High‐Performance Photoinduced Memory with Ultrafast Charge Transfer Based on MoS2/SWCNTs Network Van Der Waals Heterostructure

Photoinduced memory devices with fast program/erase operations are crucial for modern communication technology, especially for high‐throughput data storage and transfer. Although some photoinduced memories based on 2D materials have already demonstrated desirable performance, the program/erase speed is still limited to hundreds of micro‐seconds. A high‐speed photoinduced memory based on MoS₂/single‐walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) network mixed‐dimensional van der Waals heterostructure is demonstrated here. An intrinsic ultrafast charge transfer occurs at the heterostructure interface between MoS₂ and SWCNTs (below 50 fs), therefore enabling a record program/erase speed of ≈32/0.4 ms, which is faster than that of the previous reports. Furthermore, benefiting from the unique device structure and material properties, while achieving high‐speed program/erase operation, the device can simultaneously obtain high program/erase ratio (≈10⁶), appropriate storage time (≈10³ s), record‐breaking detectivity (≈10¹⁶ Jones) and multibit storage capacity with a simple program/erase operation. It even has a potential application as a flexible optoelectronic device. Therefore, the designed concept here opens an avenue for high‐throughput fast data communications.     

A universal equivalent circuit model for the impedance response of composites

An equivalent circuit model has been developed to describe the impedance response of composites with insulating or conductive particles or fibers. Required inputs are the matrix conductivity, the intrinsic conductivity of the particles, and their volume fraction. The model has general applicability to systems involving moderately conductive matrices, insulating or conductive particles/fibers, and, in the case of conducting particles, the presence of a high impedance coating element on the particle surfaces. Ramifications for the use of impedance spectroscopy in the characterization of composite properties and the monitoring of their performance under load are discussed.     

Designing Metallic and Insulating Nanocrystal Heterostructures to Fabricate Highly Sensitive and Solution Processed Strain Gauges for Wearable Sensors

All‐solution processed, high‐performance wearable strain sensors are demonstrated using heterostructure nanocrystal (NC) solids. By incorporating insulating artificial atoms of CdSe quantum dot NCs into metallic artificial atoms of Au NC thin film matrix, metal–insulator heterostructures are designed. This hybrid structure results in a shift close to the percolation threshold, modifying the charge transport mechanism and enhancing sensitivity in accordance with the site percolation theory. The number of electrical pathways is also manipulated by creating nanocracks to further increase its sensitivity, inspired from the bond percolation theory. The combination of the two strategies achieves gauge factor up to 5045, the highest sensitivity recorded among NC‐based strain gauges. These strain sensors show high reliability, durability, frequency stability, and negligible hysteresis. The fundamental charge transport behavior of these NC solids is investigated and the combined site and bond percolation theory is developed to illuminate the origin of their enhanced sensitivity. Finally, all NC‐based and solution‐processed strain gauge sensor arrays are fabricated, which effectively measure the motion of each finger joint, the pulse of heart rate, and the movement of vocal cords of human. This work provides a pathway for designing low‐cost and high‐performance electronic skin or wearable devices.     

On the Self-Generation of Electrical Soliton Pulses

The nonlinear transmission line is a structure where short-duration pulses called electrical solitons can be created and propagated. By combining, in a closed-loop topology, the nonlinear line and a special amplifier that provides not only gain but also mechanisms to tame inherently unruly soliton dynamics, we recently constructed the first electrical soliton oscillator that self-generates a stable, periodic train of electrical soliton pulses (Ricketts , IEEE Trans. MTT, 2006). This paper starts with a review of this recently introduced circuit concept, and then reports on new contributions, i.e., further experimental studies of the dynamics of the stable soliton oscillator and a CMOS prototype demonstrating the chip-scale operation of the stable soliton oscillator. Finally, we go to the opposite end of the spectrum and present a numerical study showing the possibilities that deliberate promotions of the unruly soliton dynamics in the closed-loop topology can produce chaotic signals.     

