RESUMEN
The facile real-time monitoring of methyl content in fermented beverages is of fundamental significance in the alcohol and restaurant industry, since as little as 4 mL of methanol entering the blood may cause intoxication or blindness. So far, the practical applicability of available methanol sensors, including the piezoresonance analogs, is somewhat limited to laboratory use due to the complexity and bulkiness of the measuring equipment involving multistep procedures. This article introduces a hydrophobic metal-phenolic film-coated quartz crystal microbalance (MPF-QCM) as a novel streamlined detector of methanol in alcoholic drinks. Unlike other QCM-based alcohol sensors, our device operates under saturated vapor pressure conditions, permitting rapid detection of methyl fractions up to seven times below the tolerable levels in spirits (e.g., whisky) while effectively suppressing the cross-sensitivity to interfering chemical compounds such as water, petroleum ether or ammonium hydroxide. Furthermore, the good surface adhesion of metal-phenolic complexes endows the MPF-QCM with superior long-term stability, contributing to the repeatable and reversible physical sorption of the target analytes. These features, combined with the lack of mass flow controllers, valves and connecting pipes delivering the gas mixture, outline the likelihood for future design of a portable MPF-QCM prototype suitable to point-of-use analysis in drinking establishments.
RESUMEN
Nowadays, the tremendous progress of nanotechnologies and materials science facilitates the fabrication of universal and multifunctional superhydrophobic surfaces on a large scale. Yet, integrating icephobic and anti-bioadhesive properties in an individual water-repellent functional coating, for addressing the difficulties faced by cryobiologists, aircraft, and seacraft manufacturers, is quite tricky but feasible if using nonpolar soot nanoparticles, whose fragility, however, impedes their industrial applicability. Here, we advance the current state-of-the-art to an extent, permitting the introduction of economically affordable and ultradurable non-wettable soot-based coatings. The deposition of rapeseed oil soot, cyanoacrylate glue and fluorine compounds onto different fabrics confers the latter with superior tolerance to harsh mechanical and thermal interventions [e.g., scratching, blade scraping, liquid nitrogen immersion (T â¼ -196 °C), torsion and water jetting], while in the meantime retaining water repellency and oleophobicity. The as-prepared soot fabrics can stick continuously to the selected host surface and favor the recovery of â¼60% of the initial motility of human spermatozoa subjected to cryopreservation or being detached and utilized as standalone non-wettable membranes. Our invention may be considered as the first fundamental stage of safely (without any health concerns) transferring the soot in reproductive medicine and developing enhanced cryogenic and antibacterial medical devices.