The interaction between KIF21A and KANK1 regulates dendritic morphology and synapse plasticity in neurons

Morphological alterations in dendritic spines have been linked to changes in functional communication between neurons that affect learning and memory.Kinesin-4 KIF21A helps organize the microtubule-actin network at the cell cortex by interacting with KANK1;however,whether KIF21A modulates dendritic structure and function in neurons remains unknown.In this study,we found that KIF21A was distributed in a subset of dendritic spines,and that these KIF21A-positive spines were larger and more structurally plastic than KIF21A-negative spines.Furthermore,the interaction between KIF21A and KANK1 was found to be critical for dendritic spine morphogenesis and synaptic plasticity.Knockdown of either KIF21A or KANK1 inhibited dendritic spine morphogenesis and dendritic branching,and these deficits were fully rescued by coexpressing full-length KIF21A or KANK1,but not by proteins with mutations disrupting direct binding between KIF21A and KANK1 or binding between KANK1 and talin1.Knocking down KIF21A in the hippocampus of rats inhibited the amplitudes of long-term potentiation induced by high-frequency stimulation and negatively impacted the animals’cognitive abilities.Taken together,our findings demonstrate the function of KIF21A in modulating spine morphology and provide insight into its role in synaptic function.

Boosting MA-based two-dimensional Ruddlesden-Popper perovskite solar cells by incorporating a binary spacer

Two-dimensional Ruddlesden-Popper(2DRP)perovskite exhibits excellent stability in perovskite solar cells(PSCs)due to introducing hydrophobic long-chain organic spacers.However,the poor charge transporting property of bulky organic cation spacers limits the performance of 2DRP PSCs.Inspired by the Asite cation alloying strategy in 3D perovskites,2DRP perovskites with a binary spacer can promote charge transporting compared to the unary spacer counterparts.Herein,the superior MA-based 2DRP perovskite films with a binary spacer,including 3-guanidinopropanoic acid(GPA)and 4-fluorophenethylamine(FPEA)are realized.These films(GPA_(0.85)FPEA_(0.15))_(2)MA_(4)Pb_5I_(16)show good morphology,large grain size,decreased trap state density,and preferential orientation of the as-prepared film.Accordingly,the present 2DRP-based PSC with the binary spacer achieves a remarkable efficiency of 18.37%with a V_(OC)of1.15 V,a J_(SC)of 20.13 mA cm^(-2),and an FF of 79.23%.To our knowledge,the PCE value should be the highest for binary spacer MA-based 2DRP(n≤5)PSCs to date.Importantly,owing to the hydrophobic fluorine group of FPEA and the enhanced interlayer interaction by FPEA,the unencapsulated 2DRP PSCs based on binary spacers exhibit much excellent humidity stability and thermal stability than the unary spacer counterparts.

Morphology and valence state evolution of Cu:Unraveling the impact on nitric oxide electroreduction

Ammonia(NH3)serves as a critical component in the fertilizer industry and fume gas denitrification.However,the conventional NH3production process,namely the Haber-Bosch process,leads to considerable energy consumption and waste gas emissions.To address this,electrocatalytic nitric oxide reduction reaction(NORR)has emerged as a promising strategy to bridge NH3consumption to NH3production,harnessing renewable electricity for a sustainable future.Copper(Cu)stands out as a prominent electrocatalyst for NO reduction,given its exceptional NH3yield and selectivity.However,a crucial aspect that remains insufficiently explored is the effects of morphology and valence states of Cu on the NORR performance.In this investigation,we synthesized CuO nanowires(CuO-NF)and Cu nanocubes(Cu-NF)as cathodes through an in situ growth method.Remarkably,CuO-NF exhibited an impressive NH3yield of 0.50±0.02 mg cm^(-2)h^(-1)at-0.6 V vs.reversible hydrogen electrode(RHE)with faradaic efficiency of29,68%±1,35%,surpassing that of Cu-NF(0.17±0.01 mg cm^(-2)h^(-1),16.18%±1.40%).Throughout the electroreduction process,secondary cubes were generated on the CuO-NF surface,preserving their nanosheet cluster morphology,sustained by an abundant supply of subsurface oxygen(s-O)even after an extended duration of 10 h,until s-O depletion ensued.Conversely,Cu-NF exhibited inadequate s-O content,leading to rapid crystal collapse within the same timeframe.The distinctive current-potential relationship,akin to a volcano-type curve,was attributed to distinct NO hydrogenation mechanisms.Further Tafel analysis revealed the exchange current density(i0)and standard heterogeneous rate constant(k0)for CuO-NF,yielding 3.44×10^(-6)A cm^(-2)and 3.77×10^(-6)cm^(-2)s^(-1)when NORR was driven by overpotentials.These findings revealed the potential of CuO-NF for NO reduction and provided insights into the intricate interplay between crystal morphology,valence states,and electrochemical performance.

