Selective Laser Doping and Dedoping for Phase Engineering in Vanadium Dioxide Film.

Vanadium dioxide (VO), renowned for its reversible metal-to-insulator transition (MIT), has been widely used in configurable photonic and electronic devices. Precisely tailoring the MIT of VO on micro-/nano-scale is crucial for miniaturized and integrated devices. However, existing tailoring techniques like scanning probe microscopy, despite their precision, fall short in efficiency and adaptability, particularly on complex or curved surfaces.

Roles of immune dysregulation in MASLD.

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the most common chronic liver disease worldwide. Its occurrence and progression involve the process from simple hepatic steatosis to metabolic dysfunction associated steatohepatitis (MASH), which could develop into advanced liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Growing evidences support that the pathogenesis and progression of MASLD are closely related to immune system dysfunction.

A novel prognostic model for predicting patient survival and immunotherapy responsiveness in hepatocellular carcinoma: insights into the involvement of T-cell proliferation.

Background: The cancer-associated biological mechanisms and the implementation of immunotherapy are heavily impacted by the activities of T cells, consequently influencing the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions. Nevertheless, the mechanistic actions of T-cell proliferation in response to immunotherapy and the overall prognosis of individuals diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains insufficiently understood. The present work seeks to present a comprehensive analysis immune landscape in the context of HCC.

FGF9 Recruits β-Catenin to Increase Hepatic ECM Synthesis and Promote NASH-Driven HCC.

Most nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) patients develop severe fibrosis through extracellular matrix (ECM) accumulation, which can lead to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Fibroblast growth factor 9 (FGF9) is involved in serial types of cancer; however, the specific role of FGF9 in NASH-driven HCC is not fully understood. This study finds that FGF9 is increased in patients with NASH-associated HCC.

Development and validation of a novel T cell proliferation-related prognostic model for predicting survival and immunotherapy benefits in melanoma.

Background: T cell plays a crucial role in the occurrence and progression of Skin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM). This research aims to identify the actions of T cell proliferation-related genes (TRGs) on the prognosis and immunotherapy response of tumor patients.

Method: The clinical manifestation and gene expression data of SKCM patients were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases.

Single-pixel reconstructive mid-infrared micro-spectrometer.

Miniaturized spectrometers in the mid-infrared (MIR) are critical in developing next-generation portable electronics for advanced sensing and analysis. The bulky gratings or detector/filter arrays in conventional micro-spectrometers set a physical limitation to their miniaturization. In this work, we demonstrate a single-pixel MIR micro-spectrometer that reconstructs the sample transmission spectrum by a spectrally dispersed light source instead of spatially grated light beams.

First direct observation of the built-in electric field and oxygen vacancy migration in ferroelectric HfZrO film during electrical cycling.

The wake-up and fatigue effects exhibited by ferroelectric hafnium oxide (HfO) during electrical cycling are two of the most significant obstacles limiting its development and application. Despite a mainstream theory relating these phenomena to the migration of oxygen vacancies and the evolution of the built-in field, no supportive experimental observations from a nanoscale perspective have been reported so far. By combining differential phase contrast scanning transmission electron microscopy (DPC-STEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis, we directly observe the migration of oxygen vacancies and the evolution of the built-in field in ferroelectric HfO for the first time.

Bavachin protects against diet-induced hepatic steatosis and obesity in mice.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a major health concern worldwide, and the incidence of metabolic disorders associated with NAFLD is rapidly increasing because of the obesity epidemic. There are currently no approved drugs that prevent or treat NAFLD. Recent evidence shows that bavachin, a flavonoid isolated from the seeds and fruits of Psoralea corylifolia L.

Development and validation of a novel cellular senescence-related prognostic signature for predicting the survival and immune landscape in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Cellular senescence is a typical irreversible form of life stagnation, and recent studies have suggested that long non-coding ribonucleic acids (lncRNA) regulate the occurrence and development of various tumors. In the present study, we attempted to construct a novel signature for predicting the survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the associated immune landscape based on senescence-related (sr) lncRNAs. Expression profiles of srlncRNAs in 424 patients with HCC were retrieved from The Cancer Genome Atlas database.

Enabling Active Nanotechnologies by Phase Transition: From Electronics, Photonics to Thermotics.

Phase transitions can occur in certain materials such as transition metal oxides (TMOs) and chalcogenides when there is a change in external conditions such as temperature and pressure. Along with phase transitions in these phase change materials (PCMs) come dramatic contrasts in various physical properties, which can be engineered to manipulate electrons, photons, polaritons, and phonons at the nanoscale, offering new opportunities for reconfigurable, active nanodevices. In this review, we particularly discuss phase-transition-enabled active nanotechnologies in nonvolatile electrical memory, tunable metamaterials, and metasurfaces for manipulation of both free-space photons and in-plane polaritons, and multifunctional emissivity control in the infrared (IR) spectrum.

