Application of 2D Resistivity Modelling to Delineate Lamproites in Parts of North‑Eastern Dharwar Craton

Geophysical methods have extensively been used in exploration of Lamproite bodies. Lamproites are significant source rocks of primary diamond deposits other than Kimberlites. The Eastern Dharwar Craton is unique in the way that it hosts numerous Precambrian Lamproites confined to the crescent-shaped Paleo-Mesoproterozoic Cuddapah Basin and its north-western and north-eastern margins. In the present study electrical method was used as a tool for delineation of Lamproite bodies in contrast with country rocks in Gundrapally, Vattikode and Marepally regions in parts of the North Eastern Dharwar Craton in Telangana State, India. The electrical profiling method was conducted in different direction to identify the variation of the lithology of the area due to the anisotropic nature and smaller size of the 2-D intrusive bodies adopting the Wenner electrode configuration. The electrical properties of the Lamproites tended to change with their composition due to weathering and the presence of Olivine and K-Al rich composition. The electrical response on the Lamproite pipes is shows a decrease in resistivity concerning the country-rock in the area.

A Comparative Study of the Electrical and Electromechanical Responses of Carbon Nanotube/Polypropylene Composites in Alternating and Direct Current

The electrical and electromechanical responses of ~200 µm thick extruded nanocomposite films comprising of 4 wt.% and 5 wt.% multiwall carbon nanotubes mixed with polypropylene are investigated under an alternating current (AC) and compared to their direct current (DC) response. The AC electrical response to frequency (f) and strain (piezoimpedance) is characterized using two configurations, namely one that promotes resistive dominance (resistive configuration) and the other that promotes the permittivity/capacitive contribution (dielectric configuration). For the resistive configuration, the frequency response indicated a resistive–capacitive (RC) behavior (negative phase angle, θ), with a significant contribution of capacitance for frequencies of 104 Hz and above, depending on the nanotube content. The piezoimpedance characterization in the resistive configuration yielded an increasing impedance modulus (|Z|) and an increasing (negative) value of θ as the strain increased. The piezoimpedance sensitivity at f = 10 kHz was ~30% higher than the corresponding DC piezoresistive sensitivity, yielding a sensitivity factor of 9.9 for |Z| and a higher sensitivity factor (~12.7) for θ. The dielectric configuration enhanced the permittivity contribution to impedance, but it was the least sensitive to strain.

Фотоиндуцированный перенос заряда в слоистых 2D наноструктурах PbSe-MoS-=SUB=-2-=/SUB=-

Semiconductor 2D nanostructures are a new platform for the creation of modern optoelectronic devices. Layered 2D PbSe-MoS2 nanostructures with efficient photoinduced charge transfer from PbSe nanoplatelets (NPLs) to MoS2 were created. When PbSe NPLs with short organic ligands are deposited onto a thin layer of MoS2 NPLs, a decrease in their photoluminescence intensity and a decrease in the average photoluminescence lifetime are observed. When a layered 2D PbSe-MoS2 nanostructure is illuminated with IR radiation, a photocurrent appears, which indicates the contribution of PbSe NPLs to the electrical response of the system. Ultrathin layers of transition metal dichalcogenides sensitized with nanostructures based on lead chalcogenides can be used in photodetectors with a spectral sensitivity region extended to the near-IR range.

Pragmatic method for fast programming of hybrid photon counting detectors

It is now been over 15 years since Hybrid Photon Counting Detectors (HPCD) became one of the standard position-sensitive detectors for synchrotron light sources and X-ray detection applications. This is mainly due to their single-photon sensitivity over a high dynamic energy range and electronic noise suppression thanks to energy thresholding. To reach those performances, all HPCD pixels must feature the same electrical response against photons of the same energy. From the analysis of a monochromatic beam, in case of an ideal HPCD detector, it would be sufficient to apply a fixed voltage threshold among all pixels, positioned at half of the mean pulse amplitude to count every photon above the threshold. However, in practical cases, it must be considered that noise baselines from all pixels are not always strictly located at the same voltage level but can be spread over some voltage ranges. To address this kind of issue, most of all HPCDs apply a conventional threshold equalization method, that mainly relies on three steps; the setting of a global threshold at an arbitrary value, the identification of pixels noise baseline around that global threshold through an in-pixel threshold trimmer, and the computation of the required threshold offsets for setting all pixels at their own noise baseline at the same time. However, in case of a first-time use of an HPCD prototype, the threshold equalization might be biased by parameters that are wrongly set. Those biases can sometimes be characterized by the inability to localize some pixel noise baselines, which could be outside the voltage range of the threshold trimmer. The recovery of those biased pixels could be performed by changing the position of the global threshold, or by increasing the voltage range of the threshold trimmer. Unfortunately, both solutions could be time consuming due to the lack of information on the required steps for recovering all noise baselines. In order to overcome this issue in a reasonable time, this work introduces a pragmatic method that can be applied to HPCDs for an early and effective identification of appropriate pixels’ parameters, avoiding the need to test a high number of pixels configurations. The application of this method, at the early stage of the HPCD calibration, may drastically reduce the investigation time for finding the optimal operating parameters of HPCD prototypes.

