Enhancement of water permeation across nanochannels by partial charges mimicked from biological channels

In biological water channel aquaporins （AQPs）, it is believed that the bipolar orientation of the single-file water molecules inside the channel blocks proton permeation but not water transport. In this paper, the water permeation and particularly the water-selective behaviour across a single-walled carbon nanotube （SWNT） with two partial charges adjacent to the wall of the SWNT are studied by molecular dynamics simulations, in which the distance between the two partial charges is varied from 0.14 nm to 0.5 nm and the charges each have a quantity of 0.5 e. The two partial charges are used to mimic the charge distribution of the conserved non-pseudoautosomal （NPA） （asparagine/proline/alanine） regions in AQPs. Compared with across the nanochannel in a system with one ＋1 ε charge, the water permeation across the nanochannel is greatly enhanced in a system with two ＋0.5 e charges when charges are close to the nanotube, i.e. the two partial charges permit more rapid water diffusion and maintain better bipolar order along the water file when the distance between the two charges and the wall of SWNT is smaller than about 0.05 nm. The bipolar orientation of the single-file water molecules is crucial for the exclusion of proton transfer. These findings may serve as guidelines for the future nanodevices by using charges to transport water and have biological implications because membrane water channels share a similar single-file water chain and positive charged region at centre and provide an insight into why two residues are necessitated in the central region of water channel protein.     

Preparation of multi-walled carbon nanotube–Fe composites and their application as light weight and broadband electromagnetic wave absorbers

Multi-walled carbon nanotube （MWCNT）-Fe composites were prepared via the metal organic chemical vapor deposi- tion by depositing iron pentacarbonyl on the surface of MWCNTs. The structural and morphological analyses demonstrated that Fe nanoparticles were deposited on the surface of the MWCNTs. The electromagnetic properties of the MWCNTs were significantly changed, and the absorbing capacity evidently improved after the Fe deposition on the MWCNT surface. A minimum reflection loss of -29.4 dB was observed at 8.39 GHz, and the less than -10 dB bandwidth was about 10.6 GHz, which covered the whole X band （8.2-12.4 GHz） and the whole Ku band （12.4-18 GHz）, indicating that the MWCNT-Fe composites could be used as an effective microwave absorption material.     

Transport of ions through a （6,6） carbon nanotube under electric fields

The transport of water and ions through carbon nanotubes （CNTs） is crucial in nanotechnology and biotechnology. Previous investigation indicated that the ions can hardly pass through （6,6） CNTs due to their hydrated shells. In the present study, utilizing molecular dynamics simulation, it is shown that the energy barrier mainly originating from the hydrated water molecules could be overcome by applying an electric field large enough in the CNT axis direction. Potential of mean force is calculated to show the reduction of energy barrier when the electric field is present for （Na＋, K＋, C1 ） ions. Consequently, ionic flux through （6,6） CNTs can be found once the electric field becomes larger than a threshold value. The variation of the coordination numbers of ions at different locations from the bulk to the center of the CNT is also explored to elaborate this dynamic process. The thresholds of the electric field are different for Na＋, K＋, and CI- due to their characteristics. This consequence might be potentially applied in ion selectivity in the future.     

Enhanced Synchronization of Intercellular Calcium Oscillations by Noise Contaminated Signals

We consider the dynamics of locally coupled calcium oscillation systems, each cell is subjected to extracellular contaminated signal, which contains common sub-threshold signal and independent Gaussian noise. It is found that intermediate noise can enhance synchronized oscillations of calcium ions, where the frequency of noise-induced oscillations is matched with the one of sub-threshold external signal. We show that synchronization is enhanced as a result of the entrainment of external signal. Furthermore, the effect of coupling strength is considered. We find above-mentioned phenomenon exists only when coupling strength is very small. Our findings may exhibit that noise can enhance the detection of feeble external signal through the mechanism of synchronization of intercellular calcium ions.     

