Polymeric hydrogels are three-dimensional hydrophilic macromolecular networks capable of retaining varying amounts of water,similar to the extracellular matrix(ECM).To effectively translate these materials into therap...Polymeric hydrogels are three-dimensional hydrophilic macromolecular networks capable of retaining varying amounts of water,similar to the extracellular matrix(ECM).To effectively translate these materials into therapeutic actions,it is of importance to control their molecular design,structural architecture,and physical dimensions,ensuring that these factors are strictly optimized to meet the demands of therapeutic applications.Existing reviews mainly focus on specific hydrogel aspects,but there is a gap in translating hydrogel miniaturization into therapeutic potential.This review highlights developments in hydrogel miniaturization,focusing on microfluidic strategies for precise microgel control.Miniaturized hydrogels improve cell-material interactions,making them ideal for targeted drug delivery and regenerative medicine.By connecting these multiscale design and fabrication strategies with therapeutic performance,this review provides a more comprehensive framework for understanding how polymeric hydrogels can be engineered for biomedical applications.It also discusses challenges in the clinical translation of functionalized hydrogel systems and their future potential.展开更多
Piezoelectric ceramics with high mechanical quality factor Qm and large piezoelectric coefficient d33 are urgently required for advanced piezoelectric applications.However,obtaining both of these prop-erties sim...Piezoelectric ceramics with high mechanical quality factor Qm and large piezoelectric coefficient d33 are urgently required for advanced piezoelectric applications.However,obtaining both of these prop-erties simultaneously remains a difficult challenge due to their mutually restrictive relationship.Here 0.5Pb(Ni1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.5Pb(Zr0.3Ti0.7)O3 piezoceramic with tetragonal(T)-rich MPB is designed as a matrix to construct the defect engineering by doping low-valent Mn ions.The strong coupling of defect dipole and T-rich phase can effectively hinder the rotation of Ps,restrict domain wall motion and improve Qm.At the same time,the substituted Mn ions will introduce local random field,destroying the long-range or-dering of ferroelectric domain and reducing domain size.The miniaturized domain structure can increase poling efficiency and inhibit the reduction of d33.Guided by this strategy,Qm has increased by more than 10 times and d33 has only decreased by about 25%.The optimized electromechanical performance with Qm=822,d33=502 pC/N,kp=0.55 and tanδ=0.0069 can be obtained in the present study.展开更多
Monolithic macroporous Pt/CeO2/Al2O3 catalysts were prepared using concentrated emulsions synthesis route,and the obtained samples were characterized with SEM,TG,TEM,XRD and TPR techniques.These monolithic catalysts w...Monolithic macroporous Pt/CeO2/Al2O3 catalysts were prepared using concentrated emulsions synthesis route,and the obtained samples were characterized with SEM,TG,TEM,XRD and TPR techniques.These monolithic catalysts were applied to water gas shift(WGS)reaction in reformed gases.The SEM and TEM results indicated that the monoliths possessed macroporosity,and that the platinum particles homogeneously dispersed on the supports with the particle size in the range of 1-2 nm.The reducibility of the catalysts was characterized by TPR method,and it was shown that the monolithic PtOx/CeO2/Al2O3 exhibited the similar reducibility property to that of the particle PtOx/CeO2 reported in literatures.The CO conversion over the monolithic catalysts is higher than that over micro-reactor catalysts for WGS reaction in the reformed gases conditions,indicating that the monolithic macroporous catalysts is a potential new route for miniaturization of WGS reactor.展开更多
Based on previous work, a novel Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) consisting of two metallic layers is proposed. The first layer is inductive-designed to generate the band-pass performance, while the second layer is c...Based on previous work, a novel Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) consisting of two metallic layers is proposed. The first layer is inductive-designed to generate the band-pass performance, while the second layer is capacitive-designed so that the miniaturization characteristic can be further improved. As a result, compared with the traditional single-layer structure, the profile of the FSS proposed is relatively small with the cell’s dimension only 0.0814λ × 0.0814λ. Moreover, the structure’s stability corresponding to waves of different polarizations and incident angles are also testified, which ensures the practicability of the proposed structure.展开更多
Since the discovery of mesoporous silica in 1990s,there have been numerous mesoporous silica-based nanomaterials developed for catalytic applications,aiming at enhanced catalytic activity and stability.Recently,there ...Since the discovery of mesoporous silica in 1990s,there have been numerous mesoporous silica-based nanomaterials developed for catalytic applications,aiming at enhanced catalytic activity and stability.Recently,there have also been considerable interests in endowing them with hierarchical porosities to overcome the diffusional limitation for those with long unimodal channels.Present processes of making mesoporous silica largely rely on chemical sources which are relatively expensive and impose environmental concerns on their processes.In this regard,it is desirable to develop hierarchical silica supports from natural minerals.Herein,we present a series of work on surface reconstruction,modification,and functionalization to produce diatomite-based catalysts with original morphology and macro-meso-micro porosities and to test their suitability as catalyst supports for both liquid-and gas-phase reactions.Two wet-chemical routes were developed to introduce mesoporosity to both amorphous and crystalline diatomites.Importantly,we have used computational modeling to affirm that the diatomite morphology can improve catalytic performance based on fluid dynamics simulations.Thus,one could obtain this type of catalysts from numerous natural diatoms that have inherently intricate morphologies and shapes in micrometer scale.In principle,such catalytic nanocomposites acting as miniaturized industrial catalysts could be employed in microfluidic reactors for process intensification.展开更多
