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Fiber reinforced polymer composites (FRPC) have gain rapid interest as light-weight and corrosion-resistant materials for various applications in marine infrastructure. Despite their advantages, FRPCs are still susceptible to other environmental factors present in the marine environment and manufactured mostly from non-renewable materials. This greatly affects the overall economic and environmental sustainability of such components. To determine the long-term suitability of various FRPCs for use in marine environments, this paper provides a holistic comparison of the performance of 16 FRPCs (four fiber types: glass, carbon, natural, basalt; and four polymer resins: epoxy, polyester, vinylester, thermoplastic) not only from a technical, but also from an economic, environmental and resource perspective. The resulting ranking not only assesses each material’s long-term potential, but also provides a detailed overview of individual strengths and weaknesses. Although ranked the lowest of all materials, the partial renewability of the natural fiber composites makes them an interesting material in the longer term. Therefore, we use the framework to evaluate a number of approaches aimed at improving the overall performance of these composites.

Candida antarctica lipase B was immobilized on a series of silicone nanofilament-coated matrices of different porosities. In addition to creating a more open surface, SNF’s hydrophobicity allows for a simple immobilization pathway via adsorption. In order to study the impact of the nanostructure, the performance was compared with control samples lacking SNFs. For all materials, the surface was characterized with BET measurements, and the immobilized enzyme was measured as well as the catalytic activity. Enzyme loads ranged between 3.85% w / w and 2.53% w / w and decreased with the decreasing surface area of the carrier material from 200 m2/g to 0.04 m2/g, while the activity per enzyme increases from 824 U to 2040 U. The data suggest that the coating seals off inner surfaces, forcing the enzyme to be immobilized at more accessible positions allowing for higher activity per enzyme. Optimization of the immobilization conditions allowed us to create a thinner enzyme layer which further improved the activity per enzyme to 3129 U. While this activity is comparable to the commercial Novozyme 435 with 3073 U, the SNF-based system performs the catalysis in a thin surface layer of around 13 μm. A favorite area of application is, for example, the creation of enzyme-based detection systems, where the high activity per surface area of up to 89622 U · mg/m2 would lead to high signal strength.

In this work, silicone nanofilament (SNF) coatings were prepared via a droplet-assisted growth and shaping (DAGS) approach, where the preparation of the coatings is allowed under ambient conditions. The application of SNF coatings as catalyst supports for amino moieties from (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) was investigated. With the optimized coating conditions identified, the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface areas of a bare glass filter substrate and bare glass beads after the coating have increased by 5-fold and 16-fold, respectively. The SNF-coated filters were readily functionalized with amino groups via a liquid-phase deposition process, and their catalytic activities for a Knoevenagel reaction were evaluated using a batch reactor and a packed bed reactor. In both reactors, the as-prepared filters demonstrated superior catalytic performance over the functionalized filters without SNF coatings. Notably, the unique flexibility of the SNF coatings allowed the facile preparation of a packed bed reactor and a scalable catalytic system. It is expected that the packed bed system established in this study will support the development and the use of various SNF-supported organocatalysts and catalytic materials.

Despite great scientific and industrial interest in waterproof cellulosic paper, its real world application is hindered by complicated and costly fabrication processes, limitations in scale-up production, and use of organic solvents. Furthermore, simultaneously achieving nonwetting properties and printability on paper surfaces still remains a technical and chemical challenge. Herein, we demonstrate a nonsolvent strategy for scalable and fast fabrication of waterproofing paper through in situ surface engineering with polysilsesquioxane nanorods (PSNRs). Excellent superhydrophobicity is attained on the functionalized paper surface with a water contact angle greater than 160°. Notably, the engineered paper features outstanding printability and writability, as well as greatly enhanced strength and integrity upon prolonged exposure to water (tensile strength ≈ 9.0 MPa). Additionally, the PSNRs concurrently armor paper-based printed items and artwork with waterproofing, self-cleaning, and antimicrobial functionalities without compromising their appearance, readability, and mechanical properties. We also demonstrate that the engineered paper holds the additional advantages of easy processing, low cost, and mechanochemical robustness, which makes it particularly promising for real world applications.

