A snapshot review on exciton engineering in deformed 2D materials

MRS Advances ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (64) ◽  
pp. 3491-3506
Author(s):  
Juyoung Leem

AbstractMost optoelectronic characteristics of two-dimensional (2D) materials are associated with excitonic effects. Excitonic effects in 2D material have been intensively investigated, and various efforts to engineer exciton behavior in 2D materials have been reported for advanced nanophotonic and optoelectronic applications. Excitons in 2D semiconductors can be controlled by external stimuli, including mechanical, electrical, thermal, and magnetic stimuli. Mechanical stimuli applied to a 2D material can generate uniform or non-uniform deformation and strain gradient in the 2D lattice, which creates a strain-induced bandgap energy gradient in the 2D material. In an inhomogeneous bandgap energy gradient generated by a non-uniform strain gradient, excitons drift across the energy gradient. Exciton engineering in deformed 2D materials aims to control exciton movement by mechanical strain. In this snapshot review, we focus on exciton engineering in a mechanically deformed 2D material and their potential towards advanced optoelectronic and photonic applications.

Proceedings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (13) ◽  
pp. 1513
Author(s):  
Imrich Gablech ◽  
Jan Pekárek ◽  
Jaroslav Klempa ◽  
Petr Vyroubal ◽  
Vojtěch Svatoš ◽  
...  

This paper proposes a new method for characterization of 2D materials under the precisely specified conditions. It is achieved by integration of a 2D material as a field effect transistors structures with a piezoelectric resonator. Properties of the 2D material can be mechanically adjusted by the resonator. It results in the independent and precise control of an amplitude of induced mechanical strain, its modulating frequency, which all influence the 2D material properties. The electrical field required to measure 2D material field effect transistors will not be affected by the vibrations, thus giving us a chance to perform the precise measurement of the electrical properties of the 2D material. This approach has a great potential for measuring and monitoring cells, enzymes, nucleic acids, deoxyribonucleic acid and ribonucleic acid. It can be also used for measurement of toxic, combustive or waste gases.


Author(s):  
Camille Perier-Metz ◽  
Georg N. Duda ◽  
Sara Checa

AbstractLarge bone defects remain a clinical challenge because they do not heal spontaneously. 3-D printed scaffolds are a promising treatment option for such critical defects. Recent scaffold design strategies have made use of computer modelling techniques to optimize scaffold design. In particular, scaffold geometries have been optimized to avoid mechanical failure and recently also to provide a distinct mechanical stimulation to cells within the scaffold pores. This way, mechanical strain levels are optimized to favour the bone tissue formation. However, bone regeneration is a highly dynamic process where the mechanical conditions immediately after surgery might not ensure optimal regeneration throughout healing. Here, we investigated in silico whether scaffolds presenting optimal mechanical conditions for bone regeneration immediately after surgery also present an optimal design for the full regeneration process. A computer framework, combining an automatic parametric scaffold design generation with a mechano-biological bone regeneration model, was developed to predict the level of regenerated bone volume for a large range of scaffold designs and to compare it with the scaffold pore volume fraction under favourable mechanical stimuli immediately after surgery. We found that many scaffold designs could be considered as highly beneficial for bone healing immediately after surgery; however, most of them did not show optimal bone formation in later regenerative phases. This study allowed to gain a more thorough understanding of the effect of scaffold geometry changes on bone regeneration and how to maximize regenerated bone volume in the long term.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joyce C. C. Santos ◽  
Mariana C. Prado ◽  
Helane L. O. Morais ◽  
Samuel M. Sousa ◽  
Elisangela Silva-Pinto ◽  
...  

AbstractThe production of 2D material flakes in large quantities is a rapidly evolving field and a cornerstone for their industrial applicability. Although flake production has advanced in a fast pace, its statistical characterization is somewhat slower, with few examples in the literature which may lack either modelling uniformity and/or physical equivalence to actual flake dimensions. The present work brings a methodology for 2D material flake characterization with a threefold target: (i) propose a set of morphological shape parameters that correctly map to actual and relevant flake dimensions; (ii) find a single distribution function that efficiently describes all these parameter distributions; and (iii) suggest a representation system—topological vectors—that uniquely characterizes the statistical flake morphology within a given distribution. The applicability of such methodology is illustrated via the analysis of tens of thousands flakes of graphene/graphite and talc, which were submitted to different production protocols. The richness of information unveiled by this universal methodology may help the development of necessary standardization procedures for the imminent 2D-materials industry.


Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 765
Author(s):  
Qianbin Zhao ◽  
Tim Cole ◽  
Yuxin Zhang ◽  
Shi-Yang Tang

Organ-on-a-chip (OOC) uses the microfluidic 3D cell culture principle to reproduce organ- or tissue-level functionality at a small scale instead of replicating the entire human organ. This provides an alternative to animal models for drug development and environmental toxicology screening. In addition to the biomimetic 3D microarchitecture and cell–cell interactions, it has been demonstrated that mechanical stimuli such as shear stress and mechanical strain significantly influence cell behavior and their response to pharmaceuticals. Microfluidics is capable of precisely manipulating the fluid of a microenvironment within a 3D cell culture platform. As a result, many OOC prototypes leverage microfluidic technology to reproduce the mechanically dynamic microenvironment on-chip and achieve enhanced in vitro functional organ models. Unlike shear stress that can be readily generated and precisely controlled using commercial pumping systems, dynamic systems for generating proper levels of mechanical strains are more complicated, and often require miniaturization and specialized designs. As such, this review proposes to summarize innovative microfluidic OOC platforms utilizing mechanical actuators that induce deflection of cultured cells/tissues for replicating the dynamic microenvironment of human organs.


2005 ◽  
Vol 98 (6) ◽  
pp. 2381-2389 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Reich ◽  
N. Jaffe ◽  
A. Tong ◽  
I. Lavelin ◽  
O. Genina ◽  
...  

The mechanical stimuli resulting from weight loading play an important role in mature bone remodeling. However, the effect of weight loading on the developmental process in young bones is less well understood. In this work, chicks were loaded with bags weighing 10% of their body weight during their rapid growth phase. The increased load reduced the length and diameter of the long bones. The average width of the bag-loaded group's growth plates was 75 ± 4% that of the controls, and the plates showed increased mineralization. Northern blot analysis, in situ hybridization, and longitudinal cell counting of mechanically loaded growth plates showed narrowed expression zones of collagen types II and X compared with controls, with no differences between the relative proportions of those areas. An increase in osteopontin (OPN) expression with loading was most pronounced at the bone-cartilage interface. This extended expression overlapped with tartarate-resistant acid phosphatase staining and with the front of the mineralized matrix in the chondro-osseous junction. Moreover, weight loading enhanced the penetration of blood vessels into the growth plates and enhanced the gene expression of the matrix metalloproteinases MMP9 and MMP13 in those growth plates. On the basis of these results, we speculate that the mechanical strain on the chondrocytes in the growth plate causes overexpression of OPN, MMP9, and MMP13. The MMPs enable penetration of the blood vessels, which carry osteoclasts and osteoblasts. OPN recruits the osteoclasts to the cartilage-bone border, thus accelerating cartilage resorption in this zone and subsequent ossification which, in turn, contributes to the observed phenotype of narrower growth plate and shorter bones.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Katta ◽  
A. Sanzeni ◽  
A. Das ◽  
M. Vergassola ◽  
M.B. Goodman

AbstractTouch deforms, or strains, the skin beyond the immediate point of contact. The spatiotemporal nature of the touch-induced strain fields depend on the mechanical properties of the skin and the tissues below. Somatosensory neurons that sense touch branch out within the skin and rely on a set of mechano-electrical transduction channels distributed within their dendrites to detect mechanical stimuli. Here, we sought to understand how tissue mechanics shape touch-induced mechanical strain across the skin over time and how individual channels located in different regions of the strain field contribute to the overall touch response. We leveraged C. elegans’ touch receptor neurons (TRNs) as a simple model amenable to in vivo whole-cell patch clamp recording and an integrated experimental-computational approach to dissect the mechanisms underlying the spatial and temporal dynamics that we observed. Consistent with the idea that strain is produced at a distance, we show that delivering strong stimuli outside the anatomical extent of the neuron is sufficient to evoke MRCs. The amplitude and kinetics of the MRCs depended on both stimulus displacement and speed. Finally, we found that the main factor responsible for touch sensitivity is the recruitment of progressively more distant channels by stronger stimuli, rather than modulation of channel open probability. This principle may generalize to somatosensory neurons with more complex morphologies.SummaryThrough experiment and simulation, Katta et al. reveal that pushing faster and deeper recruits more and more distant mechano-electrical transduction channels during touch. The net result is a dynamic receptive field whose size and shape depends on tissue mechanics, stimulus parameters, and channel distribution within sensory neurons.


Author(s):  
Yanchang Liu ◽  
Wendan Cheng ◽  
Yao Zhao ◽  
Liang Gao ◽  
Yongyun Chang ◽  
...  

