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Sorting and trapping cells play an important role in fundamental cellular and biology research that enables the study of single-cell behaviors, which are different in comparison with a cluster of cells. Contactless handling techniques using different optical, mechanical, or magnetic phenomena have been studied for single-cell trapping. Among them, the diamagnetic force created by magnetic structures on cells is significant and stable both in time and in space. In this work, arrays of hard magnetic clusters in the PDMS background (hereafter called magnetic structure) were successfully fabricated using the magnetic imprinting method. The magnetic structure shows a proper magnetic property and the possibility to sort and trap T47D single cells via the diamagnetic levitation phenomenon at defined positions, which are both experimentally observed and theoretically calculated. The obtained results show the promise of developing a simple way to separate directly living cells. [ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, two-dimensional (2D) layered organic-inorganic perovskites have been a hot topic not only in photovoltaics but also in optoelectronic applications due to their remarkable optical and electronic properties. In this study, the multiferroic property of the 2D layered (C6H5CH2CH2NH3)2NiCl4, abbreviated PEA-NiCl4, perovskite single crystals has been first reported. The crystals were synthesized by anti-solvent evaporation method by a layer-by-layer mode with relative smooth surface that confirmed by SEM image. The XRD patterns reveal the high crystalline quality with (n00) dominant plane (n = 2, 4, 6, …). The 180° reproducible hysteresis phase loop, butterfly-like amplitude curve, and an effective piezoelectric coefficient of 327 pm/V was evaluated using Piezoelectric Force Microscopy (PFM) measurement. The multiferroic properties has been confirmed by P-E hysteresis loops with PS = 16.3 µC/cm² Pr = 14.8 µC/cm², and EC = 6.7 kV/cm and M-H hysteresis loops with HC = 151 G. The 80-nm-width ferroelectric domains orienting along the crystal surface have been observed by the PFM images. This study offers an opportunity to develop new multiferroics material based on 2D layered hybrid perovskite single crystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]