Search

Improving thermal transport between substrate and transistors has become a vital solution to the thermal challenge in nanoelectronics. Recently 2D WTe2 has sparked extensive interest because of heavy atomic mass and low Debye temperature. Here, the thermal transport of supported WTe2 was studied via Raman thermometry with electrical heating. The supported 30 nm WTe2 encased with 70 nm Al2O3 delivered 4.8 W·m−1·K−1 in-plane thermal conductivity along zigzag direction at room temperature, which was almost 1.6 times larger than that along armchair direction (3.0 W·m−1·K−1). Interestingly, the superior and inferior directions for thermal transport are just opposite of those for electrical transport. Hence, a heat manipulation model in WTe2 FET device was proposed. Within the designed configuration, waste heat in WTe2 would be mostly dissipated to metal contacts located along zigzag, relieving the local temperature discrepancy in the channel effectively and preventing degradation or breakdown. Our study provides new insight into thermal transport of anisotropic 2D materials, which might inspire energy-efficient nanodevices in the future.

The human macular carotenoid transporter was firstly discovered using silkworm yellow-cocoon strains, known as Bombyx mori carotenoid selective transport system (BmCSTS). However, molecular mechanisms underlying the gene/protein expression and regulations in vivo remain elusive. Here, 620 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), 1965 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs), and 67 co-genes (namely Co-DEGs-DEPs) from yellow-cocoon silkworm middle silk glands (MSGs) were identified by RNA-Seq based transcriptome and SWATH-based proteomic analysis. Notably, previously identified CBP-alike key factors were further demonstrated significantly up-regulated in all six B. mori yellow-cocoon strains (NB, NB × 306, 306 × NB, NB × 798, 798 × NB, and XH × NB) used in this study. The GO and KEGG analysis results clustered most DEGs and DEPs into multiple biological processes including both cellular components and molecular functions, especially protein synthesis and energy-metabolic pathways. The protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis results further revealed a predominant ribosome-biogenesis regulation working system during silkworm yellow-cocoon color formation. Additionally, high-efficient energy production and metabolism pathways (i.e. oxidative phosphorylation and citrate cycle) were also discovered, which might facilitate key gene/protein expressions and functions in BmCSTS, such as CBP and Cameo2.

Groundwater lowering is one of the most important countermeasures to avoid the risk of rainfall-triggered landslides. However, the long-term reliability of many drainage methods is often a matter of concern since the drains may easily get clogged. A new hydraulic-driven self-starting drainage method is presented in this paper. In the proposed Random Forest (RF) based robust design approach for the self-starting drains, the datasets are generated using an automatically controlled numerical modeling technology. The deterministic analysis is carried out based on uncertain soil parameters and the specific designs selected using Uniform Design (UD). The ensemble of RF models is applied in the design process to improve computing efficiency. Safety requirements, design robustness, and cost efficiency are simultaneously considered utilizing multi-objective optimization. A straightforward and efficient framework that focuses on difficulties caused by an enormous design space is established for the robust design of the self-starting drains, and improved computation efficiency is achieved. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is illustrated with a case study, the Qili landslide in Zhejiang Province, China.

Thermally responsive shape memory polymers (SMPs) used in 4D printing are often reported to be activated by external heat sources or embedded stiff heaters. However, such heating strategies impede the practical application of 4D printing due to the lack of precise control over heating or the limited ability to accommodate the stretching during shape programming. Herein, we propose a novel 4D printing paradigm by fabricating stretchable heating circuits with fractal motifs via electric-field-driven microscale 3D printing of conductive paste for seamless integration into 3D printed structures with SMP components. By regulating the fractal order and printing/processing parameters, the overall electrical resistance and areal coverage of the circuits can be tuned to produce an efficient and uniform heating performance. Compared with serpentine structures, the resistance of fractal-based circuits remains relatively stable under both uniaxial and biaxial stretching. In practice, steady-state and transient heating modes can be respectively used during the shape programming and actuation phases. We demonstrate that this approach is suitable for 4D printed structures with shape programming by either uniaxial or biaxial stretching. Notably, the biaxial stretchability of fractal-based heating circuits enables the shape change between a planar structure and a 3D one with double curvature. The proposed strategy would offer more freedom in designing 4D printed structures and enable the manipulation of the latter in a controlled and selective manner.

In the case of the rockfall hazards, multiple rockfall impacts usually occur. To improve the ductility and the multi-impact resistance ability of the rock-shed, geofoam is proposed to replace part of sand, forming a composite cushion. Two types of geofoam are selected in the paper, namely, expandable polyethylene (EPE) and expanded polystyrene (EPS). A systematic experimental study was conducted to compare the properties of EPE and EPS. The compression tests showed that EPE geofoam had better resilience than EPS geofoam. Under the laboratory multi-impact tests, the buffer performance of the sand-EPE composite cushion performed well under the multi-impacts. However, for the sand-EPS composite cushion, the buffer performance became poor with increased impact number. For the thicker geofoam, the buffer performance of the composite cushion changed slightly from the second impact to the fifth impact, especially for the EPE geofoam. Finally, large-scale rockfall experiments were carried out to further study the buffer performance of different cushions. Compared with EPS geofoam, EPE geofoam was more suitable for improving the capability of the composite cushion to resist multi-impacts, as well as to protect the rock-shed under multiple rockfall impacts.

In this paper, the liquid-free battery Na-ISE | NaBr (m1), Na2SO4 (m2) |Br-ISE was used to measure the average activity coefficient of the ternary system NaBr–Na2SO4–H2O at 308.15 K by using the ce...

