Effects of Acid Dissociation and Ionic Solutions on the Aggregation of 2-Pyrone-4,6-dicarboxylic Acid
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Results for “solution chemistry”
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
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Characterizing Heterogeneous Mixtures of Assembled States of the Tobacco Mosaic Virus Using Charge Detection Mass Spectrometry
The tobacco mosaic viral capsid protein (TMV) is a frequent target for derivatization for myriad applications, including drug delivery, biosensing, and light harvesting. However, solutions of the stacked disk assembly state of TMV are difficult to characterize quantitatively due to their large size and multiple assembled states. Charge detection mass spectrometry (CDMS) addresses the need to characterize heterogeneous populations of large protein complexes in solution quickly and accurately. Using CDMS, previously unobserved assembly states of TMV, including 16-monomer disks and odd-numbered disk stacks, have been characterized. We additionally employed a peptide-protein conjugation reaction in conjunction with CDMS to demonstrate that modified TMV proteins do not redistribute between disks. Finally, this technique was used to discriminate between protein complexes of near-identical mass but different configurations. In conclusion, we have gained a greater understanding of the behavior of TMV, a protein used across a broad variety of fields and applications, in the solution state.
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Aerosol jet printing of surface acoustic wave microfluidic devices
Abstract The addition of surface acoustic wave (SAW) technologies to microfluidics has greatly advanced lab-on-a-chip applications due to their unique and powerful attributes, including high-precision manipulation, versatility, integrability, biocompatibility, contactless nature, and rapid actuation. However, the development of SAW microfluidic devices is limited by complex and time-consuming micro/nanofabrication techniques and access to cleanroom facilities for multistep photolithography and vacuum-based processing. To simplify the fabrication of SAW microfluidic devices with customizable dimensions and functions, we utilized the additive manufacturing technique of aerosol jet printing. We successfully fabricated customized SAW microfluidic devices of varying materials, including silver nanowires, graphene, and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS). To characterize and compare the acoustic actuation performance of these aerosol jet printed SAW microfluidic devices with their cleanroom-fabricated counterparts, the wave displacements and resonant frequencies of the different fabricated devices were directly measured through scanning laser Doppler vibrometry. Finally, to exhibit the capability of the aerosol jet printed devices for lab-on-a-chip applications, we successfully conducted acoustic streaming and particle concentration experiments. Overall, we demonstrated a novel solution-based, direct-write, single-step, cleanroom-free additive manufacturing technique to rapidly develop SAW microfluidic devices that shows viability for applications in the fields of biology, chemistry, engineering, and medicine.
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
A facile spectroscopic method for measuring lignin content in lignocellulosic biomass
A spectroscopic method was developed for the determination of lignin contents in lignocellulosic biomass, based on a full dissolution of the biomass sample in a cysteine–sulfuric acid solution at room temperature.
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Efficient O -demethylation of lignin-derived aromatic compounds under moderate conditions
Lignin-derived aromatics can be efficiently demethylated with a high yield in an acidic lithium bromide solution under moderate conditions.
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Influence of solution phase environmental heterogeneity and fluctuations on vibronic spectra: Perylene diimide molecular chromophore complexes in solution
Ensembles of ab initio parameterized Frenkel-exciton model Hamiltonians for different perylene diimide dimer systems are used, together with various dissipative quantum dynamics approaches, to study the influence of the solvation environment and fluctuations in chromophore relative orientation and packing on the vibronic spectra of two different dimer systems: a π-stacked dimer in aqueous solution in which the relative chromophore geometry is strongly confined by a phosphate bridge and a side-by-side dimer in dichloromethane involving a more flexible alkyne bridge that allows quasi-free rotation of the chromophores relative to one another. These entirely first-principles calculations are found to accurately reproduce the main features of the experimental absorption spectra, providing a detailed mechanistic understanding of how the structural fluctuations and environmental interactions influence the vibronic dynamics and spectroscopy of solutions of these multi-chromophore complexes.
