Comparative Study on Microstructure and Corrosion Resistance of Al-Si Alloy Cast from Sand Mold and Binder Jetting Mold

[EN] This investigation is focused on the corrosion evaluation of an as-cast Al-Si alloy, obtained by two different casting methods: traditional sand casting and three-printing casting, using a binder jetted mold. The experimental results are discussed in terms of chemical composition, microstructure, hardness, and corrosion behavior of two different casting parts. The microstructure and composition of the sample before and after the corrosion tests was analyzed using light microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray diffraction (DRX). The corrosion of the two processed castings was analyzed using anodic polarization (PA) test and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in an aerated solution of 3.5% by weight NaCl, similar to the seawater environment. After the corrosion process, the samples were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma/optical emission spectrometry (ICP/OES); the composition was used to determine the chloride solution after immersion times. The sample processed by binder jetting mold showed higher corrosion resistance with nobler potentials, lower corrosion densities, higher polarization resistance, and more stable passive layers than the sample processed by sand casting. This improvement of corrosion resistance could be related to the presence of coarse silicon particles, which decrease of cathodic/anodic ratio and the number of micro-galvanic couples, and the lower amount of intermetallic β Al-Fe-Si phase observed in cast alloy solidified in binder jetting mold.SIMinisterio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidade

Enose lab made with vacuum sampling: quantitative applications

A lab-made electronic nose (Enose) with vacuum sampling and a sensor array, comprising nine metal oxide semiconductor Figaro gas sensors, was tested for the quantitative analysis of vapor–liquid equilibrium, described by Henry’s law, of aqueous solutions of organic compounds: three alcohols (i.e., methanol, ethanol, and propanol) or three chemical compounds with different functional groups (i.e., acetaldehyde, ethanol, and ethyl acetate). These solutions followed a fractional factorial design to guarantee orthogonal concentrations. Acceptable predictive ridge regression models were obtained for training, with RSEs lower than 7.9, R2 values greater than 0.95, slopes varying between 0.84 and 1.00, and intercept values close to the theoretical value of zero. Similar results were obtained for the test data set: RSEs lower than 8.0, R2 values greater than 0.96, slopes varying between 0.72 and 1.10, and some intercepts equal to the theoretical value of zero. In addition, the total mass of the organic compounds of each aqueous solution could be predicted, pointing out that the sensors measured mainly the global contents of the vapor phases. The satisfactory quantitative results allowed to conclude that the Enose could be a useful tool for the analysis of volatiles from aqueous solutions containing organic compounds for which Henry’s law is applicable.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) and FED-ER under Programme PT2020 for financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES to CIMO (UID/AGR/00690/2019) and SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2020)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics' resources: focus on curated databases

The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (www.isb-sib.ch) provides world-class bioinformatics databases, software tools, services and training to the international life science community in academia and industry. These solutions allow life scientists to turn the exponentially growing amount of data into knowledge. Here, we provide an overview of SIB's resources and competence areas, with a strong focus on curated databases and SIB's most popular and widely used resources. In particular, SIB's Bioinformatics resource portal ExPASy features over 150 resources, including UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot, ENZYME, PROSITE, neXtProt, STRING, UniCarbKB, SugarBindDB, SwissRegulon, EPD, arrayMap, Bgee, SWISS-MODEL Repository, OMA, OrthoDB and other databases, which are briefly described in this article

Analysis of phenolic content in grape seeds and skins by means of a bio-electronic tongue

Producción CientíficaA bio-electronic tongue has been developed to evaluate the phenolic content of grape residues (seeds and skins) in a fast and easy way with industrial use in mind. A voltammetric electronic tongue has been designed based on carbon resin electrodes modified with tyrosinase combined with electron mediators. The presence of the phenoloxydase promotes the selectivity and specificity towards phenols. The results of multivariate analysis allowed discriminating seeds and skins according to their polyphenolic content. Partial least squares (PLS) has been used to establish regression models with parameters related to phenolic content measured by spectroscopic methods i.e., total poliphenol content (TPC) and Folin–Ciocalteu (FC) indexes. It has been shown that electronic tongue can be successfully used to predict parameters of interest with high correlation coefficients (higher than 0.99 in both calibration and prediction) and low residual errors. These values can even be improved using genetic algorithms for multivalent analysis. In this way, a fast and simple tool is available for the evaluation of these values. This advantage may be due to the fact that the electrochemical signals are directly related to the phenolic content.Ministerio de Ciencia Innovación y Universidades-FEDER (grants RTI2018-097990-B-100 and BES-2016-077825)Junta de Castilla y León-FEDER (grant VA275P18) y (Infraestructuras Red de Castilla y León (INFRARROJOS) UVA01

Improving the Performance of Electrochemical Sensors by Means of Synergy. Combinations of Gold Nanoparticles and Phthalocyanines

Voltammetric sensors chemically modified with combinations of two electrocatalytic materials: tetraoctylammonium bromide capped gold nanoparticles (AuNPNBr) and a sulphur containing zinc phthalocyanine derivative (ZnPcRS) are reported. The electrocatalytic effects in the detection of catechol have been analyzed in sensors obtained by direct mixing (AuNPNBr/ZnPcRS) and in sensors modified with an adduct where both components are linked covalently (AuNPNBr-S-ZnPcR). Results demonstrate that the nature of the interaction between both components modifies the electrocatalytic properties. The AuNPNBr/ZnPcRS mixture improves the electron transfer rate of the catechol reduction, with limits of detection of 10−6 M. The covalent adduct AuNPNBr-S-ZnPcR enhances the response rate of the oxidation of the catechol with limits of detection of 10−7 M

