Analysis of Heterostructure Formation of Abnormally Oriented Grains in Sputter-Deposited AlScN Films and Its Impact on Bulk Acoustic Wave Devices.

The presence of abnormally oriented grains (AOGs) in sputter-deposited aluminum scandium nitride (AlScN) films significantly degrades their physical properties, compromising the performance of bulk acoustic wave (BAW) devices. This study utilizes first-principles calculations to reveal that in tetrahedral wurtzite AlScN film-doped Sc atoms tend to aggregate at the second nearest-neighbor positions, forming dense ScN octahedral structures. The rock-salt (RS) ScN continued to grow due to further Sc aggregation.

A Closed-Loop Nanosystem Based on Piezoelectric Sensor and Pd-Nanoshell Photothermal Ablation for Renal Denervation to Treat Hypertension.

Renal sympathetic nerves play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of hypertension, and renal denervation (RDN) is a new solution for patients with refractory hypertension. However, current RDN techniques show inconsistent results in clinical application probably owing to incomplete endovascular ablation of the sympathetic nerves and a lack of measures to localize and assess efficacy. In this study, a closed-loop RDN system consisting of a sensing unit with a piezoelectric thin-film sensor (PTFS) and a treatment unit with a hollow Pd nanoparticle shell (PdNPS) with a diameter of 202.

Design and Fabrication of 3.5 GHz Band-Pass Film Bulk Acoustic Resonator Filter.

With the development of wireless communication, increasing signal processing presents higher requirements for radio frequency (RF) systems. Piezoelectric acoustic filters, as important elements of an RF front-end, have been widely used in 5G-generation systems. In this work, we propose a ScAlN-based film bulk acoustic wave resonator (FBAR) for use in the design of radio frequency filters for the 5G mid-band spectrum with a passband from 3.

Enhanced immune capture of extracellular vesicles with gelatin nanoparticles and acoustic mixing.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) originating from cancer cells incorporate various critical biomolecules that can aid in early cancer diagnosis. However, the rapid analysis of these micro vesicles remains challenging due to their nano-scale size and overlapping dimensions, hindering sufficient capture in terms of quantity and purity. In this study, an acoustofluidic device was developed to enhance the yield of immune-captured EVs.

Wireless Self-Powered Optogenetic System for Long-Term Cardiac Neuromodulation to Improve Post-MI Cardiac Remodeling and Malignant Arrhythmia.

Autonomic imbalance is an important characteristic of patients after myocardial infarction (MI) and adversely contributes to post-MI cardiac remodeling and ventricular arrhythmias (VAs). A previous study proved that optogenetic modulation could precisely inhibit cardiac sympathetic hyperactivity and prevent acute ischemia-induced VAs. Here, a wireless self-powered optogenetic modulation system is introduced, which achieves long-term precise cardiac neuromodulation in ambulatory canines.

P(VDF-TrFE)/BaTiO Nanofibrous Membrane with Enhanced Piezoelectricity for High PM Filtration and Reusable Face Masks.

In the background of air pollution and regular COVID-19 prevention, personal protective masks are necessary for our daily life. However, protective masks with high PM filtration usually have poor air permeability and are mostly disposable, leading to a heavy burden on the environment. In this work, a reusable membrane based on piezoelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE)] nanofibers embedded with BaTiO nanoparticles (BTO NPs) was developed.

Ultrasound-mediated piezoelectric nanoparticle modulation of intrinsic cardiac autonomic nervous system for rate control in atrial fibrillation.

Rate control is a cornerstone of atrial fibrillation treatment. Barium titanate nanoparticles (BTNPs) are piezoelectric nanomaterials that can generate local electromagnetic fields under ultrasound activation, stimulating nearby neuronal tissue. This study aimed to modulate the inferior right ganglionated plexus (IRGP) of the heart and reduce the ventricular rate during rapid atrial pacing (RAP)-induced atrial fibrillation using ultrasound-mediated BTNPs.

Water-solid contact electrification causes hydrogen peroxide production from hydroxyl radical recombination in sprayed microdroplets.

