Hagfish produce vast amounts of slime when under attack. The slime is the most dilute hydrogel known to date, and is a highly interesting material for biomaterial research. It forms from a glandular secrete, called exudate, which deploys upon contact with seawater. To study slime formation ex vivo and to characterize its material properties, stabilization of the sensitive slime exudate is cruci...

This work reports the preparation of a three-dimensional Si thin film negative electrode employing a porous Cu current collector. A previously reported copper etching procedure was modified to develop the porous structures inside a 9 μm thick copper foil. Magnetron sputtering was used for the deposition of an n-type doped 400 nm thick amorphous Si thin film. Electrochemical cycling of the prepa...

Quantitative mapping of metal ions freely diffusing in solution is important across a diverse range of disciplines and is particularly significant for dissolution processes in batteries, metal corrosion, and electroplating/polishing of manufactured components. However, most current techniques are invasive, requiring sample extraction, insertion of an electrode, application of an electric potent...

This paper describes the development of a microbial fuel cell (MFC) for electricity production from cellulose that is based on mixed culture of rumen bacteria in vitro. The fibrolytic bacteria isolated from rumen fluid were used in anode compartment of MFC, which can release glucose up to 15 g/L from carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). At the same time, the maximum power density of 100.60mWm was gen...

A thermally regenerative ammonia battery (TRAB) is a new approach for converting low-grade thermal energy into electricity by using an ammonia electrolyte and copper electrodes. TRAB operation at 72 °C produced a power density of 236 ± 8 Wm(-2), with a linear decrease in power to 95 ± 5 Wm(-2) at 23 °C. The improved power at higher temperatures was due to reduced electrode overpotentials and mo...

A rational integration of 1D metallic nanotubes and oxide nanoparticles has been demonstrated as a viable strategy for the production of both highly stable and efficient anodes for lithium ion batteries. We encapsulated copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles in ultra-long metallic copper nanotubes with engineered interspaces, and explored their electrochemical properties. Such a hierarchical architec...

What is Physarum? Physarum, or more precisely Physarum polycephalum, is an acellular slime mold, or myxogastrid. Myxogastrids are closely related to the cellular slime molds, or dictyostelids, including the well known Dictyostelium discoideum. Physarum is more distantly related to the protostelids (together these groups are discussed as the eumycetozoans, or ‘true’ slime molds) and very distant...

When hagfish (Myxinidae) are attacked by predators, they form a dilute, elastic, and cohesive defensive slime made of mucins and protein threads. In this study we propose a link between flow behavior and defense mechanism of hagfish slime. Oscillatory rheological measurements reveal that hagfish slime forms viscoelastic networks at low concentrations. Mucins alone did not contribute viscoelasti...

Dictyostelium discoideum is a cellular slime mold [4] that serves as an important model organism [5] in a variety of fields. Cellular slime molds have an unusual life cycle. They exist as separate amoebae, but after consuming all the bacteria in their area they proceed to stream together to form a multicellular organism. These features make them a valuable tool for studying developmental proces...

Slime factor production and antibiotic resistance of 67 Enterococcus faecalis strains isolated from chicken arthritis were investigated in this study. Slime factor productions of enterococci were found as 59.7%. The antibiotic resistances were investigated by testing gentamycin, penicillin, streptomycin, vancomycin, danofloxacin, and enrofloxacin. The resistance rates were found as 62.68%, 76.1...