35 research outputs found
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Adhesion of E. coli to silver- or copper-coated porous clay ceramic surfaces
This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. This article appeared in Yakub, I., and W. O. Soboyejo. "Adhesion of E. coli to silver-or copper-coated porous clay ceramic surfaces." Journal of Applied Physics 111, no. 12 (2012): 124324. and may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4722326Porous ceramic water filters (CWFs), produced by sintering a mixture of clay and a combustible material (such as woodchips), are often used in point-of-use water filtration systems that occlude microbes by size exclusion. They are also coated with colloidal silver, which serves as a microbial disinfectant. However, the adhesion of microbes to porous clay surfaces and colloidal silver coated clay surfaces has not been studied. This paper presents the results of atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements of the adhesion force between Escherichia coli bacteria, colloidal silver, and porous clay-based ceramic surfaces. The adhesion of silver and copper nanoparticles is also studied in control experiments on these alternative disinfectant materials. The adhesive force between the wide range of possible bi-materials was measured using pull-off measurements during force microscopy. These were combined with measurements of AFM tip radii/substrate roughness that were incorporated into adhesion models to obtain the adhesion energies for the pair wise interaction. Of the three antimicrobial metals studied, the colloidal silver had the highest affinity for porous ceramic surface (125 ± 32 nN and ∼0.29 J/m2) while the silver nanoparticles had the highest affinity for E. coli bacteria (133 ± 21 nN and ∼0.39 J/m2). The implications of the results are then discussed for the design of ceramic water filter that can purify water by adsorption and size exclusion
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Mechanical properties, modeling and design of porous clay ceramics
Porous ceramics with three different porosities were fabricated by the sintering of redart clay and woodchips (sawdust). The latter was used as the pore-forming agent in porous ceramic water. The porosity, pore size and density of the materials were characterized using Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry and Helium Pyncnometer technique, while the structure and chemistry of the materials were elucidated via X-ray diffraction (XRD), environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The compressive strength of the porous clay ceramics were found to exhibit a downward trend with increasing porosity. Due to the anisotropic nature of the porous material, two types of specimen (T- and S-Type) were fabricated for the measurement of flexural strength, fracture toughness and resistance-curve behavior under three point bending. The observed crack-tip shielding/toughening mechanism was then modeled using fracture mechanics concepts. The measured mechanical/physical properties, such as: elastic modulus, density and porosity, were then incorporated into finite element models for the computation of stress distributions due to hydrostatic pressures exerted on the porous clay ceramics by the water in filter with different geometries and supporting configurations. The implications of the results are discussed for potential scale-up and design of a mechanically robust porous ceramic for water filtration
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A mobile-based image analysis system for cervical cancer detection
Cervical cancer is the third major killer disease in developed and developing countries. Whereas screening and other preventive measures reduce the mortality in developed countries, mortality rate still remains very high in developing countries. This project focuses on the analysis of digital image of the cervix, captured with a low-level camera and under a contrast agent (the visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA)). Gaussian and mean filter techniques were used to remove the speckles. A segmentation algorithm was used to isolate the Region of Interest (ROI) from the image. Additionally a Canny edge detection algorithm was used to find edges. Furthermore, quantification and classification of the images were done. An android application was used to integrated all the above. This allows usage in rural settings. The results obtained were quite satisfactory (Specificity 79% and Sensitivity of 83%)
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Reliability and Physics Failure of Stretchable Organic Solar Cells
Organic solar (OPV) cells are cheap electronics that can replace the widely used high cost silicon-based electronics for electricity generation. They are cheap because of the easy techniques involved in their fabrication processes and they can be produced to cover a large surface area. However, the current low performance of organic electronics has been traced to failure due to interfacial adhesion problems, material processes, and service conditions. Therefore, transportation of charge carriers across the bulk heterojunction system of OPV cells becomes very difficult in the presence of these flaws. In this paper a combined experimental and computational technique is used to study the reliability and physics failure of stretchable OPV cells. Interfacial adhesion energies in the layered structures of OPV cells are measured and compared with theoretical estimated energies. The limit stresses/strains applied on layered OPV cells during service condition are estimated using critical values of the measured interfacial adhesion. The results obtained are, therefore, explained to improve the design of reliable OPV cells