Ambient Humidity-Induced Phase Separation for Fiber Morphology Engineering toward Piezoelectric Self-Powered Sensing.

Electrospun polymeric piezoelectric fibers have a considerable potential for shape-adaptive mechanical energy harvesting and self-powered sensing in biomedical, wearable, and industrial applications. However, their unsatisfactory piezoelectric performance remains an issue to be overcome. While strategies for increasing the crystallinity of electroactive β phases have thus far been the major focus in realizing enhanced piezoelectric performance, tailoring the fiber morphology can also be a promising alternative.

Role of supersaturated Al-C phases in mechanical properties of Al/fullerene composites.

We investigated the reinforcing effect of supersaturated Al-C phases on the mechanical properties of Al/C composites produced via powder metallurgy followed by thermal treatment. We controlled the fractions of C-fullerenes, nano-scale carbides, and Al-C supersaturated phases in the Al/C composites by adjusting the heat-treatment temperature and duration. Furthermore, we examined the contribution of each phase on the elastic and plastic behavior of the composites using scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM) and hardness measurements.

Near-field sub-diffraction photolithography with an elastomeric photomask.

Photolithography is the prevalent microfabrication technology. It needs to meet resolution and yield demands at a cost that makes it economically viable. However, conventional far-field photolithography has reached the diffraction limit, which imposes complex optics and short-wavelength beam source to achieve high resolution at the expense of cost efficiency.

Generation, transport and detection of valley-locked spin photocurrent in WSe-graphene-BiSe heterostructures.

Quantum optoelectronic devices capable of isolating a target degree of freedom (DoF) from other DoFs have allowed for new applications in modern information technology. Many works on solid-state spintronics have focused on methods to disentangle the spin DoF from the charge DoF, yet many related issues remain unresolved. Although the recent advent of atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) has enabled the use of valley pseudospin as an alternative DoF, it is nontrivial to separate the spin DoF from the valley DoF since the time-reversal valley DoF is intrinsically locked with the spin DoF.