Plasma Modeling and Prebiotic Chemistry: A Review of the State-of-the-Art and Perspectives

We review the recent progress in the modeling of plasmas or ionized gases, with compositions compatible with that of primordial atmospheres. The plasma kinetics involves elementary processes by which free electrons ultimately activate weakly reactive molecules, such as carbon dioxide or methane, thereby potentially starting prebiotic reaction chains. These processes include electron–molecule reactions and energy exchanges between molecules. They are basic processes, for example, in the famous Miller-Urey experiment, and become relevant in any prebiotic scenario where the primordial atmosphere is significantly ionized by electrical activity, photoionization or meteor phenomena. The kinetics of plasma displays remarkable complexity due to the non-equilibrium features of the energy distributions involved. In particular, we argue that two concepts developed by the plasma modeling community, the electron velocity distribution function and the vibrational distribution function, may unlock much new information and provide insight into prebiotic processes initiated by electron–molecule collisions.

Development and evaluation of a new IgM/IgG rapid diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2

There is an urgent need in rapid diagnostic test (RDT) to detect antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. We have developed a rapid and simple point-of-care lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) detecting IgM and IgG against SARS-CoV-2 in 10 minutes. The aim of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic performance of this RDT. RT-PCR positive plasma samples (n=35) for SARS-CoV-2 and 97 negative control samples were studied. Diagnostic performance of IgG/IgM RDT was assessed using both gold standard RT-PCR and Electro-chemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) Elecsys® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 total Ig. Overall, RDT sensitivity was 100% (95% confidence interval [95%CI]: 88-100%) and specificity 93% (95% CI: 85-97%). This IgG/IgM RDT done in plasma displays a high diagnostic accuracy for SARS-CoV-2 IgG/IgM in high COVID-19 prevalence settings. Its use could be considered in the absence of routine diagnostic serology facilities for samples collected between 10 and 180 days after symptoms onset.

Laser-Patternable Graphene Field Emitters for Plasma Displays

This paper presents a plasma display device (PDD) based on laser-induced graphene nanoribbons (LIGNs), which were directly fabricated on polyimide sheets. Superior field electron emission (FEE) characteristics, viz. a low turn-on field of 0.44 V/μm and a large field enhancement factor of 4578, were achieved for the LIGNs. Utilizing LIGNs as a cathode in a PDD showed excellent plasma illumination characteristics with a prolonged plasma lifetime stability. Moreover, the LIGN cathodes were directly laser-patternable. Such superior plasma illumination performance of LIGN-based PDDs has the potential to make a significant impact on display technology.

Synthesis and Characterization of Zeolite from Glass by Hydrothermal Processing

Zeolite is a microporous aluminosilicate material with uniform pore size of less than 2 nm and chemical, mechanical, and thermal stability. In general zeolite is synthesized from silica, alumina, mineralizer (alkali metal hydroxide and fluoride) and water. Recently it has been reported that various zeolites is synthesized from soda-lime glass, slag and coal fly ash as silica and alumina source. On the other hand, the production volume of various kinds of high-quality glass which are utilized for high-tech products such as liquid crystal displays and plasma displays is rapidly increasing. The purpose in this study is to synthesize a zeolite from crushed aluminoborosilicate glasses which is used as LCD panels glass substrate. According to the XRD analysis, it was found that the synthesized sample had zeolite related structure. And the results of SEM observation of the products suggest that the zeolite structure was obtained as well as XRD results. It was thought that zeolite was successfully synthesized from the glass by this synthetic processing.

Calibration of a Density-Dependent Modified Drucker-Prager Cap Model for AZO Powder

AZO (Aluminum doped Zinc Oxide) is widely used to produce transparent conductive coatings for liquid crystal displays, flat panel displays, plasma displays, touch panels, and electronic ink applications. The densification behavior of AZO powder is a critical factor related to the design of the compaction process. In this study, the densification behavior of AZO powder during cold compaction has been investigated in order to calibrate the modified Drucker-Prager Cap (DPC) model for FE simulations. A compaction test with a cylindrical die was carried out, and two failure tests were performed: the diameteral compression test and the uniaxial compression test. AZO compacts with various densities from the compact tests were used as specimens for the failure tests. Based on the experimental results, the parameters of the modified DPC model were determined through simple manipulations.