Supra 55vp

The morphological analysis of the prepared samples was performed by a field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM, SUPRA 55vp, ZEISS, Oberkochen, Germany) with an Oxford detector, operating with 2.00 kV electron beams. Infrared (IR) spectra were recorded on a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (VERTEX-70, Bruker, Karlsruhe, Germany) using the ATR (Attenuated Total Reflectance) method with a wave number ranging from 400 to 4000 cm⁻¹. Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC–MS) was acquired on a Headspace injection gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (7890B GC/7697A/5977B MSD, KEYSIGHT, Santa Rosa, CA, America) using a Rtx-5MS column (30 m long × 0.25 mm thickness × 0.25 μm ID), with an injection temperature of 130 °C, column temperature of 270 °C, gas flow rate of 24.0 mL·min⁻¹, and electron ionization used to obtained nominal masses. Density analysis was carried out on an electronic densitometer (XF-120MD, Xiongfa, Xiamen, China) with testing samples tailored in the cubic dimension of 10 mm × 10 mm × 10 mm. Mechanical testing was carried out on a microcomputer-controlled electronic tensile testing machine (C43-104, MTS, Rochester, MN, America) according to the national standard GB/T 528-2009 with dumbbell-shaped splines at an elongation rate of 500 mm·min⁻¹ and the test length and thickness of splines were 20.0 ± 0.5 mm and 2.0 ± 0.2 mm, respectively.

For SEM imaging of captured exosomes the chips were fixed and stained after regular washing procedure but before final drying step. First, the exosomes were fixed with 0.1% gluteraldehyde in PBS for 15 minutes, then rinsed in Millipore water and dried. The chips were then stained in 1% osmium tetroxide in PBS for 30 minutes, then washed three times in Millipore water and dried under pure nitrogen stream. The stained chips were imaged using side scatter detector on a Zeiss Supra 55vp.

Gynoecia and leaves were fixed for 16 h at 25 °C in 3.7% formaldehyde, 5% glacial acetic acid and 50% ethanol. After complete dehydration through an ethanol series until 100%, gynoecium and leaves were critical point dried. Samples were dissected and coated with gold and examined under Zeiss Supra 55VP field emission scanning electron microscope using an acceleration voltage of 3 kV. The SmartSEM software (Zeiss) was used to operate the microscope and collect the images. Gynoecia from distinct inflorescences and leaves of seedlings of several biological independent genotypes were observed and counted for their phenotype.

The API 5 L X52 steel surface was prepared both without (blank) and with inhibitor; a 50 ppm concentration was used for a 24 h immersion time. After that experiment, the steel was washed with distilled water, dried and the surface analysed using a Zeiss SUPRA 55 VP electronic sweep microscope at 10 kV with a 300× secondary electron detector.

Membrane morphology was studied by scanning electron microscope SEM Zeiss SUPRA 55VP (Oberkochen, Germany). Before the test the sample surface was covered by a gold layer via cathode sputtering using the Quorum 150 (East Sussex, UK) installation.

The morphological properties of native corn starch and PSGs were observed by a field-emission scanning electron microscope (Supra 55 VP, Carl-Zeiss, Oberkochen, Germany). The samples were coated with platinum by a sputter coater (SCD 005, BAL-TEC, Walluf, Germany) and were observed at 15,000× magnification under an accelerating voltage of 3 kV. Surface pore diameters of starch granule were measured, and the diameters of the longest axes in each of 5 pores within an image for a total of 5 images per sample were quantified by using the ImageJ software (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD).

We conducted SEM imaging of coating samples, which were prepared by dropcasting 0.5 mL of each coating solution onto a copper stub and drying under ambient conditions. Dried coatings were gold-coated prior to imaging using an SEM (Zeiss SUPRA 55VP, Germany) at a 10 kV accelerating voltage.