Crystal Self-Assembly under Confinement: Bridging Nanomaterials to Integrated Devices.

ConspectusSelf-assembly, a spontaneous process that organizes disordered constituents into ordered structures, has revolutionized our fundamental understanding of living matter, nanotechnology, and molecular science. From the perspective of nanomaterials, self-assembly serves as a bottom-up method for creating long-range-ordered materials. This is accomplished by tailoring the geometry, chemistry, and interactions of the components, thereby facilitating the efficient fabrication of high-quality materials and high-performance functional devices. Over the past few decades, we have seen controllable organization and diverse phases in self-assembled materials, such as organic crystals, biomolecular structures, and colloidal nanoparticle supercrystals. However, most self-assembled ordered materials and their assembly mechanisms are derived from constituents in a liquid bulk medium, where the effects of boundaries and interfaces are negligible. In the context of nanostructure patterning, self-assembly occurs in confined spaces, with feature sizes ranging from a few to hundreds of nanometers. In such settings, ubiquitous boundaries and interfaces can trap the system in a kinetically favored but metastable state, devoid of long-range order. This makes it extremely difficult to achieve ordered structures in micro/nano-patterning techniques that rely on sessile microdroplets, such as inkjet printing, dip-pen lithography, and contact printing.In stark contrast to sessile droplets, capillary bridges─formed by liquids confined between two solid surfaces─provide unique opportunities for understanding the long-range-ordered self-assembly of crystalline materials under spatial confinement. Because capillary bridges are stabilized by Laplace pressure, which is inversely proportional to the feature size, the confinement and manipulation of solutions or suspensions of functional materials at the nanoscale become accessible through the rational design of surface chemistry and geometry. Although global thermodynamic equilibrium is unattainable in evaporative systems, ordered nucleation and packing of constituent components can be locally realized at the contact line of capillary bridges. This enables the unprecedented fabrication of long-range-ordered micro/nanostructures with deterministic patterns.In this Account, we review the advancements in long-range-ordered self-assembly of crystalline micro/nanostructures under confinement. First, we briefly introduce crystalline materials characterized by strong intramolecular interactions and relatively weak intermolecular forces, analyzing both the opportunities and challenges inherent to self-assembled nanomaterials. Next, we delve into the construction and manipulation of confined liquids, focusing especially on capillary bridges controlled by engineered chemistry and geometry to regulate Laplace pressure. Through this approach, we have achieved capillary bridges with thicknesses on the order of a few nanometers and wafer-scale homogeneity, facilitating the self-assembly of ordered structures. Supported by factors such as local free-volume entropy, electrostatic interactions, curvilinear geometry, directional microfluidics, and nanoconfinement, we have achieved long-range-ordered, deterministic patterning of organic semiconductors, metal-halide perovskites, and colloidal nanocrystal superlattices using this capillary-bridge platform. These long-range microstructures serve as a bridge between nanomaterials and integrated devices, enabling emergent functionalities like intrinsic stretchability, giant photoconductivity, propagating and interacting exciton polaritons, and spin-valley-locked lasing, which are otherwise unattainable in disordered materials. Finally, we discuss potential directions for both the fundamental understanding and practical applications of confined self-assembly.

Molecular Electronics: From Nanostructure Assembly to Device Integration.

Integrated electronics and optoelectronics based on organic semiconductors have attracted considerable interest in displays, photovoltaics, and biosensing owing to their designable electronic properties, solution processability, and flexibility. Miniaturization and integration of devices are growing trends in molecular electronics and optoelectronics for practical applications, which requires large-scale and versatile assembly strategies for patterning organic micro/nano-structures with simultaneously long-range order, pure orientation, and high resolution. Although various integration methods have been developed in past decades, molecular electronics still needs a versatile platform to avoid defects and disorders due to weak intermolecular interactions in organic materials. In this perspective, a roadmap of organic integration technologies in recent three decades is provided to review the history of molecular electronics. First, we highlight the importance of long-range-ordered molecular packing for achieving exotic electronic and photophysical properties. Second, we classify the strategies for large-scale integration of molecular electronics through the control of nucleation and crystallographic orientation, and evaluate them based on factors of resolution, crystallinity, orientation, scalability, and versatility. Third, we discuss the multifunctional devices and integrated circuits based on organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) and photodetectors. Finally, we explore future research directions and outlines the need for further development of molecular electronics, including assembly of doped organic semiconductors and heterostructures, biological interfaces in molecular electronics and integrated organic logics based on complementary FETs.

