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Initial Steps of Rubicene Film Growth on Silicon Dioxide.

ABSTRACT: The film growth of the conjugated organic molecule rubicene on silicon dioxide was studied in detail. Since no structural data of the condensed material were available, we first produced high quality single crystals from solution and determined the crystal structure. This high purity material was used to prepare ultrathin films under ultrahigh vacuum conditions, by physical vapor deposition. Thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) was applied to delineate the adsorption and desorption kinetics. It could be shown that the initial sticking coefficient is only 0.2 ± 0.05, but the sticking coefficient increases with increasing coverage. TDS further revealed that first a closed, weakly bound bilayer develops (wetting layer), which dewets after further deposition of rubicene, leading to an island-like layer. These islands are crystalline and exhibit the same structure as the solution grown crystals. The orientation of the crystallites is with the (001) plane parallel to the substrate. A dewetting of the closed bilayer was also observed when the film was exposed to air. Furthermore, Ostwald ripening of the island-like film takes place under ambient conditions, leading to films composed of few, large crystallites. From TDS, we determined the heat of evaporation from the multilayer islands to be 1.47 eV, whereas the desorption energy from the first layer is only 1.25 eV.

SUBMITTER: Scherwitzl B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3589099 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Cerium dioxide (CeO2) and silicon dioxide (SiO2) nanoparticles are of widespread use in modern life. This means that human beings are markedly exposed to them in their everyday life. Once passing biological barriers, these nanoparticles are expected to interact with endothelial cells, leading to systemic alterations with distinct influences on human health. In the present study we observed the metabolic impact of differently sized CeO2 (8 nm; 35 nm) and SiO2 nanoparticles (117 nm; 315 nm) on immortalized human microvascular (HMEC-1) and primary macrovascular endothelial cells (HUVEC), with particular focus on the CeO2 nanoparticles. The characterization of the CeO2 nanoparticles in cell culture media with varying serum content indicated a steric stabilization of nanoparticles due to interaction with proteins. After cellular uptake, the CeO2 nanoparticles were localized around the nucleus in a ring-shaped manner. The nanoparticles revealed concentration and time, but no size-dependent effects on the cellular adenosine triphosphate levels. HUVEC reacted more sensitively to CeO2 nanoparticle exposure than HMEC-1. This effect was also observed in relation to cytokine release after nanoparticle treatment. The CeO2 nanoparticles exhibited a specific impact on the release of diverse proteins. Namely, a slight trend towards pro-inflammatory effects, a slight pro-thrombotic impact, and an increase of reactive oxygen species after nanoparticle exposure were observed with increasing incubation time. For SiO2 nanoparticles, concentration- and time-dependent effects on the metabolic activity as well as pro-inflammatory reactions were detectable. In general, the effects of the investigated nanoparticles on endothelial cells were rather insignificant, since the alterations on the metabolic cell activity became visible at a nanoparticle concentration that is by far higher than those expected to occur in the in vivo situation (CeO2 nanoparticles: 100 µg/mL; SiO2 nanoparticles: 10 µg/mL).

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Initial Steps of Rubicene Film Growth on Silicon Dioxide.

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