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Porcar, L.

Publications and source records attributed to Porcar, L..

11 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

Small-angle neutron scattering and molecular dynamics structural study of gelling DNA nanostars

DNA oligomers with properly designed sequences self-assemble into well defined constructs. Here, we exploit this methodology to produce bulk quantities of tetravalent DNA nanostars (each one composed of 196 nucleotides) and to explore the structural signatures of their aggregation process. We report small-angle neutron scattering experiments focused on the evaluation of both the form factor and the temperature evolution of the scattered intensity at a nanostar concentration where the system forms a tetravalent equilibrium gel. We also perform molecular dynamics simulations of one isolated tetramer to evaluate the form factor numerically, without resorting to any approximate shape. The numerical form factor is found to be in very good agreement with the experimental one. Simulations predict an essentially temperature-independent form factor, offering the possibility to extract the effective structure factor and its evolution during the equilibrium gelation.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Annealing effect on the magnetic induced austenite transformation in polycrystalline freestanding Ni-Co-Mn-In films produced by co-sputtering

Ni-Co-Mn-In freestanding films, with a magneto-structural transformation at room temperature were successfully produced by co-sputtering and post-annealing methods leading to film composition mastering. For a post-annealing temperature of 700 °C, the phase transformation occurs slightly above room temperature, with a twisted martensitic microstructure phase observed at 300 K by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy. Magnetization measurements on a polycrystalline film showed a phase transformation from a weakly magnetic martensite to a magnetic austenite phase. Moreover, an inverse magnetocaloric effect with an entropy variation of 4 J/kg K under 5 T was also measured. A simple magneto-actuation experiment based on the magnetic induced austenite transformation was also successfully completed. The possibility to insert such films in microsystems is clearly demonstrated in this work.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Influence of Molecular Solvation on the Conformation of Star Polymers

We have used neutron scattering to investigate the influence of concentration on the conformation of a star polymer. By varying the contrast between the solvent and isotopically labeled stars, we obtain the distributions of polymer and solvent within a star polymer from analysis of scattering data. A correlation between the local desolvation and the inward folding of star branches is discovered. From the perspective of thermodynamics, we find an analogy between the mechanism of polymer localization driven by solvent depletion and that of the hydrophobic collapse of polymers in solutions.

Li, Xin↗
DOE OSTI2014

Dynamical Threshold of Diluteness of Soft Colloids

The dynamics of soft colloids in solutions is characterized by internal collective motion as well as center-of-mass diffusion. Using neutron scattering we demonstrate that the competition between the relaxation processes associated with these two degrees of freedom results in strong dependence of dynamics and structure on colloid concentration, c, well below the overlap concentration c*. Triggered by the increasing inter-particle collisions, substantial structural dehydration and slowing-down of internal dynamics occurs before geometrically defined colloidal overlap develops. This observation is surprising since it is generally believed that the internal dynamics and conformation of soft colloidal particles essentially remain invariant below c*. The competition between these two relaxation processes gives rise to a new dynamically-defined dilute threshold concentration well below c*.

Chen, Wei-Ren↗
DOE OSTI2012

Molecular dynamics and neutron scattering study of the dependence of polyelectrolyte dendrimer conformation on counterion behavior

Atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and contrast variation small angle neutron scattering (SANS) technique have been used to investigate the generation-5 (G5) polyelectrolyte polyamidoamine (PAMAM) starburst dendrimer with respect to its conformational dependence on counterion behavior at different levels of molecular charge. Satisfactory agreement is seen between the simulated results, such as the excess intra-dendrimer scattering length density (SLD) distribution and hydration level, and their experimental counterparts. The conformational evolution of charged dendrimer appears to be highly dependent on the association behavior of counterion. We explore the nature of the distribution of counterions around charged amines and qualitatively account for its sensitivity to the counterion valency on the difference of excess free energy. Moreover, via extending the concept of electrical double layer for compact charged colloids, we define an effective radius of charged dendrimer based on the spatial distribution of counterions in its vicinity. Within the same framework, the correlation between the strength of intra-dendrimer electrostatic repulsion and counterion valency and dynamics is also addressed.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Conformational effect on small angle neutron scattering behavior of interacting polyelectrolyte solutions: a perspective of integral equation theory