Miniaturization and micro-miniaturization are trends in technology models,such as ChatGPT.These trends have the potential to enhance the practicality and professionalism of the model,as well as making them more widely...Miniaturization and micro-miniaturization are trends in technology models,such as ChatGPT.These trends have the potential to enhance the practicality and professionalism of the model,as well as making them more widely accessible.Consequently,more individuals and organizations can leverage these technologies,and their impacts can be significant.Notably,miniaturization and micro-miniaturization can decrease the size of the model and the computing resources required,thus resulting the widespread use and development of artificial intelligence technology.Moreover,they can boost the speed of model operation and training efficiency,thereby improving the practicality and efficacy of applications.Ultimately,this trend will have a profound impact on diverse fields,including scientific research,education,coaching,medical care,and daily life.展开更多
An uncommon fractal construction method is applied in the microwave element design. A novel fractal defected ground structure (DGS) based on micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) is proposed. The size of this nov...An uncommon fractal construction method is applied in the microwave element design. A novel fractal defected ground structure (DGS) based on micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) is proposed. The size of this novel fractal DGS can achieve 86% size reduction compared with the conventional dumbbell type DGS. This novel fractal DGS is used in the miniaturization design of L-band microstrip antenna array. The simulation result shows that this novel fractal DGS can effectively reduce the mutual coupling between the antenna elements, so it is helpful to the miniaturization of microstrip array, namely the approximately same gain value can be achieved with the shorter distance between elements.展开更多
Miniaturization and compact printed planar monopole antenna coplanar Waveguide CPW/microstrip feed line three half semi-circular (3HSC) with similar ground plane is presented, design, simulation, fabrication and tes...Miniaturization and compact printed planar monopole antenna coplanar Waveguide CPW/microstrip feed line three half semi-circular (3HSC) with similar ground plane is presented, design, simulation, fabrication and tested experimentally for Ultra-Wideband (UWB) eommnnication application especially for WLAN and HIPERLAN/2 WLAN. The antenna design has a far from the traditional antennas such as a rectangular, circular, elliptical etc. Generating original planar antenna has been investigated to be an effect the combine geometry shapes of the radiation element part with the same geometry shapes of the slots in the ground plane. The simulation and measuring results have a good agreement, large bandwidth and radiation pattern behavior an omni-directional with stable gain has been obtained.展开更多
The miniaturization and endurance of wearable devices have been the research direction for a long time.With the development of nanotechnology and the emergence of microelectronics products,people have explored many ne...The miniaturization and endurance of wearable devices have been the research direction for a long time.With the development of nanotechnology and the emergence of microelectronics products,people have explored many new strategies that may be applied to wearable devices.In this overview,we will summarize the recent research of wearable devices in these two directions,and summarize some available related technologies.展开更多
Spectrometers serve as indispensable analytical tools across chemistry,materials science,environmental monitoring,medical diagnostics,and beyond.The emergence of reconstructive spectrometers represents a transformativ...Spectrometers serve as indispensable analytical tools across chemistry,materials science,environmental monitoring,medical diagnostics,and beyond.The emergence of reconstructive spectrometers represents a transformative leap in spectral analysis,combining miniaturized encoding hardware with advanced computational algorithms to revolutionize conventional approaches.These devices encode unknown spectral data into measurable signals,for which sophisticated algorithms then decode to reconstruct the original spectrum with high fidelity—all achieved within an ultra-compact footprint.In this review,we first establish the mathematical foundations governing spectral encoding and decoding.We then provide a detailed analysis of encoding strategy and state-of-the-art decoding techniques,followed by recent breakthroughs in hardware design for optimized spectral reconstruction systems.Finally,we address key challenges and future opportunities,offering insights into how reconstructive spectrometers may redefine spectroscopy beyond traditional laboratory settings.展开更多
