Black Hole Quasinormal Modes in the Era of LIGO

After a long wait, gravitational wave astronomy has finally begun. Binary black hole mergers are being detected by LIGO and Virgo, and theorists are starting to receive a wealth of data to be analyzed. At this point, we can at long last begin to test alternative theories of gravity and different models of compact objects. One powerful tool to do this is the perturbative analysis of background spacetimes. The objective of this brief review is to introduce the notion and analysis of black hole quasinormal modes, starting from the linear perturbation theory and including a brief discussion of numerical methods and astrophysical implications in the gravitational wave signals recently detected. With these basic ingredients, more sophisticated analyses and applications are possible.     

Finite-Size Scaling for the Baxter-Wu Model Using Block Distribution Functions

In the present work, we present an alternative way of applying the well-known finite-size scaling (FSS) theory in the case of a Baxter-Wu model using Binder-like blocks. Binder’s ideas are extended to estimate phase transition points and the corresponding scaling exponents not only for magnetic but also for energy properties, saving computational time and effort. The vast majority of our conclusions can be easily generalized to other models.     

One-step hydrothermal synthesis of feather duster-like NiS@MoS<Subscript>2</Subscript> with hierarchical array structure for the Pt-free dye-sensitized solar cell

Novel feather duster-like nickel sulfide (NiS) @ molybdenum sulfide (MoS₂) with hierarchical array structure is synthesized via a simple one-step hydrothermal method, in which a major structure of rod-like NiS in the center and a secondary structure of MoS₂ nanosheets with a thickness of about 15–55 nm on the surface. The feather duster-like NiS@MoS₂ is employed as the counter electrode (CE) material for the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC), which exhibits superior electrocatalytic activity due to its feather duster-like hierarchical array structure can not only support the fast electron transfer and electrolyte diffusion channels, but also can provide high specific surface area (238.19 m² g^?1) with abundant active catalytic sites and large electron injection efficiency from CE to electrolyte. The DSSC based on the NiS@MoS₂ CE achieves a competitive photoelectric conversion efficiency of 8.58%, which is higher than that of the NiS (7.13%), MoS₂ (7.33%), and Pt (8.16%) CEs under the same conditions.

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Graphical abstract Novel feather duster-like NiS@MoS₂ hierarchical structure array with superior electrocatalytic activity was fabricated by a simple one-step hydrothermal method.

     

Ultrasensitive lateral-flow assays based on quantum dot encapsulations with signal amplification

Lateral-flow assays (LFAs), with its convenience and low cost, promise to become the in-home test format for early diagnosis and monitoring of tumor marker. However, the insufficient signal intensity was generated by signal reporters reducing the sensitivity of this format. In this study, a novel nanoscale signal reporter capable of amplifying the fluorescence signal is fabricated by encapsulating quantum dots (QDs) into modified tri-copolymer (poly(tert-butyl acrylate-co-ethyl acrylate-co-methacrylic acid)) (ODA-g-tri-copolymer). The amplified signal varied by simply adjusting the ratio of QDs to the ODA-g-tri-copolymer for obtaining QD nanospheres with high QD loading. They exhibits outstanding stability compared to the individual QDs both in the biological buffer and strong acid solutions. Here, human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) is employed as the model protein of LFAs. The results show that the detection limit of the QD nanospheres is pushed down to 0.016 IU/L, which is about ~?38.5 times enhanced compared to the individual QD-based LFAs without any signal amplifying. The ultrasensitive LFAs were attributed to the signal amplification strategy, and their efficiency and robustness demonstrated the great potential in clinical applications.

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Multiple layer formation of bovine serum albumin on silver nanoparticles revealed by dynamic light scattering and spectroscopic techniques

It is well known that when nanoparticles (NPs) are exposed to biological fluid, it results into formation of nanoparticle protein corona, which has been the subject of extensive studies for the development of targeted drug delivery. In this work, we demonstrated the dynamic light scattering, fluorescence, and UV-visible spectroscopy as quantitative and qualitative tools to monitor adsorption of BSA protein onto silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The adsorption resulted in significant gradual increase in average hydrodynamic radius of BSA-AgNP corona from 24 to 35 nm and its attainment of equilibrium point (saturation) that correlated with albumin concentration enables condition for bound and unbound protein adsorption to be interpreted. Using DLS, the dissociation constant (K_D) was obtained for soft corona to be 2.09?±?0.30 μM. The UV-visible and fluorescence spectroscopy results were correlated with DLS. Loss of percent helicity in secondary structure of adsorbed BSA was monitored in both coronas as compared to native protein. Both coronas were found to be biocompatible with RBC membrane. Further, the results of adsorption isotherm model were used to validate the multilayer formation of albumin protein on silver nanoparticles. The obtained results would be relevant in the drug design development for tumor-targeted therapy.

