An axisymmetric two-phase lattice Boltzmann method is adopted to simulate the dewetting dynamics of the liquid film on a substrate fabricated with different types of roughness: pillar-type, nail-type and mushroom-type. The liquid film remains in the Wenzel or half-Wenzel state. The dewetting of the liquid film occurs after generating an initial dry spot on the substrate and forming a contact line between

Confidence and integrity are critical in the physical and chemical analyses of tissues and living cells. However, many of the probes targeting biological markers for confocal spectroscopy affect cells’ molecular identity. Hence, we combined photonics with electrical analysis in an assisted laser impedance spectroscopy facility and applied it to characterize two breast cancer cell lines (BT-474 and

In electrospray printing, the accumulation of electric charge on the target substrate plays an important role in governing the structure of the deposit. To better understand the effect of charge, we report on the use of two methods to measure the rate of charge accumulation and decay on dielectric substrates targeted with electrospray: ohmic dissipation (OhmD) and electrostatic force microscopy (EFM)

Graphene-based spintronics has attracted much attention owing to the weak spin–orbit interaction and long spin relaxation length in graphene. For implementation of practical and high-density graphene-based spintronic devices, we need to define nanoscale areas with room-temperature ferromagnetism on graphene. Here we report the room-temperature ferromagnetism observed in nanoscale functionalized (oxidized

Photoacoustic tomography (PAT) has become a fast-evolving biomedical imaging modality in recent years. In PAT, image reconstruction is a critical step to produce high-quality photoacoustic images from raw photoacoustic signals. To date, algorithms based on back projection are the most widely used image reconstruction techniques due to their simplicity and computational efficiency. However, images reconstructed

The increased focus on ferrite magnets makes it interesting to investigate their suitability in electrical machines such as generators for wind power and motors for electric cars. Efforts are currently being made to improve the magnetic properties of ferrites. A simulation method is used to investigate how different magnetic properties such as remanence, coercivity and intrinsic coercivity affect the

The competition characteristics of different orders of whispering-gallery lasing modes in a single ZnO microwire with hexagonal cavity are investigated comprehensively. As the scale of the cavity increases, the mode competition would be emerging strongly. The high-order whispering-gallery mode (WGM) lasing is indicated to be transverse electric modes with polarization dependence of about 86%. In addition

Thermal quenching of the defect-related photoluminescence (PL) has been widely used to determine the fundamental properties of point defects in GaN such as the activation energy ( E t ) and capture cross section. However, in the present work, we have shown using drift-diffusion modeling and experimental analysis that the thermal quenching of defect-related PL from GaN does not only depend of the defect

From a systematic study of the threshold current density as a function of temperature and hydrostatic pressure, in conjunction with theoretical analysis of the gain and threshold carrier density, we have determined the wavelength dependence of the Auger recombination coefficients in InGaAsSb/GaSb quantum well lasers emitting in the 1.7–3.2 µ m wavelength range. From hydrostatic pressure measurements

Fabry–Pérot (FP) resonators with metallic subwavelength grooves or holes, which have been extensively applied in optical region, have recently attracted increasing interest for terahertz wave generation and manipulation. However, the practices of such resonators in the terahertz region are greatly restricted by the low energy-capacity and by the difficulty of manufacturing high-aspect-ratio grooves/holes

Non-equilibrium plasma has promising applications in combustion enhancement. In this study, 1D simulations are conducted for the forced ignition process using non-equilibrium plasma generated by repetitively pulsed nanosecond discharge (NSD). The ignition kernel is induced by a discharge area with NSD and it develops and propagates in a static stoichiometric hydrogen/air mixture. The objective is to

Flexoelectricity is a universal electromechanical effect in dielectric materials, describing strain gradient-induced electric polarization, of which, significant research has been performed for solid dielectrics and liquid crystals. Flexoelectricity of non-oriented liquids may have an impact on the research of bioelectronics, programmed droplets, energy harvesting and ionotronic devices, but it is

