Oxide Semiconductor Thin‐Film Transistors: A Review of Recent Advances

Transparent electronics is today one of the most advanced topics for a wide range of device applications. The key components are wide bandgap semiconductors, where oxides of different origins play an important role, not only as passive component but also as active component, similar to what is observed in conventional semiconductors like silicon. Transparent electronics has gained special attention during the last few years and is today established as one of the most promising technologies for leading the next generation of flat panel display due to its excellent electronic performance. In this paper the recent progress in n‐ and p‐type oxide based thin‐film transistors (TFT) is reviewed, with special emphasis on solution‐processed and p‐type, and the major milestones already achieved with this emerging and very promising technology are summarizeed. After a short introduction where the main advantages of these semiconductors are presented, as well as the industry expectations, the beautiful history of TFTs is revisited, including the main landmarks in the last 80 years, finishing by referring to some papers that have played an important role in shaping transparent electronics. Then, an overview is presented of state of the art n‐type TFTs processed by physical vapour deposition methods, and finally one of the most exciting, promising, and low cost but powerful technologies is discussed: solution‐processed oxide TFTs. Moreover, a more detailed focus analysis will be given concerning p‐type oxide TFTs, mainly centred on two of the most promising semiconductor candidates: copper oxide and tin oxide. The most recent data related to the production of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices based on n‐ and p‐type oxide TFT is also be presented. The last topic of this review is devoted to some emerging applications, finalizing with the main conclusions. Related work that originated at CENIMAT|I3N during the last six years is included in more detail, which has led to the fabrication of high performance n‐ and p‐type oxide transistors as well as the fabrication of CMOS devices with and on paper.     

Multivariate statistical analysis of the bibliographic output from a research institution,in relation to the measures of scientific policy

The publications produced in a medical research institute in a 16 year interval were classified into five categories (scientific papers in the journals covered byCurrent Contents orScience Citation Index, scientific papers in other journals, books and monographs, technical papers, congress and symposia communications) and counted for each year separately. The number of researchers and yearly budgets were also recorded. The data were analysed by contingency table, correlation and factor-analytical methods. It was shown that, upon introducing quantitative minimal criteria for job promotions, the proportion of scientific papers increased. Principal component analysis indicated that the data can be approximately represented as linear combinations of three mutually independent factors. The approach used is recommended for evaluating the production of scientific information in research institutions and for assessing the effects of the measures of scientific policy.     

Hollow Structures Based on Prussian Blue and Its Analogs for Electrochemical Energy Storage and Conversion

Due to their special structural characteristics, hollow structures grant fascinating physicochemical properties and widespread applications, especially in electrochemical energy storage and conversion. Recently, the research of Prussian blue (PB) and its analog (PBA) related nanomaterials has emerged and has drawn considerable attention because of their low cost, facile preparation, intrinsic open framework, and tunable composition. Here, the recent progress in the study of PB‐ and PBA‐based hollow structures for electrochemical energy storage and conversion are summarized and discussed. First, some remarkable examples in the synthesis of hollow structures from PB‐ and PBA‐based materials are illustrated in terms of the structural architectures, i.e., closed single‐shelled hollow structures, open hollow structures, and complex hollow structures. Thereafter, their applications as potential electrode materials for lithium‐/sodium‐ion batteries, hybrid supercapacitors, and electrocatalysis are demonstrated. Finally, the current achievements in this field together with the limits and urgent challenges are summarized. Some perspectives on the potential solutions and possible future trends are also provided.     

The Langmuir‐Blodgett Approach to Making Colloidal Photonic Crystals from Silica Spheres

The area of colloidal photonic crystal research has attracted enormous attention in recent years as a result of the potential of such materials to provide the means of fabricating new or improved photonic devices. As an area where chemistry still predominates over engineering the field is still in its infancy in terms of finding real applications being limited by ease of fabrication, reproducibility and ‘quality’‐ for example the extent to which ordered structures may be prepared over large areas. It is our contention that the Langmuir‐Blodgett assembly method when applied to colloidal particles of silica and perhaps other materials, offers a way of overcoming these issues. To this end the assembly of silica and other particles into colloidal photonic crystals using the Langmuir‐Blodgett (LB) method is described and some of the numerous papers on this topic, which have been published, are reviewed. It is shown that the layer‐by‐layer control of photonic crystal growth afforded by the LB method allows for the fabrication of a range of novel, layered photonic crystals that may not be easily assembled using any other approach. Some of the more interesting of these structures, including so‐called heterostructured photonic crystals comprising of layers of spheres having different diameters are presented and their optical properties described. Finally, we offer our comments as to future applications of this interesting technology.     

