Experimental setup for measuring the dispersion forces by the adhered cantilever method.

Dispersion forces start to play role in modern micro/nanoelectromechanical devices, but the methods to measure these forces at distances close to contact (<50 nm) suffer from pull-in instability. The method of adhered cantilever proposed recently has no instability and is able to make measurements at short separations. To measure the force at the average distance between surfaces in contact, one has to know the shape of an elastic beam with one end fixed at a height of 1-10 μm and the other end adhered to the substrate.

Nanoreactors in action for a durable microactuator using spontaneous combustion of gases in nanobubbles.

A number of recent studies report enhancement of chemical reactions on water microdroplets or inside nanobubbles in water. This finding promises exciting applications, although the mechanism of the reaction acceleration is still not clear. Specifically, the spontaneous combustion of hydrogen and oxygen in nanobubbles opens the way to fabricate truly microscopic engines.

Fast Electrochemical Actuator with Ti Electrodes in the Current Stabilization Regime.

The actuators needed for autonomous microfluidic devices have to be compact, low-power-consuming, and compatible with microtechnology. The electrochemical actuators could be good candidates, but they suffer from a long response time due to slow gas termination. An actuator in which the gas is terminated orders of magnitude faster has been demonstrated recently.

Effect of the Lipid Fraction of Microalgae on Biochemical Parameters in Female C57BL/6 Mice.

We studied the effect of microalgae of various systematic groups added to the ration on the biochemical parameters of blood serum and liver and kidney tissue in rats. It was found that microalgae had different effects on the levels of proteins, lipids, and sex hormones, activity of aminotransaminases, and filtration capacity of the kidneys. Microalgae also affected the biochemical parameters of the liver and kidney tissues.

Highly energetic impact of H and O nanobubbles on Pt surface.

Hypothesis Water electrolysis performed by short (≲5μs) voltage pulses of alternating polarity generates a dense cloud of H and O nanobubbles. Platinum electrodes turn black in this process, while they behave differently when the polarity is not altered. We prove that the modification of Pt is associated with highly energetic impact of nanobubbles rather than with any electrochemical process.