Institute of Fluid Physics

Room-temperature superconductivity has been a long-held dream and an area of intensive research. Recent experimental findings of superconductivity at 200 K in highly compressed hydrogen (H) sulfides have demonstrated the potential for achieving room-temperature superconductivity in compressed H-rich materials. We report first-principles structure searches for stable H-rich clathrate structures in rare earth hydrides at high pressures. The peculiarity of these structures lies in the emergence of unusual H cages with stoichiometries H_{24}, H_{29}, and H_{32}, in which H atoms are weakly covalently bonded to one another, with rare earth atoms occupying the centers of the cages. We have found that high-temperature superconductivity is closely associated with H clathrate structures, with large H-derived electronic densities of states at the Fermi level and strong electron-phonon coupling related to the stretching and rocking motions of H atoms within the cages. Strikingly, a yttrium (Y) H_{32} clathrate structure of stoichiometry YH_{10} is predicted to be a potential room-temperature superconductor with an estimated T_{c} of up to 303 K at 400 GPa, as derived by direct solution of the Eliashberg equation.

The objective of this study was to synthesize a nanocomposite, aptamer-gold nanoparticle-hybridized graphene oxide (Apt-AuNP-GO), to facilitate targeted treatment of tumor cells by near-infrared (NIR) light-activatable photothermal therapy. We also investigated whether Apt-AuNP-GO with NIR illumination modulates heat shock proteins (HSPs) expression leading to therapeutic response in human breast cancer cells. These findings can provide strategies for improving the photothermal therapy efficacy of cancer. The self-assembled Apt-AuNP-GO nanocomposite could selectively target MUC1-positive human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) due to the specific interaction between the MUC1-binding-aptamer and the MUC1 (type I transmembrane mucin glycoprotein) on cell membrane. In addition, Apt-AuNP-GO has a high light-to-heat conversion capability for photoabsorption of NIR light, and it is able to exert therapeutic effects on MCF-7 cells at an ultralow concentration without inducing adverse effects in healthy cells. The Apt-AuNP-GO nanocomposites combine the advantages of GOs, AuNPs, and Apts, possess specific targeting capability, excellent biocompatibility, and tumor cell destruction ability, suggesting great potential for application in the photothermal therapy of breast cancer. Under NIR illumination, Apt-AuNP-GO induced transient increase in HSP70 expression, which decreased thereafter. This phenomenon may cause irreversible damage to Apt-AuNP-GO-treated MCF-7 cell under NIR illumination. We also demonstrated that the combination therapy of heat and HSP70 inhibitor could synergistically generate marked tumoricidal effects against breast cancer. These results suggest that the degree and duration of HSP70 protein expression are correlated with therapeutic effects against breast cancer for Apt-AuNP-GO-assisted photothermal therapy. We believe that such a nanocomposite can be readily extended to the construction of HSP70 inhibitors-loaded Apt-AuNP-GO, which could deliver both heat and HSP70 inhibitors to tumorigenic regions for the chemo-photothermal therapy.

It is of significance, but still remains a key challenge, to simultaneously enhance the strength and damping capacities in metals, as these two properties are often mutually exclusive. Here, we provide a multidesign strategy for defeating such a conflict by developing a Mg-NiTi composite with a bicontinuous interpenetrating-phase architecture through infiltration of magnesium melt into three-dimensionally printed Nitinol scaffold. The composite exhibits a unique combination of mechanical properties with improved strengths at ambient to elevated temperatures, remarkable damage tolerance, good damping capacities at differing amplitudes, and exceptional energy absorption efficiency, which is unprecedented for magnesium materials. The shape and strength after deformation can even be largely recovered by heat treatment. This study offers a new perspective for the structural and biomedical applications of magnesium.