Point defects in wide-bandgap semiconductors, such as hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), have driven enormous amounts of research due to their interesting optical properties such as quantum emission at room temperature. Defect engineering by particle irradiation is a very interesting strategy for producing quantum emitters in a controlled way. The identification of most point defects is done by electron

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved treatment for specific cancers. CAR T-cells are manufactured ex vivo using T-cells derived from patients. Recent clinical trials reported a very high level of efficacy as well as complete remission rates (70%–93%) for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients. However, there have also been reports of significant

Ignition enhancement using repetitive nanosecond discharge (NSD) is studied in a stoichiometric hydrogen/air mixture. Numerical simulations are conducted for the homogeneous ignition process using code incorporating ZDPlasKin and CHEMKIN. The objective is to examine how the characteristics of the NSD affects the ignition delay time and why the NSD promotes a homogeneous ignition process. The influence

MXenes are one of the most promising electrode materials in energy storage devices owing to their unique properties, but the practical applications have been severely plagued by the low accessible electroactive area due to their inevitable restacking during electrode preparation. Recent experimental studies have reported that the additivepolyaniline (PANI) enables us to greatly improve the electrochemical

Mullins’ theory predicts the buildup of adatoms during surface diffusion at the edges of grooves where grain boundaries emerge to the surface of a polycrystalline film. However, the mesoscopic nature of this theory prevents the identification of the atomic-scale physical mechanisms involved in this phenomenon. Here, we interpret the buildup of adatoms in atomistic terms through a mean-field rate-equation

Nonreciprocal photonic devices play a significant role in regulating the propagation of electromagnetic waves. Here we theoretically investigate the nonreciprocal properties of transverse magnetic modes in a multilayered graphene-dielectric crystal under an applied DC bias. We find that drifting electrons driven by the external DC electric field can give rise to extremely asymmetric dispersion diagrams

Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are promising candidates for future electronics. Currently, the growth of TMD large area thin films/flakes is one of the biggest challenges. A novel method for the growth of ultra-thin and large area WS 2 monolayer flakes has been developed by introducing a solution-based temperature-dependent process. This two-dimensional

Viscoelastic microfluidics has become a new trend for particle/cell manipulation in recent years. The coupling of fluid viscoelasticity and inertia has been proved to be effective for achieving particle elasto-inertial focusing at the channel centerline experimentally, which is important for downstream particle counting and detection. However, the mechanism of particle elasto-inertial focusing in viscoelastic

Si 6− z Al z O z N 8− z (β-SiAlON):Eu 2+ is known as a high brightness green phosphor. When β-SiAlON:Eu 2+ is excited with UV light (approximately 265 nm), a curved decay afterglow is observed as a result of the trap levels created by the defects in the host crystal. However, the defect signals are hardly detected by electron spin resonance (ESR) and thermoluminescence (TL), which are common defect

Recent advances in figure-of-merit enhancement for thermoelectric materials are mostly based on alloy material systems, which often require specific conditions to obtain the optimal electrical properties by valley convergence simultaneously with the minimized lattice thermal conductivity through maximum phonon-alloy scattering. However these conditions especially stoichiometry are often hard to control

To realize a high-performance solid-state photon-enhanced thermionic emission (SPETE) solar energy converter, in this study, a graded bandgap window layer is therefore adopted, throughout which the bandgap gradation is generated via the variation of Al composition in the ##IMG## [http://ej.iop.org/images/0022-3727/54/5/055502/dabbb04ieqn1.gif] {${\text{A}}{{\text{l}}_x}{\text{G}}{{\text{a}}_{1 - x}}{\text{As}}$}

The non-linear responses of optical materials offer useful mechanisms for optical switching, novel optical sources, and harmonic frequency conversion. However, the non-linear response of traditional materials is usually extremely weak and requires high input power for excitation. In this study, we theoretically propose a scheme for enhancing the third harmonic generation (THG) efficiency and output

