Tuning the shell thickness of core-shell α-Fe2O3@SiO2 nanoparticles to promote microwave absorption

Various advanced microwave absorbing materials have been developed for reducing/avoiding the harm of microwave radiation.Among them,core-shell structural nanomaterials have been widely fabricated for microwave absorption.However,the“structure-performance”relationship between shell thickness and microwave absorption performance is rarely reported.In this paper,we first explored the“structureperformance”relationship between shell thickness and microwave absorption performance,based on the core-she...     

A bridge between acoustic metamaterials and quantum computation

Acoustic waves are one necessary ingredient for many useful tasks.To complete these tasks,acoustic waves need to be transmitted in certain ways,and sometimes,people would like them to be transmitted in ways that are unnatural through passive devices.The latter seemingly unrealistic wish became true with the advent of acoustic metamaterials,which sunrises people very much.Acoustic metamaterials are artificial materials made of well-designed microstructures[1].     

Effect of astrocyte on synchronization of thermosensitive neuron-astrocyte minimum system

Astrocytes have a regulatory function on the central nervous system (CNS), especially in the temperature-sensitive hippocampal region. In order to explore the thermosensitive dynamic mechanism of astrocytes in the CNS, we establish a neuron-astrocyte minimum system to analyze the synchronization change characteristics based on the Hodgkin-Huxley model, in which a pyramidal cell and an interneuron are connected by an astrocyte. The temperature range is set as 0 ℃-40 ℃ to juggle between theoretical calculation and the reality of a brain environment. It is shown that the synchronization of thermosensitive neurons exhibits nonlinear behavior with changes in astrocyte parameters. At a temperature range of 0 ℃-18 ℃, the effects of the astrocyte can provide a tremendous influence on neurons in synchronization. We find the existence of a value for inositol triphosphate (IP₃) production rate and feedback intensities of astrocytes to neurons, which can ensure the weak synchronization of two neurons. In addition, it is revealed that the regulation of astrocytes to pyramidal cells is more sensitive than that to interneurons. Finally, it is shown that the synchronization and phase transition of neurons depend on the change in Ca²⁺ concentration at the temperature of weak synchronization. The results in this paper provide some enlightenment on the mechanism of cognitive dysfunction and neurological disorders with astrocytes.     

High-performance nonfused ring electron acceptor with a steric hindrance induced planar molecular backbone

Three nonfused ring electron acceptors (NFREAs) TTC6,TT-C8T and TT-TC8 were purposefully designed and synthesized.The molecular geometry can be adjusted by the steric hindrance of lateral substituents.According to the DFT calculations,from TTC6 to TT-C8T and TT-TC8,planarity of the molecular backbone is gradually improved,accompanying with the enhancing of intramolecular charge transfer effect.As for TT-TC8,the two phenyl substituents are almost perpendicular to the molecular backbone,which endues the acceptor with good solubility and suppresses it to form over-aggregation.Multidirectional regular molecular orientation and closer molecular stacking are formed in TT-TC8 film.As a result,TT-TC8 based devices afford the highest PCE of 13.13%,which is much higher than that of TTC6 (4.41%) and TT-C8T (10.42%) and among the highest PCE values based on NFREAs.     

Natural scaffolds-inspired synthesis of CF3-substituted macrolides enabled by Rh-catalyzed C–H alkylation macrocyclization

The development of innovative strategies and methods to provide natural product-like macrocycles not accessible by biosynthesis, but endowed with novel bioactivities and simplified structure, is highly desirable. Inspired by the key scaffolds of rapamycin and FR252921, herein, we report a Rh（III）-catalyzed C–H alkylation macrocyclization, which enables access to CF3-substituted macrolides. DFT calculations reveal that the chemoselectivity between C–H alkylation and olefination macrocyclization w...     

Defect-rich and ultrathin nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets with enhanced peroxidase-like activity for the detection of urease activity and fluoride ion

Although carbon nanozymes have attracted great interest due to their good biocompatibility, low cost,and high stability, designing high-active carbon nanozymes still faces great challenges. Herein, ultrathin nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets with rich defects(d-NC) were prepared through a high-temperature annealing process, using potassium chloride and ammonium chloride as templates. Owing to the large specific surface area, rich defects and the high exposure of active sites, the proposed d-NC na...     

H2S-assisted growth of 2D MS2（M=Ti,Zr,Nb）

2D transition metal dichalcogenides（TMDCs） have drawn an enormous amount of attention due to their fascinating properties and application potential in next-generation information process and storage. However, the lack of proper synthesis approach limits their application. Here, we report a controllable synthesis method to grow ultrathin MS2（M = Ti, Nb, Zr） nanosheets with H2S-assisted chemical vapor deposition（CVD）. We found that the presence of H2S plays an important role to control the morphol...     

Triple plasmon-induced transparency and outstanding slow-light in quasi-continuous monolayer graphene structure

We propose a simple quasi-continuous monolayer graphene structure and achieve a dynamically tunable triple plasmon-induced transparency(PIT)effect in the proposed structure.Additional analyses indicate that the proposed structure contains a selfconstructed bright-dark-dark mode system.A uniform theoretical model is introduced to investigate the spectral response characteristics and slow light-effects in the proposed system,and the theoretical and the simulated results exhibit high consistency.In addition,the influences of the Fermi level and the carrier mobility of graphene on transmission spectra are discussed.It is found that each PIT window exhibits an independent dynamical adjustability owing to the quasi-continuity of the proposed structure.Finally,the slow-light effects are investigated based on the calculation of the group refractive index and phase shift.It is found that the structure displays excellent slow-light effects near the PIT windows with high-group indices,and the maximum group index of each PIT window exceeds 1000 when the carrier mobility of graphene increases to 3.5 m^2 V^-1s^-1.The proposed structure has potential to be used in multichannel filters,optical switches,modulators,and slow-light devices.Additionally,the established theoretical model lays a theoretical basis for research on multimode coupling effects.     

Electrically driven motion,destruction, and chirality change of polar vortices in oxide superlattices

Topological polar vortices, which are electric analogs of magnetic objects, present great potential in applications of future nanoelectronics because of their nanometer size, anomalous dielectric response, and chirality. To enable the functionalities, it is prerequisite to manipulate the polar states and chirality by using external stimuli. Here, we probe the evolutions of polar state and chirality evolutions of topological polar vortices in Pb TiO;/Sr TiO;superlattices under an electric field by using atomically resolved in situ scanning transmission electron microscopy and phase-field simulations. We find that, under electric field, the chiral vortex cores can be moved laterally to form close-pair structures, transform into a/c domain stripes, and finally become a nonchiral c-domain. Such transition is reversible and spontaneous after bias removal. Interestingly, during switching and backswitching events, the vortex rotation can be changed, offering a potential strategy to manipulate vortex chirality. The revealed dynamic behavior of individual polar vortices at the atomic scale provides fundamentals for future device applications.     

Key progresses of MOE key laboratory of macromolecular synthesis and functionalization in 2020

In 2020, the MOE Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Synthesis and Functionalization in Zhejiang University had made progresses in several aspects. First, a series of metal-free organoboron catalysts had been designed and synthesized facilely, exhibiting outstanding reactivity, thermalstability and productivity in different kinds of polymerization and cycloaddition reactions. Second, a variety of chalcogen(O, S, Se)-rich polymers had been synthesized via organocatalysis and fabricated to be the ion...