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At least 1,045 records · Page 58

Controllable Skyrmionic Phase Transition between Néel Skyrmions and Bloch Skyrmionic Bubbles in van der Waals Ferromagnet Fe 3-δ GeTe 2

The van der Waals (vdW) ferromagnet Fe 3-δ GeTe 2 has garnered significant research interest as a platform for skyrmionic spin configurations, that is, skyrmions and skyrmionic bubbles. However, despite extensive efforts, the origin of the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI) in Fe 3-δ GeTe 2 remains elusive, making it challenging to acquire these skyrmionic phases in a controlled manner. In this study, it is demonstrated that the Fe content in Fe 3-δ GeTe 2 has a profound effect on the crystal structure, DMI, and skyrmionic phase. For the first time, a marked increase in Fe atom displacement with decreasing Fe content is observed, transforming the original centrosymmetric crystal structure into a non-centrosymmetric symmetry, leading to a considerable DMI. Additionally, by varying the Fe content and sample thickness, a controllable transition between Néel-type skyrmions and Bloch-type skyrmionic bubbles is achieved, governed by a delicate interplay between dipole–dipole interaction and the DMI. The findings offer novel insights into the variable skyrmionic phases in Fe 3-δ GeTe 2 and provide the impetus for developing vdW ferromagnet-based spintronic devices.

2D ferromagnet Fe3-δGeTe2↗

Unconventional Anomalous Hall Effect Driven by Self‐Intercalation in Covalent 2D Magnet Cr 2 Te 3

Covalent 2D magnets such as Cr 2 Te 3 , which feature self-intercalated magnetic cations located between monolayers of transition-metal dichalcogenide material, offer a unique platform for controlling magnetic order and spin texture, enabling new potential applications for spintronic devices. Here, it is demonstrated that the unconventional anomalous Hall effect (AHE) in Cr 2 Te 3 , characterized by additional humps and dips near the coercive field in AHE hysteresis, originates from an intrinsic mechanism dictated by the self-intercalation. This mechanism is distinctly different from previously proposed mechanisms such as topological Hall effect, or two-channel AHE arising from spatial inhomogeneities. Crucially, multiple Weyl-like nodes emerge in the electronic band structure due to strong spin-orbit coupling, whose positions relative to the Fermi level is sensitively modulated by the canting angles of the self-intercalated Cr cations. These nodes contribute strongly to the Berry curvature and AHE conductivity. This component competes with the contribution from bands that are less affected by the self-intercalation, resulting in a sign change in AHE with temperature and the emergence of additional humps and dips. The findings provide compelling evidence for the intrinsic origin of the unconventional AHE in Cr 2 Te 3 and further establish self-intercalation as a control knob for engineering AHE in complex magnets.

2D magnets↗

Deconstruction of the Anisotropic Magnetic Interactions from Spin‐Entangled Optical Excitations in van der Waals Antiferromagnets

Magneto-optical excitations in antiferromagnetic d systems can originate from a multiplicity of light-spin and spin-spin interactions, as the light and spin degrees of freedom can be entangled. This is exemplified in van der Waals systems with attendant strong anisotropy between in-plane and out-of-plane directions, such as MnPS 3 and NiPS 3 films studied here. The rich interplay between the magnetic ordering and sub-bandgap optical transitions poses a challenge to resolve the mechanisms driving spin-entangled optical transitions, as well as the single-particle bandgap itself. Here, a high-fidelity ab initio theory is applied to find a realistic estimation of the bandgap by elucidating the atom- and orbital-resolved contributions to the fundamental sub-bands. It is further demonstrated that the spin-entangled excitations, observable as photoluminescence and absorption resonances, originate from an on-site spin-flip transition confined to a magnetic atom (Mn or Ni). The evolution of the spin-flip transition in a magnetic field is used to deduce the effective exchange coupling and anisotropy constants.

