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Mechanical energy harvesting technology converting mechanical energy wasted in our surroundings to electrical energy has been regarded as one of the critical technologies for self-powered sensor network and Internet of Things (IoT). Although triboelectric energy harvesters based on contact electrification have attracted considerable attention due to their various advantages compared to other technologies, a further improvement of the output performance is still required for practical applications in next-generation IoT devices. In recent years, numerous studies have been carried out to enhance the output power of triboelectric energy harvesters. The previous research approaches for enhancing the triboelectric charges can be classified into three categories: i) materials type, ii) device structure, and iii) surface modification. In this review article, we focus on various mechanisms and methods through the surface modification beyond the limitations of structural parameters and materials, such as surficial texturing/patterning, functionalization, dielectric engineering, surface charge doping and 2D material processing. This perspective study is a cornerstone for establishing next-generation energy applications consisting of triboelectric energy harvesters from portable devices to power industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We described the effect of the ultraviolet ozone (UVO) treatment of a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stamp on the fidelity of 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl) pentacene (TIPS-PEN) patterns produced from a TIPSPEN/ polymer blend by selective contact evaporation (SCE). During the SCE process, the TIPS-PEN in contact with the nanoporous PDMS was absorbed into the PDMS stamp, leaving out the TIPS-PEN patterns, complementary to the PDMS patterns, in the noncontact regions. For the case of the untreated, hydrophobic PDMS surface, the TIPS-PEN patterns developed initially were shrunken and eventually disappeared after 24 h due to the steady absorption of the TIPS-PEN in time. In contrast, for the UVO-treated case, the TIPS-PEN patterns were found to maintain the initial shapes over the period of 24 h since the absorption of the TIPS-PEN was limited by the hydrophilic nature of the UVO-treated PDMS. The modified PDMS surface by the UVO for 30 min yielded the highest fidelity of the TIPS-PEN patterns in both height and width. The patterned TIPS-PEN layer by the SCE was implemented into an organic field-effect transistor to demonstrate the viability of the SCE combined with the UVO treatment for solution-processed organic electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of nanoanatase titanium dioxide (TiO2) powder on early-age hydration kinetics of tricalcium silicate (C3S) was investigated. Isothermal calorimetry was performed on C3S pastes with 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15% of TiO2 addition by weight, and two mathematical models-the Avrami (or JMAK) model and the boundary nucleation model (BN model)-were fitted to the data. For all of the mixes, the addition of TiO2 increased the peak reaction rate, and increased the degree of hydration at 12 and 24 h. The rate of hydration of 10% and 15% TiO2 pastes were accelerated, while the 5% TiO2 paste was delayed, lengthening the induction period as compared with the control paste. The model fits demonstrate that the BN model captures the kinetics of the reaction better, particularly in the deceleration period, than the Avrami model. This is related to the ratio of rate parameters ( kB/ kG) of the BN model, that the increasing ratio gives a more unsymmetrical shape of a rate curve. The increase in kB/ kG with TiO2 addition at 5%, 10%, and 15% suggests that hydration product is formed on or near the surfaces of TiO2 particles, as well as on the C3S surface. These results demonstrate that the addition of TiO2 nanoparticles accelerates the early hydration by providing additional nucleation sites, forming the foundation for future optimization of photocatalytic and other nanoparticle-containing cements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The embryonic germ cell (EGCs) of mice is a kind of pluripotent stem cell that can be generated from preand post-migratory primordial germ cells (PGCs). Most previous studies on DNA methylation of EGCs were restricted to 12.5 days post coitum (dpc). This study was designed to establish and characterize murine EGC lines from migrated PGCs as late as 13.5 dpc and to estimate the degrees of methylation of their imprinted genes as well as of the non-imprinted locus, Oct4, using an accurate and quantitative method of measurement. We established five independent EGC lines from post migratory PGCs of 11.5-13.5 dpc from C57BL/6 × DBA/2 F1 hybrid mouse fetuses. All the EGCs exhibited the typical features of pluripotent cells including hypomethylation of the Oct4 regulatory region. We examined the methylation status of three imprinted genes; Igf2, Igf2r and H19 in the five EGC lines using bisulfite genomic sequencing analysis. Igf2r was almost unmethylated in all the EGC lines irrespective of the their sex and stage of isolation; Igf2 and H19 were more methylated than Igf2r, especially in male EGCs. Moreover, EGCs derived at 13.5 dpc exhibited higher levels of DNA methylation than those from earlier stages. These results suggest that in vitro derived EGCs acquire different epigenotypes from their parental in vivo migratory PGCs, and that sex-specific de novo methylation occurs in the Igf2 and H19 genes of EGCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]