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Production and characterization of biosurfactants
Kratochvílová, Olga ; Samek, Ota (referee) ; Obruča, Stanislav (advisor)
This diploma thesis deals with the microbial production of biosurfactants of selected bacterial strains. In order to test the biosurfactant production ability, screening methods were chosen to be able to review the potential of the selected strains to produce biosurfactants. With the scope of the work, 11 bacterial strains, which are used as polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) producers, have been tested. The ability to produce biosurfactants was tested in all strains both in complex inoculation and mineral production media. The presence of biosurfactants in Pseudomonas putida was detected on the basis of the results obtained after cultivation in inoculation and production media. The bacteria Pseudomonas fulva was put under more deep study to support their production by cultivation in different types of production media supplemented by different sources of carbon and nitrogen, and the effect of cultivation time was tested as well. Biosurfactants produced by these bacteria were subsequently identified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) on the basis of which the substances were identified as rhamnolipids. According to thin-layer chromatography result (TLC), Pseudomonas putida produces a mixture of mono- and dirhamnolipids, with monorhamnolipids being more dominant in our samples.
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Morphology of Polyamide 12 and Polyamide 11 formed at overpressure and underpressure
Bělašková, Marie ; Tocháček, Jiří (referee) ; Bálková, Radka (advisor)
In this master thesis it was studied morphology of polyamide 12 (PA12), polyamide 11 (PA11) and their blends in the percent ratios 95/5, 75/25, 50/50, 25/75 and 5/95 formed at pressure 7 MPa in a calorimeter both after continual heating and cooling and after annealing and isothermal crystallization. Neat polyamides and blends were further characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry at atmospheric pressure, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy in attenuated total refection, and X-ray diffraction analysis. The increased pressure improved level of polyamide chains ordering in crystal lamellae. Thermal annealing improved especially ordering of PA12, isothermal crystallization led to considerable increase of crystallinity, whereas PA11-rich blends supported perfection of PA12 crystals. Partial transformation of - to -structure occurred in case of neat PA12 at high pressure, the change of the chain conformation into the closer one occurred in neat PA11 without transformation of the type of crystal structure.
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Plasticizing of polyhydroxyalkanoates in microbial cells - inspiration for development of artificial controlled release systems
Liczka, Jan ; Obruča, Stanislav (referee) ; Sedláček, Petr (advisor)
The diploma thesis is focused on the study of the mechanism of plasticization of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) in vivo, focusing mainly on methods of isolation native PHA granules and physical and chemical methods of initiation their phase transitions. The literature search prepared in this work deals with this microbial polyester and further focuses on individual methods of isolating PHA from bacterial cells. The main task of the experimental work was to optimize the isolation process of native PHA granules, as well as to design and test processes that initiate the PHA crystallization in isolated granules, as well as analytical procedures to correctly detect this phase transition. Isolation of PHA granules from Cupriavidus necator was performed by enzymes, centrifugation several times and sonication of the cells. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and an enzymatic method in which amorphous PHA is selectively degraded by PHA-depolymerase with turbidimetric detection of its loss in dispersion was used to detect PHA crystallization. Techniques based on fluorescence staining of granules (fluorescence spectroscopy and flow cytometry) were used in a more detailed study of the mechanism of PHA plasticization in granules. The results of the analyzes confirmed, among other things, that the optimized procedure makes it possible to isolate granules in the amorphous state, which remain amorphous even after drying and are comparable to native granules in their basic physicochemical properties.
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Fabrication and characterisation of plasmonic antennas on selected thin film with aim to get enhanced absorption due to presence of strong coupling
Vodička, Martin ; Kepič, Peter (referee) ; Liška, Jiří (advisor)
Strong coupling systems offer many important applications in various fields such as photonics, chemistry, nonlinear optics and others. This Bachelor's thesis focuses on the fabrication of metal plasmonic structures suitable for the formation of strong coupling between localized surface plasmon antennas and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) thin film phonons in the infrared region. In the case of inducing a strong coupling, an increase in absorption should occur, which makes it possible to use this system to fabricate an infrared detector, the so-called microbolometer. The thesis summarizes important findings from electromagnetic field theory, describes the formation of strong coupling from the perspective of classical physics and gives examples of systems with strong coupling. Furthermore, the formation of surface plasmon polaritons and localized surface plasmons (LSPs) is theoretically described. Plasmonic antennas, their fabrication, applications and physical properties of hBN are described. In the practical part of the thesis, fabrication of plasmonic antennas under or on hBN thin film has been realized. The fabricated samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and the spectral response was measured by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. In the spectra, the absorption of hBN at 7.3 m was confirmed and additional transmittance minima corresponding to the presence of antennas were detected. The presence of a strong coupling between the LSPs antennas and the phonons of the native SiO2 layer was probably observed. Whether there was a strong coupling between the LSPs antennas and the hBN phonons cannot be inferred from the the obtained results.
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CHARACTERIZATION OF WRAPPAGING FILMS BASED ON POLYETHYLENE AND POLYPROPYLENE
Bělašková, Marie ; Poláček, Petr (referee) ; Bálková, Radka (advisor)
By seven kinds of coextruded and blown packing polyethylene and polypropylene based films, which are supplied by Granitol were characterized in this bachelor thesis. The following methods were used for characterization: thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy , and scanning electron microscopy. The methods made possible to determine the composition of the films and to evaluate the degree of crystallinity.
