Additive-Free Aqueous MXene Inks for Thermal Inkjet Printing on Textiles

Direct printing of functional inks onto flexible substrates allows for scalable fabrication of wearable electronics. However, existing ink formulations for inkjet printing require toxic solvents and additives, which make device fabrication more complex, limit substrate compatibility, and hinder device performance. Even water-based carbon or metal nanoparticle inks require supplemental surfactants, binders, and cosolvents to produce jettable colloidal suspensions. Here, a general approach is demonstrated for formulating conductive inkjet printable, additive-free aqueous Ti₃C₂T_x MXene inks for direct printing on various substrates. The rheological properties of the MXene inks are tuned by controlling the Ti₃C₂T_x flake size and concentration. Ti₃C₂T_x-based electrical conduits and microsupercapacitors (MSCs) are printed on textile and paper substrates by optimizing the nozzle geometry for high-resolution inkjet printing. The chemical stability and electrical properties of the printed devices are also studied after storing the devices for six months under ambient conditions. Current collector-free, textile-based MSCs show areal capacitance values up to 294 mF cm⁻² (2 mV s⁻¹) in poly(vinyl alcohol)/sulfuric acid gel electrolyte, surpassing reported printed MXene-based MSCs and inkjet-printed MSCs using other 2D nanomaterials. This work is an important step toward increasing the functional capacity of conductive inks and simplifying the fabrication of wearable textile-based electronics.     

Mathematical Analysis and Optimization of Infiltration Processes

A variety of infiltration techniques can be used to fabricate solid materials, particularly composites. In general these processes can be described with at least one time dependent partial differential equation describing the evolution of the solid phase, coupled to one or more partial differential equations describing mass transport through a porous structure. This paper presents a detailed mathematical analysis of a relatively simple set of equations which is used to describe chemical vapor infiltration. The results demonstrate that the process is controlled by only two parameters, and . The optimization problem associated with minimizing the infiltration time is also considered. Allowing and to vary with time leads to significant reductions in the infiltration time, compared with the conventional case where and are treated as constants.     

Evolving improvised ideation from humour constructs: A new method for collaborative divergence

This paper reviews and applies key principles from improvised comedy (“improv”) to overcome common barriers in effective group ideation, resulting in the formulation and presentation of a new creative idea generation method. The emergence of an innovative product design can be compared to the telling of a funny joke: both combine seemingly unconnected ideas in a way that is both surprising and satisfying. Our research expands upon this link between humour and creativity, and operationalizes the improv principles best suited to the conceptual design process. A workshop‐based methodology was used to select, develop, and refine the method protocol and facilitation technique. Participant feedback and observations have demonstrated how this approach can expand the solution space to support the generation of bold, innovative ideas. Finally, we present a step‐by‐step guide for the new “design improv” method and discuss its potential value in the generation of creative ideas in a group ideation context.     

Surface hydrocarbon components of two species ofNasutitermes from Trinidad

Colonies ofNasutitermes costalis (Holmgren) andN. ephratae (Holmgren) were collected from five locations in Trinidad. Cuticular hydrocarbons were characterized by gas chromatography-electron impact mass spectrometry and quantified by capillary gas chromatography. Sixteen major components were identified; all but one component (12, 16-dimethyltriacontane) were common to both species. The methyl-branched hydrocarbons were predominant inN. costalis, while the majority of the hydrocarbon components inN. ephratae weren-alkanes. One hydrocarbon (11,15-dimethylheptacosane) was found in abundance in samples ofN. ephratae from Trinidad but was not previously reported from collections of this species in Panama. In addition to the morphology of the soldiers and alates and the architecture of the arboreal nests,N. costalis andN. ephratae from Trinidad can easily be separated by chromatograms of the hydrocarbons.N. costalis has an enormous 13,17-dimethylhentriacontane peak (mean = 42.4% of total hydrocarbon). InN. ephratae this peak is much smaller and the 12,16-dimethyltriacontane peak is completely missing.N. costalis from Trinidad andN. corniger from Panama appear to have cuticular hydrocarbon profiles that are more similar to one another than are those ofN. ephratae from Trinidad and Panama.Isoptera: Termitidae: Nasutitermitinae.     

Evaluation of catalytic properties of tungsten carbide for the anode of microbial fuel cells

In this communication we discuss the properties of tungsten carbide, WC, as anodic electrocatalyst for microbial fuel cell application. The electrocatalytic activity of tungsten carbide is evaluated in the light of its preparation procedure, its structural properties as well as the pH and the composition of the anolyte solution and the catalyst load. The activity of the noble-metal-free electrocatalyst towards the oxidation of several common microbial fermentation products (hydrogen, formate, lactate, ethanol) is studied for microbial fuel cell conditions (e.g., pH 5, room temperature and ambient pressure). Current densities of up to 8.8 mA cm⁻² are achieved for hydrogen (hydrogen saturated electrolyte solution), and up to 2 mA cm⁻² for formate and lactate, respectively. No activity was observed for ethanol electrooxidation.

