Simple Preparations for Plasmon-Enhanced Photodetectors

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), known as the collective oscillation of electrons and incident light in metallic nanostructures, has been applied in high performance photodetectors over the past few years. But the preparation process is complex and expensive due to the introduction of electron beam lithography (EBL) for preparing nanostructures. In the past few months, we have demonstrated two simple methods to prepare plasmon-enhanced photodetectors: (i) Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) solution were directly spun coated onto the WS2-based photodetectors. The performance has been enhanced by the LSPR of Au NPs, and reached an excellent high responsivity of 1050 A/W at the wavelength of 590 nm. (ii) Au NPs were deposited on MoS2 by magnetron sputtering. The spectral response of pure MoS2 was located in visible light and which was extended to near-infrared region (700–1600 nm) by Au NPs. Further, the responsivity reaches up to 64 mA/W when the incident light is 980 nm. In this book chapter, more details for developing those two simple methods and the discussion of the enhanced mechanism are performed, which can be very useful for the next generation photodetection

Tunable terahertz photodetector using ferroelectric-integrated graphene plasmonics for portable spectrometer

Terahertz (THz) detector has great potential for use in imaging, spectroscopy, and communications due to its fascinating interactions between radiation and matter. However, current THz detection devices have limitations in sensitivity, operating frequency range, and bulky footprint. While recent ferroelectric-integrated graphene plasmonic devices show promise in overcoming these limitations, they are not yet extended to the THz range. Here, we propose a wavelength-sensitive terahertz detector that uses a single layer graphene integrated onto the ferroelectric thin film with patterned polarization domains. This device works at room temperature, with high responsivity and detectivity by coupling graphene plasmons with THz frequencies through spatial modulation of carrier behaviors using ferroelectric polarization, without requiring additional local electrodes. By reconfiguring an interweaving squared ferroelectric domain array with alternating upward and downward polarizations to highly confine graphene surface plasmon polaritons, our device achieves an ultrahigh responsivity of 1717 A W-1 and a normalized detectivity of 1.07*10^13 Jones at a resonance frequency of 6.30 THz and a 0.3 V bias voltage. We also show that the device makes possible for spectrum reconstruction application of portable spectrometer combining the mathematical algorithms.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure

Transverse electric field–induced deformation of armchair single-walled carbon nanotube

The deformation of armchair single-walled carbon nanotube under transverse electric field has been investigated using density functional theory. The results show that the circular cross-sections of the nanotubes are deformed to elliptic ones, in which the tube diameter along the field direction is increased, whereas the diameter perpendicular to the field direction is reduced. The electronic structures of the deformed nanotubes were also studied. The ratio of the major diameter to the minor diameter of the elliptic cross-section was used to estimate the degree of the deformation. It is found that this ratio depends on the field strength and the tube diameter. However, the field direction has little role in the deformation

ECT2 Increases the stability of EGFR and Tumorigenicity by Inhibiting Grb2 Ubiquitination in Pancreatic Cancer

The poor prognosis of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is associated with the invasion and metastasis of tumor cells. Epithelial cell transforming 2 (ECT2) is a guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) of the Rho family of GTPases. It has also been reported that upregulation of ECT2 in pancreatic cancer, but the role and mechanism of ECT2 have not been previously determined. We found that ECT2 was significantly elevated in PDAC tissues and cells, correlated with more advanced AJCC stage, distant metastases, and overall survival of patients with PDAC. Inhibition and overexpression tests showed that ECT2 promoted proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro, and promoted tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. We determined that ECT2 was involved in the post-translational regulation of Grb2. ECT2 inhibited the degradation of Grb2 through deubiquitination. Furthermore, knockdown of ECT2 downregulated EGFR levels by accelerating EGFR degradation. EGF stimulation facilitated the formation of ECT2-Grb2 complex. Overall, our findings indicated that ECT2 could be used as a promising new therapeutic candidate for PDAC

Cardiovascular outcomes of β‐blocker—calcium channel blocker initial dual therapy vs. other initial dual therapies in Chinese patients with hypertension: A real‐world retrospective study