Antennas are essential components of any wireless system due to their irreplaceable functions in transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves.Antenna radiation is based on the free electron resonance,leading to a ...Antennas are essential components of any wireless system due to their irreplaceable functions in transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves.Antenna radiation is based on the free electron resonance,leading to a concrete relation between its physical size and operating frequency.This fundamental principle makes it unrealizable to design well-radiated antennas with extremely small dimensions,e.g.,milli-wavelength scales.Here,to overturn this commonsense correlation,an extremely miniaturization methodology of antennas is developed by integrating an arbitrary-sized antenna with an ohmic-biased transistor(OBT)circuit.In this way,we thousandfold miniaturize the antenna to an overall size at milli-wavelength scales,including the OBT circuits.Proven by the experiments in the demonstration systems,the wireless system with this thousandfold miniaturized antenna receives electromagnetic waves well.This methodology would be widely utilized in space-limited wireless systems that cannot provide enough space for antennas,benefiting various exciting areas,such as information technologies,photoelectricity physics,biomedical science,and so on.展开更多
Computational spectrometers offer miniaturization potential but face the spatial uniformity requirement of incident light and trade-offs between footprint and performance.Here we report a nano-kirigami spectrometer ac...Computational spectrometers offer miniaturization potential but face the spatial uniformity requirement of incident light and trade-offs between footprint and performance.Here we report a nano-kirigami spectrometer achieving~5 nm resolution within a 2.5 μm×2.5 μm footprint.The device uses voltage-controlled deformation of Au-SiO2-Si trilayer structures with Archimedean spiral patterns,enabling dynamic spectral encoding through 2D-to-3D morphological transitions.展开更多
Photonics,the optical analog of electronics,follows the same miniaturization paradigm that drives progress in semiconductor industry and information technology [1].In this sense,photonic materials provide higher capac...Photonics,the optical analog of electronics,follows the same miniaturization paradigm that drives progress in semiconductor industry and information technology [1].In this sense,photonic materials provide higher capacity,faster processing speed and lower energy dissipation,effectively addressing the physical limitations imposed by Moore's law.展开更多
Diabetic retinopathy is a prominent cause of blindness in adults,with early retinal ganglion cell loss contributing to visual dysfunction or blindness.In the brain,defects inγ-aminobutyric acid synaptic transmission ...Diabetic retinopathy is a prominent cause of blindness in adults,with early retinal ganglion cell loss contributing to visual dysfunction or blindness.In the brain,defects inγ-aminobutyric acid synaptic transmission are associated with pathophysiological and neurodegenerative disorders,whereas glucagon-like peptide-1 has demonstrated neuroprotective effects.However,it is not yet clear whether diabetes causes alterations in inhibitory input to retinal ganglion cells and whether and how glucagon-like peptide-1 protects against neurodegeneration in the diabetic retina through regulating inhibitory synaptic transmission to retinal ganglion cells.In the present study,we used the patch-clamp technique to recordγ-aminobutyric acid subtype A receptor-mediated miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents in retinal ganglion cells from streptozotocin-induced diabetes model rats.We found that early diabetes(4 weeks of hyperglycemia)decreased the frequency of GABAergic miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents in retinal ganglion cells without altering their amplitude,suggesting a reduction in the spontaneous release ofγ-aminobutyric acid to retinal ganglion cells.Topical administration of glucagon-like peptide-1 eyedrops over a period of 2 weeks effectively countered the hyperglycemia-induced downregulation of GABAergic mIPSC frequency,subsequently enhancing the survival of retinal ganglion cells.Concurrently,the protective effects of glucagon-like peptide-1 on retinal ganglion cells in diabetic rats were eliminated by topical administration of exendin-9-39,a specific glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor antagonist,or SR95531,a specific antagonist of theγ-aminobutyric acid subtype A receptor.Furthermore,extracellular perfusion of glucagon-like peptide-1 was found to elevate the frequencies of GABAergic miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents in both ON-and OFF-type retinal ganglion cells.This elevation was shown to be mediated by activation of the phosphatidylinositol-phospholipase C/inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor/Ca2+/protein kinase C signaling pathway downstream of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor activation.Moreover,multielectrode array recordings revealed that glucagon-like peptide-1 functionally augmented the photoresponses of ON-type retinal ganglion cells.Optomotor response tests demonstrated that diabetic rats exhibited reductions in visual acuity and contrast sensitivity that were significantly ameliorated by topical administration of glucagon-like peptide-1.These results suggest that glucagon-like peptide-1 facilitates the release ofγ-aminobutyric acid onto retinal ganglion cells through the activation of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor,leading to the de-excitation of retinal ganglion cell circuits and the inhibition of excitotoxic processes associated with diabetic retinopathy.Collectively,our findings indicate that theγ-aminobutyric acid system has potential as a therapeutic target for mitigating early-stage diabetic retinopathy.Furthermore,the topical administration of glucagon-like peptide-1 eyedrops represents a non-invasive and effective treatment approach for managing early-stage diabetic retinopathy.展开更多
The relentless drive for miniaturization in microelectronics,guided by Moore's Law,is approaching a critical inflection point.Silicon-based transistors,the workhorse of modern computing,are confronting fundamental...The relentless drive for miniaturization in microelectronics,guided by Moore's Law,is approaching a critical inflection point.Silicon-based transistors,the workhorse of modern computing,are confronting fundamental physical limits at the atomic scale,where issues of power leakage and degraded electrostatic control become increasingly severe[1].展开更多