Phase Engineering Reinforced Energy Transfer for High-Performance Blue Perovskite Light-Emitting Diodes.

Layered metal-halide perovskites, a category of self-assembled quantum wells, are of paramount importance in emerging photonic sources, such as lasers and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Despite high trap density in two-dimensional (2D) perovskites, efficient non-radiative energy funneling from wide- to narrow-bandgap components, sustained by the Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) mechanism, contributes to efficient luminescence by light or electrical injection. Herein, it is demonstrated that bandgap extension of layered perovskites to the blue-emitting regime will cause sluggish and inefficient FRET, stemming from the tiny spectral overlap between different phases. Motivated by the importance of blue LEDs and inefficient energy transfer in materials with phase polydispersity, wide-bandgap quasi-2D perovskites with narrow phase distribution, improved crystallinity, and the pure crystal orientation perpendicular to the charge transport layer are developed. Based on this emitter, high-performance blue perovskite LEDs with improved electroluminescence (EL) external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 7.9% at 478 nm, a narrow full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 22 nm and a more stable EL spectra are achieved. These results provide an important insight into spectrally stable and efficient blue emitters and EL devices based on perovskites.

Compact spin-valley-locked perovskite emission.

Circularly polarized light sources with free-space directional emission play a key role in chiroptics1, spintronics2, valleytronics3 and asymmetric photocatalysis4. However, conventional approaches fail to simultaneously realize pure circular polarization, high directionality and large emission angles in a compact emitter. Metal-halide perovskite semiconductors are promising light emitters5-8, but the absence of an intrinsic spin-locking mechanism results in poor emission chirality. Further, device integration has undermined the efficiency and directionality of perovskite chiral emitters. Here we realize compact spin-valley-locked perovskite emitting metasurfaces where spin-dependent geometric phases are imparted into bound states in the continuum via Brillouin zone folding, and thus, photons with different spins are selectively addressed to opposite valleys. Employing this approach, chiral purity of 0.91 and emission angle of 41.0° are simultaneously achieved, with a beam divergence angle of 1.6°. With this approach, we envisage the realization of chiral light-emitting diodes, as well as the on-chip generation of entangled photon pairs.

Chirality-Dependent Structural Transformation in Chiral 2D Perovskites under High Pressure.

Chiral perovskites have attracted considerable attention owing to their potential applications in spintronic- and polarization-based optoelectronic devices. However, the structural chirality/asymmetry transfer mechanism between chiral organic ammoniums and achiral inorganic frameworks is still equivocal, especially under extreme conditions, as the systematic structural differences between chiral and achiral perovskites have been rarely explored. Herein, we successfully synthesized a pair of new enantiomeric chiral perovskite (S/R-3PYEA)PbI4 (3PYEA2+ = C5NH5C2H4NH32+) and an achiral perovskite (rac-3PYEA)PbI4. Hydrostatic pressure was used, for the first time, to systematically investigate the differences in the structural evolution and optical behavior between (S/R-3PYEA)PbI4 and (rac-3PYEA)PbI4. At approximately 7.0 GPa, (S/R-3PYEA)PbI4 exhibits a chirality-dependent structural transformation with a bandgap "red jump" and dramatic piezochromism from translucent red to opaque black. Upon further compression, a previously unreported chirality-induced negative linear compressibility (NLC) is achieved in (S/R-3PYEA)PbI4. High-pressure structural characterizations and first-principles calculations demonstrate that pressure-driven homodirectional tilting of homochiral ammonium cations strengthens the interactions between S/R-3PYEA2+ and Pb-I frameworks, inducing the formation of new asymmetric hydrogen bonds N-H···I-Pb in (S/R-3PYEA)PbI4. The enhanced asymmetric H-bonding interactions further break the symmetry of (S/R-3PYEA)PbI4 and trigger a greater degree of in-plane and out-of-plane distortion of [PbI6]4- octahedra, which are responsible for chirality-dependent structural phase transition and NLC, respectively. Nevertheless, the balanced H-bonds incurred by equal proportions of S-3PYEA2+ and R-3PYEA2+ counteract the tilting force, leading to the absence of chirality-dependent structural transition, spectral "red jump", and NLC in (rac-3PYEA)PbI4.