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
Electron transfer in a crystalline cytochrome with four hemes
Diffusion of electrons over distances on the order of 100 μm has been observed in crystals of a small tetraheme cytochrome (STC) from Shewanella oneidensis [J. Huang et al . J. Am. Chem. Soc. 142, 10459–10467 (2020)]. Electron transfer between hemes in adjacent subunits of the crystal is slower and more strongly dependent on temperature than had been expected based on semiclassical electron-transfer theory. Here, in this work, we explore explanations for these findings by molecular-dynamics simulations of crystalline and monomeric STC. New procedures are developed for including time-dependent quantum mechanical energy differences in the gap between the energies of the reactant and product states and for evaluating fluctuations of the electronic-interaction matrix element that couples the two hemes. Rate constants for electron transfer are calculated from the time- and temperature-dependent energy gaps, coupling factors, and Franck–Condon-weighted densities of states using an expression with no freely adjustable parameters. Back reactions are considered, as are the effects of various protonation states of the carboxyl groups on the heme side chains. Interactions with water are found to dominate the fluctuations of the energy gap between the reactant and product states. The calculated rate constant for electron transfer from heme IV to heme Ib in a neighboring subunit at 300 K agrees well with the measured value. However, the calculated activation energy of the reaction in the crystal is considerably smaller than observed. We suggest two possible explanations for this discrepancy. The calculated rate constant for transfer from heme I to II within the same subunit of the crystal is about one-third that for monomeric STC in solution.
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Selective Biosorption of Valuable Rare Earth Elements Among Co-Occurring Lanthanides
To meet the increasing demand for rare earth elements (REEs) essential for low carbon-intensity energy technologies, new methods are needed for selective REE extraction from unconventional resources. Only a few REEs have significant economic value, but isolation of target rare earths from co-occurring lanthanides is challenging due to their similar chemical behavior. We present a novel approach to enhance separation of specific REEs from lanthanide mixtures. Escherichia coli cells engineered with lanthanide binding tags (LBTs) were immobilized in nonadsorbing, permeable polyethylene glycol diacrylate beads and packed into continuous flow, fixed-bed columns. Breakthrough of 15 rare earths in the +3 oxidation state resulted in notable differences in adsorption selectivity, with greatest separation between europium (Eu) and lanthanum (La) due to competitive displacement. REE adsorption onto fixed-bed columns was predicted by coupling a surface complexation model to a calibrated one-dimensional dual porosity transport model that accounts for interbead advective and intrabead diffusive transport. A tradeoff between high-abundance, low-affinity native carboxyl sites and low-abundance, high-affinity engineered LBT sites dictates process recovery efficiency and selectivity. Key chemical and operational parameters are identified to maximize selective extraction of high-value lanthanides, achieving a threefold enhancement of Eu recovery relative to La in a mixed REE solution.
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Deformation behavior of crystalline/amorphous Al-Si nanocomposites with nanolaminate or nanofibrous microstructures
Deformation mechanisms in sputter-deposited crystalline Al/amorphous Si nanocomposites with nanolaminate or nanofibrous morphology are characterized by nanoindentation, micropillar compression testing and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The nanofibrous composite having crystalline Al nanofibers with ~40–50 nm in length and 15–20 nm in diameter embedded in amorphous Si exhibits strain hardening to a maximum flow stress of 2.9 GPa and no shear band (SB) formation in compression up to plastic strain exceeding 24%. On the other hand, nanolaminate composite that is composed of 80 nm crystalline Al layers and 20 nm amorphous Si layers exhibits catastrophic SBs starting at plastic strains in the range of 5–10%. Cross-sectional TEM of the deformed samples reveals a high density of stacking faults and twin boundaries in Al nanofibers and no microshear bands in the nanofibrous composite, suggesting plastic deformation in amorphous Si phase and crystalline Al nanofibers. Further, molecular dynamics simulations revealed that the plastic deformation in amorphous Si phase in the cosputtered films could be favored by the decrease in flow strength of amorphous Si with increasing Al solute concentration trapped in Si.
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(Invited) Continuum Mathematical Modeling of Water Electrolysis: A Tutorial
Widespread use of hydrogen energy is contingent on the development of reliable and economical sources of hydrogen. Electrolysis from renewably-derived low-carbon electricity is a potentially viable method of hydrogen generation. Prime among the electrolysis technologies are those utilizing ion-conducting polymers (ionomers) including proton-exchange-membrane water electrolyzer (PEMWE). However, these technologies need to exhibit increased efficiency, performance, and durability to become commercially viable. Like most electrochemical devices, PEMWEs involve multiple components (e.g., catalyst, ionomer, transport layers, membrane, plates) and multiple phases, with phenomena occurring across different time and length scales. Furthermore, it is difficult to experimentally probe many of the species and phenomena during operation. Thus, mathematical modeling at the continuum level has been an invaluable aid in exploring, understanding, and optimizing PEMWE cell and components. Furthermore, this is especially true in the highly coupled and complex physics and chemistries that occur with the membrane-electrode assembly (MEA). The physics in a typical volume-averaged non-isothermal model include multiphase transport in porous media, concentrated-solution theory, Ohm's Law, and Butler-Volmer kinetics, and ion, gas, and water transport in the ionomer.
