A stand-alone compact EUV microscope based on gas-puff target source

We report on a very compact desk-top transmission extreme ultraviolet (EUV) microscope based on a laser-plasma source with a double stream gas-puff target, capable of acquiring magnified images of objects with a spatial (half-pitch) resolution of sub-50 nm. A multilayer ellipsoidal condenser is used to focus and spectrally narrow the radiation from the plasma, producing a quasi-monochromatic EUV radiation (λ = 13.8 nm) illuminating the object, while a Fresnel zone plate objective forms the image. Design details, development, characterization and optimization of the EUV source and the microscope are described and discussed. Test object and other samples were imaged to demonstrate superior resolution compared to visible light microscopy. Lay description Developments in nanoscience demand tools capable of capturing images with a nanometer spatial resolution beyond the capability of well-known visible light microscopes. Herein, we present the design details, development, characterization and optimization of a very compact desk-top transmission microscope, operating in invisible to an eye radiation from the so called extreme ultraviolet (EUV) range. The apparatus is based on a laser-plasma source coupled with a special type of objective called Fresnel zone plate. It is capable of acquiring magnified images of objects with a spatial resolution of sub-50 nm, approximately 5–10 times better than the spatial resolution of classical visible light microscopes, in a short acquisition time. The main motivation for development of such compact systems operating with EUV radiations is the possibility to get information about thin samples due to the easily absorption of these radiation by solid materials with very small thicknesses, of the order of about 100 nm. Additionally, the employment of such kind of microscopes might open the possibility to perform experiments without necessity to employ large ‘photon facilities’ such as synchrotrons or free electron lasers and could have a huge impact on the speed of nanotechnology development. Imaging results, concerning nanostructures and biomedical samples, are presented and discussed

Versailles project on advanced materials and standards (VAMAS) interlaboratory study on measuring the number concentration of colloidal gold nanoparticles

We describe the outcome of a large international interlaboratory study of the measurement of particle number concentration of colloidal nanoparticles, project 10 of the technical working area 34, "Nanoparticle Populations" of the Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards (VAMAS). A total of 50 laboratories delivered results for the number concentration of 30 nm gold colloidal nanoparticles measured using particle tracking analysis (PTA), single particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (spICP-MS), ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) light spectroscopy, centrifugal liquid sedimentation (CLS) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The study provides quantitative data to evaluate the repeatability of these methods and their reproducibility in the measurement of number concentration of model nanoparticle systems following a common measurement protocol. We find that the population-averaging methods of SAXS, CLS and UV-Vis have high measurement repeatability and reproducibility, with between-labs variability of 2.6%, 11% and 1.4% respectively. However, results may be significantly biased for reasons including inaccurate material properties whose values are used to compute the number concentration. Particle-counting method results are less reproducibile than population-averaging methods, with measured between-labs variability of 68% and 46% for PTA and spICP-MS respectively. This study provides the stakeholder community with important comparative data to underpin measurement reproducibility and method validation for number concentration of nanoparticles

Versailles project on advanced materials and standards (VAMAS) interlaboratory study on measuring the number concentration of colloidal gold nanoparticles

We describe the outcome of a large international interlaboratory study of the measurement of particle number concentration of colloidal nanoparticles, project 10 of the technical working area 34, "Nanoparticle Populations" of the Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards (VAMAS). A total of 50 laboratories delivered results for the number concentration of 30 nm gold colloidal nanoparticles measured using particle tracking analysis (PTA), single particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (spICP-MS), ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) light spectroscopy, centrifugal liquid sedimentation (CLS) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The study provides quantitative data to evaluate the repeatability of these methods and their reproducibility in the measurement of number concentration of model nanoparticle systems following a common measurement protocol. We find that the population-averaging methods of SAXS, CLS and UV-Vis have high measurement repeatability and reproducibility, with between-labs variability of 2.6%, 11% and 1.4% respectively. However, results may be significantly biased for reasons including inaccurate material properties whose values are used to compute the number concentration. Particle-counting method results are less reproducibile than population-averaging methods, with measured between-labs variability of 68% and 46% for PTA and spICP-MS respectively. This study provides the stakeholder community with important comparative data to underpin measurement reproducibility and method validation for number concentration of nanoparticles

