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Mitigating sepsis‐induced severe organ dysfunction with magnetic nanoparticles has shown remarkable advances in extracorporeal blood treatment. Nevertheless, treating large septic animals remains challenging due to insufficient magnetic separation at rapid blood flow rates (>6 L h−1) and limited incubation time in an extracorporeal circuit. Herein, superparamagnetic nanoclusters (SPNCs) coated with red blood cell (RBC) membranes are developed, which promptly capture and magnetically separate a wide range of pathogens at high blood flow rates in a swine sepsis model. The SPNCs exhibited an ultranarrow size distribution of clustered iron oxide nanocrystals and exceptionally high saturation magnetization (≈ 90 emu g−1) close to that of bulk magnetite. It is also revealed that CD47 on the RBCs allows the RBC‐SPNCs to remain at a consistent concentration in the blood by evading innate immunity. The uniform size distribution of the RBC‐SPNCs greatly enhances their effectiveness in eradicating various pathogenic materials in extracorporeal blood. The use of RBC‐SPNCs for extracorporeal treatment of swine infected with multidrug‐resistant E. coli is validated and found that severe bacteremic sepsis‐induced organ dysfunction is significantly mitigated after 12 h. The findings highlight the potential application of RBC‐SPNCs for extracorporeal therapy of severe sepsis in large animal models and potentially humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interface between dielectric and organic semiconductor is critically important in determining organic thin‐film transistor (OTFT) performance. Surface polarity of the dielectric layer can hinder charge transport characteristics, which has restricted utilization of polymeric dielectric materials containing polar functional groups. Herein, the electrical characteristics of OTFTs are analyzed depending on the alkyl chain length of organic semiconductors and surface polarity of polymer dielectrics. High‐performance dibenzothiopheno[6,5‑b:6′,5′‑f]thieno[3,2‑b]thiophene (DBTTT) and newly synthesized its alkylated derivatives (C6‐DBTTT and C10‐DBTTT) are utilized as organic semiconductors. As dielectric layers, non‐polar poly(1,3,5‐trimethyl‐1,3,5‐trivinylcyclitrisiloxane) (pV3D3) and poly(2‐cyanoethyl acrylate‐co‐diethylene glycol divinyl ether) [p(CEA‐co‐DEGDVE)] with polar cyanide functionality are utilized. The fabricated OTFTs with pV3D3 commonly exhibit the excellent charge transport characteristics. In addition, the OTFT performance is improved with lengthening the alkyl chain in organic semiconductors, which can be attributed to the molecular orientation of semiconductors. On the other hand, non‐alkylated DBTTT OTFTs with polar p(CEA‐co‐DEGDVE) show relatively poor electrical characteristics, while their performance is drastically enhanced with the alkylated DBTTTs. The ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) reveals that surface polarity of the dielectric layer can be abated with alkyl chain in organic semiconductors. It is believed that this study can provide a useful insight to optimize dielectric/semiconductor interface to achieve high‐performance OTFTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rubbing‐induced alignment of conjugated polymers is systematically investigated in terms of intra‐ and inter‐molecular interaction. Various polymer films with a broad range of polymer chain rigidity are rubbed, and the degree of polymer chain alignment is quantitatively characterized. The rubbing technique effectively aligns crystalline domains in conjugated polymer films when the temperature approaches the critical rubbing temperature (Trc$T_{\mathrm{r}}^{\mathrm{c}}$), at which the rearrangement and the slip of polymer chains are possible. A polymer with significant intra‐/inter‐molecular interactions exhibits higher Trc$T_{\mathrm{r}}^{\mathrm{c}}$, though quantitative analysis reveals an intermediately aligned state at temperature Tr′ lower than Trc$T_{\mathrm{r}}^{\mathrm{c}}$. This state originates from polymer chain aggregation in an amorphous domain. The intermediately aligned state can be controlled by plasticizer, which enables low‐temperature alignment of high‐mobility polymer film by reducing Tr′ to near 100 °C, increases the crystallinity, and improves the alignment effect at this state comparable to that of the completely aligned state obtained at extremely high temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Halide perovskites have potential for use in next‐generation low‐cost, high‐efficiency, and highly color‐pure light‐emitting diodes (LED) that can be used in various applications, such as flat and flexible displays and solid‐state lighting. However, they still lag behind other mature technologies, such as organic LEDs and inorganic LEDs, in terms of performance, particularly brightness. This lag is partly due to the insulating nature of the long‐chain organic ligands used to control the perovskite‐film morphology. Herein, a 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ionic liquid (IL) is incorporated as a potential additive with