A Fano Cavity-Photon Interface for Directional Suppression of Spectral Diffusion of a Single Perovskite Nanoplatelet.

Colloidal nanocrystals that are capable of mass production with wet chemical synthesis have long been proposed as color-tunable, scalable quantum emitters for information processing and communication. However, they constantly suffer from spectral diffusion due to being exposed to a noisy electrostatic environment. Herein we demonstrate a cavity-photon interface (CPI) which effectively suppresses the temperature-activated spectral diffusion (SD) of a single perovskite nanoplatelet (NPL) up to 40 K. The spectrally stabilized single-photon emission is achieved at a specific emission direction corresponding to an inhibited dipole moment of the NPL as the result of the Fano coupling between the two photon dissipation channels of the NPL. Our results shed light on the nature of the SD of perovskite nanocrystals and offer a general cavity quantum electrodynamic scheme that controls the brightness and spectral dynamics of a single-photon emitter.

Chiral 2D-Perovskite Nanowires for Stokes Photodetectors.

Structural engineering in multiple scales permits the integration of exotic properties into a single material, which boosts the development of ultracompact multifunctional devices. Layered perovskites are capable of cross-linking efficient carrier transport originating from few-layer perovskite frameworks with extended functionalities contributed by designable bulky organic cations and nanostructures, thus providing a platform for multiscale material engineering. Herein, high-performance Stokes-parameter photodetectors for arbitrary polarized light detection are realized on the basis of solution-processed chiral-perovskite nanowire arrays. The chiral ammonium cations intercalated between the perovskite layers are responsive to circularly polarized light with a maximum anisotropy factor of 0.15, while the strictly aligned nanowires with the anisotropic dielectric function result in a large polarized ratio of 1.6 to linearly polarized light. Single crystallinity and pure crystallographic orientation permit efficient in-plane carrier transport along the nanowires, yielding a responsivity of 47.1 A W-1 and a detectivity of 1.24 × 1013 Jones. By synergy of linear- and circular-polarization response with high optoelectronic performance for providing sufficient photocurrent contrasts, Stokes-parameter photodetection is demonstrated on these nanowires. Our Stokes-parameter photodetectors with a small footprint and high performances present promising applications toward polarization imaging.

Scalable Single-Crystalline Organic 1D Arrays for Image Sensor.

Optoelectronic applications of organic semiconductors demand single-crystalline structures with long-range order and suppressed defects for sustaining efficient carrier transport and long photocarrier lifetime, which are pivotal in photodetection, photovoltaic, and light emission. For integrated devices, an additional requirement of precise patterning is imposed, whereas the patterning of single-crystalline organic microstructures is still challenging because the molecular stacking is easily perturbed by disordered fluids in microdroplets. Herein, a capillary-bridge lithography is developed for driving the directional transport of capillary flows to control the confined crystallization of organic 1D single-crystalline arrays with aligned positioning and pure orientation. Through tuning the concentration and pressure, the size of organic 1D arrays in three dimensions can be controlled with 2.9-5.8 µm in width and 1.2 µm to 110 nm in height. Organic 1D array photodetectors exhibit a stable performance with on/off ratio of 180 and responsivity of 4.99 mA W-1 . Based on the scalable fabrication of 1D array photodetectors, 20 × 20 multiplexed image sensors with high accuracy are demonstrated for capturing the light signals of capital letter "A," "B," and "C." This research will open opportunities for the large-scale fabrication of organic single-crystalline semiconductors toward the integrated optoelectronic modules.