Two-Dimensional Perovskite Single Crystals for High-Performance X-ray Imaging and Exploring MeV X-ray Detection

Scintillation semiconductors play increasingly important medical diagnosis and industrial inspection roles.Recently,two-dimensional(2D)perovskites have been shown to be promising materials for medical X-ray imaging,but they are mostly used in low-energy(≤130 keV)regions.Direct detection of MeV X-rays,which ensure thorough penetration of the thick shell walls of containers,trucks,and aircraft,is also highly desired in practical industrial applications.Unfortunately,scintillation semiconductors for high-energy X-ray detection are currently scarce.Here,This paper reports a 2D(C_(4)H_(9)NH_(3))_(2)PbBr_(4)single crystal with outstanding sensitivity and stability toward X-ray radiation that provides an ultra-wide detectable X-ray range of between 8.20 nGy_(air)s^(-1)(50 keV)and 15.24 mGy_(air)s^(-1)(9 MeV).The(C_(4)H_(9)NH_(3))_(2)PbBr_(4)single-crystal detector with a vertical structure is used for high-performance X-ray imaging,delivering a good spatial resolution of 4.3 Ip mm^(-1)in a plane-scan imaging system.Low ionic migration in the 2D perovskite enables the vertical device to be operated with hundreds of keV to MeV X-ray radiation at high bias voltages,leading to a sensitivity of 46.90μC Gy_(air)-1 cm^(-2)(-1.16 Vμm^(-1))with 9 MeV X-ray radiation,demonstrating that 2D perovskites have enormous potential for high-energy industrial applications.

Responses of growth performance,antioxidant function,small intestinal morphology and mRNA expression of jejunal tight junction protein to dietary iron in yellow-feathered broilers

This study aimed to investigate the dose-effect of iron on growth performance,antioxidant function.intestinal morphology,and mRNA expression of jejunal tight junction protein in 1-to21-d-old yellow-feathered broilers.A total of 7201-d-old yellow-feathered maleb roilers were allocated to 9 treatments with 8 replicate cages of 10 birds per cage.The dietary treatments were consisted of a basal diet(contained 79.6 mg Fe kg^(-1))supplemented with 0,20,40,60,80,160,320,640,and 1,280 mg Fe kg^(-1)in the form of FeSO_(4)·7H_(2)O.Compared with the birds in the control group,birds supplemented with 20mg Fe kg^(-1)had higher average daily gain(ADG)(P<0.0001).Adding 640 and 1,280 mg Fe kg^(-1)significantly decreased ADG(P<0.0001)and average daily feed intake(ADFI)(P<0.0001)compared with supplementation of 20mg Fe kg^(-1).Malondialdehyde(MDA)concentration in plasma and duodenum increased linearly(P<0.0001),but MDA concentration in liver and jejunum increased linearly(P<0.05)or quadratically(P<0.05)with increased dietary Fe concentration.The villus height(VH)in duodenum and jejunum,and the ratio of villus height to crypt depth(V/C)in duodenum decreased linearly(P?0.05)as dietary Feincreased.As dietary Fe increased,the jejunal relative mRNA abundance of claudin-1 decreased linearly(P=0.001),but the jejunal relative mRNA abundance of zona occludens-1(ZO-1)and occludin decreased linearly(P?0.05)or quadratically(P?0.05).Compared with the supplementation of 20 mg Fe kg^(-1),the supplementation of640 mg Fe kg^(-1)or higher increased(P?0.05)MDA concentrations in plasma,duodenum,and jejunum,decreased VH in the duodenum and jejunum,and the addition of 1,280 mg Fe kg^(-1)reduced(P?0.05)the jejunal tight junction protein(claudin-1,ZO-1,occludin)mRNA abundance.In summary,640 mg of supplemental Fe kg^(-1)or greater was associated with decreased growth performance,increased oxidative stress,disrupted intestinal morphology,and reduced mRNA expression of jejunal tight junction protein.

