promise for rapid, simple, and cost-effective analysis of ethanol and methanol, both in qualitative and in quantitative tests.

Enhancement of Contrast Ratio by Using Ferroelectric Nanoparticles in the Alignment Layer of Liquid Crystal Display

2008 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 4751-4754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudarshan Kundu ◽  
Mitsuhiro Akimoto ◽  
Itaru Hirayama ◽  
Masaru Inoue ◽  
Shunsuke Kobayashi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Crystal ◽  
Liquid Crystal Display ◽  
Contrast Ratio ◽  
Alignment Layer

scholarly journals Elucidation of the Crystal Growth Characteristics of SnO2 Nanoaggregates Formed by Sequential Low-Temperature Sol-Gel Reaction and Freeze Drying

Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1738
Author(s):  
Saeid Vafaei ◽  
Alexander Wolosz ◽  
Catlin Ethridge ◽  
Udo Schnupf ◽  
Nagisa Hattori ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crystal Growth ◽  
Low Temperature ◽  
Photoelectron Spectroscopy ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Freeze Drying ◽  
Sno2 Nanoparticles ◽  
Sol Gel ◽  
Functional Materials ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
High Concentration

SnO2 nanoparticles are regarded as attractive, functional materials because of their versatile applications. SnO2 nanoaggregates with single-nanometer-scale lumpy surfaces provide opportunities to enhance hetero-material interfacial areas, leading to the performance improvement of materials and devices. For the first time, we demonstrate that SnO2 nanoaggregates with oxygen vacancies can be produced by a simple, low-temperature sol-gel approach combined with freeze-drying. We characterize the initiation of the low-temperature crystal growth of the obtained SnO2 nanoaggregates using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The results indicate that Sn (II) hydroxide precursors are converted into submicrometer-scale nanoaggregates consisting of uniform SnO2 spherical nanocrystals (2~5 nm in size). As the sol-gel reaction time increases, further crystallization is observed through the neighboring particles in a confined part of the aggregates, while the specific surface areas of the SnO2 samples increase concomitantly. In addition, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements suggest that Sn (II) ions exist in the SnO2 samples when the reactions are stopped after a short time or when a relatively high concentration of Sn (II) is involved in the corresponding sol-gel reactions. Understanding this low-temperature growth of 3D SnO2 will provide new avenues for developing and producing high-performance, photofunctional nanomaterials via a cost-effective and scalable method.

Manufacturing Processes of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Components

2007 ◽  
Vol 336-338 ◽  
pp. 498-501
Author(s):  
Xian Feng Jiang ◽  
Min Fang Han ◽  
Su Ping Peng
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Solid Oxide Fuel Cell ◽  
Screen Printing ◽  
Sol Gel ◽  
Tape Casting ◽  
Solid Oxide ◽  
Oxide Fuel ◽  
Cell Components ◽  
One Step ◽  
Made In

The all processes for manufacturing materials parts of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) are discussed in the paper. The films are made in one step by the ways of APS, VPS, EVD, which are usually used to produce the electrolyte and interconnect. The films are thin and good gas-resistance, but with relatively high cost. All parts of SOFC are made by the following ways, such as sol-gel, tape casting, tape calendaring and screen printing, which are suitable for manufacturing samples in industry with the cheapest process by co-sintered together ways.

scholarly journals Photocontrollable Resistivity Change in Nanoparticle-Doped Liquid Crystal Alignment Layer: Voltage Holding and Discharging Properties of Fringe-Field Switching Liquid Crystal Modes

Crystals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 268
Author(s):  
Jeong-Hoon Ko ◽  
Jun-Chan Choi ◽  
Dong-Jin Lee ◽  
Jae-Won Lee ◽  
Hak-Rin Kim
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Crystal ◽  
Power Saving ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Fringe Field ◽  
Resistance Level ◽  
Alignment Layer ◽  
Experimental Scheme ◽  
Tunable Range ◽  
Crystal Alignment ◽  
Operation Frequency

