Effects of Connecting Polymer Structure and Morphology at Inter‐Tube Junctions on the Thermoelectric Properties of Conjugated Polymer/Carbon Nanotube Composites

Conjugated polymer (CP)/carbon nanotube (CNT) composites have been actively used for thermoelectrics for more than a decade. Thermoelectric performance of CP/CNT composites is greatly improved compared with that of the individual components; however, the underlying origin of the performance improvement remains vague, without clear explanations at the molecular scale. Moreover, the nature of the heterogeneous system limits quantitative analysis and restricts physical understanding of the thermoelectric effect in the composites. By combining experimental approaches with molecular dynamics simulations, the contribution of the CPs to the thermoelectric properties at inter-tube junctions between adjacent CNTs is revealed. Indacenodithiophene-co-benzothiadiazole (IDTBT), which has a highly planar backbone and does not aggregate at CP/CNT interfaces, can better mediate effective intramolecular charge transport along backbone chains at inter-tube junctions than poly[2,5-bis(3-tetradecylthiophene-2-yl)thieno[3,2-b]thiophene] (PBTTT). The isotropic and continuous distribution of IDTBT backbone chains enables both holes and phonons to be transported effectively at inter-tube junctions; this effect greatly increases electrical conductivity, but also increases thermal conductivity. Thus, to obtain a high thermoelectric figure of merit, the balance between the two effects must be optimized. These results may enable CP/CNT composites, whose development is currently stagnating, to be developed into commercially available thermoelectrics, complementing their conventional inorganic counterparts. © 2023 The Authors. Advanced Electronic Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.11Nsciescopu

Vibrio sp. dhg as a novel microbial platform for the biorefinery of the brownmacroalgae

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Unveiling the role of Ni in Ru-Ni oxide for oxygen evolution: Lattice oxygen participation enhanced by structural distortion

Introducing Ni in Ru oxide is a promising approach to enhance the catalytic activity for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). However, the role of Ni (which has a poor intrinsic activity) is not fully understood. Here, a RuNiOx electrode fabricated via a modified dip coating method exhibited excellent OER performance in acidic media, and neutral media for CO2 reduction reaction. We combined in-situ/operando X-ray absorption near-edge structure and on-line inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry studies to unveil the role of the Ni introduced in the Ru oxide. We propose that the Ni not only transforms the electronic structure of the Ru oxide, but also produces a large number of oxygen vacancies by distorting the oxygen lattice structure at low overpotentials, increasing the participation of lattice oxygen for OER. This work demonstrates the real behavior of bimetallic oxide materials under applied potentials and provides new insights into the development of efficient electrocatalysts.11Ysciescopu

Learning from Noisy Labels for MIMO Detection With One-Bit ADCs

This paper presents a data detection method for multiple-input multiple-output systems with one-bit analog-to-digital converters. The basic idea is to learn the likelihood function of the system from training samples. To this end, a training data generation strategy is first proposed, which labels a one-bit received signal with a symbol index determined by channel-based data detection. This strategy requires no extra training overhead beyond pilot symbols for channel estimation, but leads to noisy labels due to data detection errors. For accurate learning from the noisy labels, an expectation-maximization algorithm is also developed. This algorithm learns both the likelihood function and the transition probability from each noisy label to a true label. Numerical results demonstrate that the presented method performs similar to the optimal maximum likelihood detection. IEEE11Nsciescopu

Animal Eugenics for Maoism: Tensions between the State and Communes over Animal Breeding Skills in Socialist China

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Disordered plasmonic nanoparticle-driven etalon for colorimetric gas sensor

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Human iPS-derived blood-brain barrier model exhibiting enhanced barrier properties empowered by engineered basement membrane

© 2022 Elsevier LtdThe basement membrane (BM) of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), a thin extracellular matrix (ECM) sheet underneath the brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs), plays crucial roles in regulating the unique physiological barrier function of the BBB, which represents a major obstacle for brain drug delivery. Owing to the difficulty in mimicking the unique biophysical and chemical features of BM in in vitro systems, current in vitro BBB models have suffered from poor physiological relevance. Here, we describe a highly ameliorated human BBB model accomplished by an ultra-thin ECM hydrogel-based engineered basement membrane (nEBM), which is supported by a sparse electrospun nanofiber scaffold that offers in vivo BM-like microenvironment to BMECs. BBB model reconstituted on a nEBM recapitulates the physical barrier function of the in vivo human BBB through ECM mechano-response to physiological relevant stiffness (∼500 kPa) and exhibits high efflux pump activity. These features of the proposed BBB model enable modelling of ischemic stroke, reproducing the dynamic changes of BBB, immune cell infiltration, and drug response. Therefore, the proposed BBB model represents a powerful tool for predicting the BBB permeation of drugs and developing therapeutic strategies for brain diseases.11Nsciescopu

Design of Smart Polymer Printer using Liquid Crystals

Advanced microscale systems for stimuli-responsive release have recently received tremendous attention. However, the conventional stimuli-responsive release system requires specially designed materials, which limits diverse applications. To overcome the limitation, here we show a simple and versatile strategy to access the stimuli-responsive properties via liquid crystals (LCs). We recently designed a ‘Polymer Printer’ which triggers the escape of microcarrier that are elastically levitating within the LCs which sense stimuli and then polymerize. Specifically, the polymer printer consists of two different types of wells. The two wells are filled with LCs where monomer (e.g., alginate) and cross-linker are initially trapped as microcarrier. In response to target stimuli, the electrical interactions help the release of monomer and the cross-linker from the other wells acted as ‘Polymer Printer’ that can make the gelation. Supported by NRF(2021R1A2C2095010 & 2022M3C1A3081312) and POSCO Science Fellowship funded by POSCO TJ Park Foundation.2

Grain Boundary Engineering at the Atomic-Level of Two-Dimensional Materials

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Optimizing carbon flux for improved caproic acid production in Escherichia coli

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