Dizon, Arthur↗
Electrodeposition of Tungsten using Hydrotropic Agents
The current work sought to electrodeposit tungsten from water-based solutions. The work’s initial hypothesis was that methoxide reducing agents could be used to generate urea anions that could enable tungsten electrodeposition. Unfortunately, this hypothesis was found to be incorrect. However, the work led to the understanding that chemical reducing agents not only enable the electrodeposition of refractory metals like rhenium from water-based solutions, but that the key to plating tungsten in the future involves chemical reduction followed by stabilization with proper ligands. The work resulted in a manuscript under review at Inorganic Chemistry Communications on the discovered of L-histidine as a suitable reducing agent from rhenium electrodeposition. Rhenium-tungsten alloys with 4% tungsten were deposited. A technical advance was filed for the rhenium chemistry and parts were delivered to an internal Sandia customer that used the chemistry.
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Real-Time Nitrate Ion Monitoring with Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) Materials
Nitrate (NO 3 ) pollution in groundwater, caused by various factors both natural and synthetic, contributes to the decline of human health and well-being. Current techniques used for nitrate detection include spectroscopic, electrochemical, chromatography, and capillary electrophoresis. It is highly desired to develop a simple cost-effective alternative to these complex methods for nitrate detection. Therefore, a real-time poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT)-based sensor for nitrate ion detection via electrical property change is introduced in this study. Vapor phase polymerization (VPP) is used to create a polymer thin film. Variations in specific parameters during the process are tested and compared to develop new insights into PEDOT sensitivity towards nitrate ions. Through this study, the optimal fabrication parameters that produce a sensor with the highest sensitivity toward nitrate ions are determined. With the optimized parameters, the electrical resistance response of the sensor to 1000 ppm nitrate solution is 41.79%. Furthermore, the sensors can detect nitrate ranging from 1 ppm to 1000 ppm. The proposed sensor demonstrates excellent potential to detect the overabundance of nitrate ions in aqueous solutions in real time.
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Metal ion extraction from brines
A material includes a porous particle that includes a metal ion imprinted polymer. The metal ion imprinted polymer is formed from a hydrophilic co-monomer, a metal containing polymerizable compound, and a cross-linking agent. The metal containing polymerizable compound includes at least one metal chelating ligand. The metal ion imprinted polymer includes a plurality of metal ion selective binding sites. A method includes flowing brine containing a metal ion through a reactor that includes the material. The method further includes discharging the brine from the reactor, contacting the porous particles with water, and pressurizing the reactor with carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide reacts with the adsorbed metal ions to form a metal carbonate solution. The method further includes depressurizing the reactor to precipitate metal carbonate from the metal carbonate solution and discharging the metal carbonate solution from the reactor.
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Amidoxime-functionalized materials and their use in extracting metal ions from liquid solutions
A method of producing a functionalized material that extracts metal ions from solution, the method comprising: (i) providing a precursor material having nitrile groups appended to its surface; and (ii) reacting said nitrile groups with hydroxylamine or a derivative thereof in the presence of a polar aprotic solvent at a temperature of 60-80° C. for at least 1 hour, to convert at least a portion of said nitrile groups to amidoxime and imide dioxime groups, followed by reaction with a base capable of hydrolyzing any remaining nitrile groups to carboxylic acid groups; wherein said functionalized material has a higher uranium absorption capacity than a functionalized material produced under same conditions except that the nitrile groups are reacted with hydroxylamine in only a protic solvent. The invention is also directed to functionalized materials produced by the above-described method, and methods for using the functionalized material for extracting metal ions from metal-containing solutions.