In liquid crystal (LC) displays, deriving an optimum resistance level of an LC alignment polyimide (PI) layer is important because of the trade-off between the voltage holding and surface-discharging properties. In particular, to apply a power-saving low-frequency operation scheme to fringe-field switching (FFS) LC modes with negative dielectric LC (n-LC), delicate material engineering is required to avoid surface-charge-dependent image flickering and sticking problems, which severely degrade with lowering operation frequency. Therefore, this paper proposes a photocontrolled variable-resistivity PI layer in order to systematically investigate the voltage holding and discharging properties of the FFS n-LC modes, according to the PI resistivity (ρ) levels. By doping fullerene into the high-ρ PI as the photoexcited charge-generating nanoparticles, the ρ levels of the PI were continuously controllable with a wide tunable range (0.95 × 1015 Ω∙cm to 5.36 × 1013 Ω∙cm) through Ar laser irradiation under the same LC and LC alignment conditions. The frequency-dependent voltage holding and discharge behaviors were analyzed with photocontrolled ρ variation. Thus, the proposed experimental scheme is a feasible approach in PI engineering for a power-saving low-frequency FFS n-LC mode without the image flickering and image sticking issues.

scholarly journals Alignment Layer of Liquid Crystal Using Plant-Based Isoeugenol-Substituted Polystyrene

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 547
Author(s):  
DaEun Yang ◽  
Kyutae Seo ◽  
Hyo Kang
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Crystal ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Polymer Film ◽  
Uv Irradiation ◽  
Molar Content ◽  
Polymer Modification ◽  
Alignment Layer ◽  
Energy Value ◽  
Alignment System ◽  
Molar Percent

We synthesized a series of renewable and plant-based isoeugenol-substituted polystyrenes (PIEU#, # = 100, 80, 60, 40, and 20, where # is the molar percent content of isoeugenol moiety), using polymer modification reactions to study their liquid crystal (LC) alignment behavior. In general, the LC cells fabricated using polymer film with a higher molar content of isoeugenol side groups showed vertical LC alignment behavior. This alignment behavior was well related to the surface energy value of the polymer layer. For example, vertical alignments were observed when the polar surface energy value of the polymer was smaller than approximately 3.59 mJ/m2, generated by the nonpolar isoeugenol moiety with long and bulky carbon groups. Good alignment stability at 100 °C and under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation of 15 J/cm2 was observed for the LC cells fabricated using PIEU100 as a LC alignment layer. Therefore, renewable isoeugenol-based materials can be used to produce an eco-friendly vertical LC alignment system.

scholarly journals 3D Printed Microfluidic Devices for Drug Release Assays

Pharmaceutics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Benzion Amoyav ◽  
Yoel Goldstein ◽  
Eliana Steinberg ◽  
Ofra Benny
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Drug Release ◽  
Particle Production ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Drug Dissolution ◽  
Cytotoxicity Test ◽  
High Durability ◽  
One Step ◽  
Cost Effective Alternative ◽  
Multiple Recycling

Microfluidics research for various applications, including drug delivery, cell-based assays and biomedical research has grown exponentially. Despite this technology’s enormous potential, drawbacks include the need for multistep fabrication, typically with lithography. We present a one-step fabrication process of a microfluidic chip for drug dissolution assays based on a 3D printing technology. Doxorubicin porous and non-porous microspheres, with a mean diameter of 250µm, were fabricated using a conventional “batch” or microfluidic method, based on an optimized solid-in-oil-in-water protocol. Microspheres fabricated with microfluidics system exhibited higher encapsulation efficiency and drug content as compared with batch formulations. We determined drug release profiles of microspheres in varying pH conditions using two distinct dissolution devices that differed in their mechanical barrier structures. The release profile of the “V” shape barrier was similar to that of the dialysis sac test and differed from the “basket” barrier design. Importantly, a cytotoxicity test confirmed biocompatibility of the printed resin. Finally, the chip exhibited high durability and stability, enabling multiple recycling sessions. We show how the combination of microfluidics and 3D printing can reduce costs and time, providing an efficient platform for particle production while offering a feasible cost-effective alternative to clean-room facility polydimethylsiloxane-based chip microfabrication.

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