Contact electrification between water and a solid surface is crucial for physicochemical processes at water-solid interfaces. However, the nature of the involved processes remains poorly understood, especially in the initial stage of the interface formation. Here we report that HO is spontaneously produced from the hydroxyl groups on the solid surface when contact occurred.

Noninvasive Optical Isolation and Identification of Circulating Tumor Cells Engineered by Fluorescent Microspheres.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are rare, meaning that current isolation strategies can hardly satisfy efficiency and cell biocompatibility requirements, which hinders clinical applications. In addition, the selected cells require immunofluorescence identification, which is a time-consuming and expensive process. Here, we developed a method to simultaneously separate and identify CTCs by the integration of optical force and fluorescent microspheres.

Electric field-assisted MnO nanomaterials for rapid capture and delivery of circulating tumour cells.

The heterogeneity of cancer has become a major obstacle to treatment, and the development of an efficient, fast, and accurate drug delivery system is even more urgent. In this work, we designed a device that integrated multiple functions of cell capture, manipulation, and non-destructive release on a single device. With an applied electric field, an intelligent device based on MnO nanomaterials was used to realize efficient and rapid capture of cancer cells in both patients' blood and artificial blood samples.

In Situ Microreaction Platform Based on Acoustic Droplet Manipulation for Ultra-High-Precision Multiplex Bioassay.

Liquid droplets rectors have been used in clinical diagnosis, high throughput screening and bioassay. However, it is challenging for droplet reactors to be used in practical applications due to the difficulty of uniformly mixing ultrasmall volumes of samples and the lack of rapid and high-precision detection protocols. Here, we have developed an acoustic droplet system for rapid and efficient biological detection and chemical screening.

Nanomaterial-Based Immunocapture Platforms for the Recognition, Isolation, and Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are a type of cancer cells that circulate in the peripheral blood after breaking away from solid tumors and are essential for the establishment of distant metastasis. Up to 90% of cancer-related deaths are caused by metastatic cancer. As a new type of liquid biopsy, detecting and analyzing CTCs will provide insightful information for cancer diagnosis, especially the in-time disease status, which would avoid some flaws and limitations of invasive tissue biopsy.

Acoustic Bioprinting of Patient-Derived Organoids for Predicting Cancer Therapy Responses.

Cancer models, which are biologically representative of patient tumors, can predict the treatment responses and help determine the most appropriate cancer treatment for individual patients. Here, a point-of-care testing system called acoustically bioprinted patient-derived microtissues (PDMs) that can model cancer invasion and predict treatment response in individual patients with colorectal cancer (CRC), is reported. The PDMs are composed of patient-derived colorectal tumors and healthy organoids which can be precisely arranged by acoustic bioprinting approach for recapulating primary tissue's architecture.

Modeling cancer metastasis using acoustically bio-printed patient-derived 3D tumor microtissues.

Cancer metastasis causes most cancer-related deaths, and modeling cancer invasion holds potential in drug discovery and companion diagnostics. Although 2D cocultures have been developed to study cancer invasion, it is challenging to recreate the 3D cancer invasion of an individual cancer patient. Here, we report an acoustic bioprinting technology that can precisely construct tumor microtissues for modeling cancer invasion in 3D.

A light-induced hydrogel responsive platform to capture and selectively isolate single circulating tumor cells.

Isolation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from patients is a challenge due to the rarity of CTCs. Recently, various platforms to capture and release CTCs for downstream analysis have been developed. However, most of the reported release methods provide external stimuli to release all captured cells, which lead to lack of specificity in the pool of collected cells, and the external stimuli may affect the activity of the released cells.

Emerging Microfluidic Technologies for the Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells and Fetal Nucleated Red Blood Cells.

