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The ability to tune the band-edge energies of bottom-up graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) via edge dopants creates new opportunities for designing tailor-made GNR heterojunctions and related nanoscale electronic devices. Here we report the local electronic characterization of type II GNR heterojunctions composed of two different nitrogen edge-doping configurations (carbazole and phenanthridine) that separately exhibit electron-donating and electron-withdrawing behavior. Atomically resolved structural characterization of phenanthridine/carbazole GNR heterojunctions was performed using bond-resolved scanning tunneling microscopy and noncontact atomic force microscopy. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy and first-principles calculations reveal that carbazole and phenanthridine dopant configurations induce opposite upward and downward orbital energy shifts owing to their different electron affinities. The magnitude of the energy offsets observed in carbazole/phenanthridine heterojunctions is dependent on the length of the GNR segments comprising each heterojunction with longer segments leading to larger heterojunction energy offsets. Using a new on-site energy analysis based on Wannier functions, we find that the origin of this behavior is a charge transfer process that reshapes the electrostatic potential profile over a long distance within the GNR heterojunction.

Bottom-up fabrication techniques enable atomically precise integration of dopant atoms into the structure of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs). Such dopants exhibit perfect alignment within GNRs and behave differently from bulk semiconductor dopants. The effect of dopant concentration on the electronic structure of GNRs, however, remains unclear despite its importance in future electronics applications. Here we use scanning tunneling microscopy and first-principles calculations to investigate the electronic structure of bottom-up synthesized N = 7 armchair GNRs featuring varying concentrations of boron dopants. First-principles calculations of freestanding GNRs predict that the inclusion of boron atoms into a GNR backbone should induce two sharp dopant states whose energy splitting varies with dopant concentration. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy experiments, however, reveal two broad dopant states with an energy splitting greater than expected. This anomalous behavior results from an unusual hybridization between the dopant states and the Au(111) surface, with the dopant-surface interaction strength dictated by the dopant orbital symmetry.

Right and left filling pressures are important parameters in the automatic control of a total artificial heart (TAH) within normal physiologic ranges. Our TAH is composed of a moving actuator, right and left ventricles, and an interventricular space (IVS) enclosed by a semirigid housing. During operation of the TAH, the IVS volume is changed dynamically by the difference between the ejection volume of one ventricle and the inflow volume of the other. We measured the interventricular pressure (IVP) waveform by using a pressure sensor and analyzed the relationship between the IVP and the preload condition. From in vitro and in vivo experiments, we found that the measured filling pressures were linearly related to the negative peak value of the IVP. Additionally, we found that we could use the time interval from actuator start to the positive peak value of the IVP (outflow valve opening) as a useful parameter to estimate the blood filling volume of the diastole ventricle.

A new automatic cardiac output control algorithm for an implantable electromechanical total artificial heart (TAH) was developed based on the analysis of motor current waveform without using any transducer. The basic control requirements of an artificial heart can be described in terms of three features: preload sensitivity, afterload insensivity, and balanced ventricular output. In previous studies, transducers were used to acquire information on the hemodynamic states for automatic cardiac output control. However, such a control system has reliability problems with the sensors. We proposed a novel sensorless automatic cardiac output control algorithm (ACOCA) providing adequate cardiac output to the time-varying physiological demand without causing right atrial collapse, which is one of the critical problems in an active filling device. In vitro tests were performed on a mock circulatory system to assess the performance of the developed algorithm and the results show that the new algorithm satisfied the basic control requirements of the cardiac output response.

From an engineering point of view, the suitable revolution number for high efficiency operation of an axial flow pump is known. A multistage axial flow pump is a useful tool for reducing revolution number with a high efficiency axial flow pump. A two stage (25) axial flow pump designed at a 5 L/min flow rate and a 100 mmHg pressure head was evaluated in three kinds of in vitro hemolysis tests. Each stage design point of the 2s pump was tested at a 5 L/min flow rate and a 50 mmHg pressure head. Specific speed and revolution number of the 2S pump were 1400 rpm, m3/min, m, and 15500 rpm, respectively. In the first test the 2S pump was compared with two single stage axial flow pumps (1S-A and 1S-B100) designed by the same method. The specific speed of the 1A was the same as that of the 2S pump, which was driven at 26000 rpm. The impeller of the 1S-B100 was the same as that of the 2S pump, which was driven at a 22000 rpm RN and a 1100 specific speed. The 2S pump was separated into two single stage axial flow pumps and the effect of series operation on hemolysis was evaluated in the second test. In the third test the 2S pump was compared with the 1S-B100 by using diluted goat blood samples with three different hematocrit values. The results showed that the hemolysis index of the 2S pump, regarded as a total hemolysis index of both stage axial flow pumps, was less than those of the single stage axial flow pumps at all hematocrit values.