Temperature-adaptive radiative coating for all-season household thermal regulation.

The sky is a natural heat sink that has been extensively used for passive radiative cooling of households. A lot of focus has been on maximizing the radiative cooling power of roof coating in the hot daytime using static, cooling-optimized material properties. However, the resultant overcooling in cold night or winter times exacerbates the heating cost, especially in climates where heating dominates energy consumption.

Tuning of Optical Phonons in α-MoO-VO Multilayers.

Merging the properties of VO and van der Waals (vdW) materials has given rise to novel tunable photonic devices. Despite recent studies on the effect of the phase change of VO on tuning near-field optical response of phonon polaritons in the infrared range, active tuning of optical phonons (OPhs) using far-field techniques has been scarce. Here, we investigate the tunability of OPhs of α-MoO in a multilayer structure with VO.

Emulation of biphasic plasticity in retinal electrical synapses for light-adaptive pattern pre-processing.

Electrical synapses provide rapid, bidirectional communication in nervous systems, accomplishing tasks distinct from and complementary to chemical synapses. Here, we demonstrate an artificial electrical synapse based on second-order conductance transition (SOCT) in an Ag-based memristor for the first time. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy indicates that SOCT is mediated by the virtual silver electrode.

Effect of heating/cooling dynamics in the hysteresis loop and tunable IR emissivity of VO thin films.

We experimentally investigate the semiconductor-to-metal transition (SMT) in vanadium dioxide thin films using an infrared thermographic technique. During the semiconductor to metal phase change process, VO optical properties dynamically change and infrared emission undergoes a hysteresis loop due to differences between heating and cooling stages. The shape of the hysteresis loop was accurately monitored under different dynamic heating/cooling rates.

Author Correction: Chemical trends of deep levels in van der Waals semiconductors.

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20151-x.

Chemical trends of deep levels in van der Waals semiconductors.

Properties of semiconductors are largely defined by crystal imperfections including native defects. Van der Waals (vdW) semiconductors, a newly emerged class of materials, are no exception: defects exist even in the purest materials and strongly affect their electrical, optical, magnetic, catalytic and sensing properties. However, unlike conventional semiconductors where energy levels of defects are well documented, they are experimentally unknown in even the best studied vdW semiconductors, impeding the understanding and utilization of these materials.

Understanding the Mechanism of Electronic Defect Suppression Enabled by Nonidealities in Atomic Layer Deposition.

Silicon germanium (SiGe) is a multifunctional material considered for quantum computing, neuromorphic devices, and CMOS transistors. However, implementation of SiGe in nanoscale electronic devices necessitates suppression of surface states dominating the electronic properties. The absence of a stable and passive surface oxide for SiGe results in the formation of charge traps at the SiGe-oxide interface induced by GeO.

Engineering High- k/SiGe Interface with ALD Oxide for Selective GeO Reduction.

Suppression of electronic defects induced by GeO at the high- k gate oxide/SiGe interface is critical for implementation of high-mobility SiGe channels in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Theoretical and experimental studies have shown that a low defect density interface can be formed with an SiO -rich interlayer on SiGe. Experimental studies in the literature indicate a better interface formation with AlO in contrast to HfO on SiGe; however, the mechanism behind this is not well understood.

Dynamic thermal emission control with InAs-based plasmonic metasurfaces.

Thermal emission from objects tends to be spectrally broadband, unpolarized, and temporally invariant. These common notions are now challenged with the emergence of new nanophotonic structures and concepts that afford on-demand, active manipulation of the thermal emission process. This opens a myriad of new applications in chemistry, health care, thermal management, imaging, sensing, and spectroscopy.

Ultralow Defect Density at Sub-0.5 nm HfO/SiGe Interfaces via Selective Oxygen Scavenging.

The superior carrier mobility of SiGe alloys make them a highly desirable channel material in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) transistors. Passivation of the SiGe surface and the associated minimization of interface defects between SiGe channels and high- k dielectrics continues to be a challenge for fabrication of high-performance SiGe CMOS. A primary source of interface defects is interfacial GeO .

Dielectric Breakdown in Chemical Vapor Deposited Hexagonal Boron Nitride.

Insulating films are essential in multiple electronic devices because they can provide essential functionalities, such as capacitance effects and electrical fields. Two-dimensional (2D) layered materials have superb electronic, physical, chemical, thermal, and optical properties, and they can be effectively used to provide additional performances, such as flexibility and transparency. 2D layered insulators are called to be essential in future electronic devices, but their reliability, degradation kinetics, and dielectric breakdown (BD) process are still not understood.