Chemical vapor phase deposition was used to create hydrophobic nanostructured surfaces on glass slides. Subsequently, hydrophilic channels were created by sputtering a metal catalyst on the channels while masking the outside. The surface tension gradient between the hydrophilic surface in the channels and the outside hydrophobicity formed the open-channel system. The reduction of para-nitrophenol (PNP) was studied on these devices. When compared to nanostructure-free reference systems, the created nanostructures, namely, silicone nanofilaments (SNFs) and nano-bagels, had superior catalytic performance (73% and 66% conversion to 55% at 0.5 µL/s flow rate using 20 nm platinum) and wall integrity, therefore, they could be readily used multiple times. The created nanostructures were stable under the reaction conditions, as observed with scanning electron microscopy. Transition electron microscopy studies of platinum-modified SNFs revealed that the catalyst is present as nanoparticles ranging up to 13 nm in size. By changing the target in the sputter coating unit, molybdenum, gold, nickel and copper were evaluated for their catalytic efficiency. The relative order was platinum &lt, gold = molybdenum &lt, nickel &lt, copper. The decomposition of sodium borohydride (NaBH4) by platinum as a concurrent reaction to the para-nitrophenol reduction terminates the reaction before completion, despite a large excess of reducing agent. Gold had the same catalytic rate as molybdenum, while nickel was two times and copper about four times faster than gold. In all cases, there was a clear improvement in catalysis of silicone nanofilaments compared to a flat reference system.

Nanostructured materials have shown extraordinary promise for high surface area applications. Here we report the design of polystyrene (PS)-silicone nanofilaments (SNFs) composites, which can be flexibly grown on various substrates. The high surface area achieved by the SNFs is further extended by grafting with polystyrene. By changing the polymerization conditions and post treatment methods, the morphology of grafted PS is easily tuned into three types: leaf-shaped, bead-shaped and well-wrapped. The tuneable morphology of PS is optimized for oil-water separation and photocatalytic reactions and exhibited improved performances.

One-dimensional silicone nanostructures, such as filaments, wires, and tubes, have attracted significant attention, owing to their remarkable application capabilities in a large range of material and surface science. However, the soft mechanical properties of silicone cause vulnerability and irregularity in the synthesized structures, which limits their applications. Herein, a simple, solvent-free, and efficient dynamic Droplet Assisted Growth and Shaping (d-DAGS) strategy is proposed for the one-step synthesis and in situ control of the shape of silicone nanostructures. The special designed bamboo-shaped silicone nanorods (SNRs) that are produced by the repetitive dynamic regulation of growth conditions, concomitant with the periodic purging and injection of precursors, exhibit highly-regular and tunable structure with a specific number of segments, indicating that they can be tailor-made according to the requirements of various properties. The enhanced mechanical stiffness and chemical durability strongly support their excellent performances in water-resistance under both static and dynamic wetting conditions. The SNRs significantly promote buoyancy and self-cleaning properties; and exhibit very high water-harvesting efficiency compared with existing designs. Notably, the well-structured ultra-long rods with an ultrahigh aspect ratio (≈176) can also be fabricated by the d-DAGS method, and they can remain standing straight upwards and regular, even though they consist of flexible silicone.

The amyloid-β peptide is correlated with Alzheimer's disease and is assumed to cause toxicity by its interaction with the neuron membrane. A custom-made microscope objective based on the supercritical angle technique was developed by our group, which allows investigation of interfacial events by performing surface-sensitive and low-invasive spectroscopy. Applied to Raman spectroscopy, this technique was used to collect information about the structure of polypeptides that interact with a supported lipid bilayer. Notably, the conformation used by amyloid-β(1-40) and amyloid-β(1-42) when interacting directly with or next to the supported lipid bilayer was characterized. We observed two distinct secondary structures, α-helix and β-sheet, which were exhibited by the peptide. These two structures were detected simultaneously. The propensity of the peptide to fold into these structures seemed dependent on both their number of amino acids and their proximity with the supported lipid bilayer. The α-helix structure was observed for amyloid-β(1-42) fragments that were closer to the lipid bilayer. Peptides that were located further away from the bilayer favored the β-sheet structure. Amyloid-β(1-40) was less prone to adopt the α-helix secondary structure.

Many novel icephobic coatings have been shown to exhibit low adhesion strength to ice grown at null or low velocity. Of these, few have been shown to also exhibit low adhesion strength to ice grown by impacting high velocity supercooled water droplets. Even fewer of these have been shown to exhibit low adhesion strength to ice grown over a range of environmental conditions. Those that have shown such behavior have been held back by their susceptibility to certain bands of UV-exposure. Here, icephobic coatings made from Silicone Nanofilament (SNF) networks grown on anodic metal oxide surfaces are presented. They show low ice adhesion strength for a range of impact icing conditions and exhibit good durability against the tested conditions. Additionally, their nano-porous structure provides enhanced lubricant retention when infused with oil. The described coatings are a promising candidate for supporting hybrid ice protection systems on aircraft, thereby reducing the energy needed for anti−/de-icing.

