Analysis of naturally-generated corrosion products due to chlorides in 20-year old reinforced concrete: An elastic modulus-mineralogy characterization

The elastic modulus of corrosion product (Ecp) has been reported with significant variations in the literature. This study aims to investigate the Ecp of naturally-generated chloride-induced corrosion products formed in different concrete mixes. Microstructural characterization was conducted through nano-indentation, electron microscopy and...

Nanostructured dielectric surfaces for Raman spectroscopy: Design and thermal analysis

In this paper, an all-dielectric metasurface for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is presented. The proposed design constitutes of an array of silicon (Si) dimers on top of thin film of silicon nitride (SiN), deposited on a glass substrate. The coupling mechanism between the dimers is based on two orthogonal guided waves in the SiN...

Nonresonant Raman spectroscopy of isolated human retina samples complying with laser safety regulations for in vivo measurements

Retinal diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration, are leading causes of vision impairment, increasing in incidence worldwide due to an aging society. If diagnosed early, most cases could be prevented. In contrast to standard ophthalmic diagnostic tools, Raman spectroscopy can provide a comprehensive overview of the biochemical...

Enhancement of oxygen evolution activity of nickel oxyhydroxide by electrolyte alkali cations

Herein, the effect of the alkali cation (Li+, Na+, K+, and Cs+) in alkaline electrolytes with and without Fe impurities is investigated for enhancing the activity of nickel oxyhydroxide (NiOOH) for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Cyclic voltammograms show that Fe impurities have a significant catalytic effect on OER activity; however, both...

Raman analysis of Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)2 absorbers obtained from atmospheric selenium-sulfur annealing of electrodeposited precursors

Two step atmospheric pressure processing of Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)2 absorbers is an industrially attractive technology to produce CIGS thin film modules. For this procedure, absorber sulfurization is required to increase the Voc and thus the efficiency of the solar cells. Raman spectroscopy was used to qualitatively identify the presence of sulfur on...

Raman Spectroscopy as a Promising Tool for Noninvasive Point-of-Care Glucose Monitoring

Self-monitoring of glucose is important for managing diabetes. Noninvasive glucose monitors are not yet available, but patients would benefit highly from such a device. We present results that may lead to a novel, point-of-care noninvasive system to measure blood glucose based on Raman spectroscopy. A hospitalized cohort of 111 subjects was...

Kinetics of laser-assisted carbon nanotube growth

Laser-assisted chemical vapour deposition (CVD) growth is an attractive mask-less process for growing locally aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in selected places on temperature sensitive substrates. The nature of the localized process results in fast carbon nanotube growth with high experimental throughput. Here, we report on the detailed...

Nanoparticle detection in aqueous solutions using Raman and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

We show the chemical identification and quantification of the concentration and size of nanoparticle (NP) dispersions in aqueous solutions by using a combination of Raman Spectroscopy and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS). The two spectroscopic techniques are applied to demonstrate the NP detection for off-line configuration. The...

Kinetic measurements and in situ Raman spectroscopy study of the formation of TBAF semi-hydrates with hydrogen and carbon dioxide

The kinetics of formation of semi-clathrate hydrates of tetra n-butyl ammonium fluoride (TBAF) with hydrogen (H2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) were studied in order to elucidate their potential for H 2 storage as well as for CO2 sequestration. The influence of pressure, TBAF concentration (1.8 mol% and 3.4 mol%) and formation method (T-cycle method...

Kinetics measurements and in situ Raman spectroscopy of formation of hydrogen-tetrabutylammonium bromide semi-hydrates

The kinetics of formation of H2-TBAB semi-clathrate hydrates was studied in this work in order to elucidate their potential for H2 storage. The influence of pressure (5-16 MPa), TBAB concentration (2.6 mol% and 3.7 mol%) and formation method (T-cycle method and T-constant method) on the hydrate nucleation, hydrate growth and H2 storage capacity...

Thin-film morphology of inkjet-printed single-droplet organic transistors using polarized Raman spectroscopy: Effect of blending TIPS-pentacene with insulating polymer

We report thin-film morphology studies of inkjet-printed single-droplet organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) using angle-dependent polarized Raman spectroscopy. We show this to be an effective technique to determine the degree of molecular order as well as to spatially resolve the orientation of the conjugated backbones of the 6,13-bis...

Moon4You: A first Dutch footprint on the moon

Moon4You is an initiative led by the Dutch Organisation for Applied Scientific Research TNO, with partners from industry and universities in the Netherlands that aims to provide a combined Raman/LIBS instrument as scientific payload for lunar exploration missions, and specifically for Odyssey Moon's MoonOne mission, slated for launch in the...

Moon4You: a combined Raman/LIBS instrument for lunar exploration

Moon4You is a project led by the Dutch Organisation for Applied Scientific Research TNO, with partners from industry and universities in the Netherlands that aims to provide a combined Raman/LIBS instrument as scientific payload for lunar exploration missions. It is the first time that Raman spectroscopy and LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown...

Combined Raman/LIBS spectrometer elegant breadboard - built and tested - and flight model spectrometer unit

Combined Raman spectrometer/laser-induced breakdown spectrometer for the next ESA mission to Mars

Among the different instruments that have been pre-selected to be on-board the Pasteur payload on ExoMars is the Raman/laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument. Raman spectroscopy and LIBS will be integrated into a single instrument sharing many hardware commonalities. An international team under the lead of TNO has been gathered...

Combined raman spectrometer/laser-induced breakdown spectrometer design concept

Amongst the different instruments that have been preselected to be on-board the Pasteur payload on ExoMars is the Raman/ Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument. Raman spectroscopy and LIBS will be integrated into a single instrument sharing many hardware commonalities. An international team under the lead of TNO has been gathered...

Raman spectroscopy for quantifying cholesterol in intact coronary artery wall

The chemical composition of vascular lesions, an important determinant of plaque progression and rupture, can not presently be determined in vivo. Prior studies have shown that Raman spectroscopy can accurately quantify the amounts of major lipid classes and calcium salts in homogenized coronary artery tissue. This study determines how the...