The aim of this thesis was to obtain a better understanding of the association between surfactants and biopolymers in bulk solutions and at solid/aqueous liquid interface. In order to do this, the interactions between surfactants and biopolymers were investigated with a variety of experimental techniques. The main focus has been on the interactions between fluorosurfactants and proteins, which are important during electrophoresis of proteins in silica capillaries. Electrophoretic separation of positively charged proteins is often complicated by non-specific adsorption of protein onto capillary wall, while it was found to improve when cationic fluorosurfactants were added into the background buffer. We investigated the interactions between a cationic fluorosurfactant, FC134, and a positively charged protein, lysozyme. By employing Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and tensiometry we could conclude that the cationic fluorosurfactant did not associate with positively charged lysozyme in bulk solutions. At the solid/aqueous liquid interface, the adsorption of fluorosurfactants and lysozyme onto silica was studied by the surface force technique (MASIF), ellipsometry, reflectrometry, Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM-D) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Cationic fluorosurfactant FC134 was found to adsorb onto the silica surface in a form of bilayer aggregates, which led to a charge reversal of the originally negatively charged substrate. The adsorption of lysozyme onto silica was also extensive and it corresponded to the more than monolayer coverage. When adsorbing from mixed solutions, the presence of the cationic fluorosurfactant in the solution led to an elimination of the lysozyme in the resulting adsorbed layer. For the lysozyme concentration of 0.2 mg/ml, which is typical for the electrophoretic separation, it was found that adsorption of protein was suppressed by more than 90% when only 30 μM of FC134 was added into the buffer. The presence of the low amounts of residual proteins in the adsorbed layers caused an enhancement of the adsorption of fluorosurfactants, which was attributed to adsorption of the fluorosurfactants between proteins in a form of large vesicles. The interactions between a positively charged biopolymer chitosan and an anionic surfactant sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) were studied with respect to the effect of the ionic strength of the background electrolyte, both in the bulk solution and at the silica/liquid interface. It was shown that SDS and chitosan form complexes in the bulk solution, which reverse their charge at higher SDS concentrations. At SDS concentrations above the critical micellar concentration, large aggregates were formed, which were trapped in long-lived nonequilibrium states at both high and low ionic strengths. SDS did not adsorb at the silica/liquid interface by itself. However, by employing QCM-D and ellipsometry we detected an extensive adsorption of SDS on the silica substrate, which has been modified by adsorbed chitosan. The structure of the chitosan layer on the lowly charged silica was strongly affected by the ionic strength of the solution from which the chitosan adsorption took place. The interactions between SDS and the pre-adsorbed chitosan were found to be similar on lowly charged silica and on highly charged mica. A novel method based on the Bruggeman effective medium approximation was proposed for the evaluation of ellipsometric data characterizing composite adsorbed layers. Finally, the effect of the adsorbed layer surface roughness on the QCM-D response in liquid was studied with focus on trapped water. It was found that QCM-D effectively senses water, which is mechanically trapped inside topographical structures with the size in nano-meter scale. / QC 20100809

his thesis has been devoted to the study of underlying mechanisms for electron transport in molecular electronic devices. Not only has focus been on describing the elastic and inelastic electron transport processes with a Green's function based scattering theory approach, but also on how to construct computational models that are relevant to experimental systems. The thesis is essentially divided into two parts. While the rst part covers basic assumptions and the elastic transport properties, the second part covers the inelastic transport properties and its applications. It is discussed how di erent experimental approaches may give rise to di erent junction widths and thereby di erences in coupling strength between the bridging molecules and the contacts. This di erence in coupling strength is then directly related to the magnitude of the current that passes through the molecule and may thus explain observed di erences between di erent experiments. Another focus is the role of intermolecular interactions on the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics, where water molecules interacting with functional groups in a set of conjugated molecules are considered. This is interesting from several aspects; many experiments are performed under ambient conditions, which means that water molecules will be present and may interfere with the experiment. Another point is that many measurement are done on self-assembled monolayers, which raises the question of how such a measurement relates to that of a single molecule. By looking at the perturbations caused by the water molecules, one may get an understanding of what impact a neighboring molecule may have. The theoretical predictions show that intermolecular e ects may play a crucial role and is related to the functional groups, which has to be taken into consideration when looking at experimental data. In the second part, the inelastic contribution to the total current is shown to be quite small and its real importance lies in probing the device geometry. Several molecules are studied for which experimental data is available for comparison. It is demonstrated that the IETS is very sensitive to the molecular conformation, contact geometry and junction width. It is also found that some of the spectral features that appear in experiment cannot be attributed to the molecular device, but to the background contributions, which shows how theory may be used to complement experiment. This part concludes with a study of the temperature dependence of the inelastic transport. This is very important not only from a theoretical point of view, but also for the experiments since it gives experimentalists a sense of which temperature ranges they can operate for measuring IETS. / QC 20100804. Ändrat titeln från: "Understanding Electron Transport Properties in Molecular Devices" 20100804.

