Surface oxidation behavior of MgNd alloys

The oxidation kinetics of MgNd alloys oxidized in pure O₂ at high temperatures has been investigated. The results revealed two stages of the reaction: A fast initial oxidation was followed by a slow oxide growth with a parabolic kinetics. For MgNd alloys (Nd = 25 wt.%), the oxidation rate increased with the enhancement of the oxidation temperature. A sudden ignition was found for this alloys oxidized at 873 K up to about 80 min. Moreover, the increase of the Nd content would harm the oxidation resistance of the MgNd alloys. By Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, it was found that a triplex structure of oxide film formed. The outer layer was composed of MgO, Nd₂O₃ and Nd(OH)₃, the middle layer mainly consisted of MgO and Nd₂O₃, and the inner layer was the transitional layer made of MgO, Nd₂O₃ and the content of the substrate. The protective oxidation was associated with the formation of the dense Nd₂O₃/MgO layer during isothermal oxidation process. The oxidation mechanisms for the formation of oxide film are discussed.     

Elastic breakup in uniaxial extension of entangled polymer melts

Five entangled melts, with the number of entanglements per chain ranging from 25 to 160, have been studied to illustrate how cohesive strength can be overcome in either continuous or interrupted extension (i.e., during or after uniaxial stretching). The internal elastic stress due to chain deformation from imposed strain appears to be the cause of the observed yielding behavior that reveals scaling laws. The visual signature of the elastic breakup is the occurrence of nonuniform extension. The yield phenomena may be understood at a force level.     

Characteristics of cobalt-based alloy coating on tool steel prepared by powder feeding laser cladding

Co-based alloy coating was deposited on tool steel by powder feeding laser cladding. Sections of such coatings were examined to reveal their microstructures and phases using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). The results showed that the prime phase (γ-Co dendrite) and other phases, including Cr₂₃C₆, Co₇W₆, and CrNi existed in the coatings. Some different solidification morphologies, such as planar (at the interface), cellular and dendrite formed, varying from the interface to the surface. Fine microstructures of γ-Co dendrite and lamellar eutectic in dendritical regions strengthened the coatings. Besides, the effects of aged treatment on the microstructure and microhardness of the surface coating were studied. Aged treatment led to the precipitations of some carbide particles (Cr₇C₃ and Co₃C) and boride particles (Co₄B) from the cladded coating, causing an increase in microhardness in the laser-cladded coating.     

Temperature dependent responsivity of quantum dot infrared photodetectors

Temperature dependent behavior of the responsivity of InAs/GaAs quantum dot infrared photodetectors was investigated with detailed measurement of the current gain. The current gain varied about two orders of magnitude with 100 K temperature change. Meanwhile, the change in quantum efficiency is within a factor of 10. The dramatic change of the current gain is explained by the repulsive coulomb potential of the extra carriers in the QDs. With the measured current gain, the extra carrier number in QDs was calculated. More than one electron per QD could be captured as the dark current increases at 150 K. The extra electrons in the QDs elevated the Fermi level and changed the quantum efficiency of the QDIPs. The temperature dependence of the responsivity was qualitatively explained with the extra electrons.     

One-dimensional Bi<Subscript>2</Subscript>Mo<Subscript>x</Subscript>W<Subscript>1-x</Subscript>O<Subscript>6</Subscript> sosoloids: controllable synthesis by electrospinning process and enhanced photocatalytic performance

One-dimensional Bi₂Mo_xW_1-xO₆ (x = 0, 0.2, 0.5, 0.67, and 1) photocatalysts have been successfully synthesized for the first time by a straightforward electrospinning technique with a calcination process. The as-formed Bi₂Mo_xW_1-xO₆ nanofibers are composed of inter-linked nanosheets of 30–50 nm in size and characterized by thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetric, Fourier transform infrared, Raman spectra, X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscope, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller, transmission electron microscope, UV-Vis spectroscopy, photoluminescence, HPLC, and EIS. The photodegradation behaviors towards organic dyes, including rhodamine B (RhB) and methylene blue (MB) are investigated, and the results illustrate that Bi₂Mo_0.25W_0.75O₆ nanofibers exhibit the highest photocatalytic performance under visible light irradiation than Bi₂Mo_xW_1-xO₆ (x = 0, 0.2, 0.5, 0.67, and 1) samples. The possible mechanisms of the enhanced photocatalytic properties are discussed in detail.     

