Enhanced Electrochemiluminescence from Ruthenium-Tagged Immune Complex at Flexible Chains for Sensitive Analysis of Glutamate Decarboxylase Antibody.

Herein, a sensitive electrochemiluminescence (ECL) immunosensor is designed by immobilizing ruthenium-tagged immune complexes at flexible poly-ethylene-glycol (PEG) chains on the electrode surface, which offers more freedom for the collision of the ruthenium complex at the electrode during the initial ECL reaction. The electrochemical characterizations confirm the loose structure of the assembled layer with the immune complex, providing an increase in the current and the resultant enhanced ECL emissions. Comparing the sensors with the rigid structure, a 34-fold increase in the maximal ECL emission is recorded when PEG3400 is used as a linker.

Novel enhancement strategy for Hg adsorption in wastewater: Nonthermal plasma-mediated advanced modification of zero-valent iron-carbon galvanic cells with thiol functionalization.

Mercury (Hg) pollution poses a critical threat to human health and the environment, necessitating urgent control measures. This study introduces a novel modification method for the common zero-valent iron-carbon (ZVI-AC) galvanic cells using a two-step process, nonthermal (NTP) irradiation followed by targeted functionalization, aiming to enhance Hg adsorption potential by adjusting the physicochemical properties of the cells. The NTP irradiated functionalized adsorbent demonstrated superior Hg adsorption performance across various concentrations and pH variations.

Spillover of active oxygen intermediates of binary RuO/NbO nanowires for highly active and robust acidic oxygen evolution.

Over-oxidation of surface ruthenium active sites of RuO-based electrocatalysts leads to the formation of soluble high-valent Ru species and subsequent structural collapse of electrocatalysts, which results in their low stability for the acidic oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, a binary RuO/NbO electrocatalyst with abundant and intimate interfaces has been rationally designed and synthesized to enhance its OER activity in acidic electrolyte, delivering a low overpotential of 179 mV at 10 mA cm, a small Tafel slope of 73 mV dec, and a stabilized catalytic durability over a period of 750 h. Extensive experiments have demonstrated that the spillover of active oxygen intermediates from RuO to NbO and the subsequent participation of lattice oxygen of NbO instead of RuO for the acidic OER suppressed the over-oxidation of surface ruthenium species and thereby improved the catalytic stability of the binary electrocatalysts.

Effect of Heat Treatment on the Microstructure and Property of Metastable β Titanium Alloy.

TB18 is a newly developed high-strength metastable β-titanium alloy, commonly used in aerospace structural materials, which demands high mechanical performance. By altering the alloy's microstructure, heat treatment can affect its mechanical characteristics. The alloy was solution treated for one to four hours at 870 °C in order to examine the impact of solution treatment duration.

Mixed Pt-Ni Halide Perovskites for Photovoltaic Application.

CsPtI is a promising photoabsorber with a direct bandgap of 1.4 eV and a high carrier lifetime; however, the cost of Pt inhibits its commercial viability. Here, we performed a cost analysis and experimentally explored the effect of replacing Pt with earth-abundant Ni in solution-processed Cs(PtNi)(I,Cl) thin films on the properties and stability of the perovskite material.

Interfacial modulation with homogeneous gallium phosphide protective layer enables dendrite-free and superior stable sodium metal anode.

Sodium metal is heralded as a premier anode candidate poised to supplant lithium in next-generation rechargeable batteries due to its abundant availability, cost-effectiveness, and superior energy density. Due to the highly reactive nature of metallic sodium, an unstable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) forms spontaneously on the Na metal anode. This instability leads to non-uniform sodium deposition during cycling, promoting dendrite growth and the accumulation of "dead" sodium.

Release of Bisphenol A and Other Volatile Chemicals from New Epoxy Drinking Water Pipe Liners: The Role of Manufacturing Conditions.

Cured-in-place-pipe (CIPP) technology has begun to be adopted for drinking water pipe repairs, and limited information exists about its drinking water quality impacts. CIPP involves the manufacture of a new plastic pipe inside a buried damaged pipe. In this study, the chemical composition of the raw materials and CIPP water quality impacts were examined.

Tunable mechanical properties of PDMS-TMPTMA microcapsules for controlled release in coatings.

