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At least 145 records · Page 8

Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy study of polyvinylpyrrolidone‐added polyvinylidene fluoride membranes: Investigation of free volume and permeation relationships

ABSTRACT Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes were prepared via the phase inversion method from casting solutions containing PVDF, dimethylformamide (DMF), and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as pore former. PVP was used in the casting solution in a range of 0–5 wt % and extracted. The effect on membranes of using PVP in the casting process was analyzed by X‐ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, viscosity, and water permeability techniques. With an increase of PVP from 0 to 5 wt %, the PVDF casting solution viscosities increased from 858 to 1148 cP; the resulting PVDF membrane thickness increased; and the crystallinity of PVDF membranes decreased from 40.0 to 33.3%, which indicates that the addition of PVP inhibits the degree of crystallization in the PVDF membranes. SEM results revealed the shape and size of macropores in the membranes; these macropores changed after PVP addition to the casting solutions. The impact of structural changes on free‐volume properties was evaluated using positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) studies. PALS analysis indicated no effect on the average radius (~3.4 Å) of membrane free‐volume holes from the addition of PVP to the casting solution. However, the percentage of o ‐Ps pick‐off annihilation intensity, I 3 , increased from 1.7 to 5.1% with increased PVP content. Further, increasing the PVP content from 0.5 to 5% resulted in an increased final pure water permeability flux. For instance, the 210 min flux for a 14% PVDF + 0.5% PVP membrane was found to be 3.3 times greater than a control membrane having the same PVDF concentration. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 58 , 589–598

Eren, Bilge↗

Dialing in Direct Air Capture of CO 2 by Crystal Engineering of Bis-iminoguanidines

Direct air capture (DAC) technologies that extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere via chemical processes have the potential to restore the atmospheric CO 2 concentration to an optimal level. This study elucidates structure-property relationships in DAC by crystallization of bis-iminoguanidine (BIG) carbonate salts. Here, their crystal structures are analyzed by X-ray and neutron diffraction to accurately measure key structural parameters including molecular conformations, hydrogen bonding, and π-stacking. Experimental measurements of key properties, such as aqueous solubilities and regeneration energies and temperatures, are complemented by first-principles calculations of lattice and hydration free energies, as well as free energies of reactions with CO 2 , and BIG regenerations. Minor structural modifications in the molecular structure of the BIGs are found to result in major changes in the crystal structures and the aqueous solubilities within the series, leading to enhanced DAC.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Integration of the Biot–Gassmann Fluid Substitution Method and Machine Learning-Based Velocity–Stress Relationship for Estimating In Situ Stresses

Recent advancements have shown that in situ stresses can be reliably estimated through an integrated machine/deep learning (ML/DL)-based framework, which relies on models trained and validated using true triaxial ultrasonic velocity (TUV) experimental data that involve measurements of ultrasonic velocity in saturated rocks under varying stress configurations. However, when the goal is to interpret lower frequency measurements, it may be more appropriate to run experiments on dry rocks and then obtain Biot–Gassmann-derived equivalent saturated velocities (low-frequency approximation) and employ these quantities for training ML/DL models to predict in situ stress. Whether the dispersion effect of frequency on the velocity–stress relationship substantially impacts in situ stress prediction is an important and unresolved question. This work presents an enhancement of ML/DL-based workflow by training and implementing ML/DL models using equivalent saturated acoustic velocities (low-frequency) obtained by applying Biot–Gassmann fluid substitution on the ultrasonic velocities of dry cores. The models were trained on TUV data sets derived from three subsurface cores extracted from the geothermal well 16B(78)-32 at the Utah FORGE site. Each core was subjected to 75 unique stress configurations for velocity measurement in the dry state. The ML/DL trained on the TUV data set with equivalent saturated velocities demonstrated promising performance to predict in situ stress in subsurface geological rocks using velocity–stress relationships with R 2 of 0.86, 0.971, and 0.975 and root mean squared error (RMSE) of 2.59, 1.92, and 1.80 for validation/testing phases of vertical, minimum horizontal, and maximum horizontal stress models, respectively. Additionally, interpretation and explanation by Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) analysis further improved scientific validation and model reliability for estimating in situ stresses.

colloids↗

Third-order photon correlations extract single-nanocrystal multiexciton properties in solution

Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals are considered promising materials for high-flux optical applications, including lasing, light-emitting diodes, biological imaging, and quantum optics. In high-flux applications, multiexcitons can significantly contribute to emission, influencing its brightness, spectral purity, and kinetics. As a result, understanding and controlling multiexciton emission in colloidal nanocrystal materials is of the utmost importance. In the past, single-nanocrystal photon correlation methods have been applied to understand biexciton and triexciton efficiencies, lifetimes, and spectra. While powerful, such methods suffer from user selection bias and require stable emission from single nanocrystals. To compensate for this shortcoming, second-order correlation methods were developed to extract sample-averaged biexciton properties from a solution of nanocrystals. Until now, however, the analogous third-order solution photon correlation methods remained unexplored. In this work, we present a pair of third-order photon correlation techniques to obtain the sample-averaged single-nanocrystal triexciton quantum yield and lifetime in a solution-phase experiment. These techniques derive from the relationship between the Poisson probability of nanocrystal photon absorption and the intrinsic probability of nanocrystal photon emission. We validate the theoretical background of these techniques by creating a numerical model to simulate the diffusion and emission of many nanocrystals in solution. Our simulations confirm that the average triexciton quantum yield and triexciton lifetime can be extracted from a solution of nanocrystals. These techniques will enable researchers to gain a better understanding of the fundamental multiexciton properties of colloidal nanocrystals.

Horowitz, Jonah R. [Massachusetts Institute of Tec↗

Molecular and Topographical Organization: Influence on Cicada Wing Wettability and Bactericidal Properties

Numerous natural surfaces have micro/nanostructures that result in extraordinary functionality, such as superhydrophobicity, self-cleaning, antifogging, and antimicrobial properties. One such example is the cicada wing, where differences in nanopillar geometry and composition among species can impact and influence the degree of exhibited properties. To understand the relationships between surface topography and chemical composition with multifunctionality, the wing properties of Neotibicen pruinosus (superhydrophobic) and Magicicada cassinii (hydrophobic) cicadas are investigated at time points after microwave-assisted extraction of surface molecules to characterize the chemical contribution to nanopillar functionality. Electron microscopy of the wings throughout the extraction process illustrates nanoscale topographical changes, while concomitant changes in hydrophobicity, bacterial fouling, and bactericidal properties are also measured. Extract analysis reveals the major components of the nanostructures to be fatty acids and saturated hydrocarbons ranging from C17 to C44. Effects on the antimicrobial character of a wing surface with respect to the extracted chemicals suggest that the molecular composition of the nanopillars plays both a direct and an indirect role in concert with nanopillar geometry. The data presented not only correlates the nanopillar molecular organization to macroscale functional properties, but it also presents design guidelines to consider during the replication of natural nanostructures onto engineered substrates to induce desired properties.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Microscopic and Macroscopic Characterization of Grain Boundary Energy and Strength in Silicon Carbide via Machine-Learning Techniques

Predicting the properties of grain boundaries poses a challenge because of the complex relationships between structural and chemical attributes both at the atomic and continuum scales. Grain boundary systems are typically characterized by parameters used to classify local atomic arrangements in order to extract features such as grain boundary energy or grain boundary strength. The present work utilizes a combination of high-throughput atomistic simulations, macroscopic and microscopic descriptors, and machine-learning techniques to characterize the energy and strength of silicon carbide grain boundaries. Additionally, a diverse data set of symmetric tilt and twist grain boundaries are described using macroscopic metrics such as misorientation, the alignment of critical low-index planes, and the Schmid factor, but also in terms of microscopic metrics, by quantifying the local atomic structure and chemistry at the interface. These descriptors are used to create random-forest regression models, allowing for their relative importance to the grain boundary energy and decohesion stress to be better understood. Results show that while the energetics of the grain boundary were best described using the microscopic descriptors, the ability of the macroscopic descriptors to reasonably predict grain boundaries with low energy suggests a link between the crystallographic orientation and the resultant atomic structure that forms at the grain boundary within this regime. For grain boundary strength, neither microscopic nor macroscopic descriptors were able to fully capture the response individually. However, when both descriptor sets were utilized, the decohesion stress of the grain boundary could be accurately predicted. These results highlight the importance of considering both macroscopic and microscopic factors when constructing constitutive models for grain boundary systems, which has significant implications for both understanding the fundamental mechanisms at work and the ability to bridge length scales.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Nanoscale covariance magnetometry with diamond quantum sensors

Nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are atom-scale defects that can be used to sense magnetic fields with high sensitivity and spatial resolution. Typically, the magnetic field is measured by averaging sequential measurements of single NV centers, or by spatial averaging over ensembles of many NV centers, which provides mean values that contain no nonlocal information about the relationship between two points separated in space or time. In this work, we propose and implement a sensing modality whereby two or more NV centers are measured simultaneously, and we extract temporal and spatial correlations in their signals that would otherwise be inaccessible. We demonstrate measurements of correlated applied noise using spin-to-charge readout of two NV centers and implement a spectral reconstruction protocol for disentangling local and nonlocal noise sources.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Elucidating the speciation of extracted lanthanides by diglycolamides

Many studies over the past few decades have been devoted to addressing the application of diglycolamides (DGAs) for hydrometallurgical-based, f-element separations. Work to date has shown the molecular structure of a DGA derivative can have a significant impact on intra-lanthanide partitioning patterns. More recent studies have pushed towards probing the structure function relationship of the lanthanide-DGA complex to enable the design of more efficient lanthanide separation systems. Spectroscopic techniques, such as UV–Visible, Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), and Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS), provide information regarding the inner-sphere coordination of a given lanthanide-DGA complex. Scattering techniques, such as Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS), and Small-Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS), address nanoscale structures including aggregate sizes and morphology. Here, this review assesses the current state-of-knowledge regarding lanthanide-DGA hydrometallurgical (i.e., solvent extraction systems) interrogated using spectroscopic and scattering techniques to characterize the extracted Ln 3+ DGA species. Of particular interest to this review is the impact of varied diluents, inclusion and variation of phase modifiers, and DGA derivatization on system characteristics. While there has been extensive literature on the application of DGAs for f-element separations, the literature lacks a collective assessment of the speciation of Ln 3+ in the organic phase. This review provides new insights into the field of DGA separations, explicitly with an application to intra-lanthanide separations. Specifically, this review illustrates the importance of both the co-extraction anion (Cl - , NO 3 - , or ClO 4 - ) as it pertains to both the aggregate size and Ln 3+ distribution coefficient. It is evident the ability of the anion to disrupt the hydrogen bonding network limits both aggregate size and distribution coefficients according to the Hoffmeister series. This suggests the importance of the large, softer anions with a low charge-to-surface area ratio on encouraging hydrogen bond interactions. In addition, the co-extracted cation (H + vs Na + ) is important for mitigating transfer of Ln 3+ from the aqueous to the organic phase through extensive hydrogen bonding networks. These networks are responsible for forming supramolecular aggregates where a change in morphology is observed with increasing concentrations of H + and/or Ln 3+ in the organic phase.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

FTICR-MS Data from Multi-continent River Water and Sediment and from Coastal River Fresh and Saline Sediment Associated with: “Dissolved Organic Matter Functional Trait Relationships are Conserved Across Rivers”

This data package is associated with the publication “Dissolved Organic Matter Functional Trait Relationships are Conserved Across Rivers” submitted to PNAS (Stegen et al., 2023). The study aims to understand large-scale spatial structure of the dissolved organic matter (DOM) thermodynamic traits and inter-trait relationships by investigating (1) river water and sediments collected along 97 rivers spanning 3 continents and (2) coastal sediment collected from fresh and saline locations in Pacific and Gulf/Atlantic rivers. Sediment extracts and water samples were analyzed using ultrahigh resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FTICR-MS). This dataset is comprised of three folders (1) Coastal, (2) WHONDR_S19S, and (3) Data_Dictionaries. Coastal contains (1) a subfolder with processed FTICR-MS data as csv files and sample collection metadata, (2) a subfolder with R scripts used to process the data and create associated figures, (3) a subfolder with the raw, unprocessed FTICR-MS data as .xml files, and (4) a readme file with more information about the dataset and instructions for using Formularity (https://omics.pnl.gov/software/formularity). WHONDRS_S19S contains (1) a csv file with processed FTICR data, (2) a csv with sample collection metadata, (3) a csv with sample geospatial data, (4) a csv with simulated lambda model outputs, (5) a subfolder with R scripts used to process the data and create associated figures, and (6) a readme file with more information regarding WHONDRS raw FTICR data and processing scripts. Data_Dictionaries contains data dictionaries for each csv file in the data package. The 97 global river corridors were part of a WHONDRS (https://whondrs.pnnl.gov) study. The raw, unprocessed FTICR-MS data with additional data can be found at doi:10.15485/1729719 for sediments and doi:10.15485/1603775 for water. This data package contains the processed data used in the associated manuscript. The coastal data has not been previously published, and this data package contains both the raw and processed data. Version 3 of this data package published February 2023 includes updates to the title of the manuscript, additional data and data dictionary and updated scripts linked to new analysis.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Topological Relationship–Based Flow Direction Modeling: Mesh–Independent River Networks Representation

