Triboelectric charging strongly affects the operation cycle and handling of materials and can be used to harvest mechanical energy through triboelectric nanogenerator set-up. Despite ubiquity of triboelectric effects, a lot of mechanisms surrounding the relevant phenomena remain to be understood. Continued progress will rely on the development of rapid and reliable methods to probe accumulation and dynamics of static charges. Here, we demonstrate in-situ quantification of tribological charging with nanoscale resolution, that is applicable to a wide range of dielectric systems. We apply this method to differentiate between strongly and weakly charging compositions of industrial grade polymers. The method highlights the complex phenomena of electrostatic discharge upon contact formation to pre-charged surfaces, and directly reveals the mobility of surface charges. Systematic characterization of commercial polyethylene terephthalate samples revealed the compositions with the best antistatic properties and provided an estimate of characteristic charge density up to 5×10<sup>-5</sup> C/m<sup>2</sup>. Large-scale molecular dynamics simulations were used to resolve atomistic level structural and dynamical details revealing enrichment of oxygen containing groups near the air-interface where electrostatic charges are likely to accumulate.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361-6528/aaed54 | DOI Listing |
Nanoscale
January 2025
Institute of Physical Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, Landoltweg 2, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
Microgels are versatile materials with applications across biomedicine, materials science, and beyond. Their controllable size and composition enables tailoring specific properties, yet characterizing their internal structures on the nanoscale remains challenging. Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy (SRFM) effectively analyzes sub-μm structures, including microgels, offering a tool for investigating more complex systems such as core-shell microgels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVolume electron microscopy (vEM) enables biologists to visualize nanoscale 3D ultrastructure of entire eukaryotic cells and tissues prepared by heavy atom staining and plastic embedding. The highest resolution vEM technique is focused ion-beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM), which provides nearly isotropic (~5-10 nm) spatial resolution at fluences of > 10,000 e /nm . However, it is not clear how such high resolution is achievable because serial block-face (SBF) SEM, which incorporates an in-situ ultramicrotome instead of a Ga FIB beam, results in radiation-induced collapse of similar specimen blocks at fluences of only ~20 e /nm .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBio Protoc
January 2025
Key Laboratory of Analytical Science and Technology of Hebei Province, College of Chemistry and Material Science, Hebei University. Baoding, China.
Mitochondrial cristae, formed by folding the mitochondrial inner membrane (IM), are essential for cellular energy supply. However, the observation of the IM is challenging due to the limitations in spatiotemporal resolution offered by conventional microscopy and the absence of suitable in vitro probes specifically targeting the IM. Here, we describe a detailed imaging protocol for the mitochondrial inner membrane using the Si-rhodamine dye HBmito Crimson, which has excellent photophysical properties, to label live cells for imaging via stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNano Lett
January 2025
Department of Physics, Memory and Catalyst Research Center, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Yongin, 17035, Republic of Korea.
MoO is a promising transition metal oxide due to its high dielectric constant (κ) and multifunctionality in electronic and optoelectronic applications. Oxidation-induced nanoscale MoO, synthesized via oxidation scanning probe lithography (o-SPL) of MoS, requires in-depth characterization of its dielectric properties. In this study, we measured the κ of a single MoO nanostructure, which was confirmed to be in the amorphous phase through water solubility tests and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Nano
January 2025
Institute of Physics, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Controlling the light emitted by individual molecules is instrumental to a number of advanced nanotechnologies ranging from super-resolution bioimaging and molecular sensing to quantum nanophotonics. Molecular emission can be tailored by modifying the local photonic environment, for example, by precisely placing a single molecule inside a plasmonic nanocavity with the help of DNA origami. Here, using this scalable approach, we show that commercial fluorophores may experience giant Purcell factors and Lamb shifts, reaching values on par with those recently reported in scanning tip experiments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!