The primary somatosensory barrel cortex(S1BF)plays a key role in sensory perception and sensorimotor feedback during self-grooming and exploratory whisking.However,whether neurons in the S1BF exhibit distinct activati...The primary somatosensory barrel cortex(S1BF)plays a key role in sensory perception and sensorimotor feedback during self-grooming and exploratory whisking.However,whether neurons in the S1BF exhibit distinct activation patterns during the processing of sensory and motor information in these contexts remains unclear at the single-cell level.In this study,using miniature two-photon imaging(mini-2P)to monitor calcium transients,we identified four distinct neuron types based on their behavior-specific activation patterns:initiation-specific neurons(active at the onset of self-grooming(GIA cells)and whisking(WIA cells))and sustained-response neurons(active throughout self-grooming(GDA cells)and whisking(WDA cells)).GDA neurons were engaged during both self-grooming and whisking,while WIA and WDA cells showed whisking-specific responses,becoming inactive during self-grooming.Our study reveals distinct neuronal responses in the S1BF during self-grooming and whisking,highlighting the differential processing of sensory and motor information by different neuronal populations.展开更多
Point-of-care diagnostics and inline quantitative phase imaging(QPI)drive the demand for portable,ultra-miniaturized,and robust optical imaging and metrology systems.We propose and demonstrate a wavefront sensor integ...Point-of-care diagnostics and inline quantitative phase imaging(QPI)drive the demand for portable,ultra-miniaturized,and robust optical imaging and metrology systems.We propose and demonstrate a wavefront sensor integrated into a photonic integrated circuit,enabling single-shot optical phase retrieval.We implemented an integrated wavefront sensor array with a spatial resolution of 17μm and a numerical aperture of 0.1.Furthermore,we experimentally demonstrated the reconstruction of wavefronts defined by Zernike polynomials,specifically the first 14 terms(Z1to Z14),achieving an average root mean square error below 0.07.This advancement paves the way for fully integrated,portable,and robust optical imaging systems,facilitating integrated wavefront sensors in demanding applications such as point-of-care diagnostics,endoscopy,in situ QPI,and inline surface profile measurement.展开更多
Developing ultra-sensitive miniature fiber sensors capable of detecting ultrasonic signals in the kilohertz range is of fundamental importance for a wide range of applications.However,current Fabry-Perot interferometr...Developing ultra-sensitive miniature fiber sensors capable of detecting ultrasonic signals in the kilohertz range is of fundamental importance for a wide range of applications.However,current Fabry-Perot interferometric(FPI)fiber sensors face the main challenge of the intrinsic trade-off between sensitivity and resonant frequency,which hinders broadband ultrasonic detection.To break the sensitivity-frequency trade-off,we have proposed and demonstrated an FPI sensing diaphragm based on a hollow-tympanic diaphragm(HTD)structure.展开更多
Magnetic,dielectric and DC conductive properties of Ni0.95-xZnxCo0.05Fe1.90Mn0.02O4(with x=0-0.20 at an interval of 0.05)ferrite ceramics were studied,in order to develop magneto-dielectric materials...Magnetic,dielectric and DC conductive properties of Ni0.95-xZnxCo0.05Fe1.90Mn0.02O4(with x=0-0.20 at an interval of 0.05)ferrite ceramics were studied,in order to develop magneto-dielectric materials with almost equal values of relative permeability and permittivity,for the miniaturization of HF(3-30 MHz)and VHF(30-90MHz and 100-300 MHz)antennas.The ferrite ceramics were prepared by using the conventional two-step sintering process.The real part of relative permeability is increased almost linearly with increasing concentration of Zn,while that of relative permittivity keeps nearly unchanged.It is found that promising magneto-dielectric materials,with close values of real permeability and permittivity over 30-90 MHz(VHF),can be obtained for the samples at Zn concentrations between x=0.05 and x=0.10.展开更多
In recent years,miniature robots have shown remarkable potential for applications in the fields of in vivo drug delivery,disease treatment,and extreme environment sensing.However,due to their high structural rigidity,...In recent years,miniature robots have shown remarkable potential for applications in the fields of in vivo drug delivery,disease treatment,and extreme environment sensing.However,due to their high structural rigidity,poor biocompatibility,low adaptability in complex terrains,and lack of active obstacle avoidance,traditional synthetic miniature robots can usually only be investigated for proof-of-concept studies while ignoring their in vivo safety or the complexity of the application environments,which is still a significant gap from the needs of practical applications in vivo or in extreme environments.Due to their superior biocompatibility and living biological function,living biohybrid miniature robots(LBMs)have great clinical applications in vivo disease diagnosis and treatment,and in extreme environment sensing,search,and rescue.They have environmental adaptive capabilities comparable to natural organisms,thus maximizing the functionality and locomotor capabilities of living organisms.Here,we systematically summarize the components and fabrication strategies of LBMs,and comprehensively discuss the driving modes of them,as well as the efficient goal-oriented realization of these mechanisms in specific application scenarios.Finally,we discuss the current challenges facing the field and provide an outlook on future developments and research directions.展开更多
基金supported by the Liaoning Province Ph.D.Start-Up Program(2023BS-183)the University of Science and Technology Liaoning Excellent Young Faculty Program(2023YQ09).
