Exceptional Microscale Plasticity in Amorphous Aluminum Oxide at Room Temperature.

Oxide glasses are an elementary group of materials in modern society, but brittleness limits their wider usability at room temperature. As an exception to the rule, amorphous aluminum oxide (a-Al O ) is a rare diatomic glassy material exhibiting significant nanoscale plasticity at room temperature. Here, it is shown experimentally that the room temperature plasticity of a-Al O extends to the microscale and high strain rates using in situ micropillar compression.

Multistage Reversible Photomodulation and Hardening of Hydrazone-Containing Polymers.

The glass transition temperature () of a series of polyacrylate- and polymethacrylate-based polymers having bistable hydrazone photoswitches as pendants increases upon photoisomerization. The ensuing photohardening of the polymeric network was corroborated using nanoindentation measurements. The bistability of the switch allowed us to lock-in and sustain multiple values in the same polymeric material as a function of the hydrazone switch's / isomer ratio, even at elevated temperatures.

Novel high temperature vacuum nanoindentation system with active surface referencing and non-contact heating for measurements up to 800 °C.

High temperature nanoindentation is an emerging field with significant advances in instrumentation, calibration, and experimental protocols reported in the past couple of years. Performing stable and accurate measurements at elevated temperatures holds the key for small scale testing of materials at service temperatures. We report a novel high temperature vacuum nanoindentation system, High Temperature Ultra Nanoindentation Tester (UNHT HTV), utilizing active surface referencing and non-contact heating capable of performing measurements up to 800 °C.

An Unexpected Role of Hyaluronic Acid in Trafficking siRNA Across the Cellular Barrier: The First Biomimetic, Anionic, Non-Viral Transfection Method.

Circulating nucleic acids, such as short interfering RNA (siRNA), regulate many biological processes; however, the mechanism by which these molecules enter the cell is poorly understood. The role of extracellular-matrix-derived polymers in binding siRNAs and trafficking them across the plasma membrane is reported. Thermal melting, dynamic light scattering, scanning electron microscopy, and computational analysis indicate that hyaluronic acid can stabilize siRNA via hydrogen bonding and Van der Waals interactions.

Use of radiofrequency power to enable glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy ultrafast elemental mapping of combinatorial libraries with nonconductive components: nitrogen-based materials.

Combinatorial chemistry and high-throughput techniques are an efficient way of exploring optimal values of elemental composition. Optimal composition can result in high performance in a sequence of material synthesis and characterization. Materials combinatorial libraries are typically encountered in the form of a thin film composition gradient which is produced by simultaneous material deposition on a substrate from two or more sources that are spatially separated and chemically different.