Motion Manipulation of Micro‐ and Nanomotors

Inspired by the self‐migration of microorganisms in nature, artificial micro‐ and nanomotors can mimic this fantastic behavior by converting chemical fuel or external energy into mechanical motion. These self‐propelled micro‐ and nanomotors, designed either by top‐down or bottom‐up approaches, are able to achieve different applications, such as environmental remediation, sensing, cargo/sperm transportation, drug delivery, and even precision micro‐/nanosurgery. For these various applications, especially biomedical applications, regulating on‐demand the motion of micro‐ and nanomotors is quite essential. However, it remains a continuing challenge to increase the controllability over motors themselves. Here, we will discuss the recent advancements regarding the motion manipulation of micro‐ and nanomotors by different approaches.     

Patterning: Strategies for Patterning Biomolecules with Dip‐Pen Nanolithography (Small 8/2011)

Dip‐pen nanolithography (DPN) is an atomic force microscopy (AFM)‐based lithography technique, which has the ability to fabricate patterns with a feature size down to approximately 15 nm using both top‐down and bottom‐up approaches. DPN utilizes the water meniscus formed between an AFM tip and a substrate to transfer ink molecules onto surfaces. A major application of this technique is the fabrication of micro‐ and nano‐arrays of patterned biomolecules. To achieve this goal, a variety of chemical approaches has been used. This review concisely describes the development of DPN in the past decade and presents the related chemical strategies that have been reported to fabricate biomolecular paterns with DPN at micrometer and nanometer scale, classified into direct‐ and indirect DPN methodologies, discussing tip‐functionalization strategies as well.     

High‐Efficiency Single‐Component Organic Light‐Emitting Transistors

Construction of high‐performance organic light‐emitting transistors (OLETs) remains challenging due to the limited desired organic semiconductor materials. Here, two superior high mobility emissive organic semiconductors, 2,6‐diphenylanthracene (DPA) and 2,6‐di(2‐naphthyl) anthracene (dNaAnt), are introduced into the construction of OLETs. By optimizing the device geometry for balanced ambipolar efficient charge transport and using high‐quality DPA and dNaAnt single crystals as active layers, high‐efficiency single‐component OLETs are successfully fabricated, with the demonstration of strong and spatially controlled light emission within both p‐ and n‐ conducting channels and output of high external quantum efficiency (EQE). The obtained EQE values in current devices are approaching 1.61% for DPA‐OLETs and 1.75% for dNaAnt‐based OLETs, respectively, which are the highest EQE values for single‐component OLETs in the common device configuration reported so far. Moreover, high brightnesses of 1210 and 3180 cd m^?2 with current densities up to 1.3 and 8.4 kA cm^?2 are also achieved for DPA‐ and dNaAnt‐based OLETs, respectively. These results demonstrate the great potential applications of high mobility emissive organic semiconductors for next‐generation rapid development of high‐performance single‐component OLETs and their related organic integrated electro‐optical devices.     

Verschleißschutz für hochbelastete Umformwerkzeuge

Wear protection for heavy duty forming tools — PVD‐, CVD‐ and laser treatment The PVD‐ or CVD‐ coating of heavy duty tools for cold forging and metal sheet forming is a today's standard for a wide variety of applications in mass production. This article leads into this matter and demonstrates by means of some typical examples the state of the art.     