Controllable Heterogeneous Nucleation for Patterning High-Quality Vertical and Horizontal ZnO Microstructures toward Photodetectors.

High-quality crystalline micro- and nanostructures based on inorganic semiconductors including zinc oxide (ZnO) have attracted considerable interest in electronic and optoelectronic applications due to their outstanding properties. ZnO micro- and nanocrystals can be fabricated by the moderate and high throughput hydrothermal synthesis. Yet it is restricted by patterning large-area ZnO crystals with high-quality and programmable geometries through the hydrothermal process for the optoelectronic integration. Here, a capillary-bridge manipulation approach is demonstrated to control the dewetting process of ZnO precursor solution for patterning precursor arrays. Based on precursor arrays, vertically aligned high-quality ZnO microrod arrays with homogeneous morphology and pure crystallographic orientation are fabricated via a hydrothermal epitaxial method. Statistical results and crystallization theories guide the experimental optimization and discussion of the crystallization mechanism, dominated by the competition between homogeneous nucleation and heterogeneous nucleation. High-quality ZnO microbelt arrays are achieved through a surfactant-mediated hydrothermal method after ZnO microrod arrays are transferred to a polydimethylsiloxane substrate. Photodetectors based on ZnO microbelts exhibit a high responsivity of 2.3 × 104 A W-1 , a light on-off ratio exceeding 105 , and stable recyclability. It is anticipated that this work provides new insights into patterning inorganic high-quality micro- and nanostructures for multi-functional integrated devices.

Regular Aligned 1D Single-Crystalline Supramolecular Arrays for Photodetectors.

Solution-processed semiconductor single-crystal patterns possess unique advantages of large scale and low cost, leading to potential applications toward high-performance optoelectronic devices. To integrate organic semiconductor micro/nanostructures into devices, various patterning techniques have been developed. However, previous patterning techniques suffer from trade-offs between precision, scalability, crystallinity, and orientation. Herein, a patterning method is reported based on an asymmetric-wettability micropillar-structured template. Large-scale 1D single-crystalline supramolecular arrays with strict alignment, pure crystallographic orientation, and precise position can be obtained. The wettability difference between tops and sidewalls of micropillars gives rise to the confinement of organic solutions in discrete capillary tubes followed by dewetting and formation of capillary trailing. The capillary trailing enables unidirectional dewetting, regulated mass transport, and confined crystal growth. Owing to the high crystallinity and pure crystallographic orientation with Pt atomic chains parallel to the substrate, the photodetectors based on the 1D arrays exhibit improved responsivity. The work not only provides fundamental understanding on the patterning and crystallization of supramolecular structures but also develops a large-scale assembly technique for patterning single-crystalline micro/nanostructures.

Large-Scale Assembly of Organic Highly Crystalline Multicomponent Wires through Surface-Engineered Condensation and Crystallization.

Highly crystalline multicomponent wire arrays are fabricated by a scalable technique, termed surface-engineered condensation and crystallization (SECC). Alignment and position are precisely controlled with the guidance of a micropillar-structured substrate with regionally different wettability and vapor-flow controllability.

Machine learning-based prediction for settling velocity of microplastics with various shapes.

