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Black soldier fly (BSF) larvae (Hermetia illucens) are voracious feeders that can be reared on food waste streams originating from the food industry and retailers. Because these food waste streams are automatically being unpacked in substantial amounts, they can contain microplastics, potentially jeopardising the larvae’s chemical safety when applied as compound feed ingredients. During this study, the dynamics of ingestion and excretion of microplastics by BSF larvae reared on substrates containing different contents (wMP = 0.00, 0.01, 0.10, 0.50, 1.00, 3.00%) of fluorescent blue-labelled microplastics (median size, Dv(50) = 61.5 µm) were monitored. To correlate the particle size with their uptake, larval mouth opening dimensions were measured during the rearing process. In conclusion, it appeared that ingestion of microplastics by BSF larvae depends on initial particle load, mouth size, and consequently also age. The larvae took up between 131 (wMP = 0.01%) and 4866 (wMP = 3.00%) particles leading to bioaccumulation factors (BAF) between 0.12 (wMP = 3.00%) and 1.07 (wMP = 0.01%). Larvae also appeared to excrete the microplastics, lowering the BAFs to values between 0.01 (wMP = 3.00%) and 0.54 (wMP = 0.01%).

To tackle the challenge of bauxite residue (BR), generated during the alumina production, as well as to recover some of its metal content, three combinatory H2-based processes were utilized. Firstly, Greek BR was mixed with NaOH to produce water soluble Na-aluminates and was roasted under pure H2 gas in order to reduce the Fe+3 content. Then the first process combined water leaching and magnetic separation, the second water leaching and melting and the last included wet magnetic separation. The water media resulted in the dissolution of Na-aluminate phases and the production of Al, Na-ion rich leachates. From these, pregnant leaching solutions recovery of Al was 78%, 84% and for the third case it reached 91%. Concerning Na recovery, it could reach 94%. Both melting process and magnetic separation aimed for Fe recovery from the material. The former case however still needs to be optimized, here its concept is introduced. The magnetic fraction, after the dry magnetic separation, varied in Fe content from 31.57 wt.% to 38.50 wt.%, while after the wet magnetic separation it reached 31.85 wt.%.

The hierarchization via desilication of a less studied zeolite, but with particular potential for catalytic applications, belonging to the TON type zeolite family, viz. ISI-1, and its impact on catalytic performance in hydroconversion of model long chain n-alkanes are presented. The diffusivity of heavy molecules within monodimensional micropore system zeolites with TON frameworks is limited and the activity is concentrated in the rim of the crystals, referred to as pore mouth catalysis. Desilication has proved to be an efficient strategy for hierarchization, increasing the number of pore mouths as revealed by HR-SEM and TEM. Though notable inhomogeneity in the dispersion of platinum nanoparticles over individual crystals was evidenced via SEM at high resolution, the catalyst presented high isomerization yields. ispartof: Catalysis Science & Technology vol:11 issue:4 pages:1519-1525 status: published

A new zeolite, COK-24, which is an intergrowth of erionite (ERI) and chabazite (CHA), was successfully synthesized for the first time. This was realized via a mixed gel approach. The formation of an intergrowth was confirmed via XRD combined with advanced electron microscopy. The new zeolite intergrowth outperformed its individual counterparts in NH3-SCR reaction. ispartof: ACS Materials Letters vol:3 issue:5 pages:658-662 status: published

This work addresses the effect of deformation twinning on the dissolution corrosion behaviour of 316 L austenitic stainless steels in contact with static liquid lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE). For this purpose, plastically deformed 316 L steel specimens with distinctly different deformation twin densities were simultaneously exposed to oxygen-poor (

Cu pumping is defined as the irreversible extrusion of Cu from Cu-filled through-silicon vias (TSVs) exposed to high temperatures. The distribution of Cu pumping values over the TSVs of a single wafer has a large intrinsic spread. In previous publications both a lognormal distribution and a distribution of the maximum of two normal variables were used to fit experimental data. In this paper, these two types of statistical distribution are compared, showing that the maximum of two normal distributions provides a better fit, in particular at the right tail which is more significant for the potential reliability impact of Cu pumping. Also, it is shown how Cu pumping is determined by the network of random high angle grain boundaries in the Cu region near the TSV top, as an extension of a previous analysis which occurred at the TSV top surface only. This relation between Cu pumping and Cu microstructure provides a physical interpretation of the maximum of two normal distributions, based on the deformation mechanisms underlying Cu pumping.

