Membrane thickness is thought to play a key role in protein function. Thus understanding the cell's ability to modulate the thickness of its membranes is essential in elucidating the structure/function relationship in biological membranes. We have investigated the influence of cholesterol on the structure of "thin" (diC14:1PC) and "thick" (diC22:1PC) phospholipid bilayers using oriented multibi...

Although neutron diffraction was first observed using radioactive decay sources shortly after the discovery of the neutron, it was only with the availability of higher intensity neutron beams from the first nuclear reactors, constructed as part of the Manhattan Project, that systematic investigation of Bragg scattering became possible. Remarkably, at a time when the war effort was singularly fo...

in this research, cobalt and nickel sulfide nanoparticles (nps) were grown on almcm-41 matrix by using ion exchange method. the prepared samples were irradiated by thermalized neutron that emitted from am-be source up to fluencies (7.9+e9n/cm2). after that, x-ray diffraction (xrd), uv-vis spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared (ftir), scanning electron microscopy (sem) and transmission electr...

Electrochemical reaction behavior of a commercial Li-ion battery (LiFePO4-based cathode, graphite-based anode) has been measured via in-situ neutron diffraction. Multivariate analysis was successfully applied to the neutron diffraction dataset facilitating in the determination of Li bearing phases participating in the electrochemical reaction in both the anode and cathode as a function of state...

The magnetic behavior of polycrystalline samples of Er(2)Ir(2)O(7) and Tb(2)Ir(2)O(7) pyrochlores is studied by magnetization measurements and neutron diffraction. Both compounds undergo a magnetic transition at 140 and 130 K, respectively, associated with an ordering of the Ir sublattice, signaled by thermomagnetic hysteresis. In Tb(2)Ir(2)O(7), we show that the Ir molecular field leads the Tb...

The detailed evolution of the magnitude of the local Jahn-Teller (JT) distortion in La(1-x)Ca(x)MnO3 is obtained across the phase diagram for 0< or =x< or =0.5 from high-quality neutron diffraction data using the atomic pair distribution function method. A local JT distortion is observed in the insulating phase for all Ca concentrations studied. However, in contrast with earlier local structure...

Using high resolution neutron diffraction and capacitance dilatometry we show that the thermal evolution of the helimagnetic state in CoMnSi is accompanied by a change in interatomic distances of up to 2%, the largest ever found in a metallic magnet. Our results and the picture of competing exchange and strongly anisotropic thermal expansion that we use to understand them sheds light on a new m...

Water-mediated bond formation: The structure of the peptide GPG-NH2 has been investigated in aqueous solution to understand the role of water in the formation of a β-turn. Using a combination of neutron diffraction enhanced by isotopic substitution, NMR spectroscopy, and computer simulations, it was found that water is an essential component to initiate folding in solution.

Globular molecules of 1-chloroadamantane form a plastic phase in which the molecules rotate in a restrained way, but with their centers of mass forming a crystalline ordered lattice. Plastic phases can be regarded as test cases for the study of disordered phases since, contrary to what happens in the liquid phase, there is a lack of stochastic translational degrees of freedom. When the temperat...

New BaMnPnF (Pn = As, Sb, Bi) are synthesized by stoichiometric reaction of elements with BaF₂. They crystallize in the P4/nmm space group, with the ZrCuSiAs-type structure, as indicated by X-ray crystallography. Electrical resistivity results indicate that Pn = As, Sb, and Bi are semiconductors with band gaps of 0.73 eV, 0.48 eV and 0.003 eV (extrinsic value), respectively. Powder neutron diff...