Publications

Background and Purpose Chronic Hepatitis B virus (CHB) infection is a global burden for public health. Treatment methods such as interferon and nucleoside analogues may effectively control viral infection but cannot eliminate the virus due to their inability to remove viral covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) inside host nuclear. The persistence of cccDNA in the infected hepatocytes is a crucial obstacle to antiviral therapies. For years, efforts had been undertaken to understand the formation and regulation of HBV cccDNA. Natural core antibodies were modified to target intracellular core proteins across the membrane to achieve antiviral effect in several studies. However, modified natural antibody had limits: 1) it was unstable inside cells; 2) it had strong immunogenicity; 3) lack of targeting. Experimental approach and Key Results Therefore, we altered natural antibody into a micro-transbody which has correct intracellular folding, stronger affinity, and weaker immunogenicity to establish a new recombinant transbody for the specific and efficient immune clearance of viruses in hepatocytes. Immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry were used to verify the transmembrane and antigen-binding ability of our recombinant transbody. Conclusions & Implications Taken together, we demonstrate a recombinant transbody H2L2 with transmembrane and antigen-binding activity expressed by E.coli in this study, which may be an encouraging exploration of therapeutic strategies against hepatitis B infection inside hepatocellular.

Modification of polymers by ion irradiation improves their effective charge density due to the generation of electron-donating groups.

The technology of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) has made great progress as a promising approach to generating electricity from ambient vibration energy. However, finding a way to generate enough electrical output efficiently from vibrations with a broadband of amplitudes is crucial when the relatively low current output of existing TENGs and the existence of natural vibrations with diverse amplitudes are considered. In this work, a freestanding and lightweight triboelectric nanogenerator with a capsule structure (namely, a capsule TENG) is demonstrated with an aim toward optional 3D integration and the efficient harvesting of energy from vibrations with a broadband of amplitudes. The capsule TENGs can be easily integrated to form 1D, 2D, and 3D structures to realize high electrical output. Under ideal conditions, the total output power of an integrated capsule-TENG pack can be approximately estimated as p × n2, where p is the peak output power per capsule TENG and n is the number of capsule TENGs. When capsule TENGs with hybrid structures, such as different lengths of the capsule tube and different numbers of paired electrodes, are assembled, energy can be more efficiently harvested from vibrations with a broadband of amplitudes. A total of three parameters (the active area-to-volume ratio, the power-to-volume ratio, and the power-to-weight ratio), which are important parameters for 3D-integrated TENGs, are proposed. The results of this research show that capsule TENGs are versatile devices that can potentially be used for the efficient harvesting of ambient vibration energy.

Novel ITO-Si nanowire (NW) metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) photodetectors were fabricated by using n-type Si NWs as detection units and ITO films as top gate electrodes. Measurements on the Si NW based device reveal a significant photoresponse, including photocurrent generation with an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of approximately 35% at a peak wavelength of 600 nm at zero external bias, and with an EQE of 70% at a peak wavelength of 800 nm at - 0.5 V bias. The NW device shows a flat and low reflectance and almost constant EQE up to a 60 degrees incident angle of illumination, demonstrating efficient visible-light harvesting by the Si NW antenna.

Using polarization charges created at the metal-cadmium sulfide interface under strain to gate/modulate electrical transport and optoelectronic processes of charge carriers, the piezo-phototronic effect is applied to process mechanical and optical stimuli into electronic controlling signals. The cascade nanowire networks are demonstrated for achieving logic gates, binary computations, and gated D latches to store information carried by these stimuli.