Droplet morphology analysis of drop-on-demand inkjet printing

As an accurate 2D/3D fabrication tool,inkjet printing technology has great potential in preparation of micro electronic devices.The morphology of droplets produced by the inkjet printer has a great impact on the accuracy of deposition.In this study,the drop-on-demand(DoD)inkjet simulation model was established,and the accuracy of the simulation model was verified by corresponding experiments.The simulation result shows that the velocity of the droplet front and tail,as well as the time to disconnect from the nozzle is mainly affected by density(ρ),viscosity(μ)and surface tension(σ)of droplets.When the liquid filament is about to disconnect from the nozzle,the filament length and filament front velocity are found to have a linear correlation withσ/ρμand ln(ρ/(μσ1/2)).

Engineering fibrillar morphology for highly efficient organic solar cells

The power conversion efficiency(PCE)for single-junction organic solar cells(OSCs),wherein the photoactive layer is a typical bulk-heterojunction containing donor and acceptor materials,has surpassed 19%[1−4].The advance is ascribed to the development of Y-series non-fullerene acceptors(NFAs)[5,6]and polymer donors[7−13],and the refined control of the blend film morphology.

Progress on two-dimensional ferrovalley materials

The electron's charge and spin degrees of freedom are at the core of modern electronic devices. With the in-depth investigation of two-dimensional materials, another degree of freedom, valley, has also attracted tremendous research interest. The intrinsic spontaneous valley polarization in two-dimensional magnetic systems, ferrovalley material, provides convenience for detecting and modulating the valley. In this review, we first introduce the development of valleytronics.Then, the valley polarization forms by the p-, d-, and f-orbit that are discussed. Following, we discuss the investigation progress of modulating the valley polarization of two-dimensional ferrovalley materials by multiple physical fields, such as electric, stacking mode, strain, and interface. Finally, we look forward to the future developments of valleytronics.

Lineaperpetua gen.nov.:a new diatom genus in the Thalassiosirales supported by morphology and molecular data

Based on a combination of morphology and molecular data of ribosomal DNA genes,a new diatom genus Lineaperpetua gen.nov.Yu,You,Kociolek&Wang is described.The features that help define Lineaperpetua at the level of genus include:a tangentially undulated valve face;continuous cribra areolae on the valve interior consisting of pores arranged as strips;single rimoportula located inside the ring of marginal fultoportulae.Additionally,phylogenetic analysis based on nuclear small subunit(SSU)rDNA sequences and nuclear large subunit(LSU)rDNA gene placed the three strains of L.lacustris in a single,monophyletic clade at a considerable sequence distance from the other genera(Thalassiosira,Conticribra,Planktoniella,Shinodiscus,and other genera)belonging to Thalassiosirales.Despite the similarities with some species of Thalassiosira,Conticribra,and Spicaticribra,the suite of features found in Lineaperpetua differentiate it from these other genera.These molecular data and morphological characters suggest an affinity of the new genus to the Thalassiosiraceae.

