Topic Review
Advances in Bioinspired Superhydrophobic Surfaces Made from Silicones
As research on superhydrophobic materials inspired by the self-cleaning and water-repellent properties of plants and animals in nature continues, the superhydrophobic preparation methods and the applications of superhydrophobic surfaces are widely reported. Silicones are preferred for the preparation of superhydrophobic materials because of their inherent hydrophobicity and strong processing ability. In the preparation of superhydrophobic materials, silicones can both form micro-/nano-structures with dehydration condensation and reduce the surface energy of the material surface because of their intrinsic hydrophobicity. The superhydrophobic layers of silicone substrates are characterized by simple and fast reactions, high-temperature resistance, UV resistance, and anti-aging. Although silicone superhydrophobic materials have the disadvantages of relatively low mechanical stability, this can be improved by the rational design of the material structure. 
  • 575
  • 27 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Advancing Surface Plasmon Enhanced Fluorescence based POC technologies
Point-of-care (POC) diagnostic platforms are globally employed in modern smart technologies to detect events or changes in the analyte concentration and provide qualitative and quantitative information in biosensing. Surface plasmon-coupled emission (SPCE) technology has emerged as an effective POC diagnostic tool for developing robust biosensing frameworks. The simplicity, robustness and relevance of the technology has attracted researchers in physical, chemical and biological milieu on account of its unique attributes such as high specificity, sensitivity, low background noise, highly polarized, sharply directional, excellent spectral resolution capabilities.
  • 80
  • 18 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Aeroelasticity Methods in Turbomachinery
Aeroelastic phenomena in turbomachinery are one of the most challenging problems to model using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) due to their inherent nonlinear nature, the difficulties in simulating fluid–structure interactions and the considerable computational requirements. Nonetheless, accurate modelling of self-sustained flow-induced vibrations, known as flutter, has proved to be crucial in assessing stability boundaries and extending the operative life of turbomachinery. Flutter avoidance and control is becoming more relevant in compressors and fans due to a well-established trend towards lightweight and thinner designs that enhance aerodynamic efficiency.
  • 1.4K
  • 09 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Aether Drag Hypothesis
In the 19th century, the theory of the luminiferous aether as the hypothetical medium for the propagation of light was widely discussed. An important part of this discussion was the question concerning the state of motion of Earth with respect to this medium. The aether drag hypothesis dealt with the question of whether or not the luminiferous aether is dragged by or entrained within moving matter. According to the first variant no relative motion exists between Earth and aether; according to the second one, relative motion exists and thus the speed of light should depend on the speed of this motion ("aether wind"), which should be measurable by instruments at rest on Earth's surface. Specific aether models were invented by Augustin-Jean Fresnel who in 1818 proposed that the aether is partially entrained by matter. The other one was proposed by George Stokes in 1845, in which the aether is completely entrained within or in the vicinity of matter. While Fresnel's almost stationary theory was apparently confirmed by the Fizeau experiment (1851), Stokes' theory was apparently confirmed by the Michelson–Morley experiment (1881, 1887). This contradictory situation was resolved by the works of Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (1895, 1904) whose Lorentz ether theory banished any form of aether dragging, and finally with the work of Albert Einstein (1905) whose theory of special relativity does not contain the aether as a mechanical medium at all.
  • 1.0K
  • 04 Nov 2022
Topic Review
AFM Investigation of Protein Crystals Morphology
Atomic force microscopy (AFM) enables the visualization of soft samples over a wide size range, from hundreds of micrometers up to the molecular level. The nonperturbative nature, the ability to scan in a liquid environment, and the lack of need for freezing, fixing, or staining make AFM a well-suited tool for studying fragile samples such as macromolecular crystals. The achievements of AFM underlined start from the study of crystal growth processes studying the surface morphology of protein crystals, passes through the in-depth analysis of the S-layer systems, and arrive at the introduction of the high-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) that allows the observation of molecular dynamics adsorption.
