Preface to the Special Issue on Si-Based Materials and Devices

It has been well known that the development of microelectronic and integrated circuit (IC), mainly based on silicon materials, have changed the way of our life dramatically and accelerated the development and innovation of new technologies. With the increase of integration density in ICs, the gate lengths of transistors are now scaled down to 7 nm, leading to fundamental challenges to keep up with the Moore’s law. One possible solution is to integrate optical circuits into the Si microelectronic platform to achieve high density electronic–photonic integration. This will combine the advantages of photons in energy-efficient and high bandwidth data transmission with those of electrons in high-speed data processing and high performance logics. It will thereby overcome the interconnect bottleneck and achieve high functionality as an extension to Moore’s law. In this opto– electro integration system, monolithic integrated group IV lasers are of great interest. However, the indirect bandgap nature of crystalline silicon limits its application in optoelectronics. In recent years, many researchers have tried to use the nano-sized Si structure or introduce group IV alloys, such as Ge, GeSn or other compounds, to address the light source issue and establish all Si-based electronic–photonic ICs.     

A multi-functional polymer coating that is heat-resistant,hydrophobic and transparent

A multi-functional polymer film with high hydrophobicity and transparency was formed by simple casting of a polycarbonate solution onto a substrate having micro-scale roughness.The high hydrophobicity was heat-resistant,which can be retained up to 390 ℃.The polymer film may have potentially wide-ranging applications in industry and high technology.     

Growth of Hydrophilic CuS Nanowires via DNA‐Mediated Self‐Assembly Process and Their Use in Fabricating Smart Hybrid Films for Adjustable Chemical Release

Facile growth of CuS nanowires through self‐assembly and their application as building blocks for near‐infrared light‐responsive functional films have been demonstrated. It is found that DNA is a key factor in preparing the CuS material with defined nanostructure. An exclusive oriented self‐aggregate growth mechanism is proposed for the growth of the nanowires, which might have important implications for preparing advanced, sophisticated nanostructures based on DNA nanotechnology. By employing the hydrophilic CuS nanowire as an optical absorber and thermosensitive nanogel as guest reservoir inside alginate film, a new platform for the release of functional molecules has been set up. In vitro studies have shown that the hybrid film possesses excellent biocompatibility and the release rate of chemical molecules from the film could be controlled with high spatial and temporal precision. Our novel approach and the resulting outstanding combination of properties may advance both the fields of DNA nanotechnology and light‐responsive devices.     

Consistency check on the fundamental and alternative flux operators in loop quantum gravity

There are different constructions of the flux of triad in loop quantum gravity, namely the fundamental and alternative flux operators. In parallel to the consistency check on the two versions of operator by the algebraic calculus in the literature, we check their consistency by the graphical calculus. Our calculation based on the original Brink graphical method is obviously simpler than the algebraic calculation. It turns out that our consistency check fixes the regulating factor κreg of the Ashtekar-Lewandowski volume operator as1/2, which corrects its previous value in the literature.     

硫化氢对钴改性活性焦脱除煤气中汞的影响机理

采用等体积浸渍煅烧法制备钴改性活性焦(Co-AC),并采用BET、XRD等分析手段进行表征。 利用固定床吸附实验台,研究了模拟煤气(N₂、H₂、CO、H₂S)气氛下汞的吸附特性,重点关注H₂S对汞吸附的影响。 结果表明,5%负载量的Co-AC在120 ℃和H₂S作用下具有优异的脱汞能力,2 h内平均脱汞效率高达97.8%。 此外基于密度泛函理论,首先计算了H₂S、HS及S在Co₃O₄(110)表面的吸附能及键长,通过比较H—S键键长的变化得出H₂S会逐步解离成HS与S,然后将优化后的S-Co₃O₄(110)作为Hg的吸附基底,研究其吸附特性,得出Hg与S反应生成稳定的HgS,吸附能为-3.503 eV,证明了汞的吸附遵循Eley-Rideal机制。 Co-AC吸附剂在高温下脱汞性能受到极大的抑制,因为随吸附温度升高,表面活性硫的减少及硫和汞的反应平衡常数下降显著,导致汞的脱除能力下降。 本文采用了实验加模拟的手段,探明了H₂S存在时Hg⁰在钴基吸附剂表面的反应机理,为协同脱除煤气中的H₂S和Hg⁰提供了理论指导。     

