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Recently, we have reported that metal halide perovskite nanoparticles formed in nanoporous alumina and silicon thin films exhibit blue shifted photoluminescence due to spatial confinement, thus allowing for color tuning of the emission by varying the pore size. While perovskite nanoparticles grown in nanoporous alumina films have been integrated into LEDs, similar approaches have failed with silicon. Here, we report the results of investigating the structure of the alumina pore system and the perovskite crystallites forming within. We use two x-ray diffraction techniques, namely, small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) and high-energy microbeam wide-angle x-ray scattering (WAXS). SAXS reveals that the alumina pore system diffracts like regularly arranged tubes with the average diameter and nearest neighbor distance of 12 nm and 20 nm, respectively. High-energy microbeam WAXS shows that perovskite nanoparticles within the nanoporous alumina have a distinctly anisotropic shape with the average particle length along and perpendicular to the pore axis of 26 nm and 13 nm, respectively. In contrast, no shape anisotropy has been detected for nanoparticles inside the silicon pores in a previous study. This suggests that utilizing nanoporous alumina has a twofold advantage. First, the tubular alumina pores, spanning the entire insulating film, offer percolated paths for the perovskite to fill. Second, the elongation of the nanoparticles in the tubular alumina pores can be expected to aid device performance as the length of the nanoparticles approaches the active layer thickness (ca. 40 nm) of LEDs, while the small diameter of the crystallites accounts for the observed blue shifted emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While organic semiconductors are being widely investigated for chemical and biochemical sensing applications, major drawbacks such as the poor device stability and low charge carrier mobility in aqueous electrolytes have not yet been solved to complete satisfaction. In this work, solution-gated organic field-effect transistors (SGOFETs) based on the molecule α,ω-dihexyl-sexithiophene (DH6T) are presented as promising platforms for in-electrolyte sensing. Thin films of DH6T were investigated with regard to the influence of the substrate temperature during deposition on the grain size and structural order. The performance of SGOFETs can be improved by choosing suitable growth parameters that lead to a two-dimensional film morphology and a high degree of structural order. Furthermore, the capability of the SGOFETs to detect changes in the pH or ionic strength of the gate electrolyte is demonstrated and simulated. Finally, excellent transistor stability is confirmed by continuously operating the device over a period of several days, which is a consequence of the low threshold voltage of DH6T-based SGOFETs. Altogether, our results demonstrate the feasibility of high performance and highly stable organic semiconductor devices for chemical or biochemical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate the use of a molybdenum-anode-based in-house small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) setup to study biological macromolecules in solution. Our system consists of a microfocus X-ray tube delivering a highly collimated flux of 2.5 × 106 photons/s at a beam size of .2 × 1.2 mm2 at the collimation path exit and a maximum beam divergence of 0.16 mrad. The resulting observable scattering vectors q are in the range of 0.38 Å-1 down to 0.009 Å-1 in SAXS configuration and of 0.26 Å-1 up to 5.7 Å-1 in wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) mode. To determine the capabilities of the instrument, we collected SAXS data on weakly scattering biological macromolecules including proteins and a nucleic acid sample with molecular weights varying from ~12 to 69 kDa and concentrations of 1.5-24 mg/ml. The measured scattering data display a high signal-to-noise ratio up to q-values of ~0.2 Å-1 allowing for an accurate structural characterization of the samples. Moreover, the in-house source data are of sufficient quality to perform ab initio 3D structure reconstructions that are in excellent agreement with the available crystallographic structures. In addition, measurements for the detergent decyl-maltoside show that the setup can be used to determine the size, shape, and interactions (as characterized by the second virial coefficient) of detergent micelles. This demonstrates that the use of a Mo-anode based in-house source is sufficient to determine basic geometric parameters and 3D shapes of biomolecules and presents a viable alternative to valuable beam time at third generation synchrotron sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work reports a novel tethered lipid membrane supported on silicon oxide providing an improved model cell membrane. There is an increasing need for robust solid supported fluid model membranes that can be easily deposited on soft cushions. In such architecture the space between the membrane and the substrate should be tunable in the nanometer range. For this purpose a SiO2 surface was functionalized with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-lipid tethers and further modified with poly(ethylene glycol) making a biologically passivated substrate available for lipid bilayer deposition. First, a short chain self-assembled alkenyl silane film was oxidized to yield terminal COOH groups and then functionalized with amino-terminated PEG-lipids via N-hydroxysuccinimide chemistry. The functionalized silane film was then additionally passivated by functionalization of unreacted COOH groups with amino-terminated PEG of variable chain length. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis of dry films, carried out near the C 1s ionization edge to characterize chemical groups formed in the near-surface region, confirmed binding of PEG-lipid tethers to the silane film. XPS further indicated that backfilling with PEG caused the lipid tails to stick up above the PEG layer which was confirmed by the x-ray reflectivity measurements. Lipid vesicle fusion on these surfaces in the presence of excess water resulted in the formation of supported membranes characterized by very high homogeneity and long range mobility, as confirmed by fluorescence bleaching experiments. Even after repeated drying-hydrating cycles, these robust surfaces provided good templates for high fluidity elevated membranes. X-ray reflectivity measurements of the tethered membranes, with a resolution of 0.6 nm in water, showed that these fluid membranes are elevated up to 8 nm above the silicon oxide surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present a concept for a microfluidic chamber optimized for x-ray reflectivity studies at solid-liquid interfaces. Experiments of this kind are usually considerably limited by strong beam attenuation due to interactions with the aqueous environment. First experiments at synchrotron sources using supported model membranes showed that the microfluidic setup yields a very effective solution for minimizing background scattering and beam absorption, which are often accompanied by radiation damage of biological samples. Additionally, the setup is also well suited for the application of fluorescence microscopy. The application of these two different techniques on the same sample offers unique possibilities for complementary studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, we present in situ transport measurements of pentacene thin film transistors, particularly investigations of the evolution of mobility, threshold voltage, and hysteresis during the deposition of pentacene with submonolayer precision. We observe both, a strong positive shift of the threshold voltage and a reduction in the hysteresis up to a nominal pentacene film thickness of four monolayers. In addition to previously published volume electron trap states that account for the threshold voltage shift, we suggest that the existence of shallow pentacene trap states located at the free pentacene surface explains the reduction of the hysteresis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grazing incidence x-ray diffraction, x-ray reflectivity and atomic force microscopy have been performed to study the structure of pentacene thin films on oxidized Si substrates from submonolayer to multilayer coverages. The volume of the unit cell in the thin film phase is almost identical to that of the bulk phase, thus the molecular packing efficiency is effectively the same in both phases. The structure forming from the first monolayer remains the same for films at least 190 Å thick. The in-plane structure of the submonolayer islands also remains unchanged within a substrate temperature range of 0sub<45 °C while the island size changes by more than a factor of 4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biologically functional supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) used in the rising field of nanobiotechnology require fine tuning of the SLB interface with the substrate, e.g., a sensor surface. Depending on the application, membrane functionality implies a homogeneous and dense bilayer and a certain degree of diffusivity in order to allow for a rearrangement in response to, e.g., protein binding. Here, progress in the preparation, characterization, and application of SLBs obtained in the past three to five years are highlighted. Synchrotron techniques, which allow to reveal structural features within the membrane on a length scale of ∼0.5 nm are discussed in more detail, as well as the relation of structural features to dynamical membrane properties obtained by complementary optical techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]