Data_Sheet_1_How does bilingual experience influence novel word learning? Evidence from comparing L1-L3 and L2-L3 cognate status.ZIP

Bilingual experience exerts a complex influence on novel word learning, including the direct effects of transferable prior knowledge and learning skill. However, the facilitation and interference mechanism of such influence has largely been tangled by the similarity of the previously learned word knowledge. The present study compared Chinese-English bilinguals’ paired-associate learning of nonwords in logographic and alphabetic writing systems. The logographic nonwords resemble the form and meaning of L1 Chinese words in varying degrees, being cognates, false cognates, or non-cognates of Chinese. The alphabetic nonwords resemble the form and meaning of L2 English words, being cognates, false cognates, or non-cognates of English. The learning sequence of logographic and alphabetic words was cross-balanced. The learning results were measured in production and recognition tasks. As for learning the logographic nonwords, both the recognition and production results showed that cognates were learned significantly faster than the non-cognates, and the false cognates were also learned significantly faster than the non-cognates. This suggests stronger facilitation rather than interference from L1 on novel word learning. As for learning the alphabetic nonwords, both the recognition and production results revealed that cognates were learned significantly faster than the non-cognates, but false cognates showed no advantage over the non-cognates. This indicates that interference from L2 is stronger than that from L1. Taken together, the results provide new evidence for the dissociable facilitation and interference effects of bilingual experience. These results carry potential educational implications in that learning novel words depends on substantial bilingual experience.</p

Table_1_How does bilingual experience influence novel word learning? Evidence from comparing L1-L3 and L2-L3 cognate status.XLSX

Bilingual experience exerts a complex influence on novel word learning, including the direct effects of transferable prior knowledge and learning skill. However, the facilitation and interference mechanism of such influence has largely been tangled by the similarity of the previously learned word knowledge. The present study compared Chinese-English bilinguals’ paired-associate learning of nonwords in logographic and alphabetic writing systems. The logographic nonwords resemble the form and meaning of L1 Chinese words in varying degrees, being cognates, false cognates, or non-cognates of Chinese. The alphabetic nonwords resemble the form and meaning of L2 English words, being cognates, false cognates, or non-cognates of English. The learning sequence of logographic and alphabetic words was cross-balanced. The learning results were measured in production and recognition tasks. As for learning the logographic nonwords, both the recognition and production results showed that cognates were learned significantly faster than the non-cognates, and the false cognates were also learned significantly faster than the non-cognates. This suggests stronger facilitation rather than interference from L1 on novel word learning. As for learning the alphabetic nonwords, both the recognition and production results revealed that cognates were learned significantly faster than the non-cognates, but false cognates showed no advantage over the non-cognates. This indicates that interference from L2 is stronger than that from L1. Taken together, the results provide new evidence for the dissociable facilitation and interference effects of bilingual experience. These results carry potential educational implications in that learning novel words depends on substantial bilingual experience.</p

Data_Sheet_3_How does bilingual experience influence novel word learning? Evidence from comparing L1-L3 and L2-L3 cognate status.ZIP

Bilingual experience exerts a complex influence on novel word learning, including the direct effects of transferable prior knowledge and learning skill. However, the facilitation and interference mechanism of such influence has largely been tangled by the similarity of the previously learned word knowledge. The present study compared Chinese-English bilinguals’ paired-associate learning of nonwords in logographic and alphabetic writing systems. The logographic nonwords resemble the form and meaning of L1 Chinese words in varying degrees, being cognates, false cognates, or non-cognates of Chinese. The alphabetic nonwords resemble the form and meaning of L2 English words, being cognates, false cognates, or non-cognates of English. The learning sequence of logographic and alphabetic words was cross-balanced. The learning results were measured in production and recognition tasks. As for learning the logographic nonwords, both the recognition and production results showed that cognates were learned significantly faster than the non-cognates, and the false cognates were also learned significantly faster than the non-cognates. This suggests stronger facilitation rather than interference from L1 on novel word learning. As for learning the alphabetic nonwords, both the recognition and production results revealed that cognates were learned significantly faster than the non-cognates, but false cognates showed no advantage over the non-cognates. This indicates that interference from L2 is stronger than that from L1. Taken together, the results provide new evidence for the dissociable facilitation and interference effects of bilingual experience. These results carry potential educational implications in that learning novel words depends on substantial bilingual experience.</p

