Cactus‐Like Hollow Cu2‐xS@Ru Nanoplates as Excellent and Robust Electrocatalysts for the Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

The development of Pt‐free electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) recently is a focus of great interest. While several strategies are developed to control the structural properties of non‐Pt catalysts and boost their electrocatalytic activities for the HER, the generation of highly reactive defects or interfaces by combining a metal with other metals, or with metal oxides/sulfides, can lead to notably enhanced catalytic performance. Herein, the preparation of cactus‐like hollow Cu_2‐x S@Ru nanoplates (NPs) that contain metal/metal sulfide heterojunctions and show excellent catalytic activity and durability for the HER in alkaline media is reported. The initial formation of Ru islands on presynthesized Cu_1.94S NPs, via cation exchange between three Cu⁺ ions and one Ru³⁺, induces the growth of the Ru phase, which is concomitant with the dissolution of the Cu_1.94S nanotemplate, culminating in the formation of a hollow nanostructure with numerous thin Ru pillars. Hollow Cu_2‐x S@Ru NPs exhibit a small overpotential of 82 mV at a current density of ?10 mA cm^?2 and a low Tafel slope of 48 mV dec^?1 under alkaline conditions; this catalyst is among state‐of‐the‐art HER electrocatalysts in alkaline media. The excellent performance of hollow Cu_2‐x S@Ru NPs originates from the facile dissociation of water in the Volmer step.     

Plasmon Enhanced Fluorescence Based on Porphyrin–Peptoid Hybridized Gold Nanoparticle Platform

A porphyrin–peptoid‐hybridized silica‐coated gold nanoparticle is developed, which is inspired by the protein–chlorophyll ensemble found in photosynthetic antenna. In the natural antenna, chlorophylls are integrated into dense assemblies that are supported by frameworks of proteins, which ensure optimal pigment arrangement for effective light harvesting. In the subject platform, porphyrins are conjugated to the peptoid helix scaffold in a structurally well‐defined alignments and subsequently immobilized on the surface of nanoparticles. This prevents intermolecular aggregation among porphyrins and allows high resolution analysis of the effect of porphyrin configuration on the optical properties of the system. Interestingly, under the influence of plasmon from the gold nanoparticle core, the fluorescence of porphyrin is enhanced up to 24‐fold at the wavelength where the plasmon resonance matches the porphyrin excitation wavelength. In addition, differences in porphyrin configuration result in spectral modification of their fluorescence emissions. Particularly, the peptoid bearing two porphyrins at a distance of 6 Å shows the most significant alteration in fluorescence. The platform can facilitate extensive studies on the relationship between porphyrin arrangement design and their photophysical interaction in antenna complexes.     

Silver Nanoflower Decorated Graphene Oxide Sponges for Highly Sensitive Variable Stiffness Stress Sensors

Soft conductive materials should enable large deformation while keeping high electrical conductivity and elasticity. The graphene oxide (GO)‐based sponge is a potential candidate to endow large deformation. However, it typically exhibits low conductivity and elasticity. Here, the highly conductive and elastic sponge composed of GO, flower‐shaped silver nanoparticles (AgNFs), and polyimide (GO‐AgNF‐PI sponge) are demonstrated. The average pore size and porosity are 114 µm and 94.7%, respectively. Ag NFs have thin petals (8–20 nm) protruding out of the surface of a spherical bud (300–350 nm) significantly enhancing the specific surface area (2.83 m² g^?1). The electrical conductivity (0.306 S m^?1 at 0% strain) of the GO‐AgNF‐PI sponge is increased by more than an order of magnitude with the addition of Ag NFs. A nearly perfect elasticity is obtained over a wide compressive strain range (0–90%). The strain‐dependent, nonlinear variation of Young's modulus of the sponge provides a unique opportunity as a variable stiffness stress sensor that operates over a wide stress range (0–10 kPa) with a high maximum sensitivity (0.572 kPa^?1). It allows grasping of a soft rose and a hard bottle, with the minimal object deformation, when attached on the finger of a robot gripper.     

A new quadruple therapy for the eradication of Helicobacter pylori. Effect of pretreatment with omeprazole on the cure rate

The aim of the study was to assess the speech discrimination ability of postlingually deaf adults implanted with the Combi 40 cochlear implant and to compare the results with the postoperative data published for other devices. The postoperative open and closed set speech perception performance of 21 consecutive patients was tested using a standardized test battery comprising a number, monosyllable, sentence, consonant and vowel discrimination test as well as a rhyme test in the sound only condition. Mean values achieved for each test 1, 6 and 12 months after "switch on" were evaluated. The results demonstrate that all patients have a substantial benefit from their implant and show a continuous improvement in their speech perception abilities with increased device experience. The mean percentages of correct answers after 12 months were 93.4 for numbers, 44.6 for monosyllables, 78.5 for sentences, 67.6 for the rhyme test, 59.8 for vowel, and 67.3 for consonant discrimination. Preoperatively, the mean discrimination score for monosyllables was 0%. The speech discrimination scores of our patients were similar or higher than described for similar patient groups implanted with other devices. The high stimulation rate of the implant system using the continuous interleaved speech processing strategy as well as a deep atraumatic electrode insertion into the apicalmost regions of the scala tympani may be the reason for good performance.     

Adaptive triangular-mesh reconstruction by mean-curvature-based refinement from point clouds using a moving parabolic approximation

We use a moving parabolic approximation (MPA) to reconstruct a triangular mesh that approximates the underlying surface of a point cloud from closed objects. First, an efficient strategy is presented for constructing a hierarchical grid with adaptive resolution and generating an initial mesh from point clouds. By implementing the MPA algorithm, we can estimate the differential quantities of the underlying surface, and subsequently, we can obtain the local quadratic approximants of the squared distance function for any point in the vicinity of the target shape. Thus, second, we adapt the mesh to the target shape by an optimization procedure that minimizes a quadratic function at each step. With the objective of determining the geometrical features of the target surface, we refine the approximating mesh selectively for the non-flat regions by comparing the estimated curvature from the point clouds and the estimated curvatures computed from the current mesh. Finally, we present various examples that demonstrate the robustness of our method and show that the resulting reconstructions preserve geometric details.