Flexible Ceramic Film Sensors for Free-Form Devices.

Recent technological innovations, such as material printing techniques and surface functionalization, have significantly accelerated the development of new free-form sensors for next-generation flexible, wearable, and three-dimensional electronic devices. Ceramic film sensors, in particular, are in high demand for the production of reliable flexible devices. Various ceramic films can now be formed on plastic substrates through the development of low temperature fabrication processes for ceramic films, such as photocrystallization and transferring methods.

Solar-to-Pharmaceutical Raw Material Production: Photoelectrochemical Naphthoquinone Formation Using Stabilized BiVO Photoanodes in Acid Media.

In the quest for efficient use of solar energy to produce high-value-added chemicals, we first achieved the photoelectrochemical (PEC) diketonization of naphthalene, using a BiVO/WO photoanode, to obtain naphthoquinone, an important pharmaceutical raw material with excellent efficiency by solar energy conversion. In the electrochemical (EC) reaction using F-doped SnO (FTO) substrates and a 0.5 M HSO HO-acetone (60 vol %) mixed solution containing 5 mM naphthalene, we produced a small amount of naphthoquinone evolution in the dark.

Acid-Resistant BiVO Photoanodes: Insolubility Control by Solvents and Weak W Diffusion in the Lattice.

We have revealed for the first time that BiVO photoanodes can be used even in strong acid media by mixing organic solvents into the electrolyte and depositing multilayers with a WO bottom layer. In general, the BiVO photoanodes are photocorrosive, especially in acid solutions. However, this shortcoming has been overcome using a combination of the two aforementioned modifications.

Ultrathin Highly Flexible Featherweight Ceramic Temperature Sensor Arrays.

We fabricated highly flexible Sr- and Ni-doped perovskite SmMnO thermistor film sensor arrays on an ultrathin (5 μm thick) and lightweight (21 mg) polyimide sheet for healthcare monitoring devices. The Ag nanowire and nanoparticle-impregnated carbon microcone array, which was prepared by precisely controlled surface laser carbonization of polyimide, showed sufficiently low resistance as a bottom electrode and good stability against sharp bending angles. The dot-shaped (diameter: 900 μm) perovskite thermistor film with a thickness of 900 nm was crystallized by pulsed ultraviolet laser irradiation of a precursor film printed with perovskite nanoparticle dispersion ink, and the film functioned well as the thermistor with a thermistor constant of 2820 K.

Flexible and Epitaxial Metal Oxide Thin Film Growth by Photoreaction Processing for Electrical and Optical Applications.

This review summarizes the use of photoreactions that replace conventional heating processes for growing oxide thin films from chemical solutions. In particular, this review outlines key variables in photoreactions that affect epitaxial and polycrystalline thin film growth, including precursor materials, laser wavelength, laser fluence, and carbon. In addition, the features of the photoreaction process that can be controlled at a low temperature by oxygen non-stoichiometry are examined.

Improvement of the Properties of Direct-Current Magnetron-Sputtered Al-Doped ZnO Polycrystalline Films Containing Retained Ar Atoms Using 10-nm-Thick Buffer Layers.

The use of a 10-nm-thick buffer layer enabled tailoring of the characteristics, such as film deposition and structural and electrical properties, of magnetron-sputtered Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films containing unintentionally retained Ar atoms. The AZO films were deposited on glass substrates coated with the buffer layer via direct-current magnetron sputtering using Ar gas, a substrate temperature of 200 °C, and sintered AZO targets with an AlO content of 2.0 wt %.

Plant Habitat-Conscious White Light Emission of Dy(3+) in Whitlockite-like Phosphates: Reduced Photosynthesis and Inhibition of Bloom Impediment.

It has been pointed out that agricultural crops and other natural plants may be damaged by outdoor lighting systems. Therefore, lighting that does not affect plant growth is needed. To address this problem, we have prepared a new whitlockite-like phosphate Dy-phosphor Ca8MgY1-x-yLaxDyy(PO4)7, which exhibits a yellow-white Dy(3+) luminescence that has a maximum internal quantum efficiency of 65.

The significant effect of heterojunction quality on photoelectrochemical water splitting in bilayer photoelectrodes: Rb(x)WO3 thin films on RbLaNb2O7 layers.

We have prepared nearly perfect hexagonal m-plane-oriented RbxWO3 films on (010)-oriented RbLaNb2O7 layers. The prepared bilayer films showed Rb diffusion from the RbLaNb2O7 seed layers, and we obtained uniaxially oriented RbxWO3/Rb1-yLaNb2O7 photoanodes. The RbxWO3/Rb1-yLaNb2O7 bilayer photoanodes exhibited enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting compared with the RbxWO3 and RbLaNb2O7 monolayer photoanodes.

UV-assisted nucleation and growth of oxide films from chemical solutions.

The fabrication of thin oxide films at low temperatures using simple processes has been a significant challenge associated with expanding the potential applications of these materials. Recent developments have demonstrated that the photo-assisted chemical solution deposition (PACSD) process offers a promising means of solving these difficulties, allowing high volume, on-demand production of variable sample sizes using an advantageous wet process. A better understanding of the crystal growth phenomena associated with this process, however, is required to enable various oxide thin films to be prepared using this new concept.

A universal value of effective annealing time for rapid oxide nucleation and growth under pulsed ultraviolet laser irradiation.

The effective annealing times (t(eff)) for nucleating various oxides from an amorphous matrix under nanosecond pulsed laser irradiation have been determined. The oxides, which had perovskite, bixbyite, anatase, and pyrochlore structures, showed similar t(eff) values for crystal nucleation of around 60 ns. This indicates that the effective annealing time is a good universal value for evaluating pulsed laser-induced oxide nucleation.

Relationship between arterial and fibrous cap remodeling: a serial three-vessel intravascular ultrasound and optical coherence tomography study.

Background: Positive arterial remodeling and thin fibrous cap are characteristics of rupture-prone or vulnerable plaque. The natural course of the fibrous cap thickness and the relationship between serial arterial remodeling and changes in fibrous cap thickness are unknown. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between changes in fibrous cap thickness and arterial remodeling by using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) during 6-month follow-up.

Target lesion thin-cap fibroatheroma defined by virtual histology intravascular ultrasound affects microvascular injury during percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with angina pectoris.

Background: Several reports suggest that virtual histology intravascular ultrasound (VH-IVUS) assessment could predict microvascular damage during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). A novel index of microcirculatory resistance (IMR) has been developed as a reproducible and less hemodynamic-dependent index. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between thin-cap fibroatheroma (TCFA) defined by VH-IVUS and a change in the IMR during PCI in patients with angina pectoris (AP).

Direct fabrication of metavanadate phosphor films on organic substrates for white-light-emitting devices.

White-light-emitting materials have attracted considerable attention because of their applications, such as large-surface emitting devices. Inorganic phosphor films are expected to be applied to these devices because of good chemical stability; however, a substantial reduction of fabrication temperature is required for future industrial uses such as lighting materials fabricated onto flexible organic substrates. Here we show the optical properties of white-light-emitting metavanadate phosphors, AVO3 (A: K, Rb and Cs), and we report a new direct fabrication process for RbVO3 films onto flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates by means of a vacuum ultraviolet irradiation using an excimer lamp.