Knowledge Articles

There are a number of quick and simple tests to determine the effectiveness of a particular plasma process upon a surface.

Oxygen Plasma Ashing for successful preparation of samples - Stable isotope ratio measurements, performed by mass spectrometry, can provide accurate information in a number of geoscience applications, including the reconstruction of past glacial/interglacial temperature variations for example.

Preparation of Nanoparticles - Recently published research in Nature Materials, by groups working at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Imperial College London and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory details advances in the development of organic semiconductor photocatalysts which could be used in solar panels to harness more of the sun’s energy than was previously possible.

Plasma Treatment of PDMS for improved adhesion/bonding performance of microfluidic devices – new application note available now.

Recently published research from scientists at Queen Mary University of London and GlaxoSmithKline demonstrates the complex nature of nanoscale adhesion mechanisms between polymeric biomaterials and biological samples.  Henniker’s HPT-200 plasma system is used in this work to provide the clean substrate surfaces (silicon and gold) onto which a variety of polymer brushes and self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) were synthesized.

Please find the abstract below;

TEM Sample Plasma Cleaning

Below, we examine the effectiveness of a Henniker Plasma Cleaner for holey carbon grid preparation used in TEM/SEM Microscopy. The work, summarised here, was completed using our HPT-100 Plasma Cleaning System with our Jeol TEM sample holder adapter.

This work shows the effectiveness of the plasma treatment capability of the Henniker Plasma cleaner at different times and power levels.

Recently, thin-film boiling, via the Leidenfrost effect, has been demonstrated as a promising concept for converting thermal energy to mechanical motion. In this 2019 published paper, the authors address two key challenges users face when working with Leidenfrost heat engine levitating rotors and their sustained rotation. Their aim, “to provide new opportunities for novel approaches for heat to motion conversion in extreme environments”.