Recent advances in two-dimensional photovoltaic devices

Two-dimensional(2D)materials have attracted tremendous interest in view of the outstanding optoelectronic properties,showing new possibilities for future photovoltaic devices toward high performance,high specific power and flexibility.In recent years,substantial works have focused on 2D photovoltaic devices,and great progress has been achieved.Here,we present the review of recent advances in 2D photovoltaic devices,focusing on 2D-material-based Schottky junctions,homojunctions,2D−2D heterojunctions,2D−3D heterojunctions,and bulk photovoltaic effect devices.Furthermore,advanced strategies for improving the photovoltaic performances are demonstrated in detail.Finally,conclusions and outlooks are delivered,providing a guideline for the further development of 2D photovoltaic devices.

Alternating spin splitting of electronic and magnon bands in two-dimensional altermagnetic materials

Unconventional antiferromagnetism dubbed as altermagnetism was first discovered in rutile structured magnets,which is featured by spin splitting even without the spin–orbital coupling effect.This interesting phenomenon has been discovered in more altermagnetic materials.In this work,we explore two-dimensional altermagnetic materials by studying two series of two-dimensional magnets,including MF4 with M covering all 3d and 4d transition metal elements,as well as TS2 with T=V,Cr,Mn,Fe.Through the magnetic symmetry operation of RuF4 and MnS2,it is verified that breaking the time inversion is a necessary condition for spin splitting.Based on symmetry analysis and first-principles calculations,we find that the electronic bands and magnon dispersion experience alternating spin splitting along the same path.This work paves the way for exploring altermagnetism in two-dimensional materials.

Unlocking the potential of ultra-thin two-dimensional antimony materials:Selective growth and carbon coating for efficient potassium-ion storage

Antimony-based anodes have attracted wide attention in potassium-ion batteries due to their high theoretical specific capacities(∼660 mA h g^(-1))and suitable voltage platforms.However,severe capacity fading caused by huge volume change and limited ion transportation hinders their practical applications.Recently,strategies for controlling the morphologies of Sb-based materials to improve the electrochemical performances have been proposed.Among these,the two-dimensional Sb(2D-Sb)materials present excellent properties due to shorted ion immigration paths and enhanced ion diffusion.Nevertheless,the synthetic methods are usually tedious,and even the mechanism of these strategies remains elusive,especially how to obtain large-scale 2D-Sb materials.Herein,a novel strategy to synthesize 2D-Sb material using a straightforward solvothermal method without the requirement of a complex nanostructure design is provided.This method leverages the selective adsorption of aldehyde groups in furfural to induce crystal growth,while concurrently reducing and coating a nitrogen-doped carbon layer.Compared to the reported methods,it is simpler,more efficient,and conducive to the production of composite nanosheets with uniform thickness(3–4 nm).The 2D-Sb@NC nanosheet anode delivers an extremely high capacity of 504.5 mA h g^(-1) at current densities of 100 mA g^(-1) and remains stable for more than 200 cycles.Through characterizations and molecular dynamic simulations,how potassium storage kinetics between 2D Sb-based materials and bulk Sb-based materials are explored,and detailed explanations are provided.These findings offer novel insights into the development of durable 2D alloy-based anodes for next-generation potassium-ion batteries.

Recent progress on valley polarization and valley-polarized topological states in two-dimensional materials

Valleytronics, using valley degree of freedom to encode, process, and store information, may find practical applications in low-power-consumption devices. Recent theoretical and experimental studies have demonstrated that twodimensional(2D) honeycomb lattice systems with inversion symmetry breaking, such as transition-metal dichalcogenides(TMDs), are ideal candidates for realizing valley polarization. In addition to the optical field, lifting the valley degeneracy of TMDs by introducing magnetism is an efficient way to manipulate the valley degree of freedom. In this paper, we first review the recent progress on valley polarization in various TMD-based systems, including magnetically doped TMDs,intrinsic TMDs with both inversion and time-reversal symmetry broken, and magnetic TMD heterostructures. When topologically nontrivial bands are empowered into valley-polarized systems, valley-polarized topological states, namely valleypolarized quantum anomalous Hall effect can be realized. Therefore, we have also reviewed the theoretical proposals for realizing valley-polarized topological states in 2D honeycomb lattices. Our paper can help readers quickly grasp the latest research developments in this field.

