Delivery of stable ultra-thin liquid sheets in vacuum for biochemical spectroscopy

The development of ultra-thin flat liquid sheets capable of running in vacuum has provided an exciting new target for X-ray absorption spectroscopy in the liquid and solution phases. Several methods have become available for delivering in-vacuum sheet jets using different nozzle designs. We compare the sheets produced by two different types of nozzle; a commercially available borosillicate glass chip using microfluidic channels to deliver colliding jets, and an in-house fabricated fan spray nozzle which compresses the liquid on an axis out of a slit to achieve collision conditions. We find in our tests that both nozzles are suitable for use in X-ray absorption spectroscopy with the fan spray nozzle producing thicker but more stable jets than the commercial nozzle. We also provide practical details of how to run these nozzles in vacuum

Direct observation of ultrafast exciton localization in an organic semiconductor with soft X-ray transient absorption spectroscopy

The localization dynamics of excitons in organic semiconductors influence the efficiency of charge transfer and separation in these materials. Here we apply time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy to track photoinduced dynamics of a paradigmatic crystalline conjugated polymer: poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) commonly used in solar cell devices. The π→π* transition, the first step of solar energy conversion, is pumped with a 15 fs optical pulse and the dynamics are probed by an attosecond soft X-ray pulse at the carbon K-edge. We observe X-ray spectroscopic signatures of the initially hot excitonic state, indicating that it is delocalized over multiple polymer chains. This undergoes a rapid evolution on a sub 50 fs timescale which can be directly associated with cooling and localization to form either a localized exciton or polaron pair

Que deviennent les échantillons d’origine humaine une fois dans le laboratoire PhAN ? L’exemple du placenta.

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Thermochemical seasonal solar heat storage in salt hydrates for residential applications - Influence of the water vapor pressure on the desorption kinetics of MgSO4.7H2O

An interesting thermochemical material for compact seasonal heat storage is magnesium sulfate heptahydrate MgSO4.7H2O. Previous studies in the field showed that this material presents a storage energy density of 1 GJ/m3 when the material is built in a TC storage system with a 50% porosity packed bed reactor. However, the material has slow reaction kinetics under the low vapor pressure typically occurring in a seasonal heat storage (13 mbar). The kinetic study presented in this paper shows that a higher water vapor pressure of 50 mbar increases the reaction kinetics of the dehydration process of MgSO4.7H2O, improving the performance of the material

Study of the reversible water vapour sorption process of MgSO4.7H2O and MgCl2.6H2O under the conditions of seasonal solar heat storage

The characterization of the structural, compositional and thermodynamic properties of MgSO4.7H2O and MgCl2.6H2O has been done using in-situ X-ray Diffraction and thermal analyses (TG/DSC) under practical conditions for seasonal heat storage (Tmax=150°C, p(H2O)=13 mbar). This study showed that these two materials release heat after a dehydration/hydration cycle with energy densities of 0.38 GJ/m3 for MgSO4.7H2O and 0.71 GJ/m3 MgCl2.6H2O. The low heat release found for MgSO4.7H2O is mainly attributed to the amorphization of the material during the dehydration performed at 13 mbar which reduces its sorption capacity during the rehydration. MgCl2.6H2O presents a high energy density which makes this material interesting for seasonal heat storage in domestic applications. This material would be able to fulfil the winter heat demand of a passive house estimated at 6 GJ with a packed bed reactor of 8.5 m3. However, a seasonal heat storage system built with this material should be carefully set with a restricted temperature at 40°C for the hydration reaction to avoid the liquefaction of the material at lower temperature which limits its performances for long term storage