The silkworm, Bombyx mori, is an important model economic insect. Cross breeding is an important way to select excellent silkworm varieties, and different combinations among the same parents often show different genetic characters. To explore the regulatory mechanism of silk gland differences in reciprocal cross silkworm, the 3rd day of the 5th instar of the orthogonal silkworm (306♀ × NB♂, 798♀ × NB♂) and the reverse cross silkworm (NB♀ × 306♂, NB♀ × 798♂) silk glands were used as experimental materials, then using Label-free-based proteomics and RNA-Seq-based transcriptomics for analysis. Besides, the qRT-PCR was used to validate the expression of differentially expressed genes. The results showed that in NB♀ × 306♂ VS 306♀ × NB♂ group, 280 differentially expressed genes and 238 differential proteins were up-regulated while 40 differentially expressed genes and 149 differential proteins were down-regulated; in NB♀ × 798♂ VS 798♀ × NB♂, 82 differentially expressed genes and 325 differential proteins were up-regulated while 113 differentially expressed genes and 258 differential proteins were down-regulated. Further analysis indicated that the up-regulation of mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase gene and cytochrome P450 gene, which are related to mitochondria, might be regulated by maternal inheritance. The GO and KEGG enrichment initially showed that the differential genes and proteins are mainly involved in processes such as protease metabolism, ATP hydrolysis, lipid transport, insect hormone synthesis, and TCA cycle. The down-regulated expression of ecdysone oxidase and Serpin-32 in the reverse cross group will reduce the energy utilization in the process of silk gland synthesis, increase the hydrolysis of serine, affect the synthesis and transport of silk protein, and cause the difference between reciprocal crosses.

Drainage is a cost-effective way to stabilize slopes. However, clogging has always been a factor that decreases the sustainability and efficiency of the drainage method in slope stabilization. A new drainage method utilizing the hydraulic principle is presented in this paper. A deterministic method, which is performed by integrated software, for evaluating the factor of safety (FOS) under the action of a given self-starting drainage design is proposed correspondingly. A framework for the optimized design of self-starting drainage is established, and the following steps are mainly included: The optimal dip angles of the inclined boreholes are determined by a plotting method; the optimal lengths of the permeable section of the inclined boreholes are determined based on uniform design and support vector machine; the concept of Pareto front is introduced to determine the most preferred design in design space considering multiple objectives including safety, cost, and drain effectiveness. The entire process is illustrated with a case study, the Qili landslide in Zhejiang Province, China.

The design of a compressible battery with stable electrochemical performance is extremely important in compression-tolerant and flexible electronics. While this remains challenging with the current battery manufacturing method, the field of 3D printing offers the possibility of producing free-standing 3D-printed electrodes with various structural configurations. Through the simple and scalable strategy, various structural configurations can be produced. Herein, we demonstrate a 3D-printed quasi-solid-state Ni-Fe battery (QSS-NFB) that shows excellent compressibility, ultrahigh energy density, and superior long-term cycling durability. Through a rational design and adjustment of chemical components, two electrodes consisting of ultrathin Ni(OH)2 nanosheet array cathode and holey α-Fe2O3 nanorod array anode are achieved with a ultrahigh active material loading over 130 mg cm-3 and excellent compressibility up to 60%. It is noteworthy that the compressible QSS-NFB demonstrated an excellent cycling stability (∼91.3% capacity retentions after 10000 cycles) and ultrahigh energy density (28.1 mWh cm-3 at a power of 10.6 mW cm-3). This work provides a simple method for producing compression-tolerant energy-storage devices, which are expected to have promising applications in next generation stretchable/wearable electronics.

In this work, the studies of thermodynamic mean activity coefficients of KCl in the KCl–SrCl2–H2O ternary system have been made. A cell without liquid junction battery cell, K–ISE|KCl(mA), SrCl2(mB...

Four-dimensional (4D) printing, which enables 3D printed structures to alter shapes over time, is attracting increasing attention because of its exciting potential in various applications. Among all the 4D printing materials, shape memory polymers (SMPs) have a higher stiffness and faster response rate and therefore are considered as one of the most promising 4D printing materials. However, the current studies of SMP-based 4D printing mainly focused on the deformation behavior and structural design of 4D printed structures. An additional function such as color change is desired for 4D printed structure, which would be potentially beneficial to the applications such as anti-counterfeiting, encryption, and bioinspired camouflage. In this paper, we report an ultraviolet (UV)-curable and thermochromic (UVT) SMP system that enables color-changeable 4D printing. The UVT SMP system is acrylate-based, thus highly UV-curable and compatible with PμSL-based high-resolution 3D printing technique. Thermochromism is imparted by adding the thermochromic microcapsules to the UVT SMP system, which allows the printed structures to reversibly change colors upon heating and cooling. To demonstrate its extraordinary thermochromic and mechanical performance, we use UVT SMP to print QR codes and multilevel anti-counterfeiting patterns which can hide the visible information at room temperature and visualize the information by encrypting, decrypting, and encrypting again steps with the shape-color recovery process. The development of UVT SMP will significantly advance current applications of SMP-based 4D printing, especially for anti-counterfeiting and safe data recording.

Rhenium disulfide (ReS2) has recently amassed increasing interests as lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) anode material due to its extremely weak interlayer coupling and high Li storage capacity. However, its potential as high-performance sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) has rarely been explored comprehensively. In this work, we demonstrate a novel construct of ReS2 anode consisting of vertical ReS2 nanosheets uniformly grown on metal-organic framework (MOF) derived porous carbonaceous nanocubes (RESNC), is able to achieve high-performance SIBs. Exhibiting high specific surface area (117.40 m2 g−1) and near-microporous (∼2.20 nm) pore size distribution, this unique and conductive nanostructure provides abundant reactive sites which enable rapid and efficient ions/electrons transportation. For the first time, the sodiation/desodiation redox mechanisms of the ReS2-based nanostructure are revealed via ex situ investigations. Our results demonstrated that RESCN nanocomposite is endued with high capacity (365 mA h g−1, 100 mA g−1), high rate capability (up to 2 A g−1) and stable cycling performance (>600 cycles, 2 A g−1). To elaborate on the rate and cycling capabilities, various diffusion pathways of sodium-ions on the ReS2 lattice were unravelled via first-principles/ab initio techniques, with the results indicating favourable diffusion mechanics. Through the joint approach of comprehensive experimental and theoretical investigations, our results suggest that the ReS2/C composites are highly promising as high-performance SIBs anode materials, as well as broadening the current perspectives of materials choices as far as high capacity transition metal disulfides (TMDs) is concerned.

