Sandwich-like Catalyst–Carbon–Catalyst Trilayer Structure as a Compact 2D Host for Highly Stable Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Herein, we propose the construction of a sandwich-structured host filled with continuous 2D catalysis–conduction interfaces. This MoN-C-MoN trilayer architecture causes the strong conformal adsorption of S/Li₂S_x and its high-efficiency conversion on the two-sided nitride polar surfaces, which are supplied with high-flux electron transfer from the buried carbon interlayer. The 3D self-assembly of these 2D sandwich structures further reinforces the interconnection of conductive and catalytic networks. The maximized exposure of adsorptive/catalytic planes endows the MoN-C@S electrode with excellent cycling stability and high rate performance even under high S loading and low host surface area. The high conductivity of this trilayer texture does not compromise the capacity retention after the S content is increased. Such a job-synergistic mode between catalytic and conductive functions guarantees the homogeneous deposition of S/Li₂S_x, and avoids thick and devitalized accumulation (electrode passivation) even after high-rate and long-term cycling.     

Unsymmetrical Pyrene‐Fused Phthalocyanine Derivatives: Synthesis,Structure, and Properties

Novel pyrene‐fused unsymmetrical phthalocyanine derivatives 2,3,9,10,16,17‐hexakis(2,6‐dimethylphenoxy)‐22,25‐diaza(2,7‐di‐tert‐butylpyrene)[4,5]phthalocyaninato zinc complex Zn[Pc(Pz‐pyrene)(OC₈H₉)₆] ( 1 ) and 2,3,9,10‐tra(2,6‐dimethylphenoxy)‐15,18,22,25‐traza(2,7‐di‐tert‐butylpyrene)[4,5]phthalocyaninato zinc compound Zn[Pc(Pz‐pyrene)₂(OC₈H₉)₄] ( 2 ) were isolated for the first time. These unsymmetrical pyrene‐fused phthalocyanine derivatives have been characterized by a wide range of spectroscopic and electrochemical methods. In particular, the pyrene‐fused phthalocyanine structure was unambiguously revealed on the basis of single crystal X‐ray diffraction analysis of 1 , representing the first structurally characterized phthalocyanine derivative fused with an aromatic moiety larger than benzene.     

Trends in the detection of pharmaceuticals and endocrine-disrupting compounds by Field-Effect Transistors (FETs)

Field-effect transistors (FETs) are one of the most widely-used electronic sensors for continuous monitoring and detection of contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and endocrine-disrupting compounds at low concentrations. FETs have been successfully utilized for the rapid analysis of these environmental pollutants due to their advantageous material properties like the disposability, rapid responses and simplicity. This paper presented an up-to-date overview of applied strategies with different bio-based materials in order to enhance the analytical performances of the designed sensors. Comparison and discussion were made between characteristics of recently engineered FET bio-sensors used for the detection of famous and selected pharmaceutical compounds in the literature. The recent progress in environmental research applications, comments on interesting trends, current challenge for future research in endocrine-disrupting chemicals’ (EDCs) detection using FETs biosensors were highlighted.     

Molecular and colloidal self-assembly at the oil–water interface

Self-assembly is a versatile bottom-up approach for fabricating novel supramolecular materials with well-defined nano- or micro-structures associated with functionalities. The oil-water interface provides an ideal venue for molecular and colloidal self-assembly. This paper gives an overview of various self-assembled materials, including nanoparticles, polymers, proteins, and lipids, at the oil-water interface. Focus has been given to fundamental principles and strategies for engineering the self-assembly process, such as control of pH, ionic strength and use of external fields, to achieve complex soft materials with desired functionalities, such as nanoparticle surfactants, structured liquids, and proteinosomes. It has been shown that self-assembly at the oil-water interface holds great promise for developing well-structured complex materials useful for many research and industrial applications.     