Microplastics can easily enter the aquatic environment and be transported between water bodies. The terminal settling velocity of microplastics, which affects their transport and distribution in the aquatic environment, is mainly influenced by their size, density, and shape. Due to the difficulty in accurately predicting the terminal settling velocity of microplastics with various shapes, this study focuses on establishing high-performance prediction models and understanding the importance and effect of each feature parameter using machine learning. Based on the number of principal dimensions, the shapes of microplastics are classified into fiber, film, and fragment, and their thresholds are identified. The microplastics of different shape categories have different optimal shape parameters for predicting the terminal settling velocity: Corey shape factor, flatness, elongation, and sphericity for the fragment, film, fiber, and mixed-shape MPs, respectively. By including the dimensionless diameter, relative density and optimal shape parameter in the input parameter combination, the machine learning models can well predict the terminal settling velocity for the microplastics of different shape categories and mixed-shape with R2 > 0.867, achieving significantly higher performance than the existing theoretical and regression models. The interpretable analysis of machine learning reveals the highest importance of the microplastic size and its marginal effect when the dimensionless diameter D* = dn(g/v2)1/3 > 80, where dn is the equivalent diameter, g is the gravitational acceleration, and ν is the fluid kinematic viscosity. The effect of shape is weak for small microplastics and becomes significant when D* exceeds 65.

Study of the efficacy of 3D-printed prosthetic reconstruction after pelvic tumour resection.

The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of using 3D printed pelvic prosthesis to reconstruct bone defect after pelvic tumor resection. From June 2018 to October 2021, a total of 10 patients with pelvic tumors underwent pelvic tumor resection and 3D printed customized hemipelvic prosthesis reconstruction in our hospital. Enneking pelvic surgery subdivision method was used to determine the degree of tumor invasion and the site of prosthesis reconstruction. 2 cases in Zone I, 2 cases in Zone II, 3 cases in Zone I + II, 2 cases in Zone II + III and 1 case in Zone I + II + III. Patients had preoperative VAS scores of 6.5 ± 1.3, postoperative VAS scores of 2.2 ± 0.9, preoperative MSTS-93 scores of 9.4 ± 5.3 and postoperative 19.4 ± 5.9(p < 0.05), all patients had improvement in pain after surgery; Postoperative complications included joint dislocation in 2 cases, myasthenia caused by Guillain-Barre syndrome in 1 case, delayed wound healing in 3 cases and wound infection in 2 cases. Postoperative wound-related complications and dislocations were associated with the extent of the tumor. Patients with tumor invasion of the iliopsoas and gluteus medius muscles had higher complication rates and worse postoperative MSTS scores (p < 0.05). The patients were followed up for 8 ∼ 28 months. During the follow-up period, 1 case recurred, 4 cases metastasized and 1 case died. All pelvic CTs reviewed 3-6 months after surgery showed good alignment between the 3D printed prosthesis and the bone contact, and tomography showed the growth of trabecular structures into the bone. Overall pain scores decreased and functional scores improved in patients after 3D printed prosthesis replacement for pelvic tumor resection. Long-term bone ingrowth could be seen on the prosthesis-bone contact surface with good stability.

Electrostatic Epitaxy of Orientational Perovskites for Microlasers.

Orientational growth of single-crystalline structures is pivotal in the semiconductor industry, which is achievable by epitaxy for producing thin films, heterostructures, quantum wells, and superlattices. Beyond silicon and III-V semiconductors, solution-processible semiconductors, such as metal-halide perovskites, are emerging for scalable and cost-effective manufacture of optoelectronic devices, whereas the polycrystalline nature of fabricated structures restricts their application toward integrated devices. Here, electrostatic epitaxy, a process sustained by strong electrostatic interactions between self-assembled surfactants (octanoate anions) and Pb2+ , is developed to realize orientational growth of single-crystalline CsPbBr3 microwires. Strong electrostatic interactions localized at the air-liquid interface not only support preferential nucleation for single crystallinity, but also select the crystal facet with the highest Pb2+ areal density for pure crystallographic orientation. Due to the epitaxy at the air-liquid interface, direct growth of oriented single-crystalline microwires onto different substrates without the processes of lift-off and transfer is realized. Photonic lasing emission, waveguide coupling, and on-chip propagation of coherent light are demonstrated based on these single-crystalline microwires. These findings open an avenue for on-chip integration of single-crystalline materials.

Controllable vortex lasing arrays in a geometrically frustrated exciton-polariton lattice at room temperature.

