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<p>Electropolishing is a commonly used method of mitigating surface roughness and yielding a polished appearance. One of the first described and most studied of electropolishing systems is the anodization of copper in phosphoric acid. Under normal conditions this reduces copper surface roughness substantially; however deviating from optimal electropolishing conditions can promote the development of semi-ordered surface roughness. Anodizing copper substrates in 98-100% H₃PO₄ solutions generated feature heights ranging from 0.5 - 2µm and surface area increases in excess of 30% were obtained. The samples demonstrated a macroscopic optical dullness characteristic of this type of surface roughening. Investigations as to their applicability in surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy and electron field emission were conducted. And while their formation mechanism is still speculated on, it is believed that oxygen evolution and subsequent bubble formation plays a key role. Electrochemical and microscopic imaging techniques were the primary methodologies used to probe the optical dulling phenomenon. With data obtained from experiments utilizing these techniques and others a qualitative mechanism is proposed.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

Orientador: Antonio Manoel Mansanares / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Fisica Gleb Wataghin / Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-26T13:53:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mesquita_RicksonCoelho_M.pdf: 13672557 bytes, checksum: bbf3df05cb82c513d1c69aa2b28b84da (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / Resumo: O nível de iluminação das plantas é determinante da estrutura das folhas, em particular no tocante à quantidade e distribuição dos cloroplastos. O objetivo deste projeto é utilizar a técnica fotoacústica para demonstrar as diferenças fisiológicas entre plantas adaptadas a diferentes condições de irradiância. Plantas de tabaco foram cultivadas em dois níveis distintos de irradiância. Plantas congenéricas, provenientes de habitats diferentes (cerrado e mata atlântica), crescidas sob o mesmo nível de exposição à luz, também foram estudadas. Como a técnica fotoacústica é sensível ao O2 produzido na fotossíntese, a resposta dos sistemas fotossintéticos das plantas de diferentes condições foi avaliada por meio de medidas fotoacústicas de indução fotossintética. A quantidade de energia armazenada também foi determinada nessas plantas. A partir da contribuição da evolução de O2 para o sinal fotoacústico, obtivemos espectros de ação para as diferentes amostras. Os resultados mostraram que plantas adaptadas a ambientes de sol são menos eficientes em armazenar energia para as reações fotoquímicas. As curvas de indução indicaram que essas plantas demoram um tempo maior para atingir um estado estacionário de produção de O2. Experimentos de fotoinibição mostraram que plantas adaptadas a baixas irradiâncias são mais sensíveis ao excesso de luz saturante. Foi observada uma absorção de O2 após a saturação fotossintética em plantas de tabaco de sol, associada a uma provável competição entre fotossíntese e fotorrespiração. Os espectros de ação, obtidos pela primeira vez a partir de medidas fotoacústicas de produção de O2, mostraram uma boa concordância com a literatura (valores obtidos por outras técnicas) / Abstract: Ilumination level of plants during its growth is determinant for structure of leaves, specially refering to quantity and distribution of chloroplasts. The aim of this project is to use the photoacoustic technique to show physiological differences among plants adapted to different light intensity conditions. Tobacco plants were grown up under two distint irradiance levels. Congeneric plants, coming from different habitats (cerrado and florest), grown up under the same light level, were also studied. Since photoacoustic technique is sensitive to O2 produced by photosynthesis, photosynthetic response of plants from different light conditions were studied through PA measurements of photosynthetic induction. The energy storage was also determined in these plants. From the oxygen component of the photoacoustic signal it was possible to obtain action spectra for all the samples. Results showed that plants adapted to sunlight present lower efficiency in storing energy to photochemical reactions. The induction curves indicated these plants also take a longer time to reach a steady state of O2 production, after remaining a period in the dark. Photoinhibition experiments showed that plants grown up under lower light are more susceptible to excess of saturating light. It was also observed O2 uptake after photoinhibition in plants grown under full sunlight, which was associated to a competition between photosynthesis and photorespiration. The action spectra, obtained for the first time with photoacoustic measurements of O2 production, showed a good agreement with literature / Mestrado / Física da Matéria Condensada / Mestre em Física