Shape memory alloys (SMAs) have been widely used to fabricate soft actuators by embedding SMA wires into various soft matrices manufactured by conventional moulding methods or novel three-dimensional (3D) printing techniques. However, soft matrices of SMA based actuators are typically fabricated from only one or two different materials. Here, we exploit the great manufacturing flexibility of multimaterial 3D printing to fabricate various bending, twisting and extensional actuators by precisely controlling the spatial arrangements of different printing materials with different stiffnesses. In order to achieve a broad range of deformations, ten different printing materials were characterized and used in the actuators design. In addition, we developed a finite element model to simulate complex deformations of the printed actuators and facilitate the design process. The model incorporates a user defined material subroutine that describes the nonlinear temperature dependant behavior of SMAs. The results show the efficiency and flexibility of multimaterial 3D printing in tailoring the deformed shape of the SMA based soft actuators, which cannot be accomplished using conventional manufacturing methods such as moulding.

The recently developed dual-stage 3D printing reprocessable thermosets (3DPRTs) utilize acrylate functional groups to enable the ultra-violet based 3D printing (Stage I), and employ bond exchange reaction (BERs) to tailor the network structure for mechanical properties enhancement and impart the reshapeability, reparability, and recyclability into traditionally unprocessable thermosets (Stage II). 3DPRT provides a practical solution to address environmental challenges associated with the rapid increase in the consumption of 3D printing materials. However, due to the nascent state of development, fundamental understanding of the chemomechanics during the processing of 3DPRTs is still lacking. In this paper, we present detailed experimental and theoretical studies to understand the effect of thermal treatment condition at Stage II on the evolution of network structure and thermomechanical properties of 3DPRTs. A chemomechanics theory is defined to link the molecular-level BER kinetics to the macroscale thermomechanical properties of 3DPRTs during the thermal treatment. A thermo-viscoelastic multi-branched constitutive model is then established to capture the elastic and glass transition behaviors during the Stage II processing. The developed theory is able to capture the experimental observations on the mechanical properties enhancement and provide theoretical guidance for the network design and the selection of thermal treatment conditions to tailor the final mechanical properties of 3DPRTs.

Vitrimers are a new class of thermosetting polymers that can be thermally processed through bond exchange reactions (BERs) without losing network integrity. In engineering applications, the tunability of their thermomechanical properties is highly desirable to meet the requirements of different working conditions. Here, we report a simple composite-based strategy that avoids complex chemistry to prepare vitrimer blends with tunable thermomechanical properties by virtue of the good weldability of base vitrimers. Effects of processing parameters (such as temperature and time) on the properties of recycled vitrimer blends are experimentally investigated. A computational model that accounts for the random distribution of component vitrimer particles is developed to predict the thermomechanical properties of the recycled vitrimer blends with various compositions. Good agreement is achieved between theoretical prediction and experiment. Parametric studies are further conducted by employing the computational model to explore the designability and provide some basic principles to guide the design of recycled vitrimer blends. Reasonable recyclability of the vitrimer blends is verified by multiple generations of recycling experiments.

Graphene aerogels are emerging low density and superelasticity macroscopic porous materials with various applications. However, it still remains a challenge to develop a versatile strategy under ambient conditions for fabricating large-area, high-performance graphene aerogels, which is crucial for their practical applications. Here, we report a novel room-temperature reduction self-assembly (RTRS) strategy to fabricate large-area graphene aerogels under ambient conditions. The strategy is based on using unique hydrazine hydrates as reducing agents to generate stable microbubbles beneficial for the formation of macroporous graphene hydrogels. Interestingly, the resultant hydrogel followed by a simple pre-freeze treatment can be naturally dried into graphene aerogels without noticeable volume shrinkage or structure cracking. Benefiting from the mild conditions, a large-area graphene aerogel with a diameter of up to 27 cm was prepared as an example. The as-formed aerogels exhibit a stable honeycomb-like coarse-pores structure, a low density of 3.6 mg cm-3 and superelasticity (rapidly recoverable from 95% compression) which are suitable for pressure/strain sensors. Moreover, the aerogel exhibits superior particulate matter adsorption efficiency (PM2.5: 93.7%, PM10: 96.2%) and good recycling ability. Importantly, the preparation process is cost-effective and easily scalable without the need for any special drying techniques and heating processes, which provides an ideal platform for mass production of graphene aerogels toward practical applications.

Novel glass-ceramic electrolytes of (100-x) (70Li2S-30P2S5)-xNi2P (x = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4) with high ionic conductivity were proposed with the addition of Ni2P. The 2 mol% Ni2P containing electrolyte (Li7Ni0.2P3.1S11) displays the highest lithium-ion conductivity of 2.22 mS cm−1 at room temperature, which is 1.6 times higher than pristine Li7P3S11. By direct combination with Li2S, the fabricated Li7Ni0.2P3.1S11-Li2S all-solid-state battery exhibits an initial discharge capacity of 429 mAh g−1 at 0.064 mA cm−2 and 454 mAh g−1 at 20th charging/discharging cycle with a high Coulombic efficiency of 99.7%. Keywords: Ni2P doped Li7P3S11, Li2S utilization, Lithium-ion conductivity, All-solid-state lithium‑sulfur batteries

Stretchable and flexible electronics conformal to human skin or implanted into biological tissues has attracted considerable interest for emerging applications in health monitoring and medical treatment. Although various stretchable materials and structures have been designed and manufactured, most are limited to two-dimensional (2D) layouts for interconnects and active components. Here, by using projection microstereolithography (PμSL)-based three-dimensional (3D) printing, we introduce a versatile microfabrication process to push the manufacturing limit and achieve previously inaccessible 3D geometries at a high resolution of 2 μm. After coating the printed microstructures with thin Au films, the 3D conductive structures offer exceptional stretchability (∼130%), conformability, and stable electrical conductivity (5% resistance change at 100% tensile strain). This fabrication process can be further applied to directly create complicated 3D interconnect networks of sophisticated active components, as demonstrated with a stretchable capacitive pressure sensor array here. The proposed scheme allows a simple, facile, and scalable manufacturing route for complex, integrated 3D flexible electronic systems.