2D materials↗

Visualizing Intrinsic 3D-Strain Distribution in Gold Coated ZnO Microstructures by Bragg Coherent X-Ray Diffraction Imaging and Transmission Electron Microscopy with Respect to Piezotronic Applications

Novel devices ranging from bio magnetic field sensors to energy harvesting nano machines utilize the piezotronic effect. For optimal function, understanding the interaction of electrical and strain phenomena within the semiconductor crystal is necessary. Here, studies of a model piezotronic system are presented, consisting of a ZnO microrod coated by a thin layer of gold, which forms a Schottky contact with the piezoelectric ZnO material. Coherent X-ray diffraction imaging (CXDI) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are used to visualize the structure and strain distribution, showing that the ZnO microrod exhibits strains of multiple origins in the bulk and at the interface. Strain values of -6 × 10 -4 have been measured by CXDI at the ZnO/Au interface. The origin is shown to be a combination of an interface strain, possibly caused by the Schottky contact formation, and distinct, localized electrical fields inside the crystal which are assigned to electron depletion and screening in a bent ZnO/Au piezotronic rod. These findings will contribute to sensor development and to a better understanding of piezotronic applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Disentangling Memristive and Memcapacitive Effects in Droplet Interface Bilayers Using Dynamic Impedance Spectroscopy

The underlying principles for generating intelligent behavior in living organisms are fundamentally different from those in traditional solid-state circuits. Biomimetic neuromorphic equivalents based on biological membranes offer novel implementation of tunable plasticity and diverse mechanisms to control functionality. Here, dynamic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (dEIS) to probe diphytanoylphosphatidylcholine (DPhPC) droplet interface bilayers (DIBs) to better understand the differences in molecular level structure/dynamics that give rise to hysteretic loops and neuromorphic, memelement behaviors in lipid bilayers in response to electrical biasing is used. Importantly, this system does not have ion-conducting channels and is, therefore, not expected to show memristive behavior. Surprisingly, both memristive and memcapacitive behaviors by measuring the time-dependent complex impedance of DPhPC DIBs are detected. Furthermore, it is shown that nonlinear memristance can originate from structural changes in the bilayer, affecting its dielectric properties. This novel dEIS application allows for the simultaneous analysis of the system's changing memristive and memcapacitive properties, which originate from different molecular restructuring processes. Moreover, and importantly, access to this type of information increases the number of neuromorphic processes supported simultaneously in a single two-terminal device.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Counter-Intuitive Structural Instability Aroused by Transition Metal Migration in Polyanionic Sodium Ion Host

The structure of polyanionic materials is conventionally known to be free of transition metal migration and structurally stable when storing/releasing sodium ions. Herein, the observation of enhanced cycling stability of a typical polyanionic cathode, Na 3 VCr(PO 4 ) 3 (NVCP) at lower temperature (-15 degrees C vs 30 degrees C), triggers the exploration of its structural origins with a surprising finding that the migratable nature of vanadium in NVCP leads to detrimental structural degradation of the polyanionic host upon cycling. The correlation between long range and short range structural change associated with this atomic migration is established via a strong combination of various in situ/ex situ characterization tools, revealing the essential V-to-Na1 site migration. Such transition metal migration is effectively suppressed when V atoms are pinned to their original position in the lattice by lowering the temperature. More importantly and practically, a room temperature-based deep sodiation strategy is further developed to recover the structure. Overall, this work challenges the long-standing assumption of the stability of the polyanionic framework structure and calls for urgent attention to the structural understanding of the NVCP system as well as strategy development for property enhancement.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Enhanced Electrolyte Transport and Kinetics Mitigate Graphite Exfoliation and Li Plating in Fast–Charging Li–Ion Batteries

Despite significant progress in energy retention, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) face untenable reductions in cycle life under extreme fast-charging (XFC) conditions, which primarily originate from a variety of kinetic limitations between the graphite anode and the electrolyte. Through quantitative Li + loss accounting and comprehensive materials analyses, it is directly observed that the operation of LIB pouch cells at 4 C||C/3 (charging||discharging) results in Li plating, disadvantageous solid-electrolyte-interphase formation, and solvent co-intercalation leading to interstitial decomposition within graphite layers. It is found that these failure modes originate from the insufficient properties of conventional electrolytes, where employing a designed ester-based electrolyte improved the capacity retention of these cells from 55.9% to 88.2% after 500 cycles when operated at the aforementioned conditions. These metrics are the result of effective mitigation of the aforementioned failure modes due to superior Li + transport and desolvation characteristics demonstrated through both experimental and computational characterization. Finally, this work reveals the vital nature of electrolyte design to XFC performance.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Atomistic Insights of Irreversible Li + Intercalation in MnO 2 Electrode