The electrocatalytic activity and chemical stability of tungsten carbide is excellent in acidic to pH neutral potassium chloride electrolyte solutions, whereas higher phosphate concentrations at neutral pH support an oxidative degradation.     

The effect of eicosapentaenoic acid consumption on human neutrophil chemiluminescence

The effect of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) on the inflammatory potential of neutrophils was investigated by supplementing the diets of 12 subjects with 2.16 g of EPA or 12 g of olive oil per day for 4 weeks in a double blind crossover study. Neutrophil function as assessed by luminol enhanced chemiluminescence responses to plateletactivating factor (PAF) and formyl-methionyl-leucyl-EPA but not after olive oil consumption in the subjects who consumed EPA first. In contrast, EPA had no significant effect on neutrophil chemiluminescence in the subjects who consumed olive oil first. Dietary supplementation with EPA inhibits neutrophil responses to inflammatory mediators such as PAF while other fatty acids appear to modify the effects of EPA. Based on a paper presented at the Third International Conference on Platelet-Activating Factor and Structurally Related Alkyl Ether Lipids, Tokyo, Japan, May 1989.     

MECHANICAL INTRODUCTION OF BARIUM TO CLAY BODIES1

Several methods of introducing barium to clay bodies are discussed. These include addition (1) in a wet dilute solution, (2) in a wet concentrated solution, (3) dry by sprinkling on to the raw clay in the car before grinding. (4) dry to the dry pan or crusher in proportion to the speed of the machine. (5) dry from a disk feeder applying the clay to the pug mill.     

Effects of systematic partial volume errors on the estimation of gray matter cerebral blood flow with arterial spin labeling MRI

Objective

Partial volume (PV) correction is an important step in arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI that is used to separate perfusion from structural effects when computing the mean gray matter (GM) perfusion. There are three main methods for performing this correction: (1) GM-threshold, which includes only voxels with GM volume above a preset threshold; (2) GM-weighted, which uses voxel-wise GM contribution combined with thresholding; and (3) PVC, which applies a spatial linear regression algorithm to estimate the flow contribution of each tissue at a given voxel. In all cases, GM volume is obtained using PV maps extracted from the segmentation of the T1-weighted (T1w) image. As such, PV maps contain errors due to the difference in readout type and spatial resolution between ASL and T1w images. Here, we estimated these errors and evaluated their effect on the performance of each PV correction method in computing GM cerebral blood flow (CBF).

Materials and methods

Twenty-two volunteers underwent scanning using 2D echo planar imaging (EPI) and 3D spiral ASL. For each PV correction method, GM CBF was computed using PV maps simulated to contain estimated errors due to spatial resolution mismatch and geometric distortions which are caused by the mismatch in readout between ASL and T1w images. Results were analyzed to assess the effect of each error on the estimation of GM CBF from ASL data.

Results

Geometric distortion had the largest effect on the 2D EPI data, whereas the 3D spiral was most affected by the resolution mismatch. The PVC method outperformed the GM-threshold even in the presence of combined errors from resolution mismatch and geometric distortions. The quantitative advantage of PVC was 16% without and 10% with the combined errors for both 2D and 3D ASL. Consistent with theoretical expectations, for error-free PV maps, the PVC method extracted the true GM CBF. In contrast, GM-weighted overestimated GM CBF by 5%, while GM-threshold underestimated it by 16%. The presence of PV map errors decreased the calculated GM CBF for all methods.

Conclusion

The quality of PV maps presents no argument for the preferential use of the GM-threshold method over PVC in the clinical application of ASL.

     

High‐Throughput Miniaturized Screening of Nanoparticle Formation via Inkjet Printing

The self‐assembly of specific polymers into well‐defined nanoparticles (NPs) is of great interest to the pharmaceutical industry as the resultant materials can act as drug delivery vehicles. In this work, a high‐throughput method to screen the ability of polymers to self‐assemble into NPs using a picoliter inkjet printer is presented. By dispensing polymer solutions in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) from the printer into the wells of a 96‐well plate, containing water as an antisolvent, 50 suspensions are screened for nanoparticle formation rapidly using only nanoliters to microliters. A variety of polymer classes are used and in situ characterization of the submicroliter nanosuspensions shows that the particle size distributions match those of nanoparticles made from bulk suspensions. Dispensing organic polymer solutions into well plates via the printer is thus shown to be a reproducible and fast method for screening nanoparticle formation which uses two to three orders of magnitude less material than conventional techniques. Finally, a pilot study for a high‐throughput pipeline of nanoparticle production, physical property characterization, and cytocompatibility demonstrates the feasibility of the printing approach for screening of nanodrug delivery formulations. Nanoparticles are produced in the well plates, characterized for size and evaluated for effects on metabolic activity of lung cancer cells.