Soft composite actuators can be fabricated by embedding shape memory alloy (SMA) wires into soft polymer matrices. Shape retention and recovery of these actuators are typically achieved by incorporating shape memory polymer segments into the actuator structure. However, this requires complex manufacturing processes. This work uses multimaterial 3D printing to fabricate composite actuators with variable stiffness capable of shape retention and recovery. The hinges of the bending actuators presented here are printed from a soft elastomeric layer as well as a rigid shape memory polymer (SMP) layer. The SMA wires are embedded eccentrically over the entire length of the printed structure to provide the actuation bending force, while the resistive wires are embedded into the SMP layer of the hinges to change the temperature and the bending stiffness of the actuator hinges via Joule heating. The temperature of the embedded SMA wire and the printed SMP segments is changed sequentially to accomplish a large bending deformation, retention of the deformed shape, and recovery of the original shape, without applying any external mechanical force. The SMP layer thickness was varied to investigate its effect on shape retention and recovery. A nonlinear finite element model was used to predict the deformation of the actuators.

Vitrimers with bond exchange reactions (BERs) are a class of covalent adaptable network (CAN) polymers at the forefront of recent polymer research. They exhibit malleable and self-healable behaviors and combine the advantages of easy processability of thermoplastics and excellent mechanical properties of thermosets. For thermally sensitive vitrimers, a molecular topology melting/frozen transition is triggered when the BERs are activated to rearrange the network architecture. Notable volume expansion and stress relaxation are accompanied, which can be used to identify the BER activation temperature and rate as well as to determine the malleability and interfacial welding kinetics of vitrimers. Existing works on vitrimers reveal the rate-dependent behaviors of the nonequilibrium network during the topology transition. However, it remains unclear what the quantitative relationship with heating rate is, and how it will affect the macroscopic stress relaxation. In this paper, we study the responses of an epoxy-based vitrimer subjected to a change in temperature and mechanical loading during the topology transition. Using thermal expansion tests, the thermal strain evolution is shown to depend on the temperature-changing rate, which reveals the nonequilibrium states with rate-dependent structural relaxation. The influences of structural relaxation on the stress relaxation behaviors are examined in both uniaxial tension and compression modes. Assisted by a theoretical model, the study reveals how to tune the material and thermal-temporal conditions to promote the contribution of BERs during the reprocessing of vitrimers.

Shape-shifting structures have gained growing interest recently and found wide applications in areas such as soft robotics, biomedical devices and self-folding origami, attributed to their ability to construct complicated shapes directly from simple structures. However, an efficient method to design and fabricate programmable 3D shape-shifting structures from 2D polymer films still lacks. In this work, we design programmable shape-shifting 3D structures via the release of internal gradient stress using the frontal photopolymerization (FPP) method. First, the relation between the non-uniformly distributed material and loading parameters, and the geometric and fabrication parameters are established theoretically. The finite element (FE) model is then developed based on the theoretically obtained material and loading parameters. Next, the elastic instability in the shape-shifting behaviors of a cured film is captured through an elastic energy minimization. Furthermore, by using grayscale light patterns, it is shown that we can selectively manipulate the geometric and fabrication parameters to improve the design freedom of various complex 3D structures.

Spatial control of material properties is highly desirable in additive manufacturing of functional structures with complex geometries. Whereas most previous efforts focused on developing new printing or material systems, we propose a new voxel design strategy of constructing digital materials to provide the additively manufactured polymeric structures with spatially customized thermomechanical properties. In our approach, a matrix-inclusion composite layout is adopted in the linearly patterned voxels that perform as building blocks to construct bulk material. Through rational design of voxel size and inclusion content, the printed polymeric digital material displays a tunable storage modulus up to three orders of magnitude and glass transition temperature ranging from 0 °C to 60 °C. By taking advantage of the design freedom, we demonstrate a sequential folding structure with spatially tunable actuation speed, and multi-stable configurations that trap elastic energy in deterministic collapse sequences. Overall, our approach provides an effective and convenient way of spatially customizing material properties for additive manufacturing and offers instructive inspirations to the realm of digital fabrication.

In this work, we propose a new method termed Semantic Frustum Based VoxelNet (SFB-VoxelNet) for 3D object detection. Since previous frustum-based methods are greatly affected by the accuracy of 2D image proposal, we directly alleviate this influence by reducing the probability of omissions and reinforcing the discriminating ability of the 3D detector. Specifically, first, we use semantic map, generating by the method of semantic segmentation, to keep up semantic information and stuff of interest. Second, by projecting the semantic map to LIDAR space, the frustum is generated and then sent to our detector to estimate 3D object classification and bounding box location. Our method not only cuts down most of search space but also assigns a reasonable arrangement for the two steps of frustum-based methods. In addition, our method is evaluated on KITTI 3D object detection benchmark to verify its superiority while maintaining a real-time inference speed, comparing to other state-of-the-art literatures.

Extraordinary optical, electrical and chemical properties of 2D materials have potential to be useful for quick and sensitive detection of pathological diseases. One important example is malaria disease that can progress rapidly and cause death within days. Therefore, fast, accurate and cost-effective malaria diagnosis available at the point of care is urgently needed to facilitate precise treatment. Here we report rapid and highly sensitive malaria detection with an inexpensive graphene-protected copper surface plasmon resonance biosensor. Using phase sensitive surface plasmon resonance technique and a graphene functionalization protocol for attaching end-tethered DNA probes that were complementary to a malaria specific DNA target, we were able to significantly improve the detection limit of the malarial plasmodium parasite. The phase sensitivity of our graphene-enhanced sensors exceeds by two orders of magnitude the sensitivity of analogous optical biosensors. This enhanced sensitivity could provide means to detect low copy number bacterial infectious agents and to associate dormant bacterial populations with chronic inflammatory diseases using simple label-free optical detection.

