Synthesis, microwave spectra, x-ray structure, and high-level theoretical calculations for formamidinium formate.

An efficient synthesis of formamidinium formate is described. The experimental x-ray structure shows both internal and external H-bonding to surrounding molecules. However, in the gas phase, this compound occurs as a doubly hydrogen bonded dimer between formamidine and formic acid.

Experimental design approach for deposition optimization of RF sputtered chalcogenide thin films devoted to environmental optical sensors.

The development of the optical bio-chemical sensing technology is an extremely important scientific and technological issue for diagnosis and monitoring of diseases, control of industrial processes, environmental detection of air and water pollutants. Owing to their distinctive features, chalcogenide amorphous thin films represent a keystone in the manufacture of middle infrared integrated optical devices for a sensitive detection of biological or environmental variations. Since the chalcogenide thin films characteristics, i.

Mechanisms of oxygen plasma nanotexturing of organic polymer surfaces: from stable super hydrophilic to super hydrophobic surfaces.

Plasma processing is used to fabricate super hydrophilic or super hydrophobic polymeric surfaces by means of O2 plasma etching of two organic polymers, namely, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK); a C4F8 plasma deposition follows O2 plasma etching, if surface hydrophobization is desired. We demonstrate high aspect ratio pillars with height ranging from 16 nm to several micrometers depending on the processing time, and contact angle (CA) close to 0 degrees after O2-plasma treatment or CA of 153 degrees (with CA hysteresis lower than 5 degrees) after fluorocarbon deposition. Super hydrophobic surfaces are robust and stable in time; in addition, aging of super hydrophilic surfaces is significantly retarded because of the beneficial effect of the nanotextured topography.