An adaptive domain decomposition coupled finite element–boundary element method for solving problems in elasto‐plasticity

The purpose of this paper is to present an adaptive finite element–boundary element method (FEM–BEM) coupling method that is valid for both two‐ and three‐dimensional elasto‐plastic analyses. The method takes care of the evolution of the elastic and plastic regions. It eliminates the cumbersome of a trial and error process in the identification of the FEM and BEM sub‐domains in the standard FEM–BEM coupling approaches. The method estimates the FEM and BEM sub‐domains and automatically generates/adapts the FEM and BEM meshes/sub‐domains, according to the state of computation. The results for two‐ and three‐dimensional applications in elasto‐plasticity show the practicality and the efficiency of the adaptive FEM–BEM coupling method. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

fMRI analysis of excessive binocular disparity on the human brain

The aim of this study is to evaluate brain regions related with excessive binocular disparity that may be linked to stereoscopic visual fatigue. In stereoscopic displays, excessive binocular disparity may generate blurring or double vision in the stereovision and induce unnatural oscillations in accommodation and vergence. These phenomena may lead to visual fatigue and activation (or deactivation) of human brain related with sensory and eye movement functions. A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) method is used to investigate the effect of excessive binocular disparity on human brain. Subjective assessments of visual fatigue are also conducted with the same stimuli as the fMRI experiment. Based on the subjective assessment results, participants are classified into low‐ and high‐fatigue groups. From the fMRI experiments, the high‐fatigue group showed more activation at the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) than the low‐fatigue group, when viewing an excessive disparity stimulus. The results showed that the excessive binocular disparity stimulus may induce overload to the IPS region, which is related with stereo processing and saccadic eye movement. In addition, it could be possible to use fMRI as an objective measurement method for understanding the stereoscopic visual fatigue when stimuli with excessive binocular disparity are applied.     

Use of mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors after failure of tyrosine kinase inhibitors in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma undergoing hemodialysis: A single‐center experience with four cases

We retrospectively identified patients with end‐stage renal disease undergoing hemodialysis treated with the mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors as a second‐ and/or third‐line targeted therapy after treatment failure with the tyrosine kinase inhibitors for metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Patient medical records were reviewed to evaluate the response to therapies and treatment‐related toxicities. Four patients were identified. All patients had undergone nephrectomy, and one had received immunotherapy before targeted therapy. Two patients had clear cell histology, and the other two had papillary histology. All patients were classified into the intermediate risk group according to the Memorial Sloan‐Kettering Cancer Center risk model. All patients were treated with everolimus as a second‐ or third‐line therapy, and two patients were treated with temsirolimus as a second‐ or third‐line therapy after treatment failure with sorafenib or sunitinib. The median duration of everolimus therapy was 6.7 months, whereas that of temsirolimus was 9.5 months. All patients had stable disease as the best response during each period of therapy. There were no severe adverse events. The use of mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors in patients who previously failed to respond to tyrosine kinase inhibitors appears to be feasible in patients with end‐stage renal disease requiring hemodialysis.     

Multifunctional Electroactive Heteroatom‐Doped Carbon Aerogels

The design and synthesis of highly active, durable, and cheap nanomaterials for various renewable energy storage and conversion applications is extremely desirable but remains challenging. Here, a green and efficient strategy to produce CoO_x nanoparticles and surface N‐co‐doped carbon aerogels (Co‐N‐CAs) is reported by multicomponent surface self‐assembly of commercially melamine sponge (CMS). In the methodology, the CMS simultaneously function as green N precursor for surface N doping and 3D support. The resulting Co‐N‐CAs exhibit 3D hierarchical, interconnected macro‐ and bimodal meso‐porosity (6.3 nm and <4 nm), high surface area (1383 m² g^?1), and highly dispersed, semi‐exposured CoO_x nanoparticles (diameter of 12.5 nm). The surface doping of N, semi‐exposured configuration of CoO_x nanoparticles and the penetrated complementary pores (<4 nm) in the carbon walls provide highly accessibility between electroactive components and electrolytes to improve reactivity. With their tailored architecture, the Co‐N‐CAs show superior electrocatalytic oxygen reduction (ORR) activities comparable to the commercially Pt/C catalysts, high specific capacitance (433 F g^?1), excellent lithium storage (938 mAh g^?1), and outstanding durability, making them very promising for advanced energy conversion and storage. In addition, the presented strategy can be extended to fabricate other metal oxide‐ and N‐ co‐doped carbon aerogels for diverse energy‐related applications.     