Four-dimensional (4D) printing of shape memory polymer (SMP) imparts time responsive properties to 3D structures. Here, we explore 4D printing of a SMP in the submicron length scale, extending its applications to nanophononics. We report a new SMP photoresist based on Vero Clear achieving print features at a resolution of ~300 nm half pitch using two-photon polymerization lithography (TPL). Prints consisting of grids with size-tunable multi-colours enabled the study of shape memory effects to achieve large visual shifts through nanoscale structure deformation. As the nanostructures are flattened, the colours and printed information become invisible. Remarkably, the shape memory effect recovers the original surface morphology of the nanostructures along with its structural colour within seconds of heating above its glass transition temperature. The high-resolution printing and excellent reversibility in both microtopography and optical properties promises a platform for temperature-sensitive labels, information hiding for anti-counterfeiting, and tunable photonic devices., Four-dimensional (4D) printing of shape memory polymer (SMP) imparts time responsive properties to 3D structures. Here, the authors explore 4D printing of a SMP in the submicron length scale, extending its applications to nanophononics.

We report a method to prepare highly stretchable and UV curable hydrogels for high resolution DLP based 3D printing. Hydrogel solutions were prepared by mixing self-developed high-efficiency water-soluble TPO nanoparticles as the photoinitiator with an acrylamide-PEGDA (AP) based hydrogel precursor. The TPO nanoparticles make AP hydrogels UV curable, and thus compatible with the DLP based 3D printing technology for the fabrication of complex hydrogel 3D structures with high-resolution and high-fidelity (up to 7 μm). The AP hydrogel system ensures high stretchability, and the printed hydrogel sample can be stretched by more than 1300%, which is the most stretchable 3D printed hydrogel. The printed stretchable hydrogels show an excellent biocompatibility, which allows us to directly 3D print biostructures and tissues. The great optical clarity of the AP hydrogels offers the possibility of 3D printing contact lenses. More importantly, the AP hydrogels are capable of forming strong interfacial bonding with commercial 3D printing elastomers, which allows us to directly 3D print hydrogel–elastomer hybrid structures such as a flexible electronic board with a conductive hydrogel circuit printed on an elastomer matrix.

Normally-off Gallium Nitride (GaN) transistors with p-GaN gated technology for power applications are studied for the optimization of off-state breakdown performance. The gate-drain distance, gate length, field plate length and its configuration have been studied. Increase gate-drain distance will not only enhance the breakdown performance but also increase the $\mathrm{R}_{\mathrm{on}},\ \mathrm{L}_{\mathrm{GD}}$ between $10 -20\ \mu\mathrm{m}$ is recommended. Extra gate length will lead to the rising of the gate leakage current under high voltage. The overhang length of the field plate is a critical factor for breakdown performance, over placing the length of overhang may result in an additional current leakage path.

The energy dissipation issue has become one of the greatest challenges of the modern electronic industry. Incorporating graphene into the electronic devices has been widely accepted as a promising approach to solve this issue, due to its superior carrier mobility and thermal conductivity. Here, using Raman spectroscopy and infrared thermal microscopy, we identify the energy dissipation behavior of graphene device with different thicknesses. Surprisingly, the monolayer graphene device is demonstrated to have a comparable energy dissipation efficiency per unit volume with that of a few-layer graphene device. This has overturned the traditional understanding that the energy dissipation efficiency will reduce with the decrease of functional materials dimensions. Additionally, the energy dissipation speed of the monolayer graphene device is very fast, promising for devices with high operating frequency. Our finding provides a new insight into the energy dissipation issue of two-dimensional materials devices, which will have a global effect on the development of the electronic industry.

The resistance of silkworm to infection by Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus (BmNPV) is a main focus of sericultural research. Previously, a BmNPV-resistant strain, NB, was identified among a collection of Chinese silkworm strains in our lab. To better understand the molecular mechanism of NB strain resistance, the patterns of host immune response gene transcription in resistant (NB) and susceptible (306) strains were examined. Quantative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) revealed that multiple insect innate immune signaling pathways (Toll, Imd and JAK/STAT) were strongly activated upon infection with BmNPV. Notably, Suppressor of cytokine signaling 2 (BmSOCS2) mRNA expression was significantly up-regulated in midgut tissues of the resistant NB strain, suggesting that the BmSOCS2 gene product may be involved in host immune defense against BmNPV infection. A significant inhibition of BmNPV replication was also observed in BmN cells transfected with a vector encoding BmSOCS2. The results suggest that BmSOCS2 is a key gene involved in the resistance of the NB silkworm strain to BmNPV infection.

Digital Light Processing (DLP) 3D printing enables the creation of hierarchical complex structures with specific micro- and macroscopic architectures that are impossible to achieve through traditional manufacturing methods. Here, this hierarchy is extended to the mesoscopic length scale for optimized devices that dissipate mechanical energy. A photocurable, thus DLP-printable main-chain liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) resin is reported and used to print a variety of complex, high-resolution energy-dissipative devices. Using compressive mechanical testing, the stress-strain responses of 3D-printed LCE lattice structures are shown to have 12 times greater rate-dependence and up to 27 times greater strain-energy dissipation compared to those printed from a commercially available photocurable elastomer resin. The reported behaviors of these structures provide further insight into the much-overlooked energy-dissipation properties of LCEs and can inspire the development of high-energy-absorbing device applications.

