Characterization of sustainable biocompatible materials based on chitosan: cellulose composites containing sporopollenin exine capsules.

In this work, photothermal beam deflection spectrometric technique (BDS) is applied for non-contact and non-destructive characterization of chitosan (CS): cellulose (CEL) biocomposites with incorporated sporopollenin exine capsules (SEC). The objective was to determine the structural and thermal properties of synthesized CS:CEL:SEC composites with varying amounts of SEC, and to validate the BDS by photopyroelectric calorimetry (PPE) as an independent technique. It was found that CS:CEL biocomposites without SEC exhibit low porosities, which are on the order of 0.

Role of Graphene Topography in the Initial Stages of Pentacene Layer Growth.

Using atomic force microscopy, we probed the growth of pentacene molecules on graphene that was fabricated by chemical vapor deposition and transferred onto 300 nm-thick SiO substrates. The topography of such graphene has two important properties. First, its surface is comprised of folds that have different orientations, and second, it has several multilayer-graphene regions distributed over the monolayer-graphene surface.

Computer vision distortion correction of scanning probe microscopy images.

Since its inception, scanning probe microscopy (SPM) has established itself as the tool of choice for probing surfaces and functionalities at the nanoscale. Although recent developments in the instrumentation have greatly improved the metrological aspects of SPM, it is still plagued by the drifts and nonlinearities of the piezoelectric actuators underlying the precise nanoscale motion. In this work, we present an innovative computer-vision-based distortion correction algorithm for offline processing of functional SPM measurements, allowing two images to be directly overlaid with minimal error - thus correlating position with time evolution and local functionality.

Effect of water layer at the SiO2/graphene interface on pentacene morphology.

Atomic force microscopy has been used to examine early stages of pentacene growth on exfoliated single-layer graphene transferred to SiO2 substrates. We have observed 2D growth with mean height of 1.5 ± 0.