Tunnel-structured MnO 2 represents open-framed electrode materials for reversible energy storage. Its wide application is limited by its poor cycling stability, whose structural origin is unclear. We tracked the structure evolution of β-MnO 2 upon Li + ion insertion/extraction by combining advanced in situ diagnostic tools at both electrode level (synchrotron X-ray scattering) and single-particle level (transmission electron microscopy). The instability is found to originate from a partially reversible phase transition between β-MnO 2 and orthorhombic LiMnO 2 upon lithiation, causing cycling capacity decay. Moreover, the MnO 2 /LiMnO 2 interface exhibits multiple arrow-headed disordered regions, which severely chop into the host and undermine its structural integrity. Our findings could account for the cycling instability of tunnel-structured materials, based on which future strategies should focus on tuning the charge transport kinetics toward performance enhancement.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Extended kinetic lattice grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation method for transport of multicomponent ion mixtures through a model nanopore system

Abstract An extended version of the original kinetic lattice grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation method combined with mean field theory (KLGCMC/MF) ( J. Chem. Phys. 2007 , 127, 024706) is presented for the study of transport of multicomponent ion mixtures through a model nanopore. Comparison of the extended KLGCMC/MF (eKLGCMC/MF) simulation results with Poisson–Nernst–Planck (PNP) calculations is also made to confirm the validity of the extended simulation approach. Unlike the original version of KLGCMC/MF simulation method that treats only a binary ionic solution with one cation and one anion species, this extended version can deal with a system that includes ternary ion mixtures. A diffusion probability algorithm is also added to the extended version of the simulation method to describe the inhomogeneous diffusivity of ions that is often observed in the ion permeation through nanopores. Both Legendre and Chebyshev polynomials of the second kind were tested as a basis set for the basis set expansion (BSE) method with which to calculate the reaction field energy in the eKLGCMC/MF simulation. It turned out that the Legendre polynomials perform better than the Chebyshev polynomials, and as a result, the Legendre polynomials were implemented in the current version of eKLGCMC/MF simulation algorithm. The presented eKLGCMC/MF simulation method with new features finds its potential applications in nanopore systems where the correlation between ion species with the same sign of charges plays a key role such as oscillating ion currents or anomalous mole fraction effects.

Choi, Inhyeok↗

A Route to Design Novel Functional Peptides by Applying a Denoising Diffusional Model to mRNA Display Libraries

In vitro directed evolution techniques, such as mRNA display, enable peptide ligand discovery and optimization. However, physical libraries that rely on a genetic code can only search a small fraction of sequence space due to inherent biases in the genetic code and experimental limitations. To address this challenge, denoising diffusion implicit models (DDIMs) are applied to generate novel peptide ligands against B‐cell lymphoma extra‐large (Bcl‐x L ), a key cancer target. Starting with high‐throughput sequencing data from previous selections, a DDIM is trained to produce novel sequences with high affinity binding. Experimental validation confirms that most generated sequences are functionally equivalent to the original library members for Bcl‐x L binding and demonstrated comparable binding kinetics and affinity relative to the wildtype and nearest original neighbors. Importantly, this approach generated rare sequences not easily accessible via mutation and directed evolution. These results indicate that DDIMs can complement and expand directed evolution data, efficiently exploring underrepresented regions of sequence space. This approach provides a broadly applicable framework for accelerating ligand discovery and optimizing molecular properties across diverse targets.