Syftet med detta arbete har varit att försöka hitta alternativ till det kadmiumbase¬rade röda pigment som används idag. Detta har gjorts genom att delvis under¬söka kombinationer av grundämnen som i litteraturen finns omnämnda som röda glaspigment, delvis genom att försöka förbättra och underlätta produktionen av redan kända, men problematiska pigment. Det har konstaterats att det går att framställa ett rött glas när man smälter soda¬kalkglas med en kombination av molybden och selen, under reducerande beting¬elser. Rött glas med denna kombination har inte rapporterats tidigare. Pigmentet är känsligt för vilken glassammansättning man använder och flera vanliga glas¬komponenter måste undvikas. För att utvärdera färgen hos glasen användes UV/vis-spektroskopi och färgkoordinater i CIE-systemet. Både ESCA- och XANES-analyser visar att molybden finns i glaset som Mo6+joner. Färgen upp¬kommer troligtvis genom en interaktion mellan molybdenjonerna och selen i reducerad form. UV/Vis- och XANES spektra visar att selen finns i glaset i redu¬cerad form. Färgutvecklingen hos kopparrubinglas studerades med UV/vis-spektroskopi. Detta pigment behöver värmebehandlas för att färgen skall bildas. När låga vär¬mebehandlingstemperaturer och låga halter av de färgande komponenterna an¬vänds, är pigmentet stabilt under lång tid. Experimentella resultat från EXAFS- och TEM-analyser visar tydligt att färgkällan är metalliska kopparpartiklar i na¬nostorlek. Inverkan av olika reduktionsmedel på guld- och kopparrubinpigmenten har un¬dersökts. Det konstaterades att SnO är mer reducerande gentemot koppar än Sb2O3 i sodakalkglas. Kopparrubinglas kan framställas med bara endera av dessa reduktionsmedel, men SnO ger bättre resultat. Skift i absorbanstoppens läge och provets färg har observerats hos både guld- och kopparrubiner. Det största skiftet finns hos glas där en blåaktig ton erhållits. Skiftet beror troligtvis på att större partik¬lar bildats. Möjligheterna att kombinera röd färg med halvtransparenta alabasterglas har undersökts. Det konstaterades dock att alabastereffekten inte går att kombinera med pigment som kräver starkt reducerande miljöer. Både guld- och kopparrubiner är miljövänligare än det kadmiumbaserade pig¬mentet, och måste anses som möjliga alternativ. Mo/Se-pigmentet kan också vara ett alternativ. / The aim of this thesis has been to find alternatives in the alkali silicate glass system to the most commonly used red glass pigment today, which is based on Cd(S, Se). The overall strategy has been to facilitate the use of already existing, well known but complicated and control-demanding pigments. Also the possi¬bilities to obtain red glass by combining elements as briefly reported in litera¬ture as possible red glass pigments, has been investigated. It has been found that by combining molybdenum and selenium in alkali-lime-silica glass under reducing conditions, a red pigment can be obtained. Red glass originating from this combination has not been reported earlier. The pigment is sensitive to batch composition and some glass components must be avoided. UV/vis spec¬troscopy and CIE colour coordinates were used when colour of samples was evaluated. Both ESCA and XANES give evidence that molybde¬num is present as Mo6+ ions. The colour is caused by an interaction between the molybdenum ions and selenium under reducing conditions. The presence of se¬lenium in a reduced state is evidenced by UV/vis spectroscopy and XANES analysis. The colour development in copper ruby glasses was studied by UV/vis spectros¬copy. It was observed that when low concentrations of colouring components were used, the pigment is stable regarding colour over long periods of time. Ex¬peri¬mental results from TEM and EXAFS provided good evidence that the col¬our origi¬nates from nanoparticles of metallic copper. This is in analogy with the gold ruby pigment. The impact of different reducing agents on the copper and gold ruby pigments was examined. It was concluded that SnO has a stronger reducing capacity to¬wards copper than Sb2O3 in alkali silicate glasses. The copper ruby colour can be obtained by the use of one of these reducing agents solely. Shifts in absorbance peak position as well as in colour hues are observed in both pigments and the largest shifts in absorption are observed in blue or bluish glasses, probably caused by larger particles. The possibility to combine red colour and semi-transparent alabaster glasses was studied. The studies however, indicated that the alabaster effect is not compati¬ble with pigments requiring strongly reducing conditions. Both gold and copper rubies are more environmentally friendly than the cad¬mium based Cd(S, Se) pigment, and must be regarded as possible alternatives. The Mo/Se pigment can also be an alternative. / QC 20100820