Superhydrophobic surfaces possess susceptibility towards mechanical and chemical damages as well as oil fouling, which limits their widespread use in practical applications. Here, we demonstrate a straightforward approach to fabricate tunable bulk material with robust and renewable superhydrophobicity by in-situ loading of interconnected surface-wrinkled microparticles. The bulk material shows mechanochemically robust superhydrophobicity across its whole 3D volume, features renewable superhydrophobicity after extremely chemical corrosion, and could regenerate its water repellency after oil contamination. The bulk material also features ultrahigh efficiency (~98%) in oil-water mixtures separation, due to its selective oil absorption capability from water. Notably, the mechanical performances, microstructures and density of the bulk material can be adjusted on demand by simply changing the amount of loaded microparticles. Compared to the pristine commercial melamine-formaldehyde based porous substrate (MFPS), the achieved bulk material shows up to ~230 folds increase in Young’s modulus, ~145 folds increase in flexure stress and ~25 folds increase in tensile stress. This strategy features great potential for designing lightweight structural materials with robust waterproof functionality as well as materials with efficient oil recovery capability from wastewater.

Passive icephobic surfaces can provide a cost and energy efficient solution to many icing problems that are currently handled with expensive active strategies. Water-repellent surface treatments are promising candidates for this goal, but commonly studied systems, such as superhydrophobic surfaces and Slippery Liquid Infused Porous Surfaces (SLIPS), still face challenges in the stability and durability of their properties in icing environments. In this work, environmental icing conditions are simulated using an Icing Wind Tunnel, and ice adhesion is evaluated with a Centrifugal Adhesion Test. We show that superhydrophobic coral-like Silicone Nanofilament (SNF) coatings exhibit extremely low ice adhesion, to the point of spontaneous ice detachment, and good durability against successive icing cycles. Moreover, SNFs-based SLIPS show stably low ice adhesion for the whole duration of the icing test. Stability of surface properties in a cold environment is further investigated with water wettability at sub-zero surface temperature, highlighting the effect of surface chemistry on superhydrophobicity under icing conditions.

Since the discovery of silicone nanofilaments a decade ago, room temperature droplet assisted growth and shaping using silanes has been used to synthesize various silicone-based nanostructures. In the present work, we report an extension of this synthesis technique to synthesize nanostructures of new materials. We have successfully synthesized one-dimensional assemblies of beads or necklaces based on alumina (Al) and mixed alumina-silicone (AlSi) nanostructures exhibiting a similar structure as silicone nanofilaments. The characterization of the synthesized nanostructures was performed using different tools, including scanning and transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, and infrared and NMR spectroscopy. Selected area electron diffraction revealed that the nanostructures are amorphous in nature, and the growth behavior and thermal stability of nanostructures are also discussed.

Superhydrophobic surfaces hold tremendous potential in a wide range of applications owing to their multifaced functionalities. However, the mechanochemical susceptibility of such materials hinders their widespread usage in practical applications. Here, we present a simple, solvent-free, and environmentally friendly approach to fabricate flexible and robust superhydrophobic composite films with durable self-cleaning functionality. The obtained composite film features unexpected but surprising hierarchical micro/nanoscopic structures as well as robust superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle of ∼170° and a sliding angle below 4°. Notably, the composite film exhibits mechanical robustness under cyclic abrasion, tape peeling, flexing, intensive finger wiping, and knife cutting; maintains excellent superhydrophobicity after long-time exposure to a high-humidity environment; and sustains exposure to highly corrosive species, such as strong acid/base solutions and organic solvents. The robust superhydrophobicity is ascribed to the induced micro/nanohierarchical surface structures, resulting in the trapped dual-scale air pockets, which could largely reduce the solid/liquid interface. In addition, even after oil contamination, the composite film maintains its water repellency and self-cleaning functionality. The robust superhydrophobic composite film developed here is expected to extend the application scope of superhydrophobic materials and should find potential usage in various industries and daily life.

In the coming decades humanity will be confronted with a number of complex challenges affecting the prosperity and livelihood of billions of people around the globe. The root of these challenges lies in the downright explosion in global population over the last decades combined with a staggering increase of urbanization rates leading to an unprecedented level of demand for food, water, materials and space. Consequently, growing scarcity of essential resources are an ever increasing threat towards global peace and stability. This conflict potential is exacerbated by global warming and the associated sea level rise, which can once again be traced back to the rapidly growing demand for energy and food of the world’s economies. In this paper we develop a comprehensive chain of cause and effect surrounding these global developments. Furthermore, we discuss how floating infrastructure, through its application to renewable energy generation, food production, flood protection and even urban expansion, is capable of decoupling multiple linkages in the chain, thus presenting itself as a promising mid- to long-term strategy for addressing these global challenges.