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Effect of alkyl chain lengths on the assemblies of magnetic nanoparticles coated with multi-functional thiolactone-containing copolymer

This work presents the synthesis of magnetite nanoparticle (MNP) coated with poly(N,N-diethylaminoethyl methacrylate)-b-poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide-st-thiolactone acrylamide) (PDEAEMA-b-P(NIPAAm-st-TlaAm) copolymer and its use in controlled drug release and bio-conjugation. TlaAm units in the copolymer were ring-opened with various alkyl amines to form thiol groups (-SH), followed by thiol-ene coupling reactions with acrylamide-coated MNP and then quaternized to obtain cationic copolymer-MNP assemblies (the size <?200 nm/cluster). The use of alkyl amines having various chain lengths (e.g., 1-propylamine, 1-octylamine, or 1-dodecylamine) in the nucleophilic ring-opening reactions of the thiolactone rings affected their magnetic separation ability, water dispersibility, and release rate of doxorubicin model drug. In all cases, when increasing the temperature, they showed a thermo-responsive behavior as indicated by the decrease in hydrodynamic size and the accelerated drug release rate. These copolymer-MNP assemblies could be used as a novel platform with thermal-triggering controlled drug release and capability for adsorption with any negatively charged biomolecules.

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Graphical abstract MNP coated with multi-functional PDEAEMA-b-P(NIPAAm-st-TlaAm) copolymer and its proposed drug release

     

Influence of graphene nanoplatelet content on the electromagnetic and microwave absorbing properties of BiFeO<Subscript>3</Subscript>/GNP/epoxy composites

Ternary composites of BiFeO₃/graphene nanoplatelet (GNP)/epoxy composites were synthesized and its electromagnetic and microwave absorbing properties were studied; the main absorbing mechanism was illustrated. The phase, microstructure, and microwave absorbing properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, and vector network analyzer. The results indicated that the BiFeO₃ was successfully synthesized and the GNP was uniformly distributed in the composites, and the complex permittivity of BiFeO₃/GNP/epoxy composites increased with increasing the GNP content due to the interface polarization and conductance loss. The minimum reflection loss value was reached to ??45 dB at 9.25 GHz with the thickness of 1.4 mm when the GNP content was 2 wt%, and also the absorbing properties of (BiFeO₃+GNP)/epoxy composites can be tailored by the GNP content and composite thickness, which may be used as a kind of absorbing materials with good absorbing performance and low density.

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Graphical abstract The reflection loss curves and the simulated matching thickness of GNP-BiFeO₃-epoxy composites with 2 wt% GNP content. As can be seen, the minimum reflection loss value was reached to ??45 dB at 9.25 GHz with the thickness of 1.4 mm, and also the quarter-wavelength matching theory can be used to illustrate the good absorbing properties of GNP-BiFeO₃-epoxy composites.

     

Ti<Superscript>3+</Superscript>-doped TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> hollow sphere with mixed phases of anatase and rutile prepared by dual-frequency atmospheric pressure plasma jet

A novel method of synthesizing Ti³⁺-doped TiO₂ was proposed. Ti³⁺-doped TiO₂ hollow spheres were prepared with different thickness of carbon shell by using atmospheric pressure plasma jet generated by dual-frequency power sources. The as-synthesized Ti³⁺-doped TiO₂ hollow microspheres were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern, scanning electron microscope (SEM) images, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images, Raman spectra, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and UV–vis spectra. These results indicated that these samples had mixed phases of anatase and rutile and the structure of hollow sphere varied with different thickness of carbon shell. The Ti-O-C chemical bond was the connection between the TiO₂ hollow sphere and carbon layer. Amount of Ti³⁺ ions were found, which were accompanied with the formation of oxygen vacancies. Meantime, the as-synthesized catalysts also display strong absorption in the visible light region and have a narrow band energy gap. Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) was used to observe different excited species in the discharge area. These results showed that the oxygen content had a significant impact on the number of oxygen vacancies. Finally, the photocatalytic activities of as-prepared samples were evaluated by decomposition of rhodamine B aqueous solution, which showed better photocatalytic activity under UV–vis light irradiation.