As for other multivalent systems, the interface between the calcium (Ca) metal anode and the electrolyte is of paramount importance for reversible plating/stripping. Here, we combined experimental and theoretical approaches...

The high-pressure (HP) behavior of Fe­(IO3)3 was studied up to 35 GPa using powder X-ray diffraction, infrared micro-spectroscopy, and ab initio density-functional theory calculations. Fe­(IO3)3 shows a pressure-induced structural phase transition at 15–22 GPa. Powder X-ray diffraction was employed to obtain the structure of the HP phase. This phase can be described by the same space group (P63) as the low-pressure phase but with a substantial different c/a ratio. This conclusion is supported by our computational simulations. The discovered phase transition involves a large volume collapse and a change in the coordination polyhedron of iodine, being a first-order transition. It also produces substantial changes in the infrared and Raman vibrational spectra. The pressure dependences of infrared and Raman phonon frequencies and unit-cell parameters have been obtained. A mode assignment is proposed for phonons based upon ab initio calculations. The bulk modulus of the two phases was obtained by fitting a Birch–Murnaghan equation of state to synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data resulting in B 0 = 55(2) GPa for the low-pressure phase and B 0 = 73(9) GPa for the HP phase. Calculations gave B 0 = 36(1) GPa and B 0 = 48(3) GPa for the same phases, respectively. The results are compared with other iodates, in particular LiIO3, for which we have also performed density-functional theory calculations. A possible mechanism driving the observed phase transition will be discussed.

Over the last few years, there has been an increased interest in the study of stem cells in biomedicine for therapeutic use and as a source for healing diseased or injured organs/tissues. More recently, vibrational spectroscopy has been applied to study stem cell differentiation. In this study, we have used both synchrotron based FTIR and Raman microspectroscopies to assess possible differences between human pluripotent (embryonic) and multipotent (adult mesenchymal) stem cells, and how O(2) concentration in cell culture could affect the spectral signatures of these cells. Our work shows that infrared spectroscopy of embryonic (pluripotent) and adult mesenchymal (multipotent) stem cells have different spectral signatures based on the amount of lipids in their cytoplasm (confirmed with cytological staining). Furthermore, O(2) concentration in cell culture causes changes in both the FTIR and Raman spectra of embryonic stem cells. These results show that embryonic stem cells might be more sensitive to O(2) concentration when compared to mesenchymal stem cells. While vibrational spectroscopy could therefore be of potential use in identifying different populations of stem cells further work is required to better understand these differences.

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