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Author Peeters, H.; Keulemans, M.; Nuyts, G.; Vanmeert, F.; Li, C.; Minjauw, M.; Detavernier, C.; Bals, S.; Lenaerts, S.; Verbruggen, S.W.
Title Plasmonic gold-embedded TiO2 thin films as photocatalytic self-cleaning coatings Type A1 Journal article
Year 2020 Publication Applied Catalysis B-Environmental Abbreviated Journal Appl Catal B-Environ
Volume 267 Issue 267 Pages 118654
Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT); AXES (Antwerp X-ray Analysis, Electrochemistry and Speciation); Sustainable Energy, Air and Water Technology (DuEL)
Abstract Transparent photocatalytic TiO2 thin films hold great potential in the development of self-cleaning glass sur-

faces, but suffer from a poor visible light response that hinders the application under actual sunlight. To alleviate this problem, the photocatalytic film can be modified with plasmonic nanoparticles that interact very effectively with visible light. Since the plasmonic effect is strongly concentrated in the near surroundings of the nano- particle surface, an approach is presented to embed the plasmonic nanostructures in the TiO2 matrix itself, rather than deposit them loosely on the surface. This way the interaction interface is maximised and the plasmonic effect can be fully exploited. In this study, pre-fabricated gold nanoparticles are made compatible with the organic medium of a TiO2 sol-gel coating suspension, resulting in a one-pot coating suspension. After spin coating, homogeneous, smooth, highly transparent and photoactive gold-embedded anatase thin films are ob- tained.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Wos 000518865300002 Publication Date 2020-01-18
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0926-3373 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor 22.1 Times cited 57 Open Access OpenAccess
Notes H.P. is grateful to the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) for an aspirant PhD scholarship. Approved Most recent IF: 22.1; 2020 IF: 9.446
Call Number EMAT @ emat @c:irua:165616 Serial (down) 5446
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Author Attri, P.; Razzokov, J.; Yusupov, M.; Koga, K.; Shiratani, M.; Bogaerts, A.
Title Influence of osmolytes and ionic liquids on the Bacteriorhodopsin structure in the absence and presence of oxidative stress: A combined experimental and computational study Type A1 Journal article
Year 2020 Publication International Journal Of Biological Macromolecules Abbreviated Journal Int J Biol Macromol
Volume 148 Issue Pages 657-665
Keywords A1 Journal article; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)
Abstract Understanding the folding and stability of membrane proteins is of great importance in protein science. Recently, osmolytes and ionic liquids (ILs) are increasingly being used as drug delivery systems in the biopharmaceutical industry. However, the stability of membrane proteins in the presence of osmolytes and ILs is not yet fully understood. Besides, the effect of oxidative stress on membrane proteins with osmolytes or ILs has not been investigated. Therefore, we studied the influence of osmolytes and ILs as co-solvents on the stability of a model membrane protein (i.e., Bacteriorhodopsin in purple membrane of Halobacterium salinarum), using UV–Vis spectroscopy and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The MD simulations allowed us to determine the flexibility and solvent accessible surface area (SASA) of Bacteriorhodopsin protein in the presence and/or absence of cosolvents, as well as to carry out principal component analysis (PCA) to identify the most important movements in this protein. In addition, by means of UV–Vis spectroscopy we studied the effect of oxidative stress generated by cold atmospheric plasma on the stability of Bacteriorhodopsin in the presence and/or absence of co-solvents. This study is important for a better understanding of the stability of proteins in the presence of oxidative stress.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Wos 000522094600066 Publication Date 2020-01-20
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0141-8130 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor 8.2 Times cited Open Access
Notes Horizon2020, 743546 ; JSPS, 19H05462 16H03895 ; Nagoya University; We gratefully acknowledge the European Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship “Anticancer-PAM” within Horizon2020 (grant number 743546). This work was also supported by JSPS-KAKENHI 19H05462 and 16H03895, the joint usage/research program of Center for Low-temperature Plasma Science, Nagoya University and also supported by JSPS and RCL under the Japan-Lithuania Research Cooperative Program. The computational work was carried out using the Turing HPC infrastructure at the CalcUA core facility of the Universiteit Antwerpen (UA), a division of the Flemish Supercomputer Center VSC, funded by the Hercules Foundation, the Flemish Government (department EWI) and the UA. Approved Most recent IF: 8.2; 2020 IF: 3.671
Call Number PLASMANT @ plasmant @c:irua:165585 Serial (down) 5444
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Author Van Alphen, S.; Vermeiren, V.; Butterworth, T.; van den Bekerom, D.C.M.; van Rooij, G.J.; Bogaerts, A.
Title Power Pulsing To Maximize Vibrational Excitation Efficiency in N2Microwave Plasma: A Combined Experimental and Computational Study Type A1 Journal article
Year 2020 Publication Journal Of Physical Chemistry C Abbreviated Journal J Phys Chem C
Volume 124 Issue 3 Pages 1765-1779
Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)
Abstract Plasma is gaining increasing interest for N2 fixation, being a flexible, electricity-driven alternative for the current conventional fossil fuel-based N2 fixation processes. As the vibrational-induced dissociation of N2 is found to be an energy-efficient pathway to acquire atomic N for the fixation processes, plasmas that are in vibrational nonequilibrium seem promising for this application. However, an important challenge in using nonequilibrium plasmas lies in preventing vibrational−translational (VT) relaxation processes, in which vibrational energy crucial for N2 dissociation is lost to gas heating. We present here both experimental and modeling results for the vibrational and gas temperature in a microsecond-pulsed microwave (MW) N2 plasma, showing how power pulsing can suppress this unfavorable VT relaxation and achieve a maximal vibrational nonequilibrium. By means of our kinetic model, we demonstrate that pulsed plasmas take advantage of the long time scale on which VT processes occur, yielding a very pronounced nonequilibrium over the whole N2 vibrational ladder. Additionally, the effect of pulse parameters like the pulse frequency and pulse width are investigated, demonstrating that the advantage of pulsing to inhibit VT relaxation diminishes for high pulse frequencies (around 7000 kHz) and long power pulses (above 400 μs). Nevertheless, all regimes studied here demonstrate a clear vibrational nonequilibrium while only requiring a limited power-on time, and thus, we may conclude that a pulsed plasma seems very interesting for energyefficient vibrational excitation.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Wos 000509438600001 Publication Date 2020-01-23
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1932-7447 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor 3.7 Times cited Open Access
Notes Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, 30505023 GoF9618n ; This research was supported by the Excellence of Science FWO-FNRS project (FWO Grant ID GoF9618n, EOS ID 30505023). The calculations were performed using the Turing HPC infrastructure at the CalcUA core facility of the Universiteit Antwerpen (UAntwerpen), a division of the Flemish Supercomputer Center VSC, funded by the Hercules Foundation, the Flemish Government (department EWI) and the UAntwerpen. Approved Most recent IF: 3.7; 2020 IF: 4.536
Call Number PLASMANT @ plasmant @c:irua:165586 Serial (down) 5443
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Author Bal, K.M.; Bogaerts, A.; Neyts, E.C.
Title Ensemble-Based Molecular Simulation of Chemical Reactions under Vibrational Nonequilibrium Type A1 Journal article
Year 2020 Publication Journal Of Physical Chemistry Letters Abbreviated Journal J Phys Chem Lett
Volume 11 Issue 2 Pages 401-406
Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)
Abstract We present an approach to incorporate the effect of vibrational nonequilibrium in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. A perturbed canonical ensemble, in which selected modes are excited to higher temperature while all others remain equilibrated at low temperature, is simulated by applying a specifically tailored bias potential. Our method can be readily applied to any (classical or quantum mechanical) MD setup at virtually no additional computational cost and allows the study of reactions of vibrationally excited molecules in nonequilibrium environments such as plasmas. In combination with enhanced sampling methods, the vibrational efficacy and mode selectivity of vibrationally stimulated reactions can then be quantified in terms of chemically relevant observables, such as reaction rates and apparent free energy barriers. We first validate our method for the prototypical hydrogen exchange reaction and then show how it can capture the effect of vibrational excitation on a symmetric SN2 reaction and radical addition on CO2.
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Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Wos 000508473400008 Publication Date 2020-01-16
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1948-7185 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor 5.7 Times cited Open Access
Notes Universiteit Antwerpen; Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, 12ZI420N ; Departement Economie, Wetenschap en Innovatie van de Vlaamse Overheid; K.M.B. was funded as a junior postdoctoral fellow of the FWO (Research Foundation − Flanders), Grant 12ZI420N, and through a TOP-BOF research project of the University of Antwerp. The computational resources and services used in this work were provided by the VSC (Flemish Supercomputer Center), funded by the FWO and the Flemish Government− department EWI. Approved Most recent IF: 5.7; 2020 IF: 9.353
Call Number PLASMANT @ plasmant @c:irua:165587 Serial (down) 5442
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Author Yang, M.; Chen, H.; Orekhov, A.; Lu, Q.; Lan, X.; Li, K.; Zhang, S.; Song, M.; Kong, Y.; Schryvers, D.; Du, Y.
Title Quantified contribution of β″ and β′ precipitates to the strengthening of an aged Al–Mg–Si alloy Type A1 Journal article
Year 2020 Publication Materials Science And Engineering A-Structural Materials Properties Microstructure And Processing Abbreviated Journal Mat Sci Eng A-Struct
Volume 774 Issue Pages 138776
Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)
Abstract It is generally believed that β00 precipitates, rather than β0 precipitates, are the major strengthening precipitates in

