Ionic regulation whey protein composition on membrane fouling during ultrafiltration process analyzed by HPLC.

In order to meet the market demand and avoid the increase of operation amount and cleaning cost in the process of ultrafiltration, it is particularly important to find more practical and efficient methods to control and improve membrane fouling. In this study, the ions in the ultrafiltration process were regulated to affect membrane surface proteins composition (lactoferrin, α-lactalbumin, ß-lactoglobulin A and ß-lactoglobulin B) and delay membrane fouling. It was found that Na+ (21 mmol/L), Zn2+ (0.25 mmol/L) and K+ (44 mmol/L) was added at 4 min, 8 min and 12 min, respectively during ultrafiltration process. The continuous regulation slowed down the decline rate of membrane flux and reduced the content of α-lactalbumin, ß-lactoglobulin A and ß-lactoglobulin B on the membrane surface analyzed by HPLC. This could reduce the irreversible membrane fouling of proteins cake resistance. Furthermore, the ions concentration was also investigated after filtration. The concentration of K+ was increased significantly and other ions concentration was not significantly changed after continuous regulation such Na+, Mg2+, Zn2+ and Ca2+ compared to control. Therefore, dynamic ionic regulation of whey protein ultrafiltration process is a simple and effective method, which provides technical theoretical basis for optimizing and improving membrane technology.

Plasmonic-Enhanced Bright Single Spin Defects in Silicon Carbide Membranes.

Optically addressable spin defects in silicon carbide (SiC) have emerged as attractable platforms for various quantum technologies. However, the low photon count rate significantly limits their applications. We strongly enhanced the brightness by 7 times and spin-control strength by 14 times of single divacancy defects in 4H-SiC membranes using a surface plasmon generated by gold film coplanar waveguides. The mechanism of the plasmonic-enhanced effect is further studied by tuning the distance between single defects and the surface of the gold film. A three-energy-level model is used to determine the corresponding transition rates consistent with the enhanced brightness of single defects. Lifetime measurements also verified the coupling between defects and surface plasmons. Our scheme is low-cost, without complicated microfabrication and delicate structures, which is applicable for other spin defects in different materials. This work would promote developing spin-defect-based quantum applications in mature SiC materials.

Magnetic detection under high pressures using designed silicon vacancy centres in silicon carbide.

Pressure-induced magnetic phase transitions are attracting interest as a means to detect superconducting behaviour at high pressures in diamond anvil cells, but determining the local magnetic properties of samples is a challenge due to the small volumes of sample chambers. Optically detected magnetic resonance of nitrogen vacancy centres in diamond has recently been used for the in situ detection of pressure-induced phase transitions. However, owing to their four orientation axes and temperature-dependent zero-field splitting, interpreting these optically detected magnetic resonance spectra remains challenging. Here we study the optical and spin properties of implanted silicon vacancy defects in 4H-silicon carbide that exhibit single-axis and temperature-independent zero-field splitting. Using this technique, we observe the magnetic phase transition of Nd2Fe14B at about 7 GPa and map the critical temperature-pressure phase diagram of the superconductor YBa2Cu3O6.6. These results highlight the potential of silicon vacancy-based quantum sensors for in situ magnetic detection at high pressures.

Magnetic-field-dependent spin properties of divacancy defects in silicon carbide.

In recent years, spin defects in silicon carbide have become promising platforms for quantum sensing, quantum information processing and quantum networks. It has been shown that their spin coherence times can be dramatically extended with an external axial magnetic field. However, little is known about the effect of magnetic-angle-dependent coherence time, which is an essential complement to defect spin properties. Here, we investigate the optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) spectra of divacancy spins in silicon carbide with a magnetic field orientation. The ODMR contrast decreases as the off-axis magnetic field strength increases. We then study the coherence times of divacancy spins in two different samples with magnetic field angles, and both of the coherence times decrease with the angle. The experiments pave the way for all-optical magnetic field sensing and quantum information processing.

Coherent Control and Magnetic Detection of Divacancy Spins in Silicon Carbide at High Pressures.

Spin defects in silicon carbide appear to be a promising tool for various quantum technologies, especially for quantum sensing. However, this technique has been used only at ambient pressure until now. Here, by combining this technique with diamond anvil cell, we systematically study the optical and spin properties of divacancy defects created at the surface of SiC at pressures up to 40 GPa. The zero-field-splitting of the divacancy spins increases linearly with pressure with a slope of 25.1 MHz/GPa, which is almost two-times larger than that of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. The corresponding pressure sensing sensitivity is about 0.28 MPa/Hz-1/2. The coherent control of divacancy demonstrates that coherence time decreases as pressure increases. Based on these, the pressure-induced magnetic phase transition of Nd2Fe14B sample at high pressures was detected. These experiments pave the way to use divacancy in quantum technologies such as pressure sensing and magnetic detection at high pressures.

The effect of ion environment changes on retention protein behavior during whey ultrafiltration process.

The factors affecting membrane fouling are very complex. In this study, the membrane fouling process was revealed from the perspective of ion environment changes, which affected the whey protein structure during ultrafiltration. It was found that the concentrations of Ca2+ and Na+ were overall increased and the concentrations of K+, Mg2+ and Zn2+ were decreased at an ultrafiltration time of 11 min, which made more hydrophilic groups buried inside and increased the content of α-helix, leading to more protein aggregation. The relatively higher K+ ratio in retention could lead to an antiparallel ß-sheet configuration, aspartic acid, glutamic acid and tryptophan increased, which resulted in more protein aggregation and deposition on the membrane surface at 17 min. When the ion concentration and ratio restored the balance and were close to the initial state in retention, the protein surface tension decreased, and the hydrophilic ability increased at 21-24 min.

Room-temperature coherent manipulation of single-spin qubits in silicon carbide with a high readout contrast.

Spin defects in silicon carbide (SiC) with mature wafer-scale fabrication and micro/nano-processing technologies have recently drawn considerable attention. Although room-temperature single-spin manipulation of colour centres in SiC has been demonstrated, the typically detected contrast is less than 2[Formula: see text], and the photon count rate is also low. Here, we present the coherent manipulation of single divacancy spins in 4H-SiC with a high readout contrast ([Formula: see text]) and a high photon count rate (150 kilo counts per second) under ambient conditions, which are competitive with the nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond. Coupling between a single defect spin and a nearby nuclear spin is also observed. We further provide a theoretical explanation for the high readout contrast by analysing the defect levels and decay paths. Since the high readout contrast is of utmost importance in many applications of quantum technologies, this work might open a new territory for SiC-based quantum devices with many advanced properties of the host material.