Nacre-Inspired,Liquid Metal-Based Ultrasensitive Electronic Skin by Spatially Regulated Cracking Strategy

The realization of liquid metal-based wearable systems will be a milestone toward high-performance, integrated electronic skin. However, despite the revolutionary progress achieved in many other components of electronic skin, liquid metal-based flexible sensors still suffer from poor sensitivity due to the insufficient resistance change of liquid metal to deformation. Herein, a nacre-inspired architecture composed of a biphasic pattern (liquid metal with Cr/Cu underlayer) as “bricks” and strain-sensitive Ag film as “mortar” is developed, which breaks the long-standing sensitivity bottleneck of liquid metal-based electronic skin. With 2 orders of magnitude of sensitivity amplification while maintaining wide (>85%) working range, for the first time, liquid metal-based strain sensors rival the state-of-art counterparts. This liquid metal composite features spatially regulated cracking behavior. On the one hand, hard Cr cells locally modulate the strain distribution, which avoids premature cut-through cracks and prolongs the defect propagation in the adjacent Ag film. On the other hand, the separated liquid metal cells prevent unfavorable continuous liquid-metal paths and create crack-free regions during strain. Demonstrated in diverse scenarios, the proposed design concept may spark more applications of ultrasensitive liquid metal-based electronic skins, and reveals a pathway for sensor development via crack engineering.     

Neuroprotective and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Evernic Acid in an MPTP-Induced Parkinson’s Disease Model

Oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and neuroinflammation are strongly associated with the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease (PD), which suggests that anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory compounds might provide an alternative treatment for PD. Here, we evaluated the neuroprotective effects of evernic aid (EA), which was screened from a lichen library provided by the Korean Lichen Research Institute at Sunchon National University. EA is a secondary metabolite generated by lichens, including Ramalina, Evernia, and Hypogymnia, and several studies have described its anticancer, antifungal, and antimicrobial effects. However, the neuroprotective effects of EA have not been studied. We found that EA protected primary cultured neurons against 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridium (MPP⁺)-induced cell death, mitochondrial dysfunction, and oxidative stress, and effectively reduced MPP⁺-induced astroglial activation by inhibiting the NF-κB pathway. In vivo, EA ameliorated MPTP-induced motor dysfunction, dopaminergic neuronal loss, and neuroinflammation in the nigrostriatal pathway in C57BL/6 mice. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that EA has neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects in PD models and suggest that EA is a potential therapeutic candidate for PD.     

修井液用小阳离子防膨剂的评价与应用

渤海油田普遍存在中至强的水敏性.修井液的漏失,容易引起地层粘土颗粒膨胀与运移,导致修井后产能恢复困难.使用环氧丙基三甲基氯化铵与二甲基二烯丙基氯化铵均聚物复配的有机小阳离子聚合物防膨剂BH-FP03,室内评价防膨率达到90％以上.岩心流动实验结果表明,低渗透岩心渗透率恢复值大于90％.现场应用修井后产能恢复期缩短至7d以内,取得良好的效果.     

Tactile colour pictogram to improve artwork appreciation of people with visual impairments

A recent development in tactile technology enables an improvement in the appreciation of the visual arts for people with visual impairment (PVI). The tactile sense, in conjunction with, or a possibly as an alternative to, the auditory sense, would allow PVIs to approach artwork in a more self‐driven and engaging way that would be difficult to achieve with just an auditory stimulus. Tactile colour pictograms (TCPs), which are raised geometric patterns, are ideographic characters that are designed to enable PVIs to identify colours and interpret information by touch. In this article, three TCPs are introduced to code colours in the Munsell colour system. Each colour pattern consists of a basic cell size of 10 mm × 10 mm to represent the patterns consistently in terms of regular shape. Each TCP consists of basic geometric patterns that are combined to create primary, secondary, and tertiary colour pictograms of shapes indicating colour hue, intensity and lightness. Each TCP represents 29 colours including six hues; they were then further expanded to represent 53 colours. Two of them did not increase the cell size, the other increased the cell size 1.5 times for some colours, such as yellow‐orange, yellow, blue, and blue‐purple. Our proposed TCPs use a slightly larger cell size compared to most tactile patterns currently used to indicate colour, but code for more colours. With user experience and identification tests, conducted with 23 visually impaired adults, the effectiveness of the TCPs suggests that they were helpful for the participants.     