Blood tests have been a powerful tool for the clinical analysis of many diseases. With the advances in microfluidic technology, two more specific indicators from the circulation system, namely, emerging "liquid biopsy" of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and fetal nucleated red blood cells (fNRBCs), can be screened and analyzed as a simple blood test for the noninvasive diagnosis of cancers as well as fetal disorders. The unique feature of precisely manipulating a trace of fluid endows microfluidic devices with the ability to isolate CTCs or fNRBCs from numerous blood cells with high performance, which undoubtedly facilitates biomedical applications of these two kinds of rare cells.

Therapeutic Plateletpheresis in Patients With Thrombocytosis: Gender, Hemoglobin Before Apheresis Significantly Affect Collection Efficiency.

Thrombocytosis is a common symptom in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN), and excessive proliferation may deteriorate into thrombosis, bleeding, myelofibrosis, and may ultimately convert to acute leukemia. This study aimed to investigate the collection efficiency of plateletpheresis (CEPP) and factors influencing its efficacy in patients with thrombocytosis. From September 2010 to December 2016, 81 patients from two institutions in China with myeloproliferative neoplasms and thrombocytosis accompanied by severe symptoms were treated with plateletpheresis by Fresenius COM.

Acoustic Droplet Printing Tumor Organoids for Modeling Bladder Tumor Immune Microenvironment within a Week.

Current organoid models are limited by the incapability of rapidly fabricating organoids that can mimic the immune microenvironment for a short term. Here, an acoustic droplet-based platform is presented to facilitate the rapid formation of tumor organoids, which retains the original tumor immune microenvironment and establishes a personalized bladder cancer tumor immunotherapy model. In combination with a hydrophobic substrate, the acoustic droplet printer can yield a large number of homogeneous and highly viable bladder tumor organoids in vitro within a week.

On-chip rapid drug screening of leukemia cells by acoustic streaming.

Rapid and personalized single-cell drug screening testing plays an essential role in acute myeloid leukemia drug combination chemotherapy. Conventional chemotherapeutic drug screening is a time-consuming process because of the natural resistance of cell membranes to drugs, and there are still great challenges related to using technologies that change membrane permeability such as sonoporation in high-throughput and precise single-cell drug screening with minimal damage. In this study, we proposed an acoustic streaming-based non-invasive single-cell drug screening acceleration method, using high-frequency acoustic waves (>10 MHz) in a concentration gradient microfluidic device.

Self-powered technology based on nanogenerators for biomedical applications.

Biomedical electronic devices have enormous benefits for healthcare and quality of life. Still, the long-term working of those devices remains a great challenge due to the short life and large volume of conventional batteries. Since the nanogenerators (NGs) invention, they have been widely used to convert various ambient mechanical energy sources into electrical energy.

Scaffold-free generation of heterotypic cell spheroids using acoustofluidics.

3D cell cultures such as cell spheroids are widely used for tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and translational medicine, but challenges remain in recapitulating the architectural complexity and spatiotemporal heterogeneity of tissues. Thus, we developed a scaffold-free and versatile acoustofluidic device to fabricate heterotypic cell spheroids with complexity over cell architectures and components. By varying the concentrations of cell suspension, we can precisely control the size of spheroids aggregated by a contact-free acoustic radiation force.

Acoustic Droplet-Assisted Superhydrophilic-Superhydrophobic Microarray Platform for High-Throughput Screening of Patient-Derived Tumor Spheroids.

Cell-based high-throughput screening is a key step in the current disease-based research, drug development, and precision medicine. However, it is challenging to establish a rapid culture and screening platform for rare cells (patient-derived) due to the obvious differences between the traditional 2D cell model and the tumor microenvironment, as well as the lack of a low-consumption screening platform for low numbers of cells. Here, we developed an acoustic drop-assisted superhydrophilic-superhydrophobic microarray platform for the rapid culture and screening of a few cells.

Transforming Pt-SnO Nanoparticles into Pt-SnO Composite Nanoceramics for Room-Temperature Hydrogen-Sensing Applications.

Many low-dimensional nanostructured metal oxides (MOXs) with impressive room-temperature gas-sensing characteristics have been synthesized, yet transforming them into relatively robust bulk materials has been quite neglected. Pt-decorated SnO nanoparticles with 0.25-2.