Crystal-Like Polymer Microdiscs

Here we describe a facile yet effective route for the fabrication of crystal-like polymer microdiscs with a huge bump at the surrounding edge through hydrodynamic instabilities of emulsion droplets containing hydrophobic polymer and cosurfactant <i>n</i>-octadecanol (OD). This strategy allows for the generation of polymer particles with tunable size and shape by tuning the cosurfactant concentration, emulsion droplet size, and/or solvent evaporation rate. The generation of polystyrene (PS) microdiscs is balanced by the interfacial instabilities of emulsion droplets, crystallization of OD, and capillary flow. Our approach can be extended to different hydrophobic polymers and allows for the functionalization of the discs with tunable chemical/physical properties by incorporating functional species. By introducing magnetic nanoparticles, we have been able to manipulate the spatial orientation of the magnetic microdiscs via an external magnetic field. We anticipate this simple and versatile route to be useful for the design and fabrication of well-defined microparticles for potential applications in the fields of targeting, separation, sensing, drug delivery, and formation of advanced materials

Reversible Transformation of Nanostructured Polymer Particles

A reversible transformation of overall shape and internal structure as well as surface composition of nanostructured block copolymer particles is demonstrated by solvent-adsorption annealing. Polystyrene-<i>b</i>-poly­(4-vinylpyridine) (PS-<i>b</i>-P4VP) pupa-like particles with PS and P4VP lamellar domains alternatively stacked can be obtained by self-assembly of the block copolymer under 3D soft confinement. Chloroform, a good solvent for both blocks, is selected to swell and anneal the pupa-like particles suspended in aqueous media. Reversible transformation between pupa-like and onion-like structures of the particles can be readily tuned by simply adjusting the particle/aqueous solution interfacial property. Interestingly, poly­(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) concentration in the aqueous media plays a critical role in determining the particle morphology. High level of PVA concentration is favorable for pupa-like morphology, while extremely low concentration of PVA is favorable for the formation of onion-like particles. Moreover, the stimuli-response behavior of the particles can be highly suppressed through selective growth of Au nanoparticles within the P4VP domains. This strategy provides a new concept for the reversible transformation of nanostructured polymer particles, which will find potential applications in the field of sensing, detection, optical devices, drug delivery, and smart materials fabrication

Role of Competitive Crystallization Kinetics in the Formation of 2D Platelets with Distinct Coronal Surface Patterns via Seeded Growth

Low dispersity 2D platelet micelles with controllable surface patterns were prepared by seeded-growth/living crystallization-driven self-assembly (CDSA) of block copolymer/homopolymer (BCP/HP) blends of poly(ferrocenyldimethylsilane)-b-poly(2-vinyl pyridine) (PFS-b-P2VP) and PFS. The precise morphology was found to be dependent on the proportion of the P2VP corona block, which can be efficiently controlled by changing the molar concentration ratio of PFS-b-P2VP/PFS, (cB/cH)t, as well as their relative rates of crystallization, (GB/GH)t. In the case where their molar concentration ratio was comparable to their crystallization rate ratio, platelets with a uniform distribution of P2VP coronal chains were formed. In other cases, as the concentration ratio increased (or decreased) during the living CDSA process, hierarchical structures were formed, including chain-like assemblies consisting of end-to-end linked rectangular platelets and fusiform (tapered) micelles. (GB/GH)t was adjusted by tuning the degree of polymerization of the crystallizable PFS core-forming block and the BCP block ratio and by varying the terminus of the HP or changing the solvent used. Furthermore, the open edge of the platelets remained active for further growth, which permitted control of the morphology and dimensions of the platelets. Interestingly, in cases where the molar concentration ratio was lower than the crystallization rate ratio, growth rings were observed after two or more living CDSA steps. This study on the formation of platelet micelles by living CDSA of BCP/HP blends under kinetic control offers a considerable scope for the design of 2D polymer nanomaterials with controlled shape and surface patterns

A Simple Route To Improve Inorganic Nanoparticles Loading Efficiency in Block Copolymer Micelles

