Applied Surface Science Advances

The persistence of fluoroquinolone antibiotics like ofloxacin (OFL) in aquatic systems leads to emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and need better technology to monitor its effects on the environment/health. The implementation of real-time and decentralized monitoring systems remains constrained due to their dependency on slow and resource-intensive technique. To overcome these challenge…

The reliability of XPS spectra interpretation of heterogeneous materials exhibiting compositionally-driven phase transformations is shown to improve by a comprehensive sample analysis including characterization of microstructure, elemental composition, impurity level, and phase constitution. This approach is demonstrated here for a series of W 1-x N x films with N content varying in the range 0 ≤…

• The change of SiO x content leads to a shift in capacitive deionization performance. • CDI device positive and negative electrodes simultaneously remove anions and cations. • The biochar electrode itself achieves up to 90.71 % heavy metal removal efficiency. • The electrode maintained high removal efficiency in real aqueous matrices. • Machine learning models predicted a fluoride adsorption cap…

• Green-light illumination enhances friction on copper across multiple length scales. • Friction increase arises from photoinduced electronic excitations at the surface. • UV exposure promotes copper oxidation with negligible impact on friction. • Phototribology enables active, reversible, multiscale control of friction. A comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing friction is essenti…

This paper investigates the corrosion and tribocorrosion behavior of titanium surfaces treated with micro-arc oxidation (MAO) and further functionalized with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and an antimicrobial peptide (AMP). PEG was first covalently conjugated onto the MAO surfaces followed by AMP physical adsorption. The MAO layer maintained its porosity and bulk chemical composition (Ca+ P ) after…

Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have been rapidly increasing due to fossil fuel combustion and industrial activities, posing a serious threat to the global climate. To address this challenge, catalytic CO 2 conversion to valuable chemicals has been widely studied. Reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reactions are a promising strategy for CO 2 utilization coupled with downstream hydrocarbon s…

Atomically flat insulating films are essential for decoupling adsorbates from metallic substrates and preserving the intrinsic electronic and spin properties of single-atom quantum bits (qubits). Here, we show that the widely used MgO/Fe(001) spintronic system provides a robust platform for single-atom qubits. Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) at 4.6 K under ultrahigh vacuum, we investiga…

• Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles with polyhedral and cubic morphologies were synthesised by thermal decomposition. • A novel method was used for surface modification of Fe 3 O 4 @PAA MNPs with APTES. • ATR-FTIR and XPS confirmed successful ligand attachment; zeta potential shifted from negative to positive. • RNA extraction efficiency of modified nanoparticles was comparable to SiO₂-coated MNPs commonly use…

• Environmentally friendly aqueous exfoliation of MoS 2 using a nonionic surfactant. • High shear mixing yields stable MoS 2 dispersions with tunable flake size. • Sedimentation kinetics and AFM confirm progressive exfoliation upon longer mixing. • Simple and scalable route suitable for further processing and applications. We report a facile and potentially scalable aqueous liquid-phase exfoliati…

This study investigates the impact of different Atomic Layer Deposition techniques on the Ti-metalation of chitosan (CS) for biomedical applications. Three methods – vapour phase metalation (VPM), multiplied pulsed vapour phase infiltration (MPI), and O₂ Plasma Enhanced ALD (PEALD) – were employed using Tetrakis(dimethylamino)titanium as the precursor. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed va…

• Multiple laser energies were usted to generate and compare distinct LIPSS properties. • Low-power LIPSS reduced the inflammatory profile and enhanced osteogenesis while inhibiting adipogénesis. • HA incorporation was achieved while preserving surface patterns, but no biological benefit was observed. Despite its widespread use in orthopedic implants, titanium exhibits limited bioactivity, which …

An ecofriendly photochemical approach for the rapid and effective preparation of ultrasmall NIR-emissive gold-nanoclusters from photoirradiation of water-soluble glutathione (GSH) in the presence of HAuCl 4 is reported. The formation of gold nanoclusters with a glutathione shell (AuNCs-SG) is confirmed by optical measurements, mass spectrometry, NMR spectroscopy, and transmission electron microsc…

• Realization of 1 µm short-channel SATG ITZO TFTs with Al 2 O 3 /SiO 2 stacked GI. • Outstanding electrical performance with suppressed short-channel effects. • Al 2 O 3 /SiO 2 GI passivates interface defects and enhances GI bonding network integrity. • Defect passivation mechanism elucidated via ToF-SIMS and XPS analyses. • Findings guide scaling of SATG oxide TFTs for future semiconductor engi…

• Entropy stabilized coating for SOFC application has been demonstrated. • The High-Entropy system can promote formation of single-phase spinel oxide. • The complex spinel coating can provide effective oxidation protection. • The complex spinel coating can exhibit low ASR value. • The complex spinel coating can prevent Cr evaporation effectively. This study investigates spinel oxide coatings deri…