Deposition of Metal Nanoparticles on Phospholipid Multilayer Membranes Modified by Gramicidin

A planar dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) multilayer phospholipid membrane was structurally modified by introducing a transmembrane protein, gramicidin (up to 25 mol %), to study its effect on the metal nanoparticles deposited on the membrane. Without gramicidin, when 3-nm-thick Ag, Sn, Al, and Au were deposited, the nanoparticles hardly nucleated on the DPPC membrane in rigid gel state (except for Au); however, the gramicidin addition dramatically enhanced the DPPC membrane surface’s affinity for metal atoms so that a dense array of metal (Ag, Sn, and Au) or metal-oxide (Al-oxide) nanoparticles was produced on the membrane surface. The particle sizes ranged from 3 to 15 nm depending on the metal and gramicidin concentration, whereas the particle density was strongly dictated by the gramicidin concentration. The proposed method provides a convenient, generally applicable synthesis route for preparing different metal or metal-oxide nanoparticles on a relatively robust biocompatible membrane

Stabilization of Solid-Supported Phospholipid Multilayer against Water by Gramicidin Addition

It was demonstrated that hydrophobicity of solid supported planar dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) phospholipid multilayer can be greatly increased by incorporating a transmembrane protein, gramicidin, into the DPPC membrane. The contact angle of deionized water droplet on the gramicidin-modified DPPC membrane increased from 0° (complete wetting) without gramicidin to 55° after adding 15 mol % gramicidin. The increased hydrophobicity of the gramicidin-modified DPPC membrane allowed the membrane to remain stable at the air/water interface as well as underwater. The Au nanoparticles deposited on the gramicidin-modified DPPC membrane reproduced the characteristic surface plasmon resonance peak after being kept underwater or in phosphate-buffered saline solution for 5 days, attesting to the membrane stability in an aqueous environment. The enhanced underwater stability of the lipid multilayer substantially broadens the potential application of the lipid multilayer which includes biosensing, enzymatic fuel cell, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy substrate

Characterization of Sputter-Deposited LiCoO₂ Thin Film Grown on NASICON-type Electrolyte for Application in All-Solid-State Rechargeable Lithium Battery

All-solid-state Li-rechargeable batteries using a 500 nm-thick LiCoO₂ (LCO) film deposited on two NASICON-type solid electrolyte substrates, LICGC (OHARA Inc.) and Li_1.3Al_0.3Ti_1.7(PO₄)₃ (LATP), are constructed. The postdeposition annealing temperature prior to the cell assembly is critical to produce a stable sharp LCO/electrolyte interface and to develop a strong crystallographic texture in the LCO film, conducive to migration of Li ions. Although the cells deliver a limited discharge capacity, the cells cycled stably for 50 cycles. The analysis of the LCO/electrolyte interfaces after cycling demonstrates that the sharp interface, once formed by proper thermal annealing, will remain stable without any evidence for contamination and with minimal intermixing of the constituent elements during cycling. Hence, although ionic conductivity of the NASICON-type solid electrolyte is lower than that of the sulfide electrolytes, the NACSICON-type electrolytes will maintain a stable interface in contact with a LCO cathode, which should be beneficial to improving the capacity retention as well as the rate capability of the all-solid state cell

Effect of Temperature and Humidity on Coarsening Behavior of Au Nanoparticles Embedded in Liquid Crystalline Lipid Membrane

Coarsening behavior of the Au nanoparticles produced by thermal evaporation of Au onto a liquid crystalline lipid (1,2-dioleoyl-3-trimethylammonium-propane, DOTAP) membrane was investigated by subjecting the nanoparticle-embedded DOTAP membrane to two different annealing conditions (at 100 °C under no humidity and at 20 °C and 80% relative humidity). Although the coarsening rate was relatively slow because of the low temperature (from 5.6 nm in the as-deposited state to ∼7 nm after 30 h), it was identified that at 100 °C without humidity the Au nanoparticles resulted in shape refinement whereas the high humidity at 20 °C induced self-organization of the nanoparticles into a monolayer. It was also found that annealing in both cases tended to segregate the lipid molecules from the nanoparticle array and forced the nanoparticles into a tighter area. In the case of the high-humidity sample, the lipid segregation eventually led to extensive coalescence of the Au nanoparticles

Influence of Temperature on Lithium–Oxygen Battery Behavior

In this Letter we report an electrochemical and morphological study of the response of lithium–oxygen cells cycled at various temperatures, that is, ranging from −10 to 70 °C. The results show that the electrochemical process of the cells is thermally influenced in an opposite way, that is, by a rate decrease, due to a reduced diffusion of the lithium ions from the electrolyte to the electrode interface, at low temperature and a rate enhancement, due to the decreased electrolyte viscosity and consequent increased oxygen mobility, at high temperature. In addition, we show that the temperature also influences the crystallinity of lithium peroxide, namely of the product formed during cell discharge

Additional file 1: of Long-term health and germline transmission in transgenic cattle following transposon-mediated gene transfer

Raw data of blood analysis from transgenic cattle. (XLSX 15 kb

Additional file 4: of Long-term health and germline transmission in transgenic cattle following transposon-mediated gene transfer

Figure S3. 5′ junction sequence analysis of all integration sites in SNU-F1–1. Sequences showing the genome-to-transposon junctions in the genome of SNU-F1–1 and the integration of transgenes at TTAA sites. (PNG 465 kb

Additional file 3: of Long-term health and germline transmission in transgenic cattle following transposon-mediated gene transfer

Figure S2. Detection of the expression of YFP in milk from SNU-SB-1 by confocal microscopy. Images of milk from wild type cattle (left) and SNU-SB-1 (right) taken using a high-throughput confocal microscope. YFP: YFP field. (PNG 1685 kb

Additional file 7: of Long-term health and germline transmission in transgenic cattle following transposon-mediated gene transfer

Figure S5. Overview of genomic variation in SNU-F1–2. Reference chromosomes from bt1 to btX are denoted by colored boxes at the outer edge. Plots denoting copy number variation (CNV; black dot plots in the green area), coverage (green line plot in the green area) and SNP density (orange histogram in orange area) for the SNU-F1–2 genome are shown for each 10 kb window. (PNG 1244 kb