Strength, stiffness, strain at fracture and moisture content of onion skins were measured after incubation at a range of humidities. Higher relative humidity (RH) resulted in skins which had greater moisture content, were stronger in multi-directional tests and which were less stiff. In uni-directional tests, skins incubated at higher RH had extended more at fracture than those incubated at low...

Mesoporous silicon (PSi) microcavities (MC) based on one-dimensional photonic crystals have been studied as optical sensors for relative humidity (RH). Oxidized PSi modified the structure of the MC such that the spectral position of the MC resonance peak depended on the humidity. A spectral shift of the MC resonance peak of up to 6 nm to longer wavelengths was observed as the RH increased from ...

The photocycle of the blue-light photoreceptor protein Photoactive Yellow Protein (PYP) was studied at reduced relative humidity (RH). Photocycle kinetics and spectra were measured in thin films of PYP in which the relative humidity was set at values between 29 and 98% RH with saturated solutions of various salts. We show that in this range, approximately 200 water molecules per PYP molecule ar...

State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an 710075, China State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China Key Laboratory of Regional Climate-Environment for Temperate East Asia, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of S...

Herein, we report on molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for detecting formaldehyde vapors in air streams. A copolymer thin film consisting of styrene, methacrylic acid, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate on quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) yielded a detection limit of 500 ppb formaldehyde in dry air. Surprisingly, these MIPs showed specific behavior when tested against a range of volatile o...

We successfully prepared Au-nanoparticle-decorated ZnS (ZnS-Au) spheres by sputtering Au ultrathin films on surfaces of hydrothermally synthesized ZnS spheres and subsequently postannealed the samples in a high-vacuum atmosphere. The Au nanoparticles were distributed on ZnS surfaces without substantial aggregation. The Au nanoparticle diameter range was 5 to 10 nm. Structural information showed...

This study was undertaken to evaluate the Physico-chemical properties of eight different types of biomass feedstock and their briquettes were studied among that some properties which are influence their storage and combustion properties like Equilibrium moisture content (EMC %) and Relative humidity (%). Equilibrium moisture content are found out by static equilibrium technique using aqueous gl...

In this study, we have designed a compact sample chamber that can achieve accurate and continuous control of the relative humidity (RH) in the vicinity of 100%. A 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) multilayer can be used as a humidity sensor by measuring its inter-layer repeat distance (d-spacing) via X-ray diffraction. We convert from DOPC d-spacing to RH according to a theory giv...