Generation of nonlinearity in the electrical response of yeast suspensions

The mechanism through which nonlinearity is generated in the response waveform of the electric current obtained by applying alternating current voltage to yeast suspension has not yet been elucidated. In this paper, we showed that the response waveform depends on the applied voltage and frequency. The results showed that distortion (nonlinearity) in the waveform increases as the applied voltage increases and/or the frequency decreases. We suggest a model for the generation of nonlinearity based on the influx of potassium ions into the cell via potassium ion channels and transporters in the membrane due to the applied voltage. Furthermore, we validated this model by simulating an electrical circuit.

Stretchable Systems

Stretchable electronics is one of the transformative pillars of future flexible electronics. As a result, the research on new passive and active materials, novel designs, and engineering approaches has attracted significant interest. Recent studies have highlighted the importance of new approaches that enable the integration of high-performance materials, including, organic and inorganic compounds, carbon-based and layered materials, and composites to serve as conductors, semiconductors or insulators, with the ability to accommodate electronics on stretchable substrates. This Element presents a discussion about the strategies that have been developed for obtaining stretchable systems, with a focus on various stretchable geometries to achieve strain invariant electrical response, and summarises the recent advances in terms of material research, various integration techniques of high-performance electronics. In addition, some of the applications, challenges and opportunities associated with the development of stretchable electronics are discussed.

Insights into the surface responses of graphene oxide irradiated by an infrared femtosecond laser

Graphene oxide (GO) has emerged as unique and multifaceted novel material with a wide range of applications in electrochemistry and optoelectronic engineering. In these applications, GO surface is characterized with different functional structures in the micro-nano scale, while the femtosecond laser is a promising and versatile tool for manufacturing these structures comparing with conventional approaches. However, the comprehensive surface responses and corresponding regimes of GO surface under femtosecond laser irradiation are not yet identified, which creates obstacles to the further application of femtosecond laser in programming GO surface with specific nanopatterns. Herein, theoretical models characterizing the electrical response, i.e., the transient spatial and temporal distribution of infrared femtosecond laser-excited free electron density at the GO surface layers are established. The numerical simulations are carried out using the discontinuous Galerkin finite element algorithm with a 5 fs time step. The relationship between the laser polarized electric field and free electron density is revealed. On this basis, the surface plasma distribution is characterized, the accuracy of which is verified through the comparison of experimental ablation morphology. Thermal, morphological and chemical responses of the GO surface using different parameters are analyzed correspondingly, from which the formation and evolution mechanisms of surface nanopatterns with different features are explained. This work offers a new insight into the fundamental regimes and feasibility of ultrafast patterning of GO for the application of multifunctional device engineering.

Self-oscillating Chemoelectrical Interface of Solution-gated Ion-sensitive Field-effect Transistor Based on Belousov–zhabotinsky Reaction

The Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) self-oscillation reaction is an important chemical model to elucidate nonequilibrium chemistry in an open system. However, there are only a few studies on the electrical behavior of pH oscillation induced by the BZ reaction, although numerous studies have been carried out to investigate the mechanisms by which the BZ reaction interacts with redox reactions, which results in potential changes. Needless to say, the electrical characteristic of a self-oscillating polymer gel driven by the BZ reaction has not been clarified. On the other hand, a solution-gated ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (ISFET) has a superior ability to detect ionic charges and includes capacitive membranes on the gate electrode. In this study, we carried out the electrical monitoring of self-oscillation behaviors at the chemoelectrical interface based on the BZ reaction using ISFET sensors, focusing on the pH oscillation and the electrical dynamics of the self-oscillating polymer brush. The pH oscillation induced by the BZ reaction is not only electrically observed using the ISFET sensor, the electrical signals of which results from the interfacial potential between the solution and the gate insulator, but also visualized using a large-scale and high-density ISFET sensor. Moreover, the N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm)-based self-oscillating polymer brush with Ru(bpy)3 as a catalyst clearly shows a periodic electrical response based on the swelling–deswelling behavior caused by the BZ reaction on the gate insulator of the ISFET sensor. Thus, the elucidation of the electrical self-oscillation behaviors induced by the BZ reaction using the ISFET sensor provides a solution to the problems of nonequilibrium chemistry.

Electrical response of retinal ganglion cells in an N-methyl-N-nitrosourea-induced retinal degeneration porcine model

Retinal prosthesis is regarded as the treatment for vision restoration in the blind with retinal degeneration (RD) due to the loss of photoreceptors. A strategy for retinal prosthesis is to electrically activate surviving neurons. The retina’s response to electrical stimulation in a larger RD model has not been studied yet. Therefore, in this study, we investigated electrically evoked retinal responses in a previously validated N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU)-induced porcine RD model. Electrically evoked responses were evaluated based on the number of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) spikes via multichannel recordings. Stimulation pulses were applied to degenerative and wild-type retinas with pulse modulation. Compared to wild-type retinas, degenerative retinas showed higher threshold values of pulse amplitude and pulse duration. The rate of increase in the number of RGC spikes relative to stimulus intensity was lower in degenerative retinas than in normal retinas. In severely degenerated retinas, few RGCs showed electrically evoked spikes. Our results suggest that the degenerative porcine retina requires a higher charge than the normal porcine retina. In the early stage of RD, it is easier to induce RGC spikes through electrical stimulation using retinal prosthesis; however, when the degeneration is severe, there may be difficulty recovering patient vision.