[en] Isotropically conductive TiC/C hybrid nanofibers (TCCNFs) have been prepared by electrospinning for supercapacitor application for the first time. By changing the atmosphere of stabilization process, the TCCNFs with different TiC contents were successfully synthesized with uniform morphology and average diameter of about 100 nm. The TCCNFs stabilized in Ar contain much more TiC than those stabilized in air. The specific capacitance of the TCCNFs stabilized in Ar and air were measured to be 77.8 F g"−"1 and 130.0 F g"−"1 at the current density of 0.1 A g"−"1, respectively, which were much higher than the pure TiC nanoparticles and reported carbon materials with similar specific surface area. The charge storage mechanisms were discussed by analyzing the capacitive and diffusion-controlled contributions to the total capacitance. Reversible valance change of Ti atoms was observed during charge/discharge process, indicative of the occurrence of pseudoreaction. The experimental results support that the higher specific capacitance of the TCCNFs may be caused by a synergistic enhancing effect between TiC and carbon. The capacitance retention reaches 98.9% and 93.0% for the TCCNFs stabilized in Ar and air after 25 000 cycles, respectively, showing excellent stability. The present work provides a novel conductive electrode material for supercapacitors with possible pseudocapacitance, worthy of further investigation

[en] Highlights: • Bi₂O₃ addition could promote the grain growth in Sr_0.4Ba_0.6Nb₂O₆ ceramics. • Doping Bi₂O₃ could improve the dielectric constant and lower the dielectric loss. • The dielectric characteristics of doping Bi₂O₃ samples showed relaxation behavior. • The P–E hysteresis loops for doping Bi₂O₃ ceramics became slimmer. -- Abstract: (1 − x) Sr_0.4Ba_0.6Nb₂O₆–xBi₂O₃ (0.00 ≤ x ≤ 0.20) ceramics were prepared by conventional solid-state reaction method. The microstructure, dielectric properties and P–E hysteresis loops of ceramics were investigated via X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope (SEM), Agilent E4980A and modified Sawyer–Tower circuit, respectively. XRD results showed the obtained ceramics were of tungsten bronze structure, and second phase Sr_0.4Ba_0.6Bi₂Nb₂O₉ was detected at high doping concentration. SEM results showed suitable Bi₂O₃ addition could reduce the sintering temperature and assist the grain growth. The dielectric characteristics exhibited diffuse phase transition phenomena, which were verified by linear fitting of the modified Curie–Weiss law. Besides, the relaxor ferroelectric properties of ceramics followed the Vogel–Fulcher relationship well. The P–E hysteresis loops became slimmer with increasing the Bi₂O₃ addition, leading to a gradually decrease in both remnant polarization (P_r) and coercive field (E_c)

[en] Thioantimonate compounds of [Mn(en)₃]₂Sb₂S₅ (1) and [Ni(en)₃(Hen)]SbS₄ (2) (en=ethylenediamine) were prepared by reaction of transition metal chloride with Sb and S₈ powders under solvothermal conditions. Compound 1 consists of discrete [Sb₂S₅]^4- anion, which is formed by corner-sharing SbS₃ trigonal pyramids. Compound 2 is composed of discrete tetrahedral [SbS₄]^3- anion. The compounds 1 and 2 are charge compensated by [M(en)₃]²⁺ cations, whereas in the crystal of 2 there is another counter ion of [Hen]⁺. The results of the synthesis suggest that the temperature, the concentration and the existing states of the starting materials and so on are important for the structure and composition of the final products. In addition, the oxidation-state of antimony might be related to the molar ratio of the reactants. Excess amount of elemental S is beneficial to the higher oxidation-state of thioantimonate (V). Compound 1 decomposes from 150 deg. C to 350 deg. C, while compound 2 decomposes from 200 deg. C to 350 deg. C remaining Sb₂S₃ and NiSbS as residues

[en] Highlights: • SiO₂@LaPO₄:Eu³⁺ phosphors were synthesized by a wet-chemical method. • The pH value plays an important role in the formation of core shell-structured particles. • The SiO₂@LaPO₄:Eu³⁺ phosphors show strong orange–red luminescence. • This synthesis route can lower the cost of precious phosphors. - Abstract: SiO₂@LaPO₄:Eu³⁺ core–shell phosphors have been successfully synthesized by a one-step and economical wet-chemical route at low temperature. The as-obtained products were characterized by means of photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The SEM, EDS and XPS analysis indicate that SiO₂@LaPO₄:Eu³⁺ core–shell phosphors can only be synthesized in a pH range of 8–11 and the possible mechanism has been proposed. The XRD results demonstrate that the structure of LaPO₄:Eu³⁺ layers is transferred into monoclinic phase from hexagonal phase after annealing at 800 °C for 2 h. The SiO₂@LaPO₄:Eu³⁺ phosphors show strong orange–red luminescence under ultraviolet excitation. The relative emission intensity of Eu³⁺ increases with increasing the annealing temperature and the number of coating cycles, and the optimum concentration for Eu³⁺ was determined to be 5 mol% of La³⁺ in SiO₂@LaPO₄ phosphors.