<p>The Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) is an endosymbiont of higher plant roots. Most land plants and cultivated crops are concerned to AM symbiosis. This endosymbiosis is based on the mutual exchange of nutrients between plant and fungus. Therefore, AM symbiosis leads to an increased demand for photosynthetic products. The aim of this study was to investigate the pathway used by plants during AM symbiosis to increase photosynthetic performance. Therefore, we have carried out a systematic characterization of photosynthesis in Medicago truncatula (M. truncatula), which is a model legume. We observed colonization by the fungus in roots and that AM symbiosis increases the fresh and dry plant biomass. This could be attributed to an increase in both photosynthetic efficiency and capacity in AM plants. Consistent with these observations, AM symbiosis enhanced phosphorus uptake from the soil into roots, stems and leaves, as based on analyses of phosphorus content. Based on equal chl loading, no differences were found regarding D1, Lhcb1 and Lhcb2 protein content in four plant groups. This indicates similar ratio between chl and PSII proteins. Furthermore, AM symbiosis increases the amount of chlorophyll, steady state oxygen evolution activities, maximum quantum yield (Fv/Fm), and photosynthetic electron transport rate (about 5 fold). Nevertheless, photoprotection was not affected by AM symbiosis. We observed an increase in weight of seed/fruit and weight of seed/plant in AM plants (about 2 fold). Based on these results, we propose that AM symbiosis increases both the efficiency and the capacity of photosynthetic apparatus in the M. truncatula.</p>

The chlorate process is very energy intensive and a major part of the production costs are for electrical energy. Since the electricity prices are constantly increasing and may also vary periodically, the chlorate plants may be forced to adjust their production rate to the price at each moment in order to minimise their costs. Variation of current load requires increased knowledge regarding the electrode behaviour in a wide current range. In this thesis, the aim was to study the impact of the electrolyte on the electrode reactions in order to reduce the energy consumption. The work has mainly been experimental and additionally mathematical modelling has been carried out. A wide current range has been investigated in order to increase the understanding of the phenomena and to obtain results useful for low-load operation during the periods of high electricity cost. To operate the anode as energy efficiently as possible, the anode potential should not exceed the critical potential (Ecr), where the slope of the anodic polarisation curve increases, most likely due to ruthenium(VIII)-formation, and where the side reaction of oxygen evolution increases. In this work, the influence of different electrolyte parameters on Ecr has been studied. It was shown that a higher chloride concentration and an increased temperature lowered Ecr, which was expected to increase the risk of exceeding Ecr. However, this was not observed due to a simultaneous favouring of the chloride oxidation. Hence it was concluded that the electrolyte parameters should be optimised so that the lowest possible anode potential is obtained, which would enable higher current densities without exceeding Ecr. A further conclusion is that the increased slope of the polarisation curve at Ecr was possibly related to the lower activity for chloride oxidation on ruthenium oxidised to ruthenium(VIII). At full-load operation, the cathode potential was shown to be rather independent of the electrolyte composition despite a large variation of electrolyte parameters. The cathode composition appears to be more critical than the electrolyte composition when aiming at reducing the energy consumption. A strategy to increase the cathode activity could be to in situ apply a catalytic film onto the electrode surface. Therefore, Y(III) was added to a chloride electrolyte in order to form a yttrium hydroxide film on the alkaline cathode surface during hydrogen evolution. The yttrium-hydroxide film activated reduction of water (hydrogen evolution) and hindered hypochlorite reduction, proton reduction and nitrate reduction. The inhibiting properties are important for the prevention of side reactions, which currently are avoided by reducing Cr(VI) of the electrolyte on the cathode, producing an inhibiting chromium-hydroxide film. The studies on Y(III) increase the expectations for finding alternatives to the toxic Cr(VI). The addition of chromate to the chlorate electrolyte gives a high cathodic current efficiency and chromate has buffering properties in the electrolyte. The role of the buffer has been investigated for the oxygen evolution from water (one possible anodic side reaction), as well as cathodic hydrogen evolution. Models have been developed for these systems to increase the understanding of the interaction between buffer, electrode reactions and mass transport; the