An anthracene oil-based pitch, supplied by Industrial Química del Nalón, S.A was used as carbon matrix precursor (softening point of 112oC; elemental analysis: C: 93.6 %, H: 4.4 %, N, 1.0 %, S, 0.5% and O, 0.5%). The iron oxide nanoparticles were obtained following different procedures: (i) toluene reflux of Fe(CO)5 with Pluronic P127 in the presence of H2 [1]; (ii) treatment of a mixture of Fe...

Ridge and buried channel waveguides were fabricated on different substrates such as SiO2-on-Si, Si, glass wafers and Printed Circuit Boards by a sol-gel processing together with a photolithography process using photopatternable hybrid sol-gel materials. Thick sol-gel films of up to 100 microns were developed using a modified sol-gel process and ridge waveguides with vertical smooth sidewalls we...

An attenuated total reflection (ATR) sensor for water-miscible organic solvents was constructed using a combination of sol-gel processing and integrated optical waveguide (IOW) technologies. The sensor consisted of single-mode, sol-gel based planar waveguide coated with a 40 nm thick, porous sol-gel indicator layer prepared from methyltriethoxysilane and doped with methyl red. The response of t...

Sol-gel transition in aqueous DNA solutions was probed to determine the gelation time tgel and temperature Tgel. It was remarkable to observe that Tgel linearly increased from 36 to 57°C and tgel decreased from 700 to 350 s with increase in DNA concentration. The hydrogels were studied by using small angle neutron scattering (SANS) ([DNA]≤ 3 %(w/v)) to determine the underlying hierarchy of leng...

Nanocomposite of ZrO2/ZnO was prepared under ultrasonic irradiation by sol gel process from directly mixing Zirconium and Zinc gels, and the mixture was placed under ultrasonic irradiation for 2 hours then aging time the filtrated composite gel was calcinated at 500°C for 3h in furnace. The precursor sol of zirconium was prepared from an aqueous solution of ZrCl4 and zinc acetate dihydrated was...

Two-typed (3-mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane-based networks which had been used to fabricate biosensors were prepared on Au substrates by two methods: layer-by-layer assembly, and the combination of sol-gel and self-assembly process. The formation mechanism and their surface properties, as well as stabilities were examined by cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and X-ray...

An all-aqueous sol-gel method for encapsulation of bacterial cells in porous silicate matrices towards the development of a biosensor is described. The sol-gel encapsulation of cells is achieved at room temperature and neutral pH. Furthermore, use of sodium silicate as precursor avoids generation of alcohol that can be detrimental to cells in contrast to the traditional alkoxide sol-gel encapsu...