Shallow and Undoped Germanium Quantum Wells: A Playground for Spin and Hybrid Quantum Technology

Buried‐channel semiconductor heterostructures are an archetype material platform for the fabrication of gated semiconductor quantum devices. Sharp confinement potential is obtained by positioning the channel near the surface; however, nearby surface states degrade the electrical properties of the starting material. Here, a 2D hole gas of high mobility (5 × 10⁵ cm² V^?1 s^?1) is demonstrated in a very shallow strained germanium (Ge) channel, which is located only 22 nm below the surface. The top‐gate of a dopant‐less field effect transistor controls the channel carrier density confined in an undoped Ge/SiGe heterostructure with reduced background contamination, sharp interfaces, and high uniformity. The high mobility leads to mean free paths ≈ 6 µm, setting new benchmarks for holes in shallow field effect transistors. The high mobility, along with a percolation density of 1.2 × 10¹¹cm^?2, light effective mass (0.09m_e), and high effective g‐factor (up to 9.2) highlight the potential of undoped Ge/SiGe as a low‐disorder material platform for hybrid quantum technologies.     

Fully Solution‐Processed Photonic Structures from Inorganic/Organic Molecular Hybrid Materials and Commodity Polymers

Managing the interference effects from thin (multi‐)layers allows for the control of the optical transmittance/reflectance of widely used and technologically significant structures such as antireflection coatings (ARCs) and distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs). These rely on the destructive/constructive interference between incident, reflected, and transmitted radiation. While known for over a century and having been extremely well investigated, the emergence of printable and large‐area electronics brings a new emphasis: the development of materials capable of transferring well‐established ideas to a solution‐based production. Here, demonstrated is the solution‐fabrication of ARCs and DBRs utilizing alternating layers of commodity plastics and recently developed organic/inorganic hybrid materials comprised of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVAl), cross‐linked with titanium oxide hydrates. Dip‐coated ARCs exhibit an 88% reduction in reflectance across the visible compared to uncoated glass, and fully solution‐coated DBRs provide a reflection of >99% across a 100 nm spectral band in the visible region. Detailed comparisons with transfermatrix methods (TMM) highlight their excellent optical quality including extremely low optical losses. Beneficially, when exposed to elevated temperatures, the hybrid material can display a notable, reproducible, and irreversible change in refractive index and film thickness while maintaining excellent optical performance allowing postdeposition tuning, e.g., for thermo‐responsive applications, including security features and product‐storage environment monitoring.     

Shape‐Assisted 2D MOF/Graphene Derived Hybrids as Exceptional Lithium‐Ion Battery Electrodes

Herein, a novel polymer‐templated strategy is described to obtain 2D nickel‐based MOF nanosheets using Ni(OH)₂, squaric acid, and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), where PVP has a dual role as a structure‐directing agent, as well as preventing agglomeration of the MOF nanosheets. Furthermore, a scalable method is developed to transform the 2D MOF sheets to Ni₇S₆/graphene nanosheet (GNS) heterobilayers by in situ sulfidation using thiourea as a sulfur source. The Ni₇S₆/GNS composite shows an excellent reversible capacity of 1010 mAh g^?1 at 0.12 A g^?1 with a Coulombic efficiency of 98% capacity retention. The electrochemical performance of the Ni₇S₆/GNS composite is superior not only to nickel sulfide/graphene‐based composites but also to other metal disulfide–based composite electrodes. Moreover, the Ni₇S₆/GNS anode exhibits excellent cycle stability (≈95% capacity retention after 2000 cycles). This outstanding electrochemical performance can be attributed to the synergistic effects of Ni₇S₆ and GNS, where GNS serves as a conducting matrix to support Ni₇S₆ nanosheets while Ni₇S₆ prevents restacking of GNS. This work opens up new opportunities in the design of novel functional heterostructures by hybridizing 2D MOF nanosheets with other 2D nanomaterials for electrochemical energy storage/conversion applications.     

