Small Methods最新文献

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have garnered significant attention due to their unique size- and structure-dependent properties, making them highly promising for a wide range of applications. Among these properties, their exceptional electrical conductivity positions them as potential alternatives to traditional metal conductors. However, despite the outstanding conductivity of individual SWNTs (10⁵-10⁸ S m^-1), bulk SWNT materials do not exhibit a simple additive scaling of conductivity (<10⁵ S m^-1) due to various limiting factors. This discrepancy arises from the challenges associated with solution processing and purity, which are critical for translating the intrinsic conductivity of individual nanotubes into macroscopic assemblies. This review provides an overview of recent advancements in methodologies aimed at improving both the solution processability and electrical performance of bulk SWNT materials, with a particular emphasis on purification and sorting strategies. Additionally, we discuss the dual role of dispersants used during SWNT sorting, which facilitate tube de-bundling but often remain on the nanotube surface as insulating residues, necessitating further processing to fully restore electrical performance. By consolidating recent insights, this review identifies the key mechanisms governing conductivity trade-off and proposes practical pathways for translating the intrinsic performance of SWNTs into highly conductive bulk assemblies for future electronic applications.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising hosts for quasi-solid electrolytes (QSEs) by integrating liquid electrolytes (MOF@LE QSEs), yet stabilizing lithium metal anodes (LMAs) to enhance electrochemical performance remains a challenge. Here, we introduce a strategy leveraging open metal sites (OMSs) in HKUST-1 (Cu₃(BTC)₂) combined with LiNO₃ to tailor solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) chemistry and lithium deposition. OMSs in HKUST-1 anchor NO₃ ^- and promote LiNO₃ dissociation, enriching SEI with nitrogen-containing inorganic compounds and enabling uniform and spherical lithium morphology. Consequently, LMAs with LiNO₃-incorporated HKUST-1 membrane QSE (HM-LN QSE) achieve a critical current density of 2.7 mA cm^-2, with stable lithium plating/stripping over 650 h at 0.2 mA cm^-2 and more than 300 h at 0.5 mA cm^-2. Moreover, LiLiFePO₄ cells assembled with HM-LN QSEs delivere a discharge capacity of 81.2 mAh g^-1 at 5 C and retain 81.2% capacity after 350 cycles at 2 C, demonstrating superior electrochemical stability and performance. This innovative MOF-based approach significantly enhances SEI stability and LMA performance, advancing lithium metal battery technology.

Phosphorus (P) possesses an ultrahigh theoretical capacity of 2596 mAh g^-1, making it the most promising anode material for sodium-ion batteries. However, Na⁺ storage in P anodes encounters considerable technical challenges, such as low conductivity, substantial volume expansion, and poor reaction kinetics. Herein, a novel strategy was proposed that embedding P into a conductive and rigid Cu─S framework to fabricate a novel anode CuPS₂ with Cu and P atoms in occupancy at the same lattice site with a 50% probability each, achieving ultra-stable and high-rate Na⁺ storage. In situ and ex situ analyses reveal the multi-step reversible reaction processes during the charging (formation of CuPS₂) and discharging (precipitation of molecular-level dispersed NaP in the ionic/electronic-conductive (Na_{3+ x})CuS₂ matrix) processes. The rigid and conductive (Na_{3+ x})CuS₂ matrix maintains the phase consistency and structural stability of the anode, suppresses the migration and aggregation of intermediate products during Na⁺ storage process, and improves the reaction kinetics of Na⁺ storage. Consequently, the rationally designed CuPS₂ anode with Cu and P mixed occupancy achieves a high capacity of 583.8 mAh g^-1 at 0.2 A g^-1 and an ultra-stable and high-rate Na⁺ storage capability (370 mAh g^-1 at 5 A g^-1 after 11 000 cycles with 90% capacity retention).

Recent advancements in field-effect transistors (FETs) based on atomically thin 2D semiconductors have demonstrated remarkable progress. These materials leverage unique physical properties and enable diverse applications beyond conventional silicon electronics, positioning them as promising candidates for extending Moore's Law. However, practical implementation of 2D FETs still faces several challenges, including scalable large-area synthesis, high contact resistance, ambient sensitivity, short-channel effects, and operational instability. The presence of hysteresis in such FETs could indicate the involvement of performance-degrading factors, such as defect-induced trap states, nonoptimal interfaces, environmental instability, and threshold voltage drift. This review examines recent advances in understanding and controlling hysteresis in 2D FETs, focusing on its physical origins, suppression strategies, and functional applications. We also emphasis the role of hysteresis in device performance, methods for its controlled exploitation, and its behavior in FETs based on emerging 2D semiconductors. We anticipate that combining the unique advantages of emerging 2D semiconductors with established device engineering methodologies will accelerate the development of next-generation transistors, enabling compact, high-density, high-performance, and multifunctional integrated electronics.

Ceramics owe their unrivalled thermal-chemical stability due to strong directional covalent bonding. However, it condemns them to sudden, catastrophic, and defect-triggered fractures. Bio-templating has emerged as a promising route to reconcile strength with toughness, and nacre's brick-and-mortar (B&M) architecture is repeatedly invoked as the paragon for energy-dissipating and damage-tolerant design. Realizing such a framework in ceramics remains a challenge, as layer-by-layer targeted assembly, mimicking natural construction, requires stringent process control, thereby eliminating cost efficiency. Polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs) realize outstanding designability. However, the 20%-30% linear shrinkage triggered by calcination obliterates precision geometry. In the face of this conflict, we present a nacre-inspired, homogeneous silicon carbide (SiC)- reinforced ceramic composite with a polymethyl methacrylate coating, which enhances both shape preservation and damage tolerance. The obtained SiC ceramic scaffold with SiC whisker reinforcement retains the most satisfying layer structure. Excellent shape preservation was achieved with only 7.76% line shrinkage. After grafting the scaffold surface with KH-570 silane, the scaffold is more readily immersed in methyl methacrylate, yielding a ceramic-polymer hybrid. A strain of 0.429% was observed during the tensile test, accompanied by pseudo-ductility, resulting from multistep energy dissipation and achieving satisfactory damage tolerance.