Within coating formulations, microcapsules serve as vehicles for delivering compounds like catalysts and self-healing agents. Designing microcapsules with precise mechanical characteristics is crucial to ensure their contents' timely release and minimize residual shell fragments, thereby avoiding adverse impacts on the coating quality. With these constraints in mind, we explored the use of 1 cSt PDMS oil as a diluent (porogen) in trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate (TMPTMA)-based to fabricate microcapsules with customized mechanical properties and submicrometer debris size after shell breakup that can encapsulate a wide range of compounds.

Mechanical Deformation Behavior of Polymer Blend Thin Films.

Examining the mechanical properties of polymer thin films is crucial for high-performance applications such as displays, coatings, sensors, and thermal management. It is important to design thin film microstructures that excel in high-demand situations without compromising mechanical integrity. Here, a polymer blend of polystyrene (PS) and polyisoprene (PI) is used as a model to explore microscale deformation behavior under uniaxial mechanical testing.

A Novel Tensile Fracture Location of Friction Plug Welding (FPW) Joints.

The fracture position of a friction plug welding (FPW) joint is typically located at or near the thermo-mechanically affected zone (TMAZ). Here, we found that microcracks in all FPW specimens initiate at the deformed plug center (DPC) zone and then propagate through the plug center along 45° shear surfaces, because the lowest hardness occurs at the DPC zone rather than the TMAZ or other zones, and the DPC zone presents a tilt fiber-like microstructure. Such a tilt microstructure stimulates formations and deformations of microvoids and propagation of microcracks along 45° shear surfaces.

Prospects of Halide Perovskites for Solar-to-Hydrogen Production.

Solar-driven hydrogen generation is one of the promising technologies developed to address the world's growing energy demand in an sustainable way. While, for hydrogen generation (otherwise water splitting), photocatalytic, photoelectrochemical, and PV-integrated water splitting systems employing conventional semiconductor oxides materials and their electrodes have been under investigation for over a decade, lead (Pb)- halide perovskites (HPs) made their debut in 2016. Since then, the exceptional characteristics of these materials, such as their tunable optoelectronic properties, ease of processing, high absorption coefficients, and long diffusion lengths, have positioned them as a highly promising material for solar-driven water splitting.

CuO Nanobelt Array-Based Omnidirectional UV-Visible-NIR Photoelectrochemical Photodetectors.

Photoelectrochemical photodetectors (PEC PDs) are promising in underwater optoelectronic devices because of their low cost, good sensitivity, and self-powered characteristics. However, achieving high-performance omnidirectional visible PEC PDs using seawater as the electrolyte is still challenging, hindering their practical application. This work successfully synthesized CuO nanobelt arrays (NAs) on a linear copper wire via a low-temperature solution method with an annealing process.

Mixed Metal Oxide Heterojunction for High-Performance Self-Powered Ultraviolet Photodetection.

The field of photoelectrochemical-type (PEC) ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors has witnessed swift progression due to their facile fabrication processes and self-powered function. The realization of high-performance and self-powered PEC UV photodetectors is attractive and challenging. In this study, the application of ZnAl mixed metal oxide (MMO) heterojunctions in self-powered PEC UV photodetectors is introduced for the first time.

Clusters induced electronic delocalization of single atom sites toward efficient electrocatalytic urea synthesis from CO and N.

Electrocatalytic conversion of CO and N into urea product is highly envisaged, whereas symmetrical electronic architecture of inert reactant severely prevents their adsorption and activation and further entail extremely low intrinsic activity. Herein, a novel electrocatalyst consisting of Co clusters and CoN single-atoms dispersed on a carbon matrix is demonstrated to achieve the highest recorded urea yield rate of 20.83 mmol h g and Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 23.

Patterning Composites Made of Rodlike and Bent-Core Molecules for Electric Applications.

Soft materials are ideal candidates for creating tunable, self-assembled architectures. Composite materials are elaborately designed with an unusual physical performance that combines solid nanostructures and orientationally ordered soft matter. Such composites can not only inherit properties of their constituents but also exhibit excellent conductivity.

Hollow Pt-Encrusted RuCu Nanocages Optimizing OH Adsorption for Efficient Hydrogen Oxidation Electrocatalysis.