The correlation between the dielectric breakdown performance and interface polarization was studied by the measurements of the dielectric breakdown strength and impedance spectroscopy as a function of sintering temperatures in a BaO–SrO–TiO2–Al2O3–SiO2 glass ceramic system. It was found that dielectric breakdown strength strongly depends on the interface polarization. The sintering temperature dependence of breakdown strength is attributed to the variation in interfacial polarization based on the results of complex impedance analysis.

Thermoelectric materials can be used to convert waste heat into electrical energy, which is considered to be a cleaner form of energy that reduces carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions.

We perform first-principles calculations of mechanical and electronic properties of silicene under strains. The in-plane stiffness of silicene is much smaller than that of graphene. The yielding strain of silicene under uniform expansion in the ideal conditions is about 20%. The homogeneous strain can introduce a semimetal-metal transition. The semimetal state of silicene, in which the Dirac cone locates at the Fermi level, can only persist up to tensile strain of 7% with nearly invariant Fermi velocity. For larger strains, silicene changes into a conventional metal. The work function is found to change significantly under biaxial strain. Our calculations show that strain tuning is important for applications of silicene in nanoelectronics.

Deformation twinning in pure aluminum has been considered to be a unique property of nanostructured aluminum. A lingering mystery is whether deformation twinning occurs in coarse-grained or single-crystal aluminum at scales beyond nanotwins. Here, we present the first experimental demonstration of macrodeformation twins in single-crystal aluminum formed under an ultrahigh strain rate (∼10^{6} s^{-1}) and large shear strain (200%) via dynamic equal channel angular pressing. Large-scale molecular dynamics simulations suggest that the frustration of subsonic dislocation motion leads to transonic deformation twinning. Deformation twinning is rooted in the rate dependences of dislocation motion and twinning, which are coupled, complementary processes during severe plastic deformation under ultrahigh strain rates.

In this paper, the thermoelectric (TE) properties of Janus MXY monolayers (M = Pd, Pt; X, Y = S, Se, Te) are systematically studied using first principles and the Boltzmann transport theory. The thermal conductivity (k), Seebeck coefficient (S), power factor (PF), and TE figure of merit (ZT) are calculated accurately for various carrier concentrations. The lattice thermal conductivities of these six materials sequentially decrease in the order PtSSe, PtSTe, PtSeTe, PdSSe, PdSTe, and PdSeTe. PdSeTe and PtSeTe monolayers have a high ZT close to one at 300 K. In addition, we predicted the TE properties at high temperatures and found that the maximum ZT (2.54) is achieved for a monolayer of PtSeTe at 900 K. The structural and electronic properties of these six Janus transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers were systematically studied from first principles. Our results show that all six materials are semiconductors with bandgaps between 0.77 eV and 2.26 eV at the Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof (HSE06) level. The present work indicates that the Janus MXY TMD monolayers (M = Pd, Pt; X, Y = S, Se, Te) are potentially TE materials.

The charge-discharge properties of lanthanum- and niobium-doped lead zirconate stannate titanate ceramics were investigated by directly measuring the hysteresis loops, dielectric constants under a dc bias field, and pulse discharge current-time curves after varying charge-discharge circulations. It was found that there was no significant effect of the charge-discharge circulation on these properties. The first pulse current peak reached 1.8 kA at 40 kV/cm, and most of the stored charge was released in 500 ns. These results show that the obtained slanted ceramics with high energy density can withstand hundreds of charge-discharge circulations and are very promising for pulse capacitor applications.

The refractive indices, absorption coefficients, and complex dielectric constants of paraffin-embedded brain glioma and normal brain tissues have been measured by a terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) system in the 0.2- to 2.0-THz range. The spectral differences between gliomas and normal brain tissues were obtained. Compared with normal brain tissue, our results indicate that paraffin-embedded brain gliomas have a higher refractive index, absorption coefficient, and dielectric constant. Based on these results, the best THz frequencies for different methods of paraffin-embedded brain glioma imaging, such as intensity imaging, coherent imaging with continuum THz sources, and THz pulsed imaging with short-pulsed THz sources, are analyzed.