  • 172
  • 06 Sep 2023
Topic Review
AFM-IR
AFM-IR (atomic force microscope infrared-spectroscopy) is one of a family of techniques that are derived from a combination of two parent instrumental techniques; infrared spectroscopy and scanning probe microscopy (SPM). The term was first used to denote a method that combined a tuneable free electron laser with an atomic force microscope (a type of SPM) equipped with a sharp probe that measured the local absorption of infrared light by a sample; it required that the sample be coupled to an infrared-transparent prism and be less than 1μm thick. It improved the spatial resolution of photothermal AFM-based techniques from microns to circa 100 nm. Recording the amount of infrared absorption as a function of wavelength or wavenumber creates an infrared absorption spectra that can be used to chemically characterize and even identify unknown materials. Recording the infrared absorption as a function of position can be used to create chemical composition maps that show the spatial distribution of different chemical components. Novel extensions of the original AFM-IR technique and earlier techniques have enabled the development of bench-top devices capable of nanometer spatial resolution, that do not require a prism and can work with thicker samples, and thereby greatly improving ease of use and expanding the range of samples that can be analysed. One of these techniques has achieved spatial resolutions down to around 20 nm, with a sensitivity down to the scale of molecular monolayer AFM-IR is related to techniques such as tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS), scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM), nano-FTIR and other methods of vibrational analysis with scanning probe microscopy.
  • 1.0K
  • 11 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Aggregation-Induced Emission Active Materials
The emergence and development of aggregation induced emission (AIE) have attracted worldwide attention due to its unique photophysical phenomenon and for removing the obstacle of aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) which is the most detrimental process thereby making AIE an important and promising aspect in various fields of fluorescent material, sensing, bioimaging, optoelectronics, drug delivery system, and theranostics. hexaphenylsilole (HPS) is the common example of the AIE active molecule which exhibits enhancement in fluorescence in an aggregate state. The motions involved, such as restriction of intramolecular motion along with rotation and vibration mechanisms in the AIE active phenomenon, are well explained and accepted. The AIE luminogens have high photostability, large stoke shift, a photobleaching resistance property, and show high sensing reproducibility. This characteristic makes luminogens a promising candidate for sensing application
  • 1.3K
  • 19 Apr 2022
Topic Review
AIDA (Mission)
The Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) mission is a proposed pair of space probes which will study and demonstrate the kinetic effects of crashing an impactor spacecraft into an asteroid moon. The mission is intended to test and validate impact models of whether a spacecraft could successfully deflect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. The original plan called for a European spacecraft, the Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM), to operate in synergy with a large NASA impactor called Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) and observe the immediate effects of the impact. AIM was cancelled in 2016 when Germany was unable to fund its portion, and after some backlash within ESA, AIM was replaced in 2018 with a smaller spacecraft called Hera that will launch five years after DART to orbit and study the crater on the asteroid. Hera will also deploy Europe's first CubeSats in deep space for close-up asteroid surveying: Juventas and Milani. DART is currently planned to impact in 2022 in the small moon of asteroid 65803 Didymos, while Hera will arrive at Didymos in 2027, five years after DART's impact.
  • 457
  • 01 Nov 2022
Topic Review
All-d-Metal Heusler Alloys
A promising strategy, resulting in novel compounds with better mechanical properties and substantial magnetocaloric effects, is favoring the d–d hybridization with transition-metal elements to replace p–d hybridization. The term given to these materials is “all-d-metal”. 
  • 434
  • 10 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Allan Hills 84001
Allan Hills 84001 (ALH84001) is a fragment of a Martian meteorite that was found in the Allan Hills in Antarctica on December 27, 1984, by a team of American meteorite hunters from the ANSMET project. Like other members of the shergottite–nakhlite–chassignite (SNC) group of meteorites, ALH84001 is thought to have originated on Mars. However, it does not fit into any of the previously discovered SNC groups. Its mass upon discovery was 1.93 kilograms (4.3 lb). In 1996, a group of scientists found evidence of microscopic fossils of bacteria in the meteorite, suggesting that these organisms also originated on Mars. The claims immediately made headlines worldwide, culminating in then-U.S. president Bill Clinton giving a speech about the potential discovery. These claims were controversial from the beginning, and the wider scientific community ultimately rejected the hypothesis once all the unusual features in the meteorite had been explained without requiring life to be present. Despite there being no convincing evidence of Martian life, the initial paper and the enormous scientific and public attention caused by it are considered turning points in the history of the developing science of astrobiology.
  • 650
  • 22 Nov 2022
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