Abstract: Organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices are on the verge of commercialization being long-term stability a key challenge. Morphology evolution during lifetime has been suggested to be one of the main pathways accounting for performance degradation. There is however a lack of certainty on how specifically the morphology evolution relates to individual electrical parameters on operating devices. In this work a case study is created based on a thermodynamically unstable organic active layer which is monitored over a period of one year under non-accelerated degradation conditions. The morphology evolution is revealed by compositional analysis of ultrathin cross-sections using nanoscale imaging in scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) coupled with electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS). Additionally, devices are electrically monitored in real-time using the non-destructive electrical techniques capacitance-voltage (C-V) and Impedance Spectroscopy (IS). By comparison of imaging and electrical techniques the relationship between nanoscale morphology and individual electrical parameters of device operation can be conclusively discerned. It is ultimately observed how the change in the cathode contact properties occurring after the migration of fullerene molecules explains the improvement in the overall device performance. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: In this work we describe the formulation and characterization of chemically modified polymeric nanocapsules incorporating the anticancer drug, quercetin, for the passive and active targeting to tumors. Folic acid was conjugated to poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) polymer to facilitate active targeting to cancer cells. Two different methods for the conjugation of PLGA to folic acid were employed utilizing polyethylene glycol (PEG) as a spacer. Characterization of the conjugates was performed using FTIR and H-1 NMR studies. The PEG and folk acid content was independent of the conjugation methodology employed. PEGylation has shown to reduce the size of the nanocapsule; moreover, zeta-potential was shown to be polymer-type dependent. Comparative studies on the cytotoxicity and cellular uptake of the different formulations by He La cells, in the presence and absence of excess folic acid, were carried out using MTT assay and Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy, respectively. Both results confirmed the selective uptake and cytotoxicity of the folic acid targeted nanocapsules to the folate enriched cancer cells in a folate-dependent manner. Finally, the passive tumor accumulation and the active targeting of the nanocapsules to folate-expressing cells were confirmed upon intravenous administration in He La or IGROV-1 tumor-bearing mice. The developed nanocapsules provide a system for targeted delivery of a range of hydrophobic anticancer drugs in vivo.

Abstract: Scanning nano-focused X-ray diffraction and high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy are used to investigate the crystal structure of ramp-edge junctions between superconducting electron-doped Nd1.85Ce0.15CuO4 and superconducting hole-doped La1.85Sr0.15CuO4 thin films, the latter being the top layer. On the ramp, a new growth mode of La1.85Sr0.15CuO4 with a 3.3° tilt of the c-axis is found. We explain the tilt by developing a strain accommodation model that relies on facet matching, dictated by the ramp angle, indicating that a coherent domain boundary is formed at the interface. The possible implications of this growth mode for the creation of artificial domains in morphotropic materials are discussed.

Abstract: Purification and shortening of carbon nanotubes have attracted a great deal of attention to increase the biocompatibility and performance of the material in several applications. Steam treatment has been employed to afford both purification and shortening of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Steam removes the amorphous carbon and the graphitic particles that sheath catalytic nanoparticles, facilitating their removal by a subsequent acidic wash. The amount of metal impurities can be reduced in this manner below 0.01 wt.%. The length distribution of MWCNTs after different steam treatment times (from 1 h to 15 h) was assessed by box plot analysis of the electron microscopy data. Samples with a median length of 0.57 μm have been prepared with the reported methodology while preserving the integrity of the tubular wall structure.