Vitrimers have the characteristics of shape-reforming and surface-welding, and have the same excellent mechanical properties as thermosets; so vitrimers hold the promise of a broad alternative to traditional plastics. Since their initial introduction in 2011, vitrimers have been applied to many unique applications such as reworkable composites and liquid crystal elastomer actuators. A series of experiments have investigated the effects of reprocessing conditions (such as temperature, time, and pressure) on recycled materials. However, the effect of particle size on the mechanical properties of recycled materials has not been reported. In this paper, we conducted an experimental study on the recovery of epoxy-acid vitrimers of different particle sizes. Epoxy-acid vitrimer powders with different particle size distributions were prepared and characterized. The effects of particle size on the mechanical properties of regenerated epoxy-acid vitrimers were investigated by dynamic mechanical analysis and uniaxial tensile tests. In addition, other processing parameters such as temperature, time, and pressure are discussed, as well as their interaction with particle size. This study helped to refine the vitrimer reprocessing condition parameter toolbox, providing experimental support for the easy and reliable control of the kinetics of the bond exchange reaction.

A microlens array has become an important micro-optics device in various applications. Compared with traditional manufacturing approaches, digital light processing (DLP)-based printing enables fabrication of complex three-dimensional (3D) geometries and is a possible manufacturing approach for microlens arrays. However, the nature of 3D printing objects by stacking successive 2D patterns formed by discrete pixels leads to coarse surface roughness and makes DLP-based printing unsuccessful in fabricating optical components. Here, we report an oscillation-assisted DLP-based printing approach for fabrication of microlens arrays. An optically smooth surface (about 1 nm surface roughness) is achieved by mechanical oscillation that eliminates the jagged surface formed by discrete pixels, and a 1-3 s single grayscale ultraviolet (UV) exposure that removes the staircase effect. Moreover, computationally designed grayscale UV patterns allow us to fabricate microlenses with various profiles. The proposed approach paves a way to 3D print optical components with high quality, fast speed, and vast flexibility.

The seismic problem of concrete dams has long been a difficult issue facing academic and engineering researchers. Traditional anti-seismic and isolation measures produce unfavorable results in hydraulic structures. However, the air-cushion seismic isolation technique represents a new development orientation for the anti-seismic method of concrete dams. To study the isolation and anti-cracking effects of the air-cushion, the gas-liquid-solid tri-phase coupling numerical model of the air-cushion isolation control of high arch dams is presented in this paper, in which the cracking behavior of concrete is considered. A 300 m level dam was simulated numerically under three different seismic intensities. The results show that the air-cushion reduces the hydrodynamic pressure significantly. The maximum hydrodynamic pressure is reduced by more than 70 %, and the acceleration of the dam crest is reduced by more than 50 % with a 1 m air-cushion. The reduction in hydrodynamic pressure and dam acceleration increases with increasing seismic intensity. In addition, the air-cushion decreases the cracking range of the dam body effectively. Thus, the isolation effects of the air-cushion are remarkable.

In this paper, we investigate a novel learning-based method for dynamic scene deblurring. Since the inference model is formulated as an encoder-decoder, the core task has turned to learning blur-invariant hidden features from the blurred images to a great degree. To achieve state-of-the-art results in terms of both deblurring accuracy and efficiency, a simple, robust and computationally efficient deep auto-encoder is developed tailored specifically for blind deblurring, which is learned in an adversarial fashion based on use of the recent Wasserstein generative adversarial networks. Thanks to the designed framework, the new model has shown comparable or superior performance both qualitatively and quantitatively to existing state-of-the-art methods. What is more important, instead of exploiting the multi-scale strategy as previous methods, our model is just single-scale capable of achieving 6 times more efficiency than the closest competitor by Nah et al. [1], which is a more complex multi-scale deep method.

Electrochemical capacitors, also called supercapacitors (SCs), have been gaining a more significant position as electrochemical energy storage devices in recent years. They are energy storage devices with a considerable power density, a satisfactory energy density and a long-life cycle, suitable for a large number of applications. The further development of these devices relies on providing suitable, low-cost, environmentally friendly, and abundant materials for use as the active materials in the electrodes. Among the current materials used, activated carbons have a superior performance. Their excellent electrochemical performance, high specific surface area, high adsorption, tunable surface chemistry, fast ion/electron transport, abundant functional moieties, low cost, and abundance have made them promising candidates as SC electrodes. These advantages can be enhanced if the activated carbons are prepared from biomass precursors. Recently, scientists have focused on biomass because it is abundant and renewable, low cost, simply processed, and environmentally friendly. The fundamentals of SCs as an electrochemical energy storage device are discussed and biomass from various sources is categorized and introduced. Finally, the activation techniques for these biomass precursors and their use as electrode materials for SCs are discussed.

Nature builds biological materials from limited ingredients, however, with unparalleled mechanical performances compared to artificial materials, by harnessing inherent structures across multi-length-scales. In contrast, synthetic material design overwhelmingly focuses on developing new compounds, and fails to reproduce the mechanical properties of natural counterparts, such as fatigue resistance. Here, a simple yet general strategy to engineer conventional hydrogels with a more than 100-fold increase in fatigue thresholds is reported. This strategy is proven to be universally applicable to various species of hydrogel materials, including polysaccharides (i.e., alginate, cellulose), proteins (i.e., gelatin), synthetic polymers (i.e., poly(vinyl alcohol)s), as well as corresponding polymer composites. These fatigue-resistant hydrogels exhibit a record-high fatigue threshold over most synthetic soft materials, making them low-cost, high-performance, and durable alternatives to soft materials used in those circumstances including robotics, artificial muscles, etc.

Silver has been associated with significant environmental challenges. This study aimed to investigate the photo-reduction of silver ions (Ag+) mediated by dissolved black carbon (DBC), a vital dissolved organic matter released from black carbon. Suwannee River humic acid (SRHA) was used as a comparison group. DBC was observed to effectively mediate the photo-reduction of Ag+ to the silver nanoparticles (nAg) under simulated sunlight. The initial rate of formation of nAg mediated by DBC was approximately 3.0–9.5 times higher than that of nAg mediated by SRHA. The Ag+ concentration required to form nAg in the DBC solution was observed to be only 0.5 mg L−1, which was one-tenth of the concentration in the SRHA solution. Further, the mediation efficiency of DBC was higher than that of SRHA, which was attributed to the facilitated ligand-to-metal electron transfer and reduced generation of the oxidative phototransients. The Ag+ sorption played a crucial role during the photo-reduction process by altering the reaction pathway and local Ag+ concentration as well as affecting the initial rate of formation of nAg. Furthermore, the silver seeds generated by DBC are able to trigger the formation of nAg by SRHA at low Ag+ concentrations. Overall, the findings from this study highlight the vital role of DBC in mediating the sunlight-induced speciation of the silver ions.