摘要Polymeric hydrogels are three-dimensional hydrophilic macromolecular networks capable of retaining varying amounts of water,similar to the extracellular matrix(ECM).To effectively translate these materials into therapeutic actions,it is of importance to control their molecular design,structural architecture,and physical dimensions,ensuring that these factors are strictly optimized to meet the demands of therapeutic applications.Existing reviews mainly focus on specific hydrogel aspects,but there is a gap in translating hydrogel miniaturization into therapeutic potential.This review highlights developments in hydrogel miniaturization,focusing on microfluidic strategies for precise microgel control.Miniaturized hydrogels improve cell-material interactions,making them ideal for targeted drug delivery and regenerative medicine.By connecting these multiscale design and fabrication strategies with therapeutic performance,this review provides a more comprehensive framework for understanding how polymeric hydrogels can be engineered for biomedical applications.It also discusses challenges in the clinical translation of functionalized hydrogel systems and their future potential.
基金financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.52172181 and22105017).
摘要Piezoelectric ceramics with high mechanical quality factor Qm and large piezoelectric coefficient d33 are urgently required for advanced piezoelectric applications.However,obtaining both of these prop-erties simultaneously remains a difficult challenge due to their mutually restrictive relationship.Here 0.5Pb(Ni1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.5Pb(Zr0.3Ti0.7)O3 piezoceramic with tetragonal(T)-rich MPB is designed as a matrix to construct the defect engineering by doping low-valent Mn ions.The strong coupling of defect dipole and T-rich phase can effectively hinder the rotation of Ps,restrict domain wall motion and improve Qm.At the same time,the substituted Mn ions will introduce local random field,destroying the long-range or-dering of ferroelectric domain and reducing domain size.The miniaturized domain structure can increase poling efficiency and inhibit the reduction of d33.Guided by this strategy,Qm has increased by more than 10 times and d33 has only decreased by about 25%.The optimized electromechanical performance with Qm=822,d33=502 pC/N,kp=0.55 and tanδ=0.0069 can be obtained in the present study.
基金supported by the Ministry of Sciences and Technology of China(863 programs,No 2006AA05Z115 and 2007AA05Z104)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.20976121)
摘要Monolithic macroporous Pt/CeO2/Al2O3 catalysts were prepared using concentrated emulsions synthesis route,and the obtained samples were characterized with SEM,TG,TEM,XRD and TPR techniques.These monolithic catalysts were applied to water gas shift(WGS)reaction in reformed gases.The SEM and TEM results indicated that the monoliths possessed macroporosity,and that the platinum particles homogeneously dispersed on the supports with the particle size in the range of 1-2 nm.The reducibility of the catalysts was characterized by TPR method,and it was shown that the monolithic PtOx/CeO2/Al2O3 exhibited the similar reducibility property to that of the particle PtOx/CeO2 reported in literatures.The CO conversion over the monolithic catalysts is higher than that over micro-reactor catalysts for WGS reaction in the reformed gases conditions,indicating that the monolithic macroporous catalysts is a potential new route for miniaturization of WGS reactor.
摘要Based on previous work, a novel Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) consisting of two metallic layers is proposed. The first layer is inductive-designed to generate the band-pass performance, while the second layer is capacitive-designed so that the miniaturization characteristic can be further improved. As a result, compared with the traditional single-layer structure, the profile of the FSS proposed is relatively small with the cell’s dimension only 0.0814λ × 0.0814λ. Moreover, the structure’s stability corresponding to waves of different polarizations and incident angles are also testified, which ensures the practicability of the proposed structure.
基金the financial support provided by the National Research Foundation (NRF), Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore, under its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) programpartially funded by the National University of Singapore under its Flagship Green Energy Program (GEP), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) under its Low Carbon Energy Research Funding Initiative (LCER-FI)Chongqing Science and Technology Research and Development Base Construction Project (cstc2013gjhz0029)
摘要Since the discovery of mesoporous silica in 1990s,there have been numerous mesoporous silica-based nanomaterials developed for catalytic applications,aiming at enhanced catalytic activity and stability.Recently,there have also been considerable interests in endowing them with hierarchical porosities to overcome the diffusional limitation for those with long unimodal channels.Present processes of making mesoporous silica largely rely on chemical sources which are relatively expensive and impose environmental concerns on their processes.In this regard,it is desirable to develop hierarchical silica supports from natural minerals.Herein,we present a series of work on surface reconstruction,modification,and functionalization to produce diatomite-based catalysts with original morphology and macro-meso-micro porosities and to test their suitability as catalyst supports for both liquid-and gas-phase reactions.Two wet-chemical routes were developed to introduce mesoporosity to both amorphous and crystalline diatomites.Importantly,we have used computational modeling to affirm that the diatomite morphology can improve catalytic performance based on fluid dynamics simulations.Thus,one could obtain this type of catalysts from numerous natural diatoms that have inherently intricate morphologies and shapes in micrometer scale.In principle,such catalytic nanocomposites acting as miniaturized industrial catalysts could be employed in microfluidic reactors for process intensification.