Germanium oxide nanofilaments (GNFs) have been synthesized under ambient conditions from the gas phase using germanium tetrachloride as a precursor. Non-crystalline GNFs synthesized by this procedure are 1-10 μm in length and 80-110 nm in diameter applying Droplet Assisted Growth and Shaping (DAGS) Chemistry. The relative humidity has been adjusted at various values in order to demonstrate the crucial role of humidity in the gas phase for the nanofilament synthesis. The novel GNFs show a strong luminescence emission in the ultra-violet and light blue region. In addition, a self-cleaning and superhydrophobic properties could be introduced in the luminescent GNF nanofilaments by simple treatment with silane molecules.

The understanding of the interaction between the membrane of neurons and amyloid-β peptides is of crucial importance to shed light on the mechanism of toxicity in Alzheimer's disease. This paper describes how supercritical angle fluorescence spectroscopy was applied to monitor in real-time the interaction between a supported lipid bilayer (SLB) and the peptide. Different forms of amyloid-β (40 and 42 amino acids composition) were tested, and the interfacial fluorescence was measured to get information about the lipid integrity and mobility. The results show a concentration-dependent damaging process of the lipid bilayer. Prolonged interaction with the peptide up to 48 h lead to an extraction and clustering of lipid molecules from the surface and a potential disruption of the bilayer, correlated with the formation of peptide aggregates. The natural diffusion of the lipid was slightly hindered by the interaction with amyloid-β(1-42) and closely related to the oligomerization of the peptide. The adsorption and desorption of Amyloid-β was also characterized in terms of affinity. Amyloid-β(1-42) exhibited a slightly higher affinity than amyloid-β(1-40). The former was also more prone to aggregate and to adsorb on the bilayer as oligomer.

The demand for resilient infrastructure located in marine environments is expected to increase in the coming decade as rapid urbanization of coastal areas continues and industries such as oil and gas, renewable energy generation or aquaculture move further offshore to utilize the extensive amount of resources and space available on the open ocean. Increasing environmental concerns, global scarcity of various materials, as well as dwindling resource stocks have made sustainability considerations a major issue for the construction of such infrastructure. Metal alloys, as one of the most commonly used materials for marine construction, are often the focus of discussions on criticality and are associated with a high environmental impact if produced from virgin mineral resources. In this paper we analyze the long-term potential of five metal types commonly used in marine construction (carbon steels, stainless steels, aluminum alloys, titanium alloys and nickel-copper alloys). By evaluating and ranking these materials' performance according to 27 precisely defined attributes related to durability, economics, sustainability and future availability, we provide a detailed comparison of each material's strengths and weakness. Additionally, by focusing on the identified weaknesses of the individual materials we discuss promising areas of research which support the sustainable use of these metals for marine construction in the long term.

In this article, a framework is presented to aid in the identification and prioritization of research projects related to the development of materials for sustainable construction. The framework is based on a holistic ranking of materials’ technical, economic, and environmental performance as well as the future availability of their respective raw material constituents. The detailed ranking enables a comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of existing as well as newly developed materials. Each of the 27 attributes included in the framework is measured on a precisely defined scale, which is based on literature and expert data, and presented in detail. Thus, an objective and efficient evaluation of individual materials by practitioners and researchers is possible. Combining the evaluation of material performance with the analysis of factors affecting the respective long-term availability, it is possible to focus funding on specific areas and approaches where research and policy measures have the highest probability of providing long-term improvements to the construction industry. The applicability of the framework is illustrated with the evaluation of steel and stainless steel.

Bacterial adhesion on silicone nano- and microstructures is investigated in stagnant and flow experiments. Static adhesion tests are performed in 0.9% NaCl solution. These experiments reveal that the number of Staphylococcus epidermidis (S. epidermidis) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) adhering to glass surfaces can significantly be reduced if silicone nanofilament and rod coatings are present. Further, flow experiments are conducted in a parallel-plate flow chamber using 0.9% NaCl solution and artificial urine as medium. Silicone nanofilament coated surfaces are compared to uncoated glass surfaces. E. coli colonisation on filament coated surfaces is reduced for at least 24 h in 0.9% NaCl solution, while in artificial urine no reduction is observed after 24 h. S. epidermidis shows converse adhesion behaviour. Here, initial adhesion on nanofilaments is promoted but the number of adherent S. epidermidis seems to decrease after extended contact time. The obtained results demonstrate that superhydrophobic silicone surfaces significantly reduce bacterial colonisation under stagnant and dynamic conditions. However, the bacterial adhesion behaviour depends on the architecture of the silicone nano- and microstructures and the bacterial species investigated.