A wideband, thin, and multilayer (planar) microwave absorber is designed in this paper. The absorber is a periodic array of cells which includes three patterns of resistive film on two dielectric substrates. To design the array’s cell, a pattern optimization procedure based on the application of a binary optimization algorithm was utilized. The outcome of this procedure is a pixelated pattern of resistive

The shape of a DC electric arc in arc welding with monoatomic shielding gases (Ar, He and Ar/He blends) is generalized in dimensionless form with algebraic correlations. The novel expressions capture the main magnetohydrodynamic arc characteristics (temperature, velocity, magnetic field) and also yield the main arc–weld-pool interactions (heat flux, current density and pressure). The proposed correlations

This work proposes an efficient and accurate methodology of ab initio thermodynamics to predict phase diagrams of III–V pseudobinary systems. The innumerable configurations of solid solutions are efficiently considered while maintaining accuracy by calculating the energies of freely relaxed configurations with the combined methodology using density functional theory calculations and cluster expansion

Halide perovskite materials, which are emerging as some of the most promising candidates for photovoltaics, have been widely studied and have been certified as demonstrating a comparable efficiency to single-crystal silicon solar cells. However, their low stability poses a challenge for commercialization. External impediments, like moisture, heat, and UV light, can be addressed by strict encapsulation;

Environment-friendly solid-state cooling technology necessitates the search for energy-efficient electrocaloric (EC) materials. In this regard, the EC effect and energy storage performance have been investigated on a site-engineered lead-free Ba 1- x (Bi 0.5 Li 0.5 ) x TiO 3 ( x = 0.0, 0.10, 0.125, 0.15 and 0.175) system from the perspective of its enhanced characteristic parameters. The ferroelectric

The electric field in the He:N 2 nanosecond atmospheric pressure plasma jet is studied using the electric-field induced second harmonic generation technique. It is shown that the calibration obtained with a DC voltage applied to the discharge cell may lead to incorrect results in the electric field measurements. It is proposed to use nanosecond high voltage pulses at low repetition rates for the calibration

Composites of magnetically hard and soft phases are present in multiple and diverse applications, ranging from bulk permanent magnets in motors and generators to state-of-the-art recording media devices. The nature of the magnetic coupling between the hard and soft phases is of great technological relevance, as the macroscopic properties of the functional composite material ultimately depend on the

The optimal use of atmospheric pressure plasma jets (APPJs) for treatment of surfaces—inorganic, organic and liquid—depends on being able to control the flow of plasma-generated reactive species onto the surface. The typical APPJ is a rare gas mixture (RGM) flowed through a tube to which voltage is applied, producing an RGM plasma plume that extends into the ambient air. The RGM plasma plume is guided

The drying rate would significantly affect the quality of the composite electrode after solidification. In order to clarify the underlying effect mechanism of ingredient heterogeneity in the electrode caused by the drying process on the mechanical integrity of lithium secondary batteries in service, an integrated analysis approach is developed to determine the mechanical properties and lithium diffusion-induced

A conductive wire can explode by rapidly heating it to vaporization temperature by flowing a current through it. This process is utilized to generate high-temperature high-density plasmas. The temperature and pressure distributions at the time of the explosion are not easily measured. Moreover, the amount of metal vapor from the wire that remains within the arcing area is unknown. This work presents

A bilayer metamaterial composed of double graphene strips and square-ring graphene is proposed to realize plasmon induced transparency (PIT). The couple mode theory (CMT) is employed to explain the phenomenon of PIT, whose results are in good agreement with the simulation of the finite-difference time-domain. The dynamically adjustable PIT is investigated, where an on-to-off modulation composed of synchronous

Crystallization of salts in droplets of hypersaline solution placed on a glass slide was monitored and evaluated under controlled conditions of temperature and humidity. Pulsed corona discharge (PCD) was applied over sessil droplets on a glass surface, and its effect in the crystallization is demonstrated for the first time. These results were compared with natural evaporation. Under natural evaporation

