Effect of temperature on the interactions between cellulose and lignin via molecular dynamics simulations

Cellulose - Heating is essential in various biomass pre-treatments and thermal conversion processes. It is of practical significance to study the characteristics of cellulose-lignin and...     

Flow-induced shear stress and deformation of a core–shell-structured microcapsule in a microchannel

A numerical model was developed and validated to investigate the fluid–structure interactions between fully developed pipe flow and core–shell-structured microcapsule in a microchannel. Different flow rates and microcapsule shell thicknesses were considered. A sixth-order rotational symmetric distribution of von Mises stress over the microcapsule shell can be observed on the microcapsule with a thinner shell configuration, especially at higher flow rate conditions. It is also observed that when being carried along in a fully developed pipe flow, the microcapsule with a thinner shell tends to accumulate stress at a higher rate compared to that with a thicker shell. In general, for the same microcapsule configuration, higher flow velocity would induce a higher stress level over the microcapsule shell. The deformation gradient was used to capture the microcapsule's deformation in the present study. The effect of Young's modulus on the microcapsule shell on the microcapsule deformation was investigated as well. Our findings will shed light on the understanding of the stability of core–shell-structured microcapsule when subjected to flow-induced shear stress in a microfluidic system, enabling a more exquisite control over the breakup dynamics of drug-loaded microcapsule for biomedical applications.     

Vortex lattices in a spin-orbit coupled binary Bose-Einstein condensates with dipolar interaction

International Journal of Theoretical Physics - We consider the stationary state of a spin-orbit coupled (SOC) binary Bose-Einstein condensates with dipole-dipole interaction (DDI). Our results are...     

Fabricating Dual-Atom Iron Catalysts for Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction: A Heteroatom Modulator Approach

Understanding the thermal aggregation behavior of metal atoms is important for the synthesis of supported metal clusters. Here, derived from a metal–organic framework encapsulating a trinuclear Fe^III₂Fe^II complex (denoted as Fe₃) within the channels, a well-defined nitrogen-doped carbon layer is fabricated as an ideal support for stabilizing the generated iron nanoclusters. Atomic replacement of Fe^II by other metal(II) ions (e.g., Zn^II/Co^II) via synthesizing isostructural trinuclear-complex precursors (Fe₂Zn/Fe₂Co), namely the “heteroatom modulator approach”, is inhibiting the aggregation of Fe atoms toward nanoclusters with formation of a stable iron dimer in an optimal metal–nitrogen moiety, clearly identified by direct transmission electron microscopy and X-ray absorption fine structure analysis. The supported iron dimer, serving as cooperative metal–metal site, acts as efficient oxygen evolution catalyst. Our findings offer an atomic insight to guide the future design of ultrasmall metal clusters bearing outstanding catalytic capabilities.     

Synthesis and characterization of three co-crystals of bis(benzimidazole) derivatives with aromatic dicarboxylic acids

Research on Chemical Intermediates - Combination of three aromatic carboxylic acids (5-nitroisophthalic acid (H2nip), 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid (H2ndc), tetrabromoterephthalic acid (H2tbta))...     

Strategies for Improving the Catalytic Performance of 2D Covalent Organic Frameworks for Hydrogen Evolution and Oxygen Evolution Reactions

Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) have been deemed as clean and sustainable strategies to solve the energy crisis and environmental problems. Various catalysts have been developed to promote the process of HER and OER. Among them, two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks (2D COFs) have received great attention due to their diverse and designable structure. In this minireview, we mainly summarize the diverse linkages of 2D COFs and strategies for enhancing the catalytic performance of 2D COFs for HER and OER, such as introducing active building blocks, metal ions and tailored linkages. Furthermore, a brief outlook for the development directions of COFs in the field of HER and OER is provided, expecting to stimulate new opportunities in future research.     

Hierarchical motion planning at the acceleration level based on task priority matrix for space robot

Nonlinear Dynamics - A capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) due to many benefits is being considered as an imaging and therapeutic technology recently. The critical challenge is to...     

The single-polarization filter composed of gold-coated photonic crystal fiber

A single-polarization filter comprising a gold-coated photonic crystal fiber based on surface plasmon resonance is designed and investigated. The pattern matching and coupled polarization characteristics analyzed by the full-vector finite element method (FEM) and losses at 1,540 nm are achieved to 1,016.01739 dB/cm (x-pol core mode) and 33.81917 dB/cm (y-pol core mode). The crosstalk (CT) value of the 1,540 nm band is ?853.12653 dB for fiber length $L=1,000\mathrm{\mu }\text{m}$ and the bandwidth is 850 nm. The working wavelength of the filter ranges from 1,280 nm to 1,540 nm by varying the diameter of outer air holes ($d_1$), the diameter of inner air holes ($d_4$), the metal film thickness (t), as well as the liquid refractive index (n).     

Detecting nonclassicality of light via Lieb's concavity

Nonclassical light states are important for both conceptual and practical reasons: they are basic ingredients in testing and exploring quantum foundations, and are crucial resources in quantum technologies. Various useful criteria have been developed to detect nonclassicality in the literature, and several meaningful measures of nonclassicality have been introduced and measured experimentally. In this work, by use of a non-Hermitian generalization of the Wigner-Yanase-Dyson skew information and playing with operator ordering in evaluating average photon number, we develop a novel family of criteria for detecting nonclassicality of light based on Lieb's concavity, which is a deep and powerful result concerning interaction between quantum states and observables. We elucidate the information-theoretic as well as the physical meaning of the criteria, and illustrate their effectiveness in capturing and quantifying nonclassicality of various important light states.