CsPbBr3 perovskite precursors, which results in a super‐bright green perovskite light emitting diode (PeLED) achieving a peak luminance of 3.28 × 105 cd m−2 only at a bias voltage of 6 V, with a peak external quantum efficiency of 13.75%. This achievement is the outcome of multirole support from IL that simultaneously enables superior control over the perovskite‐film morphology, passivates defects, modifies the band energy levels, and prevents ion migration. Hence, this work demonstrates IL as a novel alternative additive with the potential to outperform conventional long‐chain ligands in high‐performance PeLED device fabrication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protective surface coatings on Si anodes are promising for improving the electrochemical performance of lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs). Nevertheless, most coating materials have severe issues, including low initial coulombic efficiency, structural fracture, morphology control, and complicated synthetic processing. In this study, a multifunctional TiO2‐x/TiO1‐yNy (TTN) formed via a facile and scalable synthetic process is applied as a coating material for Si anodes. A thin layer of amorphous TiO2 is uniformly coated onto Si nanoparticles by a simple sol–gel method and then converted into a two phase TiO2‐x/TiO1‐yNy via nitridation. The lithiated TiO2‐x provides high ionic and electrical conductivity, while TiO1‐yNy can improve mechanical strength that alleviates volume change of Si to address capacity fading issue. Owing to these synergetic advantages, TiO2‐x/TiO1‐yNy‐coated Si (Si@TTN) exhibits excellent electrochemical properties, including a high charge capacity of 1650 mA h g–1 at 0.1 A g–1 and 84% capacity retention after 100 cycles at 1 A g–1. Moreover, a significantly enhanced rate performance can be achieved at a high current density. This investigation presents a facile and effective coating material to use as the high‐capacity silicon anode in the emerging Si anode technology in LIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simplifying assays while maintaining the robustness of reagents is a challenge in diagnostics. This problem is exacerbated when translating quality diagnostic assays to developing countries that lack resources and infrastructure such as trained health workers, high‐end equipment, and cold‐chain systems. To solve this problem, in this study, a simple solution that films assay reagents to simplify the operation of diagnostic assays and preserve the stability of diagnostic reagents without using cold chains is presented. A polyvinyl‐alcohol‐based water‐soluble film is used to encapsulate premeasured and premixed reagents. The reagent film, produced through a simple and scalable cast‐drying process, provides a glassy inner matrix with abundant hydroxyl groups that can stabilize various reagents (ranging from chemicals to biological materials) by restricting molecular mobility and generating hydrogen bonds. The reagent film is applied to an enzymatic glucose assay, a high‐sensitivity immunoassay for cardiac troponin, and a molecular assay for viral RNA detection, to test its practicability and universal applicability. The film‐based assays result in excellent analytical/diagnostic performance and stable long‐term reagent storage at elevated temperatures (at 25 or 37 °C, for six months), demonstrating clinical readiness. This technology advances the development and distribution of affordable high‐quality diagnostics to resource‐limited regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike commercial lithium‐ion batteries, the high cost and low ionic conductivity of solid electrolytes (SEs) continues to be a big hurdle in commercially available all‐solid‐state batteries (ASSBs). Rather than the conventional dry‐process and high‐energy ball milling processes, the productive solution synthesis of bulk‐type SEs is the most crucial issue in the successful application of high‐energy‐density ASSBs. In this study, the way is paved to overcome the hurdle for commercial lithium phosphorus sulfide chloride (LPSCl) SEs via a readily processable bulk‐type solution‐based synthesis without acquiring any high‐energy ball‐milling processes. By incorporating an elemental sulfur additive during the preparation process, Li2S and S form a polysulfide, and P2S5 is induced to react readily to provide LPSCl with excellent ion conductivity as high as 1.8 mS cm−1. Surprisingly, the purity of bulk type precursors does not affect the final composition and ionic conductivity of sulfide electrolytes, which show the same electrochemical characteristics of ASSB cells with a high discharge capacity of 185.6 mA h g−1. The study offers a promising strategy for saving the production cost of sulfide SEs, possibly up to 92%, and their commercial ASSBs are expected to be achieving a competitive cost per energy density of ≈0.46 $ W−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The large implementation of electrochemical energy storage devices requires the development of new chemistries tailored for specific uses. Sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs) can cover