Flexible and Stretchable Smart Display: Materials,Fabrication, Device Design,and System Integration

Recent technological advances in nanomaterials have driven the development of high‐performance light‐emitting devices with flexible and stretchable form factors. Deformability in such devices is mainly achieved by replacing the rigid materials in the device components with flexible nanomaterials and their assemblies (e.g., carbon nanotubes, silver nanowires, graphene, and quantum dots) or with intrinsically soft materials and their composites (e.g., polymers and elastomers). Downscaling the dimensions of the functional materials to the nanometer range dramatically decreases their flexural rigidity, and production of polymer/elastomer composites with functional nanomaterials provides light‐emitting devices with flexibility and stretchability. Furthermore, monolithic integration of these light‐emitting devices with deformable sensors furnishes the resulting display with various smart functions such as force/capacitive touch‐based data input, personalized health monitoring, and interactive human–machine interfacing. These ultrathin, lightweight, and deformable smart optoelectronic devices have attracted widespread interest from materials scientists and device engineers. Here, a comprehensive review of recent progress concerning these flexible and stretchable smart displays is presented with a focus on materials development, fabrication techniques, and device designs. Brief overviews of an integrated system of advanced smart displays and cutting‐edge wearable sensors are also presented, and, to conclude, a discussion of the future research outlook is given.     

Environmental Enrichment Enhances Cav 2.1 Channel-Mediated Presynaptic Plasticity in Hypoxic–Ischemic Encephalopathy

Hypoxic–ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is a devastating neonatal brain condition caused by lack of oxygen and limited blood flow. Environmental enrichment (EE) is a classic paradigm with a complex stimulation of physical, cognitive, and social components. EE can exert neuroplasticity and neuroprotective effects in immature brains. However, the exact mechanism of EE on the chronic condition of HIE remains unclear. HIE was induced by a permanent ligation of the right carotid artery, followed by an 8% O₂ hypoxic condition for 1 h. At 6 weeks of age, HIE mice were randomly assigned to either standard cages or EE cages. In the behavioral assessments, EE mice showed significantly improved motor performances in rotarod tests, ladder walking tests, and hanging wire tests, compared with HIE control mice. EE mice also significantly enhanced cognitive performances in Y-maze tests. Particularly, EE mice showed a significant increase in Ca_v 2.1 (P/Q type) and presynaptic proteins by molecular assessments, and a significant increase of Ca_v 2.1 in histological assessments of the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. These results indicate that EE can upregulate the expression of the Ca_v 2.1 channel and presynaptic proteins related to the synaptic vesicle cycle and neurotransmitter release, which may be responsible for motor and cognitive improvements in HIE.     

A cost effective on-site fault diagnosis method for home appliance rotor failures

Microsystem Technologies - Rotating components are one of the most important machine parts used in many industrial applications. Rotating machine commonly used in homes has a washing machine, which...     

Data clustering based on quantum synchronization

Natural Computing - There exists a specific class of methods for data clustering problem inspired by synchronization of coupled oscillators. This approach requires an extension of the classical...     

Functional properties and biological activities of perilla seed meal protein hydrolysates obtained by using different proteolytic enzymes

Food Science and Biotechnology - In this study, we aimed to determine the potential functional properties and biological activities of the hydrolysates of perilla seed meal (PSM), which is a...     

The properties of free-standing epoxy polymer multi-mode optical waveguides

The paper reports on the fabrication and characterisation of free-standing multimode optical epoxy polymer waveguides consisting of a core made of EpoCore and EpoClad polymer cladding and cover protection layers. The 50 × 50 μm² rectangular waveguides are intended for short-reach optical interconnection and optimised for an operating wavelength of 850 nm. The waveguides of the proposed shapes were fabricated by a standard photolithography process on a silicon substrate provided with a Poly(vinyl alcohol) thin layer. The free-standing structure was then achieved by peeling the deposited EpoClad/EpoCore/EpoClad structures of that substrate. The optical scattering losses of the created planar waveguides, measured by the fibre probe technique at 632.8 and 964 nm, were 0.30 dB cm⁻¹ at 632.8 nm and 0.17 dB cm⁻¹ at 964 nm. Propagation optical loss measurements for rectangular waveguides were performed by the cut-back method and the best samples had optical losses below 0.55 dB cm⁻¹ at 850 and 1310 nm.

     

Experimental study of electro-hydraulic actuator with payload for precision motion control

Microsystem Technologies - Offline iterative control technique in a hydraulic testing sector is primarily used to improve the tracking control performance despite nonlinearity caused by a testing...     

The effects of injector nozzle geometry and operating pressure conditions on the transient fuel spray behavior

Effects of injector nozzle geometry and operating pressure conditions such as opening pressure, ambient pressure, and injection pressure on the transient fuel spray behavior have been examined by experiments. In order to clarify the effect of internal flow inside nozzle on the external spray, flow details inside model nozzle and real nozzle were also investigated both experimentally and numerically. For the effect of injection pressures, droplet sizes and velocities were obtained at maximum line pressure of 21 MPa and 105 MPa. Droplet sizes produced from the round inlet nozzle were larger than those from the sharp inlet nozzle and the spray angle of the round inlet nozzle was narrower than that from the sharp inlet nozzle. With the increase of opening pressure, spray tip penetration and spray angle were increased at both lower ambient pressure and higher ambient pressure. The velocity and size profiles maintained similarity despite of the substantial change in injection pressure, however, the increased injection pressure produced a higher percentage of droplet that are likely to breakup.