Cm20 tem

The surface morphology of the membranes was observed by FE-SEM (Quantum 450 FEG, FEI, USA) and transmission electron microscopy (Philips CM20 TEM). Surface topography was measured by an optical profiler for accurate 3D surface height measurements of precision surfaces (Wyko NT9300, Vecco, USA). A capillary flow porometer (Porometer, POROLUX™ 1000, Germany) was used to measure the pore size, pore-size distribution, and liquid entry pressure (LEP) of the membranes. A tensile test was conducted to measure the mechanical properties of the membranes using tensile strength measurements (Lloyd-Ametek LS1 material testing machine, USA). The water CONTACT ANGLE was measured by a contact angle meter (KRUESS GmbH DSA25S), and the thermal conductivity of the membranes was obtained using a thermal conductivity analyzer (C-Therm TCi, C-Therm Technologies, Canada). More detailed descriptions of characterization methods can be found elsewhere42 .

UV-visible spectrum was recorded on a Shimazu UV-1700 UV-Vis spectrophotometer. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) was performed on an AVATAR-360 FT-IR spectrophotometer (Nicolet, USA). Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) measurements were carried out on a Philips CM-20 TEM (Philips Technai 12). Photoluminescence (PL) was measured using an F-4600 spectrophotometer (Hitachi) with the excitation source adapted to fiber coupled diode lasers. Decay curves of the emission of at both 550 nm and 660 nm of NH₂-UCNPs and FA-PEG-Ce6-UCNPs were recorded on FLSP920 fluorescence spectrophotometer (Edinburgh Instruments) equipped with an 808 nm VD-IIA DPSS Laser Driver.

Blank and naringin-loaded nanoliposomes structures were observed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) via a negative staining method according to Colas et al. protocol [46 (link)]. Briefly, to reduce the concentration of nanoliposomes, samples were diluted with ultrapure distilled water (25-fold). To stain nanoliposomes, equal volumes of the diluted solution and an aqueous solution of ammonium molybdate (2%), used as a negative staining agent, were mixed. After the staining procedure, samples were kept at room temperature for 3 min, followed by a 5 min incubation on a copper mesh coated with carbon. Finally, samples were observed using a CM20 TEM (Philips, Amsterdam, Netherlands) associated with a TEM CCD camera (Olympus, Tokyo, Japan).

The alloys were prepared from pure Mg, pure Ca and pure Al (all having a purity of >99,98%) in an induction furnace under Ar pressure. To homogenize the microstructure and remove elemental segregations, the as-cast block was hot rolled to 50% thickness reduction at 430 °C and recrystallization annealed at 450 °C for 15 min followed by water quenching.
Samples for optical microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis were prepared by mechanical grinding and polishing followed by electrolytical polishing using the electrolyte AC2 (Struers). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) samples were prepared from 3 mm discs by mechanical grinding and twin-jet polishing until perforation using a solution of 3% perchloric acid in ethanol as electrolyte.
Tensile testing was done at room temperature and an initial strain rate of 10⁻⁴ s⁻¹ using an electromechanical testing machine (DZM) with an accuracy of 0.17 MPa. Texture measurements were performed on a Bruker D8 Advance x-ray diffraction instrument. EBSD measurements were conducted using a Zeiss FIB XB1540 SEM and TEM observation were performed on a Philips CM20 TEM.

All individual ion-substituted nanoparticles and co-substituted nanoparticles were characterized using FTIR, XRD, SEM, TEM and ICP-OES techniques. Functional group of the samples were analyzed using FTIR (Perkin—Elmer Spectrum Two, USA) in the range of 500–4000 cm⁻¹, with a resolution of 4 cm⁻¹. The diffraction patterns of the sample were recorded by XRD (Bruker D8 discover powder XRD, Germany) using Cu/Kα radiation (λ = 1.54 Å) at a scanning rate of 1 step/s with a step size of 0.10. The cell volume and cell parameters were calculated from the XRD data using the program “UnitCell”^{18 (link)}. Surface morphology and the elemental composition of the samples were examined by SEM fitted with EDS (FEI Quanta FEG 200, Netherland) after carrying out gold sputtering and operated at an accelerating voltage of 10 kV. The morphology and particle size of the crystals were determined by TEM operated at 120 keV (Philips CM20 TEM, Netherlands). TEM specimens were prepared by dropping nanoparticles dispersed in ethanol over a carbon-coated copper grid. The quantitative measure of several ions in the samples was evaluated using ICP-OES Perkin Elmer Optima 5300 DV, USA. 10–15 mg of powdered sample was dissolved in 3 ml of 1 M nitric acid and 27 ml of distilled water and the total 30 ml solution was subjected to ICP-OES analysis.

NL structures were visualized using TEM with a negative staining method [28 (link)]. To reduce the concentration of NL, the samples were diluted 25-fold with ultrapure distilled water. To stain the samples, the same volumes of the diluted solution were mixed with an aqueous solution of ammonium molybdate (2%). Then, the samples were left at room temperature for 3 min and incubated for 5 min on a copper mesh coated with carbon. After drying, samples were examined using a Philips CM20 TEM (Philips, Dresden, Germany) associated with an Olympus TEM CCD camera to determine the morphology of the NL.