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V2O5nanowires act as biomimetic catalysts resembling vanadium haloperoxidases (V-HPO). The nanowires display iodinating activity as confirmed by a colorimetric assay using thymol blue (TB), UV/Vis spectrophotometry and mass spectrometry (FD-MS). In the presence of dopamine these nanowires catalyze the fast and efficient synthesis of melanin-like biopolymers under mild conditions (aqueous solution, neutral pH and room temperature). The resulting melanin-like biopolymer obtained by the V2O5nanowire catalysts was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis, FT-IR and electric conductivity resembling the natural biopolymer both in its chemical and morphological features. In addition, this synthetic biopolymer self-assembles into fibril-like structures by forming stacks due to π interactions between the aromatic rings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we report on the unprecedented deformation behavior of stratified ultrathin polymer films. The mechanical behavior of layered nanoscale films composed of 8−12 nm thin plasma polymerized hexamethyldisiloxane (ppHMDSO) films on a 70 nm thick film of polystyrene was unveiled by atomic force microscopy nanoindentation. In particular, we observed transitions from the deformation of a thin plate under point load to an elastic contact of a paraboloid of revolution, followed by an elastic−plastic contact for polystyrene and finally an elastic contact for silicon. The different deformation modes were identified on the basis of force−penetration data and atomic force microscopy images of residual indents. A clear threshold was observed for the onset of plastic deformation of the films at loads larger than 2 μN. The measured force curves are in agreement with an elastic and elastic−plastic contact mechanics model, taking the amount of deformation and the geometry of the layer that presumably contributed more to the overall deformation into account. This study shows that the complex deformation behavior of advanced soft matter systems with nanoscale dimensions can be successfully unraveled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The irradiation of polymer surfaces with ion beams leads to pronounced chemical and physical modifications when the ions are scattered at the atoms in the polymer chain. In this way, different products of decomposition occur. Here we show that by changing the ion fluence and the mass of the ion the local mechanical properties as Young’s modulus of a polystyrene surface layer can be tailored. By annealing prestretched irradiated PS near the glass transition, surface rippling occurs in the irradiated areas only, which can be described with an elastic model. The moduli obtained from rippling periodicities and elastic model assumptions are in the range between 8 and 800 MPa at the glass transition and characterize the irradiated PS as rubberlike. From these values the network density and the molar mass of entanglement are quantified. The obtained network density equals the density of hydrogen vacancies generated through the scattered ions, as confirmed by simulations of the atomic scattering and displacement processes. The obtained molar mass of entanglement reveals that the PS locally was densely cross-linked. Our results show that even for nondiscrete layered polymer systems relevant polymer parameters can be derived from the well-known surface rippling without the need for costly chemical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]