摘要Miniaturization and micro-miniaturization are trends in technology models,such as ChatGPT.These trends have the potential to enhance the practicality and professionalism of the model,as well as making them more widely accessible.Consequently,more individuals and organizations can leverage these technologies,and their impacts can be significant.Notably,miniaturization and micro-miniaturization can decrease the size of the model and the computing resources required,thus resulting the widespread use and development of artificial intelligence technology.Moreover,they can boost the speed of model operation and training efficiency,thereby improving the practicality and efficacy of applications.Ultimately,this trend will have a profound impact on diverse fields,including scientific research,education,coaching,medical care,and daily life.
基金supported by the 11th Five-Year Plan under Grant No. 11001030203
摘要An uncommon fractal construction method is applied in the microwave element design. A novel fractal defected ground structure (DGS) based on micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) is proposed. The size of this novel fractal DGS can achieve 86% size reduction compared with the conventional dumbbell type DGS. This novel fractal DGS is used in the miniaturization design of L-band microstrip antenna array. The simulation result shows that this novel fractal DGS can effectively reduce the mutual coupling between the antenna elements, so it is helpful to the miniaturization of microstrip array, namely the approximately same gain value can be achieved with the shorter distance between elements.
摘要Miniaturization and compact printed planar monopole antenna coplanar Waveguide CPW/microstrip feed line three half semi-circular (3HSC) with similar ground plane is presented, design, simulation, fabrication and tested experimentally for Ultra-Wideband (UWB) eommnnication application especially for WLAN and HIPERLAN/2 WLAN. The antenna design has a far from the traditional antennas such as a rectangular, circular, elliptical etc. Generating original planar antenna has been investigated to be an effect the combine geometry shapes of the radiation element part with the same geometry shapes of the slots in the ground plane. The simulation and measuring results have a good agreement, large bandwidth and radiation pattern behavior an omni-directional with stable gain has been obtained.
摘要The miniaturization and endurance of wearable devices have been the research direction for a long time.With the development of nanotechnology and the emergence of microelectronics products,people have explored many new strategies that may be applied to wearable devices.In this overview,we will summarize the recent research of wearable devices in these two directions,and summarize some available related technologies.
基金funded by Scientific Research Innovation Capability Support Project for Young Faculty(ZYGXQNJSKYCXNLZCXM-E8)National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF)(RS-2024-00463154)Industrial Strategic Technology Development Program(RS-2024-00431676).
摘要Spectrometers serve as indispensable analytical tools across chemistry,materials science,environmental monitoring,medical diagnostics,and beyond.The emergence of reconstructive spectrometers represents a transformative leap in spectral analysis,combining miniaturized encoding hardware with advanced computational algorithms to revolutionize conventional approaches.These devices encode unknown spectral data into measurable signals,for which sophisticated algorithms then decode to reconstruct the original spectrum with high fidelity—all achieved within an ultra-compact footprint.In this review,we first establish the mathematical foundations governing spectral encoding and decoding.We then provide a detailed analysis of encoding strategy and state-of-the-art decoding techniques,followed by recent breakthroughs in hardware design for optimized spectral reconstruction systems.Finally,we address key challenges and future opportunities,offering insights into how reconstructive spectrometers may redefine spectroscopy beyond traditional laboratory settings.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(Grant No.2021YFA 0716601)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.U22B2016).
