Achieving Significantly Boosted Dielectric Energy Density of Polymer Film via Introducing a Bumpy Gold/Polymethylsilsesquioxane Granular Blocking Layer.

Polymer dielectrics are the key materials for pulsed energy storage systems, but their low energy densities greatly restrict the applications in integrated electronic devices. Herein, a unique bumpy granular interlayer consisting of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) and polymethyksesquioxane (PMSQ) microspheres is introduced into a poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) film, forming trilayered PVDF-Au/PMSQ-PVDF films. Interestingly, the Au/PMSQ interlayer arouses a dielectric enhancement of 47% and an ultrahigh breakdown strength of 704 MV m, which reaches 153% of pure PVDF.

Error-Tolerant Amplification and Simulation of the Ultrastrong-Coupling Quantum Rabi Model.

Cat-state qubits formed by photonic cat states have a biased noise channel, i.e., one type of error dominates over all the others.

Predicting onset risk of COVID-19 symptom to support healthy travel route planning in the new normal of long-term coexistence with SARS-CoV-2.

Due to the increased outdoor transmission risk of new SARS-COV-2 variants, the health of urban residents in daily travel is being threatened. In the new normal of long-term coexistence with SARS-CoV-2, how to avoid being infected by SARS-CoV-2 in daily travel has become a key issue. Hence, a spatiotemporal solution has been proposed to assist healthy travel route planning.

A triple-crosslinking strategy for high-performance regenerated cellulose fibers derived from waste cotton textiles.

Regenerated cellulose fibers has attracted increasing attention for high-grade textile raw materials and industrial textiles, but the low mechanical property caused by differences in regenerated raw materials and production levels limits its commercial application in the product diversity. Herein, we proposed a novel triple-crosslinking strategy by coupling with hydrogen bonds, chemical crosslinking, and internal mineralization from multiple pulsed vapor phase infiltration (MPI) to improve the mechanical performance of regenerated cellulose fibers. A binary solvent composed of ionic liquid (IL) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is used to dissolve waste cotton textile and then wet spinning.

Three-state coherent control using narrowband and passband sequences.

In this work, we propose a comprehensive design for narrowband and passband composite pulse sequences by involving the dynamics of all states in the three-state system. The design is quite universal as all pulse parameters can be freely employed to modify the coefficients of error terms. Two modulation techniques, the strength and phase modulations, are used to achieve arbitrary population transfer with a desired excitation profile, while the system keeps minimal leakage to the third state.

Progesterone Activates the Histone Lactylation-Hif1α-glycolysis Feedback Loop to Promote Decidualization.

Decidualization is a progesterone-dependent cellular differentiation process that is essential for establishing pregnancy. Robust activation of glycolysis and lactate synthesis during decidualization is remarkable, but their developmental functions remain largely unknown. Herein, we identify that endometrial lactate production plays a critical role in establishing local histone lactylation, a newly identified histone modification, and is important for ensuring normal decidualization.

Achieving remarkable energy storage enhancement in polymer dielectrics constructing an ultrathin Coulomb blockade layer of gold nanoparticles.

High-energy density polymer dielectrics play a crucial role in various pulsed energy storage and conversion systems. So far, many strategies have been demonstrated to be able to effectively improve the energy density of polymer dielectrics, but sophisticated fabrication processes are usually needed which result in high cost and poor repeatability. Herein, an easy-operated sputtering and hot-pressing process is developed to significantly enhance the energy density of polymer dielectrics.

Gold Sputtering at the Interfaces: An Easily Operated Strategy for Enhancing the Energy Storage Capability of Laminated Polymer Dielectrics.

Polymers with excellent dielectric properties are strongly desired for pulsed power film capacitors. However, the adverse coupling between the dielectric constant and breakdown strength greatly limits the energy storage capability of polymers. In this work, we report an easily operated method to solve this problem via sputtering the interface of bilayer polymer films with ultralow content of gold nanoparticles.

How to control the spatiotemporal spread of Omicron in the region with low vaccination rates.

Currently, finding ways to effectively control the spread of Omicron in regions with low vaccination rates is an urgent issue. In this study, we use a district-level model for predicting the COVID-19 symptom onset risk to explore and control the whole process of spread of Omicron in South Africa at a finer spatial scale. We found that in the early stage of the accelerated spread, Omicron spreads rapidly from the districts at the center of human mobility to other important districts of the human mobility network and its peripheral districts.

A Spatiotemporal Solution to Control COVID-19 Transmission at the Community Scale for Returning to Normalcy: COVID-19 Symptom Onset Risk Spatiotemporal Analysis.

Background: Following the recent COVID-19 pandemic, returning to normalcy has become the primary goal of global cities. The key for returning to normalcy is to avoid affecting social and economic activities while supporting precise epidemic control. Estimation models for the spatiotemporal spread of the epidemic at the refined scale of cities that support precise epidemic control are limited.

Two-photon photodynamic therapy based on FRET using tumor-cell targeted riboflavin conjugated graphene quantum dot.