Experimental clarification of orientation dependence of germanium PMOSFETs with AlzO3/GeOx/Ge gate stack

An extensive and complete experimental investigation with a full layout design of the channel direction was carried out for the first time to clarify the orientation dependence of germanium p-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors （PMOSFETs）. By comparison of gate trans-conductance, drive current, and hole mobility, we found that the performance trend with the substrate orientation for Ge PMOSFET is （110）〉（111） ~ （100）, and the best channel direction is （110）/[110]. Moreover, the （110） device performance was found to be easily degraded as the channel direction got off from the [ 110] orientation, while （100） and （111） devices exhibited less channel orientation dependence. This experimental result shows good matching with the simulation reports to give a credible and significant guidance for Ge PMOSFET design.     

Design consideration and fabrication of 1.2-kV 4H-SiC trenched-and-implanted vertical junction field-effect transistors

We present the design consideration and fabrication of 4H-SiC trenched-and-implanted vertical junction field-effect transistors （TI-VJFETs）. Different design factors, including channel width, channel doping, and mesa height, are con- sidered and evaluated by numerical simulations. Based on the simulation result, normally-on and normally-off devices are fabricated. The fabricated device has a 12 μm thick drift layer with 8 × 10^15 cm^-3 N-type doping and 2.6 μm channel length. The normally-on device shows a 1.2 kV blocking capability with a minimum on-state resistance of 2.33 mΩ.cm2, while the normally-off device shows an on-state resistance of 3.85 mΩ.cm2. Both the on-state and the blocking performances of the device are close to the state-of-the-art values in this voltage range.     

Influence of the channel electric field distribution on the polarization Coulomb field scattering in In0.18Al0.82N/AIN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors

By making use of the quasi-two-dimensional （quasi-2D） model, the current-voltage （l-V） characteristics of In0AsA10.82N/A1N/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors （HFETs） with different gate lengths are simulated based on the measured capacitance-voltage （C-V） characteristics and I-V characteristics. By analyzing the variation of the electron mobility for the two-dimensional electron gas （2DEG） with electric field, it is found that the different polarization charge distributions generated by the different channel electric field distributions can result in different polarization Coulomb field scatterings. The difference between the electron mobilities primarily caused by the polarization Coulomb field scatterings can reach up to 1522.9 cm2/V.s for the prepared In0.38AI0.82N/A1N/GaN HFETs. In addition, when the 2DEG sheet density is modulated by the drain-source bias, the electron mobility presents a peak with the variation of the 2DEG sheet density, the gate length is smaller, and the 2DEG sheet density corresponding to the peak point is higher.     

Elastic behavior of disclination dipole near nanotube with surface/interface effect

In this paper, we present an analytical solution of the interaction of the nanotube （NT） with a wedge disclination dipole in nanotube-based composites. The corresponding boundary value problem is solved exactly by using complex potential functions. The explicit expression of the force exerted on disclination dipole is given by using the generalized Peach- Koehler formula. As a numerical illustration, both the equilibrium position and the stability of the disclination dipole are evaluated for different material combinations, relative thickness of an NT, surface/interface effects, and the features of the disclination dipole. The results show that as the thickness of the NT layer increases, the NT has a relatively major role in the force acting on the disclination dipole in the NT-based composite. The cooperative effect of surface/interface stresses and the NT becomes considerable as the increase of NT layer thickness. The equilibrium position may occur, even more than one, due to the influences of the surface/interface stress and the NT thickening. The influences of the surface/interface stresses and the thickness of the NT layer on the force are greatly dependent on the disclination angle.     

Charge transport in monolayer poly（3-hexylthiophene） thin-film transistors

It is found that ultrathin poly（3-hexylthiophene） （P3HT） film with a 2.5 nm-thick layer exhibits a higher mobility of 5.0× 10-2 cm2/V-s than its bulk counterpart. The crystalline structure of the as-fabricated ultrathin P3HT layer is verified by atomic force microscopy as well as grazing incidence X-ray diffraction. Transient measurements of the as-fabricated transistors reveal the influence of the interface traps on charge transport. These results are explained by the trap energy level distribution at the interface manipulated by layers of polymer film.     

