Morphometric Parameters, Contractility and Architecture of the Left Ventricle Myocardium in Pigs

This study aims to reveal the interrelations found within the architecture of the muscular fibers, the morphometric parameters and contractility of the left ventricular myocardium in the Landrace breed of conventional pigs. The left ventricular morphometric parameters were investigated at three levels (basal, middle, apical) utilizing echocardiography, myocardial contractility was estimated by the ejection fraction, fractional shortening and fractional thickening. The fiber architecture of the working myocardium was studied following the method of the layer-by-layer splitting of muscular fibers. The fibers ofthe superficial and deep layers of the left ventricle showed an oblique orientation, while the muscular fibers of the middle layer were distinguishable as high-lying and low-lying fibers. During the cardiac cycle, the greatest reduction in the transverse dimension and the greatest thickening of the walls were observed in the middle level when compared with the basal and apical levels, that is related with more thick layer of muscular circumferential fibers in the middle section of the ventricle and large papillary muscles. A low contractile ability of the left ventricle myocardium was revealed in pigs

Nanocomposite Co₃O₄-ZnO Thin Films for Photoconductivity Sensors

Thin nanocomposite films based on zinc oxide (ZnO) added with cobalt oxide (Co3O4) were synthesized by solid-phase pyrolysis. According to XRD, the films consist of a ZnO wurtzite phase and a cubic structure of Co3O4 spinel. The crystallite sizes in the films increased from 18 nm to 24 nm with growing annealing temperature and Co3O4 concentration. Optical and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy data revealed that enhancing the Co3O4 concentration leads to a change in the optical absorption spectrum and the appearance of allowed transitions in the material. Electrophysical measurements showed that Co3O4-ZnO films have a resistivity up to 3 × 104 Ohm∙cm and a semiconductor conductivity close to intrinsic. With advancing the Co3O4 concentration, the mobility of the charge carriers was found to increase by almost four times. The photosensors based on the 10Co-90Zn film exhibited a maximum normalized photoresponse when exposed to radiation with wavelengths of 400 nm and 660 nm. It was found that the same film has a minimum response time of ca. 26.2 ms upon exposure to radiation of 660 nm wavelength. The photosensors based on the 3Co-97Zn film have a minimum response time of ca. 58.3 ms versus the radiation of 400 nm wavelength. Thus, the Co3O4 content was found to be an effective impurity to tune the photosensitivity of radiation sensors based on Co3O4-ZnO films in the wavelength range of 400–660 nm

Porous Carbon–Carbon Composite Materials Obtained by Alkaline Dehydrochlorination of Polyvinyl Chloride

Porous carbon–carbon composite materials (PCCCM) were synthesized by the alkaline dehydrochlorination of polyvinyl chloride solutions in dimethyl sulfoxide containing the modifying additives of a nanostructured component (NC): graphite oxide (GO), reduced graphite oxide (RGO) or nanoglobular carbon (NGC), with subsequent two-step thermal treatment of the obtained polyvinylene–NC composites (carbonization at 400 °C and carbon dioxide activation at 900 °C). The focus of the study was on the analysis and digital processing of transmission electron microscopy images to study local areas of carbon composite materials, as well as to determine the distances between graphene layers. TEM and low-temperature nitrogen adsorption studies revealed that the structure of the synthesized PCCCM can be considered as a porous carbon matrix in which either carbon nanoglobules (in the case of NGC) or carbon particles with the “crumpled sheet” morphology (in the case of GO or RGO used as the modifying additives) are distributed. Depending on the features of the introduced 5–7 wt.% nanostructured component, the fraction of mesopores was shown to vary from 11% to 46%, and SBET—from 791 to 1115 m2 g−1. The synthesis of PCCNC using graphite oxide and reduced graphite oxide as the modifying additives can be considered as a method for synthesizing a porous carbon material with the hierarchical structure containing both the micro- and meso/macropores. Such materials are widely applied and can serve as adsorbents, catalyst supports, elements of power storage systems, etc

High Gas Sensitivity to Nitrogen Dioxide of Nanocomposite ZnO-SnO2 Films Activated by a Surface Electric Field

Gas sensors based on the multi-sensor platform MSP 632, with thin nanocomposite films based on tin dioxide with a low content of zinc oxide (0.5–5 mol.%), were synthesized using a solid-phase low-temperature pyrolysis technique. The resulting gas-sensitive ZnO-SnO2 films were comprehensively studied by atomic force microscopy, Kelvin probe force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, scanning transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The obtained films are up to 200 nm thick and consist of ZnO-SnO2 nanocomposites, with ZnO and SnO2 crystallite sizes of 4–30 nm. Measurements of ZnO-SnO2 films containing 0.5 mol.% ZnO showed the existence of large values of surface potential, up to 1800 mV, leading to the formation of a strong surface electric field with a strength of up to 2 × 107 V/cm. The presence of a strong surface electric field leads to the best gas-sensitive properties: the sensor’s responsivity is between two and nine times higher than that of sensors based on ZnO-SnO2 films of other compositions. A study of characteristics sensitive to NO2 (0.1–50 ppm) showed that gas sensors based on the ZnO-SnO2 film demonstrated a high sensitivity to NO2 with a concentration of 0.1 ppm at an operating temperature of 200 °C