Single Molecule Investigation of Glycine-Chlorite Interaction by Cross-Correlated Scanning Probe Microscopy and Quantum Mechanics Simulations

Progress in the applications of atomic force microscope (AFM) for mineralogical research

Mineral surface properties and mineral-aqueous interfacial reactions are essential factors affecting the geochemical cycle, related environmental impacts, and bioavailability of chemical elements. Compared to macroscopic analytical instruments, an atomic force microscope (AFM) provides necessary and vital information for analyzing mineral structure, especially the mineral-aqueous interfaces, and has excellent application prospects in mineralogical research. This paper presents recent advances in the study of properties of minerals such as surface roughness, crystal structure and adhesion by atomic force microscopy, as well as the progress of application and main contributions in mineral-aqueous interfaces analysis, such as mineral dissolution, redox and adsorption processes. It describes the principles, range of applications, strengths and weaknesses of using AFM in combination with IR and Raman spectroscopy instruments to characterization of minerals. Finally, according to the limitations of the AFM structure and function, this research proposes some ideas and suggestions for developing and designing AFM techniques.

DFT Simulation of the Water Molecule Interaction with the (00l) Surface of Montmorillonite

Montmorillonite is one of the principal mineralogical phases in clay minerals, where its interaction with water and other molecules represents one of the most important aspects and properties for basic science and specific applications. In fact, montmorillonite has many uses in various scientific and technological fields, ranging from environmental remediation to ceramics, food science, and construction/building materials. Several efforts have characterized its structure and physico-chemical properties, especially at the Tetrahedral-Octahedral-Tetrahedral TOT surface. For this purpose, in this work, the authors investigated the structural and electrostatic potential features of the (00l) surface of montmorillonite and the water adsorption process by first principle methods (density functional theory, DFT), considering both static and molecular dynamics approaches. The provided data further extend the knowledge of the modulation of the water molecule adsorption with this important clay mineral.

Phosphorylated cofilin-2 is more prone to oxidative modifications on Cys39 and favors amyloid fibril formation

Cofilins are small protein of the actin depolymerizing family. Actin polymerization/depolymerization is central to a number of critical cellular physiological tasks making cofilin a key protein for several physiological functions of the cell. Cofilin activity is mainly regulated by phosphorylation on serine residue 3 making this post-translational modification key to the regulation of myofilament integrity. In fact, in this form, the protein segregates in myocardial aggregates in human idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. Since myofilament network is an early target of oxidative stress we investigated the molecular changes induced by oxidation on cofilin isoforms and their interplay with the protein phosphorylation state to get insight on whether/how those changes may predispose to early protein aggregation. Using different and complementary approaches we characterized the aggregation properties of cofilin-2 and its phosphomimetic variant (S3D) in response to oxidative stress in silico, in vitro and on isolated cardiomyocytes. We found that the phosphorylated (inactive) form of cofilin-2 is mechanistically linked to the formation of an extended network of fibrillar structures induced by oxidative stress via the formation of a disulfide bond between Cys39 and Cys80. Such phosphorylation-dependent effect is likely controlled by changes in the hydrogen bonding network involving Cys39. We found that the sulfide ion inhibits the formation of such structures. This might represent the mechanism for the protective effect of the therapeutic agent Na2S on ischemic injury.

Anisotropy and directional elastic behavior data obtained from the second-order elastic constants of portlandite Ca(OH)2 and brucite Mg(OH)2

This article reports data on the anisotropy and directional elastic behavior, namely Young׳s modulus E, linear compressibility β, shear modulus μ, Poisson׳s ratio ν and wave velocities Vs1, Vs2 and Vp, of brucite (magnesium hydroxide, Mg(OH)2) and portlandite (calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2), calculated from their second order elastic constants at different hydrostatic compressions (Ulian and Valdrè, in press). The dataset has been obtained by ab initio quantum mechanical means, by employing density functional theory methods, in particular the B3LYP hybrid functional, all-electron Gaussian-type orbitals basis sets and a correction to take into account the effects of dispersive forces.

Effect of mechanical stress on the Raman and infrared bands of hydroxylapatite: A quantum mechanical first principle investigation

The calcium apatite minerals are among the most studied in the biomaterial field because of their similarity with the mineral phase of bone tissues, which is mainly the hexagonal polymorph of hydroxylapatite. Given the growing interest both in the microscopic processes governing the behaviour of these natural biomaterials and in recent experimental methods to investigate the Raman response of hydroxylapatite upon mechanical loading, we report in the present work a detailed quantum mechanical analysis by DFT/B3LYP-D* approach on the Raman and infrared responses of hydroxylapatite upon deformation of its unit cell. From the vibrational results, the piezo-spectroscopic components Δν = Π_ijσ_ij were calculated. For the first time to the authors' knowledge quantum mechanics (QM) was applied to resolve the piezo-spectroscopic response of hydroxylapatite. The QM results on the uniaxial stress responses of this phase on the piezo-spectroscopic components Π₁₁ and Π₃₃ of the symmetric P-O stretching mode were 2.54 ± 0.09cm^-1/GPa and 2.56 ± 0.06cm^-1/GPa, respectively (Raman simulation) and 2.48 ± 0.15cm^-1/GPa and Π₃₃ = 2.74 ± 0.08cm^-1/GPa, respectively, of the asymmetric P-O stretching (infrared spectroscopy simulation). These results are in excellent agreement with previous experimental data reported in literature. The quantum mechanical analysis of the other vibrational bands (not present in literature) shed more light on this new and very important application of both Raman and IR spectroscopies and extend the knowledge of the behaviour of hydroxylapatite, suggesting and addressing further experimental research and analytic strategy.

Multiparametric Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy for the Simultaneous Mapping of Surface Potential and Nanomechanical Properties

We report high-resolution multiparametric kelvin probe force microscopy (MP-KPFM) measurements for the simultaneous quantitative mapping of the contact potential difference (CPD) and nanomechanical properties of the sample in single-pass mode. This method combines functionalities of the force-distance-based atomic force microscopy and amplitude-modulation (AM) KPFM to perform measurements in single-pass mode. During the tip-sample approach-and-retract cycle, nanomechanical measurements are performed for the retract part of nanoindentation, and the CPD is measured by the lifted probe with a constant tip-sample distance. We compare the performance of the proposed method with the conventional KPFMs by mapping the CPD of multilayer graphene deposited on n-doped silicon, and the results demonstrate that MP-KPFM has comparable performance to AM-KPFM. In addition, the experimental results of a custom-fabricated polymer grating with heterogeneous surfaces validate the multiparametric imaging capability of the MP-KPFM. This method can have potential applications in finding the inherent link between nanomechanical properties and the surface potential of the materials, such as the quantification of the electromechanical response of the deformed piezoelectric materials.