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The deep highly gassy soft coal seam has the characteristics of high ground stress, high gas pressure, and low permeability. In the process of coal roadway excavation, there are problems such as frequent gas concentration exceeding the limit and easy induction of gas dynamic disasters. To investigate the pressure relief and disaster reduction efficiency of large-diameter boreholes in a deep high-gas soft coal seam, the 8002 high-gas working face of the Wuyang coal mine was taken as the engineering background to study the deformation law of large-diameter boreholes in deep high-gas soft coal seams. A coupled damage-stress-seepage model for pressure relief of large-diameter boreholes in gas-bearing coal seams was constructed based on the Hoek-Brown criterion, the correlation between the damage area and the gas pressure distribution in the gas-bearing coal seam after the pressure relief of boreholes of different apertures was analyzed, and the pressure relief efficiency of different technical parameters "three flower holes" in the roadway head was determined. The law of stress transfer, gas migration, and energy release in the coal seam after pressure relief of a large-diameter borehole under different initial gas pressures was revealed, and the power function equations of the damage range and borehole diameter, maximum stress at the roadway head, and driving distance after pressure relief of a gas-bearing coal seam were determined. Results showed that under the confining pressure of the 8002 working face roadway in the Wuyang coal mine, the pressure relief effect of 250 mm aperture is better, the drilling plastic zone is "butterfly" or "X″-type distribution, and the plastic zone range is positively correlated with the aperture size. Under the arrangement of "three flower holes", the plastic zone is larger and the pressure relief effect is better when the hole spacing is 1.4 m. With the increase of initial gas pressure, the vertical stress above the borehole increases and the pressure relief efficiency decreases. According to the vertical stress distribution within 200 h of borehole pressure relief, the pressure relief process is divided into a coal damage and failure stage, stress balance stage, and hole collapse stability stage. The research results provide a theoretical basis for the prevention and control of coal rock gas dynamic disasters by large-diameter drilling in a deep high-gas soft coal seam., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

The miniaturization of biomedical microrobots is crucial for their in vivo applications. However, it is challenging to reduce their size while maintaining their biomedical functions. To resolve this contradiction, we propose a semiphysical design concept for developing miniaturized microrobots, in which invisible components such as light beams are utilized to replace most of the physical parts of a microrobot, thus minimizing its physical size without sacrificing its biomedical functions. According to this design, we have constructed a semiphysical microrobot (SPM) composed of main light beam, light-responsive microparticle, and auxiliary light beam, serving as the actuation system, recognition part, and surgical claws, respectively. Based on the functions of actuation, biosensing, and microsurgery, a SPM has been applied for a series of applications, including thrombus elimination at the branch vessel, stratified removal of multilayer thrombus, and biosensing-guided microsurgery. The proposed semiphysical design concept should bring new insight into the development of miniaturized biomedical microrobots.

Upconversion fluorescence has triggered extensive efforts in the past decade because of its superior physicochemical features and great potential in biomedical and biophotonic studies. However, practical applications of upconversion fluorescence are often hindered by its relatively low luminescence efficiency (<1%). Here, we employ a living yeast or human cell as a natural bio-microlens to enhance the upconversion fluorescence. The natural bio-microlens, which was stably trapped on a fiber probe, could concentrate the excitation light into a subwavelength region so that the upconversion fluorescence of core-shell NaYF 4 :Yb 3+ /Tm 3+ nanoparticles was enhanced by 2 orders of magnitude. As a benefit of the fluorescence enhancement, single-cell imaging and real-time detection of the labeled pathogenic bacteria, such as Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, were successfully achieved in the dark fields. This biocompatible, sensitive, and miniature approach could provide a promising powerful tool for biological imaging, biophotonic sensing, and single-cell analysis.

In advanced nanoscience, there is a strong desire to trap and detect nanoscale objects with high-throughput, single-nanoparticle resolution and high selectivity. Although emerging optical methods have enabled the selective trapping and detection of multiple micrometer-sized objects, it remains a great challenge to extend this functionality to the nanoscale. Here, we report an approach to trap and detect nanoparticles and subwavelength cells at low optical power using a parallel photonic nanojet array produced by assembling microlenses on an optical fiber probe. Benefiting from the subwavelength confinement of the photonic nanojets, tens to hundreds of nanotraps were formed in three dimensions. Backscattering signals were detected in real time with single-nanoparticle resolution and enhancement factors of 10(3)-10(4). Selective trapping of nanoparticles and cells from a particle mixture or human blood solution was demonstrated using the nanojet array. The developed nanojet array is potentially a powerful tool for nanoparticle assembly, biosensing, single-cell analysis, and optical sorting.

The rapid progresses in biological and biomedical applications with optical interfaces have motivated an ever-increasing demand for biocompatible and disposable photonic components. Generally, these biophotonic components are first integrated with biocompatible materials and then interfaced with biological samples, such as living cells, for biological use. Therefore, direct formation of biophotonic components using living cells is greatly desired because the cells would serve simultaneously as samples and optical elements for signal sensing and detection. Here, we report an optical strategy for direct formation of biophotonic waveguides (bio-WGs) with Escherichia coli. The experiments demonstrate that this facile optical strategy enables forming bio-WGs with different lengths and good light propagation performances while the propagating signal can be detected in real-time. This strategy offers a seamless interface between optical and biological worlds with natural materials and provides a new opportunity for direct sensing and detection of biological signal and information in biocompatible microenvironments.