Temperature-Dependent Morphology Evolution and Surface Plasmon Absorption of Ultrathin Gold Island Films

Ultrathin gold island films on transparent substrates display a characteristic surface plasmon (SP) absorption band in which the peak position and full width at half-maximum (fwhm) are highly sensitive to the film morphology. In the present study, we investigated the temperature dependence of morphological evolution and the corresponding unique surface plasmon resonance (SPR) properties variation of the ultrathin gold island films (5 nm nominal thickness) upon rapid thermal annealing for 180 s at different temperatures ranging from 100 to 700 °C. The morphological evolution of the ultrathin gold film upon the thermal annealing-induced dewetting was studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), and the optical properties variation was characterized by a transmission UV–vis-NIR spectroscopy. A strong temperature dependence of morphological evolution and optical properties variation as a function of thermal treatment conditions was identified. The blue shift and band narrowing of the SP absorption band can be correlated with various morphological characteristics, e.g., the increased open area fraction of island films, average separation between islands or nanoparticles (NPs) and the decreased aspect ratio (length divided by width) upon increasing thermal treatment temperatures. The temperature dependence of the transmission localized surface plasmon resonance (T-LSPR) may enable a science-based design of optical sensing and dynamic thermal sensors upon the morphological manipulation of ultrathin metallic surface nanostructures by thermal dewetting

Effective Temperature Sensing by Irreversible Morphology Evolution of Ultrathin Gold Island Films

An ultrathin gold island film is developed showing efficient temperature sensing when maintaining at certain duration and may be a potential candidate as a temperature marker. The developed gold thin film is based on the energy minimization principle, in which unstable ultrathin films experience morphological instability and self-organization upon thermal dewetting, providing the “finger print” for recording the temperature and duration of the thermal event based on their variation of characteristic optical properties. As compared with other temperature sensing mechanisms and nanostructures, the ultrathin gold film displays an irreversible variation that may be employed ex-situ for extreme conditions in which in situ measurements of the thermal history may not be feasible. A high sensitivity is possible for temperature sensing even at temperatures as low as 100 °C when the time is fixed due to an efficient dewetting process at the nanoscale. This Au-based nanostructure allows fast readout of temperature by simply measuring the surface plasmon absorption. The thermal model was developed based on the correlation among the optical properties, morphological evolution, and the dewetting dynamics and validated with experimental data with accurate determination of temperature within an uncertainty of 4%. The thickness-dependent dewetting behavior further opens up the possibility for designing various nanostructures with controllable sensitivities by simple manipulation of the film thickness and thus dewetting dynamics

DataSheet1_Regional climate risks and government education expenditure: evidence from China.docx

Faced with the impact of climate risks, what responses do local governments make, particularly in the domain of social public policy? This study uses provincial panel data from China from 2009 to 2020 to investigate how climate risks affect local government education expenditure and its mechanisms. Analysis using spatial econometric models reveals the following. First, local climate risks significantly increase government education expenditure. This conclusion remains consistent across different proxy variables, model specifications, and estimation methods. Additionally, there is a spatial dependency on local government education expenditure, meaning that educational spending in neighboring areas positively influences the education expenditure of a specific location. Second, further mechanism analysis shows that climate risks lead to credit easing and drive the digital economic transformation of a location, thereby increasing its education expenditure. Third, considering the heterogeneity in the spatial dimension, it is found that this positive impetus exists only in the economically more developed eastern region. This study provides insights into understanding how the Chinese government responds to the impact of climate risks and its fiscal policy choices.</p

Graphene-Wrapped Mesoporous Cobalt Oxide Hollow Spheres Anode for High-Rate and Long-Life Lithium Ion Batteries

