The First Mixed Calcium Zinc Borate with a Flexible [B8O17] Fundamental Building Block and Short UV Cutoff Edge

The first mixed calcium zinc borate with a new fundamental building block (FBB) [B₈O₁₇], Ca_1.13Zn_0.87B₈O₁₄ has been successfully synthesized. It exhibits two independent interpenetrating three-dimensional B−O anion networks constructed by [B₈O₁₇] groups, enriching the structural diversity of B−O configurations. In particular, the UV-Vis-NIR diffuse-reflectance spectrum shows that it has a short UV cutoff edge (<195 nm).     

An Endoplasmic Reticulum Targeting Type I Photosensitizer for Effective Photodynamic Therapy against Hypoxic Tumor Cells

Organelle-targeted type I photodynamic therapy (PDT) shows great potential to overcome the hypoxic microenvironment in solid tumors. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is an indispensable organelle in cells with important biological functions. When the ER is damaged due to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), the accumulation of misfolded proteins will interfere with ER homeostasis, resulting in ER stress. Here, an ER-targeted benzophenothiazine-based photosensitizer NBS-ER was presented. ER targeting modification significantly reduced the dark toxicity and improved phototoxicity index (PI). NBS-ER could effectively produce O₂⁻⋅ with near-infrared irradiation, making its phototoxicity under hypoxia close to that under normoxia. Meanwhile, the photoinduced ROS triggered ER stress and induced apoptosis. In addition, NBS-ER possessed excellent photodynamic therapeutic effect in 4T1-tumor-bearing mice.     

Lithium difluoro(oxalato)borate as an additive to suppress the aluminum corrosion in lithium bis(fluorosulfony)imide-based nonaqueous carbonate electrolyte

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Lithium bis(fluorosulfony)imide (LiFSI) is a promising alternative lithium salt to replace lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6) due to its high conductivity...     

Coupling-observer-based nonlinear control for flexible air-breathing hypersonic vehicles

This paper investigates the nonlinear control problem for flexible air-breathing hypersonic vehicles (FAHVs). The coupling dynamics between flexible and rigid-body parts of FAHVs may cause degradation of control performance or high-frequency oscillations of control input and flexible state. In this paper, the flexible effects produced by the coupling are modeled as a kind of unknown disturbance and included in the new control-design model, for which a coupling observer is constructed to estimate these effects. Thus, a novel nonlinear composite control strategy, which combines a coupling-observer-based feedforward compensator and a dynamic-inversion-based feedback controller, is proposed to reject the flexible effects on pitch rate and track desired trajectories of velocity and flight-path angle. The stability of composite closed-loop system is analyzed by using the Lyapunov theory. Simulation results on a full nonlinear model of FAHVs demonstrate that the presented controller is more effective by comparison with the previous scheme.     

Salient region detection using background priors

In this paper, we introduce a novel salient region detection algorithm by using background priors. Because of the fact that superpixel is perceptually more meaningful than pixel, and which can reduce the complexity of image processing, we use the superpixel algorithm to reprocess original images. In addition, we hold the point that the colors in the image boundary could mainly represent all background colors, hence we compute the color contrast between the intern colors and the boundary colors. Since the nearer the patches are close to center, the more they affect other patches, we propose a new distribution-based model. Finally, experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art approaches.     

Crystal phase control in two-dimensional materials

It is the nature of crystals to exist in different polymorphs. The recent emergence of two-dimensional (2D) materials has evoked the discovery of a number of new crystal phases that are different from their bulk structures at ambient conditions, and revealed novel structure-dependent properties, which deserve in-depth understanding and further exploration. In this contribution, we review the recent development of crystal phase control in 2D materials, including group V and VI. transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), group IVA metal chalcogenides and noble metals. For each group of materials, we begin with introducing the various existing crystal phases and their structure-related properties, followed by a detailed discussion on factors that influence these crystal structures and thus the possible strategies for phase control. Finally, after summarizing the whole paper, we present the challenges and opportunities in this research direction.     

Dynamic analysis and regulation of the flexible pipe conveying fluid with a hard-magnetic soft segment

Applied Mathematics and Mechanics - The recently developed hard-magnetic soft (HMS) materials can play a significant role in the actuation and control of medical devices, soft robots, flexible...     

Multilayered 2D Cesium-Based Hybrid Perovskite with Strong Polarization Sensitivity: Dimensional Reduction of CsPbBr3

3D perovskite CsPbBr₃ has recently taken a blooming position for optoelectronic applications. However, due to the lack of natural anisotropy of optical attributes, it is a great challenge to fulfil polarization-sensitive photodetection. Here, for the first time, we exploited dimensionality reduction of CsPbBr₃ to tailor a 2D-multilayered hybrid perovskite, (TRA)₂CsPb₂Br₇ ( 1 , in which TRA is (carboxy)cyclohexylmethylammonium), serving as a potential polarized-light detecting candidate. Its unique quantum-confined 2D structure results in intrinsic anisotropy of electrical conductivity, optical absorbance, and polarization-dependent responses. Particularly, it exhibits remarkable dichroism with the photocurrent ratio (I_pc/I_pa) of ≈2.1, being much higher than that of the isotropic CsPbBr₃ crystal and reported CH₃NH₃PbI₃ nanowire (≈1.3), which reveals its great potentials for polarization-sensitive photodetection. Further, crystal-based detectors of 1 show fascinating responses to the polarized light, including high detectivity (>10¹⁰ Jones), fast responding time (≈300 μs), and sizeable on/off current ratios (>10⁴). To our best knowledge, this is the first study on 2D Cs-based hybrid perovskite exhibiting strong polarization-sensitivity. The work highlights an effective pathway to explore new polarization sensitive candidates for hybrid perovskites and promotes their future electronic applications.     

Cobalt(II)-Catalyzed [4+2] Annulation of Picolinamides with Alkynes via C−H Bond Activation

A cobalt(II)-catalyzed [4+2] annulation of picolinamides with alkynes via C−H bond activation has been developed. The operationally simple annulation reaction allows for the synthesis of acyl-substituted 1H-benzoquinoline bearing multiple aromatic rings (up to 96 % yield) without co-oxidant or other oxidation factors under mild conditions. Several control experiments were carried out. This practical [4+2] annulation provides an efficient route to access highly functionalized compounds.