Goos-Hänchen and Imbert-Fedorov shifts in tilted Weyl semimetals

We establish the beam models of Goos-Hänchen (GH) and Imbert-Fedorov (IF) effects in tilted Weyl semimetals (WSMs), and systematically study the influences of Weyl cone tilting and chemical potential on the GH and IF shifts at a certain photon energy 1.96 eV. It is found that the GH and IF shifts in tilted type-I and type-Ⅱ WSMs are both almost symmetric about the Weyl cone tilting. Meanwhile, the GH and IF shifts in type-I WSMs almost do not change with the tilt degree of Weyl cones, while those in type-Ⅱ WSMs are extremely dependent on tilt degree. These trends are mainly due to the nearly symmetric distribution of WSMs conductivities, where the conductivities keep stable in type-I WSMs and gradually decrease with tilt degree in type-Ⅱ WSMs. By adjusting the chemical potential, the boundary between type-I and type-Ⅱ WSMs widens, and the dependence of the beam shifts on the tilt degree can be manipulated. Furthermore, by extending the relevant discussions to a wider frequency band, the peak fluctuation of GH shifts and the decrease of IF shifts occur gradually as the frequency increases, and the performance of beam shifts at photon energy 1.96 eV is equally suitable for other photon frequencies. The above findings provide a new reference for revisiting the beam shifts in tilted WSMs and determining the types of WSMs.     

Alkaline oxygen evolution: exploring synergy between fcc and hcp cobalt nanoparticles entrapped in N-doped graphene

Herein, we report a Mott-Schottky catalyst by entrapping cobalt nanoparticles inside the N-doped graphene shell (Co@NC). The Co@NC delivered excellent oxygen evolution activity with an overpotential of merely 248 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm^–2 with promising long-term stability. The importance of Co encapsulated in NC has further been demonstrated by synthesizing Co nanoparticles without NC shell. The synergy between the hexagonal close-packed (hcp) and face-centered cubic (fcc) Co plays a major role to improve the OER activity, whereas the NC shell optimizes the electronic structure, improves the electron conductivity, and offers a large number of active sites in Co@NC. The density functional theory calculations have revealed that the hcp Co has a dominant role in the surface reaction of electrocatalytic oxygen evolution, whereas the fcc phase induces the built-in electric field at the interfaces with N-doped graphene to accelerate the H⁺ ion transport.     

Insights into MWCNTs/polyimide nanocomposites: from synthesis to application as free-standing flexible electrodes in low-cost micro-supercapacitors

In the pursuit to enlarge the library of polyimide materials for energy applications, new polyimide/MWCNTs composite films have been developed by MWCNTs-assisted polycondensation reaction of a hydroxyl and triphenylmethane-containing diamine with benzophenone tetracarboxylic dianhydride targeting to highlight their electrical storage capability as flexible electrodes in micro-supercapacitors (mSCs). The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, proton nuclear magnetic resonance, UV–vis, fluorescence, and Raman spectroscopies were used to demonstrate the evolution of interfacial interactions between MWCNTs and the precursors (diamine monomer and intermediate polyamidic acid) and polyimide matrix that proved to be the origin of MWCNTs homogeneous dispersion. Thus, composite films incorporating 1, 3, 5, and 10 w.t.% MWCNTs were obtained and thoroughly investigated with regard to their morphology, mechanical behavior, thermal stability, and electrical conductivity. The electrochemical performance of these composites was first analyzed in a classical three-electrode cell by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge in both aqueous and organic electrolyte systems. By far, the best electrical storage capacity was obtained with the composite polyimide film containing 10% MWCNTs that was further used as both active material and current collector in a flexible symmetric mSC realized by a straightforward and low-cost procedure. In the attempt to better exploit the advantages of this composite film, it was layered with a graphite-containing paint and tested as an electrode in a flexible mSC, which provided satisfactory results. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the electrical charge storage capability of a polyimide/MWCNTs free-standing film as a flexible electrode in mSCs, which do not require time- and resource-consuming processing steps.     

Y掺杂WS2二维材料的第一性原理研究

WS₂由于其优异的物理和光电性质引起了广泛关注。本研究基于第一性原理计算方法,探索了本征单层WS₂及不同浓度W原子替位钇(Y)掺杂WS₂的电子结构和光学特性。结果表明本征单层WS₂为带隙1.814 eV的直接带隙半导体。进行4%浓度(原子数分数)的Y原子掺杂后,带隙减小为1.508 eV,依旧保持着直接带隙的特性,随着Y掺杂浓度的不断增大,掺杂WS₂带隙进一步减小,当浓度达到25%时,能带结构转变为0.658 eV的间接带隙,WS₂表现出磁性。适量浓度的掺杂可以提高材料的导电性能,且掺杂浓度增大时,体系依旧保持着透明性并且在红外光和可见光区对光子的吸收能力、材料的介电性能都有着显著提高。本文为WS₂二维材料相关光电器件的研究提供了理论依据。     