Transition metal oxides, used as LIB anodes, typically experience significant capacity fading at high rates and long cycles due to chemical and mechanical degradations upon cycling. In this work, an effective strategy is implemented to mitigate capacity fading of Co₃O₄ at high rates by use of hollow and mesoporous Co₃O₄ spheres and graphene sheets in a core–shell geometry. The core–shell structure exhibits a high reversible capacity of 1076 mAh g^–1 at a current density of 0.1 A g^–1, and excellent rate performance from 0.1 to 5.0 A g^–1. The graphene/Co₃O₄ nanosphere composite electrode also displays an exceptional cyclic stability with an extraordinarily high reversible capacity over 600 mAh g^–1 after 500 cycles at a high current density of 1.0 A g^–1 without signs of further degradation. The highly conductive graphene nanosheets wrapping up on surfaces and interfaces of metal oxide nanospheres provide conductive pathways for effective charge transfer. The mesoporous features of graphene and hollow metal oxide nanosphere also enable fast diffusion of lithium ions for the charge/discharge process. The highly flexible and mechanically robust graphene nanosheets prevent particle agglomeration and buffer volume expansion of Co₃O₄ upon cycling. The unique nanostructure of Co₃O₄ wrapped up with highly flexible and conductive graphene nanosheets represents an effective strategy that may be applied for various metal oxide electrodes to mitigate the mechanical degradation and capacity fading, critical for developing advanced electrochemical energy storage systems with long cycle life and high rate performance

Table_1_Mapping knowledge of the stem cell in traumatic brain injury: a bibliometric and visualized analysis.docx

BackgroundTraumatic brain injury (TBI) is a brain function injury caused by external mechanical injury. Primary and secondary injuries cause neurological deficits that mature brain tissue cannot repair itself. Stem cells can self-renewal and differentiate, the research of stem cells in the pathogenesis and treatment of TBI has made significant progress in recent years. However, numerous articles must be summarized to analyze hot spots and predict trends. This study aims to provide a panorama of knowledge and research hotspots through bibliometrics.MethodWe searched in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database to identify articles pertaining to TBI and stem cells published between 2000 and 2022. Visualization knowledge maps, including co-authorship, co-citation, and co-occurrence analysis were generated by VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and the R package “bibliometrix.”ResultsWe retrieved a total of 459 articles from 45 countries. The United States and China contributed the majority of publications. The number of publications related to TBI and stem cells is increasing yearly. Tianjin Medical University was the most prolific institution, and Professor Charles S. Cox, Jr. from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston was the most influential author. The Journal of Neurotrauma has published the most research articles on TBI and stem cells. Based on the burst references, “immunomodulation,” “TBI,” and “cellular therapy” have been regarded as research hotspots in the field. The keywords co-occurrence analysis revealed that “exosomes,” “neuroinflammation,” and “microglia” were essential research directions in the future.ConclusionResearch on TBI and stem cells has shown a rapid growth trend in recent years. Existing studies mainly focus on the activation mechanism of endogenous neural stem cells and how to make exogenous stem cell therapy more effective. The combination with bioengineering technology is the trend in this field. Topics related to exosomes and immune regulation may be the future focus of TBI and stem cell research.</p

Data_Sheet_1_Mapping knowledge of the stem cell in traumatic brain injury: a bibliometric and visualized analysis.docx

BackgroundTraumatic brain injury (TBI) is a brain function injury caused by external mechanical injury. Primary and secondary injuries cause neurological deficits that mature brain tissue cannot repair itself. Stem cells can self-renewal and differentiate, the research of stem cells in the pathogenesis and treatment of TBI has made significant progress in recent years. However, numerous articles must be summarized to analyze hot spots and predict trends. This study aims to provide a panorama of knowledge and research hotspots through bibliometrics.MethodWe searched in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database to identify articles pertaining to TBI and stem cells published between 2000 and 2022. Visualization knowledge maps, including co-authorship, co-citation, and co-occurrence analysis were generated by VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and the R package “bibliometrix.”ResultsWe retrieved a total of 459 articles from 45 countries. The United States and China contributed the majority of publications. The number of publications related to TBI and stem cells is increasing yearly. Tianjin Medical University was the most prolific institution, and Professor Charles S. Cox, Jr. from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston was the most influential author. The Journal of Neurotrauma has published the most research articles on TBI and stem cells. Based on the burst references, “immunomodulation,” “TBI,” and “cellular therapy” have been regarded as research hotspots in the field. The keywords co-occurrence analysis revealed that “exosomes,” “neuroinflammation,” and “microglia” were essential research directions in the future.ConclusionResearch on TBI and stem cells has shown a rapid growth trend in recent years. Existing studies mainly focus on the activation mechanism of endogenous neural stem cells and how to make exogenous stem cell therapy more effective. The combination with bioengineering technology is the trend in this field. Topics related to exosomes and immune regulation may be the future focus of TBI and stem cell research.</p