摘要Antennas are essential components of any wireless system due to their irreplaceable functions in transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves.Antenna radiation is based on the free electron resonance,leading to a concrete relation between its physical size and operating frequency.This fundamental principle makes it unrealizable to design well-radiated antennas with extremely small dimensions,e.g.,milli-wavelength scales.Here,to overturn this commonsense correlation,an extremely miniaturization methodology of antennas is developed by integrating an arbitrary-sized antenna with an ohmic-biased transistor(OBT)circuit.In this way,we thousandfold miniaturize the antenna to an overall size at milli-wavelength scales,including the OBT circuits.Proven by the experiments in the demonstration systems,the wireless system with this thousandfold miniaturized antenna receives electromagnetic waves well.This methodology would be widely utilized in space-limited wireless systems that cannot provide enough space for antennas,benefiting various exciting areas,such as information technologies,photoelectricity physics,biomedical science,and so on.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China(T2325005,62505020,52488301,62375016)National Key Research and Development Program of China(2024YFB2809204)+1 种基金Fundamental and Interdisciplinary Disciplines Breakthrough Plan of the Ministry of Education(JYB2025XDXM115)China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(2025M784234)。
摘要Computational spectrometers offer miniaturization potential but face the spatial uniformity requirement of incident light and trade-offs between footprint and performance.Here we report a nano-kirigami spectrometer achieving~5 nm resolution within a 2.5 μm×2.5 μm footprint.The device uses voltage-controlled deformation of Au-SiO2-Si trilayer structures with Archimedean spiral patterns,enabling dynamic spectral encoding through 2D-to-3D morphological transitions.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2024YFA1211600)the Scientific Research Innovation Capability Support Project for Young Faculty(ZYGXQNJSKYCXNLZCXM-M3)+2 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22275021 and W2441007)the Beijing Municipal Natural Science Foundation (L234064 and 25JL003)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities。
摘要Photonics,the optical analog of electronics,follows the same miniaturization paradigm that drives progress in semiconductor industry and information technology [1].In this sense,photonic materials provide higher capacity,faster processing speed and lower energy dissipation,effectively addressing the physical limitations imposed by Moore's law.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China,Nos.32070989(to YMZ),31872766(to YMZ),81790640(to XLY),and 82070993(to SJW)the grant from Sanming Project of Medicine in Shenzhen,No.SZSM202011015(to XLY)。
摘要Diabetic retinopathy is a prominent cause of blindness in adults,with early retinal ganglion cell loss contributing to visual dysfunction or blindness.In the brain,defects inγ-aminobutyric acid synaptic transmission are associated with pathophysiological and neurodegenerative disorders,whereas glucagon-like peptide-1 has demonstrated neuroprotective effects.However,it is not yet clear whether diabetes causes alterations in inhibitory input to retinal ganglion cells and whether and how glucagon-like peptide-1 protects against neurodegeneration in the diabetic retina through regulating inhibitory synaptic transmission to retinal ganglion cells.In the present study,we used the patch-clamp technique to recordγ-aminobutyric acid subtype A receptor-mediated miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents in retinal ganglion cells from streptozotocin-induced diabetes model rats.We found that early diabetes(4 weeks of hyperglycemia)decreased the frequency of GABAergic miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents in retinal ganglion cells without altering their amplitude,suggesting a reduction in the spontaneous release ofγ-aminobutyric acid to retinal ganglion cells.Topical administration of glucagon-like peptide-1 eyedrops over a period of 2 weeks effectively countered the hyperglycemia-induced downregulation of GABAergic mIPSC frequency,subsequently enhancing the survival of retinal ganglion cells.Concurrently,the protective effects of glucagon-like peptide-1 on retinal ganglion cells in diabetic rats were eliminated by topical administration of exendin-9-39,a specific glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor antagonist,or SR95531,a specific antagonist of theγ-aminobutyric acid subtype A receptor.Furthermore,extracellular perfusion of glucagon-like peptide-1 was found to elevate the frequencies of GABAergic miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents in both ON-and OFF-type retinal ganglion cells.This elevation was shown to be mediated by activation of the phosphatidylinositol-phospholipase C/inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor/Ca2+/protein kinase C signaling pathway downstream of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor activation.Moreover,multielectrode array recordings revealed that glucagon-like peptide-1 functionally augmented the photoresponses of ON-type retinal ganglion cells.Optomotor response tests demonstrated that diabetic rats exhibited reductions in visual acuity and contrast sensitivity that were significantly ameliorated by topical administration of glucagon-like peptide-1.These results suggest that glucagon-like peptide-1 facilitates the release ofγ-aminobutyric acid onto retinal ganglion cells through the activation of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor,leading to the de-excitation of retinal ganglion cell circuits and the inhibition of excitotoxic processes associated with diabetic retinopathy.Collectively,our findings indicate that theγ-aminobutyric acid system has potential as a therapeutic target for mitigating early-stage diabetic retinopathy.Furthermore,the topical administration of glucagon-like peptide-1 eyedrops represents a non-invasive and effective treatment approach for managing early-stage diabetic retinopathy.
摘要The relentless drive for miniaturization in microelectronics,guided by Moore's Law,is approaching a critical inflection point.Silicon-based transistors,the workhorse of modern computing,are confronting fundamental physical limits at the atomic scale,where issues of power leakage and degraded electrostatic control become increasingly severe[1].
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(82271577,82071536,82371236,and 82221001)Shaanxi Provincial Innovation Chain Project of Key Industries(2023-ZDLSF-47)+2 种基金the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province of China(2024A1515012479)the Shaanxi Provincial Key Research and Development Program(2020ZDLSF01-09)the Joint Founding Project of Innovation Research Institute,Xijing Hospital(LHJJ24JH05).
