970 nm超辐射发光二极管弯曲脊形波导数值分析

本文基于光束传播法(beam propagation method, BPM)和时域有限差分法(finite difference time domain method, FDTD)建立了分析模型,模拟并分析了弯曲脊形波导超辐射发光二极管(superluminescent light emitting diode, SLD)不同结构参数(刻蚀深度、曲率半径、脊形宽度)对波导损耗的影响和倾斜脊形波导不同结构参数(刻蚀深度、脊形宽度、倾斜角度、发射波长)对模式反射率的影响。计算表明,弯曲脊形波导的刻蚀深度和曲率半径是影响波导损耗的重要因素。刻蚀深度较浅使波导对光场的限制作用较弱,过小的曲率半径会使模式传输泄露严重,损耗大大增加。脊形宽度越大,波导损耗越小,其对波导损耗影响较小。脊形波导的端面倾斜角度是抑制模式反射率的重要因素,脊形宽度增加,模式反射率逐渐减小,并在特定的几个角度形成的奇点达到最小值。刻蚀深度对于模式反射率的影响作用较小,但随着刻蚀深度的增加,奇点发生的角度产生了向小角度偏移。在特定的倾斜角度范围内,随着波长减小,奇点的数目会逐渐增加。研究结果可对设计具有优越性能的SLD器件...     

Ultra-Wideband Electrostrictive Mechanical Antenna

Mechanical antennas based on piezoelectric materials can effectively reduce the size of long wave antennas down to 1/1000 of the wavelength (from km scale to mm level). However, the narrow bandwidth and weak field intensity seriously restrict its practical applications in transmission distance and channel capacity. Here, a mechanical antenna-based electrostrictive effect of relaxor ferroelectric ceramic (PMN-PT) is proposed to improve radiation capacity and achieve ultra-wideband characteristics (10 kHz–1 MHz). Due to the ultra-high dielectric constant at working temperature and the relationship between the strain and applied field intensity, the proposed antenna gets rid of the dependence on the poled materials and exhibits excellent communication properties beyond traditional mechanical antennas, which are experimentally demonstrated by a practical wireless communication system. Only using a single proposed mechanical antenna with 8 mm diameter and 3 mm thickness, the effective communication with a transmission distance of 200 m can be realized. This design offers a promising way of constructing mechanical antennas for long-wave communication.     

2D MoN1.2-rGO Stacked Heterostructures Enabled Water State Modification for Highly Efficient Interfacial Solar Evaporation

Improving interfacial solar evaporation performance is crucial for the practical application of this technology in solar-driven seawater desalination. Lowering evaporation enthalpy is one of the most promising and effective strategies to significantly improve solar evaporation rate. In this study, a new pathway to lower vaporization enthalpy by introducing heterogeneous interactions between hydrophilic hybrid materials and water molecules is developed. 2D MoN_1.2 nanosheets are synthesized and integrated with rGO nanosheets to form stacked MoN_1.2-rGO heterostructures with massive junction interfaces for interfacial solar evaporation. Molecular dynamics simulation confirms that atomic thick 2D MoN_1.2 and rGO in the MoN_1.2-rGO heterostructures simultaneously interact with water molecules, while the interactions are remarkably different. These heterogeneous interactions cause an imbalanced water state, which easily breaks the hydrogen bonds between water molecules, leading to dramatically lowered vaporization enthalpy and improved solar evaporation rate (2.6 kg m⁻² h⁻¹). This study provides a promising strategy for designing 2D-2D heterostructures to regulate evaporation enthalpy to improve solar evaporate rate for clean water production.     

Cell Development Enhanced Bionic Silk Hydrogel on Remodeling Immune Pathogenesis of Spinal Cord Injury via M2 Polarization of Microglial

Due to the complex spatial-temporal pathophysiology of spinal cord injury (SCI), effective modulation of SCI-specific inflammatory pathogenesis to achieve desirable therapeutic effects on functional recovery still remains challenging. Herein, cell-enhanced photocrosslinked silk fibroin hydrogels with extracellular matrix-mimicking cues of mechanical properties and RGD (Arg-Gly-Asp) signals are gelled in situ to fill the lesion site to modulate injury-induced neuroinflammation and promote neurite regrowth after SCI. The bionic hydrogel system provides biomimetic mechanical cues to promote neuronal differentiation of neural stem/progenitor cells (NPCs) and neurite growth by activating YAP nuclear expression. Importantly, favored by the strong capacity of silk fibroin hydrogels on macrophage/microglia recruitment, NPCs encapsulated hydrogel (NPCs@SFRGD0.1) effectively promotes recruited macrophages/microglia to M2 polarization in the lesion site by releasing S100A4 and thereby remodels the inflammatory microenvironment after SCI. Moreover, NPCs@SFRGD0.1 successfully reduces glial scar formation and accelerates corticospinal tract axon regrowth to improve locomotor recovery. Overall, this work contributes to illustrating the therapeutic mechanism of NPCs development based biomaterial therapies on modulating inflammatory microenvironment and this NPCs enhanced silk fibroin hydrogel provides a promising therapeutic strategy for SCI.     

