High-quality narrow black phosphorus nanoribbons with nearly atomically smooth edges and well-defined edge orientation.

Black phosphorus nanoribbons (BPNRs) with a tunable bandgap and intriguing electronic and optical properties hold strong potential for logic applications. However, efficiently producing high-quality BPNRs with precise control over their size and structure remains a great challenge. Here we achieved high-quality, narrow and clean BPNRs with nearly atomically smooth edges and well-defined edge orientation at high yield (up to ~95%) through the sonochemical exfoliation of the synthesized bulk BP crystals with a slightly enlarged lattice parameter along the armchair direction.

Efficient and rapid removal of chromium(VI) from water via NH-MIL-101(Fe)/NiAl-LDH composite adsorbent.

Due to the high toxicity and carcinogenicity of Cr(VI), wastewater should be treated to remove Cr(VI) before discharge. In this study, water purification was achieved through the adsorption of Cr(VI) using an Fe-MOF/NiAl-LDH composite (FML), where the Fe-MOF was grown in situ on the NiAl-LDH. This composite used AlOOH, a by-product of the aluminum-water hydrogen production system, as one of its precursors, thereby achieving resource reuse.

Construction of controllable hydrogen production system of aluminum-based gel via solvent exchange strategy and its antioxidant properties.

High-activity aluminum-based composites for hydrogen production have uncontrollable reaction kinetics, releasing large amounts of hydrogen and heat in a short period of time, which severely hinders their application in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). This study reports a novel method for embedding highly active Al-based composites into PVA/DMSO organogels, where polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) serves as the gel factor and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) acts as the dispersing medium. This method is based on a solvent exchange strategy, which regulates the gradient diffusion of DMSO and HO by adjusting the material network structure, thereby controlling the kinetics of the aluminum-water reaction.

Recent transformations of vinylidene cyclopropanes (VDCPs).

Methodological studies on the transformations of vinylidene cyclopropanes (VDCPs) have been substantially developed in the past few decades, and significant progress has been achieved in visible light-mediated, non-metal-related, and transition metal-catalyzed processes. In particular, when reactive functional groups are introduced into the backbone of VDCPs, a variety of cascade or sequential transformations can take place to produce more complex cyclic or polycyclic compounds. This review describes the recent advancements in this field.

High-Performance Infrared Detectors Based on Black Phosphorus/Carbon Nanotube Heterojunctions.

Infrared detectors have broad application prospects in the fields of detection and communication. Using ideal materials and good device structure is crucial for achieving high-performance infrared detectors. Here, we utilized black phosphorus (BP) and single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) films to construct a vertical van der Waals heterostructure, resulting in high-performance photovoltaic infrared detectors.

Black Phosphorus Field-Effect Transistors with Improved Contact via Localized Joule Heating.

Two-dimensional (2D) black phosphorus (BP) is considered an ideal building block for field-effect transistors (FETs) owing to its unique structure and intriguing properties. To achieve high-performance BP-FETs, it is essential to establish a reliable and low-resistance contact between the BP and the electrodes. In this study, we employed a localized Joule heating method to improve the contact between the 2D BP and gold electrodes, resulting in enhanced BP-FET performance.

Identified Isosteric Replacements of Ligands' Glycosyl Domain by Data Mining.

Biologically equivalent replacements of key moieties in molecules rationalize scaffold hopping, patent busting, or R-group enumeration. Yet, this information may depend upon the expert-defined space, and might be subjective and biased toward the chemistries they get used to. Most importantly, these practices are often informatively incomplete since they are often compromised by a try-and-error cycle, and although they depict what kind of substructures are suitable for the replacement occurrence, they fail to explain the driving forces to support such interchanges.

High-performance diodes based on black phosphorus/carbon nanomaterial heterostructures.

The performance of diodes, which are the basic building blocks in integrated circuits, highly depends on the materials used. Black phosphorus (BP) and carbon nanomaterials with unique structures and excellent properties can form heterostructures with favorable band matching to fully utilize their respective advantages and thus achieve high diode performance. Here, high-performance Schottky junction diodes based on a two-dimensional (2D) BP/single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) film heterostructure and a BP nanoribbon (PNR) film/graphene heterostructure were investigated for the first time.

Narrow Directed Black Phosphorus Nanoribbons Produced by A Reformative Mechanical Exfoliation Approach.

Black phosphorus nanoribbons (PNRs) are ideal candidates for constructing electronic and optoelectronic devices owing to their unique structure and high bandgap tunability. However, the preparation of high-quality narrow PNRs aligned along the same direction is very challenging. Here, a reformative mechanical exfoliation approach combining tape and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) exfoliations to fabricate high-quality, narrow, and directed PNRs with smooth edges for the first time is developed.

Controlled Preparation and Device Application of Sub-5 nm Graphene Nanoribbons and Graphene Nanoribbon/Carbon Nanotube Intramolecular Heterostructures.

Narrow graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) and GNR/single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) intramolecular heterojunctions are ideal candidates to construct next-generation electronic and optoelectronic devices. However, the fabrication of high-quality long sub-5 nm wide GNRs and GNR/SWNT heterojunctions is a great challenge. Here, we report a method to produce high-quality sub-5 nm wide GNRs with smooth edges and GNR/SWNT intramolecular heterostructures via palladium-catalyzed full and partial unzipping of SWNTs, respectively.

PixelTopoIS: a pixel-topology-coupled guidewire tip segmentation framework for robot-assisted intervention.

Purpose: Existing works showed great performance in pixel-level guidewire segmentation. However, topology-level segmentation has not been fully exploited in these works. Guidewire (tip) endpoint localization and (guidewire) loop detection are typical topology-level guidewire segmentation tasks.

Selective detection of enrofloxacin in biological and environmental samples using a molecularly imprinted electrochemiluminescence sensor based on functionalized copper nanoclusters.

Enrofloxacin (ENR) is a broad-spectrum fungicide that has been largely applied in pharmacy and animal-specific medicine. In this paper, a simple, novel and highly sensitive molecularly imprinted electrochemiluminescence (MIP-ECL) sensor based on mercaptopropionic acid-functionalized copper nanoclusters (MPA-Cu NCs) was developed to selectively detect enrofloxacin (ENR). MPA-Cu NCs prepared by a one-step method were used to modify the glassy carbon electrode.

A novel multi-DoF surgical robotic system for brachytherapy on liver tumor: Design and control.

Purpose: Radioactive seed implantation is an effective invasive treatment method for malignant liver tumors in hepatocellular carcinomas. However, challenges of the manual procedure may degrade the efficacy of the technique, such as the high accuracy requirement and radiation exposure to the surgeons. This paper aims to develop a robotic system and its control methods for assisting surgeons on the treatment.