The photodynamic therapy (PDT) is considered as a noninvasive and photo-controlled treatment for various cancers. However, its potential is not fully developed as current clinically approved photosensitizers (PSs) mainly absorb the light in the UV-visible region (less than 700 nm), where the depth of penetration is inadequate for reaching tumor cells under deeper tissue layers. Furthermore, the lack of specific accumulation capability of the conventional PSs in the tumor cells may cause serious toxicity and low treatment efficiency.

Effective non-adiabatic holonomic quantum computation of cavity modes via invariant-based reverse engineering.

In this paper, we propose a protocol to realize non-adiabatic holonomic quantum computation (NHQC) of cavity modes via invariant-based reverse engineering. Coupling cavity modes with an auxiliary atom trapped in a cavity, we derive effective Hamiltonians with the help of laser pulses. Based on the derived Hamiltonians, invariant-based reverse engineering is used to find proper evolution paths for NHQC.

Experimental and Theoretical Studies on Optical Properties of Tetra(Imidazole) of Palladium (II) Phthalocyanine.

In this work, the optical properties of tetra(imidazole) of palladium phthalocyanine (PdPc(Im)) in solution form and thin films on glass and fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates were investigated via the thermal evaporation technique. The optical band gap was evaluated by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis). The energy band gap values were determined based on the Tauc graph.

Understanding spatiotemporal symptom onset risk of Omicron BA.1, BA.2 and hamster-related Delta AY.127.

Purpose: Investigation of the community-level symptomatic onset risk regarding severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants of concern, is crucial to the pandemic control in the new normal.

Methods: Investigated in this study is the spatiotemporal symptom onset risk with Omicron BA.1, BA.

Surface wettability of various phases of titania thin films: Atomic-scale simulation studies.

In the paper, the wettability of different phases of TiO thin films (anatase, brookite, and rutile) have been studied using molecular-dynamics simulation. The principle of micro-wetting is discussed. The simulation results show that the contact angle decreases upon increasing the interaction energy between the water and the titanium dioxide interface during the wetting process.

Numerical study on the wall-impinging diesel spray soot generation and oxidation in the cylinder under cold-start conditions of a diesel engine.

The combustion of wall-impinging diesel spray of heavy-duty diesel engines deteriorates combustion quality under cold-start conditions, making it difficult to control soot emissions. To investigate the causes of soot increase in the combustion of wall-impinging spray at low temperature and low speed starting conditions, the effect of the starting fuel mass on the soot formation and oxidation process was analyzed using a multidimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. The results show that the diesel spray is guided by the piston wall and the limited space, the spray impinged on the wall and the vapor-phase fuel flowed in the spray interaction zone.

CoZn Nanoparticles@Hollow Carbon Tubes Enabled High-Performance Potassium Metal Batteries.

Potassium-metal batteries (PMBs) are attractive candidates for low-cost and large-scale energy storage systems due to the abundance of potassium. However, its application is hampered by large volume change and serious dendrite growth. Herein, a CoZn semicoherent structure nanoparticle-embedded nitrogen-doped hollow carbon tube (CoZn@HCT) electrode is prepared via coaxial electrospinning.

Estimation of On-Road PM Distributions by Combining Satellite Top-of-Atmosphere With Microscale Geographic Predictors for Healthy Route Planning.

How to reduce the health risks for commuters, caused by air pollution such as PM has always been an urgent issue needing to be solved. Proposed in this study, is a novel framework which enables greater avoidance of pollution and hence assists the provision of healthy travel. This framework is based on the estimation of on-road PM throughout the whole city.

Effect of wall parameters on impinging combustion and soot emission characteristics of heavy-duty diesel engine at low temperature.

The effect of wall parameters on combustion and soot emission characteristics remains to be revealed so far, especially in the case of spray impingement at low temperatures. Therefore, the visualization experiments are carried out in a constant volume combustion chamber using the Mie scattering and direct photography techniques, and the two-color method was used to extract the flame temperature and soot volume. The results show that increased wall distance and wall angle contribute to fast and stable ignition, but result in more soot production.

Effect of injection timing on knock combustion and pollutant emission of heavy-duty diesel engines at low temperatures.

The knock combustion and pollutant emission of heavy-duty diesel engines at low temperatures are still unclear, especially under different injection timings. Therefore, this study illustrates the above issues through CONVERGE simulation. The results show that with the start of injection (SOI) sweeps from -7°CA to -32°CA, a large amount of liquid-phase fuel adheres to the wall, and the wet-wall ratio of fuel at SOI = -32°CA is as high as nearly 30%.

Concurrently Achieving High Discharged Energy Density and Efficiency in Composites by Introducing Ultralow Loadings of Core-Shell Structured Graphene@TiO Nanoboxes.

Polymer dielectrics have drawn tremendous attention worldwide due to their huge potential for pulsed power capacitors. Recent studies have demonstrated that linear/nonlinear layered composites, which can effectively balance energy density and efficiency, have huge potential for capacitive energy storage applications. However, further enhanced energy densities are strongly desired to meet the everincreasing demand for the miniaturization of electronic devices.