Organic–Inorganic Heterointerfaces for Ultrasensitive Detection of Ultraviolet Light

The performance of graphene field-effect transistors is limited by the drastically reduced carrier mobility of graphene on silicon dioxide (SiO₂) substrates. Here we demonstrate an ultrasensitive ultraviolet (UV) phototransistor featuring an organic self-assembled monolayer (SAM) sandwiched between an inorganic ZnO quantum dots decorated graphene channel and a conventional SiO₂/Si substrate. Remarkably, the room-temperature mobility of the chemical-vapor-deposition grown graphene channel on the SAM is an order-of-magnitude higher than on SiO₂, thereby drastically reducing electron transit-time in the channel. The resulting recirculation of electrons (in the graphene channel) within the lifetime of the photogenerated holes (in the ZnO) increases the photoresponsivity and gain of the transistor to ∼10⁸ A/W and ∼3 × 10⁹, respectively with a UV to visible rejection ratio of ∼10³. Our UV photodetector device manufacturing is also compatible with current semiconductor processing, and suitable for large volume production

Advanced Phase Change Composite by Thermally Annealed Defect-Free Graphene for Thermal Energy Storage

Organic phase change materials (PCMs) have been utilized as latent heat energy storage and release media for effective thermal management. A major challenge exists for organic PCMs in which their low thermal conductivity leads to a slow transient temperature response and reduced heat transfer efficiency. In this work, 2D thermally annealed defect-free graphene sheets (GSs) can be obtained upon high temperature annealing in removing defects and oxygen functional groups. As a result of greatly reduced phonon scattering centers for thermal transport, the incorporation of ultralight weight and defect free graphene applied as nanoscale additives into a phase change composite (PCC) drastically improve thermal conductivity and meanwhile minimize the reduction of heat of fusion. A high thermal conductivity of the defect-free graphene-PCC can be achieved up to 3.55 W/(m K) at a 10 wt % graphene loading. This represents an enhancement of over 600% as compared to pristine graphene-PCC without annealing at a comparable loading, and a 16-fold enhancement than the pure PCM (1-octadecanol). The defect-free graphene-PCC displays rapid temperature response and superior heat transfer capability as compared to the pristine graphene-PCC or pure PCM, enabling transformational thermal energy storage and management

Rescue of TGF-beta-downregulated TMEM16A expression by a Smad3 inhibitor (SIS3) and CFTR expression by a p38 MAPK inhibitor (SB203580).

<p>T84 cells and HAECs were treated with either TGF-beta and SIS3 (5 µM, A and C) or TGF-beta and SB203580 (10 µM, B and D) for 48 h prior to lysis and immunoblot for TMEM16A (A and C) or CFTR (B and D). For each cell type, the upper gel panels show TMEM16A (A and C) or CFTR (B and D) detection from three replicate samples (with TGF-beta and either SIS3 or SB203580). SIS3 increased TMEM16A expression and SB203850 increased CFTR expression from TGF-beta-treated T84 cells and HAECs. The lower panels are summary densitometry data. T84 cells: *<i>P</i><0.0002 for TMEM16A and CFTR control vs TGF-beta. **<i>P</i><0.0007 for CFTR and TMEM16A + SB203580 and TGF-beta vs TGF-beta alone. HAECs: *<i>P</i><0.035 for TMEM16A and CFTR control vs TGF-beta. **<i>P</i><0.05 for CFTR and TMEM16A + SB203580 and TGF-beta vs TGF-beta alone.</p

TGF-beta disruption of airway surface liquid (ASL) regulation in HAECs.

<p>Polarized non-CF HAECs had apical fluid removed, and the apical surface was then bolused with 20 µl of media. Cells were treated with vehicle (control) or TGF-beta (10 ng/ml), and the ASL volume was measured at 0, 24, 48, and 72 h post bolus (PB). TGF-beta or vehicle (diluted in water) was added to the to the apical bolus media at time  =  0, and to the basolateral media at time  =  0, 24 and 48 hours. N = 6. *<i>P</i> = 0.02 (control vs TGF-beta); **<i>P</i> = 0.00043 (control vs TGF-beta); ***<i>P</i> = 0.07 (control vs TGF-beta).</p