Doxorubicin‐Conjugated Immuno‐Nanoparticles for Intracellular Anticancer Drug Delivery

A polymeric nanoparticle comprised of surface furan groups is used to bind, by Diels–Alder (DA) coupling chemistry, both targeting anti‐human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (anti‐HER2) antibodies and chemotherapeutic doxorubicin (DOX) for targeted, intracellular delivery of DOX. In this new approach for delivery, where both chemotherapeutic and targeting ligand are attached, for the first time, to the surface of the delivery vehicle, the nuclear localization of DOX in HER2‐overexpressing breast cancer SKBR‐3 cells is demonstrated, as determined by confocal laser scanning microscopy. Flow cytometric analysis shows that the conjugated DOX maintains its biological function and induces similar apoptotic progression in SKBR‐3 cells as free DOX. The viable cell counts of SKBR‐3 cancer cells following incubation with different nanoparticle formulations demonstrates that the combined DOX and anti‐HER2 nanoparticle is more efficacious than the nanoparticle formulation with either DOX or anti‐HER2 alone. While free DOX shows similar cytotoxicity against both cancerous SKBR‐3 cells and healthy HMEC‐1 cells, the combined DOX‐anti‐HER2 nanoparticle is significantly more cytotoxic against SKBR‐3 cells than HMEC‐1 cells, suggesting the benefit of nanoparticle‐conjugated DOX for cell type‐specific targeting. The DOX‐conjugated immuno‐nanoparticle represents an entirely new method for localized co‐delivery of chemotherapeutics and antibodies.     

High efficiency red phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes using a spirobenzofluorene type phosphine oxide as a host material

High efficiency red phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes have been developed using a spirobenzofluorene type phosphine oxide (SPPO2) as a host material. The SPPO2 had a high glass transition temperature of 119 °C and a smooth surface morphology with a surface roughness less than 1 nm. The red device with the SPPO2 as a host showed a quantum efficiency of 14.3% with a current efficiency of 20.4 cd/A.     

Cathodoluminescence and Field-Emission Properties of β-Ga2O3 Nanobelts

β-Ga₂O₃ nanobelts were synthesized using a vapor transport process in a controlled ambient. Structural characterization revealed that the as-synthesized samples consisted of monoclinic β-Ga₂O₃ nanobelts, and the presence of gallium-associated defects was verified using cathodoluminescence (CL). The formation of gallium-associated defects was explained by the insufficiency of the supply of cations, generating gallium vacancies on the (010) facet during growth. Furthermore, field-emission measurements indicated that β-Ga₂O₃ nanobelts exhibited defect-related electron emission. The turn-on fields of β-Ga₂O₃ nanobelts increased significantly with the degree of structural defects. For a sample prepared under 15% ambient oxygen, Fowler–Nordheim (F–N) analysis revealed two distinct field-enhancement factors of 1194 and 276, respectively. A correlation between field emission and structural defects was proposed. The experimental results demonstrate the presence of gallium-associated defects, which behave as electron traps, degrading the electron field-emission properties of β-Ga₂O₃ nanobelts.     

The Impact of Sequential Fluorination of π‐Conjugated Polymers on Charge Generation in All‐Polymer Solar Cells

The performance of all‐polymer solar cells (all‐PSCs) is often limited by the poor exciton dissociation process. Here, the design of a series of polymer donors ( P1 – P3 ) with different numbers of fluorine atoms on their backbone is presented and the influence of fluorination on charge generation in all‐PSCs is investigated. Sequential fluorination of the polymer backbones increases the dipole moment difference between the ground and excited states (Δµ_ge) from P1 (18.40 D) to P2 (25.11 D) and to P3 (28.47 D). The large Δµ_ge of P3 leads to efficient exciton dissociation with greatly suppressed charge recombination in P3 ‐based all‐PSCs. Additionally, the fluorination lowers the highest occupied molecular orbital energy level of P3 and P2 , leading to higher open‐circuit voltage (V_OC). The power conversion efficiency of the P3 ‐based all‐PSCs (6.42%) outperforms those of the P2 and P1 (5.00% and 2.65%)‐based devices. The reduced charge recombination and the enhanced polymer exciton lifetime in P3 ‐based all‐PSCs are confirmed by the measurements of light‐intensity dependent short‐circuit current density (J_SC) and V_OC, and time‐resolved photoluminescence. The results provide reciprocal understanding of the charge generation process associated with Δµ_ge in all‐PSCs and suggest an effective strategy for designing π‐conjugated polymers for high performance all‐PSCs.     

Low‐Power Nonvolatile Charge Storage Memory Based on MoS2 and an Ultrathin Polymer Tunneling Dielectric

Low‐power, nonvolatile memory is an essential electronic component to store and process the unprecedented data flood arising from the oncoming Internet of Things era. Molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) is a 2D material that is increasingly regarded as a promising semiconductor material in electronic device applications because of its unique physical characteristics. However, dielectric formation of an ultrathin low‐k tunneling on the dangling bond‐free surface of MoS₂ is a challenging task. Here, MoS₂‐based low‐power nonvolatile charge storage memory devices are reported with a poly(1,3,5‐trimethyl‐1,3,5‐trivinyl cyclotrisiloxane) (pV3D3) tunneling dielectric layer formed via a solvent‐free initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) process. The surface‐growing polymerization and low‐temperature nature of the iCVD process enable the conformal growing of low‐k (≈2.2) pV3D3 insulating films on MoS₂. The fabricated memory devices exhibit a tunable memory window with high on/off ratio (≈10⁶), excellent retention times of 10⁵ s with an extrapolated time of possibly years, and an excellent cycling endurance of more than 10³ cycles, which are much higher than those reported previously for MoS₂‐based memory devices. By leveraging the inherent flexibility of both MoS₂ and polymer dielectric films, this research presents an important milestone in the development of low‐power flexible nonvolatile memory devices.     