4D printing is an emerging fabrication technology that enables 3D printed structures to change configuration over "time" in response to an environmental stimulus. Compared with other soft active materials used for 4D printing, shape-memory polymers (SMPs) have higher stiffness, and are compatible with various 3D printing technologies. Among them, ultraviolet (UV)-curable SMPs are compatible with Digital Light Processing (DLP)-based 3D printing to fabricate SMP-based structures with complex geometry and high-resolution. However, UV-curable SMPs have limitations in terms of mechanical performance, which significantly constrains their application ranges. Here, a mechanically robust and UV-curable SMP system is reported, which is highly deformable, fatigue resistant, and compatible with DLP-based 3D printing, to fabricate high-resolution (up to 2 µm), highly complex 3D structures that exhibit large shape change (up to 1240%) upon heating. More importantly, the developed SMP system exhibits excellent fatigue resistance and can be repeatedly loaded more than 10 000 times. The development of the mechanically robust and UV-curable SMPs significantly improves the mechanical performance of the SMP-based 4D printing structures, which allows them to be applied to engineering applications such as aerospace, smart furniture, and soft robots.

We report a dual-stage photocrosslinked polymer network based on sequential ultraviolet (UV)-triggered radical polymerization and thermally activated etherification, applicable to the fabrication of tailorable and programmable high-resolution structures. The first stage involves photoinitiated polymerization of monomer and crosslinker to obtain an intermediate polymer network. As such, sophisticated two-dimensional (2D) and micro-scale three-dimensional (3D) structures can be made by using UV-based advanced manufacturing technologies. These complex structures can then be readily programmed into other desired, permanent shapes, in the second stage, via thermally triggered etherification which results in a highly crosslinked, robust polymer network. The intermediate network (Stage I) is characterized to have a Young’s modulus ranging from 342 to 1146 MPa and a glass transition temperature from 52 °C to 83 °C, depending on the concentration of crosslinker. The same material attains a glass transition temperature ranging from 67 °C to ~105 °C and a Young’s modulus of up to 1607 MPa after the subsequent heating process (Stage II). Originally 3D printed 2D structures can be further programmed into rigid, permanent 2.5/3D ones. Micropatterns fabricated from intrinsically hydrophilic dual-stage crosslinked photopolymers through soft lithography show superhydrophobicity, and can subsequently be molded with different curvatures for practical applications.

Diffusion technique is powerful for semi-supervised image segmentation since the geometry of the data manifold can be captured by the affinity propagation. Conventional diffusion methods focus on single label, which however ignore interactions among labels. This workstudies a generalized diffusion framework that considers label group for diffusion (LGD). The proposed framework can effectively capture the interactions among image elements via tensor product graph (TPG). A multivariate affinity framework is proposed to learn on higher-order TPG. Label pair diffusion algorithm is naturally derivedfrom the framework by considering second-order affinity (LG(2)D). We theoretically show that conventional label diffusion is the simplest case of the proposed framework (LG(1)D). Extensive experiments on image segmentation and image pair co-segmentation datasets demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed framework.

A novel composite consisting of vertical ultrathin MoS2 nanosheet arrays and Fe3O4 quantum dots (QDs) grown on graphite paper (GP) as a high-performance anode material for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) has been synthesized via a facile two-step hydrothermal method. Owing to the high reversible capacity provided by the MoS2 nanosheets and the superior high rate performance offered by Fe3O4 QDs, superior cycling and rate performances are achieved by Fe3O4@MoS2-GP anodes during the subsequent electrochemical tests, delivering 468 and 231 mA h g−1 at current densities of 100 and 3200 mA g−1, respectively, as well as retaining ∼72.5% of their original capacitance at a current density of 100 mA g−1 after 300 cycles. The excellent electrochemical performance resulted from the interconnected nanosheets of MoS2 providing flexible substrates for the nanoparticle decoration and accommodating the volume changes of uniformly distributed Fe3O4 QDs during the cycling process. Moreover, Fe3O4 QDs primarily act as spacers to stabilize the composite structure, making the active surfaces of MoS2 nanosheets accessible for electrolyte penetration during charge–discharge processes, which maximally utilized electrochemically active MoS2 nanosheets and Fe3O4 QDs for sodium-ion batteries.

Four-dimensional (4D) printing that enables 3D printed structures to change configurations over time has gained great attention because of its exciting potential in various applications. Among all the 4D printing materials, shape memory polymers (SMPs) possess higher stiffness and faster response rate and therefore are considered as one of most promising materials for 4D printing. However, most of the SMP-based 4D printing materials are (meth)acrylate thermosets which have permanently cross-linked covalent networks and cannot be repaired if any damage occurs. To address the unrepairable nature of SMP-based 4D printing materials, this paper reports a double-network self-healing SMP (SH-SMP) system for high-resolution self-healing 4D printing. In the SH-SMP system, the semicrystalline linear polymer polycaprolactone (PCL) is incorporated into a methacrylate-based SMP system which has good compatibility with the digital light processing-based 3D printing technology and can be used to fabricate complex 4D printing structures with high resolution (up to 30 μm). The PCL linear polymer imparts the self-healing ability to the 4D printing structures, and the mechanical properties of a damaged structure can be recovered to more than 90% after adding more than 20 wt % of PCL into the SH-SMP system. We investigated the effects of PCL concentration on the thermomechanical behavior, viscosity, and the self-healing capability of the SH-SMP system and performed the computational fluid dynamics simulations to study the effect of SH-SMP solution's viscosity on the 3D printing process. Finally, we demonstrated the self-healing 4D printing application examples to show the merits of the SH-SMP system.