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Understanding In-Situ Structure and Chemistry at Battery Interfaces Through Time-Resolved Cryo-EM
Transmission and scanning transmission electron microscopy are vital tools for characterizing interfacial structure and chemistry at high spatial resolutions but are limited by the fact that many materials are quickly damaged by electron beam irradiation. This is a challenge particularly for materials relevant to energy applications, such as lithium-containing battery materials, organic-inorganic hybrids, and liquid electrolytes. Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) offers a partial solution to this issue by stabilizing beam-sensitive solid-solid or solid-liquid interfaces for characterization, but typical cryo-EM sample preparations are ex situ and thus cannot capture interfaces in their electrified state of interest to applications. Here, we present a method to prepare cryo-EM samples of electrified battery interfaces in situ to preserve the time-resolved structures and chemistry that arise under applied current or bias.
batteries↗
“Off‐Label Use” of the Siderophore Enterobactin Enables Targeted Imaging of Cancer with Radioactive Ti (IV)
The development of inert, biocompatible chelation methods is required to harness the emerging positron emitting radionuclide 45 Ti for radiopharmaceutical applications. Herein, we evaluate the Ti (IV) -coordination chemistry of four catechol-based, hexacoordinate chelators using synthetic, structural, computational, and radiochemical approaches. The siderophore enterobactin (Ent) and its synthetic mimic TREN-CAM readily form mononuclear Ti (IV) species in aqueous solution at neutral pH. Radiolabeling studies reveal that Ent and TREN-CAM form mononuclear complexes with the short-lived, positron-emitting radionuclide 45 Ti (IV) , and do not transchelate to plasma proteins in vitro and exhibit rapid renal clearance in naïve mice. These features guide efforts to target the 45 Ti isotope to prostate cancer tissue through the design, synthesis, and evaluation of Ent-DUPA, a small molecule conjugate composed of a prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) targeting peptide and a monofunctionalized Ent scaffold. Additionally, the [ 45 Ti][Ti(Ent-DUPA)] 2− complex forms readily at room temperature. In a tumor xenograft model in mice, selective tumor tissue accumulation (8±5 %, n=5), and low off-target uptake in other organs is observed. Overall, this work demonstrates targeted imaging with 45 Ti (IV) , provides a foundation for advancing the application of 45 Ti in nuclear medicine, and reveals that Ent can be repurposed as a 45 Ti-complexing cargo for targeted nuclear imaging applications.
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Using Machine Learning for Quantum Annealing Accuracy Prediction
Quantum annealers, such as the device built by D-Wave Systems, Inc., offer a way to compute solutions of NP-hard problems that can be expressed in Ising or quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) form. Although such solutions are typically of very high quality, problem instances are usually not solved to optimality due to imperfections of the current generations quantum annealers. In this contribution, we aim to understand some of the factors contributing to the hardness of a problem instance, and to use machine learning models to predict the accuracy of the D-Wave 2000Q annealer for solving specific problems. We focus on the maximum clique problem, a classic NP-hard problem with important applications in network analysis, bioinformatics, and computational chemistry. By training a machine learning classification model on basic problem characteristics such as the number of edges in the graph, or annealing parameters, such as the D-Wave’s chain strength, we are able to rank certain features in the order of their contribution to the solution hardness, and present a simple decision tree which allows to predict whether a problem will be solvable to optimality with the D-Wave 2000Q. We extend these results by training a machine learning regression model that predicts the clique size found by D-Wave.
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
Nanocrystal‐Enabled Perovskite Heterojunctions in Photovoltaic Applications and Beyond
Abstract Heterojunctions are used to tailor the properties of semiconductors in optoelectronic devices, yet for emerging devices composed of metal halide perovskites, fabricating perovskite/perovskite heterojunctions has proved challenging due to solvent incompatibilities and rapid homogenization due to ion migration. Recent studies have demonstrated various strategies for using perovskite nanocrystals as a component to fabricate perovskite/perovskite heterojunctions, either with a perovskite thin film or a second nanocrystal layer. Heterojunctions such as these can impart many advantages of both bulk and nanocrystalline perovskite morphologies. This perspective focuses on recent developments of solution‐processed perovskite heterojunctions for solar cells and novel optoelectronic devices, in particular, highlighting the demonstrated and potential advantages of nanocrystal‐enabled fabrication strategies. A central tenet of this perspective is that the synthesis and dispersion of perovskite nanocrystals in non‐polar organic solvents offers a key processing advantage over traditional perovskite precursor solutions in polar solvents since the former allows for layer‐by‐layer deposition without dissolving an underlying perovskite film or crystal. This processing advantage, coupled with nanocrystal size control and ligand chemistry, enables perovskite heterojunctions with highly tunable optical and electrical properties. Such heterojunctions may enable disruptive technological advances in broad classes of devices such as solar cells, photodetectors, sensors, and (in)coherent photon sources with tunable polarization.
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