Qi, Pearl [Mork Family Department of Chemical Engi↗

Single-atom automobile exhaust catalysts

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) with isolated metal centers are attracting great research interest because of their maximized metal utilization rates and unique structures. In the last decade, significant efforts have been made to design highly efficient and costeffective SACs with applications in automobile exhaust aftertreatment. SACs have not only demonstrated their high potential for improving the catalytic performance of current automobile exhaust catalysts but also provided an ideal platform for understanding the origins of catalyst reactivity. In this review, we summarize the general strategies for promoting the reactivity of metal SACs while maintaining their thermal stability during exhaust-abatement-related reactions. Highlights are provided on well-performed SACs for CO oxidation, unburnt hydrocarbon (HC) oxidation, and the selective catalytic reduction of NOx. The reaction mechanism and structure– performance relationship of SAC during these reactions are also discussed. Finally, perspectives are given on the trending research fields for designing more efficient single-atom automobile exhaust catalysts in the future.

Lu, Yubing↗

Biomass-Derived Carbon and Their Composites for Supercapacitor Applications: Sources, Functions, and Mechanisms

Biomass-derived carbons are eco-friendly and sustainable materials, making them ideal for supercapacitors due to their high surface area, excellent conductivity, cost-effectiveness, and environmental benefits. This review provides valuable insights into biomass-derived carbon and modified carbon for supercapacitors, integrating both experimental results and theoretical calculations. This review begins by discussing the origins of biomass-derived carbon in supercapacitors, including plant-based, food waste-derived, animal-origin, and microorganism-generated sources. Then, this review presents strategies to improve the performance of biomass-derived carbon in supercapacitors, including heteroatom doping, surface functionalization, and hybrid composite construction. Furthermore, this review analyzes the functions of biomass-derived carbon in supercapacitors both in its pure form and as modified materials. The review also explores composites derived from biomass-based carbon, including carbon/MXenes, carbon/MOFs, carbon/graphene, carbon/conductive polymers, carbon/transition metal oxides, and carbon/hydroxides, providing a thorough investigation. Most importantly, this review offers an innovative summary and analysis of the role of biomass-derived carbon in supercapacitors through theoretical calculations, concentrating on four key aspects: energy band structure, density of states, electron cloud density, and adsorption energy. Finally, the review concludes the future research directions for biomass carbon-based supercapacitors, including the discovery of novel biomass materials, tailoring surface functional groups, fabricating high-performance composite materials, exploring ion transfer mechanisms, and enhancing practical applications. In summary, this review offers a thorough exploration of the sources, functions, and mechanisms of biomass-derived carbon in supercapacitors, providing valuable insights for future research.

biomass-derived carbon↗

Spatiotemporal variability in water sources of urban soils and trees in the semiarid, irrigated Salt Lake Valley

Plant transpiration is a critical process in ecohydrology and urban water budgets. Urban forests in the semiarid cities of the western United States are composed largely of non-native species sustained by irrigation. Given that the major end use of water in these cities is usually landscape irrigation, the efficiency of irrigation practices is essential in future water conservation measures. The dependence of urban trees on irrigation is driven not only by the availability of alternative water sources (e.g., precipitation) but also by patterns of infiltration and mobility of soil water. In this study, we used hydrogen and oxygen stable isotopes to identify spatiotemporal dynamics of trees, of varied sizes and species, and shallow soil water apportioning of irrigation versus winter snowmelt in urban parks in the semiarid Salt Lake Valley. We estimate for this ecosystem that, on average, >70% of tree transpiration and soil moisture during the summer originate from irrigation, with lower proportions of snowmelt (<30%) from the preceding winter. This implies that a fraction of summer transpiration is originated from out of phase precipitation inputs. Irrigation fractions are dominant throughout the growing season for soil and stem water, but snowmelt fractions increase in stem water towards the end of summer. Tree size, location, and species were not strongly associated with water sources under well-irrigated conditions. These results show that urban tree management practices should consider the impact of both irrigation practices and residual precipitation inputs, highlighting the importance of examining interannual time scales when calculating the local water budget.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Establishing connectivity patterns of eastern oysters ( Crassostrea virginica ) on regional oceanographic scales