Photocontrolled Multidirectional Differentiation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells on an Upconversion Substrate

The effective guidance of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) differentiation on a substrate by near‐infrared (NIR) light is particularly attractive for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. However, most of current substrates cannot control multidirectional differentiation of MSCs like natural tissues. Herein, a photocontrolled upconversion‐based substrate was designed and constructed for guiding multidirectional differentiation of MSCs. The substrate enables MSCs to maintain their stem‐cell characteristics due to the anti‐adhesive effect of 4‐(hydroxymethyl)‐3‐nitrobenzoic acid modified poly(ethylene glycol) (P1) attached on the upconversion substrate. Upon NIR irradiation, the P1 is released from the substrate by photocleavage. The detachment of P1 can change cell–matrix interactions dynamically. Moreover, MSCs cultured on the upconversion substrate can be specifically induced to differentiate to adipocytes or osteoblasts by adjusting the NIR laser. Our work provides a new way of using NIR‐based upconversion substrate to modulate the multidirectional differentiation of MSCs.     

Silver‐Infused Porphyrinic Metal–Organic Framework: Surface‐Adaptive,On‐Demand Nanoplatform for Synergistic Bacteria Killing and Wound Disinfection

The fabrication of functional nanoplatforms for combating multidrug‐resistant bacteria is of vital importance. Among them, silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) have shown an antibacterial effect; however, the remainder cores of Ag NPs after use might have a toxic effect on humans. Thus, Ag ions based materials have been fabricated to substitute Ag NPs for antibacterial applications. Nevertheless, the always‐on release state leads to the low biocompatibility, which limits their biomedical applications. In addition, the single effect also restricts their antibacterial ability. Herein, a powerful surface‐adaptive, on‐demand antimicrobial nanoplatform is fabricated by coating hyaluronic acid (HA) on Ag ions loaded photosensitive metal‐organic frameworks to exhibit a strong synergistic effect. The nanoplatform shows good biocompatibility with nontargeted cells, as negatively charged HA can prevent the release of Ag ions. While in the presence of targeted bacteria, the secreted hyaluronidase can degrade HA on the nanoplatform and produce positively charged nanoparticles, which display increased affinity to bacteria and show a strong synergistic antibacterial effect owing to the released Ag ions and generated reactive oxygen species under visible light irradiation. Importantly, due to the outstanding on‐demand antimicrobial performance, the nanoplatform also shows great effects on treating multidrug‐resistant bacteria infected wounds in mice models.     

Water Dissociation Kinetic-Oriented Design of Nickel Sulfides via Tailored Dual Sites for Efficient Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution

The reaction kinetics of alkaline hydrogen evolution reactions (HER) is a trade-off between adsorption and desorption for intermediate species (H₂O, OH, and H_ads). However, due to the complicated correlation between the intermediates adsorption energy and electronic states, targeted regulating the adsorption energy at the atomic level is not comprehensive. Herein, nonmetals (B, N, O, and F) are used to modulate the adsorption energy and electronic structure of Ni₃S₄, and propose that H₂O and OH adsorption energy are correlate directly with d-band center (ε_d) of transition metal Ni, and H_ads adsorption energy has a linear dependence on p-band center (ε_p) of nonmetal S. Direct experimental evidence is offered that in all nonmetals doping samples, Tafel slope and exchange current density can be improved regularly with the ε_d and ε_p, and F-Ni₃S₄ shows the optimum activity with tiny overpotential 29 and 92 mV for harvesting current density 10 and 100 mA cm⁻², respectively. Furthermore, the micro-kinetics analysis and density functional theory calculations verify that F-doping can efficiently reduce the energy barrier of the Volmer step, eventually accelerating the HER kinetics. This work provides atomic-level insight into the structure-properties relationship, and opens an avenue for kinetic-oriented design of alkaline HER and beyond.