This thesis concerns the study of D–π–A type dyes as sensitizers for NiO-based p-type dye-sensitized solar cells. The focus has been on the design and synthesis of efficient dyes and the identification of parameters limiting the solar cell performance. We have developed a new design strategy for the dyes: upon photoexcitation of the dye, the electron density is moving from the part that is attached to the semiconductor towards the part which is pointing away. This intramolecular charge transfer provides an efficient pathway for the following charge transfer processes. The first organic dye, composed of a triphenylamine (TPA) moiety as the electron-donor, dicyanovinyl groups as the electron-acceptors and linked by thiophene units, showed much better photovoltaic performance than other dyes reported at the same time, turning it into a model for future dye design. A series of dyes with different energy levels were synthesized and characterized on NiO-based devices using iodide/triiodide as redox couple. Lower photovoltaic performance was obtained for the dye with less negative reduction potential due to the insufficient driving force for dye regeneration. We have investigated the symmetric and unsymmetric structures of the dyes. The breaking of molecular symmetry did not significantly broaden the absorption spectrum, or improve the efficiency. In addition, we have tuned the molecular structure to prevent charge recombination. Increasing the distance between the anchoring group and the electron-acceptor was an effective way to improve the device efficiency. Besides TPA-based compounds, a zinc porphyrin dye was also synthesized and tested in p-type solar cells. However, the solar cell performed less well due to its narrow absorption band and the tendency for aggregation. Co-sensitization of the TPA-based dye with the porphyrin dye did not result in higher photovoltaic performance. After optimization of the dye structure, the highest overall conversion efficiency was achieved for the P5-sensitized solar cell, based on 1.5 μm NiO film prepared from NiCl2 and the F108 template precursor, and an acetonitrile-based electrolyte. / QC 20100909

The self-interaction error (SIE) in density functional theory (DFT) appears from the fact that the residual self-interaction in the Coulomb part and that in the exchange part do not cancel each other exactly. This error is responsible for the unphysical orbital energies of DFT and the failure to reproduce the potential energy curves of several physical processes. The present thesis addresses several methods to solve the problem of SIE in DFT. A new algorithm is presented which is based on the Perdew-Zunger (PZ) energy correction and which includes the self-interaction correction (SIC) self-consistently (SC SIC PZ). When applied to the study of hydrogen abstraction reactions, for which conventional DFT can not describe the processes properly, SC PZ SIC DFT produces reasonable potential energy curves along the reaction coordinate and reasonable transition barriers. A semi-empirical SIC method is designed to correct the orbital energies. It is found that a potential coupling term is generally nonzero for all available approximate functionals. This coupling term also contributes to the self-interaction error. In this scheme, the potential coupling term is multiplied by an empirical parameter , introduced to indicate the strength of the potential coupling, and used to correct the PZ SIC DFT. Through a fitting scheme, we find that a unique can be used for C, N, O core orbitals in different molecules. Therefore this method is now used to correct the core orbital energies and relevant properties. This method is both efficient and accurate in predicting core ionization energies. A new approach has been designed to solve the problem of SIE. A functional is constructed based on electron-electron interactions, Coulomb and exchange-correlation parts, which are free of SIE. A post-SCF procedure for this method has been implemented. The orbital energies thus obtained are of higher quality than in conventional DFT. For a molecular system, the orbital energy of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) is comparable to the experimental first ionization potential energy. / QC 20100915