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Analysis of discharge gas phase products in Titan like atmosphere
Jančíková, Kristýna ; Országh, Juraj (referee) ; Krčma, František (advisor)
This bachelor thesis is focused on plasma-chemical processes which are initiated by electrical discharges in the atmosphere of Titan, that is the Saturn's biggest moon. Although Titan has large temperature differences and different environmental conditions, it is still the most similar planetary body to Earth. Titan reflects what Earth would have been like billions of years ago when it was still a frozen planet and before there was oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere Discovery of weight molecules in upper atmosphere of Titan caused a great astrobiological interest. This was due to its atmosphere being rich in nitrogen, carbon and hydrogen which could be the source of organic aerosols that in turn could lead to being the source of prebiotic molecules.
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Study of the interaction of selected pharmaceuticals with microplastics
Ioani, Aldina ; Řezáčová, Veronika (referee) ; Doležalová Weissmannová, Helena (advisor)
The bachelor thesis aims to study the interaction of selected pharmaceuticals from the group of analgesics and antibiotics with microplastics. The analysis was conducted in the mid-infrared region, which is used to identify chemical structure of the substances. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used as an analytical method. The samples were subjected to technique attenuated total reflection. Ibuprofen and trimethoprim were chosen as analytes due to their common usage in the population. Sorption of pharmaceuticals was undergoing on polyhydroxybutyrate, which is a kind of biodegradable plastics and polyethene terephthalate, which is synthetic. Measured results showed that for the study of interaction with pharmaceuticals, it is more suitable to use biodegradable plastic polyhydroxybutyrate than polyethene terephthalate because of its better results. Infrared spectra output is very influenced by a selection of a solvent.
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Study of Chemical Processes in Titan Atmosphere Initiated by Discharge in Electrode Configuration Like Gliding Arc Discharge
Töröková, Lucie ; Zahoranová, Anna (referee) ; Žabka,, Ján (referee) ; Krčma, František (advisor)
The aim of this work is the study of plasma processes and the synthesis of organic compounds due to electric discharge generated in gas mixture corresponding to the composition of the atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon Titan. This study focuses on the mimic of Titan's atmosphere at atmospheric pressure and ambient laboratory temperature. The chemical composition of Titan's atmosphere is very similar to atmosphere of prehistoric Earth. Many articles have been published with theoretical model-research, and laboratory experiments are the pursuit of their interconnection. The main aim of thesis is the identification of synthesized gaseous organic, amino, imino and cyano compounds by use to various analytical methods such as the PTR-MS, FTIR and GC-MS. The OES and electric measurements were applied to the determination of selected electric discharge parameters. The gaseous products and radicals formed in an atmospheric discharge fed by different mixtures of N2:CH4 (0,5 up to 5 % of CH4) operated in a flowing regime at the total gas mixture flows from 50 to 200 sccm at different discharge currents from 15 up to 40 mA were determined. A part of experiments was carried out with admixtures of CO2 and hydrogen. This first part of results has been obtained using OES in dependence on the gas mixture composition and supplied power. The bands of the nitrogen second positive and the first negative systems, CN violet system and Swan system of C2 were recorded. Besides them, atomic lines H, H, and C (in the second order) were also observed. These spectra allowed calculation of rotational and vibrational temperatures. FTIR in situ analysis of the gaseous products showed presence of various nitrile compounds and hydrocarbons in all experiments. The HCN, C2H2, NH3 were the main products generated in our system. The dependences of their concentrations on various experimental parameters were measured. The other part of this work was devoted to estimate the influence of CO2 traces addition on the reactivity in the gaseous mixtures mentioned above. Besides the main products mentioned above, CO2 and CO were detected and also some more complicated oxygen molecules has been confirmed but not estimated because of FTIR spectra complexity. In the case of hydrogen traces addition into the reaction gas mixture, no other compounds were determined. Impurities of CO2 as well as hydrogen have a great positive influence on the production efficiency of the major generated compounds at all conditions. The more detailed gaseous products analyses were carried out using the in situ PTR-MS. A huge number of different molecular structures containing nitrile groups (–CN), amino groups (–NH2, –NH–, –N CH3CN > C2H5CN. Besides them, many other hydrocarbons and nitriles were detected. Presence of all compounds was studi
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Cyclotron resonance of Dirac electrons in bismuth selenide
Hlavička, Ivo ; Dubroka, Adam (referee) ; Bartošík, Miroslav (advisor)
Bismuth selenide belongs to a class of topological insulators---materials characterized by a intriguing electronic band structure, with a characteristic Dirac conical band on the surface. In this master thesis, the optical response of this material is explored in the infrared spectral range and in a broad range of magnetic fields. We mainly focus on the absorption of light due to free charge carriers having, when the magnetic field is applied, a form of cyclotron resonance. We find that the experimentally observed response is consistent with expectations for massive electrons in bulk rather than massless particles on the surface.
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Microplastics in solid matrices of the environment
Pospíchalová, Eliška ; Cajthaml, Tomáš (advisor) ; Innemanová, Petra (referee)
Microplastics, plastic particles of 5 mm-1 nm in size, are now widespread across different ecosystems. The increasing amount of microplastic contamination of aquatic and terrestrial environments requires the development of standardized methods for their separation and analysis. One of the main vectors of microplastic input to terrestrial ecosystems is through sewage sludge. The sludge is recycled for fertilization and reclamation due to its high organic matter content. Scientists have already been able to quantify and identify a range of microplastics in sewage sludge of different sizes, polymer types, shapes, etc. This thesis focuses on the optimization of existing methodologies to extract microplastics from solid environmental samples and their subsequent qualitative and quantitative analysis. The steps required for sample pre-treatment prior to analysis, namely reduction in organic matter content by the Fenton reaction process and density-based separation of microplastics by flotation in saturated NaI solution (1.8 g/cm3 ) using centrifugation, were optimized. Microplastics in size fractions of 20-40 μm and 150-300 μm were fabricated and introduced into flotation and total recovery experiments of the methodology to determine the recovery. Fluorescence microscopy was chosen for quantitative...
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