Enhancing colloid stability of polymer microspheres in water through SiO₂ coating: Effects of coating cycles and surface coverage

In this study, we investigated the wettability and agglomeration characteristics of polymer microspheres coated with low-temperature deposited SiO₂ in a fluidized bed atomic layer deposition (ALD) setup. Surface characterization revealed the presence of a significant amount of deposited Si-OH groups within the first cycles. A...

Surface Nanotexturing of Boron-Doped Diamond Films by Ultrashort Laser Pulses

Polycrystalline boron-doped diamond (BDD) films were surface nanotextured by femtosecond pulsed laser irradiation (100 fs duration, 800 nm wavelength, 1.44 J cm⁻² single pulse fluence) to analyse the evolution of induced alterations on the surface morphology and structural properties. The aim was to identify the occurrence of laser...

Removal of Hydrogen Peroxide Residuals and By-Product Bromate from Advanced Oxidation Processes by Granular Activated Carbon

During drinking water treatment, advanced oxidation process (AOP) with O3 and H2O2 may result in by-products, residual H2O2 and BrO3−. The water containing H2O2 and BrO3− often flows into subsequent granular activated carbon (GAC) filters. A concentrated H2O2 solution can be used as GAC modification reagent at 60 °C to improve its adsorption...

Advancing single-molecule instrumentation through nanoscale optics, fabrication, and surface functionalization

This thesis describes developments in the single-molecule instrumentation, in particular optical torque wrench and DNA nanocurtains, with the goal of employing these techniques in studies of biomolecules and biomotors. Importantly, the use of single-crystal rutile titanium dioxide nanocylinders is suggested for optical torque wrench, enabling...

Surface functionalisation of SU8 vertical waveguide for biomedical sensing: Bacterial diagnostis

In this paper, we present an SU-8 based evanescent waveguide with a vertical structure as a biomedical sensor. The waveguide is designed vertically to generate evanescent waves on both left and right surfaces for sensing. It is fabricated by E-beam lithography with only one-step process which has the advantage of a better surface quality...

Reversible Immobilization of Proteins in Sensors and Solid-State Nanopores

The controlled functionalization of surfaces with proteins is crucial for many analytical methods in life science research and biomedical applications. Here, a coating for silica-based surfaces is established which enables stable and selective immobilization of proteins with controlled orientation and tunable surface density. The coating is...

Effect of Interfacial Polarization and Water Absorption on the Dielectric Properties of Epoxy-Nanocomposites

Five types of nanofillers, namely, silica, surface-silylated silica, alumina, surface-silylated alumina, and boron nitride, were tested in this study. Nanocomposites composed of an epoxy/amine resin and one of the five types of nanoparticles were tested as dielectrics with a focus on (i) the surface functionalization of the nanoparticles and (ii...

Improving reversible capacities of high-surface lithium insertion materials – the case of amorphous TiO2

Chemisorbed water and solvent molecules and their reactivity with components from the electrolyte in high-surface nano-structured electrodes remains a contributing factor toward capacity diminishment on cycling in lithium ion batteries due to the limit in maximum annealing temperature. Here, we report a marked improvement in the capacity...

Nano- and micro-fabrication for single-molecule biological studies

Heterogeneity is a general feature in biological system. In order to avoid possible misleading effects of ensemble averaging, and to ensure a correct understanding of the biological system, it is very important to look into individuals, such as a single bio-molecule or a single cell, for details. The size of a single bio-molecule/cell typically...