Aerosol-assisted plasma deposition of hydrophobic polycations makes surfaces highly antimicrobial.

The currently used multistep chemical synthesis for making surfaces antimicrobial by attaching to them hydrophobic polycations is replaced herein by an aerosol-assisted plasma deposition procedure. To this end, N,N-hexyl,methyl-PEI (HMPEI) is directly plasma-coated onto a glass surface. The resultant immobilized HMPEI coating has been thoroughly characterized and shown to be robust, bactericidal against Escherichia coli, and virucidal against human influenza virus.

Solution-based synthesis of crystalline silicon from liquid silane through laser and chemical annealing.

We report a solution process for the synthesis of crystalline silicon from the liquid silane precursor cyclohexasilane (Si(6)H(12)). Polysilane films were crystallized through thermal and laser annealing, with plasma hydrogenation at atmospheric pressure generating further structural changes in the films. The evolution from amorphous to microcrystalline is characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Raman spectroscopy and impedance spectroscopy.

Structural and magnetic studies of two-dimensional solvent-free manganeseII complexes prepared via ligand exchange reaction under solvothermal conditions.

Systematic investigation of the ligand exchange reactions between manganese(II) acetate and benzoic acid under solvothermal conditions led to the isolation of crystalline complexes {Mn5(OC(O)CH3)6(OC(O)C6H5)4}(infinity) ( 1) and {Mn5(OC(O)CH3)4(OC(O)C6H5)6}}(infinity) ( 2) in high (i.e., >90%) yields.