Physical vapor deposition can be used to prepare highly stable organic glass systems where the molecules show orientational and translational ordering at the nanoscale. We have used low-dose four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy (4D STEM), enabled by a fast direct electron detector, to map columnar order in glassy samples of a discotic mesogen using a 2 nm probe. Both vapor-deposited and liquid-cooled glassy films show domains of similar orientation, but their size varies from tens to hundreds of nanometers, depending on processing. Domain sizes are consistent with surface-diffusion-mediated ordering during film deposition. These results demonstrate the ability of low-dose 4D STEM to characterize a mesoscale structure in a molecular glass system which may be relevant to organic electronics.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c00197 | DOI Listing |
iScience
January 2025
Department of Visceral, Vascular and Endocrine Surgery, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, University Medical Center Halle, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is characterized by aggressive growth and metastasis, partly driven by fibroblast-mediated stromal interactions. Using RNA sequencing of fibroblasts from early-stage KPC mouse models, we identified significant upregulation of genes involved in adipogenesis, fatty acid metabolism, and the ROS pathway. ANGPTL4, a key adipogenesis regulator, was highly expressed in fibroblasts and promoted pancreatic cancer cell proliferation and migration through paracrine signaling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Phys Chem C Nanomater Interfaces
January 2025
Institute of General, Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry Center for Chemistry and Biomedicine, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 80-82, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
Novel anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are constantly being explored to further improve battery performance. In this work, ReaxFF molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are performed to model the early stages in the synthesis of nanostructured silicon carbide (SiC), which is one such promising material. The focus lies on its precursor, silicon oxycarbide glass of composition (SiOC) (17 mol% Si, 28 mol% O, and 54 mol% C), in the following referred to as SiOC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Mater Interfaces
January 2025
Center for Nanochemistry, Beijing Science and Engineering Center for Nanocarbons, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Direct chemical vapor deposition growth of high-quality graphene on dielectric substrates is a great challenge. Graphene growth on dielectrics always suffers from the issues of a high nucleation density and poor quality. Herein, a premelted-substrate-promoted selective etching (PSE) strategy was proposed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMol Pharm
January 2025
Laboratory of Thermodynamics, Department of Biochemical and Chemical Engineering, TU Dortmund University, Emil-Figge-Street 70, Dortmund 44227, Germany.
Lyophilization remains a key method for preserving sensitive biopharmaceuticals such as monoclonal antibodies. Traditionally, stabilization mechanisms have been explained by vitrification, which minimizes molecular mobility in the lyophilized cake, and water replacement, which restores molecular interactions disrupted by water removal. This study proposes a novel design strategy that combines water activity and glass-transition temperature as the main indicators to predict long-term stability in lyophilized formulations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc
January 2025
Institute of Chemistry, Military University of Technology, Kaliskiego 2, PL-00908 Warsaw, Poland.
Molecular arrangement in the chiral smectic phases of the glassforming (S)-4'-(1-methylheptylcarbonyl)biphenyl-4-yl 4-[7-(2,2,3,3,4,4,4-heptafluorobutoxy) heptyl-1-oxy]benzoate is investigated by X-ray diffraction. An increased correlation length of the positional short-range order in the supercooled state agrees with the previous assumption of the hexatic smectic phase. However, the registered X-ray diffraction patterns are not typical for the hexatic phases.
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