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) play a critical role in bone formation and are extremely sensitive to external mechanical stimuli. Mechanical signals can regulate the biological behavior of cells on the surface of titanium-related prostheses and inducing osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs, which provides the integration of host bone and prosthesis benefits. But the mechanism is still unclear. In this study, BMSCs planted on the surface of TiO2 nanotubes were subjected to cyclic mechanical stress, and the related mechanisms were explored. The results of alkaline phosphatase staining, real-time PCR, and Western blot showed that cyclic mechanical stress can regulate the expression level of osteogenic differentiation markers in BMSCs on the surface of TiO2 nanotubes through Wnt/β-catenin. As an important member of the histone acetyltransferase family, GCN5 exerted regulatory effects on receiving mechanical signals. The results of the ChIP assay indicated that GCN5 could activate the Wnt promoter region. Hence, we concluded that the osteogenic differentiation ability of BMSCs on the surface of TiO2 nanotubes was enhanced under the stimulation of cyclic mechanical stress, and GCN5 mediated this process through Wnt/β-catenin.


2019 ◽  
Vol 151 (10) ◽  
pp. 1213-1230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samata Katta ◽  
Alessandro Sanzeni ◽  
Alakananda Das ◽  
Massimo Vergassola ◽  
Miriam B. Goodman

Touch deforms, or strains, the skin beyond the immediate point of contact. The spatiotemporal nature of the touch-induced strain fields depend on the mechanical properties of the skin and the tissues below. Somatosensory neurons that sense touch branch out within the skin and rely on a set of mechano-electrical transduction channels distributed within their dendrites to detect mechanical stimuli. Here, we sought to understand how tissue mechanics shape touch-induced mechanical strain across the skin over time and how individual channels located in different regions of the strain field contribute to the overall touch response. We leveraged Caenorhabditis elegans’ touch receptor neurons as a simple model amenable to in vivo whole-cell patch-clamp recording and an integrated experimental-computational approach to dissect the mechanisms underlying the spatial and temporal dynamics we observed. Consistent with the idea that strain is produced at a distance, we show that delivering strong stimuli outside the anatomical extent of the neuron is sufficient to evoke MRCs. The amplitude and kinetics of the MRCs depended on both stimulus displacement and speed. Finally, we found that the main factor responsible for touch sensitivity is the recruitment of progressively more distant channels by stronger stimuli, rather than modulation of channel open probability. This principle may generalize to somatosensory neurons with more complex morphologies.


Micromachines ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 662 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohsen Mohammadniaei ◽  
Huynh Vu Nguyen ◽  
My Van Tieu ◽  
Min-Ho Lee

Effective cancer treatment requires early detection and monitoring the development progress in a simple and affordable manner. Point-of care (POC) screening can provide a portable and inexpensive tool for the end-users to conveniently operate test and screen their health conditions without the necessity of special skills. Electrochemical methods hold great potential for clinical analysis of variety of chemicals and substances as well as cancer biomarkers due to their low cost, high sensitivity, multiplex detection ability, and miniaturization aptitude. Advances in two-dimensional (2D) material-based electrochemical biosensors/sensors are accelerating the performance of conventional devices toward more practical approaches. Here, recent trends in the development of 2D material-based electrochemical biosensors/sensors, as the next generation of POC cancer screening tools, are summarized. Three cancer biomarker categories, including proteins, nucleic acids, and some small molecules, will be considered. Various 2D materials will be introduced and their biomedical applications and electrochemical properties will be given. The role of 2D materials in improving the performance of electrochemical sensing mechanisms as well as the pros and cons of current sensors as the prospective devices for POC screening will be emphasized. Finally, the future scopes of implementing 2D materials in electrochemical POC cancer diagnostics for the clinical translation will be discussed.


Electrochem ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 260-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nirul Masurkar ◽  
Sundeep Varma ◽  
Leela Mohana Reddy Arava

Field Effect Transistor (FET)-based electrochemical biosensor is gaining a lot of interest due to its malleability with modern fabrication technology and the ease at which it can be integrated with modern digital electronics. To increase the sensitivity and response time of the FET-based biosensor, many semiconducting materials have been categorized, including 2 dimensional (2D) nanomaterials. These 2D materials are easy to fabricate, increase sensitivity due to the atomic layer, and are flexible for a range of biomolecule detection. Due to the atomic layer of 2D materials each device requires a supporting substrate to fabricate a biosensor. However, uneven morphology of supporting substrate leads to unreliable output from every device due to scattering effect. This review summarizes advances in 2D material-based electrochemical biosensors both in supporting and suspended configurations by using different atomic monolayer, and presents the challenges involved in supporting substrate-based 2D biosensors. In addition, we also point out the advantages of nanomaterials over bulk materials in the biosensor domain.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document