Rational Design of Catalytic Centers in Crystalline Frameworks

Crystalline frameworks including primarily metal organic frameworks (MOF) and covalent organic frameworks (COF) have received much attention in the field of heterogeneous catalysts recently. Beyond providing large surface area and spatial confinement, these crystalline frameworks can be designed to either directly act as or influence the catalytic sites at molecular level. This approach offers a unique advantage to gain deeper insights of structure–activity correlations in solid materials, leading to new guiding principles for rational design of advanced solid catalysts for potential important applications related to energy and fine chemical synthesis. In this review, recent key progress achieved in designing MOF‐ and COF‐based molecular solid catalysts and the mechanistic understanding of the catalytic centers and associated reaction pathways are summarized. The state‐of‐the‐art rational design of MOF‐ and COF‐based solid catalysts in this review is grouped into seven different areas: (i) metalated linkers, (ii) metalated moieties anchored on linkers, (iii) organic moieties anchored on linkers, (iv) encapsulated single sites in pores, and (v) metal‐mode‐based active sites in MOFs. Along with this, some attention is paid to theoretical studies about the reaction mechanisms. Finally, technical challenges and possible solutions in applying these catalysts for practical applications are also presented.     

Theoretical comparison of the FETI and algebraically partitioned FETI methods,and performance comparisons with a direct sparse solver

In this paper, we prove that the Algebraic A‐FETI method corresponds to one particular instance of the original one‐level FETI method. We also report on performance comparisons on an Origin 2000 between the one‐ and two‐level FETI methods and an optimized sparse solver, for two industrial applications: the stress analysis of a thin shell structure, and that of a three‐dimensional structure modelled by solid elements. These comparisons suggest that for topologically two‐dimensional problems, sparse solvers are effective when the number of processors is relatively small. They also suggest that for three‐dimensional applications, scalable domain decomposition methods such as FETI deliver a superior performance on both sequential and parallel hardware configurations. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identification and Avoidance of Systematic Measurement Errors in Lamb Wave Observation With One‐Dimensional Scanning Laser Vibrometry

Abstract: Scanning laser vibrometry is a widely used tool to observe Lamb wave fields for structural health monitoring (SHM) purposes. Lamb waves propagate over long distances in thin‐walled structures and interact with structural inhomogeneities, for example, damages, in spite of wavelengths several times of the damage size. In SHM of sheets and glass‐ or carbon‐fibre‐reinforced plastic plates, this effect is used for determining the position as well as the size of structural faults. With the often employed one‐dimensional vibrometry, a geometrically induced, systematic error occurs when measuring oblique‐angled motion. This error can be, in the specific case of Lamb waves, of a non‐negligible quantity. The nature of this geometrical measurement error in general and concerning Lamb waves in special is discussed analytically for both amplitude and phase data. It is shown that this matter should be taken into account in some applications.     

Novel partitioned time integration methods for DAE systems based on L‐stable linearly implicit algorithms

Real‐time applications based on the principle of Dynamic Substructuring require integration methods that can deal with constraints without exceeding an a priori fixed number of steps. For these applications, first we introduce novel partitioned algorithms able to solve DAEs arising from transient structural dynamics. In particular, the spatial domain is partitioned into a set of disconnected subdomains and continuity conditions of acceleration at the interface are modeled using a dual Schur formulation. Interface equations along with subdomain equations lead to a system of DAEs for which both staggered and parallel procedures are developed. Moreover under the framework of projection methods, also a parallel partitioned method is conceived. The proposed partitioned algorithms enable a Rosenbrock‐based linearly implicit LSRT2 method, to be strongly coupled with different time steps in each subdomain. Thus, user‐defined algorithmic damping and subcycling strategies are allowed. Secondly, the paper presents the convergence analysis of the novel schemes for linear single‐Degree‐of‐Freedom (DoF) systems. The algorithms are generally A‐stable and preserve the accuracy order as the original monolithic method. Successively, these results are validated via simulations on single‐ and three‐DoFs systems. Finally, the insight gained from previous analyses is confirmed by means of numerical experiments on a coupled spring–pendulum system. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Smart Drug Delivery Nanocarriers with Self‐Assembled DNA Nanostructures

