Vertically Aligned Niobium Nanowire Arrays for Fast‐Charging Micro‐Supercapacitors

Planar micro‐supercapacitors are attractive for system on chip technologies and surface mount devices due to their large areal capacitance and energy/power density compared to the traditional oxide‐based capacitors. In the present work, a novel material, niobium nanowires, in form of vertically aligned electrodes for application in high performance planar micro‐supercapacitors is introduced. Specific capacitance of up to 1 kF m^?2 (100 mF cm^?2) with peak energy and power density of 2 kJ m^?2 (6.2 MJ m^?3 or 1.7 mWh cm^?3) and 150 kW m^?2 (480 MW m^?3 or 480 W cm^?3), respectively, is achieved. This remarkable power density, originating from the extremely low equivalent series resistance value of 0.27 Ω (2.49 µΩ m² or 24.9 mΩ cm²) and large specific capacitance, is among the highest for planar micro‐supercapacitors electrodes made of nanomaterials.     

Large‐Scale Direct‐Writing of Aligned Nanofibers for Flexible Electronics

Nanofibers/nanowires usually exhibit exceptionally low flexural rigidities and remarkable tolerance against mechanical bending, showing superior advantages in flexible electronics applications. Electrospinning is regarded as a powerful process for this 1D nanostructure; however, it can only be able to produce chaotic fibers that are incompatible with the well‐patterned microstructures in flexible electronics. Electro‐hydrodynamic (EHD) direct‐writing technology enables large‐scale deposition of highly aligned nanofibers in an additive, noncontact, real‐time adjustment, and individual control manner on rigid or flexible, planar or curved substrates, making it rather attractive in the fabrication of flexible electronics. In this Review, the ground‐breaking research progress in the field of EHD direct‐writing technology is summarized, including a brief chronology of EHD direct‐writing techniques, basic principles and alignment strategies, and applications in flexible electronics. Finally, future prospects are suggested to advance flexible electronics based on orderly arranged EHD direct‐written fibers. This technology overcomes the limitations of the resolution of fabrication and viscosity of ink of conventional inkjet printing, and represents major advances in manufacturing of flexible electronics.     

Mechanically Assisted Self‐Healing of Ultrathin Gold Nanowires

As the critical feature sizes of integrated circuits approaching sub‐10 nm, ultrathin gold nanowires (diameter <10 nm) have emerged as one of the most promising candidates for next‐generation interconnects in nanoelectronics. Also due to their ultrasmall dimensions, however, the structures and morphologies of ultrathin gold nanowires are more prone to be damaged during practical services, for example, Rayleigh instability can significantly alter their morphologies upon Joule heating, hindering their applications as interconnects. Here, it is shown that upon mechanical perturbations, predamaged, nonuniform ultrathin gold nanowires can quickly recover into uniform diameters and restore their smooth surfaces, via a simple mechanically assisted self‐healing process. By examining the local self‐healing process through in situ high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy, the underlying mechanism is believed to be associated with surface atomic diffusion as evidenced by molecular dynamics simulations. In addition, mechanical manipulation can assist the atoms to overcome the diffusion barriers, as suggested by ab initio calculations, to activate more surface adatoms to diffuse and consequently speed up the self‐healing process. This result can provide a facile method to repair ultrathin metallic nanowires directly in functional devices, and quickly restore their microstructures and morphologies by simple global mechanical perturbations.     

Realization of Nanolene: A Planar Array of Perfectly Aligned,Air‐Suspended Nanowires

