A dual-colored bio-marker made of doped ZnO nanocrystals

Bio-compatible ZnO nanocrystals doped with Co, Cu and Ni cations, surface capped with two types of aminosilanes and titania are synthesized by a soft chemical process. Due to the small particle size (2-5?nm), surface functional groups and the high photoluminescence emissions at the UV and blue-violet wavelength ranges, bio-imaging on human osteosarcoma (Mg-63) cells and histiocytic lymphoma U-937 monocyte cells showed blue emission at the nucleus and bright turquoise emission at the cytoplasm simultaneously. This is the first report on dual-color bio-images labeled by one semiconductor nanocrystal colloidal solution. Bright green emission was detected on mung bean seedlings labeled by all the synthesized ZnO nanocrystals. Cytotoxicity tests showed that the aminosilanes capped nanoparticles are non-toxic. Quantum yields of the nanocrystals varied from 79% to 95%. The results showed the potential of the pure ZnO and Co-doped ZnO nanocrystals for live imaging of both human cells and plant systems.     

Facile synthesis of highly faceted multioctahedral Pt nanocrystals through controlled overgrowth

Highly faceted Pt nanocrystals with a large number of interconnected arms in a quasi-octahedral shape were synthesized simply by reducing H2PtCl6 precursor with poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) in aqueous solutions containing a trace amount of FeCl3. The iron species (Fe(3+) or Fe(2+)) play a key role in inducing the formation of the multioctahedral structure by decreasing the concentration of Pt atoms and keeping a low concentration for the Pt seeds during the reaction. This condition favors the overgrowth of Pt seeds along their corners and thus the formation of multiarmed nanocrystals. Electron microscopy studies revealed that the multioctahedral Pt nanocrystals exhibit a large number of edge, corner, and surface step atoms. The size of the multioctahedral Pt nanocrystals can be controlled by varying the concentration of FeCl3 added to the reaction and/or the reaction temperature. These multioctahedral Pt nanocrystals were tested as electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell and exhibited improved specific activity and durability compared to commercial Pt/C catalyst.     

Facile synthesis of bimetallic nanoplates consisting of Pd cores and Pt shells through seeded epitaxial growth

Pd-Pt core-shell nanoplates with hexagonal and triangular shapes were synthesized through the heterogeneous, epitaxial growth of Pt on Pd nanoplates. The Pd nanoplates were synthesized by reducing Na2PdCl4 precursor with PVP as a reducing agent, which then served as seeds for the nucleation of Pt atoms formed by reducing H2PtCl6 with citric acid. Characterization of the as-prepared Pd-Pt nanoplates by scanning transmission electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy reveals that a thin, uniform Pt shell was formed around the Pd nanoplate, demonstrating the layer-by-layer epitaxial growth of Pt on Pd surface in this approach. The close lattice match between Pd and Pt (lattice mismatch of only 0.77%) and the slow reduction rate associated with the mild reducing power of citric acid play key roles in achieving the epitaxial growth of Pt shells on Pd nanoplates.     

TCP-friendly congestion control for streaming real-time applications over wireless networks

Congestion control for streaming real-time applications, which need smoothness of the transmission rate, should be transmission control protocol (TCP)-friendly. Moreover, in wireless networks, TCP-friendly congestion control should be based on differentiation of packet losses due to congestion and wireless link error to improve network utilisation. The authors propose a TCP-friendly congestion control algorithm based on explicit congestion notification over the wireless networks. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm utilises the link bandwidth efficiently, providing smoothness of the transmission rate.     

Affective learning increases sensitivity to graded emotional faces.

How does the affective significance of emotional faces affect perceptual decisions? We manipulated affective significance by pairing 100% fearful faces with aversive electrical stimulation and hypothesized that increasing the significance of a stimulus via its prior history would lead to enhanced processing. After fear conditioning, participants viewed graded emotional faces that ranged from neutral to fearful. Faces were shown either in a color that was previously paired with shock or a color not paired with shock during conditioning. Increases in the frequency of "fearful" responses for faces shown in the shock-paired color were most robust for faces at intermediate intensity levels (40-60% fearful). Psychometric fits to the data revealed significant increased sensitivity for shock-paired relative to unpaired faces. Thus, despite identical physical features for shock-paired and unpaired stimuli (aside from the color, which was counterbalanced), more frequent (and faster) "fearful" responses were made when participants viewed affectively significant stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structure and electrochemical properties of titanate perovskite with in situ exsolution as a ceramic electrode material

Journal of Electroceramics - In this work, the structure and electrochemical properties of titanate ceramics with in situ Ni exsolution are investigated to identify the structure-performance...     

Nonvolatile Charge Injection Memory Based on Black Phosphorous 2D Nanosheets for Charge Trapping and Active Channel Layers

2D van der Waals atomic crystal materials have great potential for use in future nanoscale electronic and optoelectronic applications owing to their unique properties such as a tunable energy band gap according to their thickness or number of layers. Recently, black phosphorous (BP) has attracted significant interest because it is a single‐component material like graphene and has high mobility, a direct band gap, and exhibits ambipolar transition behavior. This study reports on a charge injection memory field‐effect transistor on a glass substrate, where few‐layer BPs act as the active channel and charge trapping layers, and Al₂O₃ films grown by atomic layer deposition act as the tunneling and blocking layers. Because of the ambipolar properties of BP nanosheets, both electrons and holes are involved in the charge trapping process, resulting in bilateral threshold voltage shifts with a large memory window of 22 V. Finally, a memory circuit of a resistive‐load inverter is implemented that converts analog signals (current) to digital signals (voltage). Such a memory inverter also shows a clear memory window and distinct memory on/off switching characteristics.     

Understanding Origin of Voltage Hysteresis in Conversion Reaction for Na Rechargeable Batteries: The Case of Cobalt Oxides

Conversion reaction electrodes offer a high specific capacity in rechargeable batteries by utilizing wider valence states of transition metals than conventional intercalation‐based electrodes and have thus been intensively studied in recent years as potential electrode materials for high‐energy‐density rechargeable batteries. However, several issues related to conversion reactions remain poorly understood, including the polarization or hysteresis during charge/discharge processes. Herein, Co₃O₄ in Na cells is taken as an example to understand the aforementioned properties. The large hysteresis in charge/discharge profiles is revealed to be due to different electrochemical reaction paths associated with respective charge and discharge processes, which is attributed to the mobility gap among inter‐diffusing species in a metal oxide compound during de/sodiation. Furthermore, a Co₃O₄–graphene nanoplatelet hybrid material is demonstrated to be a promising anode for Na rechargeable batteries, delivering a capacity of 756 mAh g^?1 with a good reversibility and an energy density of 96 Wh kg^?1 (based on the total electrode weight) when combined with a recently reported Na₄Fe₃(PO₄)₂(P₂O₇) cathode.