Abstract This retrospective study compared cardiovascular (CV) outcomes between initial β‐blocker (BB) + calcium channel blocker (CCB) dual therapy (“B + C”) and other initial dual therapies in Chinese newly diagnosed hypertensive patients. In this study, all patients in a regional electronic database with newly diagnosed hypertension from January 01, 2012 to December 31, 2016 who received any initial optimal dual therapy recommended by the Chinese hypertension guideline were included. 1:2 propensity score matching (PSM) was used to balance baseline characteristics between patients receiving B + C and patients receiving other initial dual therapies (“Others”). The primary outcome was major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) that occurred from January 01, 2012 to December 31, 2017, consisting of non‐fatal stroke, non‐fatal myocardial infarction (MI), non‐fatal chronic heart failure (CHF), and all‐cause death. Cox proportional hazard models were used to compare these CV outcomes in the 2 matched cohorts. After the PSM, 6227 patients receiving B + C and 12 454 patients receiving Others were included. Compared to patients receiving Others, patients receiving B + C had a significantly lower risk of MACE (hazard ratio [HR] 0.85; 95% confidential interval [CI] 0.78–0.92; p < .001), non‐fatal stroke (HR 0.89; 95% CI 0.81–0.98; p = .018) and non‐fatal CHF (HR 0.74; 95% CI 0.63–0.86; p < .0001). Additionally, differences in risks of non‐fatal MI and all‐cause death between the 2 treatment cohorts were not statistically significant. In conclusion, BB + CCB initial dual therapy was associated with a lower risk of MACE, stroke, and CHF than other optimal initial dual therapies recommended by the Chinese hypertension guideline in Chinese newly diagnosed hypertensive patients

Development and Test of GNSS/IMU-Based Speed Measurement Device for Agricultural Machinery

International audienceAiming at the problem of RTK-GNSS receiver’s high-cost and single-point GNSS receiver’s low data update rang, a GNSS/IMU-based method of measurement agricultural machinery speed is proposed, and a speed measurement device with ISOBus interface is developed to measure the speed, direction and distance of the of agricultural machinery travel. In addition, the measurement data in accordance with ISO11783 standard is sent to agricultural machinery ISOBus network, for precision agricultural intelligence equipment to provide real-time accurate speed data. By comparing with the RTK-GNSS receiver, the test results show that the GNSS/IMU-based speed measurement device can meet the requirement of precision measurement, distance measurement and direction of travel of the variable rate application under a normal operation condition of agricultural machinery

Reconfigurable, Stretchable Strain Sensor with the Localized Controlling of Substrate Modulus by Two-Phase Liquid Metal Cells

Strain modulation based on the heterogeneous design of soft substrates is an effective method to improve the sensitivity of stretchable resistive strain sensors. In this study, a novel design for reconfigurable strain modulation in the soft substrate with two-phase liquid cells is proposed. The modulatory strain distribution induced by the reversible phase transition of the liquid metal provides reconfigurable strain sensing capabilities with multiple combinations of operating range and sensitivity. The effectiveness of our strategy is validated by theoretical simulations and experiments on a hybrid carbonous film-based resistive strain sensor. The strain sensor can be gradually switched between a highly sensitive one and a wide-range one by selectively controlling the phases of liquid metal in the cell array with a external heating source. The relative change of sensitivity and operating range reaches a maximum of 59% and 44%, respectively. This reversible heterogeneous design shows great potential to facilitate the fabrication of strain sensors and might play a promising role in the future applications of stretchable strain sensors

Poly(N-Isopropylacrylamide) Based Electrically Conductive Hydrogels and Their Applications

Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) based electrically conductive hydrogels (PNIPAM-ECHs) have been extensively studied in recent decades due to their thermal-responsive (leading to the volume change of hydrogels) and electrically conductive performance. The incorporation of conductive components into the PNIPAM hydrogel network makes it become conductive hydrogel, and as a result, the PNIPAM hydrogel could become sensitive to an electrical signal, greatly expanding its application. In addition, conductive components usually bring new stimuli-responsive properties of PNIPAM-based hydrogels, such as near-infrared light and stress/strain responsive properties. PNIPAM-ECHs display a wide range of applications in human motion detection, actuators, controlled drug release, wound dressings, etc. To summarize recent research advances and achievements related to PNIPAM-ECHs, this manuscript first reviews the design and structure of representative PNIPAM-ECHs according to their conductive components. Then, the applications of PNIPAM-ECHs have been classified and discussed. Finally, the remaining problems related to PNIPAM-ECHs have been summarized and a future research direction is proposed which is to fabricate PNIPAM-ECHs with integrated multifunctionality