results have been verified experimentally. The chromate buffer increased the limiting current significantly for the cathodic H+ reduction and the cathodic overpotential was reduced drastically at currents lower than the limited current. A too low overpotential could result in the cathodic protection being lost. The presence of chromate buffer increased the limiting current for the oxygen evolution from OH-. The modelling of these systems revealed that the homogeneous reactions connected to the electrode reactions were not in equilibrium at the electrode surface. Further, a good resolution of the interface at the electrode surface was crucial since the, for the electrode reactions, important buffering takes place in an nm-thick reaction layer. / Framställning av klorat är mycket energiintensiv och kräver stora mängder elenergi. Stigande elpriser, som dessutom ofta varierar under dygnet eller säsongsvis, gör att man vill reducera onödiga förluster samt ibland försöka anpassa produktionen så att man när elpriset är högt minskar den, för att sedan öka produktionen igen då elpriset sjunker. Denna flexibla drift kräver ny kunskap om hur elektroderna beter sig i ett större strömintervall än vad som tidigare varit av intresse. Målet med detta arbete var att, med fokus på elektrolytens betydelse, identifiera möjliga förbättringar för kloratprocessen och därmed minska energiförbrukningen. Studierna har i huvudsak varit experimentella men även matematisk modellering har använts. Ett brett strömintervall har undersökts för att bättre förstå fenomenen och för att även kunna använda resultaten då höga elpriser gör att man vill köra processen vid lägre laster än normalt. För att driften av anoden ska vara så energieffektiv som möjligt bör anodpotentialen inte överskrida den kritiska potentialen (Ecr), där den anodiska polarisationskurvan får en högre lutning (troligtvis pga Ru(VIII)-bildning) och bireaktionen syrgasutveckling ökar. I detta arbete har påverkan av olika elektrolytparametrar på Ecr undersökts. Det visade sig att en ökad kloridkoncentration och ökad temperatur sänkte Ecr. Trots att detta borde göra att Ecr lättare överskrids, blev inte detta fallet eftersom kloridoxidationen samtidigt gynnades. Slutsatsen blir därför att elektrolytparametrarna bör optimeras så att lägsta möjliga anodpotential uppnås, vilket då även gör att strömtätheten kan ökas utan att Ecr överskrids. Slutsatsen är vidare att polarisationskurvans högre lutning vid Ecr kan ha att göra med att rutenium oxiderat till rutenium(VIII) har lägre aktivitet för kloridoxidation. Vid full last visade sig katodens potential vara relativt oberoende av elektrolytsammansättningen trots att denna varierades kraftigt. Katodens sammansättning verkar vara viktigare att ta hänsyn till än elektrolytens för kunna åstadkomma en större energibesparing. Ett alternativ till att öka katodens aktivitet skulle vara att in-situ belägga elektrodytan med en katalytisk film. Försök gjordes att sätta till Y(III) till kloridelektrolyt för att under vätgasutveckling fälla ut en yttriumhydroxidfilm på den alkaliska katodytan. Yttriumhydroxidfilmen aktiverade vattenreduktion (vätgasutveckling) och inhiberade hypokloritreduktion, protonreduktion och nitratreduktion. De inhiberande egenskaperna är viktiga för att förhindra bireaktioner, vilka idag hindras av att Cr(VI) i elektrolyten reduceras på katoden och bildar en hindrande kromhydroxidfilm. Försöken med Y(III) visar att det finns goda möjligheter att hitta alternativ till det miljöfarliga Cr(VI). Kromattillsatsen i kloratelektrolyt ger förutom ett högt katodiskt strömutbyte även en buffrande effekt till elektrolyten. Effekten av buffert har undersökts för en av de anodiska bireaktionerna, syrgasutveckling ur vatten, samt för vätgasutvecklingen på katoden. Dessa system har modellerats för att bättre förstå samspelet mellan buffert, elektrodreaktioner och materietransport och resultaten har verifierats experimentellt. Kromatbufferten ökade gränsströmmen för katodisk H+-reduktion betydligt och katodöverpotentialen sjönk kraftigt vid lägre strömmar än gränsströmmen. Detta kan vara ett problem om överpotentialen sjunker så lågt att elektroden inte är katodiskt skyddad. För syrgasutvecklingen ökade närvaron av kromatbuffert gränsströmmen för syrgasutveckling ur OH-. Modellering av dessa system visar att de homogena reaktioner som var kopplade till elektrodreaktionerna inte var i jämvikt vid elektrodytan. Vidare visade det sig vara mycket viktigt med en bra upplösning av gränsskiktet vid elektrodytan, då den buffring som är viktig för elektrodreaktionerna sker i ett mycket tunt reaktionsskikt (nanometertjockt). / <p>QC 20100901</p>

