I07-Surface & interface diffraction
|
Alexandra L.
Martin
,
Philip N.
Jemmett
,
Thomas
Howitt
,
Mary H.
Wood
,
Andrew W.
Burley
,
Liam R.
Cox
,
Timothy R.
Dafforn
,
Rebecca J. L.
Welbourn
,
Mario
Campana
,
Maximilian W. A.
Skoda
,
Joseph J.
Thompson
,
Hadeel
Hussain
,
Jonathan L.
Rawle
,
Francesco
Carla
,
Christopher L.
Nicklin
,
Thomas
Arnold
,
Sarah L.
Horswell
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[14670, 16423, 19542]
Open Access
Abstract: The effect of lipid composition on models of the inner leaflet of mammalian cell membranes has been investigated. Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction and X-ray and neutron reflectivity have been used to characterize lipid packing and solvation, while electrochemical and infrared spectroscopic methods have been employed to probe phase behavior in an applied electric field. Introducing a small quantity of the anionic lipid dimyristoylphosphatidylserine (DMPS) into bilayers of zwitterionic dimyristoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DMPE) results in a significant change in the bilayer response to an applied field: the tilt of the hydrocarbon chains increases before returning to the original tilt angle on detachment of the bilayer. Equimolar mixtures, with slightly closer chain packing, exhibit a similar but weaker response. The latter also tend to incorporate more solvent during this electrochemical phase transition, at levels similar to those of pure DMPS. Reflectivity measurements reveal greater solvation of lipid layers for DMPS > 30 mol %, matching the greater propensity for DMPS-rich bilayers to incorporate water. Taken together, the data indicate that the range of 10–35 mol % DMPS provides optimum bilayer properties (in flexibility and function as a barrier), which may explain why the DMPS content of cell membranes tends to be found within this range.
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Feb 2023
|
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I07-Surface & interface diffraction
|
Philip N.
Jemmett
,
David C.
Milan
,
Richard J.
Nichols
,
Thomas
Howitt
,
Alexandra L.
Martin
,
Thomas
Arnold
,
Jonathan L.
Rawle
,
Christopher L.
Nicklin
,
Timothy R.
Dafforn
,
Liam R.
Cox
,
Sarah L.
Horswell
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[15539, 18202]
Abstract: Sphingolipids are an important class of lipids found in mammalian cell membranes with important structural and signaling roles. They differ from another major group of lipids, the glycerophospholipids, in the connection of their hydrocarbon chains to their headgroups. In this study, a combination of electrochemical and structural methods has been used to elucidate the effect of this difference on sphingolipid behavior in an applied electric field. N-Palmitoyl sphingomyelin forms bilayers of similar coverage and thickness to its close analogue di-palmitoyl phosphatidylcholine. Grazing incidence diffraction data show slightly closer packing and a smaller chain tilt angle from the surface normal. Electrochemical IR results at low charge density show that the difference in tilt angle is retained on deposition to form bilayers. The bilayers respond differently to increasing electric field strength: chain tilt angles increase for both molecules, but sphingomyelin chains remain tilted as field strength is further increased. This behavior is correlated with disruption of the hydrogen-bonding network of small groups of sphingomyelin molecules, which may have significance for the behavior of molecules in lipid rafts in the presence of strong fields induced by ion gradients or asymmetric distribution of charged lipids.
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Nov 2022
|
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I07-Surface & interface diffraction
I11-High Resolution Powder Diffraction
|
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[24359, 23666]
Open Access
Abstract: Membranes with high selectivity offer an attractive route to molecular separations, where technologies such as distillation and chromatography are energy intensive. However, it remains challenging to fine tune the structure and porosity in membranes, particularly to separate molecules of similar size. Here, we report a process for producing composite membranes that comprise crystalline porous organic cage films fabricated by interfacial synthesis on a polyacrylonitrile support. These membranes exhibit ultrafast solvent permeance and high rejection of organic dyes with molecular weights over 600 g mol−1. The crystalline cage film is dynamic, and its pore aperture can be switched in methanol to generate larger pores that provide increased methanol permeance and higher molecular weight cut-offs (1,400 g mol−1). By varying the water/methanol ratio, the film can be switched between two phases that have different selectivities, such that a single, ‘smart’ crystalline membrane can perform graded molecular sieving. We exemplify this by separating three organic dyes in a single-stage, single-membrane process.
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Jan 2022
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I07-Surface & interface diffraction
|
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[18570]
Open Access
Abstract: Planar organic heterostructures are widely explored and employed in photovoltaic cells, light-emitting diodes, and bilayer field-effect transistors. An important role for device performance plays the energy level alignment at the inorganic–organic and organic–organic interfaces. In this work, incremental ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy measurements and real-time X-ray scattering experiments are used to thoroughly investigate the thickness-dependent electronic and structural properties of a perfluoropentacene (PFP)-on-[6]phenacene heterostructure. For both materials an incremental increase of the material work function (positive interface dipole) is found. For [6]phenacene, this can be assigned to a thickness-dependent change of molecular arrangement evident from a change of the unit cell volume and a consequential alteration of the ionization energy. In the case of PFP the interface dipole stems from charge transfer from the substrate into unoccupied molecular orbitals resulting in an electrostatic potential on the surface. The magnitude of this potential can be correlated with an increased gap state density resulting from templated structural defects mediated by the bottom layer.
