Ultrasound is critical in many areas of medicine including obstetrics, oncology, and cardiology with emerging applications in regenerative medicine. However, one critical limitation of ultrasound is the low contrast of target tissue over background. Here, we describe a novel cup-shaped silica nanoparticle that is reminiscent of exosomes and that has significant ultrasound impedance mismatch for...

The synthesis of highly functionalized porous silica-carbon composites made up of sulphonic groups attached to a carbon layer coating the pores of three types of mesostructured silica (i.e. SBA-15, KIT-6 and mesocellular silica) is presented. The synthesis procedure involves the following steps: a) removal of the surfactant, b) impregnation of the silica pores with a carbon precursor, c) carbon...

The remarkable stability of particle-stabilized foams and the opportunity to use them for production of novel porous materials have been attracting the researchers' attention in the recent years. The major aim of the current study is to clarify the factors, controlling the foamability and stability of foams, formed from concentrated silica suspensions in the presence of the amphoteric surfactan...

Silica aerogels are frequently employed as solid desiccants in enthalpy wheels for dehumidifying the supply stream in air-conditioning systems. These desiccant materials possess good moisture adsorption and desorption characteristics due to their porous structure. Analysis of adsorption and desorption isotherms is critical for performance characterization and is often performed to evaluate the ...

A green, efficient and selective approach for the oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides and sulfones with UHP at room temperature is reported. The reaction is performed in the presence of vanadia catalyst supported on mesocellular silica foam (MCF) with a V content ranging from 2% to 10% as heterogeneous and reusable catalyst. The structural and textural characterization of this catalyst were don...

This article describes two atmosphere generation systems used for the production of replicas. The first, the Sputnic system, is based on the Sputnic air sampler developed by the National Institute of Occupational Health in Oslo (Norway). It is used to generate asbestos fibres or silica particles and allows the simultaneous production, by means of sampling on filters, of up to 114 replicas. The ...

In the recent past there has been a growing interest in switchable surfactants and stimuli-responsive surface-active particles, since both have surface activity which is either switchable or controllable and they can be recovered and re-used afterwards. Among various triggers the CO2/N2 trigger is particularly environmentally benign. In this paper a facile protocol to obtain switchable surface-...

The porous carbon matrix is widely recognized to be a promising sulfur reservoir to improve the cycle life by suppressing the polysulfide dissolution in lithium sulfur batteries (LSB). Herein, we synthesized mesocellular carbon foam (MSUF-C) with bimodal mesopore (4 and 30 nm) and large pore volume (1.72 cm2/g) using MSUF silica as a template and employed it as both the sulfur reservoir and the...