Publications related to Silaffins in Silica Biomineralization and Biomimetic Silica Precipitation

Additive Manufacturing of Bioinspired Mineral-Based Composites

Biominerals are used by natural organisms for example as structural supports and optical sensors. They are produced from a limited number of elements and under ambient conditions. Nevertheless, they often possess excellent mechanical properties and sometim ...

EPFL2024

Modulating the Surface Properties of Lithium Niobate Nanoparticles by Multifunctional Coatings Using Water-in-Oil Microemulsions

Sandrine Gerber, Alessandra Spada, Adrian Stefan Gheata, Manon Inès Noëlla Wittwer

Inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) have emerged as promising tools in biomedical applications, owing to their inherent physicochemical properties and their ease of functionalization. In all potential applications, the surface functionalization strategy is a key ...

2023

High-Density Immobilization of TCEP on Silica Beads for Efficient Disulfide Reduction and Thiol Alkylation in Peptides

Christian Heinis

Tris-(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP) linked to agarose beads is widely used for reducing disulfide bridges in proteins and peptides. The immobilization of TCEP on beads allows efficient removal after reduction to prevent its reaction with alkylating reage ...

2023

Abnormal temperature dependent elastic properties of fused silica irradiated by ultrafast lasers

Yves Bellouard, Pieter Vlugter

Materials with thermal-invariant elastic properties are of interest for resonant device frequency and dimensional stability of precision devices. Here, we demonstrate that the temperature coefficient of elasticity (TCE) of amorphous silica can be locally r ...

2022

Effect of different ions on dissolution rates of silica and feldspars at high pH

Karen Scrivener, Barbara Lothenbach, Mahsa Bagheri, Mahdieh Shakoorioskooie

The dissolution kinetics of silica-containing minerals in aggregates influences strongly the process of ASR in concrete. In this paper, the effect of different ions on the dissolution rates of SiO2 (amorphous and quartz) and feldspars at high pH values was ...

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2022

Effect of alkali, aluminium and equilibration time on calcium-silicate-hydrates

Yu Yan

Calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) is the main hydration product in Portland and blended cements, and greatly affects durability and mechanical properties of the hydrated cement. In the presence of Al-rich supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), C-(A-)S ...

EPFL2022

Effect of alkali hydroxide on calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H)

Karen Scrivener, Barbara Lothenbach, Yu Yan, Émilie Michèle L'Hôpital, Sheng-Yu Yang

This paper investigates the effect of KOH and NaOH on C-S-H structure and solubility. Both KOH and NaOH have a similar effect, they increase pH values and silicon concentrations, and decrease calcium concentrations. At higher alkali hydroxide concentration ...

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2022

Strong silicon oxide inclusions in iron

Andreas Mortensen, Léa Deillon, Alejandra Inés Slagter, Joris Pierre Everaerts

Oxide inclusions are ubiquitous in steel and are known to affect, generally in a negative sense, the mechanical performance of steel products. Micromechanical properties of those phases are therefore important, yet they have remained largely unexplored. We ...

2022

Efficient Meso-Scale Modeling of Alkali-Silica-Reaction Damage in Concrete

Ali Falsafi

The alkali-silica reaction (ASR), also known as concrete cancer, is one of the most prevalent causes of concrete degradation. In this chemical reaction, amorphous silica in the aggregates reacts with alkalis in the pore solution. By absorbing water, hydrop ...

EPFL2022

Grafting of Alkali Metals on Fumed Silica for the Catalytic Dehydrogenation of Methanol to Formaldehyde

Oliver Kröcher, Alimohammad Bahmanpour, Christophe Jean Baranowski, Jack Brandon

Water free, non-oxidative catalytic dehydrogenation of methanol to formaldehyde is an important process for the formation of anhydrous, molecular formaldehyde (FA). Sodium or sodium-containing salts were shown to catalyze the reaction, but their reaction m ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag2021