温度对低共熔溶剂影响的二维拉曼光谱研究

低共熔溶剂（DES）作为一种新式的绿色溶剂，在多种化学过程中表现出色，因此在诸多热门范畴都展现出良好的发展潜力。对DES的光谱分析通常局限在一维光谱技术上，但其分辨率低、谱峰重叠严重等缺点，导致光谱数据存在误差。运用二维拉曼光谱（2D Raman），能够明显提高光谱分辨率，并发现重叠峰位置，获得在外扰条件下不同谱峰的变化顺序及其相互作用等重要信息，以实现对复杂体系的精确分析。以氯化胆碱（ChCl）和ZnCl₂合成的DES为例，利用显微共焦激光拉曼光谱仪分别对ChCl和DES进行拉曼实验，发现与ChCl相比，DES中各处峰的整体强度显著下降，原有的谱峰未消失，说明Zn2+的加入没有破坏ChCl的骨架结构。287 cm-1处出现一个新的特征峰，推测有Zn-Cl配位键的伸缩振动。对DES进行升温拉曼实验，发现随着温度的升高，NC₄的不对称伸缩振动峰强度逐渐减小，峰宽变大，峰形变缓，Zn-Cl配位键伸缩振动峰强度逐渐降低，峰位置基本不变，峰形有明显重叠。运用2D Raman技术对溶液内NC₄和Zn-Cl特征峰的变化进行研究，结果表明，随着温度的升高，溶液中发生ChCl向Ch+的解离过程，Zn2+与Cl-形成了多种配合物，ZnCl-₃，Zn₂Cl-₅，Zn₃Cl-₇之间存在相互转化。不同位置的特征峰随温度的变化顺序不同，将特征峰与团簇进行一一归属，得出了各个团簇对温度的敏感程度。基于量子化学中的密度泛函理论，对推测的物质结构进行构型优化和参数计算，证实了其存在的可能性，同时也验证了2D Raman的分析结果准确可行。这些结果将为DES的后续研究提供理论参考，拓展了二维光谱技术的应用范围。     

Projective well orders and coanalytic witnesses

We further develop a forcing notion known as Coding with Perfect Trees and show that this poset preserves, in a strong sense, definable P-points, definable tight MAD families and definable selective independent families. As a result, we obtain a model in which $\mathfrak{a}=\mathfrak{u}=\mathfrak{i}={\mathrm{?}}_1<2^{{\mathrm{?}}_0}={\mathrm{?}}_2$, each of $\mathfrak{a}$, $\mathfrak{u}$, $\mathfrak{i}$ has a ${\mathrm{\Pi }}_1^1$ witness and there is a ${\mathrm{\Delta }}_3^1$ well-order of the reals. Note that both the complexity of the witnesses of the above combinatorial cardinal characteristics, as well as the complexity of the well-order are optimal. In addition, we show that the existence of a ${\mathrm{\Delta }}_3^1$ well-order of the reals is consistent with $\mathfrak{c}={\mathrm{?}}_2$ and each of the following: $\mathfrak{a}=\mathfrak{u}<\mathfrak{i}$, $\mathfrak{a}=\mathfrak{i}<\mathfrak{u}$, $\mathfrak{a}<\mathfrak{u}=\mathfrak{i}$, where the smaller cardinal characteristics have co-analytic witnesses.Our methods allow the preservation of only sufficiently definable witnesses, which significantly differs from other preservation results of this type.     

Synthesis of 29H,31H-phthalocyanine and chloro (29H,31H-phthalocyaninato) aluminum derivatives showed anti-cancer and anti-bacterial actions

Continuous administration of most chemotherapeutic drugs can induce different types of side effects. There has been growing interest in exploring an alternative approach to synthesizing compounds that are most effective and have fewer side effects. We synthesized 29H,31H-Phthalocyanine, and Chloro (29H,31H- phthalocyaninato) aluminum at low temperatures using lithium in the present study with diisopropylamide as the nucleophile. The physical characteristics of 29H,31H-Phthalocyanine, and Chloro (29H,31H- phthalocyaninato) aluminum were confirmed by FT-IR method, XRD, SEM, and the impact of these compounds on human colorectal carcinoma (HCT-116) and human cervical cells (HeLa) was examined. Treatment with 29H,31H-Phthalocyanine significantly decreased cancer cell growth and proliferation, as determined by MTT and DAPI staining analysis. In contrast, Chloro (29H,31H- phthalocyaninato) aluminum treatment did not show any inhibitory action on colon or cervical cancer cells. We also calculated the inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 29H,31H-Phthalocyanine, which was 30 µg/ml (HCT-116) and 33 µg/ml (HeLa cells). The antibacterial effectiveness of 29H,31H-Phthalocyanine, and chloro (29H,31H- phthalocyaninato) aluminum was studied using Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis). The CFU (colony frequency unit) assay confirmed significant activity against the test bacterium after treatment with 29H,31H-Phthalocyanine. However, no activity was seen upon treatment with chloro (29H,31H- phthalocyaninato) aluminum against E. faecalis.     

Development and validation of LC–MS/MS method for amlexanox in rat plasma and its application in preclinical pharmacokinetics

Amlexanox, an anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic agent, has been widely used clinically for the treatment of canker sores, asthma, and allergic rhinitis. Recently, amlexanox has received considerable attention in curing nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases and hepatitis virus infection. Herein, we first established a sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrum (LC–MS/MS) method for the determination of amlexanox in rat plasma. Propranolol was used as the internal standard (IS). Using a simple protein precipitation method, the amlexanox and IS were separated with Capcell Pak C18 column (2.0 × 50 mm, 5 μm) and eluted with water and acetonitrile each containing 0.1% formic acid using gradient elution condition at a flow rate of 0.4 mL·min⁻¹. Amlexanox and IS were detected by a triple quadrupole mass in multiple reactive monitoring (MRM) under the transitions of m/z 299.2 → 281.2 and m/z 259.9 → 116.1 with positive electrospray ionization, respectively. The calibration curves of amlexanox were established with the range of 50 to 2000 ng·mL⁻¹ (r² > 0.99). The validation method consisted of selectivity, accuracy, precision, carryover effect, matrix effect, recovery, dilution effect, and stability. The fully validated method was successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study of amlexanox in Wistar rats.