Monthly Archives: September 2019

News & Events

Second Day MNE 2019

It is the second day of #MNE2019. Have you already had a chance to meet our CEO Manfred Detterbeck there and discuss the many applications that are possible using our #AFMprobes for #AtomicForceMicroscopy?

Manfred Detterbeck is attending the 45th International Conference on
Micro & Nano Engineering this week. You too?
Science & Technology

Nonlinear Biomechanical Characteristics of Deep Deformation of Native RBC Membranes in Normal State and under Modifier Action

The mechanical properties and structural organization of membranes determine the functional state of red blood cells (RBCs). Deformability is one of the key physiological and biophysical indicators of RBC. Changes of the mechanical characteristics of cell membranes can lead to a decrease in the rate of capillary blood flow and to development of stagnant phenomena in the microcirculation, and it can also reduce the amount of oxygen delivered to the tissues.*

In the article “Nonlinear Biomechanical Characteristics of Deep Deformation of Native RBC Membranes in Normal State and under Modifier Action” Elena Kozlova, Aleksandr Chernysh, Ekaterina Manchenko, Viktoria Sergunova and Viktor Moroz describe how they evaluated the ability of membranes of native human red blood cells (RBCs) to bend into the cell to a depth comparable in size with physiological deformations using the methods of atomic force microscopy ( AFM ) and atomic force spectroscopy ( AFS ).*

As a true estimation of the elastic properties of RBC membranes can be obtained only by measurement of native cell properties the aim of the experiments was to study nonlinear mechanical characteristics of deep deformation of native RBC membranes in normal state and under the action of modifiers, in vitro to make sure that the result would be the closest to the characteristics of a living biological object.*

NANOSENSORS™ rounded AFM tips of the type SD-R150-T3L450B with a typical tip radius of 150 nm from the NANOSENSORS Special Developments List were used to measure the deformation of the RBC membrane by atomic force spectroscopy ( AFS ).*


Figure 5.2. (c) from “Nonlinear Biomechanical Characteristics of Deep Deformation of Native RBC Membranes in Normal State and under Modifier Action “ by Elena Kozlova et al.:
 Bending of membranes under the action of force F for stiff (1) and soft (2) membranes; F is the force acting on the membrane from the probe, Z is the vertical displacement of the piezoscanner, h is the depth of the membrane bending into RBC, PBS is the phosphate buffer solution, and rd is the bending radius of the membrane.

*Elena Kozlova, Aleksandr Chernysh, Ekaterina Manchenko, Viktoria Sergunova, and Viktor Moroz
Nonlinear Biomechanical Characteristics of Deep Deformation of Native RBC Membranes in Normal State and under Modifier Action
Scanning, Volume 2018, Article ID 1810585, 13 pages
Doi: https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/1810585

Please follow this external link to read the full article: https://www.hindawi.com/journals/scanning/2018/1810585/

Open Access The article « Nonlinear Biomechanical Characteristics of Deep Deformation of Native RBC Membranes in Normal State and under Modifier Action ” by Elena Kozlova, Aleksandr Chernysh, Ekaterina Manchenko, Viktoria Sergunova, and Viktor Moroz is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Science & Technology

Direct evidence for grain boundary passivation in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells through alkali-fluoride post-deposition treatments

The properties and performance of polycrystalline materials depend critically on the properties of their grain boundaries.*

In the article “Direct evidence for grain boundary passivation in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells through alkali-fluoride post-deposition treatments “ Nicoleta Nicoara, Roby Manaligod, Philip Jackson, Dimitrios Hariskos, Wolfram Witte, Giovanna Sozzi, Roberto Menozzi and Sascha Sadewasser investigate the direct evidence for grain boundary passivation in Cu(in,GA)Se2 solar cells through alkali-fluoride treatment. They present a KPFM study on the electronic GB properties in CIGSe deposited by co-evaporation and compare the effect of KF-, RbF-, and CsF-PDT.*

Their results suggest that heavier alkali elements might lead to better passivation by reducing the density of charged defects and increasing the formation of secondary phases at grain boundaries.*

The KPFM measurements for the study were carried out with platinum iridium coated NANOSENSORS™ PointProbe® Plus PPP-NCLPt AFM probes.*

Figure 1 from “Direct evidence for grain boundary passivation in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells through alkali-fluoride post-deposition treatments” by S. Sadewasser et al.: Representative KPFM results on annealed and rinsed AlkF-PDT CIGSe absorbers. From left to right the data correspond to KF-, RbF-, and CsF-PDT. a–c Topography images, d–f simultaneously acquired work function maps measured under dark conditions, and g histograms extracted from the work function maps; dashed lines indicate Gaussian fits and the bars with the numbers the spread at 1/e of the peak maximum
Figure 1 from “Direct evidence for grain boundary passivation in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells through alkali-fluoride post-deposition treatments” by S. Sadewasser et al.:
Representative KPFM results on annealed and rinsed AlkF-PDT CIGSe absorbers. From left to right the data correspond to KF-, RbF-, and CsF-PDT. a–c Topography images, d–f simultaneously acquired work function maps measured under dark conditions, and g histograms extracted from the work function maps; dashed lines indicate Gaussian fits and the bars with the numbers the spread at 1/e of the peak maximum

*Nicoleta Nicoara, Roby Manaligod, Philip Jackson, Dimitrios Hariskos, Wolfram Witte, Giovanna Sozzi, Roberto Menozzi, Sascha Sadewasser
Direct evidence for grain boundary passivation in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells through alkali-fluoride post-deposition treatments
Nature Communications, volume 10, Article number: 3980 (2019)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-11996-y

Please follow this external link to the full article: https://rdcu.be/bQMwq

Open Access The article « Direct evidence for grain boundary passivation in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells through alkali-fluoride post-deposition treatments” by Nicoleta Nicoara, Roby Manaligod, Philip Jackson, Dimitrios Hariskos, Wolfram Witte, Giovanna Sozzi, Roberto Menozzi and Sascha Sadewasser is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.