Unraveling the Harmonious Coexistence of Ruthenium States on a Self-Standing Electrode for Enhanced Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

The development of cost-effective,highly efficient,and durable electrocatalysts has been a paramount pursuit for advancing the hydrogen evolution reaction(HER).Herein,a simplified synthesis protocol was designed to achieve a self-standing electrode,composed of activated carbon paper embedded with Ru single-atom catalysts and Ru nanoclusters(ACP/Ru_(SAC+C))via acid activation,immersion,and high-temperature pyrolysis.Ab initio molecular dynamics(AIMD)calculations are employed to gain a more profound understanding of the impact of acid activation on carbon paper.Furthermore,the coexistence states of the Ru atoms are confirmed via aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy(AC-STEM),X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS),and X-ray absorption spectroscopy(XAS).Experimental measurements and theoretical calculations reveal that introducing a Ru single-atom site adjacent to the Ru nanoclusters induces a synergistic effect,tuning the electronic structure and thereby significantly enhancing their catalytic performance.Notably,the ACP/Ru_(SAC+C)exhibits a remarkable turnover frequency(TOF)of 18 s^(−1)and an exceptional mass activity(MA)of 2.2 A mg^(−1),surpassing the performance of conventional Pt electrodes.The self-standing electrode,featuring harmoniously coexisting Ru states,stands out as a prospective choice for advancing HER catalysts,enhancing energy efficiency,productivity,and selectivity.

Highly Aligned Ternary Nanofiber Matrices Loaded with MXene Expedite Regeneration of Volumetric Muscle Loss

Current therapeutic approaches for volumetric muscle loss(VML)face challenges due to limited graft availability and insufficient bioactivities.To overcome these limitations,tissue-engineered scaffolds have emerged as a promising alternative.In this study,we developed aligned ternary nanofibrous matrices comprised of poly(lactide-co-ε-caprolactone)integrated with collagen and Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x)MXene nanoparticles(NPs)(PCM matrices),and explored their myogenic potential for skeletal muscle tissue regeneration.The PCM matrices demonstrated favorable physicochemical properties,including structural uniformity,alignment,microporosity,and hydrophilicity.In vitro assays revealed that the PCM matrices promoted cellular behaviors and myogenic differentiation of C2C12 myoblasts.Moreover,in vivo experiments demonstrated enhanced muscle remodeling and recovery in mice treated with PCM matrices following VML injury.Mechanistic insights from next-generation sequencing revealed that MXene NPs facilitated protein and ion availability within PCM matrices,leading to elevated intracellular Ca^(2+)levels in myoblasts through the activation of inducible nitric oxide synthase(i NOS)and serum/glucocorticoid regulated kinase 1(SGK1),ultimately promoting myogenic differentiation via the m TOR-AKT pathway.Additionally,upregulated i NOS and increased NO–contributed to myoblast proliferation and fiber fusion,thereby facilitating overall myoblast maturation.These findings underscore the potential of MXene NPs loaded within highly aligned matrices as therapeutic agents to promote skeletal muscle tissue recovery.

RGD peptide and graphene oxide co-functionalized PLGA nanofiber scaffolds for vascular tissue engineering

In recent years,much research has been suggested and examined for the development of tissue engineering scaffolds to promote cellular behaviors.In our study,RGD peptide and graphene oxide(GO)co-functionalized poly(lactide-co-glycolide,PLGA)(RGD-GO-PLGA)nanofiber mats were fabricated via electrospinning,and their physicochemical and thermal properties were characterized to explore their potential as biofunctional scaffolds for vascular tissue engineering.Scanning electron microscopy images revealed that the RGD-GO-PLGA nanofiber mats were readily fabricated and composed of randomoriented electrospun nanofibers with average diameter of 558nm.The successful co-functionalization of RGD peptide and GO into the PLGA nanofibers was confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopic analysis.Moreover,the surface hydrophilicity of the nanofiber mats was markedly increased by co-functionalizing with RGD peptide and GO.It was found that the mats were thermally stable under the cell culture condition.Furthermore,the initial attachment and proliferation of primarily cultured vascular smoothmuscle cells(VSMCs)on the RGD-GO-PLGA nanofibermats were evaluated.It was revealed that the RGD-GO-PLGA nanofibermats can effectively promote the growth of VSMCs.In conclusion,our findings suggest that the RGD-GO-PLGA nanofiber mats can be promising candidates for tissue engineering scaffolds effective for the regeneration of vascular smooth muscle.

