Preparation of Silver Nanowires via a Rapid,Scalable and Green Pathway

Rapid synthesis of silver nanowires(Ag NWs) with high quality and a broad processing window is challenging because of the low selectivity of the formation of multiply twinned particles at the nucleation stage for subsequent Ag NWs growth.Herein we report a systematic study of the water-involved heterogeneous nucleation of Ag NWs with high rate(less than 20 min) in a simple and scalable preparation method.Using glycerol as a reducing agent and a solvent with a high boiling point,the reaction is rapidly heated to 210 ℃ in air to synthesize Ag NWs with a very high yield in gram level.It is noted that the addition of a small dose of water plays a key role for obtaining highly pure Ag NWs in high yield,and the optimal water/glycerol ratio is0.25%.After investigating a series of forming factors including reaction temperature and dose of catalysts,the formation kinetics and mechanism of the Ag NWs are proposed.Compared to other preparation methods,our strategy is simple and reproducible.These Ag NWs show a strong Raman enhancement effect for organic molecules on their surface.     

In vivo Kinetic Biodistribution of Nano‐Sized Outer Membrane Vesicles Derived from Bacteria

Evaluation of kinetic distribution and behaviors of nanoparticles in vivo provides crucial clues into their roles in living organisms. Extracellular vesicles are evolutionary conserved nanoparticles, known to play important biological functions in intercellular, inter‐species, and inter‐kingdom communication. In this study, the first kinetic analysis of the biodistribution of outer membrane vesicles (OMVs)—bacterial extracellular vesicles—with immune‐modulatory functions is performed. OMVs, injected intraperitoneally, spread to the whole mouse body and accumulate in the liver, lung, spleen, and kidney within 3 h of administration. As an early systemic inflammation response, increased levels of TNF‐α and IL‐6 are observed in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. In addition, the number of leukocytes and platelets in the blood is decreased. OMVs and cytokine concentrations, as well as body temperature are gradually decreased 6 h after OMV injection, in concomitance with the formation of eye exudates, and of an increase in ICAM‐1 levels in the lung. Following OMV elimination, most of the inflammatory signs are reverted, 12 h post‐injection. However, leukocytes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid are increased as a late reaction. Taken together, these results suggest that OMVs are effective mediators of long distance communication in vivo.     

Isolated hepatic tuberculosis mimicking liver tumors in a dialysis patient

Cases of isolated hepatic tuberculosis (TB) are rare. The diagnosis is often delayed or missed because of nonspecific symptoms and laboratory findings. Besides, the disease is extremely rare even in a country where TB is an alarming public health problem. This report demonstrates the difficulty in correctly diagnosing local hepatic TB. We report the case of a 62‐year‐old male patient with end‐stage renal disease treated with hemodialysis, who developed 2 months of abdominal distension and general anorexia, with hyperechoic hepatic lesions on ultrasound. Computed tomography suspected multiple liver tumors. The liver biopsy finally led to the diagnosis of TB of the liver without other involvements. We conclude that isolated hepatic TB is one of the rare forms of extrapulmonary TB in dialysis patients. A greater awareness of this rare clinical entity may prevent needless surgical interventions.     

Iterative equalization combining algorithm in intersymbol interference channel

To realize joint optimization of spatial diversity and equalization combining in the intersymbol interference (ISI) channel, an iterative equalization combining algorithm is proposed. The proposed algorithm uses the coefficients of Turbo equalization to calculate the combination weights without estimating the signal to noise ratio in each diversity branch. The equalized symbols from different diversity branches are combined, and the extrinsic information output from the decoder is fed back to the equalizers, so as to exchange soft information between the equalizers and the decoder. The performance of the proposed algorithm is analyzed using the extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) chart and verified by simulations. Results show that our approach fully exploits time domain information from the multipath channel and spatial domain information from multi receiving antennas, which efficiently improve the performance of the receiver in the severe ISI channel.     

In situ characterization of LiY(WO4)2 nanotubes for electrochemical energy storage

Here, LiY(WO₄)₂ nanotubes are prepared via a feasible electrospinning technique. This new anode material shows excellent electrochemical properties. The capacity loss of LiY(WO₄)₂ nanotubes is as low as 6.9% after 156 cycles, while bulk LiY(WO₄)₂ presents the capacity loss higher than 55.0%. Even after 600 long-life cycles, the capacity loss of the nanotubes is only 9%. It can be seen that the hollow structure with a rough surface and a porous morphology contributes to the improvement of electrochemical performance. Furthermore, online X-ray diffraction (XRD) method is firstly applied to understand the lithium ions insertion/extraction mechanism of LiY(WO₄)₂ nanotubes. It can be concluded that it is an asymmetrical two-phase reaction. A phase transformation from LiY(WO₄)₂ to Li₃Y(WO₄)₂ can be obviously seen from the in situ XRD during discharge process. While Li₂Y(WO₄)₂ appears as an intermediate phase with a reverse charge reaction. In addition, in situ XRD also demonstrates that LiY(WO₄)₂ nanotubes have surprised electrochemical reversibility. All the above results indicate that LiY(WO₄)₂ nanotubes can be expected to be anode candidate for rechargeable lithium ion batteries (LIBs).     