Quantized vortices appearing in topological excitations of quantum phase transition play a pivotal role in strongly correlated physics involving the underlying confluence of superfluids, Bose-Einstein condensates and superconductors. Exciton polaritons as bosonic quasiparticles have enabled studies of non-equilibrium quantum gases and superfluidity. Exciton-polariton condensates in artificial lattices intuitively emulate energy-band structures and quantum many-body effects of condensed matter, underpinning constructing vortex lattices and controlling quantum fluidic circuits. Here, we harness exciton-polariton quantum fluids of light in a frustrated kagome lattice based on robust metal-halide perovskite microcavities, to demonstrate vortex lasing arrays and modulate their configurations at room temperature. Tomographic energy-momentum spectra unambiguously reveal massless Dirac bands and quenched kinetic-energy flat bands coexisting in kagome lattices, where polariton condensates exhibit prototypical honeycomb and kagome spatial patterns. Spatial coherence investigations illustrate two types of phase textures of polariton condensates carrying ordered quantized-vortex arrays and π-phase shifts, which could be selected when needed using lasing emission energy. Our findings offer a promising platform on which it is possible to study quantum-fluid correlations in complex polaritonic lattices and highlight feasible applications of structured light.

Resonant perovskite solar cells with extended band edge.

Tuning the composition of perovskites to approach the ideal bandgap raises the single-junction Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit of solar cells. The rapid development of narrow-bandgap formamidinium lead triiodide-based perovskites has brought perovskite single-junction solar cell efficiencies up to 26.1%. However, such compositional engineering route has reached the limit of the Goldschmidt tolerance factor. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a resonant perovskite solar cell that produces giant light absorption at the perovskite band edge with tiny absorption coefficients. We design multiple guide-mode resonances by momentum matching of waveguided modes and free-space light via Brillouin-zone folding, thus achieving an 18-nm band edge extension and 1.5 mA/cm2 improvement of the current. The external quantum efficiency spectrum reaches a plateau of above 93% across the spectral range of ~500 to 800 nm. This resonant nanophotonics strategy translates to a maximum EQE-integrated current of 26.0 mA/cm2 which is comparable to that of the champion single-crystal perovskite solar cell with a thickness of ~20 µm. Our findings break the ray-optics limit and open a new door to improve the efficiency of single-junction perovskite solar cells further when compositional engineering or other carrier managements are close to their limits.

Long-Range-Ordered Assembly of Micro-/Nanostructures at Superwetting Interfaces.

On-chip integration of solution-processable materials imposes stringent and simultaneous requirements of controlled nucleation and growth, tunable geometry and dimensions, and long-range-ordered assembly, which is challenging in solution process far from thermodynamic equilibrium. Superwetting interfaces, underpinned by programmable surface chemistry and topography, are promising for steering transport, dewetting, and microfluid dynamics of liquids, thus opening a new paradigm for micro-/nanostructure assembly in solution process. Herein, assembly methods on the basis of superwetting interfaces are reviewed for constructing long-range-ordered micro-/nanostructures. Confined capillary liquids, including capillary bridges and capillary corner menisci realized by controlling local wettability and surface topography, are highlighted for simultaneously attained deterministic patterning and long-range order. The versatility and robustness of confined capillary liquids are discussed with assembly of single-crystalline micro-/nanostructures of organic semiconductors, metal-halide perovskites, and colloidal-nanoparticle superlattices, which lead to enhanced device performances and exotic functionalities. Finally, a perspective for promising directions in this realm is provided.

Comparing the efficacy and safety of cement-augmented fenestrated pedicle screws and conventional pedicle screw in surgery for spinal metastases: a retrospective comparative cohort study.