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Dec 2021
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I07-Surface & interface diffraction
|
Bin
Yang
,
Marina
Lledos
,
Riaz
Akhtar
,
Giuseppe
Ciccone
,
Long
Jiang
,
Emanuele
Russo
,
Sunil
Rajput
,
Chunyu
Jin
,
Maria
Angelerou
,
Thomas
Arnold
,
Jonathan
Rawle
,
Massimo
Vassalli
,
Maria
Marlow
,
Dave J.
Adams
,
Mischa
Zelzer
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[16246]
Open Access
Abstract: Controlling supramolecular self-assembly across multiple length scales to prepare gels with localised properties is challenging. Most strategies concentrate on fabricating gels with heterogeneous components, where localised properties are generated by the stimuli-responsive component. Here, as an alternative approach, we use a spiropyran-modified surface that can be patterned with light. We show that light-induced differences in surface chemistry can direct the bulk assembly of a low molecular weight gelator, 2-NapAV, meaning that mechanical gel properties can be controlled by the surface on which the gel is grown. Using grazing incidence X-ray diffraction and grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering, we demonstrate that the origin of the different gel properties relates to differences in the architectures of the gels. This provides a new method to prepare a single domain (i.e., chemically homogeneous) hydrogel with locally controlled (i.e., mechanically heterogeneous) properties.
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Oct 2021
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I07-Surface & interface diffraction
|
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[24392]
Abstract: Understanding the nanostructure and nanomechanical properties of surface layers of erucamide, in particular the molecular orientation of the outermost layer, is important to its widespread use as a slip additive in polymer materials. Extending our recent observations of nanomorphologies of erucamide layers on a hydrophilic silica substrate, here we evaluate its nanostructure on a more hydrophobic polypropylene surface. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging revealed the molecular packing, thickness, and surface coverage of the erucamide layers, while peak force quantitative nanomechanical mapping (QNM) showed that erucamide reduced the adhesive response on polypropylene. Synchrotron X-ray reflectivity (XRR) was used to probe the out-of-plane structure of the surface layers. Static contact angle measurements further corroborated on the resulting wettability, also demonstrating the efficacy of erucamide physisorption in facilitating control over polypropylene surface wetting. The results show the formation of erucamide monolayers, bilayers and multilayers, depending on the concentration in the spin-cast solution. Correlation of AFM, XRR and wettability results consistently points to the molecular orientation in the outermost layer, i.e. with the erucamide tails pointing outward for the surface nanostructures with different morphologies (i.e., bilayers and multilayers). Rare occurrence of monolayers with exposed hydrophilic head groups were observed only at the lowest erucamide concentration. Compared with our previous observations on the hydrophilic surface, the erucamide surface coverage was much higher on the more hydrophobic propylene surface at similar erucamide concentrations in the spin-cast solution. Furthermore, the structure, molecular orientation and nanomechanical properties of the spin-cast erucamide multilayers atop polypropylene were also similar to those on industrially relevant polypropylene fibers coated with erucamide via blooming. These findings shed light on the nanostructural features of the erucamide surface layer underpinning its nanomechanical properties, relevant to many applications in which erucamide is commonly used as a slip additive.
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May 2021
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I07-Surface & interface diffraction
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[19763]
Open Access
Abstract: A novel neutron and X-ray reflectometry sample environment is presented for the study of surface-active molecules at solid–liquid interfaces under shear. Neutron reflectometry was successfully used to characterise the iron oxide–dodecane interface at a shear rate of 7.0×102
7.0
×
10
2
s−1
s
−
1
using a combination of conventional reflectometry theory coupled with the summation of reflected intensities to describe reflectivity from thicker films. Additionally, the structure adopted by glycerol monooleate (GMO), an Organic Friction Modifier, when adsorbed at the iron oxide–dodecane interface at a shear rate of 7.0×102
7.0
×
10
2
s−1
s
−
1
was studied. It was found that GMO forms a surface layer that appears unaltered by the effect of shear, where the thickness of the GMO layer was found to be 24.3+9.9−10.2
24.3
−
10.2
+
9.9
Å under direct shear at 7.0×102
7.0
×
10
2
s−1
s
−
1
and 25.8+4.4−5.2
25.8
−
5.2
+
4.4
Å when not directly under shear. Finally, a model to analyse X-ray reflectometry data collected with the sample environment is also described and applied to data collected at 3.0×103
3.0
×
10
3
s−1
s
−
1
.