Global dust density in two-dimensional complex plasma

The driven-dissipative Langevin dynamics simulation is used to produce a two-dimensional(2D) dense cloud, which is composed of charged dust particles trapped in a quadratic potential. A 2D mesh grid is built to analyze the center-to-wall dust density. It is found that the local dust density in the outer region relative to that of the inner region is more nonuniform,being consistent with the feature of quadratic potential. The dependences of the global dust density on equilibrium temperature, particle size, confinement strength, and confinement shape are investigated. It is found that the particle size, the confinement strength, and the confinement shape strongly affect the global dust density, while the equilibrium temperature plays a minor effect on it. In the direction where there is a stronger confinement, the dust density gradient is bigger.

Anomalous valley Hall effect in two-dimensional valleytronic materials

The anomalous valley Hall effect(AVHE)can be used to explore and utilize valley degrees of freedom in materials,which has potential applications in fields such as information storage,quantum computing and optoelectronics.AVHE exists in two-dimensional(2D)materials possessing valley polarization(VP),and such 2D materials usually belong to the hexagonal honeycomb lattice.Therefore,it is necessary to achieve valleytronic materials with VP that are more readily to be synthesized and applicated experimentally.In this topical review,we introduce recent developments on realizing VP as well as AVHE through different methods,i.e.,doping transition metal atoms,building ferrovalley heterostructures and searching for ferrovalley materials.Moreover,2D ferrovalley systems under external modulation are also discussed.2D valleytronic materials with AVHE demonstrate excellent performance and potential applications,which offer the possibility of realizing novel low-energy-consuming devices,facilitating further development of device technology,realizing miniaturization and enhancing functionality of them.

Low-frequency hybridized excess vibrations of two-dimensional glasses

One hallmark of glasses is the existence of excess vibrational modes at low frequenciesωbeyond Debye’s prediction.Numerous studies suggest that understanding low-frequency excess vibrations could help gain insight into the anomalous mechanical and thermodynamic properties of glasses.However,there is still intensive debate as to the frequency dependence of the population of low-frequency excess vibrations.In particular,excess modes could hybridize with phonon-like modes and the density of hybridized excess modes has been reported to follow D_(exc)(ω)~ω^(2)in 2D glasses with an inverse power law potential.Yet,the universality of the quadratic scaling remains unknown,since recent work suggested that interaction potentials could influence the scaling of the vibrational spectrum.Here,we extend the universality of the quadratic scaling for hybridized excess modes in 2D to glasses with potentials ranging from the purely repulsive soft-core interaction to the hard-core one with both repulsion and attraction as well as to glasses with significant differences in density or interparticle repulsion.Moreover,we observe that the number of hybridized excess modes exhibits a decrease in glasses with higher density or steeper interparticle repulsion,which is accompanied by a suppression of the strength of the sound attenuation.Our results indicate that the density bears some resemblance to the repulsive steepness of the interaction in influencing low-frequency properties.