The oxygen that we breathe and food that we eat are products of the natural photosynthesis. Molecular oxygen is crucial for life on Earth owing to its role in the glycolysis and citric acid pathways that yield in aerobic organisms the energy-rich ATP molecules. Photosynthetic water oxidation, which produces molecular oxygen from water and sunlight, is performed by higher plants, algae and cyanobacteria. Within the molecular structure of a plant cell, photosynthesis is performed by a specific intracellular organelle – the chloroplast. Chloroplasts contain a membrane system, the thylakoid membrane, which comprises lipids, quinones and a very high content of protein complexes. The unique photosynthetic oxidation of water into molecular oxygen, protons and electrons is performed by the Mn4CaO5 cluster in photosystem II (PSII) complex. Understanding the mechanism of water oxidation by Mn4CaO5 cluster is one of the great challenges in science nowadays. When the mechanism of this process is fully understood, artificial photosynthetic systems can be designed that have high efficiencies of solar energy conversion by imitating the fundamental principle of natural system. These systems can be used in future for generation of fuels from sunlight.   In this thesis, the efficiency of water-splitting process in natural photosynthetic preparations was studied by measuring the flash-induced oxygen evolution pattern (FIOP). The overall aim is to achieve a deeper understanding of oxygen evolving mechanism of the Mn4O5Ca cluster via developing a complete kinetic and energetic model of the light-induced redox reactions within PSII complex. On the way to reach this goal, the hydrogen peroxide that is electrochemically generated on surface of Pt-cathode was discovered. The chemical effect of electrochemically produced H2O2 that can interfere in the oxygen evolution pathway or change the observed FIOP data was demonstrated. Therefore, in order to record the clean FIOP data that are further characterized by global fitting program (GFP), H2O2 has to be abolished by catalase addition and by purging the flow buffer of the Joliot-type electrode with nitrogen gas.      After FIOPs free of H2O2-induced effects were achieved, these clean data were then applied to a global fitting approach (GFP) in order to (i) result a comprehensive figure of all S-state decays whose kinetic rates were simultaneously analyzed in a high reliability and consistency, (ii) the dependence of miss parameter on S-state transitions and the oxidation state of tyrosine D (YD) can be tested, (iii) how dependent of all S-state re-combinations (to S1 state) on the various pH/pD values can be also determined in case of using Cyanidioschyzon merolae (C. merolae) thylakoids. Our data support previous suggestions that the S0 → S1 and S1 → S2 transitions involve low or no misses, while high misses occur in the S2 → S3 transition or the S3 → S0 transition. Moreover, the appearance of very slow S2 decay was clearly observed by using the GFP analysis, while there are no evidences of very slow S3 decay were recorded under all circumstances. The unknown electron donor for the very slow S2 decay which can be one of the substances of PSII-protective branch (i.e. cytochrome b559, carotenoid or ChlZ) will be determined in further researches.

abstract: Membrane proteins are a vital part of cellular structure. They are directly involved in many important cellular functions, such as uptake, signaling, respiration, and photosynthesis, among others. Despite their importance, however, less than 500 unique membrane protein structures have been determined to date. This is due to several difficulties with macromolecular crystallography, primarily the difficulty of growing large, well-ordered protein crystals. Since the first proof of concept for femtosecond nanocrystallography showing that diffraction patterns can be collected on extremely small crystals, thus negating the need to grow larger crystals, there have been many exciting advancements in the field. The technique has been proven to show high spatial resolution, thus making it a viable method for structural biology. However, due to the ultrafast nature of the technique, which allows for a lack of radiation damage in imaging, even more interesting experiments are possible, and the first temporal and spatial images of an undamaged structure could be acquired. This concept was denoted as time-resolved femtosecond nanocrystallography. This dissertation presents on the first time-resolved data set of Photosystem II where structural changes can actually be seen without radiation damage. In order to accomplish this, new crystallization techniques had to be developed so that enough crystals could be made for the liquid jet to deliver a fully hydrated stream of crystals to the high-powered X-ray source. These changes are still in the preliminary stages due to the slightly lower resolution data obtained, but they are still a promising show of the power of this new technique. With further optimization of crystal growth methods and quality, injection technique, and continued development of data analysis software, it is only a matter of time before the ability to make movies of molecules in motion from X-ray diffraction snapshots in time exists. The work presented here is the first step in that process. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Biochemistry 2014

No description available.