In this paper we present a comparative life cycle assessment of two processes for the industrial production of methansulfonic acid. The conventional multi-step process for the production of methansulfonic acid is based on the reaction of methanol and hydrogen sulfide to form methanthiol which is used to produce dimethyldisulfate. The dimethyldisulfate reacts further with nitric acid to form methanesulfonic acid. A newly developed process presents the possibility to form methanesulfonic acid directly from methane and sulfur trioxide in a single step at mild conditions. Thus this process enables for the first time the production of a high value chemical through direct activation of methane on an industrial scale. The cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment conducted with the ReCiPe Method revealed that this direct process has a total environmental impact that is 3 times lower than that of the conventional process. The differences resulted from lower energy requirements and alternative reactants used in the direct process. The results therefore demonstrate the potential for methane extracted from natural gas as a greener alternative to oil as a chemical feedstock in the medium term.

Amorphous polysiloxane nano- and microstructures with different shapes can be synthesized from trifunctional organosilane precursors. In the present study, various polysiloxane nano- and microstructures have been produced via a chemical vapor deposition process using ethyltrichlorosilane as precursor. The structure formation and shape are the result of a delicate interplay between temperature, absolute amount of water, and relative humidity. The impact of these reaction parameters during a chemical vapor deposition process has been examined. Experiments have been performed to find a correlation between the reaction conditions and the final shape. Scanning electron microscopy data show that different structures like polysiloxane microrings, microrods, sprouts, nanofilaments, and mixtures of them can be synthesized depending on the reaction conditions. Furthermore, the in-depth comparison of the nanofilament diameters illustrates the dominating influence of relative humidity on structure formation. There is a general trend that at a higher value of relative humidity, structures with a larger diameter are formed independent from the temperature. Here, we clearly differentiate between relative humidity as major and absolute amount of water and temperature as minor important adjusting screws defining the thickness and shape of the resulting nano- and microstructures. Based on these observations, we proof the mechanism of the initial step of structure formation. It is shown that nano- and micro-sized water droplets formed on the substrate surface are likely to act as starting points for structure formation. All results described here strongly confirm the recently published droplet assisted growth and shaping mechanism.

Supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) are increasingly accepted as experimental models to study the behaviour of membrane active proteins like α-synuclein, as they can easily be investigated by surface sensitive analytical methods. In this study we show the assembly and long-term stability of SLBs on glass substrates by vesicle deposition from various lipid mixtures. For the investigation of the SLBs we use supercritical angle fluorescence microscopy and spectroscopy. We concentrate on the important factors for reproducible bilayer assembly like the purification of the substrate and the handling of the lipid vesicle suspension. By using a new combined steady-state/flow approach we were able to create homogeneous SLBs with a long-term stability over seven days, which to our knowledge have not been reported in the literature so far, including SLBs containing up to 70% negatively charged lipids, SLBs from artificial lipid mixtures containing cholesterol as well as SLBs from natural lipid extracts.

Silica nanoparticles, usually synthesized via Stober reactions in the presence of a suitable amount of an ammonia catalyst, are frequently used in the fabrication of self-cleaning surfaces. However, to achieve superhydrophobicity, the nanosilica-modified surfaces need to be further functionalized with low-surface-energy materials. Here, we report the preparation of polymethylsiloxane nanoparticles in a facile way, i.e., the hydrolysis of trichloromethylsilane in toluene under ambient conditions in the absence of a catalyst. The resulting gel-like solution can be applied to substrate surfaces by the convenient method of spraying. Wood slides were used as substrates, and the spray-coated wood without any further surface elaboration became extremely superhydrophobic. Notably, it was observed that the superhydrophobicity of the coated wood is mechanically stable against repeated finger rubbing because of the macroscale and microscale roughness of the wood surfaces that serve as a barrier against mechanical damage.

Large aggregates of misfolded α-synuclein inside neuronal cells are the hallmarks of Parkinson's disease. The protein's natural function and its supposed toxicity, however, are believed to be closely related to its interaction with cell and vesicle membranes. Upon this interaction, the protein folds into an α-helical structure and intercalates into the membrane. In this study, we focus on the changes in the lipid bilayer caused by this intrusion. In situ X-ray reflectivity was applied to determine the vertical density structure of the bilayer before and after exposure to α-synuclein. It was found that the α-synuclein insertion, wild type and E57K variant, caused a reduction in bilayer thickness. This effect may be one factor in the membrane pore formation ability of α-synuclein.