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May 2021
|
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I07-Surface & interface diffraction
|
Kejun
Liu
,
Jiang
Li
,
Haoyuan
Qi
,
Mike
Hambsch
,
Jonathan
Rawle
,
Adrián Romaní
Vázquez
,
Ali Shaygan
Nia
,
Alexej
Pashkin
,
Harald
Schneider
,
Mirosllav
Polozij
,
Thomas
Heine
,
Manfred
Helm
,
Stefan C. B.
Mannsfeld
,
Ute
Kaiser
,
Renhao
Dong
,
Xinliang
Feng
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[25070]
Open Access
Abstract: Two‐dimensional polymers (2DPs) are a class of atomically/molecularly thin crystalline organic 2D materials. They are intriguing candidates for the development of unprecedented organic‐inorganic 2D van der Waals heterostructures (vdWHs) with exotic physicochemical properties. In this work, we demonstrate the on‐water surface synthesis of large‐area (cm 2 ), monolayer 2D polyimide (2DPI) with 3.1‐nm lattice. Such 2DPI comprises metal‐free porphyrin and perylene units linked by imide bonds. We further achieve a scalable synthesis of 2DPI‐graphene (2DPI‐G) vdWHs via a face‐to‐face co‐assembly of graphene and 2DPI on the water surface. Remarkably, femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy reveals an ultra‐fast interlayer charge transfer (~60 fs) in the resultant 2DPI‐G vdWH upon protonation by acid, which is equivalent to that of the fastest reports among inorganic 2D vdWHs. Such large interlayer electronic coupling is ascribed to the interlayer cation‐π interaction between 2DP and graphene. Our work opens opportunities to develop 2DP‐based vdWHs via the on‐water surface synthesis strategy and highlights the unique interface‐induced optoelectronic properties.
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Apr 2021
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I07-Surface & interface diffraction
|
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[14937]
Open Access
Abstract: In this study in situ wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) has been measured during the spin coating process used to make the precursor films required for the formation of thin films of perovskite. A customized hollow axis spin coater was developed to permit the scattered X-rays to be collected in transmission geometry during the deposition process. Spin coating is the technique most commonly used in laboratories to make thin perovskite films. The dynamics of spin casting MAPbI3-xClx and FAPbI3-xClx films have been investigated and compared to investigate the differences between the dynamics of MAPbI3-xClx and FAPbI3-xClx film formation. In particular we focus on the crystallization dynamics of the precursor film formation. When casting MAPbI3-xClx we observed relatively fast 1D crystallization of the intermediate product MA2PbI3Cl. There was an absence of the desired perovskite phase formed directly; it only appeared after an annealing step which converted the MA2PbI3Cl to MAPbI3. In contrast, slower crystallization via a 3D precursor was observed for FAPbI3-xClx film formation compared to MAPbI3-xClx. Another important finding was that some FAPbI3-xClx perovskite was generated directly during spin casting before annealing. These findings indicate that there are significant differences between the crystallization pathways for these two perovskite materials. These are likely to explain the differences in the lifetime of the resulting perovskite solar cell devices produced using FA and MA cations.
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Jun 2020
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I07-Surface & interface diffraction
|
H.
Nakamura
,
A.
Mohammed
,
Ph.
Rosenzweig
,
K.
Matsuda
,
K.
Nowakowski
,
K.
Küster
,
P.
Wochner
,
S.
Ibrahimkutty
,
U.
Wedig
,
H.
Hussain
,
J.
Rawle
,
C.
Nicklin
,
B.
Stuhlhofer
,
G.
Cristiani
,
G.
Logvenov
,
H.
Takagi
,
U.
Starke
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[18887]
Open Access
Abstract: We present the electronic and structural properties of monolayer
WSe
2
grown by pulsed-laser deposition on monolayer graphene (MLG) on SiC. The spin splitting in the
WSe
2
valence band at
¯¯¯
K
was
Δ
SO
=
0.469
±
0.008
eV, as determined by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Synchrotron-based grazing-incidence in-plane x-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed the in-plane lattice constant of monolayer
WSe
2
to be
a
WSe
2
=
3.2757
±
0.0008
Å. This indicates a lattice compression of
−
0.19
% relative to bulk
WSe
2
. By using the experimentally determined graphene lattice constant (
a
MLG
=
2.4575
±
0.0007
Å), we found that a
3
×
3
unit cell of the slightly compressed
WSe
2
is perfectly commensurate with a
4
×
4
graphene lattice with a mismatch below 0.03%, which could explain why the monolayer
WSe
2
is compressed on MLG. From XRD and first-principles calculations, we conclude that the observed size of strain will affect
Δ
SO
only on the order of a few meV. In addition, angle-resolved, ultraviolet, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopies shed light on the band alignment between
WSe
2
and MLG/SiC and indicate electron transfer from graphene to the
WSe
2
monolayer. As further revealed by atomic force microscopy, the
WSe
2
island size depends on the number of carbon layers on top of the SiC substrate. This suggests that the epitaxy of
WSe
2
favors the weak van der Waals interactions with graphene, while it is perturbed by the influence of the SiC substrate and its carbon buffer layer.
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Apr 2020
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