An Electrochemical Quartz Crystal Microbalance Multisensor System Based on Phthalocyanine Nanostructured Films: Discrimination of Musts

An array of electrochemical quartz crystal electrodes (EQCM) modified with nanostructured films based on phthalocyanines was developed and used to discriminate musts prepared from different varieties of grapes. Nanostructured films of iron, nickel and copper phthalocyanines were deposited on Pt/quartz crystals through the Layer by Layer technique by alternating layers of the corresponding phthalocyanine and poly-allylamine hydrochloride. Simultaneous electrochemical and mass measurements were used to study the mass changes accompanying the oxidation of electroactive species present in must samples obtained from six Spanish varieties of grapes (Juan García, Prieto Picudo, Mencía Regadío, Cabernet Sauvignon, Garnacha and Tempranillo). The mass and voltammetric outputs were processed using three-way models. Parallel Factor Analysis (PARAFAC) was successfully used to discriminate the must samples according to their variety. Multi-way partial least squares (N-PLS) evidenced the correlations existing between the voltammetric data and the polyphenolic content measured by chemical methods. Similarly, N-PLS showed a correlation between mass outputs and parameters related to the sugar content. These results demonstrated that electronic tongues based on arrays of EQCM sensors can offer advantages over arrays of mass or voltammetric sensors used separately

Silver Nanomaterials as Electron Mediators in a Bio-Electronic Tongue Dedicated to the Analysis of Milks. The Role of the Aspect Ratio of Nanoparticles vs. Nanowires

The integration of silver nanomaterials as electron mediators in electrochemical biosensors can be crucial to improve the affinity with biomolecules and the electrochemical response. In this work, two voltammetric bioelectronics tongues (bioET) formed by biosensors based on the combination of enzymes with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) (bioET-1) or silver nanowires (AgNWs) (bioET-2) have been developed and used to analyze milks. Each array was formed by four biosensors formed by enzymes (glucose oxidase, galactose oxidase, β-galactosidase and a blank), capable to detect compounds usually found in milks. Principal component analysis (PCA) has revealed the ability of both biosensor systems to discriminate between milk samples with different fat contents, but with some differences, attributed to the structure employed in the detection

Monitoring the Phenolic Ripening of Red Grapes Using a Multisensor System Based on Metal-Oxide Nanoparticles

The maturity of grapes is usually monitored by means of the sugar concentration. However, the assessment of other parameters such as the phenolic content is also important because the phenolic maturity has an important impact on the organoleptic characteristics of wines. In this work, voltammetric sensors able to detect phenols in red grapes have been developed. They are based on metal oxide nanoparticles (CeO2, NiO, and TiO2,) whose excellent electrocatalytic properties toward phenols allows obtaining sensors with detection limits in the range of 10−8 M and coefficients of variation lower than 7%. An electronic tongue constructed using a combination of the nanoparticle-based sensors is capable to monitor the phenolic maturity of red grapes from véraison to maturity. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) can be successfully used to discriminate samples according to the ripeness. Regression models performed using Partial Least Squares (PLS-1) have established good correlations between voltammetric data obtained with the electrochemical sensors and the Total Polyphenolic Index, the Brix degree and the Total Acidity, with correlation coefficients close to 1 and low number of latent variables. An advantage of this system is that the electronic tongue can be used for the simultaneous assessment of these three parameters which are the main factors used to monitor the maturity of grapes. Thus the electronic tongue based on metal oxide nanoparticles can be a valuable tool to monitor ripeness. These results demonstrate the exciting possible applications of metal oxide nanoparticles in the field of electronic tongues

Discrimination of Apple Liqueurs (Nalewka) Using a Voltammetric Electronic Tongue, UV-Vis and Raman Spectroscopy

The capability of a phthalocyanine-based voltammetric electronic tongue to analyze strong alcoholic beverages has been evaluated and compared with the performance of spectroscopic techniques coupled to chemometrics. Nalewka Polish liqueurs prepared from five apple varieties have been used as a model of strong liqueurs. Principal Component Analysis has demonstrated that the best discrimination between liqueurs prepared from different apple varieties is achieved using the e-tongue and UV-Vis spectroscopy. Raman spectra coupled to chemometrics have not been efficient in discriminating liqueurs. The calculated Euclidean distances and the k-Nearest Neighbors algorithm (kNN) confirmed these results. The main advantage of the e-tongue is that, using PLS-1, good correlations have been found simultaneously with the phenolic content measured by the Folin–Ciocalteu method (R2 of 0.97 in calibration and R2 of 0.93 in validation) and also with the density, a marker of the alcoholic content method (R2 of 0.93 in calibration and R2 of 0.88 in validation). UV-Vis coupled with chemometrics has shown good correlations only with the phenolic content (R2 of 0.99 in calibration and R2 of 0.99 in validation) but correlations with the alcoholic content were low. Raman coupled with chemometrics has shown good correlations only with density (R2 of 0.96 in calibration and R2 of 0.85 in validation). In summary, from the three holistic methods evaluated to analyze strong alcoholic liqueurs, the voltammetric electronic tongue using phthalocyanines as sensing elements is superior to Raman or UV-Vis techniques because it shows an excellent discrimination capability and remarkable correlations with both antioxidant capacity and alcoholic content—the most important parameters to be measured in this type of liqueurs