The conventional Doppler laser-interference velocimeters are made up of traditional optical elements such as lenses and mirrors and will generally restrict its applications in multipoint velocity measurements. By transfering the light from multimode optical fiber to single-mode optical fiber and using the currently available conventional telecommunications elements, the authors have constructed a velocimeter called all-fiber displacement interferometer system for any reflector. The unique interferometer system is only made up of fibers or fiber-coupled components. The viability of this technique is demonstrated by measuring the velocity of an interface moving at velocity of 2133m∕s with 50ps time resolution. In addition, the concept of optical-fiber mode conversion would provide a way to develop various optical-fiber sensors.

The temperature‐dependent energy storage and dielectric properties of Pb 0.90 La 0.04 Ba 0.04 [(Zr 0.7 Sn 0.3 ) 0.88 Ti 0.12 ]O 3 were investigated in this work. With the phase transition from antiferroelectric to paraelectric induced by temperature rise, the releasable energy density decreases from 0.74 J/cm 3 (20°C) to 0.29 J/cm 3 (140°C), whereas the discharge efficiency increases from 75.0% to 93.4%. The pulsed discharge current indicates that the stored energy can be released in less than 1 μs. The temperature has little impact on the amplitude of the current but influences the discharge duration time greatly. In addition, with the comprehensive analysis of hysteresis loops, the DC ‐bias character of dielectric constant and the discharge current, the transition from strong nonlinearity to linearity of the dielectric along with the phase switching was confirmed. It proves that the vanishment of high‐electric‐field nonlinear polarization contributions causes the declination of releasable energy with the temperature rise.

This paper describes a study on the surface potential decay of corona charged low density polyethylene (LDPE) films. A conventional corona charging process is used to deposit charge on the surface of film and surface potential is measured by a compact JCI 140 static monitor. The results from corona charged multilayer sample reveal that the bulk process dominates charge decay. In addition, the pulsed-electro-acoustic (PEA) technique has been employed to monitor charge profiles in corona charged LDPE films. By using the PEA technique, we are able to monitor charge migration through the bulk. Charge profiles in corona charged multilayer sample are consistent with surface potential results. Of further significance, the charge profiles clearly demonstrate that double injection has taken place in corona charged LDPE films.

In order to realize high contrast imaging with portable devices for potential mobile healthcare, we demonstrate a hand-held smartphone based quantitative phase microscope using the transport of intensity equation method. With a cost-effective illumination source and compact microscope system, multi-focal images of samples can be captured by the smartphone's camera via manual focusing. Phase retrieval is performed using a self-developed Android application, which calculates sample phases from multi-plane intensities via solving the Poisson equation. We test the portable microscope using a random phase plate with known phases, and to further demonstrate its performance, a red blood cell smear, a Pap smear and monocot root and broad bean epidermis sections are also successfully imaged. Considering its advantages as an accurate, high-contrast, cost-effective and field-portable device, the smartphone based hand-held quantitative phase microscope is a promising tool which can be adopted in the future in remote healthcare and medical diagnosis.

A simple but effective technique is proposed to generate cylindrical converging shock waves. The shock dynamics is employed to design a curved wall profile of the test section in a shock tube. When a planar shock wave propagates forward along the curved wall, the disturbances produced by the curved wall would continuously propagate along the shock surface and bend the shock wave. As an example, the wall profile for an incident shock Mach number of M0=1.2 and a converging angle of 15° is tested numerically and experimentally. Both numerical and experimental results show a perfect circular shock front, which validates our method.

