Valentinas Snitka

Growth of PbS thin films on silicon substrate by SILAR technique

Lead sulfide thin films were grown on (100)Si and (111)Si crystalline substrates by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction, (SILAR), technique from solution phase at room temperature and normal pressure. The stress development, crystallinity and crystallite size, morphology and roughness and composition of the films were characterized as a function of the film thickness. The PbS thin films were polycrystalline and cubic. The residual stress in PbS was tensile and changed depending on the growth mode and thickness of the PbS films.

Transcriptional profiling identifies physicochemical properties of nanomaterials that are determinants of the in vivo pulmonary response

We applied transcriptional profiling to elucidate the mechanisms associated with pulmonary responses to titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) of different sizes and surface coatings, and to determine if these responses are modified by NP size, surface area, surface modification, and embedding in paint matrices. Adult C57BL/6 mice were exposed via single intratracheal instillations to free forms of TiO2NPs (10, 20.6, or 38 nm in diameter) with different surface coatings, or TiO2NPs embedded in paint matrices. Controls were exposed to dispersion medium devoid of NPs. TiO2NPs were characterized for size, surface area, chemical impurities, and agglomeration state in the exposure medium. Pulmonary transcriptional profiles were generated using microarrays from tissues collected one and 28 d postexposure. Property‐specific pathway effects were identified. Pulmonary protein levels of specific inflammatory cytokines and chemokines were confirmed by ELISA. The data were collapsed to 659 differentially expressed genes (P ≤ 0.05; fold change ≥ 1.5). Unsupervised hierarchical clustering of these genes revealed that TiO2NPs clustered mainly by postexposure timepoint followed by particle type. A pathway‐based meta‐analysis showed that the combination of smaller size, large deposited surface area, and surface amidation contributes to TiO2NP gene expression response. Embedding of TiO2NP in paint dampens the overall transcriptional effects. The magnitude of the expression changes associated with pulmonary inflammation differed across all particles; however, the underlying pathway perturbations leading to inflammation were similar, suggesting a generalized mechanism‐of‐action for all TiO2NPs. Thus, transcriptional profiling is an effective tool to determine the property‐specific biological/toxicity responses induced by nanomaterials. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 56:245–264, 2015.

Ultrasonic actuators for nanometre positioning

This paper deals with ultrasonic motors based on bimodal plate vibrations and their application to nanometre resolution stepper positioning systems. The concept of a linear ultrasonic motor drive capable of nanometric steps, long-range travel and reversible controlled motion is presented. The motor concept developed is based on the superposition of a longitudinal and bending vibrations of a rectangular resonator. The ultrasonic motor model based on system identification via discrete observations and prediction has been developed for control applications. The control algorithm for ultrasonic motors has been developed and theoretical investigations have been made. The open loop positioning system with designed stepper ultrasonic drive produced 10 nm resolution and 5% displacement repeatability. The system with computer controlled position feedback has shown 0.3 micron positioning accuracy over the 100 mm positioning range.

Graphene-enhanced Raman imaging of TiO2 nanoparticles

The interaction of anatase titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) nanoparticles with chemical vapour deposited graphene sheets transferred on glass substrates is investigated by using atomic force microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and imaging. Significant electronic interactions between the nanoparticles of TiO(2) and graphene were found. The changes in the graphene Raman peak positions and intensity ratios indicate that charge transfer between graphene and TiO(2) nanoparticles occurred, increasing the Raman signal of the TiO(2) nanoparticles up to five times. The normalized Raman intensity of TiO(2) nanoparticles per their volume increased with the disorder of the graphene structure. The complementary reason for the observed enhancement is that due to the higher density of states in the defect sites of graphene, a higher electron transfer occurs from the graphene to the anatase TiO(2) nanoparticles.

Zinc oxide nanoparticle and bovine serum albumin interaction and nanoparticles influence on cytotoxicity in vitro

Bovine serum albumin (BSA) and zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) are chosen as a model system to investigate NPs-protein corona complex formation. ZnO NPs with average size of ∼ 20 nm are coated with BSA using covalent and non-covalent conjugation at temperatures of 4 °C and 20 °C. The interaction mechanism between ZnO NPs and BSA is studied by using UV-vis absorption, fluorescence, synchronous fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy. Raman spectra of BSA in the presence of ZnO NPs are registered for the first time and confirm decreased α-helix content, increased unstructured folding and β-sheet content in BSA structure. The synchronous fluorescence spectra revealed that the hydrophobicity of the tyrosine residue is decreased and that of the tryptophan is increased. The relation of elucidated changes in BSA structure of BSA-coated ZnO NPs cytotoxicity is tested for CHO cell viability and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in vitro. Covalent and non-covalent binding of BSA to ZnO NPs reduces ZnO NPs cytotoxicity and ROS generation, however changes in BSA conformation makes corona less protective against ZnO NPs.