In vitro and in vivo comparative study of the phototherapy anticancer activity of hyaluronic acid-modified single-walled carbon nanotubes,graphene oxide,and fullerene

In this work, carbon nanomaterials, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT), graphene oxide (GO), and fullerene (C60) were modified by hyaluronic acid (HA) to obtain water-soluble and biocompatible nanomaterials with high tumor-targeting capacity and then the comparative study of these hyaluronic acid-modified carbon nanomaterials was made in vitro and in vivo. The conjugates of hyaluronic acid and carbon nanomaterials, namely, HA-SWNT, HA-GO, HA-C60, were confirmed by UV/Vis spectrum, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and a transmission electron microscope (TEM). After HA modification, the sizes of HA-SWNT, HA-GO, and HA-C60 were in a range of 70 to 300 nm, and all the three HA-modified materials were at negative potential, demonstrating that HA modification was in favor of extravasation of carbon materials into a tumor site due to enhanced permeability and retention effect of tumor. Photothermal conversion in vitro test demonstrated excellent photothermal sensitivity of HA-SWNT and HA-GO. But the reactive oxygen yield of HA-C60 was the highest compared with the others under visible light irradiation, which proved the good photodynamic therapy effect of HA-C60. In addition, cytotoxicity experiments exhibited that the inhibitory efficacy of HA-SWNT was the lowest, the second was HA-C60, and the highest was HA-GO, which was consistent with the uptake degree of them. While under the laser irradiation, the cell inhibition of the HA-SWNT was the highest, the second was HA-GO, and the last was HA-C60. In vivo evaluation of the three targeting carbon nanomaterials was consistent with the cytotoxicity assay results. Taken together, the results demonstrated that HA-SWNT and HA-GO were suited for photothermal therapy (PTT) agents for their good photothermal property, while HA-C60 was used as a kind of photodynamic therapy (PDT) agent for its photodynamic effect.     

Scale-invariant structure of energy fluctuations in real earthquakes

Earthquakes are obviously complex phenomena associated with complicated spatiotemporal correlations, and they are generally characterized by two power laws: the Gutenberg-Richter (GR) and the Omori-Utsu laws. However, an important challenge has been to explain two apparently contrasting features: the GR and Omori-Utsu laws are scale-invariant and unaffected by energy or time scales, whereas earthquakes occasionally exhibit a characteristic energy or time scale, such as with asperity events. In this paper, three high-quality datasets on earthquakes were used to calculate the earthquake energy fluctuations at various spatiotemporal scales, and the results reveal the correlations between seismic events regardless of their critical or characteristic features. The probability density functions (PDFs) of the fluctuations exhibit evidence of another scaling that behaves as a q-Gaussian rather than random process. The scaling behaviors are observed for scales spanning three orders of magnitude. Considering the spatial heterogeneities in a real earthquake fault, we propose an inhomogeneous Olami-Feder-Christensen (OFC) model to describe the statistical properties of real earthquakes. The numerical simulations show that the inhomogeneous OFC model shares the same statistical properties with real earthquakes.     

Quantum speedup via engineering multiple environments

Evolution speed of an open quantum system is vividly influenced by the structure of environments. The strong system‐environment coupling is found to be able to accelerate quantum evolution. In this work, we propose a different method of governing the quantum speedup via engineering multiple environments. It is shown that, with a judicious choice of the number of coupling environments, the quantum speedup of an open system can be achieved even under weak system‐environment coupling conditions. The mechanism for the speedup is due to the switch between Markovian and non‐Markovian regions by manipulating the number of the surrounding environments. In addition, we verify the above phenomena by using quantum dots embedded in a planar photonic crystal under current technologies. These results provide a new degree of freedoms to accelerate quantum evolution of open systems. The strong system‐environment coupling can speed up the quantum evolution process. This work shows that, via engineering multiple environments, one can speed up the evolution process even under weak coupling conditions.     

Targeting Upconversion Nanoprobes for Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Early Colon Cancer

Colon cancer (CC) is one of the most common intestinal malignancies and is difficult to detect in its early stage by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with currently used contrast agents (CAs). The development of targeted CAs contributes to the early diagnosis of CC and thereby enables early intervention and timely therapy. Considering the outstanding performance of upconversion nanoprobes (UCNPs) in high‐performance MR and fluorescence imaging, a new type of nanoprobes with considerably enhanced imaging performance is developed herein. Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) antibody is conjugated onto the surface of UCNPs to achieve the targeted imaging of early CC tumors, which overexpress CEA. Both toxicity tests and histological/hematological examinations demonstrate the excellent biocompatibility of these CC‐targeting nanoprobes, which possess great potential for clinical application in the early diagnosis of CC.