A quantum circuit design of AES requiring fewer quantum qubits and gate operations

Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is one of the most widely used block ciphers nowadays, and has been established as an encryption standard in 2001. Here we design AES-128 and the sample-AES (S-AES) quantum circuits for deciphering. In the quantum circuit of AES-128, we perform an affine transformation for the SubBytes part to solve the problem that the initial state of the output qubits in SubBytes is not the |0>^⊗8 state. After that, we are able to encode the new round sub-key on the qubits encoding the previous round sub-key, and this improvement reduces the number of qubits used by 224 compared with Langenberg et al.’s implementation. For S-AES, a complete quantum circuit is presented with only 48 qubits, which is already within the reach of existing noisy intermediate-scale quantum computers.     

A New Quassinoid from Brucea javanica

Chemistry of Natural Compounds - A new quassinoid, dehydrobruceantinol B (1), was isolated from the seeds of Brucea javanica, together with two known compounds, bruceantinol (2) and bruceine A (3)....     

Afterglow Implant for Arterial Embolization and Intraoperative Imaging

Transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) is wildly used in clinical treatments. However, the online monitoring of the thrombosis formation is limited due to the challenges of the direct visualization of embolic agents and the real-time monitoring of dynamic blood flow. Thus, we developed a photochemical afterglow implant with strong afterglow intensity and a long lifetime for embolization and imaging. The liquid pre-implant injected into the abdominal aorta of mice was rapidly transformed into a hydrogel in situ to embolize the blood vessel. The vascular embolism position can be observed by the enhanced afterglow of the fixed implant, and the long lifetime of afterglow can also be used to monitor the effect of embolization. This provides an excellent candidate in bio-imaging to avoid the autofluorescence interference from continuous light excitation. The study suggests the potential usefulness of the implant as an embolic agent in TAE and artery imaging during a surgical procedure.     

In situ confinement of iron-based active sites within high porosity carbon frameworks with enhanced activity for rechargeable Zn–air battery

Non-noble bifunctional electrocatalysts with robust activity and stability toward oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) are greatly significant but challenging for Zn-air batteries. Here, in situ confinement of FeN_x active sites in high porosity carbon framework (FeN_x/CMCC) derived from chelate of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and iron ions were synthesized. Particularly, construction of FeN_x within porous carbon framework accelerates the electron transfer and the sufficient utilization of active centers, and then expedites the reaction kinetics of ORR and OER. As expected, the optimized FeN_x/CMCC exhibits superior ORR activity with a larger half-wave potential of 0.869 V. The rechargeable Zn-air battery delivers a higher power density of 99.6 mW/cm² and a special capacity of 781.9 mA h/g_Zn at 10 mA/cm², together with excellent durability of over 335 h. Remarkably, the as-assembled solid-state battery exhibits a higher open circuit voltage (OCV) of 1.5 V, a special capacity of 709.7 mA h/g_Zn, as well as prolonged cycling stability (90 h). Moreover, the flexible solid-state battery displays negligible loss of electrochemical performance under various bending angles, illustrating its potential application in flexible electronic devices.     

移动加热器法生长碲锌镉晶体的组分输运与界面形貌研究

移动加热器法(THM)生长碲锌镉晶体时,界面稳定性对晶体生长的质量有很大影响。本文基于多物理场有限元仿真软件Comsol建立了THM生长碲锌镉晶体的数值模拟模型,讨论了Te边界层与组分过冷区之间的关系,对不同生长阶段的物理场、Te边界层与组分过冷区进行仿真研究,最后讨论了微重力对物理场分布的影响,并对比了微重力与正常重力下的生长界面形貌。模拟结果表明,Te边界层与组分过冷区的分布趋势是一致的,在不同生长阶段,流场中次生涡旋的位置会发生移动,从而导致生长界面的形貌随着生长的进行发生变化,同时微重力条件下形成的生长界面形貌最有利于单晶生长。因此,在晶体生长的中前期,对次生涡旋位置的控制和对组分过冷的削弱,是THM生长高质量晶体的有效方案。     

Tuning Emission Wavelength of Polymorphous Crystal via Controllable Alkyl Chain Stacking and Its Vapor- and Thermo-Responsive Fluorescence