In pursuit of designing novel biocompatible scaffold for hydroxyapatite (HA) growth, silicone nanofilaments coated surfaces have been investigated. High surface area of these 1-D nanofilaments offers large density of nucleation sites for biomineralization. The study shows that the amine and carboxylic acid functionalized SNFs enhance mineralization of HA particles whereas monolayer modified glass substrate did not show HA nucleation during the same period of time. Further investigation demonstrated the growth kinetics of HA particles and revealed that a dense and uniform coating of HA could be achieved after 7 days of immersion in simulated body fluid (SBF). This fast and facile approach could open up a new avenue for bone mineralization.

One-dimensional (1D) nanostructures have been identified as key technology for future devices and integrated into surface-bound materials. The roughness of surface-bound 1D silicone nanofilaments (SNFs) has been used extensively to create surfaces with extreme wetting properties and as carrier material. Electron microscopy has shown that this material is made of individual filaments with diameters spanning tens of nanometers and a length of several micrometers which arrange into a highly entangled quasi-porous network. However, a comprehensive analysis of the three-dimensional (3D) superstructure has remained elusive so far. In this study, focused ion beam nanotomography (FIB-nt) is used to quantify the otherwise hardly accessible structural parameters roughness (12.68) and volume fraction (2.80). The volume fraction is anisotropic, and two major species of SNFs are quantified to contribute equally to the overall surface area. Spatial statistics reveals a self-avoiding growth pattern of SNFs over the subs...

We report new types of silicone nanostructures by a gas-phase reaction of trichloromethylsilane: 1-D silicone nanofilaments with a raveled end and silicone nanoteeth. Filaments with a raveled end are obtained on poly(vinyl chloride), which is superficially doped with the detergent Span 20. Silicone nanoteeth grow on sodium chloride using dibutyl phthalate as superficial dopant. Without dopants, no structures are observed. The dopants are identified by mass spectroscopy and the silicone nanostructures are analyzed by infrared spectroscopy and energy-dispersive analysis of X-rays. The growth of silicone nanostructures on a hydrophobic substrate (poly(vinyl chloride)/Span 20) and a substrate free of hydroxyl groups (sodium chloride/dibutyl phthalate) questions the currently discussed mechanisms for the growth of 1-D silicone nanofilaments, which is discussed. We suggest superficial doping as an alternative pretreatment method to oxidizing activation and prove this principle by the successful coating of copper, which is superficially doped with Span 20.

A decade ago one-dimensional silicone nanofilaments (1D-SNF) such as fibres and wires were described for the first time. Since then, the exploration of 1D-SNF has led to remarkable advancements with respect to material science and surface science: one-, two- and three-dimensional nanostructures of silicone were unknown before. The discovery of silicone nanostructures marks a turning point in the research on the silicone material at the nanoscale. Coatings made of 1D-SNF are among the most superhydrophobic surfaces known today. They are free of fluorine, can be applied to a large range of technologically important materials and their properties can be modified chemically. This opens the way to many interesting applications such as water harvesting, superoleophobicity, separation of oil and water, patterned wettability and storage and manipulation of data on a surface. Because of their high surface area, coatings consisting of 1D-SNF are used for protein adsorption experiments and as carrier systems for catalytically active nanoparticles. This paper reviews the current knowledge relating to the broad development of 1D-SNF technologies. Common preparation and coating techniques are presented along with a comparison and discussion of the published coating parameters to provide an insight on how these affect the topography of the 1D-SNF or coating. The proposed mechanisms of growth are presented, and their potentials and shortcomings are discussed. We introduce all explored applications and finally identify future prospects and potentials of 1D-SNF with respect to applications in material science and surface science.

In this article, we propose the use of tax payments accruing from the commercialization of research findings as a measure of research benefits complementing the existing range of evaluation tools. We place this novel approach to assess the economic returns to publicly funded research in the context of previous studies and highlight its advantages. The application of our method over a long period is demonstrated with the example of saccharin, which was discovered in the context of a curiosity-driven fundamental research project. In our study, we focused on Monsanto's commercial saccharin production finding notable returns.

The article presents the development of Business Chemistry at seven German and one Swiss universities. Besides highlighting the course of study in general and its development, the respective universities present benefits but also specific challenges they had to face when introducing Business Chemistry. Followed by a short introduction of Business Chemistry itself, its development and the status quo, every university presented their individual perspectives on the course of study. Overall, the article should provide our readers with an overview of Business Chemistry and sensitizethem for the differences in the study programs, even though the courses of study were developed in accordance with all respective universities.