外加轴向磁场下碳纳米管场效应晶体管的电学性质

在紧束缚理论的基础上推导出轴向磁场下碳纳米管的能带公式,研究外加磁场下碳纳米管场效应晶体管的电学特性.说明磁场可使碳管的导电性质在金属型和半导体型之间转变,转变的磁场周期为0.5₀.进一步应用场效应晶体管Natori理论模拟计算了外加磁场对碳纳米管场效应晶体管的电流-电压特性的影响,研究结果显示zigzag管和armchair管的电流随外电压和磁场都有振荡行为,而且两类管的振荡行为有明显差别. 关键词： 碳纳米管 紧束缚理论 费米能 能带结构     

Field-modulated carrier transport in carbon nanotube transistors

We have investigated the electrical transport properties of carbon nanotube field-effect transistors as a function of channel length, gate dielectric film thickness, and dielectric material. Our experiments show that the bulk properties of the semiconducting carbon nanotubes do not limit the current flow through the metal/nanotube/metal system. Instead, our results can be understood in the framework of gate and source-drain field induced modulation of the nanotube band structure at the source contact. The existence of one-dimensional Schottky barriers at the metal/nanotube interface determines the device performance and results in an unexpected scaling behavior.     

Simulation Investigation on Optical and Electrical Properties of Carbon Nanotube in Terahertz Region

Under the framework of Maxwell-Garnett （M-G） model, the optical and electrical properties of singlewalled carbon naotube （SWCNT）, double-walled carbon nanotube （DWCNT） and hydrogen-doped carbon nanotube （H-doped GNT） in terahertz （THz） region have been investigated. It has been found that as frequency increases the loss tangent and conductivity show a peak. The loss tangent and conductivity of SWCNT is larger than that of DWCNT and H-doped CNT. The loss tangent and conductivity increase with the increases of filling factor and the decreases of geometrical factor.     

Hybrid device for acoustic noise reduction and energy harvesting based on a silicon micro-perforated panel structure

A kind of hybrid device for acoustic noise reduction and vibration energy harvesting based on the silicon micro- perforated panel （MPP） resonant structure is investigated in the article. The critical parts of the device include MPP and energy harvesting membranes. They are all fabricated by means of silicon micro-electro-mechanical systems （MEMS） tech- nology. The silicon MPP has dense and accurate micro-holes. This noise reduction structure has the advantages of wide band and higher absorption coefficients. The vibration energy harvesting part is formed by square piezoelectric membranes arranged in rows. ZnO material is used as it has a good compatibility with the fabrication process. The MPP, piezo- electric membranes, and metal bracket are assembled into a hybrid device with multifunctions. The device exhibits good performances of acoustic noise absorption and acoustic-electric conversion. Its maximum open circuit voltage achieves 69.41 mV.     

Intrinsic noise analysis and stochastic simulation on transforming growth factor beta signal pathway

A typical biological cell lives in a small volume at room temperature; the noise effect on the cell signal transduction pathway may play an important role in its dynamics. Here, using the transforming growth factor-β signal transduction pathway as an example, we report our stochastic simulations of the dynamics of the pathway and introduce a linear noise approximation method to calculate the transient intrinsic noise of pathway components. We compare the numerical solutions of the linear noise approximation with the statistic results of chemical Langevin equations, and find that they are quantitatively in agreement with the other. When transforming growth factor-β dose decreases to a low level, the time evolution of noise fluctuation of nuclear Smad2-Smad4 complex indicates the abnormal enhancement in the transient signal activation process.     