Versailles project on advanced materials and standards (VAMAS) interlaboratory study on measuring the number concentration of colloidal gold nanoparticles

We describe the outcome of a large international interlaboratory study of the measurement of particle number concentration of colloidal nanoparticles, project 10 of the technical working area 34, "Nanoparticle Populations" of the Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards (VAMAS). A total of 50 laboratories delivered results for the number concentration of 30 nm gold colloidal nanoparticles measured using particle tracking analysis (PTA), single particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (spICP-MS), ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) light spectroscopy, centrifugal liquid sedimentation (CLS) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The study provides quantitative data to evaluate the repeatability of these methods and their reproducibility in the measurement of number concentration of model nanoparticle systems following a common measurement protocol. We find that the population-averaging methods of SAXS, CLS and UV-Vis have high measurement repeatability and reproducibility, with between-labs variability of 2.6%, 11% and 1.4% respectively. However, results may be significantly biased for reasons including inaccurate material properties whose values are used to compute the number concentration. Particle-counting method results are less reproducibile than population-averaging methods, with measured between-labs variability of 68% and 46% for PTA and spICP-MS respectively. This study provides the stakeholder community with important comparative data to underpin measurement reproducibility and method validation for number concentration of nanoparticles

Application of the Tikhonov and the modified Twomey methods to calculate narrow microparticle size distributions by the laser diffraction technique

New ways of calculating narrow microparticle size distributions based on using the Tikhonov and the modified Twomey methods for the laser diffraction technique are presented. These allow to have reduced the broadening (over-smoothing) of the result occurring in these methods for narrow distributions both singular and their sum. The calculated singular distributions and their distribution sum were then approximated by a Gaussian function and a bimodal Gaussian function, respectively, using the Levenberg- Marquardt method. The angular distribution of scattering power was measured for polystyrene particles with radii of 0.676 μm and 1.573 μm, and for their sum. The tests were carried out for linearly polarized He-Ne laser light scattered by a dilute aqueous suspension of these particles. The results obtained were compared with those obtained with the nanoDS instrument (CILAS). It turned out that using the way based on the Twomey method, the parameters of the narrow distribution sought could be determined quite well

Novelty Surface Coatings for Far Infrared Spectrum Black Body Radiators

Źródła promieniowania ciała doskonale czarnego są powszechnie stosowanymi urządzeniami w dziedzinach związanych z obrazowaniem termicznym i radiometrią. Stanowią najbliższe fizyczne przybliżenie teoretycznego emitera ciała doskonale czarnego wyprowadzonego z prawa Plancka. Większość takich urządzeń jest kosztowna, a informacje o technologii ich wytwarzania, w tym o powierzchni emitera, są ograniczone. Wybrano kilka stosunkowo łatwo dostępnych powłok mających potencjalne zastosowanie w tego typu urządzeniach i zmierzono ich emisyjność. W pracy przedstawiono pomiary, które dostarczają informacji niezbędnych do określenia, czy wśród wybranych istnieją powłoki zdatne do emitowania lub powierzchnie odniesienia.Black body radiation sources are commonly used devices in areas related to thermal imaging and radiometry. They are the closest physical approximation of theoretical black body emitter derived from the Planck’s law. Majority of such devices are costly with restricted information about their production technology, including their emitter surface. A few relatively easily accessible coatings with potential application in such devices have been chosen and their emissivity measured. The paper presents measurements that provides information necessary to determine whether there are coatings viable for black body emitter or reference surface

Comparison of Properties of the Hybrid and Bilayer MWCNTs—Hydroxyapatite Coatings on Ti Alloy

