All solid-state battery with sulfur electrode and thio-LISICON electrolyte

A high-capacity type of all solid-state battery was developed using sulfur electrode and the thio-LISICON electrolyte. New nano-composite of sulfur and acetylene black (AB) with an average particle size of 1–10 nm was fabricated by gas-phase mixing and showed a reversible capacity of 900 mAh g⁻¹ at a current density of 0.013 mA cm⁻².     

Enhancement of Spin–Orbit Interaction by Bandgap Engineering in InAs-Based Heterostructures

We investigated Rashba spin–orbit interaction in various InAs-based heterostructures to evaluate the relative significance of the electric field in the quantum wells (QWs) and at the interfaces. Test structures were designed in such a way that the peak of the electron wave function was located on the abrupt band discontinuity at the front end of the main channel, whereas a control sample had no band discontinuity in the middle of the QW. The Rashba coefficient obtained for the test structures was almost double that of the control sample. Significant contribution of the electric field at the band discontinuity was verified by k · p calculation. Bandgap engineering was shown to be effective for obtaining an increased Rashba coefficient.     

Enhanced Hole‐Transporting Behavior of Discotic Liquid‐Crystalline Physical Gels

Discotic liquid‐crystalline (LC) physical gels have been prepared by combining the self‐assembled fibers of a low‐molecular‐weight gelator and semiconducting LC triphenylene derivatives. The hole mobilities of the discotic LC physical gels measured by a time‐of‐flight method become higher than those of LC triphenylenes alone. The introduction of the finely dispersed networks of the gelator in the hexagonal columnar phases may affect the molecular dynamics of the liquid crystals, resulting in the enhancement of hole transporting behavior in the LC gel state.     

Photoactive Electro-Controlled Visual Perception Memory for Emulating Synaptic Metaplasticity and Hebbian Learning

In bionic technology, it has become an innovative process imitating the functionality and structuralism of human biological systems to exploit advanced artificial intelligent machines. Bionics plays a significant role in environmental protection, especially for its low energy loss. By fusing the concept of receptor-like sensing component and synapse-like memory, the photoactive electro-controlled optical sensory memory (PE-SM) is proposed and realized in a single device, which endows a simple methodology of reducing power consumption by photoactive electro-control. The PE-SM is the system built with the stacked atomically thick materials, in which rhenium diselenide serves as a robust photosensor, hexagonal boron nitride serves as a tunneling dielectric, and graphene serves as a charge-storage layer. With the features of the PE-SM, it performs synaptic metaplasticities under optical spikes. In addition, a simulated spiking neural network composed of 24 × 24 PE-SMs is further presented in an unsupervised machine learning environment, performing image recognition via the Hebbian rule. The PE-SM not only improves the neuromorphic computing efficiency but also simplifies the circuit-size structure. Eventually, the concept of photoactive electro-control can extend to other photosensitive 2D materials and provide a new approach of constructing either visual perception memory or photonic synaptic devices.     

Role of mitochondria in the switch mechanism of the cell death mode from apoptosis to necrosis--studies on rho0 cells

Detailed mechanisms of the switch of the cell death mode from apoptosis to necrosis remain to be solved, although the intracellular level of ATP and that of free radicals have been postulated to be the major factors involved in the mechanisms. In the present study menadione (MEN)-induced cell injury processes were studied using rho0 cells derived from human osteosarcoma 143B cells and parental rho+ cells co-treated with inhibitors of electron transfer chain of mitochondria or oligomycin, an inhibitor of ATP synthesis. Treatment of rho+ cells with 100 microM MEN induced apoptosis, which reached the maximum at 6 h, and was followed by an abrupt decrease thereafter, while necrotic cells (NC) increased continuously when they were judged by Annexin V and PI double staining. On the other hand, MEN induced apoptotic and necrotic changes much faster in rho0 cells compared to rho+ cells. The frequency to find apoptotic cells (AP) in the former cells was distinctly smaller than that to find NC judged by Annexin V and PI double staining. Electron microscopically, a major population of rho0 cells treated with MEN for 6 h consisted of intermediate cells, and a small number of AP co-existed. At 9 h of the treatment intermediate cells were exclusively seen, and AP were hardly detected. When parental rho+ cells were treated with MEN in the presence of oligomycin or oligomycin plus antimycin A both apoptotic and necrotic changes of the cells were distinctly accelerated. The intracellular level of superoxide in rho0 cells continuously increased after the MEN treatment, whereas that of ATP remained distinctly low before and after the MEN treatment compared to that in rho+ cells. These data suggest that the intracellular level of superoxide may be a key factor controlling the switch from apoptosis to necrosis.     

Cathodoluminescence study of AlGaAs/GaAs multilayers grown on ridge-type triangles on GaAs (111)A substrates

We have studied the cathodoluminescence of AlxGa1-xAs/GaAs multilayers grown on ridge-type triangles by molecular beam epitaxy. The compositional variation of Al, as well as the distribution of impurity and/or defect, was revealed by variations in the cathodoluminescence spectra and images. The Al composition in an AlxGa1-xAs layer was highest in the (111)A facet and decreased in the order (100), (411)A, (111)-delta and (110) facets. On the other hand, the carbon concentration was highest in the (411)A facet and decreased in the order (111)A, (111)-delta, (100) and (110) facets. It should be noted that the (111)-delta facet has a significant effect on the redistribution of Al. Although our ridge-type triangles are rather large for the quantum structures, these data have elucidated the self-organization mechanism of the AlxGa1-xAs/GaAs system and have yielded information on the design of quantum structures. We conclude that cathodoluminescence observation is a powerful tool for studying the compositional variation or band structure of three-dimensional microscale or nanoscale construction.     

On-chip Diamond MEMS Magnetic Sensing through Multifunctionalized Magnetostrictive Thin Film

Electrically integrable, high-sensitivity, and high-reliability magnetic sensors are not yet realized at high temperatures (500 °C). In this study, an integrated on-chip single-crystal diamond (SCD) micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) magnetic transducer is demonstrated by coupling SCD with a large magnetostrictive FeGa film. The FeGa film is multifunctionalized to actuate the resonator, self-sense the external magnetic field, and electrically readout the resonance signal. The on-chip SCD MEMS transducer shows a high sensitivity of 3.2 Hz mT⁻¹ from room temperature to 500 °C and a low noise level of 9.45 nT Hz^−1/2 up to 300 °C. The minimum fluctuation of the resonance frequency is 1.9 × 10⁻⁶ at room temperature and 2.3 × 10⁻⁶ at 300 °C. An SCD MEMS resonator array with parallel electric readout is subsequently achieved, thus providing a basis for the development of magnetic image sensors. The present study facilitates the development of highly integrated on-chip MEMS resonator transducers with high performance and high thermal stability.