Probing the switching mechanism in ZnO nanoparticle memristors

We investigate the resistance switching mechanism in memristors based on colloidal ZnO nanoparticles using electroabsorption (EA) spectroscopy. In this EA experiment, we incorporate a small amount of low-bandgap polymer, poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-cobenzothiadiazole) (F8BT), as a probe molecule in ZnO-nanoparticle memristors. By characterizing this polymer, we can study the change of built-in potential (VBI) in the device during the resistance switching process without disturbing the resistance state by the EA probe light. Our results show that VBI increases when the device is switched to the high resistance state, suggesting a shift of effective workfunction of the electrode. Thus, we attribute the resistance switching to the field-dependent migration of oxygen vacancies associated with the adsorption and desorption of oxygen molecules at the Al/ZnO interface. This process results in the modulation of the interfacial injection barrier which governs the resistance state of the device.This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [Grant Number EP/G060738/1]Copyright 2014 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. This article "Probing the switching mechanism in ZnO nanoparticle memristors" has been accepted by Journal of Applied Physics. After it is published, it will be found at http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/ja

Surface Roughness of Commercial Composites after Different Polishing Protocols: An Analysis with Atomic Force Microscopy

Polishing may increase the surface roughness of composites, with a possible effect on bacterial growth and material properties. This preliminary in vitro study evaluates the effect of three different polishing systems (PoGo polishers, Enhance, Venus Supra) on six direct resin composites (Gradia Direct, Venus, Venus Diamond, Enamel Plus HFO, Tetric Evoceram, Filtek Supreme XT)

Cell carriage, delivery, and selective replication of an oncolytic virus in tumor in patients.

Oncolytic viruses, which preferentially lyse cancer cells and stimulate an antitumor immune response, represent a promising approach to the treatment of cancer. However, how they evade the antiviral immune response and their selective delivery to, and replication in, tumor over normal tissue has not been investigated in humans. Here, we treated patients with a single cycle of intravenous reovirus before planned surgery to resect colorectal cancer metastases in the liver. Tracking the viral genome in the circulation showed that reovirus could be detected in plasma and blood mononuclear, granulocyte, and platelet cell compartments after infusion. Despite the presence of neutralizing antibodies before viral infusion in all patients, replication-competent reovirus that retained cytotoxicity was recovered from blood cells but not plasma, suggesting that transport by cells could protect virus for potential delivery to tumors. Analysis of surgical specimens demonstrated greater, preferential expression of reovirus protein in malignant cells compared to either tumor stroma or surrounding normal liver tissue. There was evidence of viral factories within tumor, and recovery of replicating virus from tumor (but not normal liver) was achieved in all four patients from whom fresh tissue was available. Hence, reovirus could be protected from neutralizing antibodies after systemic administration by immune cell carriage, which delivered reovirus to tumor. These findings suggest new preclinical and clinical scheduling and treatment combination strategies to enhance in vivo immune evasion and effective intravenous delivery of oncolytic viruses to patients in vivo