Abstract: Biomedical nanomagnetic carriers are getting a higher impact in therapy and diagnosis schemes while their constraints and prerequisites are more and more successfully confronted. Such particles should possess a well-defined size with minimum agglomeration and they should be synthesized in a facile and reproducible high-yield way together with a controllable response to an applied static or dynamic field tailored for the specific application. Here, we attempt to enhance the heating efficiency in magnetic particle hyperthermia treatment through the proper adjustment of the core-shell morphology in ferrite particles, by controlling exchange and dipolar magnetic interactions at the nanoscale. Thus, core-shell nanoparticles with mutual coupling of magnetically hard (CoFe2O4) and soft (MnFe2O4) components are synthesized with facile synthetic controls resulting in uniform size and shell thickness as evidenced by high resolution transmission electron microscopy imaging, excellent crystallinity and size monodispersity. Such a magnetic coupling enables the fine tuning of magnetic anisotropy and magnetic interactions without sparing the good structural, chemical and colloidal stability. Consequently, the magnetic heating efficiency of CoFe2O4. and MnFe2O4 core-shell nanoparticles is distinctively different horn that of their counterparts, even though all these nanocrystals were synthesized under similar conditions. For better understanding of the AC magnetic hyperthermia response and its correlation with magnetic-origin features we study the effect of the volume ratio of magnetic hard and soft phases in the bimagnetic core-shell nanocrystals. Eventually, such particles may be considered as novel heating carriers that under further biomedical functionalization may become adaptable multifunctional heat-triggered nanoplatforms. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: Epitaxial double perovskite La2CoMnO6 (LCMO) films were grown by metalorganic aerosol deposition on SrTiO3(111) substrates. A high Curie temperature, T-C = 226 K, and large magnetization close to saturation, M-S(5 K) = 5.8 mu(B)/f.u., indicate a 97% degree of B-site (Co,Mn) ordering within the film. The Co/Mn ordering was directly imaged at the atomic scale by scanning transmission electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (STEM-EDX). Local electron-energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) measurements reveal that the B-sites are predominantly occupied by Co2+ and Mn4+ ions in quantitative agreement with magnetic data. Relatively small values of the (1/2 1/2 1/2) superstructure peak intensity, obtained by X-ray diffraction (XRD), point out the existence of ordered domains with an arbitrary phase relationship across the domain boundary. The size of these domains is estimated to be in the range 35-170 nm according to TEM observations and modelling the magnetization data. These observations provide important information towards the complexity of the cation ordering phenomenon and its implications on magnetism in double perovskites, and similar materials.

Abstract: Control of localized metal-organic framework (MOF) thin film formation is a challenge. Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) are an important sub-class of MOFs based on transition metals and imidazolate linkers. Continuous coatings of intergrown ZIF crystals require high rates of heterogeneous nucleation. In this work, substrates coated with zinc oxide layers are used, obtained by atomic layer deposition (ALD) or by magnetron sputtering, to provide the Zn2+ ions required for nucleation and localized growth of ZIF-8 films ([Zn(mim)(2)]; Hmim = 2-methylimidazolate). The obtained ZIF-8 films reveal the expected microporosity, as deduced from methanol adsorption studies using an environmentally controlled quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and comparison with bulk ZIF-8 reference data. The concept is transferable to other MOFs, and is applied to the formation of [Al(OH)(1,4-ndc)](n) (ndc = naphtalenedicarboxylate) thin films derived from Al2O3 nanolayers.

Abstract: By considering a cylindrically symmetric generalization of a plane wave, the first-order Born approximation of screened Coulomb scattering unfolds two new dimensions in the scattering problem: transverse momentum and orbital angular momentum of the incoming beam. In this paper, the elastic Coulomb scattering amplitude is calculated analytically for incoming Bessel beams. This reveals novel features occurring for wide-angle scattering and quantitative insights for small-angle vortex scattering. The result successfully generalizes the well-known Rutherford formula, incorporating transverse and orbital angular momentum into the formalism.

Abstract: Using electron tomography combined with electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), we are able to map the valency of the Ce ions in CeO2-x nanocrystals in three dimensions. Our results show a clear facet-dependent reduction shell at the surface of ceria nanoparticles; {111} surface facets show a low surface reduction, whereas at {001} surface facets, the cerium ions are more likely to be reduced over a larger surface shell. Our generic tomographic technique allows a full 3D data cube to be reconstructed, containing an EELS spectrum in each voxel. This possibility enables a three-dimensional investigation of a plethora of material-specific physical properties such as valency, chemical composition, oxygen coordination, or bond lengths, triggering the synthesis of nanomaterials with improved properties.

Abstract: Platinumgold heteronanostructures comprising either dimer (PtAu) or coresatellite (Pt@Au) configurations were synthesized by means of a seeded growth procedure using platinum nanodendrites as seeds. Careful control of the reduction kinetics of the gold precursor can be used to direct the nucleation and growth of gold nanoparticles on either one or multiple surface sites simultaneously, leading to the formation of either dimers or coresatellite nanoparticles, respectively, in high yields. Characterization by electron tomography and high resolution electron microscopy provided a better understanding of the actual three-dimensional particle morphology, as well as the AuPt interface, revealing quasi-epitaxial growth of Au on Pt. The prepared PtAu bimetallic nanostructures are highly efficient catalysts for ethanol oxidation in alkaline solution, showing accurate selectivity, high sensitivity, and improved efficiency by generating higher current densities than their monometallic counterparts.