Vacancy Manipulation Induced Optimal Carrier Concentration,Band Convergence and Low Lattice Thermal Conductivity in Nano-Crystalline SnTe Yielding Superior Thermoelectric Performance

Synergetic optimization of electrical and thermal transport properties is achieved for SnTe-based nano-crystalline materials. Gd doping is able to suppress the Sn vacancy, which is confirmed by positron annihilation measurements and corresponding theoretical calculations. Hence, the optimal hole carrier concentration is obtained, leading to the improvement of electrical transport performance and simultaneous decrease of electronic thermal conductivity. In addition, the incremental density of states effective mass m* in SnTe is realized by the promotion of the band convergence via Gd doping, which is further confirmed by the band structure calculation. Hence, the enhancement of the Seebeck coefficient is also achieved, leading to a high power factor of 2922 µW m⁻¹ K⁻² for Sn_0.96Gd_0.04Te at 900 K. Meanwhile, substantial suppression of the lattice thermal conductivity is observed in Gd-doped SnTe, which is originated from enhanced phonon scattering by multiple processes including mass and strain fluctuations due to the Gd doping, scattering of grain boundaries, nano-pores, and secondary phases induced by Gd doping. With the decreased phonon mean free path and reduced average phonon group velocity, a rather low lattice thermal conductivity is achieved. As a result, the synergetic optimization of the electric and thermal transport properties contributes to a rather high ZT value of ≈1.5 at 900 K, leading to the superior thermoelectric performance of SnTe-based nanoscale polycrystalline materials.     

A Low-Hysteresis and Highly Stretchable Ionogel Enabled by Well Dispersed Slidable Cross-Linker for Rapid Human-Machine Interaction

Ionic conductive soft materials for mimicking human skin are a promising topic since they can be thought of as a possible basis for biomimetic sensing. In pursuit of devices with a long working range and low signal delay, conductive materials with low hysteresis and good stretchability are highly demanded. To overcome the challenges of highly stretchable conductive materials with good resilience, herein a chemical design is proposed where polyrotaxanes act as topological cross-linkers to enhance the stretchability by sliding-induced reduced stress concentration while the compatible ionic liquid is introduced as a dispersant for low hysteresis. The obtained ionogels exhibit versatile properties more than low hysteresis (residual strain = 7%) and good stretchability (550%), and also anti-fatigue, biocompatibility, and good adhesion. The low hysteresis is attributed to lower energy dissipation from the well-dispersed polyrotaxanes by compatible ionic liquids. The mechanism provides a new insight in fabricating highly stretchable and low-hysteresis slide-ring materials. Furthermore, the conductivity of the ionogels and their responses to strains and temperatures are measured. Benefiting from the good conductivity and low hysteresis, the ionogel is applied to develop a wireless communication system to realize rapid human-machine interactions.     

Highly Conductive MXene/PEDOT:PSS-Integrated Poly(N-Isopropylacrylamide) Hydrogels for Bioinspired Somatosensory Soft Actuators

Sophisticated sensing and actuation capabilities of many living organisms in nature have inspired scientists to develop biomimetic somatosensory soft robots. Herein, the design and fabrication of homogeneous and highly conductive hydrogels for bioinspired somatosensory soft actuators are reported. The conductive hydrogels are synthesized by in situ copolymerization of conductive surface-functionalized MXene/Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/poly(styrenesulfonate) ink with thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) hydrogels. The resulting hydrogels are found to exhibit high conductivity (11.76 S m⁻¹), strain sensitivity (GF of 9.93), broad working strain range (≈560% strain), and high stability after over 300 loading–unloading cycles at 100% strain. Importantly, shape-programmable somatosensory hydrogel actuators with rapid response, light-driven remote control, and self-sensing capability are developed by chemically integrating the conductive hydrogels with a structurally colored polymer. As the proof-of-concept illustration, structurally colored hydrogel actuators are applied for devising light-driven programmable shape-morphing of an artificial octopus, an artificial fish, and a soft gripper that can simultaneously monitor their own motions via real-time resistance variation. This work is expected to offer new insights into the design of advanced somatosensory materials with self-sensing and actuation capabilities, and pave an avenue for the development of soft-matter-based self-regulatory intelligence via built-in feedback control that is of paramount significance for intelligent soft robotics and automated machines.     

Vapor Phase Dealloying Derived Nanoporous Co@CoO/RuO2 Composites for Efficient and Durable Oxygen Evolution Reaction (Adv. Funct. Mater. 17/2023)

The development of low-cost and effective oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts to expedite the slow kinetics of water splitting is crucial for increasing the efficiency of energy conversion from electricity to hydrogen fuel. Herein, 3D bicontinuous nanoporous Co@CoO/RuO₂ composites with tunable sizes and chemical compositions are fabricated by introducing vapor phase dealloying of cobalt-based alloys. The influence of physical parameters on the formation of nanoporous Co substrates with various feature ligament sizes is systematically investigated. The CoO/RuO₂ shell is constructed by integrating a thin layer of RuO₂ on the inner surface of nanoporous Co, where the CoO interlayer is formed by annealing oxidization. The composite catalyst delivers an ultralow overpotential of 198 mV at 10 mA cm⁻², Tafel slope of 57.1 mV dec⁻¹, and long-term stability of 50 h. The superior OER activity and fast reaction kinetics are attributed to charge transfer through the coupling of Co O Ru bonds at the interface and the excellent nanopore connectivity, while the durability originates from the highly stable CoO/RuO₂ interface.     

5G毫米波通信用低插损高隔离GaAs PHEMT单刀双掷开关

基于0.15μm GaAs赝配高电子迁移率晶体管(PHEMT)工艺,实现了一款用于5G毫米波通信的低插损高隔离单刀双掷(SPDT)开关芯片。为了降低插损,每个开关支路通过四分之一波长阻抗变换器连接到天线端,并通过优化传输线和器件总栅宽实现了良好的端口匹配;为了提高隔离度,采用了三并联多节枝的分布式架构形成高的输入阻抗状态,实现信号的全反射。芯片面积为2.1 mm×1.1 mm。在片测试结果显示,在24.25~29.5 GHz的5G毫米波频段内该SPDT开关实现了小于1.1 dB的极低插损和大于32 dB的高隔离度,1 dB压缩点输入功率大于26 dBm。