Tuning fluorescence colour of solid-state materials has become a topic of increasing interest for both fundamental mechanism study and practical applications such as sensors, optical recording and security printing. In this work, a fluorescent colour tuneable molecule BA-C16 is rationally designed and facilely synthesized by attaching flexible long alkyl chains to 2-hydroxybenzophenone azine ( BA ), which shows both aggregation-induced emission (AIE) and excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) characteristics. Compared to BA , the simple introduction of long alkyl chains in BA-C16 leads to an emission wavelength redshift from 542 to 558 nm. This strategy of extending emission wavelength is rarely reported, and is ascribed to the enlarged through-space π-conjugation between interplanar molecules in the aggregate of BA-C16 . Three crystals of BA-C16 are obtained with green, yellowish green and yellow emission. According to characterization by X-ray crystallography, X-ray powder diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry, alkyl chains play an important role in inducing different stacking modes of the three crystals, which further leads to polymorph-dependent fluorescence colour. BA-C16 exhibits tuneable solid-state fluorescence upon vapor fumigation, or annealing based on a transition between a “near-monomer” crystalline state and a “dimer” crystalline state. BA-C16 is further applied for rewritable fluorescence printing tuned by vapor- and thermal-treatment.     

Co3+-Rich Na1.95CoP2O7 Phosphates as Efficient Bifunctional Catalysts for Oxygen Evolution and Reduction Reactions in Alkaline Solution

Implementing sustainable energy conversion and storage technologies is highly reliant on crucial oxygen electrocatalysis, such as the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, the pursuit of low cost, energetic efficient and robust bifunctional catalysts for OER and ORR remains a great challenge. Herein, the novel Na-ion-deficient Na_2−xCoP₂O₇ catalysts are proposed to efficiently electrocatalyze OER and ORR in alkaline solution. The engineering of Na-ion deficiency can tune the electronic structure of Co, and thus tailor the intrinsically electrocatalytic performance. Among the sodium cobalt phosphate catalysts, the Na_1.95CoP₂O₇ (NCPO5) catalyst exhibits the lowest ΔE (E_J10,OER−E_J−1,ORR) of only 0.86 V, which favorably outperforms most of the reported non-noble metal catalysts. Moreover, the Na-ion deficiency can stabilize the phase structure and morphology of NCPO5 during the OER and ORR processes. This study highlights the Na-ion deficient Na_2−xCoP₂O₇ as a promising class of low-cost, highly active and robust bifunctional catalysts for OER and ORR.     

An effective interaction in polypyrrole/nickel phosphide (PPy/Ni2P) for high-performance supercapacitor

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Polypyrrole/nickel phosphide (PPy/Ni2P) composites were synthesized through a facile two-step method. The results show that when there is 30% Ni2P in...     

Improvement of capacitance activity for Cu‐doped Ni‐based metal–organic frameworks by adding potassium hexacyanoferrate into KOH electrolyte

Cu‐doped Ni‐based metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) nanomaterials fabricated through a one‐pot hydrothermal reaction were characterized, and their performance as supercapacitor electrode materials was further studied for the first time. The results indicated that the doping of foreign metals and the introduction of K₃[Fe(CN)₆] in the KOH electrolyte significantly improve the performance of the supercapacitor. The results indicated that the Ni_2.6Cu_0.4 MOFs material shows the highest specific capacitance (1282 F g^?1 at 1 A g^?1 in mixed 2 M KOH and 0.1 M K₃[Fe(CN)₆]) and optimal capacitance retention (85.7% after 2000 cycles). This work provides a feasible optimization strategy for the construction of MOFs‐based supercapacitor electrode materials with excellent performance, and also provides a reliable experimental and theoretical basis for practical industrial production.     

In vitro anticomplementary activity and quality evaluation of dried blossoms of Inula nervosa Wall. from different geographical origins

Blossoms of Inula nervosa Wall. (BINW) are traditionally used as an analgesic and antitussive in China. In this study, in vitro anticomplementary activities of crude extract from BINW in 21 batches and of extracts of four monomeric compounds were evaluated by the classical pathway. The effect of the region of origin on the quality of BINW was evaluated by fingerprint analysis for the first time. Furthermore, chemometric methods including similarity analysis and principal component analysis were employed to evaluate the quality of BINW. The nine major monomeric compounds were quantitated by ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography. All nine analytes demonstrated excellent linearity with recoveries ranging from 97.25% to 102.76%. The limits of detection and quantification were 0.07–12.20 μg/mL and 0.22–40.27 μg/mL, respectively. Results indicate that different regions of origin have a significant effect on the quality of BINW. Fingerprint analysis in combination with chemometrics and multi‐ingredient determination is an efficient and reliable approach for quality evaluation. The BINW samples from Yunnan had the highest ratio of 1,5‐dicaffeoylquinic acid and thymol; they also exhibited significantly higher anticomplementary activity than those from three other areas. This study successfully established a rapid and efficient method to evaluate the quality and biological activity of BINW.