Piezoelectric and flexoelectric effects of DNA adsorbed films on microcantilevers

DNA-based biosensors have played a huge role in many areas,especially in current global coronavirus outbreak.However,there is a great difficulty in the characterization of piezoelectric and flexoelectric coefficients of the nanoscale DNA film,because the existing experimental methods for hard materials are almost invalid.In addition,the relevant theoretical models for DNA films only consider a single effect without clarifying the difference between the two electromechanical effects on device detection signals.This work aims to present multiscale models for DNA-microcantilever experiments to clarify the competitive mechanism in piezoelectric and flexoelectric effects of DNA films on detection signals.First,a Poisson-Boltzmann(PB)equation is used to predict the potential distribution due to the competition between fixed phosphate groups and mobile salt ions in DNA films.Second,a macroscopic piezoelectric/flexoelectric constitutive equation of the DNA film and a mesoscopic free energy model of the DNA solution are combined to analytically predict the electromechanical coefficients of the DNA film and the relevant microcantilever signals by the deformation equivalent method and Zhang’s two-variable method.Finally,the effects of detection conditions on microscopic interactions,electromechanical coupling coefficients,and deflection signals are studied.Numerical results not only agree well with the experimental observations,but also reveal that the piezoelectric and flexoelectric effects of the DNA film should be equivalently modeled when interpreting microcantilever detection signals.These insights might provide opportunities for the microcantilever biosensor with high sensitivity.

Effective electromechanical properties of cellular piezoelectret:A review

Due to the large quasi-piezoelectric d33 coefficient in the film thickness direction, cellular piezoelectret has emerged as a new kind of compliant electromechanical transducer materials. The macroscopic piezoelectric effect of cellular piezoelectret is closely related to the void microstructures as well as the material constants of host polymer. Complex void microstmctures are usually encountered in the optimum design of cellular piezoelectret polymer film with ad- vanced piezoelectric properties. Analysis of the effective electromechanical properties is generally needed. This article presents an overview of the recent progress on theoretical models and numerical simulation for the effective electromechanical properties of cellular piezoelectret. Emphasis is placed on our own works of cellular piezoelectret published in past several years.

Pre-Seismic Electromagnetic Effects

Along with intense rock strain and rock bursting processes at the late stage of earthquake preparation, mechanical-electrical energy conversion appears in the seismogenic region and its nearby rock formations, which correspondingly stimulate certain electromagnetic effects. The paper mainly analyzes the pre-seismic electromagnetic effect of the ionosphere and proposes a method of monitoring VLF radio waves over the additional ionized region and so on. It is deemed that the method is of significance for short and imminent term prediction of strong earthquakes.

Effect of Facet Displacement on Radiation Field and Its Application for Panel Adjustment of Large Reflector Antenna

Large reflector antennas are widely used in radars, satellite communication, radio astronomy, and so on. The rapid developments in these fields have created demands for development of better performance and higher surface accuracy. However, low accuracy and low effi- ciency are the common disadvantages for traditional panel alignment and adjustment. In order to improve the surface accuracy of large reflector antenna, a new method is pre- sented to determinate panel adjustment values from far field pattern. Based on the method of Physical Optics （PO）, the effect of panel facet displacement on radiation field value is derived. Then the linear system is constructed between panel adjustment vector and far field pattern. Using the method of Singular Value Decomposition （SVD）, the adjustment value for all panel adjustors are obtained by solving the linear equations. An experiment is conducted on a 3.7 m reflector antenna with 12 segmented panels. The results of simulation and test are similar, which shows that the presented method is feasible. Moreover, thediscussion about validation shows that the method can be used for many cases of reflector shape. The proposed research provides the instruction to adjust surface panels efficiently and accurately.

Theoretical analysis and experimental validation of radial cascaded composite ultrasonic transducer

A radial cascaded composite ultrasonic transducer is analyzed.The transducer consists of three short metal tubes and two radially polarized piezoelectric ceramic short tubes arranged alternately along the radial direction.The short metal tubes and the piezoelectric ceramic short tubes are connected in parallel electrically and in series mechanically,which can multiply the input sound power and sound intensity.Based on the theory of plane stress,the electro-mechanical equivalent circuit of radial vibration of the transducer is derived firstly.The resonance/anti-resonance frequency equation and the expression of the effective electromechanical coupling coefficient are obtained.Excellent electromechanical characteristics are determined by changing the radial geometric dimensions.Two prototypes of the transducers are designed and manufactured to support the analytical theory.It is concluded that the theoretical resonance/anti-resonance frequencies are consistent with the numerical and experimental results.When R_(2) is at certain values,both the anti-resonance frequency and effective electromechanical coupling coefficient corresponding to the second mode have maximal values.The radial cascaded composite ultrasonic transducer is expected to be used in the fields of ultrasonic water treatment and underwater acoustics.

Effective electromechanical coupling coefficient of high-overtone bulk acoustic resonator

A high-overtone bulk acoustic resonator （HBAR） is composed of a substrate, a piezoelectric film and upper and lower electrodes, the influences of their structure parameter （thickness） and performance parameter （characteristic impedance） on effective electromechani- cal coupling coefficient K^2eff are investigated systematically. The relationship between K^2eff and these parameters is obtained by a lumped parameter equivalent circuit instead of distributed parameter equivalent circuit near the resonant frequency, and K^2eff at the resonance frequency closest to the given frequency is analyzed. The results show that K^2eff declines rapidly and oscillatorily with the continuous increase of the substrate thickness when the piezoelectric film thickness is fixed, and decreases inversely proportion to the thickness when the substrate thick-ness is greater than a certain value. With the ratio of the characteristic impedance of the substrate to the piezoelectric layer increasing, the maximum of K^2eff obtained from the vari- ation curve of K^2eff with the continuous increase of the piezoelectric film thickness decreases rapidly before reaching the minimum value, and later increases slowly. Fused silica with low impedance is appropriate as the substrate of HBAR to get a larger K^2eff. Compared with Al electrode, Au electrode can obtain larger K^2eff when the appropriate electrode thickness is selected. The revealed laws above mentioned provide the theoretical basis for optimizing parameters of HBAR.

Effect of temperature on pull-in voltage and nonlinear vibration behavior of nanoplate-based NEMS under hydrostatic and electrostatic actuations

This paper deals with the study of the temperature effect on the nonlinear vibration behavior of nanoplate-based nano electromechanical systems（NEMS） subjected to hydrostatic and electrostatic actuations. Using Eringen＇s nonlocal elasticity and Gurtin–Murdoch theory, the nonlocal plate model is derived through Hamilton＇s principle. The governing equation which is extremely nonlinear due to the geometrical nonlinearity and electrostatic attraction forces is solved numerically using the differential quadrature method（DQM）. The accuracy of the present method is veriied by comparing the obtained results with the experimental data and those in the literature and very good agreement is obtained. Finally a comprehensive study is carried out to determine the inluence of temperature on the nonlinear vibration characteristics of NEMS made of two different materials including aluminum（Al）and silicon（Si） and some conclusions are drawn.