Self‐assembled DNA nanostructures have emerged as a type of nano‐biomaterials with precise structures, versatile functions and numerous applications. One particularly promising application of these DNA nanostructures is to develop universal nanocarriers for smart and targeted drug delivery. DNA is the genetic material in nature, and inherently biocompatible. Nevertheless, cell membranes are barely permeable to naked DNA molecules, either single‐ or double‐ stranded; transport across the cell membrane is only possible with the assistance of transfection agents. Interestingly, recent studies revealed that many DNA nanostructures could readily go into cells with high cell uptake efficiency. In this Progress Report, we will review recent advances on using various DNA nanostructures, e.g., DNA nanotubes, DNA tetrahedra, and DNA origami nanorobot, as drug delivery nanocarriers, and demonstrate several examples aiming at therapeutic applications with CpG‐based immunostimulatory and siRNA‐based gene silencing oligonucleotides.     

Vertical 1T‐TaS2 Synthesis on Nanoporous Gold for High‐Performance Electrocatalytic Applications

2D metallic TaS₂ is acting as an ideal platform for exploring fundamental physical issues (superconductivity, charge‐density wave, etc.) and for engineering novel applications in energy‐related fields. The batch synthesis of high‐quality TaS₂ nanosheets with a specific phase is crucial for such issues. Herein, the successful synthesis of novel vertically oriented 1T‐TaS₂ nanosheets on nanoporous gold substrates is reported, via a facile chemical vapor deposition route. By virtue of the abundant edge sites and excellent electrical transport property, such vertical 1T‐TaS₂ is employed as high‐efficiency electrocatalysts in the hydrogen evolution reaction, featured with rather low Tafel slopes ≈67–82 mV dec^?1 and an ultrahigh exchange current density ≈67.61 µA cm^?2. The influence of phase states of 1T‐ and 2H‐TaS₂ on the catalytic activity is also discussed with the combination of density functional theory calculations. This work hereby provides fundamental insights into the controllable syntheses and electrocatalytic applications of vertical 1T‐TaS₂ nanosheets achieved through the substrate engineering.     

Flexographic Printing of Trametes versicolor Laccase for Indicator Applications

Trametes versicolor laccase papers were prepared, and their suitability was tested for anticounterfeiting and oxygen indicator concepts in packaging applications. Laccase was coated and printed onto paper with a flexographic ink base, a sulfo polyester resin, Hydro‐Rez 1100D (HZ1100D). Laccase remains active on paper with flexographic ink HZ1100D after printing with flexographic press. Colour change of papers was observed when 2,2‐azino‐bis(3‐ethylbenzothiazoline‐6‐sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) solution was applied to the paper. A strong colour change to dark green was obtained on the papers prepared by coating or printing of laccase with HZ1100D onto EUCA paper. EUCA paper appeared to be well suited for laccase‐based indicator applications because it remained rough even after ink deposition, allowing rapid absorption of ABTS solution. Finally, the indicators demonstrated to work as oxygen indicators in a package. Indicator colour was changed when oxygen was leaked to the package. As a conclusion, the laccase papers described here would be well suited for various indicator applications and could be produced using flexographic printing, allowing large scale manufacturing. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recent Developments in the Application of Phosphorescent Iridium(III) Complex Systems

The recent developments in using iridium(III) complexes as phosphorescent emitters in electroluminescent devices, such as (white) organic light‐emitting diodes and light‐emitting electrochemical cells, are discussed. Additionally, applications in the emerging fields of molecular sensors, biolabeling, and photocatalysis are briefly evaluated. The basic strategies towards charged and non‐charged iridium(III) complexes are summarized, and a wide range of assemblies is discussed. Small‐molecule‐ and polymer‐based materials are under intense investigation as emissive systems in electroluminescent devices, and special emphasis is placed on the latter with respect to synthesis, characterization, electro‐optical properties, processing technologies, and performance.