Core–shell NTC materials with low thermal constant and high resistivity for wide-temperature thermistor ceramics

Core–shell structures have been proposed to improve the electrical properties of negative-temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistor ceramics. In this work, Al₂O₃-modified Co_1.5Mn_1.2Ni_0.3O₄ NTC thermistor ceramics with adjustable electrical properties were prepared through citrate-chelation followed by conventional sintering. Co_1.5Mn_1.2Ni_0.3O₄ powder was coated with a thin Al₂O₃ shell layer to form a core–shell structure. Resistivity (ρ) increased rapidly with increasing thickness of the Al₂O₃ layer, and the thermal constant (B) varied moderately between 3706 and 3846 K. In particular, Co_1.5Mn_1.2Ni_0.3O₄@Al₂O₃ ceramic with 0.08 wt% Al₂O₃ showed the increase of ρ double, and the change in its B was less than 140 K. The Co_1.5Mn_1.2Ni_0.3O₄@Al₂O₃ NTC ceramics showed high stability, and their grain size was relatively uniform due to the protection offered by the shell. The aging coefficient of the ceramic was less than 0.2% after aging for 500 hours at 125°C. Taken together, the results indicate that as-prepared Co_1.5Mn_1.2Ni_0.3O₄@Al₂O₃ NTC ceramics with a core–shell structure may be promising candidates for application as wide-temperature NTC thermistor ceramics.     

Choice Behavioral Model of Shared Bicycle: An Empirical Study Based on SEM

Wireless Personal Communications - The purpose of this study is to construct a structural equation model of shared bicycle added psychological factors proceeding from the theory of planned...     

Collective reflection strategy for moderating conformity tendency and promoting reflective judgment performance

Reflective judgement is crucial for medical-related practitioners in dealing with controversial issues. However, the conformity phenomenon is likely to occur and interfere with reflective judgement learning during interactive activities. Effective strategies are required to moderate the conformity behaviour tendency (CBT) and improve reflective judgement performance (RJP). This study demonstrates two significant results: (a) Compared with the guided self-reflection learning strategy, the online collective reflection (OCR) learning strategy effectively weakened the learners' general CBT while dealing with professional controversial issues; and (b) a significantly negative correlation between the RJP achieved and the change of CBT in online environment was detected in the OCR group. The implications and potential applications in higher education were discussed. Further studies are needed to confirm the long-term effects and the extending application to other professional studies.     

Interlayer Engineering of Molybdenum Trioxide toward High‐Capacity and Stable Sodium Ion Half/Full Batteries

Orthorhombic molybdenum trioxide (MoO₃) is one of the most promising anode materials for sodium‐ion batteries because of its rich chemistry associated with multiple valence states and intriguing layered structure. However, MoO₃ still suffers from the low rate capability and poor cycle induced by pulverization during de/sodiation. An ingenious two‐step synthesis strategy to fine tune the layer structure of MoO₃ targeting stable and fast sodium ionic diffusion channels is reported here. By integrating partially reduction and organic molecule intercalation methodologies, the interlayer spacing of MoO₃ is remarkably enlarged to 10.40 Å and the layer structural integration are reinforced by dimercapto groups of bismuththiol molecules. Comprehensive characterizations and density functional theory calculations prove that the intercalated bismuththiol (DMcT) molecules substantially enhanced electronic conductivity and effectively shield the electrostatic interaction between Na⁺ and the MoO₃ host by conjugated double bond, resulting in improved Na⁺ insertion/extraction kinetics. Benefiting from these features, the newly devised layered MoO₃ electrode achieves excellent long‐term cycling stability and outstanding rate performance. These achievements are of vital significance for the preparation of sodium‐ion battery anode materials with high‐rate capability and long cycling life using intercalation chemistry.     

Precise Extraction of Charge Carrier Mobility for Organic Transistors

Unreliable mobility values, and particularly greatly overestimated values and severely distorted temperature dependences, have recently hampered the development of the organic transistor field. Given that organic field‐effect transistors (OFETs) have been routinely used to evaluate mobility, precise parameter extraction using the electrical properties of OFETs is thus of primary importance. This review examines the origins of the various mobilities that must be determined for OFET applications, the relevant extraction methods, and the data selection limitations, which help in avoiding conceptual errors during mobility extraction. For increased precision, the review also discusses device fabrication considerations, calibration of both the specific gate‐dielectric capacitance and the threshold voltage, the contact effects, and the bias and temperature dependences, which must actually be handled with great care but have mostly been overlooked to date. This review serves as a systematic overview of the OFET mobility extraction process to ensure high precision and will also aid in improving future research.