Polyrotaxane approach for synthesis of continuous beds for capillary electrochromatography

The polyrotaxane formation approach was evaluated for synthesis of continuous beds for capillary electrochromatography. This approach has the advantage of generating diverse electroosmotic and chromatographic properties without chemical reactions. The polyrotaxane derivatized continuous beds were formed adding the macrocyclic compounds to the solution of neutral acrylic monomers and crosslinker prior to the initiation of the polymerisation. Cationic and anionic derivatives of beta-cyclodextrin were used as macrocyclic compounds. Investigation of the electroosmotic properties indicated a template directed and enthalpy controlled self-assembly of the polyrotaxanes during the polymerisation of the continuous beds. This process was monomer-composition dependent and favored by the hydrophobicity of the polymeric skeleton. The morphology of the continuous beds was evaluated using high-resolution optical microscopy with CCD camera and atomic force microscopy. Reversed-phase capillary chromatography driven by electroosmosis, originating from the polyrotaxane structure, was performed using several test mixtures. Not primarily designed for the chiral chromatography the polyrotaxane derivatized continuous beds demonstrated enantioselective separation of D,L-metoprolol. The stability of the polyrotaxane derivatized continuous beds was tested. The beds demonstrated reproducible electroosmotic properties in the range from pH 4 to pH 9 (RSD=0.69%).

Shear response of nanoconfined water on muscovite mica: role of cations.

By monitoring the thermal noise of a vertically oriented micromechanical force sensor, we detect the viscoelastic response to shear for water in a subnanometer confinement. Measurements in pure water as well as under acidic and high-ionic-strength conditions relate this response to the effect of surface-adsorbed cations, which, because of their hydration, act as pinning centers restricting the mobility of the confined water molecules.

In vivo characterization of protein uptake by yeast cell envelope: single cell AFM imaging and μ-tip-enhanced Raman scattering study

Direct detection of biological transformations of single living cells in vivo has been performed by the advanced combination of local topographic imaging by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and label-free sub-surface chemical characterization using new μ-Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (μ-TERS). The enhancing mechanism for μ-TERS tips with micrometre range radius differs significantly to that of the conventional tapered structures terminated by a sharp apex and conditioned by the effects of propagating instead of localizing surface plasmon resonance phenomena. Sub-wavelength light confinement in the form of a nonradiative evanescent wave near the tip surface with penetration depth in the sub-micrometre range opens the way for monitoring of subsurface processes near or within the cell wall, inaccessible by other methods. The efficiency of the approach has been demonstrated by the analysis of the cell envelope of genetically modified (by glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) gene bearing Kluyveromyces lactis toxin signal sequence) yeast cells enriched by GDH protein. The presence of trans-membrane fragments in GDH together with the tendency to form active dimers and tetramers causes the accumulation of the proteins within the periplasmic space. These results demonstrate that the advanced combination of AFM imaging and subsurface chemical characterization by the novel μ-TERS technique provides a new analytical tool for the investigation of single living cells in vivo.

Intermittent contact AFM using the higher modes of weak cantilever.

Employing the higher vibration modes of weak cantilevers enables operating frequencies up to megahertz to be reached, at the same time keeping the force on the sample reasonably low. This allows the interaction time between the tip and the surface to be reduced and should cause the response of surface to be dominated by surface stiffness. The simple distributed mass cantilever model is presented which shows that higher eigenmodes exhibit better sensitivity to surface properties. The images of laser-treated polymer on glass show the ability of the method to distinguish between the material phases with different properties.

The mechanism of generation of donor centres in p-InSb by laser radiation

Abstract The laser-induced donor centers in p-InSb have been studied by magneto-concentration effect (MCE). The distribution of In vacancies in a nonuniform temperature field in InSb has been performed in term of the model of redistribution of the In vacancies under laser action. Comparison of the theoretical and experimental data has shown that the depth of the p–n junction increases with temperature and that the relatively large value of the p–n junction localization depth at intensities of laser radiation exceeding 3.5 MW cm −2 is connected with presence of the liquid phase in the laser modification process. These results are confirmed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) of the surface morphology. Experiments were performed on InSb samples in the temperature range 180–290 K. Temperature gradient was provided by YAG:Nd laser illumination ( λ =0.53 μm, τ p =15 ns). Two kinds of laser donor centers (LDC) were found: one is nonstable, annealed at room temperature with relaxation constant ∼5 s, and the other is stable, annealed at 670 K. The threshold of LDC formation is 1.5 MW cm −2 . The activation energy of the stable donor centre is ∼1.1 eV.