A photoacoustic, laser ultrasonics based approach in an Impulsive Stimulated Scattering (ISS) implementation was used to investigate the texture in polycrystalline metal plates. The angular dependence of the 'polycrystalline' surface acoustic wave (SAW) velocity measured along regions containing many grains was experimentally determined and compared with simulated results that were based on the angular dependence of the 'single grain' SAW velocity within single grains and the grain orientation distribution. The polycrystalline SAW velocities turn out to vary with texture. The SAW velocities and their angular variations for {110} texture were found to be larger than that the ones for {111} texture or the strong γ fiber texture. The SAW velocities for {001} texture were larger than for {111} texture, but with almost the same angular dependence. The results infer the feasibility to apply angular SAW angular dispersion measurements by laser ultrasonics for on-line texture monitoring.

This study addresses the effect of plastic deformation on the dissolution corrosion behavior of a Type 316L austenitic stainless steel. Dissolution corrosion was promoted by low oxygen conditions in liquid lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE). Specimens with controlled degree of plastic deformation (20%, 40%, and 60%) and a non-deformed, solution-annealed specimen were simultaneously exposed for 1,000 h at 500°C to static LBE with low oxygen concentration ([O] < 10−11 mass%). The corroded specimens were analyzed by various material characterization techniques. All exposed specimens exhibited dissolution corrosion. The non-deformed steel showed the least dissolution attack (maximum depth: 36 μm), while the severity of attack increased with the degree of steel deformation (maximum depth in the 60% steel: 96 μm). It was, thus, concluded that increasing the amount of plastic deformation in a Type 316L stainless steel results in higher dissolution corrosion damages for steels exposed to low oxygen LBE conditions. Addit...

DNA nanotechnology has a great potential in biosensor design including nanostructuring of the biosensor surface through DNA origami, target recognition by means of aptamers, and DNA-based signal amplification strategies. In this paper, we use DNA nanotechnology to describe for the first time the concept of real-time solid-phase monitoring of DNAzyme cleavage activity for the detection of specific single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) with a fiber optic surface plasmon resonance (FO-SPR) biosensor. Hereto, we first developed a robust ligation strategy for the functionalization of the FO-SPR biosensing surface with ssDNA-tethered gold nanoparticles, serving as the substrate for the DNAzyme. Next, we established a relation between the SPR signal change, due to the cleavage activity of the 10–23 DNAzyme, and the concentration of the DNAzyme, showing faster cleavage kinetics for higher DNAzyme concentrations. Finally, we implemented this generic concept for biosensing of ssDNA target in solution. Hereto, we designed a DNAzyme–inhibitor complex, consisting of an internal loop structure complementary to the ssDNA target, that releases active DNAzyme molecules in a controlled way as a function of the target concentration. We demonstrated reproducible target detection with a theoretical limit of detection of 1.4 nM, proving that the presented ligation strategy is key to a universal DNAzyme-based FO-SPR biosensing concept with promising applications in the medical and agrofood sector. ispartof: ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces vol:11 issue:7 pages:6759-6768 ispartof: location:United States status: published

This article reports on the development of thin films of p- and n-type bismuth telluride compounds which are suitable for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) thermoelectric energy harvesters. Films were prepared by the pulsed laser deposition technique. It is shown that the thin films of binary Bi-Te alloys outperformed considerably their ternary counterparts. Furthermore, the highest thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) was found to be 0.39 for the p-type Bi 32 Te 68 alloy, whereas the optimal n-type alloy was Bi 25 Te 75 , which was characterized by a relatively low stress gradient.

This work studies the possibility to treat plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited (PECVD) silicon germanium (Si1−xGex) thin films grown at 400 °C or lower with a pulsed excimer laser for obtaining good MEMS structural layers. The main advantage of using PECVD is that a high growth rate (∼35 nm/min) can be achieved at low temperatures (≤370 °C). It is demonstrated that optimizing the pulse fluence, number and rate yields high quality films characterized by a low defect density (∼102 defect/cm2), large grains (∼300 nm), a low mean stress and a low stress gradient. Furthermore, the electrical resistivity of the as grown material, deposited at 210 °C, is reduced from 12 kΩ cm to 1.3 mΩ cm after laser annealing.