Continuous-Time Classical and Quantum Random Walk on Direct Product of Cayley Graphs

In this paper we define direct product of graphs and give a recipe for obtaining probability of observing particle on vertices in the continuous-time classical and quantum random walk. In the recipe, the probability of observing particle on direct product of graph is obtained by multiplication of probability on the corresponding to sub-graphs, where this method is useful to determining probability of walk on compficated graphs. Using this method, we calculate the probability of Continuous-time classical and quantum random walks on many of finite direct product Cayley graphs （complete cycle, complete Kn, charter and n-cube）. Also, we inquire that the classical state the stationary uniform distribution is reached as t→∞ but for quantum state is not always satisfied.     

A percolation study of RTS noise in deep sub-micron MOSFET by Monte Carlo simulation

Based on percolation theory and random telegraph signal (RTS) noise generation mechanism, a numerical model for RTS in deep submicron metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) was presented, with which the dependence of Tc/Te (where Tc=capture time, Te=emission period ) on energy levels and trap depth with respect to the interface of traps can be simulated. Compared with experimental results, the simulated ones showed a good qualitative agreement.     

Discrete energy transport in collagen molecules

The modulational instability in the three coupled α-polypeptide chains of a collagen molecule is investigated. Choosing symmetric and asymmetric solutions, and applying the so-called rotating-wave approximation, we describe the dynamics of the system by the discrete nonlinear Schrdinger(DNLS) equation. The linear stability analysis of the continuous wave solution is performed. The numerical simulations show the generation of trains of solitonic structures in the lattice with increasing amplitude as time progresses. The effect of damping and noise forces of the physiological temperature(T = 300 K) introduces an erratic behavior to the formed patterns, reinforcing the idea that the energy used in metabolic processes is confined to specific regions for efficiency.     

Transient Properties of a Bistable System with Delay Time Driven by Non-Gaussian and Gaussian Noises： Mean First-Passage Time

The mean first-passage time of a bistable system with time-delayed feedback driven by multiplicative non-Gaussian noise and additive Gaussian white noise is investigated. Firstly, the non-Markov process is reduced to the Markov process through a path-integral approach; Secondly, the approximate Fokker-Planck equation is obtained by applying the unified coloured noise approximation, the small time delay approximation and the Novikov Theorem. The functional analysis and simplification are employed to obtain the approximate expressions of MFPT. The effects of non-Gaussian parameter （measures deviation from Gaussian character） r, the delay time τ, the noise correlation time to, the intensities D and a of noise on the MFPT are discussed. It is found that the escape time could be reduced by increasing the delay time τ, the noise correlation time τ0, or by reducing the intensities D and α. As far as we know, this is the first time to consider the effect of delay time on the mean first-passage time in the stochastic dynamical system.     

Controlled Quantum Teleportation Through Noisy GHZ Channel

In this paper, we propose two physical schemes for teleporting an unknown atomic state through noisy channel in cavity QED. The quantum channel is a noisy one -- a mixed GHZ state, which is more realistic in quantum information processing. We solve analytically a master equation in the Lindblad form with （L2,z, L3,z, L4,z）-type of noise in cavity Q, ED. A comparison between the two protocols are discussed.     

Research on Some Bus Transport Networks with Random Overlapping Clique Structure

On the basis of investigating the statistical data of bus transport networks of three big cities in China, we propose that each bus route is a clique （maximal complete subgraph） and a bus transport network （BTN） consists of a lot of cliques, which intensively connect and overlap with each other. We study the network properties, which include the degree distribution, multiple edges＇ overlapping time distribution, distribution of the overlap size between any two overlapping cliques, distribution of the number of cliques that a node belongs to. Naturally, the cliques also constitute a network, with the overlapping nodes being their multiple links. We also research its network properties such as degree distribution, clustering, average path length, and so on. We propose that a BTN has the properties of random clique increment and random overlapping clique, at the same time, a BTN is a small-world network with highly clique-clustered and highly clique-overlapped. Finally, we introduce a BTN evolution model, whose simulation results agree well with the statistical laws that emerge in real BTNs.