Self-defect clusters in bulk matrix might affect the thermodynamic behavior of fission gases in nuclear fuel such as uranium dioxide. With first-principles local spin-density approximation plus $U$ calculations and taking xenon as a prototype, we find that the influence of oxygen defect clusters on the thermodynamics of gas atoms is prominent, which increases the solution energy of xenon by a magnitude of 0.5 eV, about 43% of the energy difference between the two lowest lying states at 700 K. Calculation also reveals a thermodynamic competition between the uranium vacancy and trivacancy sites to incorporate xenon in hyperstoichiometric regime at high temperatures. The results show that in hypostoichiometric regime neutral trivacancy sites are the most favored position for diluted xenon gas, whereas in hyperstoichiometric condition they prefer to uranium vacancies even after taking oxygen self-defect clusters into account at low temperatures, which not only confirms previous studies but also extends the conclusion to more realistic fuel operating conditions. The observation that gas atoms are ionized to a charge state of ${\text{Xe}}^{+}$ when at a uranium vacancy site due to strong Madelung potential implies that one can control temperature to tune the preferred site of gas atoms and then the bubble growth rate. A solution to the notorious metastable states difficulty that frequently encountered in density functional theory plus $U$ applications, namely, the quasiannealing procedure, is also discussed.

This effort investigates the dynamic properties of ejecta from explosively shocked, melted Pb targets. The study shows that the ejecta cloud that expands beyond the shocked surface is characterized by a high density and low velocity fragment layer between the free-surface and the high velocity micro-jetting particle cloud. This slow, dense ejecta layer is liquid micro-spall. The properties of micro-spall layer, such as the mass, density and velocity, were diagnosed in a novel application of an Asay window, while micro-jetting particles by lithium niobate piezoelectric pins and high speed photography. The total mass-velocity distribution of ejecta, including micro-spall fragments and micro-jetting particles, is presented. Furthermore, the sensitivity of ejecta production to slight variations in the shockwave drive using the Asay foil is studied.

, respectively. The performance of the sensor with high sensitivity has been analyzed in detail, showing an exciting prospect for identification of 'fingerprint' spectra in the terahertz region.

Motivated by the synthesis of a Janus monolayer, the new PtSSe transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) have attracted remarkable attention due to their characteristic properties. In this work, we calculated the electronic structure, optical properties, and the thermal conductivity of the PtSSe monolayers, and performed a detailed comparison with other TMDs (monolayer PtS2 and PtSe2) using first-principles calculations. The calculated band gaps of the PtS2, PtSSe, and PtSe2 monolayers were 1.76, 1.38, and 1.21 eV, respectively, which are in good agreement with experimental data. At the same time, we observed a larger spin-orbit splitting in the electronic structure of PtSSe monolayers. The optical properties were also calculated and a significant red shift was observed from the PtS2 to PtSSe to PtSe2 monolayers. The lattice thermal conductivity of the PtSSe monolayer at room temperature (36.19 W/mK) is significantly lower than that of the PtS2 monolayer (54.25 W/mK) and higher than that of the PtSe2 monolayer (18.07 W/mK). Our results show that the PtSSe monolayer breaks structural symmetry and has the same ability to reduce the thermal conductivity as MoSSe and ZrSSe monolayers due to the shorter group velocity and the lower converged phonon scattering rate. These results may stimulate further studies on the electronic structure, optical properties, and thermal conductivity of the PtSSe monolayer in both experimental synthesis and theoretical efforts.

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have grabbed worldwide attention as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries on account of the abundance and accessibility of the sodium element in nature. For the sake of meeting the requirements for various applications containing grid-scale energy storage system, electric vehicles, and so forth, a stable and high-voltage cathode is decisive to enhance the energy and power density of SIBs. In this research, sodium super ionic conductor structured Na3V1.5–xCr0.5+x(PO4)3 with different V/Cr ratios to balance the V3+/V4+ and V4+/V5+ redox couples was investigated as the potential cathode for SIBs. Among these candidates, Na3V1.3Cr0.7(PO4)3 manifested high energy density together with good cycling performance and rate capability. Combining the structural analysis and density functional theory calculation, the underlying mechanism of V3+ substitution by Cr3+ was uncovered, accounting for the improvement of electrochemical performance.