Grassland health assessment is the basis for formulating grassland protection policy. However, there are few assessment methods that consider the angle of natural succession for northern China&rsquo, s regional native grassland with excessive human activities. The main purpose of this study is to build an assessment system for these areas from the perspective of natural succession. Besides, the minimal cumulative resistance (MCR) model was used to extract potential ecological information from the study area as a supplementary reference for the assessment results. The result for Bayinxile pasture, a typical semiarid steppe with excessive human activities located in northern China, showed that: (1) The ecological function of eastern hilly area was better than that of other regions and the western area was lowest as a whole. (2) The river was the most important ecological network in the whole grassland in that it was of vital significance in the prevention of retrogressive succession and in the linking of ecological communities. (3) The density of ecological network was closely related to the intensity of human activities, and farmland and roads had great negative influence on the connection of the grassland ecological network. We further proposed an ecological control zone and made suggestions for Bayinxile ecological management to prevent grassland degradation based on the above results. This study should provide a new perspective for grassland health assessment and sustainable development of regional grassland.

In this paper, Au nanoshell arrays, serving as a photo-activated material, are fabricated via the combination of self-assembled nanosphere lithography and the thermal decomposing polymer method. The intensity and position of surface plasmonic resonance can be tuned from the visible region to the near-infrared region by changing the size of Au nanoshell arrays. When resonance absorption peaks of metal nanoparticles are matched with emission wavelengths of core-shell CdSe/CdS quantum dots, fluorescent intensity of CdSe/CdS quantum dots can be strongly enhanced. The physical mechanism of fluorescent enhancement is explained.

The emerging direct four dimensional (4D) printing approach is considered as an easy, fast and economical manufacturing strategy that fabricates complex 3D geometries evolving from printed flat patterns in response to external stimuli. However, its implementation to practical engineering applications is impeded by the fact that the existing direct 4D printing methods could not render both the large bending curvature and high loading capacity at the same time. Herein, we report a multimaterial direct 4D printing method to fabricate patterned laminate that consists of covalently bonded elastomer and high-water-content hydrogel. The dehydration induced large volumetric shrinkage (up to 60%) and great modulus escalation (from 100 kPa to 4 GPa) allow the printed flat patterns to evolve into complex 3D structures with large bending curvature (up to 0.7 mm−1) and high bending stiffness (up to 104 MPa m3). To facilitate the structural design, we develop a phenomenological model to describe the dehydration induced shrinkage and stiffening, and implement this model into Euler–Bernoulli beam theory and finite element simulations. Compared with other 3D printing technologies, the proposed multimaterial direct 4D printing approach demonstrates the merits in terms of less building time and high load capacity at both room temperature and high temperature.

Bioactive synthetic scaffolds with 3D porous structure are the most attractive materials among various guided bone regeneration membranes. However, its osteogenic potential is still insufficient. This study was aimed to develop a Calcium surface-anchored Collagen I-PLGA/PCL scaffolds (PP/COL I-pDA-Ca) with enhanced osteogenicity. PP/COL I-pDA-Ca was electrospun from a collagen I-blended PLGA/PCL matrix and then modified by the chelation of Ca-ions via mussel-inspired polydopamine coating. PLGA/PCL, PLGA/PCL-polydopamine, PLGA/PCL-pDA chelated by Ca-ions were used as controls. Osteogenic effects of the scaffolds were examined using MC3T3-E1 cell culture. PP/COL I-pDA-Ca maintained 3D porous architecture with interconnected pores formed by randomly-oriented filamentous fibers and MC3T3-E1 cells cultured on it for 12 h or 24 h were more stretched and spread than those on the controls. PP/COL I-pDA-Ca significantly upregulated α10, α11 and β1 integrin expression after 48 h culture. ALP activity, OCN, OSX, BMP2 and RUNX2 expression of MC3T3-E1 cells cultured on PP/COL I-pDA-Ca scaffolds for 7 and 14 days were substantially enhanced when compared to controls (p

In order to make up defects liable for the conventional monitoring of rockfill dam seepage in spatial inconsequence and low efficiency, a new monitoring system is proposed based on the heating technique incorporated in the temperature tracer method, that is, the integrated system of fiber Bragg grating temperature sensing and hydrothermal cycling. The system has a boiler as its heating device, and heated water from boiler is admitted through redistributor and circular warm pipelines, in which fiber Bragg grating sensors are embedded in advance for measuring the water temperature, thereby the seepage behavior is identified from the correlative fields of temperature and seepage. A coefficient ζv, according to Newton’s law of cooling, is then fitted out by pipeline cooling curves and used as a new way to identify the seepage state. The temperature–time–travel curves for the cooling period have proved by calibration tests to be, in general, consistent with the mathematical model of temperature variations under Newton’s law of cooling, thereby to inverting the seepage velocity through the fitting formula of it with ζv. With the test model of concentrative leakage established in regard to the location, amount of leakage passages, and leakage rate, multi-condition tests have been conducted which conclude that the proposed method is capable of positioning leakage and quantifying seepage velocity; therefore, it is valid for seepage monitoring and identification.

We implement a propensity score matching technique to present the first evidence on the impact of professional sports lockouts on player productivity. In particular, we utilize a unique natural experiment from the 2012-2013 National Hockey League lockout, during which approximately 200 players decided to play overseas, while the rest stayed in North America. We separate players based on their nationality and investigate the effect of playing abroad on postlockout player performance. We find limited evidence of enhanced productivity among European players and no evidence of a benefit or drawback for North American players. Our study contributes to the understanding of lockouts in professional sports and the general discussion of labor disputes and worker productivity.

In this paper, we present an active contour model for image segmentation based on a nonparametric distribution metric without any intensity a priori of the image. A novel nonparametric distance metric, which is called joint probability classification, is established to drive the active contour avoiding the instability induced by multimodal intensity distribution. Considering an image as a Riemannian manifold with spatial and intensity information, the contour evolution is performed on the image manifold by embedding geometric image feature into the active contour model. The experimental results on medical and texture images demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method.