aged Al–Mg–Si alloys. The reason for this difference is not well understood. To clarify this, two samples of the

same Al–Mg–Si alloy but with different aging states were prepared. The under-aged sample only contains nanoprecipitates

of the β00 type, while the peak-aged one contains nearly equal volumes of β00 and β0 precipitates. We

have, for the first time, separated the strengthening effect of the contribution from βʺ and βʹ precipitates,

respectively, by an indirect approach based on high-precision measurements of volume fractions, number densities,

sizes, proportions of the precipitates, their lattice strains, the composition and grain size of the matrix. The

β0 precipitates, which take 45.6% of the total precipitate volume in the peak-aged sample, contribute to the entire

precipitation strengthening by only 31.6%. The main reason why they are less useful compared to β00 precipitates

has been found to be associated with their smaller lattice strains relative to the matrix, which is 0.99% versus

2.10% (for β00 ).
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Wos 000514747200001 Publication Date 2019-12-04
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0921-5093 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor 6.4 Times cited Open Access OpenAccess
Notes National Natural Science Foundation of China, 51531009 51711530713 51501230 ; Central South University, 2018gczd033 ; Flemish Science Foundation, VS.026.18N ; Program for Guangdong Introducing Innovative and Entrepreneurial Teams, 2016ZT06G025 ; Guangdong Natural Science Foundation, 2017B030306014 ; Approved Most recent IF: 6.4; 2020 IF: 3.094
Call Number EMAT @ emat @c:irua:165290 Serial (down) 5440
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Author Samaee, V.; Sandfeld, S.; Idrissi, H.; Groten, J.; Pardoen, T.; Schwaiger, R.; Schryvers, D.
Title Dislocation structures and the role of grain boundaries in cyclically deformed Ni micropillars Type A1 Journal article
Year 2020 Publication Materials Science And Engineering A-Structural Materials Properties Microstructure And Processing Abbreviated Journal Mat Sci Eng A-Struct
Volume 769 Issue Pages 138295
Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)
Abstract Transmission electron microscopy and finite element-based dislocation simulations were combined to study the development of dislocation microstructures after cyclic deformation of single crystal and bicrystal Ni micropillars oriented for multi-slip. A direct correlation between large accumulation of plastic strain and the presence of dislocation cell walls in the single crystal micropillars was observed, while the presence of the grain boundary hampered the formation of wall-like structures in agreement with a smaller accumulated plastic strain. Automated crystallographic orientation and nanostrain mapping using transmission electron microscopy revealed the presence of lattice heterogeneities associated to the cell walls including long range elastic strain fields. By combining the nanostrain mapping with an inverse modelling approach, information about dislocation density, line orientation and Burgers vector direction was derived, which is not accessible otherwise in such dense dislocation structures. Simulations showed that the image forces associated with the grain boundary in this specific bicrystal configuration have only a minor influence on dislocation behavior. Thus, the reduced occurrence of “mature” cell walls in the bicrystal can be attributed to the available volume, which is too small to accommodate cell structures.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Wos 000500373800018 Publication Date 2019-08-21
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0921-5093 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor 6.4 Times cited 1 Open Access OpenAccess
Notes Financial support from the Flemish (FWO) and German Research Foundation (DFG) through the European M-ERA.NET project “FaSS” (Fatigue Simulation near Surfaces) under the grant numbers GA.014.13 N,SCHW855/5-1, and SA2292/2-1 is gratefully acknowledged. V.S. acknowledges the FWO research project G012012 N “Understanding nanocrystalline mechanical behaviour from structural investigations”. H.I. is mandated by the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (FSR-FNRS). S.S. acknowledges financial support from the European Research Council through the ERC Grant Agreement No. 759419 (MuDiLingo – A Multiscale Dislocation Language for Data- Driven Materials Science). Approved Most recent IF: 6.4; 2020 IF: 3.094
Call Number EMAT @ emat @c:irua:163475 Serial (down) 5371
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