The Dynamic Emission Zone in Sandwich Polymer Light‐Emitting Electrochemical Cells

In light‐emitting electrochemical cells (LECs), the position of the emission zone (EZ) is not predefined via a multilayer architecture design, but governed by a complex motion of electrical and ionic charges. As a result of the evolution of doped charge transport layers that enclose a dynamic intrinsic region until steady state is reached, the EZ is often dynamic during turn‐on. For thick sandwich polymer LECs, a continuous change of the emission color provides a direct visual indication of a moving EZ. Results from an optical and electrical analysis indicate that the intrinsic zone is narrow at early times, but starts to widen during operation, notably well before the electrical device optimum is reached. Results from numerical simulations demonstrate that the only precondition for this event to occur is that the mobilities of anions (μ_a) and cations (μ_c) are not equal, and the direction of the EZ shift dictates μ_c > μ_a. Quantitative ion profiles reveal that the displacement of ions stops when the intrinsic zone stabilizes, confirming the relation between ion movement and EZ shift. Finally, simulations indicate that the experimental current peak for constant‐voltage operation is intrinsic and the subsequent decay does not result from degradation, as commonly stated.     

Effect of alternating postures on cognitive performance for healthy people performing sedentary work

Prolonged sitting is a risk factor for several diseases and the prevalence of worksite-based interventions such as sit-to-stand workstations is increasing. Although their impact on sedentary behaviour has been regularly investigated, the effect of working in alternating body postures on cognitive performance is unclear. To address this uncertainty, 45 students participated in a two-arm, randomised controlled cross-over trial under laboratory conditions. Subjects executed validated cognitive tests (working speed, reaction time, concentration performance) either in sitting or alternating working postures on two separate days (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02863731). MANOVA results showed no significant difference in cognitive performance between trials executed in alternating, standing or sitting postures. Perceived workload did not differ between sitting and alternating days. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant learning effects regarding concentration performance and working speed for both days. These results suggest that working posture did not affect cognitive performance in the short term.

Practitioner Summary: Prior reports indicated health-related benefits based on alternated (sit/stand) body postures. Nevertheless, their effect on cognitive performance is unknown. This randomised controlled trial showed that working in alternating body postures did not influence reaction time, concentration performance, working speed or workload perception in the short term.     

Gründerzeitliche Mauerwerksbauten unter Erdbebeneinwirkung – Tragverhalten im Widerspruch zur aktuell angewandten Nachbemessung

Historic masonry buildings under earthquakes – Load‐bearing behaviour in contradiction to the currently applied methods of analysis The stability of historic masonry buildings must be guaranteed not only under normal conditions, but also during natural disasters. The seismic assessment of the masonry buildings of the Gründerzeit (1840–1918) in Vienna is a central topic in the qualitative and constructive assessment. Although masonry construction has been used for many centuries, the realistic evaluation of the load‐bearing behaviour is still a complex challenge. The methods of analysis according to current regulations are only insufficiently able to reflect the real load‐bearing behaviour and the possible activation of global failure mechanisms. As a result, the simplified verification is often difficult to calculate for many historic buildings, and questionable reinforcement measures are taken to compensate, even though the buildings have already experienced several earthquakes and survived most of them without damage. The present work deals with the approaches of current methods of analysis and aims to identify problem points and to compare them with time history analysis, which is supported by a powerful material model based on test series. It is shown that the conventional analysis for the historic masonry buildings without consideration of the interaction and load transfer effects as well as the characteristic construction methods only partially reflect the real load‐bearing behaviour. The work is intended to be a contribution to the technical expert discussions on the seismic safety of historic buildings and to stimulate the discussion on the formulation of realistic methods of analysis.     

Bottom‐Up Design of Composite Supraparticles for Powder‐Based Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing promises high flexibility and customized product design. Powder bed fusion processes use a laser to melt a polymer powder at predefined locations and iterate the scheme to build 3D objects. The design of flowable powders is a critical parameter for a successful fabrication process that currently limits the choice of available materials. Here, a bottom‐up process is introduced to fabricate tailored polymer‐ and composite supraparticles for powder‐based additive manufacturing processes by controlled aggregation of colloidal primary particles. These supraparticles exhibit a near‐spherical shape and tailored composition, morphology, and surface roughness. These parameters can be precisely controlled by the mixing and size ratio of the primary particles. Polystyrene/silica composite particles are chosen as a model system to establish structure–property relations connecting shape, morphology, and surface roughness to the adhesion within the powder, which is accessed by tensile strength measurements. The adhesive properties are then connected to powder flowability and it is shown that the resulting powders allow the formation of dense powder films with uniform coverage. Finally, successful powder bed fusion is demonstrated by producing macroscopic single layer specimens with uniform distribution of nanoscale silica additives.