Metallic patterned metasurfaces can effectively manipulate the propagation of surface plasmonic waves in the near-field regime. Extraordinary optical phenomena such as diffraction-free propagation also have been enabled by periodic uniform metallic grating metasurfaces (UMGM). However, such metallic patterned metasurfaces usually exhibit a relatively narrow-band non-diffractive property and the realization

The stability issue of organometal halide perovskite optoelectronic devices, e.g. the current–voltage –hysteresis effect and the degradation of the device performance under external light/electric field, are closely related to the ionic movement inside perovskite materials. However, our understanding of ionic properties is still at a relatively preliminary stage, and the detailed dynamic process of

C 4 F 7 N has excellent insulation performance. By mixing with CO 2 , it is the highest potential alternative gas to the most greenhouse effect gas insulating medium SF 6 , which is widely used in gas insulated high voltage electrical equipment. It is necessary to explore its insulation stability under different electrical fields before application. In this paper, the influence of electric field on

In this paper, the electrical behavior of tungsten carbide (WC) Schottky barrier on 4H-SiC was investigated. First, a statistical current-voltage (I–V) analysis in forward bias, performed on a set of equivalent diodes, showed a symmetric Gaussian-like distribution of the barrier heights after annealing at 700 °C, where a low Schottky barrier height (Φ B = 1.05 eV) and an ideality factor n = 1.06 were

How to tune optical transitions via physical perturbations is an intriguing fundamental question on the optical properties of materials. We theoretically present interesting blue and red shifts for the interband electron energy loss spectrum (EELS) in black phosphorene coupled to a magnetic material with a rotating magnetization. Employing the two-band Hamiltonian model in the presence of the rotating

We report the application of phasor analysis and nonlinear iterative fitting to complex spatial and spectroscopic luminescence decay data obtained from multidimensional microscopy of a CVD diamond grown on a HPHT substrate. This spectral and lifetime-resolved analysis enabled spatial mapping of variations in concentrations of nitrogen vacancy (NV) defects in both charge states and the quenching of

In plasma-driven biocatalysis, enzymes are employed to carry out reactions using species generated by non-thermal plasmas as the precursors. We have previously demonstrated that this is feasible in principle, but that the approach suffers from the short lifetime of the biocatalyst under operating conditions. In this work, protection strategies were investigated to prevent the dielectric barrier discharge

C 5 F 10 O has the potential to replace SF 6 as an insulation gas in switchgears due to its high breakdown field strength and low global warming potential. However, as a newly synthesized gas, the chemical characteristics of C 5 F 10 O are not well known. In particular, the discharge products of C 5 F 10 O are not clear, which limits its insulating capability evaluation in long-term use, and further

Excitons in van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures exhibit multiple excellent characteristics which in recent years have attracted researchers to make an in-depth exploration. In this review, we briefly introduce vdW heterostructures based on monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides and the emerging exciton characteristics in them, especially the formation of interlayer excitons. Then, we summarize

We report the effects of the magnetic ground sate and microstructure on exchange bias (EB) in ball milled Ni 44 Co 6 Mn 39.5 Sn 10.5 alloys. A giant bias field of 1.49 T has been obtained for the micron-sized particles after 15 h milling, which is considerably larger than that of 2 h milled platelets (0.35 T) and that of the bulk alloy (0.12 T). This giant bias field is attributed to the increased

Achieving frequency- and temperature-independent colossal permittivity (CP) with low dielectric loss is a long-standing challenge for electronic materials, in which the basic issue is understanding the underlying relaxation mechanism. In this paper, taking CaCu 3 Ti 4 O 12 ceramics as an example, CP was ascribed to electron-trapping behaviors at the edge of a double Schottky barrier (DSB). On the one

As an ultrawide bandgap semiconductor, gallium oxide (Ga 2 O 3 ) has superior physical properties and has been an emerging candidate in the applications of power electronics and deep-ultraviolet optoelectronics. Despite numerous efforts made in the aspect of material epitaxy and power devices based on β -Ga 2 O 3 with rapid progresses, the fundamental understanding of defect chemistry in Ga 2 O 3