different application fields, however the state‐of‐the‐art negative material, hard carbon, suffers from poor cyclability and rate capability. MXenes are a vast class of 2D‐materials of the general formula Mn+1XnTx (M = transition metal, X = C or N, and T = M‐terminating group) with peculiar structural features able to reversible intercalate chemical species, such as alkaline cations. The MXene compound Ti3C2Tx is one of the most investigated, thanks to the easy preparation route by etching of the pristine compound Ti3AlC2. In this work, the effect of the etching conditions and of the postsynthesis thermal treatments on the chemical, morphological, and structural properties of Ti3C2Tx are investigated, and in turn the correlation between its features and the functional properties as negative materials in SIBs are studied. The Ti3C2Tx obtained in high hydrofluoric concentration and after a 300 °C thermal treatment shows 110 mAh g−1 at 30 mA g−1 with an average potential of 1.33 V versus Na+/Na, 100% and good rate capability, since it is still able to deliver 73 mAh g−1 at 1500 mA g−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The water splitting for hydrogen energy is largely constrained by sluggish anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Cobalt oxide, one of the most promising non‐noble metal catalysts for OER, can exhibit highly enhanced catalytic OER activity when deposited on gold substrates. However, it still remains challenging to develop efficient Au/Co3O4 catalysts that can maximize the catalytic activity with the minimum use of gold. Here is reported a simple leaching derived synthesis of atomically dispersed/clustered gold on mesoporous cobalt oxides as highly efficient catalysts for OER. With greatly lowered gold contents <1 wt%, the catalyst shows twice as much current density and Au normalized activity than mesoporous cobalt oxide at 400 mV overpotential. The present work provides a simple synthesis route toward atomically dispersed/clustered gold supported catalysts, which can be extended to the development of a wide variety of efficient nanocatalysts that can be designed for specific applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non‐aqueous lithium‐oxygen batteries (LOBs) have emerged as a promising candidate due to their high theoretical energy density and eco‐friendly cathode reaction materials. However, LOBs still suffer from high overpotential and poor cycling stability resulting from difficulties in the decomposition of discharge reaction Li2O2 products. Here, a 3D open network catalyst structure is proposed based on highly‐thin and porous multi‐metal oxide nanofibers (MMONFs) developed by a facile electrospinning approach coupled with a heat treatment process. The developed hierarchically interconnected 3D porous MMONFs catalyst structure with high specific surface area and porosity shows the enhanced electrochemical reaction kinetics associated with Li2O2 formation and decomposition on the cathode surface during the charge and discharge processes. The uniquely assembled cathode materials with MMONFs exhibit excellent electrochemical performance with energy efficiency of 82% at a current density of 50 mA g−1 and a long‐term cycling stability over 100 cycles at 200 mA g−1 with a cut‐off capacity of 500 mAh g−1. Moreover, the optimized cathode materials exhibit a remarkable energy density of 1013 Wh kg−1 at the 100th discharge and charge cycle, which is nearly four times higher than that of C/NMC721, which has the highest energy density among the cathode materials currently used in electric vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amorphous IGZO (a‐IGZO) thin‐film transistors (TFTs) are standard backplane electronics to power active‐matrix organic light‐emitting diode (AMOLED) televisions due to their high carrier mobility and negligible low leakage characteristics. Despite their advantages, limitations in color depth arise from a steep subthreshold swing (SS) (≤ 0.1 V/decade), necessitating costly external compensation for IGZO transistors. For mid‐size mobile applications such as OLED tablets and notebooks, it is important to ensure controllable SS value (≥ 0.3 V/decade). In this study, a conversion mechanism during plasma‐enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) is proposed as a feasible route to control the SS. When a pulse of a diethylzinc (DEZn) precursor is exposed to the M2O3 (M = In or Ga) surface layer, partial conversion of the underlying M2O3 to ZnO is predicted on the basis of density function theory calculations. Notably, significant distinctions between In‐Ga‐Zn (Case I) and In‐Zn‐Ga (Case II) films are observed: Case II exhibits a lower growth rate and larger Ga/In ratio. Case II TFTs with a‐IGZO (subcycle ratio of In:Ga:Zn = 3:1:1) show reasonable SS values (313 mV decade−1) and high mobility (µFE) of 29.3 cm2 Vs−1 (Case I: 84 mV decade−1 and 33.4 cm2 Vs−1). The rationale for Case II's reasonable SS values is discussed, attributing it to the plausible formation of In‐Zn defects, supported by technology computer‐aided design (TCAD) simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]