Localized depletion of marine and estuarine populations often results from large-scale natural and anthropogenic disturbances (e.g., hurricanes, oil spills) as well as overharvest of fisheries resources. Understanding how such localized depletions may affect populations at larger regional scales requires knowledge of connectivity among local populations within the larger regional landscape or metapopulation. Efforts to restore populations following such decreases require similar knowledge. During the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, dramatic declines of oysters occurred throughout estuaries west and east of the Mississippi River. We examined trajectories of particles, which were parameterized to mimic oyster larvae, using the ADvanced CIRCulation (ADCIRC; https://adcirc.org ) model to evaluate potential connectivity within and among embayments from Western Louisiana to Alabama. Patterns of larval settlement, which we defined as the intersection of a larval particle with known or expected oyster habitat at any point 13–21 days post-release, reflected much greater local contributions, with 50%–90% of settled particles originating within the same subdivision of embayments. Exchange among subdivision was much less (0%–40%) and settlement originating from outside the embayment of release was trivial under most scenarios (0%–14%). Connectivity between adjacent basins was greatest for larvae released in the southern portions of the embayment, whereas connectivity among nonadjacent basins was not predicted under the scenarios modeled. Because most local populations are relatively isolated on ecological timescales, areas suffering from extensive local depletion are likely to require extensive time to recover due to the lack of larval subsidy from the overall regional population. Restoration would require building stepping-stone populations or reefs within and among basin to restore a high degree of connectivity.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Inadvertent Hatchery Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss Discovered in Native Westslope Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi Habitat: A Cautionary Tale

Abstract Fish hatcheries across North America release billions of fish into the wild every year to augment harvest opportunities in sport, commercial, and tribal fisheries, as well as to recover depressed populations. Despite these benefits, wild fish populations may be negatively affected when hatchery fish compete and/or hybridize with native species. Native Westslope Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi have decreased by 90% across their historic range; however, the Flathead River in Montana is a rangewide stronghold for these imperiled fish. The primary threat to Westslope Cutthroat Trout is hybridization with invasive Rainbow Trout O. mykiss, which leads to hybrid swarm formation and genomic extinction. We collected Rainbow Trout in Mill Creek, a tributary of the Flathead River, downstream from a hatchery that produces the species, and used otolith 87Sr/86Sr to determine whether individual fish were inadvertently introduced from the hatchery. Differences in 87Sr/86Sr among water samples from Mill Creek and the marine-derived hatchery food provided high-classification accuracy to determine the natal origins of Mill Creek Rainbow Trout. We found that 83 of the 106 Rainbow Trout collected (78%) were of hatchery origin. Otolith microstructure analysis indicated these fish had been in Mill Creek for ~1–32 weeks prior to capture. Our results illustrate the utility of otolith 87Sr/86Sr to identify hatchery fish in natural habitats and point to a source of invasive Rainbow Trout that pose conservation risks to native fishes in the drainage.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Vegetation water sources in California's Sierra Nevada (USA) are young and change over time, a multi-isotope ( δ 18 O, δ 2 H, 3 H) tracer approach.

Sierra Nevada forests transpire a significant amount of California's water resources, sparking interest in applying forest management to improve California's water supply. Determining the source water of evapotranspiration enables forest managers to make informed decisions. To this end, a significant interest in critical zone science is to develop new methods to work across time scales to predict subsurface water storage and use. Here, forest vegetation accessed young water and switched sources depending on availability, suggesting that forest drought vulnerability may depend on the range of water sources available (rain, snowmelt and deeply stored water). This finding also suggests that changes in transpiration rates may have immediate effects on water sources in close proximity to vegetation, and delayed effects on storage and runoff. New δ 18 O, δ 2 H and 3 H data were used to track precipitation, runoff, evapotranspiration and storage through the critical zone seasonally, including seasons where evapotranspiration and snowmelt were in phase (winter snowmelt) and out of phase (seasonally dry summer). The main source of this headwater catchment's runoff is derived from its meadow saturated zone water, which was dominated by snowmelt. Water that originated as snowmelt contributed to transpiration, unless other sources, such as recent rain, became available. In cases where xylem δ 18 O and δ 2 H signatures matched those of deeper saturated zone water, 3 H data showed that xylem water was distinctly younger than the deep saturated zone water. During 2016, which experienced relatively normal snowpack in winter and seasonally dry summer conditions, mean summer saturated zone water and vegetation water were similar in δ 18 O, –12.4 ± 0.04 ‰ and – 12.5 ± 0.3 ‰, respectively, but were distinctly different in 3 H, 5.5 ± 0.2 pCi/L and 13.7 ± 1.1 pCi/L, respectively. While δ 18 O shows that vegetation and meadow saturated zone water have similar origins, 3 H shows they have dissimilar ages.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Synergistic Alignment of Low Aspect‐Ratio π‐Conjugated Molecules Enables Exceptional UV–vis–NIR Polarization Detection