This thesis presents a theoretical study of the role of nuclear degrees of freedom in the x-ray absorption, x-ray resonant scattering  and some aspects of the interaction of matter with strong laser fields. Most numerical simulations are performed with a time-dependent wave-packet program that have proved its robustness  in previous investigations. The relevant experimental results are also presented for comparison when available. The first problem considered in the thesis is the possibility of obtaining x-ray absorption spectra with resolution beyond the natural lifetime broadening of the core-excited electronic states. It is shown that the method of measuring x-ray absorptionin the resonant scattering mode suggested earlier for that purpose exhibits severe limitations originating from the lifetime vibrational interference between the intermediate core-excited vibrational levels. However, a broad class of molecules is found for which spectra with super-high resolution can indeed be obtained. These molecules have parallel potential energy surfaces of the core-excited and final states for the x-ray scattering process. The interpretations of two interesting cases of x-ray absorption and Auger scattering follow. The first one is related to scattering through a doubly excited Π state in the CO molecule. A Doppler split feature near 299.4 eV and strong scattering anisotropy are  observed. Both features are well explained and reproduced by the theory. Next, theelectron-vibrational fine structure of the <img src="http://www.diva-portal.org/cgi-bin/mimetex.cgi?O1s%5Crightarrow%5Csigma%5E%7B*%7D" /> excitation for O2 is investigated by means of different models. We are able to single out the electronic states and interpotential crossing points responsible for the peculiar absorption profile. Based on these findings we explain and reproduce the x-ray Auger scattering spectra through the same excitation. Here we encounter a rather unusual situation in which the Auger spectra are affected by three types of the interference: Apart from the lifetime vibrational interference, a strong interference between two intermediate electronic states and an interference with the direct-scattering amplitude is also present. The process of intramolecular vibrational redistribution (IVR) is investigated in the context of formation of amplified spontaneous emissions (ASE) inside laser-pumped gain media. IVR raises to a higher energy region the threshold pump intensity after which blue-shifted ASE is observed. Finally, we suggest a new scheme of x-ray pump-probe spectroscopy based on the core-hole hopping in N2 induced by an infrared laser field. We investigate the result from the core-hole hoping on the vibrational structure of the x-ray absorption profile. Furthermore, by populating core-excited states with opposite parities, the laser field opens up symmetry forbidden resonant inelastic scattering channels, which can give new insights about the electronic structure of matter. / QC 20100917

This Thesis presents studies of phase transitions ocurring in porous media. The investigated phase transitions include melting/crystallization, surface pre-melting and liquid-liquid phase separation of binary mixtures. A combination of NMR techniques, already existing and newly developed and ranging from cryoporometry to elaborate self-diffusion and spin-relaxation experiments, was applied in order to detect and quantify the effect of finite size constraints on those phase transitions. By relating the results to physico-chemical models, the difference in behaviour with respect to that of bulk was exploited and related to pore morphology and surface properties in diverse porous systems. NMR cryoporometry is based on the detection of the melting/freezing temperature shifts with respect to those in the bulk state to obtain mean pore size and pore size distribution. We extended the size range in which this can be done in porous matrices of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic nature to a 1 μm-600 nm upper limit. This was achieved by introducing two new probe liquids namely octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (OMCTS) and zinc nitrate hexahydrate Zn(NO)3•H2O. The thickness of the pre-molten surface layer that appears at the interface of frozen octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (OMCTS) to the matrix in controlled porous glasses was quantified and modeled including its temperature and wall-curvature dependence. The results reveal that the layer thickness depends logarithmically on the deviation from the pore melting point, while for the largest pore investigated this turns into a power law with the exponent of –1/2. Diverse NMR techniques were used not only to detect solely the surface layer and the evolution of the surface melting, but also to distinguish the latter from the volume melting transition within the pores. The morphologies of two nanostructured materials, sintered films of TiO2 nanoparticles and a mesoporous foam obtained by surfactant-templated synthesis, were