Effect of Oligothienyl Chain Length on Tuning the Solar Cell Performance in Fluorene‐Based Polyplatinynes

A series of solution‐processable and strongly visible‐light absorbing polyplatinynes containing oligothienyl–fluorene ring hybrids were synthesized and characterized. These rigid‐rod organometallic materials are soluble in polar organic solvents and show intense absorptions in the visible spectral region, rendering them excellent candidates for bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells. The photovoltaic behavior depends significantly on the number of thienyl rings along the polymer chain, and some of these polymer solar cells show high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of up to 2.9% and a peak external quantum efficiency to 83% under AM1.5 simulated solar illumination. The effect of oligothienyl chain length on improving the polymer solar cell efficiency and on their optical and charge transport properties is elucidated in detail. At the same blend ratio of 1:5, the light‐harvesting capability and PCE increase markedly with increasing number of thienyl rings. The power dependencies of the solar cell parameters (including the short‐circuit current density, open‐circuit voltage, fill‐factor, and PCE) were also examined. The present work opens up an attractive avenue to developing conjugated metallopolymers with broad and strong solar energy absorptions and tunable solar cell efficiency and supports the potential of metalated conjugated polymers for efficient power generation.     

日本公众理解科学实践的一个案例：关于“转基因农作物”的“共识会议”

随着公众理解科学理论的发展,在"缺失模型"显示出越来越多的问题之后,各国开始探索让公众参与决策与科学技术有关的公共性事务的方式,共识会议就是其中一种很具代表性的尝试.本文以日本2000年召开的第一次全国范围的共识会议作为案例,对其背景、主要内容、意义和存在的问题进行了简要的分析和讨论.这种研究从一个特定的方面使我们对于日本公众理解科学实践有所认识,并可带来有益的思考.     

Efficient electron beam condensing for low-energy microcolumn lithography

Low-energy electron beam lithography has been performed with a microcolumn by adopting a new technique that condenses the electron beam efficiently. To increase the probe current while keeping the kinetic energy of electrons sufficiently low, the negative or positive bias has been applied to the accelerator electrode, which reduces the divergence of the electron beam and hence makes more electrons pass through the microcolumn. With this technique, the probe current more than 1 nA has been achieved, which is large enough for the practical application of microcolumn lithography even when the kinetic energy of electrons is as low as 160 eV. The results of microcolumn lithography by using the condensed electron beam with a low-energy of 160 and 327 eV are also presented.     

Structure‐Properties Relationship in Iron Oxide‐Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanostructures for Li‐Ion Batteries

Non‐aqueous sol‐gel routes involving the reaction of metal oxide precursors in organic solvents (e.g., benzyl alcohol) at moderate temperature and pressure, offer advantages such as high purity, high reproducibility and the ability to control the crystal growth without the need of using additional ligands. In this paper, a study carried out on a series of iron oxide/reduced graphene oxide composites is presented to elucidate a structure‐properties relationship leading to an improved electrochemical performance of such composites. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the easy production of the composites in a variety of temperature and composition ranges, allows a fine control over the final particles size, density and distribution. The materials obtained are remarkable in terms of the particle's size homogeneity and dispersion onto the reduced graphene oxide surface. Moreover, the synthesis method used to obtain the graphene oxide clearly affects the performances of the final composites through the control of the restacking of the reduced graphene oxide sheets. It is shown that a homogeneous and less defective reduced graphene oxide enables good electrochemical performances even at high current densities (over 500 mAh/g delivered at current densities as high as 1600 mA/g). The electrochemical properties of improved samples reach the best compromise between specific capacity, rate capability and cycle stability reported so far.     

InxGa1−xAs (x=0.25–0.35) grown at low temperature

In_xGa_1−xAs (x=0.25–0.35) grown at low temperature on GaAs by molecular beam epitaxy is characterized by Hall effect, transmission electron microscopy, and ultrafast optical testing. As with low temperature (LT) GaAs, the resistivity is generally higher after a brief anneal at 600°C. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy shows all the as-grown epilayers to be heavily dislocated due to the large lattice mismatch (2–3%). When the layers are annealed, in addition to the dislocations, precipitates are also generally observed. As with LT-GaAs, the lifetime shortens as growth temperature is reduced through the range 300–120°C; also, the lifetime in LT-In_xGa_1−xAs is generally shorter in as-grown samples relative to annealed samples. Metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors fabricated on the material exhibit response times of 1–2 picoseconds, comparable to results reported on GaAs grown at low temperature, and the fastest ever reported in the wavelength range of 1.0–1.3 μm.