The synthesis of polysiloxane nanotubes using trifunctional organosilanes is reported. Tubular nanostructures were formed via a chemical vapor deposition technique at room temperature when ethyltrichlorosilane is used or via a liquid phase method when methyltriethoxysilane is used as precursor. In the chemical vapor deposition process the shape of the tubes was controlled by changing the water content in the reaction chamber prior to coating. The diameter varied between 60 and 4000 nm. While in the case of the liquid phase method nanotubes with very high aspect ratios of 800 are produced. Parameters such as length and diameter of the various tubes were investigated using scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Additionally the chemical composition of produced structures was analyzed using attenuated total reflectance infrared and energy dispersive X ray spectroscopy. Glass substrates coated with such structures exhibit extreme superhydrophobic properties.

The roughness of superhydrophobic silicone nanofilaments (SNFs) is exploited to enlarge the contact area of conventional filter material. As an efficient wetting of the filter material is crucial for water treatment, the wettability of SNFs is readily modified from superhydrophobic to hydrophilic during the functionalization process. SNFs are coated on glass beads and subsequently modified with biocidal silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The enlarged surface area of SNFs allows a 30 times higher loading of AgNPs in comparison to glass beads without SNF coating. Thus, in column experiments, the AgNP-SNF-nanocomposite-modified glass beads exert superior antibacterial activity towards suspensions of E. coli K12 compared to AgNP functionalized glass beads without SNFs. Additionally, reusing the AgNP-SNF-nanocomposite-coated glass beads with fresh bacteria contaminated medium increases their efficacy and reduces the colony forming units by ≈6 log units. Thereby, the silver loss during percolation is below 0.1 μg mL−1. These results highlight, first, the potential of AgNP-SNF-nanocomposite-modified glass beads as an effective filter substrate for water disinfection, and second, the efficiency of SNF coating in increasing the contact area of conventional filter material.

The complex shape and plasticity of cells is an intricate issue for the measurement of molecular diffusion in plasma membranes by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). An important precondition for accurate diffusion measurements is a sufficient flatness of the membrane over the considered region and the absence of non-membrane-bound fluorescence diffusion. A method is presented to identify axial motion components caused by a non-ideal geometry of the membrane based on simultaneous measurement of the fluorescence emitted above and below the critical angle of the specimen/glass interface. Thereby, two detection volumes are generated that are laterally coincident, but differ in their axial penetration of the specimen. The similarity between the intensity tracks of the supercritical angle fluorescence (SAF) and the undercritical angle fluorescence (UAF) strongly depends on the membrane flatness and intracellular fluorescence, and can help to avoid sample-related artifacts in the diffusion measurement.

A commercially available polyester fabric has been rendered superoleophobic by coating with silicone nanofilaments and subsequent plasma fluorination. The treated samples show outstanding oil-repellency. They achieve the highest possible oil-repellency grade of 8, repel impacting drops of alkanes and show a plastron layer in hexadecane. The oil repellency is shown to depend on the topography of the silicone nanofilament coating.

The facile and cheap large-scale production of superhydrophobic surfaces is one of the major challenges to exploit the commercial potential of strongly water-repellent materials. Here, we present the scale-up of a gas-phase reaction process for coating different materials with silicone nanofilaments and rendering them thereby superhydrophobic. As compared to the lab-scale equipment, the chamber volume of the pilot plant is larger by a factor of 1300, and the maximum sample dimension is ∼2 m. Design and technical issues of the pilot plant are presented. The achieved contact angles above 150° and sliding angles below 20° compare well to those achieved on the lab scale. Coated samples with dimensions on the order of meters such as fabric or window glass are presented.

Pharmaceutical and medicinal R&D projects have evolved during recent decades into extremely intricate constructs. This complexity applies for drug discovery and for other fields such as medicinal technology or medical diagnostics. Big pharmaceutical companies recognized early on the need to collaborate with external organizations to fill their prod uct pipeline and thus present a bright future to stakeholders. Other innovative medicinal businesses are also increasingly focusing on external collaborations although their doing so has attracted less public attention than the big pharmaceutical companies.

Raman scattering microscopy is a versatile tool for label-free imaging and molecular fingerprint analysis. Here, we provide the first demonstration that the selective collection of scattered signals exceeding the critical angle for total internal reflection enables surface-confined spontaneous Raman investigations at nanometre resolution. This high-axial selectivity leads to improved signal-to-background ratios, thus making this technique an excellent probe for surface-related molecular specimens. The richness of the spectroscopic information obtained through the supercritical angle Raman (SAR) collection path was proven by comparing its output with that of a parallel far-field collection path. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the proposed SAR technique is a versatile microscopy approach that can be used alone or in combination with amplified Raman modalities such as surface-enhanced resonance Raman scattering.