The anodic films formed on CP-Ti in sulphuric and phosphoric acids using potentiodynamic polarization and potentiostatic anodizing were investigated. Single-barrier anodic films were created in sulphuric and phosphoric acids from 10 to 60 V. Oxygen evolution was initiated within both stages, leading to the suppression of current efficiency for the growth of anodic films. The crystalline phases assisted gas bubbles to develop within the film, resulting in the formation of the blister textures. The rupture of the anodic film was found from anodizing at 20 V in the sulphuric acid but occurred at 50 V in the phosphoric acid. The corrosion behaviour of the anodic oxide films formed on CP-Ti was studied in a 3.5% NaCl electrolyte. Ruptures and blisters of the films were found as a result of the release of a huge pressure by the bursting of oxygen bubbles. More ruptures were observed when anodizing to higher anodic voltages in the sulphuric and phosphoric acids. Further, the anodic films showed more ruptures after the anodized titanium specimens at higher anodic voltages were immersed for 60 days in the NaCl electrolyte compared with the immediate immersions. Additionally, the corrosion behaviours of the anodic films were examined by potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The corrosion resistance of the anodized titanium in the NaCl electrolyte increased with increased anodic voltage. Porous anodic films were formed on CP-Ti after anodizing at 100, 150 and 200 V for 900 s respectively. Nano-particulates were found within the pores; the size and quantity of the pores increased due to the dissolution of the particulates. The amorphous-to-crystalline transition was initiated during anodizing. It was revealed that the degree of crystallinity was greater at a higher voltage. An increased content of phosphorus species was incorporated into the porous oxide film as the voltage increased. The formation of anodic oxide films on CP-Ti in the NaTESi electrolyte was investigated. Barrier-type titanium anodic films generated after anodizing to 5, 10 and 20 V were of thickness 30, 37 and 67 nm respectively. Further, a porous anodic film of ~80.0 nm thickness was generated after anodizing to 40 V. Significant amounts of sodium species were found, which were incorporated into the anodic films. The current efficiency for the film growth was reduced at higher anodic voltages due to the formation of crystalline phases and more oxygen generation. The degree of crystallinity of the anodic film increased at higher voltages. The dielectric permittivity of the anodic film was estimated as ~2.35 according to EIS and the TEM evidence. The degradation test was carried out in a continuous climatic chamber with a humidity of 90% at 50 oC. The anodic films formed on CP-Ti in the NaTESi electrolyte showed an excellent degradation resistance. Single-lap bonding tests were operated for the study of the adhesion joint performance, and the bonding strength increased with increase of the voltage associated with a thicker anodic TiO2 coatings. The formation of anodic oxide films on the Ti6Al4V alloy in the NaTESi electrolyte at a constant current density of 20 mA cm-2 was studied. An anodic film with shallow pores was formed after anodizing to 10 V. Porous anodic films were created after anodizing to 20, 30 and 40 V respectively. Significant amounts of sodium species were incorporated into the films. The current efficiency for the anodic film growth increased from 10 to 30 V but decreased from 30 to 40 V due to oxygen evolution. The film thicknesses determined by RBS were ~15 nm, ~39 nm, ~1100 nm and 1800 nm for voltages of 10, 20, 30 and 40 V respectively. The film thickness at 10 V showed good agreement with 11 nm which was evident by TEM. The degree of crystallinity of the films was greater at a higher voltage. The dielectric permittivity of the film was ~118 according to the results of TEM and EIS. The degradation test was carried out in a continuous climatic chamber with a humidity of 90% at 50oC. Without the evidence of damages, the anodic films formed on Ti6Al4V alloy in the NaTESi electrolyte showed an excellent degradation resistance. In addition, it was evident that the film formed after anodizing to 40 V was crystallized at the thermal temperature of 50 oC. Single-lap bonding tests were employed to compare the strength of adhesively joined titanium alloy anodized with different film thicknesses, the results revealing a significant benefit from a thicker film. The ~100 nm thick 99.6% pure titanium layers were sputter-deposited on electropolished aluminium substrates by magnetron sputtering technique to investigate the anodic film growth behaviour of titanium in H3PO4. The TiO2 and the Ti layer were ruptured by the bursting of oxygen bubbles. The phosphoric acid electrolyte penetrated into the ruptured regions of the sputter-deposited titanium layer, leading to the growth of Al2O3. The thickness of TiO2 increased from 10 to 100 V but decreased from 100 to 150 V. Above 80 V, some regions of the titanium layer where were completely ruptured did not generate TiO2. Important structural details of anodic films with high quality images were obtained using the STEM-in-SEM technique, enabling the study of film morphologies, film thicknesses and oxygen bubble features. STEM-in-SEM would be used to study a large-scale morphology of the anodic film. Additionally, a 6-specimen carousel holder would provide an increase in productivity by ~20% compared with a conventional single-specimen STEM or TEM. An air-formed oxide film was stripped from CP-Ti substrate by chemical etching in the bromine-methanol electrolyte, exposing the bare titanium substrate and grain boundaries with defects. After that, pitting corrosion occurred on the bare titanium due to the attack of bromine. The corrosion pits propagated with etching time from 10 to 300 s and were displayed using white light interferometry. Increased surface roughness was identified with etching time due to the occurrence of more pitting corrosion attacks. Bromine species and TiBr4 compounds were detected by EDS and X-ray diffraction patterns, indicating that the dissolution of the titanium substrate was induced in each etching.