Cationic Conjugated Polyelectrolytes with Molecular Spacers for Efficient Fluorescence Energy Transfer to Dye‐Labeled DNA

Two water‐soluble conjugated polyelectrolytes, poly(9,9′‐bis(6‐N,N,N‐trimethylammoniumhexyl)fluorene‐alt‐1,4‐(2,5‐bis(6‐N,N,N‐trimethylammoniumhexyloxy))phenylene) tetrabromide ( P1i ) and poly((10,10′‐bis(6‐N,N,N‐trimethylammoniumhexyl)‐10H‐spiro(anthracene‐9,9′‐fluorene))‐alt‐1,4‐(2,5‐bis(6‐N,N,N‐trimethylammoniumhexyloxy))phenylene) tetrabromide ( P2i ) are synthesized, characterized, and used in fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) experiments with fluorescein‐labeled single‐stranded DNA (ssDNA‐Fl). P1i and P2i have nearly identical π‐conjugated backbones, as determined by cyclic voltammetry and UV‐vis spectroscopy. The main structural difference is the presence of an anthracenyl substituent, orthogonal to the main chain in each of the P2i repeat units, which increases the average interchain separation in aggregated phases. It is possible to observe emission from ssDNA‐Fl via FRET upon excitation of P2i . Fluorescein is not emissive within the ssDNA‐Fl/ P1i electrostatic complex, suggesting Fl emission quenching through photoinduced charge transfer (PCT). We propose that the presence of the anthracenyl “molecular bumper” in P2i increases the distance between optical partners, which decreases PCT more acutely relative to FRET.     

Localizing slab identification numbers in factory scene images

This paper deals with algorithms for text localization and character segmentation in images for process automation in the steel-making industry. Each character which comprises slab identification numbers may be corrupted severely before it is captured by network cameras. Therefore, proper processing is required to localize the target texts successfully. In this paper, we propose (1) a method to evaluate the closeness of an edge patch to the form of a closed contour, (2) an edge inspection method to determine character colors and estimate font thickness, and (3) three reasonable binarization methods to increase the performance of the algorithm for the detection of the left and right boundaries of the text rectangle. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithms are reliable.     

NapWell: An EOG-based Sleep Assistant Exploring the Effects of Virtual Reality on Sleep Onset

Virtual Reality - We present NapWell, a Sleep Assistant using virtual reality (VR) to decrease sleep onset latency by providing a realistic imagery distraction prior to sleep onset. Our proposed...     

Synergistic Effects of Cation and Anion in an Ionic Imidazolium Tetrafluoroborate Additive for Improving the Efficiency and Stability of Half-Mixed Pb-Sn Perovskite Solar Cells

Narrow-bandgap mixed Pb-Sn perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have great feasibility for constructing efficient all-perovskite tandem solar cells, in combination with wide-bandgap lead halide PSCs. However, the power conversion efficiency of mixed Pb-Sn PSCs still lags behind lead-based counterparts. Here, additive engineering using ionic imidazolium tetrafluoroborate (IMBF₄) is proposed, where the imidazolium (IM) cation and tetrafluoroborate (BF₄) anion efficiently passivate defects at grain boundaries and improve crystallinity, simultaneously relaxing lattice strain, respectively. Defect passivation is achieved by the chemical interaction between the IM cation and the positively charged under-coordinated Pb²⁺ or Sn²⁺ ions, and lattice strain relaxation is realized by lattice expansion with the intercalation of BF₄ anions into the perovskite lattice. As a result, the synergistic effects of the cation and anion in the IMBF₄ additive greatly enhance the optoelectronic performance of half-mixed Pb-Sn perovskites, leading to much longer carrier lifetimes. The best-performing half-mixed Pb-Sn PSC shows an efficiency above 19% with negligible hysteresis, while retaining over 90% of its initial efficiency after 1000 h in a nitrogen-filled glovebox and showing a lifetime to 80% degradation of 53.5 h under continuous illumination.