Synthesis of silicone nanofilaments (SNF) on substrates is a successful approach to fabricate superantiwetting surfaces. However, the yield of SNF is usually very low (<< 1 %). After coating reactions, excessive organosilane residues become wastes and are released to the environment. Here, we report a facile, sustainable, high yield strategy to prepare silicone nanofilament coatings by simply exposing trifunctional silane/toluene solution to air. When toluene is exposed to air with relative humidity between 30% and 45%, it can trap a suitable amount of water which enables fast and continuous growth of SNF on different substrates. This new finding not only simplifies the fabrication procedure but also enables the preparation of SNF coatings in a sustainable, high-yield manner. Such a novel technique allows the preparation of superhydrophobic samples on a large scale-hundreds of samples can be prepared in less than 1 day by simply using a mother solution containing a small amount of trifunctional silane.

Mixed transition metal nickel oxide materials (M-NiO; M = Co, Mn, Fe) supported on silicone nanofilaments (SNFs) were synthesized via precipitation reaction with urea. All materials were evaluated for their OER activity in 0.1 M KOH, of which the Fe-NiO/SNFs showed a notable improvement over NiO/SNFs and unsupported NiO. The results presented herein demonstrate the extension of our previously reported synthesis for NiO/SNFs to yield SNF-supported mixed transition metal-oxide materials. The versatility and scalability of the synthesis are particularly interesting for the facile preparation of three-dimensional, binderless electrodes for alkaline water electrolysis applications., Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 164 (4), ISSN:0013-4651, ISSN:1945-7111

Recently, a new group of nanostructures called “silicone nanofilaments (SNs)” were prepared via polymerization of organosilanes with small alkyl groups. Organosilanes with long alkyl groups tend to form self-assembled monolayers and cannot form SNs because of their bulky steric hindrance. Here we report the one-step self-assembly of organosilanes with long alkyl groups into SN coatings at room temperature by using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) or tetrachlorosilane (TCS) as the molecular spacer. The SNs should grow according to a “limiting growth” mechanism via a “seeding-asymmetric growth-further growth” process. The growth of SNs could be controlled simply by the composition of the precursor and the water concentration (Cwater) in toluene. All the precursors studied can form SNs successfully under proper conditions, indicating universality of this method. The wettability of the SN coatings ranges from hydrophilic to superhydrophobic and even to superamphiphobic. Moreover, these coatings are transparent and can be easily applied onto various substrates besides the glass slide. This facile fabrication of SNs using organosilanes with long alkyl groups will shed light on their application in generating unique nanostructures besides self-assembled monolayers.

Multifunctional hybrid porous micro-/nanocomposite materials with hierarchical structures of soft silicone nanofilaments on hard porous glass microbeads are designed and synthesized. Such materials display selective super-antiwetting/superwetting properties with unique mechanical, chemical, and thermal stabilities, as well as excellent antifouling properties. They are ideal materials for highly efficient separation of oil/water mixtures and emulsions, and display great advantages as carriers for organocatalysts.

The separation of oil from oily water is an important pursuit because of increasing worldwide oil pollution. Separation by the use of materials with selective oil/water absorption is a relatively recent area of development, yet highly promising. Owing to their selective superantiwetting/superwetting properties towards water and oil, superhydrophobic/superoleophilic surfaces and underwater superoleophobic surfaces have been developed for the separation of oil/water-free mixtures and emulsions. In this Review, after a short introduction to oil/water separation, we describe the principles of materials with selective oil/water absorption and outline recent advances in oil/water separation with superwetting/superantiwetting materials, including their design, their fabrication, and models of experimental setups. Finally, we discuss the current state of this new field and point out the remaining problems and future challenges.

Chemical composition and shape determine the basic properties of any object. Commonly, chemical synthesis and shaping follow each other in a sequence, although their combination into a single process would be an elegant simplification. Here, a pathway of simultaneous synthesis and shaping as applied to polysiloxanes on the micro- and nanoscale is presented. Complex structures such as stars, chalices, helices, volcanoes, rods, or combinations thereof are obtained. Varying the shape-controlling reaction parameters including temperature, water saturation, and the type of substrate allows to direct the reaction toward specific structures. A general mechanism of growth is suggested and analytical evidence and thermodynamic calculations to support it are provided. An aqueous droplet in either gaseous atmosphere or in a liquid organic solvent serves as a spatially confined polymerization volume. By substituting the starting materials, germanium-based nanostructures are also obtained. This transferability marks this approach as a major step toward a generally applicable method of chemical synthesis including in situ shaping.