High-Performance InTiZnO Thin-Film Transistors Deposited by Magnetron Sputtering

InTiZnO thin-film transistors(ITZO TFTs)with Al_(2)O_(3)gate dielectrics are fabricated by magnetron sputtering at room temperature.The bottom-gate-type ITZO TFTs with amorphous Al_(2)O_(3)gate dielectrics are operated in the enhancement mode and exhibit a mobility of 50.4 cm^(2)/V·s,threshold voltage of 1.2 V,subthreshold swing of 94.5 mV/decade,and on/off-current ratio of 7×10^(6).We believe that ITZO deposited at room temperature is an appropriate semiconductor material to produce high-mobility TFTs for developing flexible electronic devices.

Complete characterization of ultrafast optical fields by phase-preserving nonlinear autocorrelation

Nonlinear autocorrelation was one of the earliest and simplest tools for obtaining partial temporal information about an ultrashort optical pulse by gating it with itself.However,since the spectral phase is lost in a conventional autocorrelation measurement,it is insufficient for a full characterization of an ultrafast electric field,requiring additional spectral information for phase retrieval.Here,we show that introducing an intensity asymmetry into a conventional nonlinear interferometric autocorrelation preserves some spectral phase information within the autocorrelation signal,which enables the full reconstruction of the original electric field,including the direction of time,using only a spectrally integrating detector.We call this technique Phase-Enabled Nonlinear Gating with Unbalanced Intensity(PENGUIN).It can be applied to almost any existing nonlinear interferometric autocorrelator,making it capable of complete optical field characterization and thus providing an inexpensive and less complex alternative to methods relying on spectral measurements,such as frequency-resolved optical gating(FROG)or spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction(SPIDER).More importantly,PENGUIN allows the precise characterization of ultrafast fields in non-radiative(e.g.,plasmonic)nonlinear optical interactions where spectral information is inaccessible.We demonstrate this novel technique through simulations and experimentally by measuring the electric field of~6-fs laser pulses from a Ti:sapphire oscillator.The results are validated by comparison with the well-established FROG method.

High-order femtosecond vortices up to the 30th order generated from a powerful mode-locked Hermite-Gaussian laser

Femtosecond vortex beams are of great scientific and practical interest because of their unique phase properties in both the longitudinal and transverse modes,enabling multi-dimensional quantum control of light fields.Until now,generating femtosecond vortex beams for applications that simultaneously require ultrashort pulse duration,high power,high vortex order,and a low cost and compact laser source has been very challenging due to the limitations of available generation methods.Here,we present a compact apparatus that generates powerful high-order femtosecond vortex pulses via astigmatic mode conversion from a mode-locked Hermite-Gaussian Yb:KGW laser oscillator in a hybrid scheme using both the translation-based off-axis pumping and the angle-based non-collinear pumping techniques.This hybrid scheme enables the generation of femtosecond vortices with a continuously tunable vortex order from the 1st up to the 30th order,which is the highest order obtained from any femtosecond vortex laser source based on a mode-locked oscillator.The average powers and pulse durations of all resulting vortex pulses are several hundred milliwatts and<650 fs,respectively.In particular,424-fs 11th-order vortex pulses have been achieved with an average power of 1.6 W,several times more powerful than state-of-the-art oscillator-based femtosecond vortex sources.