Emerging two-dimensional Mo-based materials for rechargeable metal-ion batteries:Advances and perspectives

With the rapid development of rechargeable metal-ion batteries(MIBs)with safety,stability and high energy density,significant efforts have been devoted to exploring high-performance electrode materials.In recent years,two-dimensional(2D)molybdenum-based(Mo-based)materials have drawn considerable attention due to their exceptional characteristics,including low cost,unique crystal structure,high theoretical capacity and controllable chemical compositions.However,like other transition metal compounds,Mo-based materials are facing thorny challenges to overcome,such as slow electron/ion transfer kinetics and substantial volume changes during the charge and discharge processes.In this review,we summarize the recent progress in developing emerging 2D Mo-based electrode materials for MIBs,encompassing oxides,sulfides,selenides,carbides.After introducing the crystal structure and common synthesis methods,this review sheds light on the charge storage mechanism of several 2D Mo-based materials by various advanced characterization techniques.The latest achievements in utilizing 2D Mo-based materials as electrode materials for various MIBs(including lithium-ion batteries(LIBs),sodium-ion batteries(SIBs)and zinc-ion batteries(ZIBs))are discussed in detail.Afterwards,the modulation strategies for enhancing the electrochemical performance of 2D Mo-based materials are highlighted,focusing on heteroatom doping,vacancies creation,composite coupling engineering and nanostructure design.Finally,we present the existing challenges and future research directions for 2D Mo-based materials to realize high-performance energy storage systems.

Image segmentation of exfoliated two-dimensional materials by generative adversarial network-based data augmentation

Mechanically cleaved two-dimensional materials are random in size and thickness.Recognizing atomically thin flakes by human experts is inefficient and unsuitable for scalable production.Deep learning algorithms have been adopted as an alternative,nevertheless a major challenge is a lack of sufficient actual training images.Here we report the generation of synthetic two-dimensional materials images using StyleGAN3 to complement the dataset.DeepLabv3Plus network is trained with the synthetic images which reduces overfitting and improves recognition accuracy to over 90%.A semi-supervisory technique for labeling images is introduced to reduce manual efforts.The sharper edges recognized by this method facilitate material stacking with precise edge alignment,which benefits exploring novel properties of layered-material devices that crucially depend on the interlayer twist-angle.This feasible and efficient method allows for the rapid and high-quality manufacturing of atomically thin materials and devices.

Single-cell manipulation by two-dimensional micropatterning

Cells are highly sensitive to their geometrical and mechanical microenvironment that directly regulate cell shape,cytoskeleton and organelle,as well as the nucleus morphology and genetic expression.The emerging two-dimensional micropatterning techniques offer powerful tools to construct controllable and well-organized microenvironment for single-cell level investigations with qualitative analysis,cellular standardization,and in vivo environment mimicking.Here,we provide an overview of the basic principle and characteristics of the two most widely-used micropatterning techniques,including photolithographic micropatterning and soft lithography micropatterning.Moreover,we summarize the application of micropatterning technique in controlling cytoskeleton,cell migration,nucleus and gene expression,as well as intercellular communication.

Leaf Morphology Genes SRL1 and RENL1 Co-Regulate Cellulose Synthesis and Affect Rice Drought Tolerance

The morphological development of rice(Oryza sativa L.)leaves is closely related to plant architecture,physiological activities,and resistance.However,it is unclear whether there is a co-regulatory relationship between the morphological development of leaves and adaptation to drought environment.In this study,a drought-sensitive,roll-enhanced,and narrow-leaf mutant(renl1)was induced from a semi-rolled leaf mutant(srl1)by ethyl methane sulfonate(EMS),which was obtained from Nipponbare(NPB)through EMS.Map-based cloning and functional validation showed that RENL1 encodes a cellulose synthase,allelic to NRL1/OsCLSD4.The RENL1 mutation resulted in reduced vascular bundles,vesicular cells,cellulose,and hemicellulose contents in cell walls,diminishing the water-holding capacity of leaves.In addition,the root system of the renl1 mutant was poorly developed and its ability to scavenge reactive oxygen species(ROS)was decreased,leading to an increase in ROS after drought stress.Meanwhile,genetic results showed that RENL1 and SRL1 synergistically regulated cell wall components.Our results revealed a theoretical basis for further elucidating the molecular regulation mechanism of cellulose on rice drought tolerance,and provided a new genetic resource for enhancing the synergistic regulation network of plant type and stress resistance,thereby realizing simultaneous improvement of multiple traits in rice.