Due to the limited reaction rate of oxygen reduction (ORR), it is considered as a limiting factor in performance fuel cells and metal-air batteries. Platinum benchmark catalyst for ORR; however, scarcity platinum, its high price, drift phenomenon, insufficient durability, susceptibility gas poisoning are reasons constant search new ORR catalysts. Carbon-based catalysts show exceptional promise ...

Biopolymers, including extracellular matrix proteins and polysaccharides, are used as substrates for cell culture scaffolds in tissue engineering. Ionizing radiation, example with gamma rays or electron beams, is to sterilize materials modify the physical chemical properties of materials. The principles effect ionizing radiation on biopolymers discussed this review article. Among types beams wi...

Amanda Williams, University of South Carolina, 2012 SURF Fellow Advisor: Prof. Hamid Garmestani Graduate Mentor: Parisa Pooyan Introduction Many biopolymers in place today lack native biomechanical characteristics of the target tissue and are mechanically and thermally unstable. A suggested material to combat these issues is a composite material made of a biopolymer matrix with a reinforcing ag...

We provide a unified theory for the high force entropic elasticity of biopolymers solely in terms of the persistence length, ξp , and the monomer spacing, a. When the force f>ℱ h ~ kBTξp /a2 the biopolymers behave as freely jointed chains (FJCs) while in the range ℱ l ~ kBT/ξp <f<ℱ h the worm-like chain (WLC) is a better model. We show that ξp can be estimated from the force extension curve (FE...

The distribution of selected aromatic compounds and microbiology were assessed in superficial sediments from Suruí Mangrove, Guanabara Bay. Samples were collected at 23 stations, and particle size, organic matter, aromatic compounds, microbiology activity, biopolymers, and topography were determined. The concentration of aromatic compounds was distributed in patches over the entire mangrove, an...