Air suspension and alignment are fundamental requirements to make the best use of nanowires' unique properties; however, satisfying both requirements is very challenging due to the mechanical instability of air‐suspended nanowires. Here, a perfectly aligned air‐suspended nanowire array called “nanolene” is demonstrated, which has a high mechanical stability owing to a C‐channel‐shaped cross‐section of the nanowires. The excellent mechanical stability is provided through geometrical modeling and finite element method simulations. The C‐channel cross‐section can be realized by top‐down fabrication procedures, resulting in reliable demonstrations of the nanolenes with various materials and geometric parameters. The fabrication process provides large‐area uniformity; therefore, nanolene can be considered as a 2D planar platform for 1D nanowire arrays. Thanks to the high mechanical stability of the proposed nanolene, perfectly aligned air‐suspended nanowire arrays with an unprecedented length of 1 mm (aspect ratio ≈5100) are demonstrated. Since the nanolene can be used in an energy‐efficient nanoheater, two energy‐stringent sensors, namely, an air‐flow sensor and a carbon monoxide gas sensor, are demonstrated. In particular, the gas sensor achieves sub‐10 mW operations, which is a requirement for application in mobile phones. The proposed nanolene will pave the way to accelerate nanowire research and industrialization by providing reliable, high‐performance nanowire devices.     

Spontaneous Assembly of Extremely Long,Horizontally‐Aligned,Conductive Gold Micro‐Wires in a Langmuir Monolayer Template

“Bottom‐up” technologies are based upon the premise that organized systems – from the nano‐scale up to the macro‐scale – can be assembled spontaneously from basic building blocks in solution. We demonstrate a simple strategy for the generation of extremely long (up to several centi­meters), horizontally‐aligned gold micro‐wires, produced through a surfactant monolayer template deposited from gold thiocyanate [Au(SCN)₄⁻] aqueous solution. Specifically, we show that the surfactant, octyl‐maleimide (OM), spontaneously forms oriented micro‐wires at the air/water interface, which constitute a template for deposition of metallic gold through binding and crystallization of the soluble gold complex. The Au micro‐wires can be subsequently transferred onto solid substrates, and following plasma treatment and gold enhancement exhibit excellent conductivity even at electrode spacings of several centimeters. Importantly, the micro‐wire alignment determines the direction of electrical current, demonstrating that long‐range ordering of the micro‐wires can be accomplished, significantly affecting the physical properties of the system. The new approach is simple, robust, and can be readily exploited for bottom‐up fabrication of micro‐wire assemblies and transparent conductive electrodes.     

Self‐Propelled Micro/Nanomotors for On‐Demand Biomedical Cargo Transportation

Micro/nanomotors (MNMs) are miniaturized machines that can perform assigned tasks at the micro/nanoscale. Over the past decade, significant progress has been made in the design, preparation, and applications of MNMs that are powered by converting different sources of energy into mechanical force, to realize active movement and fulfill on‐demand tasks. MNMs can be navigated to desired locations with precise controllability based on different guidance mechanisms. A considerable research effort has gone into demonstrating that MNMs possess the potential of biomedical cargo loading, transportation, and targeted release to achieve therapeutic functions. Herein, the recent advances of self‐propelled MNMs for on‐demand biomedical cargo transportation, including their self‐propulsion mechanisms, guidance strategies, as well as proof‐of‐concept studies for biological applications are presented. In addition, some of the major challenges and possible opportunities of MNMs are identified for future biomedical applications in the hope that it may inspire future research.     

Self‐Propelled Micro/Nanomotors for Sensing and Environmental Remediation

Self‐propelled micro/nanomotors have gained attention for successful application in cargo delivery, therapeutic treatments, sensing, and environmental remediation. Unique characteristics such as high speed, motion control, selectivity, and functionability promote the application of micro/nanomotors in analytical sciences. Here, the recent advancements and main challenges regarding the application of self‐propelled micro/nanomotors in sensing and environmental remediation are discussed. The current state of micro/nanomotors is reviewed, emphasizing the period of the last five years, then their developments into the future applications for enhanced sensing and efficient purification of water resources are extrapolated.     

微纳Taper光纤干涉传感器的折射率测量理论研究

利用微纳taper光纤干涉方程和微纳光纤传输模式函数关系,建立了微纳taper光纤干涉波长随环境折射率变化的数学模型,指出微纳taper光纤干涉波长的响应规律由基模高阶模有效折射率差、色散因子和环境折射率3个因素所决定.详细研究了微纳taper光纤传感器的灵敏度变化规律,结果表明,传感器的灵敏度随光纤半径变小而急速增大,并随环境折射率的增大而非线性增加,而且探测波长越长,其灵敏度越大.