As one of the best candidates for hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR), ruthenium (Ru) has attracted significant attention for anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs), although it suffers from sluggish kinetics under alkaline conditions due to its strong hydroxide affinity. In this work, we develop ternary hollow nanocages with Pt epitaxy on RuCu (Pt-RuCu NCs) as efficient HOR catalysts for application in AEMFCs. Experimental characterizations and theoretical calculations confirm that the synergy in optimized Pt-RuCu NCs significantly modifies the electronic structure and coordination environment of Ru, thereby balancing the binding strengths of H* and OH* species, which leads to a markedly enhanced HOR performance.

Subpicosecond Spectroscopic Ellipsometry of the Photoinduced Phase Transition in VO Thin Films.

We report the first application of broadband time-resolved pump-probe ellipsometry to study the ultrafast dynamics of the photoinduced insulator-to-metal transition (IMT) in vanadium dioxide (VO) thin films driven by 35 fs laser pulses. This novel technique enables the direct measurement of the time-resolved evolution of the complex pseudodielectric function of VO during the IMT. We have identified distinct thermal and nonthermal dynamics in the photoinduced IMT, which critically depends on the pump wavelength and fluence, while providing a detailed temporal and spectral phase map.

Visualizing fiber end geometry effects on stress distribution in composites using mechanophores.

Localized stress concentrations at fiber ends in short fiber-reinforced polymer composites (SFRCs) significantly affect their mechanical properties. Our research targets these stress concentrations by embedding nitro-spiropyran (SPN) mechanophores into the polymer matrix. SPN mechanophores change color under mechanical stress, allowing us to visualize and quantify stress distributions at the fiber ends.

Analysis of Metal-Organic Framework and Polyamide Interfaces in Membranes for Water Treatment and Antibacterial Applications.

Integrating biocidal nanoparticles (NPs) into polyamide (PA) membranes shows promise for enhancing resistance to biofouling. Incorporating techniques can tailor thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes for specific water purification applications. In this study, silver-based metal-organic framework Ag-MOFs (using silver nitrate and 1,3,5-benzentricarboxylic acid as precursors) are incorporated into PA membranes via three different methods: i) incorporation, ii) dip-coating, and iii) in situ ultrasonic techniques.

Controllable and Facile Metallization of Polymer Surface with Biphasic Liquid Metals toward Soft Circuits.

Chemical metallization (e.g., chemical/electrical plating) of the polymer surface is an extremely important, convenient, cost-effective, and broadly applied strategy to realize combined advantages of functional metals and polymers for today's industry.

Understanding Defect-Mediated Ion Migration in Semiconductors using Atomistic Simulations and Machine Learning.

Ion migration in semiconductor devices is facilitated by the presence of point defects and has a major influence on electronic and optical properties. It is important to understand and identify ways to mitigate photoinduced and electrically induced defect-mediated ion migration in semiconductors. In this Perspective, we discuss the fundamental mechanisms of defect-mediated ion migration and diffusion as understood through atomistic simulations.

Integration of CeO-Based Memristor with Vertically Aligned Nanocomposite Thin Film: Enabling Selective Conductive Filament Formation for High-Performance Electronic Synapses.

The CeO-based memristor has attracted significant attention due to its intrinsic resistive switching (RS) properties, large on/off ratio, and great plasticity, making it a promising candidate for artificial synapses. However, significant challenges such as high power consumption and poor device reliability hinder its broad application in neuromorphic microchips. To tackle these issues, in this work, we design a novel bilayer (BL) memristor by integrating a CeO-based memristor with a Co-CeO vertically aligned nanocomposite (VAN) layer and compare it with the single layer (SL) memristor.

Voltage-Controlled Synthesis of Higher Harmonics in Hybrid Josephson Junction Circuits.

We report measurements of the current-phase relation of two voltage-controlled semiconductor-superconductor hybrid Josephson junctions (JJs) in series. The two hybrid junctions behave similar to a single-mode JJ with effective transparency determined by the ratio of Josephson coupling strengths of the two junctions. Gate-voltage control of Josephson coupling (measured from switching currents) allows tuning of the harmonic content from sinusoidal, for asymmetric tuning, to highly nonsinusoidal, for symmetric tuning.