River networks are important features in surface hydrology. However, accurately representing river networks in spatially distributed hydrologic and Earth system models is often sensitive to the model's spatial resolution. Specifically, river networks are often misrepresented because of the mismatch between the model's spatial resolution and river network details, resulting in significant uncertainty in the projected flow direction. In this study, we developed a topological relationship-based river network representation method for spatially distributed hydrologic models. This novel method uses (a) graph theory algorithms to simplify real-world vector-based river networks and assist in mesh generation; and (b) a topological relationship-based method to reconstruct conceptual river networks. The main advantages of our method are that (a) it combines the strengths of vector-based and DEM raster-based river network extraction methods; and (b) it is mesh-independent and can be applied to both structured and unstructured meshes. This method paves a path for advanced terrain analysis and hydrologic modeling across different scales.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Attention-Augmented Parametric Kernel Graph Neural Network (APKGNN) for Node Classification

We present a new graph neural network, the Attention-based Parametric-Kernel augmented Graph Neural Network (APKGNN), developed for node classification tasks. Despite extensive work on modeling multi-faceted relationships between connected nodes of a graph, the effect of attention on edge features mapped to relationships has not yet been analyzed through learning representation. This study derives such an attention vector by first calculating node features corresponding to endpoints of an edge and then aggregating these with extracted local intrinsic patches of a given graph to generate augmented local patch vectors. This process uses a parametric kernel based on Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) to embed local neighborhoods of the graph in local patches. The patch vectors then convolve with the above node features to produce an updated node representation. We show that this new learning representation (APKGNN) achieves higher node classification accuracy on tasks - both standard benchmarks (Cora, PubMed, Citeseer) and new experimental short text corpora where nodes correspond to text documents and words. This implementation of the GNN convolution layer outperforms state-of-the-art (SOTA) algorithms, achieving higher training, validation, and test accuracy by a significant margin on three standard benchmark data sets under both SOTA experimental settings and those for new testbeds.

Bose, Avishek↗

PacBio high‐throughput multi‐locus sequencing reveals high genetic diversity in mushroom‐forming fungi

Abstract Multi‐locus sequence data are widely used in fungal systematic and taxonomic studies to delimit species and infer evolutionary relationships. We developed and assessed the efficacy of a multi‐locus pooled sequencing method using PacBio long‐read high‐throughput sequencing. Samples included fresh and dried voucher specimens, cultures and archival DNA extracts of Agaricomycetes with an emphasis on the order Cantharellales. Of the 283 specimens sequenced, 93.6% successfully amplified at one or more loci with a mean of 3.3 loci amplified. Our method recovered multiple sequence variants representing alleles of rDNA loci and single copy protein‐coding genesrpb1,rpb2 andtef1. Within‐sample genetic variation differed by locus and taxonomic group, with the greatest genetic divergence observed among sequence variants ofrpb2 andtef1 from corticioid Cantharellales. Our method is a cost‐effective approach for generating accurate multi‐locus sequence data coupled with recovery of alleles from polymorphic samples and multi‐organism specimens. These results have important implications for understanding intra‐individual genomic variation among genetic loci commonly used in species delimitation of fungi.

Biochemistry & Molecular Biology↗

Stochastic equilibrium Raman spectroscopy (STERS)

In this manuscript, we propose a new method for cavity- and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) with improved temporal resolution in the measurement of stochastic Raman spectral fluctuations. Our approach combines Fourier spectroscopy and photon correlation to decouple the integration time from the temporal resolution. Using statistical optics Monte Carlo simulations, we establish the relationship between time resolution and Raman signal strength, revealing that typical Raman spectral fluctuations, commensurate with molecular conformational dynamics, can theoretically be resolved on micro- to millisecond timescales. The method can further extract average single-molecule dynamics from small sub-ensembles, thereby potentially mitigating challenges in achieving strictly single-molecule isolation on SERS substrates.