We present small angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements of deuterium oxide (D2O) solutions of linear and star sodium poly(styrene sulfonate) (NaPSS) as a function of polyelectrolyte concentration. Emphasis is on understanding the dependence of their SANS coherent scattering cross section I(Q) on the molecular architecture of single polyelectrolyte. The key finding is that for a given concentration, star polyelectrolytes exhibit more pronounced characteristic peaks in I(Q), and the position of the first peak occurs at a smaller Q compared to their linear counterparts. Based on a model of integral equation theory, we first compare the SANS experimental I(Q) of salt free polyelectrolyte solutions with that predicted theoretically. Having seen their satisfactory qualitative agreement, the dependence of counterion association behavior on polyelectrolyte geometry and concentration is further explored. Our predictions reveal that the ionic environment of polyelectrolyte exhibits a strong dependence on polyelectrolyte geometry at lower polyelectrolyte concentration. However, when both linear and star polyelectrolytes exceed their overlap concentrations, the spatial distribution of counterion is found to be essentially insensitive to polyelectrolyte geometry due to the steric effect.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2012

The Structural Response of Polyelectrolyte Dendrimer toward the Molecular Protonation: The Inconsistence Revealed by SANS and NMR

Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers and their charged state in deuterium oxide have been investigated with diffusion NMR and small angle neutron scattering (SANS) techniques. NMR measurement suggests that, upon increasing the molecular protonation by progressive acidification of solutions, significant variation of hydrodynamic radius, calculated by the Stokes-Einstein relation with given surface condition, is observed upon increasing the molecular protonation. However, comparative SANS experiment indicates little dependence of dendrimer global size, in terms of radius of gyration, on molecular protonation. This observed inconsistence indicates the necessity of incorporating the effect of molecular interface modification by dressed counterion, when dynamical measurements are used for determination the structural characteristics of ionic soft colloids even in a dilute enough suspension.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2012

Identifying monomer phases and cluster phases in lysozyme solutions by studying the temperature dependence of the short-time dynamics

Recently experiments that combine both small angle neutron scattering (SANS) and Neutron Spin Echo (NSE) have demonstrated that dynamic clusters can form in concentrated lysozyme solutions when there is a right combination of a short-ranged attraction and a long-ranged electrostatic repulsion. In this paper, we study the temperature effect on the dynamic cluster formation and try to pinpoint the transition concentration from a monomer phase to a cluster phase. Interestingly at even a relatively high concentration (10 % mass fraction), despite the significant change of the SANS patterns that are associated with the change of the short-ranged attraction among proteins, the normalized short-time self-diffusion coefficient is not affected. This is interpreted due to the fact that there is no cluster formation at this condition. However, at larger concentrations such as 17.5 % and 22.5 % mass fraction, we show that the average hydrodynamic radius increase significantly and causes a large decrease of the normalized self-diffusion coefficient when the temperature is changed from 25 oC to 5 oC indicating the formation of dynamic clusters in solution.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2011

Lysozyme Protein Solution with an Intermediate Range Order Structure

The formation of equilibrium clusters has been studied in both a prototypical colloidal system and protein solutions. The appearance of a low-Q correlation peak in small angle scattering patterns of lysozyme solution was attributed to the cluster-cluster correlation. Consequently, the presence of long-lived clusters has been established. By quantitatively analyzing both the SANS (small angle neutron scattering) and NSE (neutron spin echo) data of lysozyme solution using statistical mechanics models, we conclusively show in this paper that the appearance of a low-Q peak is not a signature of the formation of clusters. Rather, it is due to the formation of an intermediate range order structure governed by a short-range attraction and a long-range repulsion. We have further studied dynamic features of a sample with high enough concentration at which clusters are formed in solution. From the estimation of the mean square displacement by using short-time and long-time diffusion coefficient measured by NSE and NMR, we find that these clusters are not permanent but have a finite lifetime longer than the time required to diffuse over a distance of a monomer diameter.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2011

Evolution of Microstructure in a Nickel-based Superalloy as a Function of Ageing Time

An experimental investigation, combining synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction, small-angle neutron-scattering, and transmission electron microscopy, has been undertaken to study the microstructure of nanoprecipitates in a nickel-based superalloy. Upon increasing the ageing time during a heat-treatment process, the average size of the precipitates first decreases before changing to a monotonical growth stage. Possible reasons for this observed structural evolution, which is predicted thermodynamically, are suggested.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