Well-defined hybrid nanodiscs were produced by employing bicelle formation of a binary lipid mixture in water. The resulting nanoparticles have a lipid bilayer coated with ceramic layers, which are formed by the sol-gel reaction among the alkoxysilyl headgroups of the hybrid lipid. The hybrid bicelles displayed significant morphological stability against dry environments and surfactant addition, in stark contrast to conventional phospholipid bicelles.

b-Carotene is a member of the carotenoid family and is a red-orange pigment abundantly present in many vegetables and fruits. As an antioxidant, it eliminates excessive reactive oxygen species generated in the body. Accordingly, it has potential to be used in the pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic industries. b-Carotene has a very low water solubility and low bioavailability; thus, there is a need to develop techniques to overcome these issues. In this study, we aimed to enhance the water solubility of b-carotene by using hot-melt technology, a type of solid dispersions technology. When preparing b-carotene solid dispersion using this method, suitable conditions for the emulsifiers and mixing ratios were investigated using water solubility as an index. Setting the weight ratio of bcarotene:polyvinylpyrrolidone:sucrose fatty acid ester to 10%:70%:20% resulted in the poorly-water soluble b-carotene showing improved water solubility (120 lg/mL). The physicochemical properties of the optimized b-carotene solid dispersion were analyzed using field emission scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and powder X-ray diffraction. The solid dispersion was found to have an amorphous structure. The improved solubility observed for b-carotene in the solid dispersions developed in this work may make these dispersions useful as additives in foods or in nutraceutical formulations. Keywords b-Carotene Á Emulsifier Á Water solubility Á Hot-melt technology Á Solid dispersion Á Amorphous Kenji Ishimoto and Shohei Miki have contributed equally to this work.

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Not applicable *Consent to participate -(include appropriate consent statements) Not applicable *Consent for publication -(appropriate statements regarding publishing an individual's data or image) Not applicable *Availability of data and material -(data transparency)The datasets during and/or analysed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

The passivation properties and band structures in aluminum oxide (AlOx) deposited by ozone-based atomic layer deposition (ALD) at room temperature on p-type crystalline silicon were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The effective carrier lifetime depends on the thickness of AlOx films, since the field effects induced in the films by fixed charges depend on film thickness. The fixed charges are different by two orders of magnitude between films with thicknesses of 10 and 30 nm. At the 30-nm-thick AlOx/Si interface, the completely accumulated band bending of the Si surface was observed. On the other hand, a thin depletion layer was formed at the 10-nm-thick AlOx/Si interface. From the time-dependent XPS measurements, a hole trap was observed toward AlOx, in which trapping centers existed.

We studied the structure of ozone-based atomic layer deposited aluminium oxide (AlO x ) films as a passivation layer for p-type crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells and focused on the differences in the structure by the production conditions of AlO x films. Carbon (C)-related groups such as methyl, hydroxyl, and carboxyl groups which originate from the aluminium source, trimethylaluminium, were only found in the AlO x film deposited at room temperature (RT-sample). By post-deposition thermal annealing (PDA), the C-related groups were desorbed from the film and a part of their space remained as voids. The C-related groups were not found in the films deposited at 200 or 300 °C (heated-samples) since they were desorbed during the deposition. Even though C-related groups did not exist in the both RT- and heated-samples after PDA, the structure of the AlO x film of the RT-sample was different from that of the heated-sample.