In this work, one-dimensional (1D) modeling and simulations of the electric and weighting fields will be systematically carried out for hypothetical sphere-electrode detectors. Exact 1D solutions are obtained for electric and weighting fields in these detectors. Although it is impossible to realize hypothetical sphere-electrode detectors with current technologies, the theoretical work and results on

Amorphous carbon films have many applications that require control over their sp 3 fraction to customise the electrical, optical and mechanical properties. Examples of these applications include coatings for machine parts, biomedical and microelectromechanical devices. In this work, we demonstrate the use of a magnetic field with a high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) source as a simple

Giant enhancement of photocurrents in plasmonic structures (plasmon drag effect) provides opportunities for compact electric monitoring of plasmonic effects, and thus is promising for plasmonic-based sensing applications. In the experiment, we measure photoinduced electric signals in flat and profile-modulated systems, and test their sensitivity to small changes of the local dielectric environment

Live-cell imaging has become indispensable in modern cell biology. However, many cellular processes can only be resolved by the means of super-resolution microscopy. Among the microscopy techniques that enable resolution beyond the diffraction limit of light, stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy is well suited for multicolour imaging of nanoscale dynamics. Here, we describe the development

The unipolar pulsed-plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) of aluminum has been replaced by bipolar pulsed methods that use a so-called ‘soft-sparking’mode. This method results in an effective reduction of intense microdischarges, which are detrimental to the oxide layer. In a previous publication, we developed an in-situ multivariable microdischarge control scheme using unipolar pulsing. Using this method

We report on a detailed numerical study of the two-phase operation of a surface alternating current dielectric barrier discharge actuator. We showcase that when the quasi-periodic regime has been established, residual volume and surface charges play an important role on the discharge evolution strongly coupling the positive and negative phases. It is shown that the quasi-neutral streamer discharge

The interaction of atmospheric pressure plasmas with a liquid can result in the deformation of the gas–liquid interface. In this paper, we report on the gas–liquid interfacial dynamics during the impingement of an argon radio frequency driven atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ). The dynamics of the dimples generated during the impingement of the APPJ on the liquid depends on the plasma power, gas

Light detection in the deep-ultraviolet (DUV) solar-blind waveband has attracted interest due to its critical applications, especially in safety and space detection. A DUV photodetector based on wide-bandgap semiconductors provides a subversive scheme to simplify the currently mature DUV detection system. As an ultra-wide-bandgap (4.4–5.3 eV) semiconductor directly corresponding to the DUV solar-blind

Absorption coefficients of GaSb/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) are calculated by the 8-band strain-dependent k · p method and Fermi’s golden rule. A more realistic but simple approach to model the QD ensemble with wetting layer is described. Effects of the QD size and density, and the GaAs spacer thickness for multi-stacked QDs on absorption characteristics are studied. Absorption spectra of the single QD

Attenuation has been studied in different-sized coplanar waveguides (CPW) patterned onto silicon-on-insulator (SOI) for three different surfaces between the CPW tracks: a silicon dioxide/silicon interface, a hydrogen-terminated silicon surface, and a native oxide. For large-gap CPW (signal track width ##IMG## [http://ej.iop.org/images/0022-3727/54/4/045102/dabbc36ieqn1.gif] {$s$} = 100 µ m, gap width

Electrical exploding wires have found many applications in industry and research. Some of the most promising applications include high-speed sheet metal forming and explosive welding. Most research to date has been conducted using thin highly conductive, pure metal wires at relatively low energies. In contrast, experimental trials are performed in air, on relatively thick AISI 304 stainless steel wires

Microresonators with high Q -factor are essential components for optomechanical experiments. Here we report on the development of ‘cat-flap’ micro-pendulums consisting of sub-millimetre scale micromirrors supported by nanometre-thickness flexures. The micromirror pendulum is designed to achieve the lowest possible flexure stiffness, which enables maximal dilution of mechanical losses through the use