Cobb-Bruno, Colburn [University of California, Ber↗

A new method for obtaining model-free viscoelastic material properties from atomic force microscopy experiments using discrete integral transform techniques

Viscoelastic characterization of materials at the micro- and the nanoscale is commonly performed with the aid of force–distance relationships acquired using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The general strategy for existing methods is to fit the observed material behavior to specific viscoelastic models, such as generalized viscoelastic models or power-law rheology models, among others. Here we propose a new method to invert and obtain the viscoelastic properties of a material through the use of the Z-transform, without using a model. We present the rheological viscoelastic relations in their classical derivation and their z-domain correspondence. We illustrate the proposed technique on a model experiment involving a traditional ramp-shaped force–distance AFM curve, demonstrating good agreement between the viscoelastic characteristics extracted from the simulated experiment and the theoretical expectations. We also provide a path for calculating standard viscoelastic responses from the extracted material characteristics. The new technique based on the Z-transform is complementary to previous model-based viscoelastic analyses and can be advantageous with respect to Fourier techniques due to its generality. Additionally, it can handle the unbounded inputs traditionally used to acquire force–distance relationships in AFM, such as ramp functions, in which the cantilever position is displaced linearly with time for a finite period of time.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Tackling the Challenges in Scene Graph Generation With Local-to-Global Interactions

In this work, we seek new insights into the underlying challenges of the scene graph generation (SGG) task. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the visual genome (VG) dataset implies: 1) ambiguity: even if interobject relationship contains the same object (or predicate), they may not be visually or semantically similar; 2) asymmetry: despite the nature of the relationship that embodied the direction, it was not well addressed in previous studies; and 3) higher-order contexts: leveraging the identities of certain graph elements can help generate accurate scene graphs. Motivated by the analysis, we design a novel SGG framework, Local-to-global interaction networks (LOGINs). Locally, interactions extract the essence between three instances of subject, object, and background, while baking direction awareness into the network by explicitly constraining the input order of subject and object. Globally, interactions encode the contexts between every graph component (i.e., nodes and edges). Finally, Attract and Repel loss is utilized to fine-tune the distribution of predicate embeddings. By design, our framework enables predicting the scene graph in a bottom-up manner, leveraging the possible complementariness. To quantify how much LOGIN is aware of relational direction, a new diagnostic task called Bidirectional Relationship Classification (BRC) is also proposed. Overall, experimental results demonstrate that LOGIN can successfully distinguish relational direction than existing methods (in BRC task), while showing state-of-the-art results on the VG benchmark (in SGG task).

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Single-shot quantum error correction in intertwined toric codes

We construct a subsystem code in three dimensions that exhibits single-shot error correction in a user-friendly and transparent way. As this code is a subsystem version of coupled toric codes, we call it the intertwined toric code (ITC). Although previous codes share the property of single-shot error correction, the ITC is distinguished by its physically motivated origin, geometrically straightforward logical operators and errors, and a simple phase diagram. The code arises from three-dimensional (3D) stabilizer toric codes in a way that emphasizes the physical origin of the single-shot property. In particular, starting with two copies of the 3D toric code, we add check operators that provide for the confinement of pointlike excitations without condensing the loop excitations. Geometrically, the bare and dressed logical operators in the ITC derive from logical operators in the underlying toric codes, creating a clear relationship between errors and measurement outcomes. The syndromes of the ITC resemble the syndromes of the single-shot code by Kubica and Vasmer, allowing us to use their decoding schemes. We also extract the phase diagram corresponding to ITC and show that it contains the phases found in the Kubica-Vasmer code. Lastly, we suggest various connections to Walker-Wang models and measurement-based quantum computation.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Quantifying disorder one atom at a time using an interpretable graph neural network paradigm

Abstract Quantifying the level of atomic disorder within materials is critical to understanding how evolving local structural environments dictate performance and durability. Here, we leverage graph neural networks to define a physically interpretable metric for local disorder, called SODAS. This metric encodes the diversity of the local atomic configurations as a continuous spectrum between the solid and liquid phases, quantified against a distribution of thermal perturbations. We apply this methodology to four prototypical examples with varying levels of disorder: (1) grain boundaries, (2) solid-liquid interfaces, (3) polycrystalline microstructures, and (4) tensile failure/fracture. We also compare SODAS to several commonly used methods. Using elemental aluminum as a case study, we show how our paradigm can track the spatio-temporal evolution of interfaces, incorporating a mathematically defined description of the spatial boundary between order and disorder. We further show how to extract physics-preserved gradients from our continuous disorder fields, which may be used to understand and predict materials performance and failure. Overall, our framework provides a simple and generalizable pathway to quantify the relationship between complex local atomic structure and coarse-grained materials phenomena.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