Emitech sc7620

Specimens of medical grade EVA (Data Plastics, Witney, Oxfordshire, UK), measuring 7×7×3 mM, were coated with the NPs as follows: 200 mL of the colloidal suspension was prepared using freshly prepared reagents (to prevent hydrolysis of the HMP which may occur during lengthy storage). Each polymer specimen was cleaned by 10 minutes ultrasonication in industrial methylated spirits (IMS) and dried in air, then immersed in the rapidly stirred colloid for 30 seconds, removed and immersed in deionized water for 10 seconds to rinse, blotted using absorbent tissue to remove excess liquid, and allowed to dry in air.
The NP-functionalized specimens were examined using tapping mode atomic force microscopy (AFM; Nanoscope III; Digital Instruments, Santa Barbara, CA, USA). Specimens were subsequently coated with gold-palladium alloy using a sputter coating unit (Emitech SC7620; Quorum Technologies, Lewes, UK) and subjected to scanning electron microscopy (SEM; Phenom, Eindhoven, Netherlands).

Morphology of RCF was analyzed in a stereomicroscope system SZX7 model from Olympus (Tokyo, Japan) using an ocular magnifying glass of 50×. This was equipped with a KL1500-LCD light source. Fracture surfaces of the pieces after the impact tests were observed by FESEM in a CARL ZEISS Ultra-55 FESEM microscope from Oxford Instruments (Abingdon, UK). To provide conducting properties, the samples were previously covered with a with a 5–7 nm gold-palladium layer in vacuum conditions in a cathodic sputter-coater Emitech SC7620 from Quorum Technologies LTD (East Sussex, UK). The acceleration voltage during FESEM analysis was set to 2.0 kV.

The morphology of PBS/ASF/MLO composites was studied by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) in a FESEM model ZEISS ULTRA 55 from Oxford Instruments (Abingdon, UK). Fractured samples from impact tests were subjected to a sputtering process with an aurum-palladium alloy inside a sputter coater model EMITECH SC7620 from Quorum Technologies (East Sussex, UK).

Adult worms were fixed in 3% (w/v) ultra-pure glutaraldehyde (Sigma-Aldrich, USA), and immersed in 50 mM PBS pH 7.4 for 3 h at 4 °C, then five times rinsed with PBS during 30 min. Subsequently, worms were re-fixed in 1% (w/v) osmium tetroxide (Sigma-Aldrich, USA) in 50 mM PBS pH 7.4 for two hours, then washed and overnight remained in PBS. Parasites were gradually dehydrated using ethanol solutions, immersed in xylene and dried with critical point dryers (K850, Quorum, UK). Worms were stored under desiccation at 23±2 °C until further processing for SEM. Specimens were mounted onto stubs by conductive double-sided adhesive tape, sputter-coated with a thin layer of gold by Emitech SC7620 (Quorum, UK) and viewed by SEM (AIS2100, Seron, South Korea) (22 , 23 (link)).

Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) from the fracture surface of the impact specimens was carried out on a Carl Zeiss AG Ultra 55 microscope (Oberkochen, Germany) at 1 kV, displaying a resolution of 1.7 nm. Prior to investigations, each sample was sputter-coated with a thin layer of gold to avoid electrostatic charging under the electron beam with of a Sputter Mod Coater Emitech SC7620 from Quorum Technologies (East Sussex, UK).

The fracture surfaces of the injection-molded samples after the impact test were covered with a thin metal layer to provide the conducting properties for analysis by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The sputtering process was carried out in a cathodic sputter-coater Emitech SC7620 from Quorum Technologies LTD (East Sussex, UK). Subsequently, the morphologies were observed in a CARL ZEISS Ultra-55 FESEM microscope from Oxford Instruments (Abingdon, UK). The acceleration voltage was set to 2.0 kV.