Abstract: The wide range of liquid-phase reactions required for the catalytic conversion of biomass compounds into new bioplatform molecules defines a new set of challenges for the development of active, selective, and stable catalysts. The potential of bifunctional Ru/H-USY catalysts for conversions in hot liquid water (HLW) is assessed in terms of physicochemical stability and long-term catalytic performance of acid sites and noble metal functionality, as probed by hydrolytic hydrogenation of cellulose. It is shown that zeolite desilication is the main zeolite degradation mechanism in HLW. USY zeolite stability depends on two main parameters, viz., framework and extra-framework aluminum content. The former protects the zeolite lattice by counteracting hydrolysis of framework bonds, and the latter, when located at the external crystal surface, prevents solubilization of the zeolite framework which is the result of its low water-solubility. Hence, the hot liquid water stability of commercial H-USY zeolites, in contrast to their steam stability, increased with decreasing Si/AI ratio. As a result, mildly steamed USY zeolites containing a high amount of both Al species exhibit the highest resistance to HLW. During an initial period of transformations, Al-rich zeolites form additional protective extra-framework Al species at the outer surface, self-stabilizing the framework. A critical bulk Si/AI ratio of 3 was determined whereby USY zeolites with a lower Si/AI ratio will self-stabilize over time. Besides, due to the initial transformation period, the accessibility of the catalytic active sites is extensively enhanced resulting in a material that is more stable and drastically more accessible to large substrates than the original zeolite. When these findings are applied in the hydrolytic hydrogenation of cellulose, unprecedented nearly quantitative hexitol yields were obtained with a stable catalytic system.

Abstract: Targeted biocompatible nanostructures with controlled plasmonic and morphological parameters are promising materials for cancer treatment based on selective thermal ablation of cells. Here, coreshell plasmonic nanodiamonds consisting of a silica-encapsulated diamond nanocrystal coated in a gold shell are designed and synthesized. The architecture of particles is analyzed and confirmed in detail using electron tomography. The particles are biocompatibilized using a PEG polymer terminated with bioorthogonally reactive alkyne groups. Azide-modified transferrin is attached to these particles, and their high colloidal stability and successful targeting to cancer cells overexpressing the transferrin receptor are demonstrated. The particles are nontoxic to the cells and they are readily internalized upon binding to the transferrin receptor. The high plasmonic cross section of the particles in the near-infrared region is utilized to quantitatively ablate the cancer cells with a short, one-minute irradiation by a pulse 750-nm laser.

Abstract: Electron vortex beams have been predicted to enable atomic scale magnetic information measurement, via transfer of orbital angular momentum. Research so far has focused on developing production techniques and applications of these beams. However, methods to measure the outgoing orbital angular momentum distribution are also a crucial requirement towards this goal. Here, we use a method to obtain the orbital angular momentum decomposition of an electron beam, using a multipinhole interferometer. We demonstrate both its ability to accurately measure orbital angular momentum distribution, and its experimental limitations when used in a transmission electron microscope.

Abstract: The appearance of massless Dirac fermions in graphene requires two equivalent carbon sublattices of trigonal shape. While the generation of an effective mass and a band gap at the Dirac point remains an unresolved problem for freestanding extended graphene, it is well established by breaking translational symmetry by confinement and by breaking sublattice symmetry by interaction with a substrate. One of the strongest sublattice-symmetry-breaking interactions with predicted and measured band gaps ranging from 400 meV to more than 3 eV has been attributed to the interfaces of graphene with Ni and Co, which are also promising spin-filter interfaces. Here, we apply angle-resolved photoemission to epitaxial graphene on Ni (111) and Co(0001) to show the presence of intact Dirac cones 2.8 eV below the Fermi level. Our results challenge the common belief that the breaking of sublattice symmetry by a substrate and the opening of the band gap at the Dirac energy are in a straightforward relation. A simple effective model of a biased bilayer structure composed of graphene and a sublattice-symmetry-broken layer, corroborated by density-functional-theory calculations, demonstrates the general validity of our conclusions.