Phagraphene: A Low-energy Graphene Allotrope composed of 5-6-7 Carbon Rings with Distorted Dirac Cones

Using systematic evolutionary structure searching we propose a new carbon allotrope, phagraphene, standing for penta-hexa-hepta-graphene, because the structure is composed of 5-6-7 carbon rings. This two-dimensional (2D) carbon structure is lower in energy than most of the predicted 2D carbon allotropes due to its sp2-hybridization and density of atomic packing comparable to graphene. More interestingly, the electronic structure of phagraphene has distorted Dirac cones. The direction-dependent cones are further proved to be robust against external strain with tunable Fermi velocities.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Preparation and Characterization of a Lecithin Nanoemulsion as a Topical Delivery System

Purpose of this study was to establish a lecithin nanoemulsion (LNE) without any synthetic surfactant as a topical delivery vehicle and to evaluate its topical delivery potential by the following factors: particle size, morphology, viscosity, stability, skin hydration and skin penetration. Experimental results demonstrated that an increasing concentration of soybean lecithin and glycerol resulted in a smaller size LNE droplet and increasing viscosity, respectively. The droplet size of optimized LNE, with the glycerol concentration above 75% (w/w), changed from 92 (F10) to 58 nm (F14). Additionally, LNE, incorporated into o/w cream, improved the skin hydration capacity of the cream significantly with about 2.5-fold increase when the concentration of LNE reached 10%. LNE was also demonstrated to improve the penetrability of Nile red (NR) dye into the dermis layer, when an o/w cream, incorporated with NR-loaded LNE, applied on the abdominal skin of rat in vivo. Specifically, the arbitrary unit (ABU) of fluorescence in the dermis layer that had received the cream with a NR-loaded LNE was about 9.9-fold higher than the cream with a NR-loaded general emulsion (GE). These observations suggest that LNE could be used as a promising topical delivery vehicle for lipophilic compounds

Ferroelectricity, Piezoelectricity, and Dielectricity of 0.06PMnN-0.94PZT(45/55) Thin Film on Silicon Substrate

The high piezoelectricity and high quality factor ferroelectric thin films are important for electromechanical applications especially the micro electromechanical system (MEMS). The ternary compound ferroelectric thin films 0.06Pb(Mn1/3, Nb2/3)O3 + 0.94Pb(Zr0.45, Ti0.55)O3 (0.06PMnN-0.94PZT(45/55)) were deposited on silicon(100) substrates by RF magnetron sputtering method considering that Mn and Nb doping will improve PZT properties in this research. For comparison, nondoped PZT(45/55) films were also deposited. The results show that both of thin films show polycrystal structures with the main (111) and (101) orientations. The transverse piezoelectric coefficients are e31,eff=−4.03 C/m2 and e31,eff=-3.5 C/m2, respectively. These thin films exhibit classical ferroelectricity, in which the coercive electric field intensities are 2Ec=147.31 kV/cm and 2Ec=135.44 kV/cm, and the saturation polarization Ps=30.86 μC/cm2 and Ps=17.74 μC/cm2, and the remnant polarization Pr=20.44 μC/cm2 and Pr=9.87 μC/cm2, respectively. Moreover, the dielectric constants and loss are εr=681 and D=5% and εr=537 and D=4.3%, respectively. In conclusion, 0.06PMnN-0.94PZT(45/55) thin films act better than nondoped films, even though their dielectric constants are higher. Their excellent ferroelectricity, piezoelectricity, and high power and energy storage property, especially the easy fabrication, integration realizable, and potentially high quality factor, make this kind of thin films available for the realistic applications

The impact of Chinese COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of peripheral facial nerve paralysis after optimizing policies

ObjectiveTo evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the occurrence of Peripheral Facial Nerve Paralysis (PFNP) in Chinese patients, identify contributing factors, and explore the relationship between COVID-19 and PFNP.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective study covering the years 2020 to 2023, categorizing patients into three groups based on their visit dates: Group 1 (December 8, 2020 to February 28, 2021), Group 2 (December 8, 2021 to February 28, 2022), and Group 3 (December 8, 2022 to February 28, 2023). We collected and compared data on disease onset and patient characteristics among these groups.ResultsIn Group 3, following the widespread COVID-19 outbreak, there was a significant increase of 22.4 and 12.1% in PFNP cases compared to the same periods in the preceding 2 years (p < 0.001). Group 3 patients were more likely to be aged between 30 and 60 years, experience onset within 7 days, present with Hunter syndrome, and have a higher H-B score of VI compared to the previous 2 years (p < 0.017). Logistic regression analysis revealed a strong association between the COVID-19 pandemic and the incidence of Hunter syndrome in PFNP (OR = 3.30, 95% CI 1.81–6.03, p < 0.001).ConclusionThe incidence of PFNP increased in China after the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in patients with Hunter syndrome, indicating that COVID-19 infection can trigger and worsen PFNP

Rayleigh and shear-horizontal surface acoustic waves simultaneously generated in inclined ZnO films for acoustofluidic lab-on-a-chip

There are significant challenges in controlling uniformity of crystal inclination angles, growth orientations and film thicknesses to generate dual-mode surface acoustic waves (e.g., Rayleigh ones and shear-horizontal ones) for lab-on-a-chip applications. In this study, we demonstrate large area (up to three inches) and uniformly inclined piezoelectric ZnO films, sputtering-deposited on silicon using a glancing angle deposition method. Characterization using X-ray diffraction showed that the inclined ZnO films have an average crystal inclination angle of 29.0°, apart from the vertical (0002) orientation, at a substrate tilting angle of 30o. Reflection signals of ZnO/Si surface acoustic wave devices clearly show the generations of both shear horizontal surface acoustic waves and Rayleigh waves. The Rayleigh waves enable efficient acoustofluidic functions including streaming and transportation of sessile droplets. Excitation direction of Rayleigh waves on the acoustofluidics versus the inclined angle direction has apparent influences on the acoustofluidic performance due to the anisotropic microstructures of the inclined films. The same device has been used to demonstrate biosensing of biotin/streptavidin interactions in a liquid environment using the shear-horizontal surface acoustic waves, to demonstrate its potential for integration into a complete lab-on-a-chip device