A new study of the enzymatic hydrolysis of carboxymethyl cellulose with a bulk acoustic wave sensor

A new bulk acoustic wave (BAW) cellulase sensing technique, which is based on the enzymatic hydrolysis process of sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) by cellulase, was established. The frequency shift curves of BAW sensor indicated that the viscosity of the tested solutions decreased during the hydrolysis process. The hydrolysis rate of CMC by cellulase was calculated from the frequency shift curves. The hydrolysis rate of CMC under different pH conditions at 30°C showed that cellulase had high hydrolysis ability approximately at pH 5.0. Kinetic parameters (the Michaelis constant K_m and the maximum rate V_max) of the process were estimated by using a linear method of Lineweaver–Burk plot. K_m is 1.95±0.25 mg ml⁻¹ and V_max is −(4.25±0.58)×10⁻³ g^1/2 cm^−3/2 cP^1/2 min⁻¹. Also the activation energy (E_a) of the enzymatic hydrolysis, with a value of 51.99±1.26 kJ mol⁻¹, was estimated in this work.     

Improvement of the Pd/Al2O3 Catalyst by the Control of the Sol-Gel Preparative Parameters

In this work, the metal dispersion of the Pd/Al₂O₃ catalyst prepared by sol-gel method is improved by an adequate optimisation of the preparative variables. First, the gelation temperature and the ageing time are selected, in order to avoid the reduction of the metal precursor (palladium acetylacetonate, Pd(acac)₂) by the solvent (sec-butanol, sB). The metal sintering effect on the catalysts treated in oxygen at 500°C is then minimized when the alumina pore size is controlled by the variation of the alumium alkoxide (AsB) concentration and the acetic acid amount ([AcA]/[AsB]). The appearance of new palladium particles on the alumina surface and the matching between the particle diameters and the pore sizes were also effective for the metallic surface area improvement on the samples treated in oxygen at 800°C. Compared to the reference catalysts, the higher metal dispersion obtained on the sol-gel ones was the determinant factor for their higher catalytic activity in methane combustion.     

可调谐钛宝石双波长激光在β－BaB2O4晶体中和频

本文用矩阵光学推导出了相位共轭腔的热稳条件。     

An auxiliary theorem for stability analysis in the presence of interval-valued parameters

A theorem which helps to determine the boundary of the image of an interval inR ⁿ under a differentiable mapping,F:R ⁿ C, is expounded. Examples illustrating the application of the theorem are given.     

基于时域频域分析结合的调谐激光吸收光谱检测参数优化

随着调谐激光吸收光谱(tunable laser absorption spectroscopy, TLAS)技术在气体检测中的应用越来越广泛,二次谐波信号的质量与检测参数紧密相关,因而分析检测参数的优化方法很有意义。本文根据谱线预处理中的滤波参数、系统采样时间、锁相放大器的时间常数对信号的影响以及参数间的联系,总结检测参数的选取规律。根据滤波原理和不同浓度下信号的均方根误差(root mean squared error,RMSE)值选择合适的滤波阶数和窗宽。选择信噪比(signal-to-noise ratio,SNR)、RMSE、信号与噪声频域幅度之比(ratio of amplitude in frequency domain of signal to noise,f_SNR)3种评价指标的曲线变化趋势进行时频分析,得到最佳采样周期数为30,结合实验系统具体参数可计算最佳采样时间。通过信号主频带与截止频率的关系和滤波效果选择合适的时间常数。综合分析3个检测参数并总结选取方法,可提高二次谐波信号的质量。本文提出的参数选取方法对提高二次谐波在实际应用中的准确度有...     

