Localized Mechanical Stress Induced Ionic Redistribution in a Layered LiCoO₂ Cathode

Controlling the transport of ions within electrodes is highly desirable for the operation of rechargeable ion batteries. Here, for the first time, we report the role of mechanical stress in controlling the redistribution of lithium ions in a layered LiCoO₂ electrode at a resolution of ∼100 nm. Under a higher stress field, more active redistribution of lithium ions was observed along the grain boundaries than the interiors of the layered LiCoO₂. The dynamic force ramping test proved the external stress field (<100 nN) is capable of inducing the resistive-switching effect of the layered LiCoO₂. The comparison test on the highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) substrate further demonstrated the improved current responses from the layered LiCoO₂ resulted from the deficiency of lithium ions, rather than the increase of tip–sample contact area. Our findings will pave the road for a full understanding of how mechanical stimulus can affect the distribution of ions in the layered electrodes of rechargeable ion batteries

MOESM1 of An optimized rapid bisulfite conversion method with high recovery of cell-free DNA

Additional file 1: Figure. An example of a ddPCR assay for absolute quantification of DNA copies. The designed ddPCR reaction produced an excellent separation between positive droplets(top) and negative droplets(bottom). The amplitude threshold of the positive ddPCR reaction was set as 4000 RFU manually. The positive droplets above the threshold line determines the starting concentration of the target DNA molecule in units of copies/¾L input from the sample

MOESM2 of An optimized rapid bisulfite conversion method with high recovery of cell-free DNA

Additional file 2: Data. Bisulfite sequencing and DNA methylation data

Preformed Seeds Modulate Native Insulin Aggregation Kinetics

Insulin aggregates under storage conditions via disulfide interchange reaction. It is also known to form aggregates at the site of repeated injections in diabetes patients, leading to injection amyloidosis. This has fueled research in pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry as well as in academia to understand factors that modulate insulin stability and aggregation. The main aim of this study is to understand the factors that modulate aggregation propensity of insulin under conditions close to physiological and measure effect of “<i>seeds</i>” on aggregation kinetics. We explored the aggregation kinetics of insulin at pH 7.2 and 37 °C in the presence of disulfide-reducing agent dithiothreitol (DTT), using spectroscopy (UV–visible, fluorescence, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) and microscopy (scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy) techniques. We prepared insulin “<i>seeds</i>” by incubating disulfide-reduced insulin at pH 7.2 and 37 °C for varying lengths of time (10 min to 12 h). These seeds were added to the native protein and nucleation-dependent aggregation kinetics was measured. Aggregation kinetics was fastest in the presence of 10 min seeds suggesting they were <i>nascent.</i> Interestingly, <i>intermediate</i> seeds (30 min to 4 h incubation) resulted in formation of transient fibrils in 4 h that converted to amorphous aggregates upon longer incubation of 24 h. Overall, the results show that insulin under disulfide reducing conditions at pH and temperature close to physiological favors amorphous aggregate formation and seed “maturity” plays an important role in nucleation dependent aggregation kinetics

Anisotropic Friction of Wrinkled Graphene Grown by Chemical Vapor Deposition

Wrinkle structures are commonly seen on graphene grown by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method due to the different thermal expansion coefficient between graphene and its substrate. Despite the intensive investigations focusing on the electrical properties, the nanotribological properties of wrinkles and the influence of wrinkle structures on the wrinkle-free graphene remain less understood. Here, we report the observation of anisotropic nanoscale frictional characteristics depending on the orientation of wrinkles in CVD-grown graphene. Using friction force microscopy, we found that the coefficient of friction perpendicular to the wrinkle direction was ∼194% compare to that of the parallel direction. Our systematic investigation shows that the ripples and “puckering” mechanism, which dominates the friction of exfoliated graphene, plays even a more significant role in the friction of wrinkled graphene grown by CVD. The anisotropic friction of wrinkled graphene suggests a new way to tune the graphene friction property by nano/microstructure engineering such as introducing wrinkles

Online Characterization of Mixed Plastic Waste Using Machine Learning and Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy

To recycle the mixed plastic wastes (MPW), it is important to obtain the compositional information online in real time. We present a sensing framework based on a convolutional neural network (CNN) and mid-infrared spectroscopy (MIR) for the rapid and accurate characterization of MPW. The MPW samples are placed on a moving platform to mimic the industrial environment. The MIR spectra are collected at the rate of 100 Hz, and the proposed CNN architecture can reach an overall prediction accuracy close to 100%. Therefore, the proposed method paves the way toward the online MPW characterization in industrial applications where high throughput is needed

Complex-Mediated Synthesis of Tantalum Oxyfluoride Hierarchical Nanostructures for Highly Efficient Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

In this work, we have, for the first time, developed a facile wet-chemical route to obtain a novel photocatalytic material of tantalum oxyfluoride hierarchical nanostructures composed of amorphous cores and single crystalline TaO₂F nanorod shells (ACHNs) by regulating the one-step hydrothermal process of TaF₅ in a mixed solution of isopropanol (i-PrOH) and H₂O. In this approach, elaborately controlling the reaction temperature and volume ratio of i-PrOH and H₂O enabled TaF₅ to transform into intermediate coordination complex ions of [TaOF₃·2F]^2– and [TaF₇]^2–, which subsequently produced tantalum oxyfluoride ACHNs via a secondary nucleation and growth due to a stepwise change in hydrolysis rates of the two complex ions. Because of the unique chemical composition, crystal structure and micromorphology, the as-prepared tantalum oxyfluoride ACHNs show a more negative flat band potential, an accelerated charge transfer, and a remarkable surface area of 152.4 m² g^–1 contributing to increased surface reaction sites. As a result, they exhibit a photocatalytic activity for hydrogen production up to 1.95 mmol h^–1 g^–1 under the illumination of a simulated solar light without any assistance of co-catalysts, indicating that the as-prepared tantalum oxyfluoride ACHNs are a novel promising photocatalytic material for hydrogen production

Narrowing Plasmon Resonance Linewidth of Au Nanodome Lattices

Gold hollow nanodomes arranged in hexagonal lattices support surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) propagating at air–Au interface. The cross-sectional heights of the continuous and hierarchical hexagonal nanodome arrays can be altered by a simple thermal treatment, and the change in nanodome size leads to a significant linewidth narrowing of plasmon resonance because of reduced scattering loss. Taking the variation in the SPP intensities into account, the surface modulation depth is found to be around 100 nm for achieving a longer propagation length of SPP

Comparison among the subjects’ genotypes and symptoms among samples.

<p>+: duplication, −: deletion, n: normal. Losing or gain in the whole segments leads to diseases. REPD variations may not leads to diseases but impacts SOX7 which is related to CHD.</p

Characteristic Work Function Variations of Graphene Line Defects

Line defects, including grain boundaries and wrinkles, are commonly seen in graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition. These one-dimensional defects are believed to alter the electrical and mechanical properties of graphene. Unfortunately, it is very tedious to directly distinguish grain boundaries from wrinkles due to their similar morphologies. In this report, high-resolution Kelvin potential force microscopy (KPFM) is employed to measure the work function distribution of graphene line defects. The characteristic work function variations of grain boundaries, standing-collapsed wrinkles, and folded wrinkles could be clearly identified. Classical and quantum molecular dynamics simulations reveal that the unique work function distribution of each type of line defects is originated from the doping effect induced by the SiO₂ substrate. Our results suggest that KPFM can be an easy-to-use and accurate method to detect graphene line defects, and also propose the possibility to tune the graphene work function by defect engineering