[en] An improved curve-fitting method for a simultaneous measurement of the real and imaginary parts of the complex refractive index of turbid media is demonstrated. Based on an introduction of angle-dependent light penetration into turbid media by Calhoun et al (2010 Opt. Lett. 35 1224), the fitting is performed on the rapid change part of the measured curve around the critical angle. Moreover, a technology to locate this part of the curve by differentiation is introduced. Experimental results on Intralipid solutions show that this method can significantly reduce the computation time as well as the fitting error between the measured curve and theoretical one. (technical design note)

[en] Herein, a poly(N-vinyl carbazole) (PVK)/ϵ-gallium oxide (ϵ-Ga₂O₃) heterojunction device was fabricated by spin coating prepared PVK solution onto a ϵ-Ga₂O₃ thin film produced by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. Under 254 nm ultraviolet light, the device shows obvious rectification characteristics of 37 at ±2 V and has a response speed of 0.52 s rise time and 0.11 s decay time at 5 V. Current–voltage measurement confirmed that the prepared device has the potential to become a self-powered photodetector and displays good stability and a fast response speed under various light intensities and different voltages. (paper)

[en] Early signs of diseases can be revealed from cell detection in biofluids, such as detection of white blood cells (WBCs) in the peritoneal fluid for peritonitis. A lab-on-a-chip microfluidic device offers an attractive platform for such applications because of its small size, low cost, and ease of use provided the device can meet the performance requirements which many existing LoC devices fail to satisfy. We report an integrated microfluidic device capable of accurately counting low concentration of white blood cells in peritoneal fluid at 150 μl min"−"1 to offer an accurate (<3% error) and fast (∼10 min/run) WBC count. Utilizing the self-regulating hydrodynamic properties and a unique architecture in the design, the device can achieve higher flow rate (500–1000 μl min"−"1), continuous running for over 5 h without clogging, as well as excellent signal quality for unambiguous WBC count and WBC classification for certain diseases. These properties make the device a promising candidate for point-of-care applications. (paper)

[en] ZnS:Ag nanocrystals with Ag doping concentrations of 1 at% was synthesized by using 3-mercaptopropionicacid (MPA) as stabilizer. A ZnS shell was formed on surface of the ZnS:Ag nanocrystals by the decomposition of Zn-MPA complex under microwave irradiation. The new ZnS shell passivated the nanocrystal surface and resulted in a significant enhancement of the photoluminescent quantum yield and photostability of the nanocrystals. Under optimum reaction conditions, quantum yield of the ZnS:Ag nanocrystals increased from 2.5 to 10.2% after the shell growth

[en] Highlights: • Icmt upregulation is a common feature in ovarian cancer. • Icmt expression level varies in ovarian cancer tissues and cell lines. • Icmt expression is associated with ovarian cancer cell chemoresistance. • Icmt inhibition sensitizes ovarian cancer to chemotherapy in vitro and in vivo. • Icmt inhibition suppresses Ras and its downstream signaling pathways. Inhibition of isoprenylcysteine carboxylmethyltransferase (Icmt), which catalyzes the final step of oncoproteins' prenylation, targets growth and survival of various cancers. In this work, we systematically studied the expression, functions and molecular signaling of Icmt in ovarian cancer. We show that the upregulation of Icmt expression is a common feature in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer regardless of age and disease stage. In line with the observations in ovarian cancer patients, a panel of epithelial ovarian cancer cell lines also demonstrates the significant increase on Icmt transcript and protein levels than normal ovarian epithelial cells. In addition, ovarian cancer cell lines with higher Icmt levels are more resistant to chemotherapeutic agents. We further show that Icmt inhibition by siRNA or inhibitor cysmethynil suppresses growth and induces apoptosis in ovarian cancer cells. Importantly, Icmt inhibition significantly augments chemotherapeutic agent's efficacy in vitro and in vivo, demonstrating the translational potential of Icmt inhibition in ovarian cancer. Mechanistically, we show that Ras activation is a critical effector of Icmt in ovarian cancer cells. Using cell culturing system, mouse model and patient samples, our work is the first to demonstrate the essential roles of Icmt in ovarian cancer via Ras signaling, particularly on its response to chemotherapy. Our findings suggest that Icmt inhibition is a promising therapeutic strategy to overcome chemoresistance in ovarian cancer, in particular, those patients with high Icmt expression.

[en] Highlights: • The Cu-Cr-Mg alloy possessed a desirable softening resistance capacity. • Addition magnesium segregated on the surface of the precipitates. • Mg atoms hindered precipitates growth and grains recrystallization. Magnesium was added into Cu-Cr alloy to overcome the traditional limitations of high-cost and large-scale manufacturing of Cu-Cr alloys and to unveil the acting mechanism of Mg on the microstructure and properties of Cu-Cr alloy. Effect of magnesium on microstructure and properties of Cu-Cr alloy has been investigated by means of hardness test, electrical conductivity measurement, transmission electron microscopy, three-dimension atom probe tomography technique and X-ray diffraction analysis. The precipitation sequence of Cu-Cr-Mg alloy was similar with that of binary Cu-Cr alloy. Additional magnesium in Cu-Cr alloy accelerated the process of precipitates nucleation, restrained the growth of the precipitates by segregating along precipitates surface during aging. This enhanced the stability of the deformation microstructure and improved the mechanical properties of the alloy. Cu-Cr-Mg alloy showed a better comprehensive properties and softening resistance performance than Cu-Cr alloy at elevated temperature. After aged at 480 °C, Cu-Cr-Mg alloy had a tensile strength of 540 MPa and an electrical conductivity of 79.2 %IACS for the peak aging states, and it still maintained a tensile strength of 515 MPa and an electrical conductivity of 80.8 %IACS after 4 h aging.