Normal mode assignments in vitreous silica, germania and beryllium fluoride

Application of bone marrow and adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells for testing the biocompatibility of metal-based biomaterials functionalized with ascorbic acid

In this study, metal-based biomaterials were functionalized with ascorbic acid (LAA). Two types of substrates were used: austenitic steel 316L and titanium Ti6Al4V. Coatings were prepared with the sol-gel method and applied on metal surfaces using the dip-coating technique. Ascorbic acid was delivered with SiO2-coating at concentrations of 0.1 and 0.4 M. The morphology of the surfaces and coatings was determined using scanning electron microscope (SEM), whereas their elemental composition by SEM-EDX. Immobilization of ascorbic acid in the coatings was confirmed with Raman spectroscopy. The biocompatibility of the materials obtained was tested in vitro using both bone marrow- and adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSC and ADMSC, respectively). Proliferation rate and morphology of cells cultured in the presence of designed biomaterials were monitored after 24, 48, 120 and 168 h of propagation. The results obtained indicated that silica coatings doped with 0.4 M LAA had a positive effect on the proliferation rate of investigated cells, and in some cases on the growth pattern of culture.

Effect of Packing on Formation of Deep Carrier Traps in Amorphous Conjugated Polymers

We theoretically investigate the role of conformational disorder and intermolecular interactions on the localization properties of electronic states, leading to the formation of carrier traps in amorphous aggregates of conjugated polymers. Samples of amorphous conformations of poly(p-phenylene vinylene) (PPV), poly2-methoxy-5-(2-ethyl-hexyloxy)PPV (MEH-PPV), and [poly-(9,9'-dioctyluorene)] (PFO) oligomers are simulated by classical molecular dynamics, while their electronic structure is calculated using first-principles density functional theory. Localization and delocalization properties of molecular orbitals are studied based on the participation ratio analysis, an approach commonly used in inorganic semiconductors. Our simulations confirm that the alkyl side chains insignificantly affect the conformational disorder in amorphous polymers while having a dramatic effect on the intermolecular disorder and packing. The nature of the disorder and its impact on charge-carrier localization in amorphous polymers with alkyl side chains differ drastically from those of disordered polymers without side chains, such as PPVs. Thus, long-range intermolecular interactions and sparse packing are responsible for the formation of multiple, deep, highly localized trap states in amorphous MEH-PPVs and PFOs, while close packing in combination with conformational disorder leads to the trap states distributed mostly near the bandgap edges in PPV aggregates.

Mixed Wannier-Bloch functions for electrons and phonons in periodic systems

We introduce mixed Wannier-Bloch functions for studying electronic and vibrational spectra of periodic systems. These functions carry both spatial localization and limited spectral broadening, thereby combining the advantages of descriptions based on energy eigenstates (Bloch states) and position eigenstates (Wannier states). For the analysis of vibrational modes, a lattice position operator is introduced, analogous to the electronic Berry-phase position operator. Application to vitreous SiO2 demonstrates that mixed Wannier-Bloch functions constitute a powerful tool for tracking fingerprints of short- and medium-range structural order in electronic and vibrational spectra.

Hyper-raman scattering observation of the boson peak in vitreous silica

Hyper-Raman spectroscopy is used to investigate low frequency vibrations of various silica glasses. A strong boson peak is observed. The corresponding modes are inactive in infrared and Raman spectra, and are nonacoustic in nature. The shape of this boson peak essentially matches the total density of vibrational states (DOS), with a constant coupling coefficient C. This and other indications suggest that these modes actually dominate the DOS of silica.