Abstract Polarization detection enhances signal contrast and is widely utilized in diverse advanced applications. An ongoing challenge is the development of high‐performance polarization‐sensitive photodetectors based on optically anisotropic organic semiconductors, particularly in the near‐infrared (NIR) region. While uniaxially aligned π‐conjugated polymers with high aspect ratios exhibit strong linear dichroism and have shown promise, their limited NIR performance and heavy reliance on polymer material now represent critical limitations. Here, a breakthrough is reported in achieving giant linear dichroism and exceptional polarization detection with low aspect‐ratios (AR) non‐fullerene small‐molecule (NFSM) acceptors, extending polarization sensitivity from the UV–vis to the NIR range. An impressive dichroic ratio of 27.1 at 605 nm and 12.0 at 780 nm is demonstrated. The maximum polarization photocurrent ratio is 11.2 at 780 nm under parallel versus perpendicular polarized light. This unprecedented performance originates from synergistic molecular alignment, wherein NFSMs significantly enhance the uniaxial orientation of both the polymer matrix and the NFSMs themselves during self‐assembly and thermal annealing. Besides, such a linear‐polarization‐sensitive photodetectors (LPS‐PDs) are showcased in generating degree‐of‐linear‐polarization imaging. The work establishes NFSMs as a viable material system for next‐generation of organic LPS‐PDs and provides fundamental insights into structural origins of polarization sensitivity in low AR organic semiconductors.

Xue, Yingying↗

Retracted: Monitoring Hatchery Broodstock Composition and Genetic Variation of Spring/Summer Chinook Salmon in the Columbia River Basin with Multigeneration Pedigrees

Abstract Hatchery production of Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha in the Columbia River basin comprises most of the anadromous salmonid production in this region. Hatchery facilities and programs serve to mitigate for impacts to salmonids due to the construction and operation of hydropower dams and habitat impacts from development in addition to the conservation and restoration of natural populations. A genetic method referred to as parentage-based tagging (PBT) enables highly reliable detection of hatchery-origin fish and inference of multigeneration pedigrees. This study compiles 11 years of PBT data from nearly 125,000 interior stream-type Chinook Salmon from 24 spawning hatcheries located in tributaries of the mid- and upper Columbia River as well as the Salmon, Clearwater, and Grande Ronde River subbasins. Multigenerational pedigrees allowed investigation of the proportion of natural- and hatchery-origin broodstock (pNOB and pHOB, respectively) for each hatchery and enumeration of the scale of production between segregated and integrated programs. We then compared how pHOB and the scale of production influenced the number of stray fish observed, genetic diversity, relatedness, and age-class compositions within broodstocks. Over 91.0% of hatchery broodstock could be assigned back to their parents, and there was an overall rate of less than 1.0% of broodstock that were unintentionally incorporated into nonnatal hatchery programs. We evaluated 14 segregated programs with 0.0–10.0% pNOB, 7 intermediate programs (10.1–50.0% pNOB), and 3 integrated programs (>50.0% pNOB). There was no correlation between the scale of production or pNOB with the level of genetic diversity, but as production size increased, so did the effective number of breeders. This study demonstrates the utility of PBT as a monitoring tool for hatchery broodstocks, and results suggest that segregated and integrated programs have tradeoffs that generally align with their intended broodstock management purpose of providing fish for harvest and/or fish for supplementation or reintroduction.

Horn, Rebekah L.↗