Review of Broadband Metamaterial Absorbers: From Principles,Design Strategies,and Tunable Properties to Functional Applications

Metamaterial absorbers have been widely studied and continuously concerned owing to their excellent resonance features of ultra-thin thickness, light-weight, and high absorbance. Their applications, however, are typically restricted by the intrinsic dispersion of materials and strong resonant features of patterned arrays (mainly referring to narrow absorption bandwidth). It is, therefore essential to reassert the principles of building broadband metamaterial absorbers (BMAs). Herein, the research progress of BMAs from principles, design strategies, tunable properties to functional applications are comprehensively and deeply summarized. Physical principles behind broadband absorption are briefly discussed, typical design strategies in realizing broadband absorption are further emphasized, such as top-down lithography, bottom-up self-assembly, and emerging 3D printing technology. Diversified active components choices, including optical response, temperature response, electrical response, magnetic response, mechanical response, and multi-parameter responses, are reviewed in achieving dynamically tuned broadband absorption. Following this, the achievements of various interdisciplinary applications for BMAs in energy-harvesting, photodetectors, radar-IR dual stealth, bolometers, noise absorbing, imaging, and fabric wearable are summarized. Finally, the challenges and perspectives for future development of BMAs are discussed.     

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.     

Leveraging Bioinspired Structural Constraints for Tunable and Programmable Snapping Dynamics in High-Speed Soft Actuators

Creating high-speed soft actuators will have broad engineering and technological applications. Snapping provides a power-amplified mechanism to achieve rapid movements in soft actuators that typically show slow movements. However, precise control of snapping dynamics (e.g., speed and direction of launching or jumping) remains a daunting challenge. Here, a bioinspired design principle is presented that harnesses a reconfigurable constraint structure integrated into a photoactive liquid crystal elastomer actuator to enable tunable and programmable control over its snapping dynamics. By reconfiguring constrained fin-array-shaped structure, the snapping dynamics of the structured actuator, such as launching or jumping angle and height, motion speed, and release force can be on-demand tuned, thus enabling controllable catapult motion and programmable jumping. Moreover, the structured actuators exhibit a unique combination of ultrafast moving speed (up to 2.5 m s⁻¹ in launching and 0.22 m s⁻¹ in jumping), powerful ejection (long ejection distance of ≈20 cm, 35 mg ball), and high jumping height (≈8 cm, 40 times body lengths), which few other soft actuators can achieve. This study provides a new universal design paradigm for realizing controllable rapid movements and high-power motions in soft matter, which are useful for building high-performance soft robotics and actuation devices.     

Circularly polarized patch antenna with simultaneously wide frequency tuning range and high gain performance

A tunable circularly polarized square patch antenna with parasitic elements is designed for a wide frequency tuning range and high gain characteristics. The proposed antenna is constructed by one main patch and four semi-elliptic parasitic units. By loading four varactor diodes and adjusting their capacitance values, the tunable feature is performed to reallocate the corresponding working frequency. Moreover, the diagonal corners of the antenna are cut and loaded with varactor diodes, which provide the appropriate perturbation between the two orthogonality modes of the antenna, so as to ensure the circular polarization characteristic in the entire operating tuning band. The experimental results demonstrate that the reflection coefficient and axial ratio are less than −13 dB and 3 dB, respectively. The proposed antenna features a relatively wide continuously tuning range of 24% within 1.9-2.3 GHz and a stable gain of over 7 dBi with a radiation efficiency of above 85%.     

基于富铟团簇量子结构的双波长可调谐半导体激光器

本研究提出了一种采用增益芯片和光栅外腔的双波长可调谐半导体激光器。增益芯片采用了富铟团簇量子限制结构作为其量子限制结构,由于该结构独特的平顶增益特性,可以使激光器在双波长调谐范围内实现光强稳定。本研究中的谐振腔包括内部谐振腔和外部谐振腔,其中内部谐振腔由增益芯片的两个自然解理面构成,以支撑整个系统工作在特定波长。外部谐振腔由增益芯片的一个自然解理面和光栅构成,可实现969.1~977.9 nm的工作波长范围。最终该系统基于单个增益芯片和单个光栅实现了同步双波长输出,双波长的频率差在THz范围。本研究有望为实现双波长差频太赫兹源提供一种可能的解决方案。