Gallium indium eutectic masking prior to porous silicon formation creates unique spatially-dependent chemistries.

We demonstrate that gallium indium (GaIn) eutectic can be used to create interesting crystalline Si/porous silicon (cSi/pSi) platforms that exhibit unique analyte- and spatially-dependent photoluminescence (PL) responses. Here we characterize these cSi/pSi regions by using profilometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), wide-field PL microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microscopy. As we move along a vector from the cSi/pSi interface out into "bulk" pSi, the: (i) analyte-dependent, PL-based response initially increases and then decreases; (ii) total PL emission intensity, in the absence of analyte, increases; (iii) pSi thickness increases; and (iv) relative O2Si-H to Si-H band amplitude ratio decreases. Thus, the analyte-dependent PL response magnitude is correlated to the extent of pSi oxidation; which can be easily controlled by using GaIn eutectic as a mask during the pSi fabrication process.

Contact Pin-Printing onto Porous Silicon for Creating Microarrays with High Chemical Diversity.

We explore the size and spatial microheterogeneity of contact pin-printed spots formed on porous silicon (pSi). Glycerol was contact printed at room temperature onto as-prepared, hydrogen-passivated pSi (ap-pSi) using 50 or 200 µm diameter solid pins. The pSi was then subjected to a strong oxidizing environment (gaseous O3) and washed to remove the glycerol masks. The glycerol-free regions were converted to oxidized pSi (ox-pSi); the glycerol-coated regions were protected from O3, but not entirely. The final array is described as circularly shaped "ap-pSi" regions on a field of ox-pSi. When comparing the areas outside and inside the glycerol-masked pSi spots, one finds dramatic differences in the Si-O-Si, SiHx (x = 1-3) and OySiHx (y, x = 1-3) levels with a spatially dependent continuum of compositions across the spot diameter. Experimental conditions could be adjusted to tune the final ap-pSi spot diameter and edge widths from 90 µm to 520 µm and 20 µm to 130 µm, respectively. The resulting ap-pSi spot diameter is explained by using molecular kinetic theory and time-dependent glycerol imbibement into the pSi within a one-dimensional Darcy's law model.

Effects of Polyhexamethylene Biguanide and Polyquaternium-1 on Phospholipid Bilayer Structure and Dynamics.

Multipurpose solutions (MPS) are a single solution that functions to simultaneously rinse, disinfect, clean, and store soft contact lenses. Several commercial MPS products contain polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB) and/or polyquaternium-1 (PQ-1) as antimicrobial agents. In this paper we have created an in vitro small unilamellar vesicle (SUV) model of the corneal epithelial surface, and we have assessed the interactions of PHMB and PQ-1 with several model biomembranes by using fluorescence spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence were used to assess the membrane acyl chain and polar headgroup region local microenvironment as a function of added PHMB or PQ-1. DLS was used to detect and quantify SUV aggregation induced by PHMB and PQ-1. LC-MS was used to determine the liposomal composition from any precipitated materials in comparison to the as-prepared SUVs. The results are consistent with PHMB adsorbing onto and PQ-1 intercalating into the biomembrane structure. The differences between the two interaction mechanisms have substantial impacts on the biomembrane dynamics and stability.

Extremely strong tubular stacking of aromatic oligoamide macrocycles.

As the third-generation rigid macrocycles evolved from progenitor 1, cyclic aromatic oligoamides 3, with a backbone of reduced constraint, exhibit extremely strong stacking with an astoundingly high affinity (estimated lower limit of Kdimer > 1013 M-1 in CHCl3), which leads to dispersed tubular stacks that undergo further assembly in solution. Computational study reveals a very large binding energy (-49.77 kcal mol-1) and indicates highly cooperative local dipole interactions that account for the observed strength and directionality for the stacking of 3. In the solid-state, X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirms that the aggregation of 3 results in well-aligned tubular stacks. The persistent tubular assemblies of 3, with their non-deformable sub-nm pore, are expected to possess many interesting functions. One such function, transmembrane ion transport, is observed for 3.

Aqueous self-assembly of giant bottlebrush block copolymer surfactants as shape-tunable building blocks.

Programmed self-assembly of well-defined molecular building blocks enables the fabrication of precisely structured nanomaterials. In this work, we explore a new class of giant polymeric surfactants (Mn = (0.7-4.4) × 10(6) g/mol) with bottlebrush architecture and show that their persistent molecular shape leads to the formation of uniform aggregates in a predictable manner. Amphiphilic bottlebrush block copolymers containing polylactide (PLA) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) side chains were synthesized by a grafting-from method, and their self-assembly in aqueous environment was studied by cryogenic transmission electron microscopy. The produced micelle structures with varying interfacial curvatures and core radii (19-55 nm) boasted rod-like hydrophilic PEO brushes protruding from the hydrophobic PLA cores normal to the interface. Highly uniform spherical micelles with low dispersities were obtained from bottlebrush amphiphiles with packing parameters of ∼0.3, estimated from the polymer structural data. Long cylindrical micelles and other nonspherical aggregates were observed for the first time for compositionally less asymmetric bottlebrush surfactants. Critical micelle concentration values of 1 nM, measured for PEO-rich bottlebrush amphiphiles, indicated an enhanced thermodynamic stability of the produced micelle aggregates. Shape-dependent assembly of bottlebrush surfactants allows for the rational fabrication of a range of micelle structures in narrow morphological windows.