investigated. These two porous matrices have very different structures but fall into the size range accessible by NMR cryopormetry and their characterization plays an important role in their future applications. They were studied by exploiting the difference between melting and freezing temperature shifts ΔTm and ΔTf, respectively, with respect to that of bulk. NMR cryoporometry was shown to be a suitable alternative and an excellent complement to other porosimetry techniques, namely mercury intrusion and gas sorption porosimetries to analyze the pore structure and pore size distribution because of the unique and model-independent access to information about pore shape. By combining NMR cryoporometry with NMR diffusion experiments holds great potential for accessing information about pore interconnectivity. By diverse NMR techniques we provided experimental evidence that corroborate that liquid-liquid phase separation of a binary mixture imbibed in porous media actually occurs within the individual pores. The size distribution of the phase-separated domains was measured. / QC 20100927

Protein microarray technology has an enormous potential for in vitro diagnostics (IVD)1. Miniaturized and parallelized immunoassays are powerful tools to measure dozens of parameters from minute amounts of sample, whilst only requiring small amounts of reagent. Protein microarrays have become well-established research tools in basic and applied research and the first diagnostic products are already released on the market. However, in order for protein microarrays to become broadly accepted tools in IVD, a number of criteria have to be fulfilled concerning robustness and automation. Robustness and automation are key demands to improve assay performance and reliability of multiplexed assays, and to minimize the time of analysis. These key demands are addressed in this thesis and novel methods and techniques concerning assay automation, array fabrication as well as performance and detection strategies related to protein microarrays are presented and discussed. In the first paper an automated assay format, based on planar protein microarrays is described and evaluated by the detection of several auto-antibodies from human serum and by quantification of matrix metalloproteases present in plasma. Diffusion-rate limited solid phase reactions were enhanced by microagitation, using the surface acoustic wave technology, resulting in a slightly increased signal-to-noise ratio. In the second paper of the thesis, a novel multiplexed immunoassay system was developed by combining a direct immunoassay with a competitive system. This set-up allows quantification of analytes present in widely varying concentrations within a single multiplex assay. In the third paper, a new concept for sample deposition is introduced, addressing contemporary problems of contact or non-contact microarrayers in protein microarray fabrication. In the fourth paper, a magnetic bead-based detection method for protein microarrays is described as a cost-effective alternative approach to the commonly used fluorescence-based confocal scanning systems. The magnetic bead-based detection could easily be performed by using an ordinary flatbed scanner. In addition, applying magnetic force to the magnetic bead-based detection approach enables to run the detection step more rapidly. Finally, in paper five, a microfluidic bead-based immunoassay for multiplexed detection of receptor tyrosine kinases in breast cancer tissue is presented. Since the assay is performed inside a capillary, the amounts of sample and reagent material could be reduced by a factor of 30 or more when compared with the current standard protein microarray assay. / QC 20101112

This thesis work brings fresh insights and improved understanding of nanoscale materials through introducing new hybrid composites, 2D hexagonal in MCM-41 and 3D random interconnected structures of different materials, and application relevance for developing fields of science, such as fuel cells and solar cells.New types of porous materials and organometallic crystals have been prepared and characterized in detail. The porous materials have been used in several studies: as hosts to encapsulate metal-organic complexes; as catalyst supports and electrode materials in devices for alternative energy production. The utility of the new porous materials arises from their unique structural and surface chemical characteristics as demonstrated here using various experimental and theoretical approaches.New single crystal structures and arene-ligand exchange properties of f-block elements coordinated to ligand arene and halogallates are described in Paper I. These compounds have