Immobilization of simulated An3+ into synthetic Gd2Zr2O7 ceramic by SPS without occupation or valence design

To simplify the immobilized process of nuclear waste, synthetic Gd₂Zr₂O₇ ceramic was employed to immobilize simulated An³⁺ (Nd³⁺) by spark plasma sintering (SPS) without any ion occupation or valence design. Sintering and characterization of immobilized simulated An³⁺ with various doping amounts were carried out. The effects of Nd₂O₃ content on the phase composition, active modes, micro-graph and density of the sintered ceramics were investigated. When the Nd₂O₃ doped amount reached up to 50 mol%, the raw peak of Nd₂O₃ existed. The sintered ceramics kept a single fluorite phase when Nd₂O₃ solubility achieved to 40 mol%. The sintered ceramics presented a well crystalline phase and the elements distributed evenly. In addition, as the Nd₂O₃ doped amount increase, the density and Vickers hardness values of Nd₂O₃ doped sample decrease.     

Synthesis,Anticancer Activity,Structure-Activity Relationship and Mechanistic Investigations of Falcarindiol Analogues

Forty samples of optically active falcarindiol analogues are synthesized by using the easily available C2 symmetric (R)- and (S)-1,1’-binaphth-2-ol (BINOL) in combination with Ti(OⁱPr)₄, Zn powder and EtI. Their anticancer activities on Hccc-9810, HepG2, MDA-MB-231, Hela, MG-63 and H460 cells are assayed to elucidate their structure-activity relationships. These results showed that the falcarindiol analogue (3R,8S)- 2 i with the terminal double bond has the most potent anti-proliferation effect on Hccc-9810 cells with IC₅₀ value of 0.46 μM. The falcarindiol analogue (3R,8S)- 2 i can induce obvious Hccc-9810 cell apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner by Hoechst staining and flow cytometry analysis. The proposed mechanism suggests that the falcarindiol analogue (3R,8S)- 2 i increases LDH release and MDA content, and reduces the levels of SOD activity, which lead to the accumulation of oxidative stress and induce apoptosis in Hccc-9810 cells.     

Charge Transportation and Chirality in Liquid Crystalline Helical Network Phases of Achiral BTBT-Derived Polycatenar Molecules

First examples of multichain (polycatenar) compounds, based on the π-conjugated [1]benzothieno[3,2-b]benzothiophene unit are designed, synthesized, and their soft self-assembly and charge carrier mobility are investigated. These compounds, terminated by the new fan-shaped 2-brominated 3,4,5-trialkoxybenzoate moiety, form bicontinuous cubic liquid crystalline (LC) phases with helical network structure over extremely wide temperature ranges (>200 K), including ambient temperature. Compounds with short chains show an achiral cubic phase with the double network, which upon increasing the chain length, is at first replaced by a tetragonal 3D phase and then by a mirror symmetry is broken triple network cubic phase. In the networks, the capability of bypassing defects provides enhanced charge carrier mobility compared to imperfectly aligned columnar phases, and the charge transportation is non-dispersive, as only rarely observed for LC materials. At the transition to a semicrystalline helical network phase, the conductivity is further enhanced by almost one order of magnitude. In addition, a mirror symmetry broken isotropic liquid phase is formed beside the 3D phases, which upon chain elongation is removed and replaced by a hexagonal columnar LC phase.     

Charging strategy through analysis of charging influence factors of ultra-light hydrogen storage with polyethylene terephthalate liner

A lightweight type 4 vessel with a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) liner is analyzed. The derived heat transfer coefficients between the gas and wall are applied, and a parametric study is performed. An optimized charging strategy is also developed. Firstly, when the injected hydrogen temperature decreases, the charging time increases, and the charged gas temperature decreases. Secondly, the higher the ambient temperature, the shorter the charging time, and the higher the charged gas temperature. Thirdly, the larger the mass flow rate, the shorter the charging time, and the higher charged gas temperature. Fourthly, as the initial pressure inside the vessel increases, the charging time shortens, and the charged gas temperature decreases. Fifthly, using the formulated charging strategy, during summer, the charged gas temperature decreases by approximately 9 °C. In winter, the charging time is reduced by approximately 58 s. The results provide important information of temperature control for ensuring vessel safety.