Development of Embedded Fiber-Optic Evanescent Wave Sensors for Optical Characterization of Graphite Anodes in Lithium-Ion Batteries.

The development, fabrication, and embedment of fiber-optic evanescent wave sensors (FOEWSs) to monitor the state of charge (SOC) and the state of health (SOH) of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are presented. Etching of FOEWSs is performed using a solution of 40 wt % ammonium fluoride (NHF) and 49 wt % hydrofluoric acid (HF) (6:1), which is found to be superior to an etching solution containing just 49 wt % HF. FOEWSs were characterized using glycerol and found to have the highest sensitivity in a lithium-ion battery when they lose 92% of their transmittance in the presence of glycerol on their sensing region.

Optical Characterization of Commercial Lithiated Graphite Battery Electrodes and in Situ Fiber Optic Evanescent Wave Spectroscopy.

Optical characterization of graphite anodes in lithium ion batteries (LIB) is presented here for potential use in estimating their state of charge (SOC). The characterization is based on reflectance spectroscopy of the anode of commercial LIB cells and in situ optical measurements using an embedded optical fiber sensor. The optical characterization of the anode using wavelengths ranging from 500 to 900 nm supports the dominance of graphite over the solid electrolyte interface in governing the anode's reflectance properties.

Enhancing conjugation rate of antibodies to carboxylates: Numerical modeling of conjugation kinetics in microfluidic channels and characterization of chemical over-exposure in conventional protocols by quartz crystal microbalance.

This research reports an improved conjugation process for immobilization of antibodies on carboxyl ended self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). The kinetics of antibody/SAM binding in microfluidic heterogeneous immunoassays has been studied through numerical simulation and experiments. Through numerical simulations, the mass transport of reacting species, namely, antibodies and crosslinking reagent, is related to the available surface concentration of carboxyl ended SAMs in a microchannel.

Fast kinetics of thiolic self-assembled monolayer adsorption on gold: modeling and confirmation by protein binding.

This study presents an improved kinetics for the formation of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of thiols on gold substrates. Based on predictions of a computational model developed to study the SAM growth kinetics, SAMs of 11-mercaptoinic acid and 1-octanethiol were successfully formed for the first time within 15 min by incubation of planar gold chips in a 10 mM solution of thiols in pure ethanol. The performance of this new rapid SAM formation protocol is compared to the conventional 24 h incubation protocol by evaluating the binding capacity of a fluorescent-labeled antibody to the SAM samples prepared using both protocols.

Epigenetic silencing of E- and N-cadherins in the stroma of mouse thymic lymphomas.

Aberrant expression of some tumour suppressor genes and oncogenes by thymocytes had been involved in the development of primary thymic lymphomas induced by gamma-irradiation, but genetic alterations affecting critical genes expressed by stromal cells have not been yet explored. This paper analyzes a series of such tumours induced in C57BL/6J and in F1 hybrids of BALB/c and C57BL/6J mouse strains. As expected, hystopathological analyses revealed profound disorganizations within the thymus with a poor demarcation of the cortical and medullar areas.