Membrane fouling persists to be among key obstacles in liquid membrane-based separation processes, and thereby the underlying understanding has actively been pursued. The two gaps attempted addressed here are namely, (i) internal fouling, which limited studies due limitations of instruments available; (ii) by mixtures oppositely charged particles, as an extension on effect surface charge pure f...

We report electrically controlled membranes which become permeable when an electrical field is exerted on a droplet deposited on the membrane. Micro-porous polycarbonate membranes are obtained with the breath-figures assembly technique, using micro-scaled stainless steel gauzes as supports. The membranes demonstrate pronounced Cassie-Baxter wetting. Air cushions trapped by the droplet prevent w...

AIM To identify the source of bisphenol A (BPA) [2,2'-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) propane] in cultures of an antibiotic-producing Bacillus sp. strain grown in polycarbonate flasks. METHODS AND RESULTS Although a culture of an antibiotic-producing Bacillus sp. strain grown in a new, rinsed polycarbonate flask yielded BPA, duplicate cultures grown in thoroughly washed polycarbonate flasks did not. Cel...

The electropermeabilization of biological cell membranes by the application of an external field occurs whenever an applied field exceeds a threshold value. For fields above this threshold value but less than another critical value, the pores formed in the membrane are transient or reversible. Several mechanisms have been proposed for the formation of these transient pores. Here we examine the ...

Polycarbonate composites are widely spread in many industries, for product manufacturing. Although these materials being used with high fidelity, their mechanical properties will highly depend on manufacturing processes, fiber orientations respect to external loads, type of loading, environmental conditions, and so forth. This paper presents the Charpy impact behavior three polycarbonate grades...

A combined scanning electrochemical-atomic force microscope (SECM-AFM) has been used to probe the diffusional transport of target electroactive solutes in isolated nanopores of a track-etched membrane. A polycarbonate membrane (100-nm-diam pore size) hydrated with an electrolyte solution, containing a redox-active probe molecule, such as IrCl6(3-) or Fe(phen)3(2+), functions as the model membra...

A new quantitative method for the study of tumor cell invasion in vitro is presented. It is intended to facilitate the study of the mechanisms of invasion using an isolated basement membrane without the involvement of stromal structures or using defined protein gels. Cells are allowed to migrate through the pores of a Nuclepore polycarbonate filter into a protein gel on a nitrocellulose filter,...

Bulk rhombohedral Bi at ambient pressure is a well-known semimetal, and its transition to a superconductor has not been observed, at least down to 50 mK. We report that, unlike bulk rhombohedral Bi, granular Bi nanowires with well-defined rhombohedral grains of approximately 10 nm diameter, fabricated by electrochemically depositing Bi into porous polycarbonate membranes at ambient pressure, ar...