Wrocław University of Technology

About: Wrocław University of Technology is a education organization based out in Wrocław, Poland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Laser & Fuzzy logic. The organization has 13115 authors who have published 31279 publications receiving 338694 citations.

Water Desalination with Wires

Abstract: We show the significant potential of water desalination using a novel capacitive wire-based technology in which anode/cathode wire pairs are constructed from coating a thin porous carbon electrode layer on top of electrically conducting rods (or wires). By alternately dipping an array of electrode pairs in freshwater with and in brine without an applied cell voltage, we create an ion adsorption/desorption cycle. We show experimentally how in six subsequent cycles we can reduce the salinity of 20 mM feed (brackish) water by a factor of 3, while application of a cation exchange membrane on the cathode wires makes the desalination factor increase to 4. Theoretical modeling rationalizes the experimental findings, and predicts that system performance can be significantly enhanced by material modifications. To treat large volumes of water, multiple stacks of wire pairs can be used simultaneously in a “merry-go-round” operational mode.

Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships for γδ T Cell Activation by Bisphosphonates

Abstract: γδ T cells are the first line of defense against many infectious organisms and are also involved in tumor cell surveillance and killing. They are stimulated by a broad range of small, phosphorus-containing antigens (phosphoantigens) as well as by the bisphosphonates commonly used in bone resorption therapy, such as pamidronate and risedronate. Here, we report the activation of γδ T cells by a broad range of bisphosphonates and develop a pharmacophore model for γδ T cell activation, in addition to using a comparative molecular similarity index analysis (CoMSIA) approach to make quantitative relationships between γδ T cell activation by bisphosphonates and their three-dimensional structures. The CoMSIA analyses yielded R2 values of ∼0.8−0.9 and q2 values of ∼0.5−0.6 for a training set of 45 compounds. Using an external test set, the activities (IC50 values) of 16 compounds were predicted within a factor of 4.5, on average. The CoMSIA fields consisted of ∼40% hydrophobic, ∼40% electrostatic, and ∼20% steric ...

Twisted π-System Chromophores for All-Optical Switching

Abstract: Molecular chromophores with twisted π-electron systems have been shown to possess unprecedented values of the quadratic hyperpolarizability, β, with very large real parts and much smaller imaginary parts. We report here an experimental and theoretical study which shows that these twisted chromophores also possess very large values of the real part of the cubic hyperpolarizability, γ, which is responsible for nonlinear refraction. Thus, for the two-ring twisted chromophore TMC-2 at 775 nm, relatively close to one-photon resonance, n2 extrapolated to neat substance is large and positive (1.87 × 10−13 cm2/W), leading to self-focusing. Furthermore, the third-order response includes a remarkably low two-photon absorption coefficient, which means minimal nonlinear optical losses: the T factor, α2λ/n2, is 0.308. These characteristics are attributed to closely spaced singlet biradical and zwitterionic states and offer promise for applications in all-optical switching.