Prediction and limitation of polymer degradation in Environmental SEM.

Polymer materials degradation is a well-known limitation to their characterization in SEM. In this paper authors present an additional possibility for polymer imaging offered by the Environmental SEM applied to the PMMA with micrometric relief. As shown by the so-called double-scan procedure, increasing the pressure enables to delay the degradation of the polymer surface.

The reduction of Ag+ in metallic silver on pseudomelanin films allows for antibacterial activity but does not imply unpaired electrons.

Dopamine-melanin films produced through the oxidation of dopamine in the presence of oxygen as an oxidant allow to reduce silver ions onto silver particles as already described in the paper by Lee et al. (H. Lee, S.

Pressure and scattering regime influence on the EDS profile resolution at a composite interface in environmental SEM.

Gas impact on the EDS profile resolution at the interface of composite interface resin/Al was investigated with two gaseous environments: helium and water vapor. Two main components of the global profile at the interface were investigated: the contrast of the profile and the spatial resolution. A complementary approach was developed by comparing gas nature impact versus the pressure and versus the scattering regime.

Reactive layer-by-layer films from solutions containing silicic acid and a Ti(IV) complex: preferential incorporation of silica and interactions of the obtained films with hexacyanoferrate anions.

The concept of reactive layer-by-layer (LBL) deposition allows the build-up of films containing polycations and oxide particles, namely, silica and poorly crystalline anatase. Because polyelectrolyte multilayer films have been produced from blended polyanions or polycations solutions and since preferential incorporation of one of the partners of the blend has been found in most cases, one should wonder if a preferential polycondensation of either silica or titania should occur when the reactive deposition is performed from a solution containing a precursor of both inorganic species. X-ray photoelectron (XPS) and UV-visible spectroscopies show that the reactive LBL films made from the blend and poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC) incorporate predominantly silica over TiO(2) over the whole molar fraction range of the silicic acic/hydrosoluble Ti(IV) complex.