基于串联两阶段网络DEA模型的供应链规模收益分析

数据包络分析(DEA)是评价供应链系统(Supply chain system)间相对有效性的一种重要的工具,但是传统的DEA不考虑供应链的内部结构,对系统效率评价偏高;而本文所研究两阶段串联供应链系统,考虑把部分中间产品作为最终产品输出,增加额外中间投入的情形.基于所提出的供应链系统结构,本文建立相应的串联结构下的网络DEA模型,并针对所建立模型进行相关理论的研究,给出了串联结构下的生产可能集和规模收益情况判定方法.最后,进行数值实验,以验证我们提出的结论.     

Facet-dependent antibacterial activity of Au nanocrystals

Engineered nanomaterials have attracted significantly attention as one of the most promising antimicrobial agents for against multidrug resistant infections. The toxicological responses of nanomaterials are closely related to their physicochemical properties, and establishment of a structure-activity relationship for nanomaterials at the nano-bio interface is of great significance for deep understanding antibacterial toxicity mechanisms of nanomaterials and designing safer antibacterial nanomaterials. In this study, the antibacterial behaviors of well-defined crystallographic facets of a series of Au nanocrystals, including {100}-facet cubes, {110}-facet rhombic dodecahedra, {111}-facet octahedra, {221}-facet trisoctahedra and {720}-facet concave cubes, was investigated, using the model bacteria Staphylococcus aureus. We find that Au nanocrystals display substantial facet-dependent antibacterial activities. The low-index facets of cubes, octahedra, and rhombic dodecahedra show considerable antibacterial activity, whereas the high-index facets of trisoctahedra and concave cubes remained inert under biological conditions. This result is in stark contrast to the previous paradigm that the high-index facets were considered to have higher bioactivity as compared with low-index facets. The antibacterial mechanism studies have shown that the facet-dependent antibacterial behaviors of Au nanocrystals are mainly caused by differential bacterial membrane damage as well as inhibition of cellular enzymatic activity and energy metabolism. The faceted Au nanocrystals are unique in that they do not induce generation of reactive oxygen species, as validated for most antibiotics and antimicrobial nanostructures. Our findings may provide a deeper understanding of facet-dependent toxicological responses and suggest the complexities of the nanomaterial-cell interactions, shedding some light on the development of high performance Au nanomaterials-based antibacterial therapeutics.     

Optimal Sensor Placement Method Considering the Importance of Structural Performance Degradation for the Allowable Loadings for Damage Identification

Considering the importance of damage for the structural performance and for decreasing the identification error, this paper proposes an optimal sensor placement method based on a weighted standard deviation norm (WSDN) index. The standard deviation of the identified damage parameters is solved using the series expansion theory and probabilistic method to quantify the effect of a measurement error on damage identification. The damage estimation weight (DEW) index, which can reflect the importance of each element in the structural capabilities, is established based on a performance-damage curve. A significant DEW for a specified element indicates that the element is important for the structure and that its identification error should be small. The WSDN index is obtained from the Hadamard product of the standard deviations (SDs) and DEWs. Thus, the identification error of the entire structure is measured using the weighting coefficient. The optimal sensor placement (OSP) procedure is performed by minimizing the WSDN index. The proposed method can clearly decrease the uncertainties of the identification results for the important elements. Other OSP criteria, including the condition number, information entropy, and standard deviation norm, which aim to decrease the identification error, are discussed in this paper for comparison with the proposed method. Two numerical examples and an experiment, which pertain to the deformation performance, buckling features, and dynamic characteristics, are discussed to verify the advantages of the proposed method.     

Implementing a Two-Photon Three-Degrees-of-Freedom Hyper-Parallel Controlled Phase Flip Gate Through Cavity-Assisted Interactions

Hyper-parallel quantum information processing is a promising and beneficial research field. Herein, a method to implement a hyper-parallel controlled-phase-flip (hyper-CPF) gate for frequency-, spatial-, and time-bin-encoded qubits by coupling flying photons to trapped nitrogen vacancy (NV) defect centers is presented. The scheme, which differs from their conventional parallel counterparts, is specifically advantageous in decreasing against the dissipate noise, increasing the quantum channel capacity, and reducing the quantum resource overhead. The gate qubits with frequency, spatial, and time-bin degrees of freedom (DOF) are immune to quantum decoherence in optical fibers, whereas the polarization photons are easily disturbed by the ambient noise.