Cu pumping is the irreversible extrusion of Cu from Cu-filled through-silicon vias (TSVs) exposed to high temperatures during back-end of line (BEOL) processing. The distribution of Cu pumping values over the TSVs of a single wafer has a large intrinsic spread. As potential BEOL reliability issues due to Cu pumping will first occur at the highest pumping TSVs, they can be mitigated if the fundamental cause for this large intrinsic spread is known and under control. This paper describes a clear correlation between Cu pumping and TSV Cu microstructure based on the grain size at the top of 5×50 μm TSV, disregarding twin boundaries. For the mitigation of TSV Cu pumping the ideal microstructure was shown to consist of a single grain spanning the whole TSV cross section, bringing down the highest measured Cu pumping value from 248 nm to 73 nm. This effect was attributed to the absence of rapid diffusion paths and grain boundary sliding ability.

In this work stacked boron doped poly-crystalline Silicon-Germanium (poly-SiGe) layers, which can be applied as structural MEMS layers, were studied. A standard 1 µm base layer, deposited at 480 ºC chuck temperature, is stacked until the required thickness (e.g. 10 x for a 10 µm thick layer). This 1 µm base layer consists of a PECVD seed layer (+/− 75 nm), a CVD crystallization layer (+/− 135 nm) and a PECVD layer to achieve the required thickness with a high growth-rate. The top part of this PECVD layer can optionally be used for optimizing the stress gradient by a stress compensation layer. This approach resulted in 4 µm thick poly-SiGe MEMS structural layers with low tensile stress (50 MPa), low resistivity (2 mΩcm) and a low strain gradient (< 1*10−5/µm).

The effect of the deposition parameters and Ge content on the stress gradient in poly-SiGe films was investigated. The films, ranging in thickness from 1.2 to 2.3 μm, were deposited by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at 450 °C and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) at 520 °C. The Ge content was varied between 45 and 64 at%. X-ray diffraction revealed that both PECVD and CVD films were polycrystalline. The stress gradient was determined by measuring the deflection of 1 mm long released cantilevers. The stress gradient was found to decrease with increasing Ge content. A CVD film with 55 at% Ge was thinned using a very low power SF 6 /O 2 plasma. The stress gradient was measured as a function of film thickness. The stress profile was calculated by matching the bending moment of the calculated profile to the bending moment obtained from the measured stress gradient. The largest change in stress occurs right at the thin film/substrate interface. PECVD films were found to possess a lower stress gradient compared to CVD films with similar thickness. This was explained by differences in TEM microstructure: CVD films have more V-shaped grains, while PECVD films have more columnar grains.

International audience; The potential and limitations of Rayleigh wave spectroscopy to characterize the elastic depth profile of heterogeneous functional gradient materials are investigated by comparing simulations of the surface acoustic wave dispersion curves of different profile-spectrum pairs. This inverse problem is shown to be quite ill posed. The method is then applied to extract information on the depth structure of a glass-ceramic ͑ alumina͒ functionally graded material from experimental data. The surface acoustic wave analysis suggests the presence of a uniform coating region consisting of a mixture of Al2O3 and glass, with a sharp transition between the coating and the substrate. This is confirmed by scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive x-ray analysis.

© 2019 by the authors. A laser ultrasonics approach to remotely characterize the elastic and thermal properties of a coating-substrate structure, used to protect fuel claddings in lead-bismuth eutectic cooled nuclear reactors, is presented and validated with experimental results. A transient grating geometry is used for multiple wavelength excitation of thermoelastic displacements, and laser beam deflection for detection. The value of Young's modulus of the coating layer as calculated from the coating's Rayleigh velocity of 190 ± 50 GPa is in accordance with a nano-indentation measurement. Using a priori knowledge concerning the density and elastic parameters of the coating and substrate, scanning the sample allows the obtaining of a coating thickness map in a fully remote, all-optical way, with an accuracy of about 4 microns for a coating of around 20-micron average thickness. Analyzing the transient thermal grating decay yields a thermal diffusivity value of (5.0 ± 1.6) × 10 -6 m 2 /s, in the range of low-carbon steels. The consistency of the results infers that the all-optical laser ultrasonics approach should be feasible for remote inspection of the quality of optically rough coated claddings in the harsh environment of a nuclear reactor. ispartof: Applied Sciences-Basel vol:9 issue:5 status: published