The formation of well-defined polymer/inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) hybrid micelles with high loading of the NPs is critical to the development of nanomaterials with desired optical, electric, magnetic, and mechanical properties. Herein, we introduce a simple strategy to encapsulate monodisperse polystyrene (PS)-grafted Au NPs into the PS core of PS-<i>b</i>-poly­(4-vinylpyridine) (PS-<i>b</i>-PVP) micelles through block copolymer (BCP)-based supramolecular assembly. We demonstrate that selective incorporation of gold NPs into the PS cores during the assembly process can induce the formation of well-ordered hybrid micelles with spherical, cylindrical, or nanosheet morphologies. The number of NPs in each micelle can be effectively increased by simply increasing the content of NPs and adjusting the ratio of 3-<i>n</i>-pentadecylphenol (PDP) to the P4VP units accordingly. The balance between the NP loading (increasing the volume fraction of PS domain) and the PDP addition (increasing the volume fraction of PVP­(PDP) domain) maintains the same micellar morphology while achieving high NP loading. Moreover, strong enthalphic attraction of H-bonding between PDP and P4VP can increase the effective interaction parameter of the system to maintain the strong segregation, leading to the formation of ordered structures. The mass density of NPs in the hybrid micelles was further enhanced after removal of the added PDP from the supramolecules. No macrophase separation or order–order morphological transition was observed even when the volume fraction of PS-grafted NPs (φ_NP‑M) in the hybrid micelles reached 84.1 vol % (or 68 wt % on the ligand free NPs basis). Furthermore, we show that ordered clusters of NPs were generated within the spherical micelles when the φ_NP‑M reached 72.5 vol %. This directed supramolecular assembly provides an easy means to tailor the interactions between BCPs and NPs, thus generating ordered structures which can only be achieved when the loading of NPs is high enough. This approach is versatile and applicable to different types of NPs and different micellar aggregates and supramolecular pairs. It offers a new route for preparing hybrids with applications in the fields of molecular electronic devices, high-density data storage, nanomedicine, and biosensors

Assembly of Polymer-Tethered Gold Nanoparticles under Cylindrical Confinement

The assembly of polystyrene (PS)-tethered gold nanoparticles (Au@PS NPs) in anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) cylindrical nanopores was investigated. This cylindrical confined assembly strategy allows us to generate novel assemblies (e.g., linear chain, zigzag, two-NP layer, three-NP layer, and hexagonally packed NP structures) by manipulating the AAO membrane pore size and molecular weight of PS ligands. Moreover, the optical property of the hybrid assemblies can be tuned through varying the interparticle distances and assembly structures. This work provides a guideline for confined assembly of functional NPs and lays groundwork for fabricating well-ordered hybrid nanostructures for optical, electronic, biosensing, and data storage devices

Multiresponsive Hydrogel Photonic Crystal Microparticles with Inverse-Opal Structure

Hydrogel photonic crystal microparticles (HPCMs) with inverse-opal structure are generated through a combination of microfluidic and templating technique. Temperature and pH responsive HPCMs have firstly been prepared by copolymerizing functional monomers, for example, <i>N</i>-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAm) and methacrylic acid (MAA). HPCMs not only show tunable color variation almost covering the entire wavelength of visible light (above 150 nm of stop-band shift) by simply tailoring temperature or pH value of the solution, but also display rapid response (less than 1 min) due to the small volume and well-ordered porous structure. Importantly, the temperature sensing window of the HPCMs can be enlarged by controlling the transition temperature of the hydrogel matrix, and the HPCMs also exhibit good reversibility and reproducibility for pH response. Moreover, functional species or particles (such as azobenzene derivative or magnetic nanoparticles) can be further introduced into the hydrogel matrix by using post-treatment process. These functionalized HPCMs can respond to the UV/visible light without significantly influencing the temperature and pH response, and thus, multiresponsive capability within one single particle can be realized. The presence of magnetic nanoparticles may facilitate secondary assembly, which has potential applications in advanced optical devices

Soft Colloidal Molecules with Tunable Geometry by 3D Confined Assembly of Block Copolymers

We present with experiments and computer simulations that colloidal molecules with tunable geometry can be generated through 3D confined assembly of diblock copolymers. This unique self-assembly can be attributed to the slight solvent selectivity, nearly neutral confined interface, deformable soft confinement space, and strong confinement degree. We show that the symmetric geometry of the colloidal molecules originates from the free energy minimization. Moreover, these colloidal molecules with soft nature and directional interaction can further self-assemble into hierarchical superstructures without any modification. We anticipate that these new findings are helpful to extend the scope of our knowledge for the diblock copolymer self-assembly, and the colloidal molecules with new composition and performance will bring new opportunities to this emerging field