Carbon nanotubes are proposed for reinforcement of the hydroxyapatite coatings to improve their adhesion, resistance to mechanical loads, biocompatibility, bioactivity, corrosion resistance, and antibacterial protection. So far, research has shown that all these properties are highly susceptible to the composition and microstructure of coatings. The present research is aimed at studies of multi-wall carbon nanotubes in three different combinations: multi-wall carbon nanotubes layer, bilayer coating composed of multi-wall carbon nanotubes deposited on nanohydroxyapatite deposit, and hybrid coating comprised of simultaneously deposited nanohydroxyapatite, multi-wall carbon nanotubes, nanosilver, and nanocopper. The electrophoretic deposition method was applied for the fabrication of the coatings. Atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray electron diffraction spectroscopy, and measurements of water contact angle were applied to study the chemical and phase composition, roughness, adhesion strength and wettability of the coatings. The results show that the pure multi-wall carbon nanotubes layer possesses the best adhesion strength, mechanical properties, and biocompatibility. Such behavior may be attributed to the applied deposition method, resulting in the high hardness of the coating and high adhesion of carbon nanotubes to the substrate. On the other hand, bilayer coating, and hybrid coating demonstrated insufficient properties, which could be the reason for the presence of soft porous hydroxyapatite and some agglomerates of nanometals in prepared coatings

Mechanical Behavior of Bi-Layer and Dispersion Coatings Composed of Several Nanostructures on Ti13Nb13Zr Alloy

Titanium implants are commonly used because of several advantages, but their surface modification is necessary to enhance bioactivity. Recently, their surface coatings were developed to induce local antibacterial properties. The aim of this research was to investigate and compare mechanical properties of three coatings: multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), bi-layer composed of an inner MWCNTs layer and an outer TiO2 layer, and dispersion coatings comprised of simultaneously deposited MWCNTs and nanoCu, each electrophoretically deposited on the Ti13Nb13Zr alloy. Optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray electron diffraction spectroscopy, and nanoindentation technique were applied to study topography, chemical composition, hardness, plastic and elastic properties. The results demonstrate that the addition of nanocopper or titanium dioxide to MWCNTs coating increases hardness, lowers Young’s modulus, improves plastic and elastic properties, wear resistance under deflection, and plastic deformation resistance. The results can be attributed to different properties, structure and geometry of applied particles, various deposition techniques, and the possible appearance of porous structures. These innovative coatings of simultaneously high strength and elasticity are promising to apply for deposition on long-term titanium implants

Spectral Properties of Photo-Aligned Photonic Crystal Fibers Infiltrated with Gold Nanoparticle-Doped Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals

This paper describes our recent results on light propagation in photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) partially infiltrated with W212 ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) doped with 1–3 nm gold nanoparticles (NPs) with a concentration in the range of 0.1–0.5% wt. Based on our previous results devoted to PCFs infiltrated with nematic liquid crystals (NLCs) doped with gold NPs (GNPs), we extend our research line with FLCs doped with these NPs. To enhance the proper alignment of the NP-FLC nanocomposites inside PCFs, we applied an additional photo-aligning layer of SD-1 azo-dye material (DIC, Japan). Electro-optical response times and thermal tuning were studied in detail. We observed an improvement in response times for NP-FLC nanocomposites in comparison to the undoped FLC

Synthesis and characterization of noble metal–titania core–shell nanostructures with tunable shell thickness

Core–shell nanostructures have found applications in many fields, including surface enhanced spectroscopy, catalysis and solar cells. Titania-coated noble metal nanoparticles, which combine the surface plasmon resonance properties of the core and the photoactivity of the shell, have great potential for these applications. However, the controllable synthesis of such nanostructures remains a challenge due to the high reactivity of titania precursors. Hence, a simple titania coating method that would allow better control over the shell formation is desired. A sol–gel based titania coating method, which allows control over the shell thickness, was developed and applied to the synthesis of Ag@TiO2 and Au@TiO2 with various shell thicknesses. The morphology of the synthesized structures was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Their sizes and shell thicknesses were determined using tunable resistive pulse sensing (TRPS) technique. The optical properties of the synthesized structures were characterized using UV–vis spectroscopy. Ag@TiO2 and Au@TiO2 structures with shell thickness in the range of ≈40–70 nm and 90 nm, for the Ag and Au nanostructures respectively, were prepared using a method we developed and adapted, consisting of a change in the titania precursor concentration. The synthesized nanostructures exhibited significant absorption in the UV–vis range. The TRPS technique was shown to be a very useful tool for the characterization of metal–metal oxide core–shell nanostructures