Self-affine surfaces of sol-gel deposited SiO₂-SnO₂ nanocomposite films annealed in the temperature range of 200 to 600°C were analyzed by means of the slope of the power spectral density of surface profile. A local fractal dimension appears which characterizes the increase in surface size compared to a smooth surface.

Edible films based on biopolymers are used to protect food from adverse environmental factors. However, their ample use may be hindered by some challenges to their mechanical and antimicrobial properties. Despite this, in most cases, increasing their mechanical properties and antibacterial activity remains a relevant challenge. To solve this problem, a possible option is to fill the biopolymer matrix of films with a functional filler that combines high reinforcing and antibacterial properties. In this work, biocomposite films based on a mixture of chitosan and cassava starch were filled with a hybrid filler in the form of bentonite clay particles loaded with ginger essential oil (GEO) in their structure with varied concentrations. For this purpose, GEO components were intercalated into bentonite clay interlayer space using a mechanical capture approach without using surface-active and toxic agents. The structure and loading efficiency of the essential oil in the obtained hybrid filler were analyzed by lyophilization and laser analysis of dispersions, ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, thermogravimetry, and X-ray diffraction analysis. The filled biocomposite films were analyzed using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, optical and scanning electron spectroscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, mechanical analysis under tension, and the disk diffusion method for antibacterial activity. The results demonstrated that the tensile strength, Young’s modulus, elongation at the break, and the antibacterial effect of the films increased by 40%, 19%, 44%, and 23%, respectively, compared to unfilled film when the filler concentration was 0.5–1 wt.%.

In this work, we evaluate the hierarchical surface topography of reactively sputtered nanocrystalline Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 and TiO2 thin films as well as plasma-treated antireflective PET films by means of determining the fractal dimension and power spectral density (PSD) of surface topography recorded by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Local fractal dimension was obtained using the triangulation method. The PSDs of all samples were fitted to the k-correlation model (also called ABC model) valid for a self-affine surface topography. Fractal analysis of AFM images was shown to be an appropriate and easy to use tool for the characterization of hierarchical nanostructures.

In this work, we have investigated the surface topography evolution of sol-gel deposited SiO2-SnO2nanocomposite films annealed in the temperature range 200–600°C. The fractal dimension of atomic...

In this work, the overall activation energy of the combustion of lean hydrogen–methane–air mixtures (equivalence ratio $\phi$ = 0.7−1.0 and hydrogen fraction in methane $\alpha =0$, 2, 4) is experimentally determined using thin-filament pyrometry of flames stabilised on a flat porous burner under normal conditions ($p=1$ bar, T = 20 °C). The experimental data are compared with numerical calculations within the detailed reaction mechanism GRI3.0 and both approaches confirm the linear correlation between mass flow rate and inverse flame temperature predicted in the theory. An analysis of the numerical and experimental data shows that, in the limit of lean hydrogen–methane–air mixtures, the activation energy approaches a constant value, which is not sensitive to the addition of hydrogen to methane. The mass flow rate for a freely propagating flame and, thus, the laminar burning velocity, are measured for mixtures with different hydrogen contents. This mass flow rate, scaled over the characteristic temperature dependence of the laminar burning velocity for a one-step reaction mechanism, is found and it can also be used in order to estimate the parameters of the overall reaction mechanisms. Such reaction mechanisms will find implementation in the numerical simulation of practical combustion devices with complex flows and geometries.