Abstract Li‐ion batteries as energy storage devices need to be periodically charged for sustainably powering electronic devices owing to their limited capacities. Here, the feasibility of utilizing Li‐ion batteries as both the energy storage and scavenging units is demonstrated. Flexible Li‐ion batteries fabricated from electrospun LiMn 2 O 4 nanowires as cathode and carbon nanowires as anode enable a capacity retention of 90% coulombic efficiency after 50 cycles. Through the coupling between triboelectrification and electrostatic induction, the adjacent electrodes of two Li‐ion batteries can deliver an output peak voltage of about 200 V and an output peak current of about 25 µA under ambient wind‐induced vibrations of a hexafluoropropene–tetrafluoroethylene copolymer film between the two Li‐ion batteries. The self‐charging Li‐ion batteries have been demonstrated to charge themselves up to 3.5 V in about 3 min under wind‐induced mechanical excitations. The advantages of the self‐charging Li‐ion batteries can provide important applications for sustainably powering electronics and self‐powered sensor systems.

The Boltzmann distribution of electrons induced fundamental barrier prevents subthreshold swing (SS) from less than 60 mV dec-1 at room temperature, leading to high energy consumption of MOSFETs. Herein, it is demonstrated that an aggressive introduction of the negative capacitance (NC) effect of ferroelectrics can decisively break the fundamental limit governed by the "Boltzmann tyranny". Such MoS2 negative-capacitance field-effect transistors (NC-FETs) with self-aligned top-gated geometry demonstrated here pull down the SS value to 42.5 mV dec-1 , and simultaneously achieve superior performance of a transconductance of 45.5 μS μm and an on/off ratio of 4 × 106 with channel length less than 100 nm. Furthermore, the inserted HfO2 layer not only realizes a stable NC gate stack structure, but also prevents the ferroelectric P(VDF-TrFE) from fatigue with robust stability. Notably, the fabricated MoS2 NC-FETs are distinctly different from traditional MOSFETs. The on-state current increases as the temperature decreases even down to 20 K, and the SS values exhibit nonlinear dependence with temperature due to the implementation of the ferroelectric gate stack. The NC-FETs enable fundamental applications through overcoming the Boltzmann limit in nanoelectronics and open up an avenue to low-power transistors needed for many exciting long-endurance portable consumer products.

'Polymer Sensors' published in 'Encyclopedia of Nanotechnology'

'Prostheses' published in 'Encyclopedia of Nanotechnology'

It has been demonstrated that substantial electric power can be produced by a liquid-based triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). However, the mechanisms regarding the electrification between a liquid and a solid surface remain to be extensively investigated. Here, the working mechanism of a droplet-TENG was proposed based on the study of its dynamic saturation process. Moreover, the charge-transfer mechanism at the liquid-solid interface was verified as the hybrid effects of electron transfer and ion adsorption by a simple but valid method. Thus, we proposed a model for the charge distribution at the liquid-solid interface, named Wang's hybrid layer, which involves the electron transfer, the ionization reaction, and the van der Waals force. Our work not only proves that TENG is a probe for investigating charge transfer at interface of all phases, such as solid-solid and liquid-solid, but also may have great significance to water energy harvesting and may revolutionize the traditional understanding of the liquid-solid interface used in many fields such as electrochemistry, catalysis, colloidal science, and even cell biology.

The use of nanotechnology to develop a suite of sustainable energy production schemes is one of the most important scientific challenges of the 21st century. The challenge is to design, to synthesize, and to characterize new functional nanomaterials with controllable sizes, shapes, and/or structures. To summarize the progress of the research and development made in this important field, the Fuel Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS) organized a symposium on "Nanotechnology for Sustainable Energy and Fuels" during the 240th ACS National Meeting in Boston, MA on August 22−26, 2010, with the ACS Catalysis Division as the cosponsor. This symposium was a global gathering of leading scientists at the intersection of energy and nanotechnology. The topics discussed at the symposium included nanotechnology, not only for traditional fossil fuel production but also for novel processes for renewable energy applications. This article aims to highlight some of the most exciting advances presented at the symposium, including the preparation and characterization of nanomaterials for clean fuel production, CO2 capture, solar cells and solar fuels, energy conversion and storage materials, hydrogen storage materials, and fuel cells. Finally, possible future developments in this important and timely area are discussed.