摘要The primary somatosensory barrel cortex(S1BF)plays a key role in sensory perception and sensorimotor feedback during self-grooming and exploratory whisking.However,whether neurons in the S1BF exhibit distinct activation patterns during the processing of sensory and motor information in these contexts remains unclear at the single-cell level.In this study,using miniature two-photon imaging(mini-2P)to monitor calcium transients,we identified four distinct neuron types based on their behavior-specific activation patterns:initiation-specific neurons(active at the onset of self-grooming(GIA cells)and whisking(WIA cells))and sustained-response neurons(active throughout self-grooming(GDA cells)and whisking(WDA cells)).GDA neurons were engaged during both self-grooming and whisking,while WIA and WDA cells showed whisking-specific responses,becoming inactive during self-grooming.Our study reveals distinct neuronal responses in the S1BF during self-grooming and whisking,highlighting the differential processing of sensory and motor information by different neuronal populations.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.52175509 and 52450158)the National Key Research and Development Program of China(Grant No.2023YFF1500900)+2 种基金the Shenzhen Fundamental Research Program(Grant No.JCYJ20220818100412027)the Guangdong-Hong Kong Technology Cooperation Funding Scheme Category C Platform(Grant No.SGDX20230116093543005)the Innovation Project of Optics Valley Laboratory(Grant No.OVL2023PY003)。
摘要Point-of-care diagnostics and inline quantitative phase imaging(QPI)drive the demand for portable,ultra-miniaturized,and robust optical imaging and metrology systems.We propose and demonstrate a wavefront sensor integrated into a photonic integrated circuit,enabling single-shot optical phase retrieval.We implemented an integrated wavefront sensor array with a spatial resolution of 17μm and a numerical aperture of 0.1.Furthermore,we experimentally demonstrated the reconstruction of wavefronts defined by Zernike polynomials,specifically the first 14 terms(Z1to Z14),achieving an average root mean square error below 0.07.This advancement paves the way for fully integrated,portable,and robust optical imaging systems,facilitating integrated wavefront sensors in demanding applications such as point-of-care diagnostics,endoscopy,in situ QPI,and inline surface profile measurement.
基金National Key Research and Development Program of China(2025YFF0523500)International Partnership Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences(321GJHZ2025134M1)+7 种基金Shenzhen Research Foundation(KJZD20230923114601003,JSGG20220831103402004,D2404001)National Natural Science Foundation of China(62205364)CAS Pioneer Hundred Talents ProgramStrategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences(XDC0190400)General Program of Shenzhen Science,Technology&Innovation Commission(JCYJ20220530113811026)Open Research Fund of National Engineering Research Center of Water Resources Efficient Utilization and Engineering SafetyNational Science Centre,Poland under Chinese-Polish SHENG 3(2023/48/Q/ST7/00242)Funding for Guangzhou Science and Technology Project(2025B01J2002)。
摘要Developing ultra-sensitive miniature fiber sensors capable of detecting ultrasonic signals in the kilohertz range is of fundamental importance for a wide range of applications.However,current Fabry-Perot interferometric(FPI)fiber sensors face the main challenge of the intrinsic trade-off between sensitivity and resonant frequency,which hinders broadband ultrasonic detection.To break the sensitivity-frequency trade-off,we have proposed and demonstrated an FPI sensing diaphragm based on a hollow-tympanic diaphragm(HTD)structure.
基金supported by the Natural Science Fund of China(51762023)the JiangXi Association for Science and Technology,the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Education,and the Training Program of Outstanding Young Scientists in Jiangxi Province(20171BCB23070).
摘要Magnetic,dielectric and DC conductive properties of Ni0.95-xZnxCo0.05Fe1.90Mn0.02O4(with x=0-0.20 at an interval of 0.05)ferrite ceramics were studied,in order to develop magneto-dielectric materials with almost equal values of relative permeability and permittivity,for the miniaturization of HF(3-30 MHz)and VHF(30-90MHz and 100-300 MHz)antennas.The ferrite ceramics were prepared by using the conventional two-step sintering process.The real part of relative permeability is increased almost linearly with increasing concentration of Zn,while that of relative permittivity keeps nearly unchanged.It is found that promising magneto-dielectric materials,with close values of real permeability and permittivity over 30-90 MHz(VHF),can be obtained for the samples at Zn concentrations between x=0.05 and x=0.10.
基金financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(52475308)Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation(2025A1515012211)+1 种基金Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Committee Projects(JCYJ20220531103409021)Shenzhen Medical Research Fund(SMRF A2303074).
摘要In recent years,miniature robots have shown remarkable potential for applications in the fields of in vivo drug delivery,disease treatment,and extreme environment sensing.However,due to their high structural rigidity,poor biocompatibility,low adaptability in complex terrains,and lack of active obstacle avoidance,traditional synthetic miniature robots can usually only be investigated for proof-of-concept studies while ignoring their in vivo safety or the complexity of the application environments,which is still a significant gap from the needs of practical applications in vivo or in extreme environments.Due to their superior biocompatibility and living biological function,living biohybrid miniature robots(LBMs)have great clinical applications in vivo disease diagnosis and treatment,and in extreme environment sensing,search,and rescue.They have environmental adaptive capabilities comparable to natural organisms,thus maximizing the functionality and locomotor capabilities of living organisms.Here,we systematically summarize the components and fabrication strategies of LBMs,and comprehensively discuss the driving modes of them,as well as the efficient goal-oriented realization of these mechanisms in specific application scenarios.Finally,we discuss the current challenges facing the field and provide an outlook on future developments and research directions.