The pursuit of high-performance perovskite photovoltaics necessitates precise control over crystal growth. While surface defects have been extensively investigated, the regulation of buried interface and crystal orientation in three-dimensional (3D) perovskites is equally critical for high-performance inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Herein, we report a synergistic strategy that enhances buried interface contact and directs bulk crystallization by incorporating DFBP₂PbI₄ two-dimensional (2D) perovskite crystal seeds. It is revealed that the molecularly tailored 2D seeds not only promote bottom-up epitaxial growth of perovskite films with a favored crystallization direction but also form hydrogen bonds with the self-assembled monolayer (SAM), thereby accelerating interfacial carrier transfer. Consequently, the optimized inverted PSCs achieve a champion power conversion efficiency of 25.40% and exhibit remarkable operational stability, retaining 91.7% of their initial efficiency after 800 h of continuous operation at the maximum power point tracking. Our findings underscore the importance of co-optimizing buried interfaces and bulk crystallographic order to advance the performance of PSCs.

In this work, an agarose-polyacrylamide hydrogel electrolyte (APE) with an interpenetrating and hierarchically porous network is introduced to reconstruct solvation and interface dynamics for a high-performance Zn-S batteries. This structure results in a high ionic conductivity of 42.1 mS cm^-1 and a Zn²⁺ transference number of 0.64. Molecular dynamics reveal that most H₂O and SO₄ ^2- are excluded from the outer Helmholtz plane, forming an optimized electric double layer on Zn surface. Consequently, a prolonged 1200 h Zn plating/stripping behavior is obtained with 1 mAh cm^-2 at 1 mA cm^-2, and a high Zn plating of 20 mAh cm^-2 at 5 mA cm^-2. Furthermore, APE modulates the nucleation mode of ZnS, converting the originally sluggish and non-uniform progressive nucleation into a rapid and uniform instantaneous nucleation. As a result, this hydrogel Zn-S batteries deliver a capacity of 895 mAh g^-1 and 91% capacity retention within 300 cycles at 5 A g^-1.

Intracellular delivery into suspension cells, particularly hard-to-transfect immune cells such as T- and B-lymphocytes, remains challenging. Membrane disruption-based microfluidic methods offer a carrier-free alternative but often depend on high-viscosity buffers, compromising viability and scalability. Here, we introduce a viscoelastic mechanoporation platform using a hyperbolic microfluidic channel and low-viscosity λDNA buffer for the efficient delivery of mRNA and small molecules. The system harnesses extensional strain to transiently deform cell membranes, enabling high-throughput cytosolic uptake with minimal cellular stress. Our platform achieved up to ∼17-fold enhanced mRNA delivery while maintaining >85% viability across multiple suspension cell lines. Mechanistic insights from Laurdan spectral analysis, ice incubation, and metabolic profiling revealed how membrane dynamics govern delivery outcomes. We further modulated efficiency through osmotic and cytoskeletal perturbations, demonstrating a tunable strategy for safe and effective delivery into fragile immune cells.

Neuromorphic technologies offer a promising pathway to address the escalating energy demands of artificial intelligence. At the system level, neuromorphic computing seeks to overcome the von Neumann bottleneck by integrating memory and processing, while neuromorphic sensing minimizes redundant data transfer by processing signals directly at the point of acquisition. Organic transistors have emerged as compelling candidates for emulating synaptic and neuronal behaviors owing to their low power consumption, flexibility, stretchability, and biocompatibility, making them particularly attractive for bio-related neuromorphic applications. This review provides an overview of organic transistor-based artificial synapses and neurons, with emphasis on the mechanisms underlying their neuromorphic behaviors. Subsequently, recent advances in applications, broadly categorized into neuromorphic computing and neuromorphic sensing, are summarized and representative bio-integrated demonstrations are highlighted. Finally, we outline key challenges at the material, device, and system levels, and discuss future opportunities for advancing organic neuromorphic electronics toward practical, biocompatible, and intelligent systems.

Memristors based on green organic materials are needed for advanced wearable neuromorphic computing electronics and to facilitate the development of ecologically benign bioelectronics. Porphyrins, as conjugated macrocyclic green organic compounds, exhibit good biocompatibility and chemical stability and have been employed as the resistive switching (RS) layer in memristors. However, achieving low power consumption and a high switching ratio remains a challenge for the development of porphyrin-based memristors as synaptic devices. Furthermore, their fabrication is typically complex and relies on a rigid or flexible planar substrate. We developed a Cu(II) meso-tetra(4-carboxyphenyl) porphyrin (CuTCPP)-based textile memristor that uses the electrophoretic deposition-assisted self-assembly method. The CuTCPP-based memristor exhibited excellent RS characteristics including an ultra-low RS reset voltage (-0.037 V), high switching ratio (∼5 × 10⁷), low set energy (456.52 fJ), good cycling stability, and data retention performance. The CuTCPP-based memristor emulated numerous biological synaptic functions and demonstrated its capability in performing the four fundamental arithmetic operations and digit image recognition. We used the CuTCPP-based memristor to construct a light-pressure-temperature sensing system to assist the visually impaired with recognizing Braille. The research is expected to lay the foundation for the development of wearable neuromorphic computing electronics and next-generation in-memory computing textile systems.