Adsorption Behavior of Dyestuffs on Hollow Activated Carbon Fiber from Biomass

<div><p>This study focuses on the adsorption behavior of typical dyestuffs (methylene blue and reactive black 5) on hollow activated carbon fibers (ACFs) obtained from Kapok- and Hasuo-seed based biomass. It was found that the adsorption of dyestuffs on ACFs increased with increasing pH and temperature. In addition, the Hasuo-seed based ACFs showed higher adsorption capacities than the Kapok-seed based ACFs for dyestuffs. It was also determined from the adsorption energy distribution results that the ACFs are having energetically heterogeneous surfaces. The results clearly indicated that the prepared ACF in this study could efficiently remove dyes dissolved in water.</p></div

Hollow Microtube Resonators via Silicon Self-Assembly toward Subattogram Mass Sensing Applications

Fluidic resonators with integrated microchannels (hollow resonators) are attractive for mass, density, and volume measurements of single micro/nanoparticles and cells, yet their widespread use is limited by the complexity of their fabrication. Here we report a simple and cost-effective approach for fabricating hollow microtube resonators. A prestructured silicon wafer is annealed at high temperature under a controlled atmosphere to form self-assembled buried cavities. The interiors of these cavities are oxidized to produce thin oxide tubes, following which the surrounding silicon material is selectively etched away to suspend the oxide tubes. This simple three-step process easily produces hollow microtube resonators. We report another innovation in the capping glass wafer where we integrate fluidic access channels and getter materials along with residual gas suction channels. Combined together, only five photolithographic steps and one bonding step are required to fabricate vacuum-packaged hollow microtube resonators that exhibit quality factors as high as ∼13 000. We take one step further to explore additionally attractive features including the ability to tune the device responsivity, changing the resonator material, and scaling down the resonator size. The resonator wall thickness of ∼120 nm and the channel hydraulic diameter of ∼60 nm are demonstrated solely by conventional microfabrication approaches. The unique characteristics of this new fabrication process facilitate the widespread use of hollow microtube resonators, their translation between diverse research fields, and the production of commercially viable devices