been incorporated into ordered 2D-hexagonal MCM-41 and polyhedral silica nanofoam (PNF-SiO2) matrices without significant change to the original porous architectures as described in Paper II and III. The resulting inorganic/organic hybrids exhibited enhanced luminescence activity relative to the pure crystalline complexes.A series of novel polyhedral carbon nanofoams (PNF-C´s) and inverse foams were prepared by nanocasting from PNF-SiO2’s. These are discussed in Paper IV. The synthesis conditions of PNF-C’s were systematically varied as a function of the filling ratio of carbon precursor and their structures compared using various characterization methods. The carbonaceous porous materials were further tested in Paper V and VI as possible catalysts and catalyst supports in counter- and working electrodes for solar- and fuel cell applications. / QC 20101207

This thesis deals with the influence of molecular adhesion on paper strength. By combining the use of high-resolution techniques and silica/cellulose surfaces, with various fibre–fibre and sheet testing techniques, new information regarding the molecular mechanisms responsible for paper strength has been obtained. Large parts of this research were devoted to the polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) technique, i.e. a charged surface is consecutively treated with oppositely charged polyelectrolytes. Application of PEMs incorporating polyallylamine hydrochloride (PAH) and polyacrylic acid (PAA) onto dried, fully bleached softwood fibres, prior to sheet preparation, increased tensile strength. No linear relationship was detected between the amounts of PAH and PAA adsorbed onto the fibres and the developed tensile strength, which suggests that the adsorbed amount is not the only important factor determining the tensile strength. Closer examination of PEM formation on silica indicated that both exponential PEM film growth and the occurrence of a PEM film in which the polyelectrolytes are highly mobile, favour the strength-enhancing properties of sheets containing PEM-treated fibres. This indicates that a water-rich, soft PEM film allows the polyelectrolytes to diffuse into each other, creating a stronger fibre–fibre joint during consolidation, pressing, and drying of the paper. In addition, when PAH capped the PEM film, the paper strength was higher than when PAA capped the film; this could be related to the structure of the adsorbed layer. Further analysis of the sheets revealed that the increase in tensile strength can also be linked to an increase in the degree of contact within a fibre–fibre joint, the number of efficient joints, and the formation of covalent bonds. The relative bonded area (RBA) in the sheets, as determined using light-scattering measurements, indicated no significant change until a certain tensile strength was obtained. The RBA, as determined using nitrogen adsorption via BET analysis, did show significant changes over the whole investigated tensile strength range. From this it can be concluded that light scattering cannot give any direct information regarding molecular interactions within a sheet. Furthermore, it was shown that PEMs involving cationic and anionic starch display an almost linear relationship with out-of-plane strength properties regarding the amount of starch in the sheets, whereas the tensile strength was more dependent on the physical properties of the starch, as was the case with PAH and PAA. Cationic dextran (DEX) and hydrophobically modified cationic dextran (HDEX) were used to test the importance of having compatible surface layers in order to obtain strong adhesive joints. DEX and HDEX phase separated in solution, however, this incompatibility of HDEX:DEX mixtures was not reflected in wet or dry joint strength. For both wet and dry measurements, adhesion between DEX and HDEX coated surfaces was intermediate to the adhesion of DEX:DEX and HDEX:HDEX surfaces. In addition, various types of cellulose surfaces, different regarding their crystallinity, were investigated. Depending on the preparation techniques and solution conditions used, i.e. pH and salt concentration, steric, electrostatic, and van der Waals interactions were obtained between the surfaces in aqueous solutions. The adhesion forces between polydimethylsiloxane and cellulose surfaces, measured under ambient conditions, were influenced by the degree of crystallinity. This suggests that amorphous cellulose offers more possibilities for surface groups to arrange themselves to participate in molecular interactions in the joint. Higher relative humidity could increase this adhesion force further, water probably acting as a plasticizer during joint formation. / QC 20110125