Background: The incidence of cancer patients with bone metastasis is increasing annually. With the advancement of medical treatment for malignant tumors, the survival time of patients with spinal metastases is gradually being prolonged, and adjacent segment vertebral metastases often occur after conventional pedicle screw (CPS) surgery, leading to spinal instability, pain and nerve function injury again, with repeated symptoms. Combined pedicle screw fixation can maintain or reconstruct the spinal stability. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of cement-augmented fenestrated pedicle screws in the posterior approach for spinal metastases by comparing with CPS. Methods: From January 2017 to August 2019, 52 patients with spinal metastases who underwent separation surgery and internal fixation via posterior approach were retrospectively enrolled. Cases were divided into the cement-augmented pedicle screw (CAPS) group (28 cases) and the CPS group (24 cases). The baseline data [age, gender, surgical sites, surgical segment, Tomita classification, Tomita score, Tokuhashi score, spinal instability neoplastic score (SINS)], surgical information, and local progression-free survival (PFS) time were compared between the two groups. Every patient was followed-up every 3 months with imaging examination. The visual analog scale (VAS) score and Frankel grade of the two groups were recorded before and 3 months after the operation were used to evaluate the efficacy. The operation time, the amount of intraoperative blood loss, the amount of bone cement injected in the pedicle screw group, and the complications of the surgery were recorded to evaluate the safety of CAPS. Results: The baseline characteristics were comparable between the two group. Compared with the CPS group, the CAPS group showed significantly longer operation time (163±20 vs. 138±18 min, P<0.001) and lower VAS scores (2.93±1.33 vs. 4.17±1.34, P=0.002). Adjacent segment vertebral metastasis occurred in 10 cases (2 in the CAPS group and 8 in the CPS group, P=0.017). Internal implant failure occurred in 8 cases (1 in the CAPS group and 7 in the CPS group, P=0.011). Compared with the CPS group, the CAPS group had a significantly longer local PFS time (P<0.05). Conclusions: CAPS could be a safe and effective choice in surgery for spinal metastases with the posterior approach.

Apatinib Functioned as Tumor Suppressor of Synovial Sarcoma through Regulating miR-34a-5p/HOXA13 Axis.

Objective: Synovial sarcoma is a rare malignant tumor. The role of apatinib in synovial sarcoma remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to determine the biological functions and the potential molecular mechanism of action of apatinib in synovial sarcoma. Methods: SW982 cells were stimulated with apatinib. The relative expression of the genes was determined by performing qPCR. Protein levels were evaluated by western blot and immunohistochemistry assays. Proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and invasion of SW982 cells were determined by the CCK-8 assay, clone formation assay, flow cytometry, wound healing, and the transwell assay, respectively. Additionally, SW982 cells were injected into mice to induce synovial sarcoma. Results: Apatinib decreased the proliferation, migration, and invasion but increased the apoptosis of SW982 cells. Apatinib repressed tumor growth in vivo and elevated miR-34a-5p in SW982 cells. The inhibition of miR-34a-5p repressed the reduction of proliferation, migration, and invasion and also the elevation of apoptosis in apatinib-treated SW982 cells. The luciferase activity decreased after cotransfection of the miR-34a-5p mimic and the wild-type HOXA13 vector. Additionally, an increase in miR-34a-5p repressed the levels of HOXA13 mRNA and protein. Moreover, HOXA13 reversed these patterns caused by the inhibition of miR-34a-5p in apatinib-treated SW982 cells. Conclusion: Apatinib elevated miR-34a-5p and reduced HOXA13, leading to a significant decrease in proliferation, migration, and invasion, along with an enhancement of apoptosis in SW982 cells. Apatinib suppressed tumorigenesis and tumor growth in SW982 cells in vivo.

Deterministic Assembly of Colloidal Quantum Dots for Multifunctional Integrated Photonics.

Colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are promising for photonic applications toward lasers, waveguides, and photodetectors. However, integration of high-quality photonic elements into multifunctional devices is still restricted by optical losses stemming from the accumulation of defects and disorder in the solution process. Herein, a platform with a directional Laplace pressure is created for eliminating undesired pinning of liquid fronts in the solution process and boosting ordered assembly of CQDs into designable micro-/nanostructures. The versatility and robustness of this method are demonstrated by deterministic patterning of CQDs with different components and photoluminescence spectra onto various substrates. On the basis of this platform, microring lasers with tunable emission modes, low-loss waveguides, and their coupled structures have been reached for direct on-chip generation and propagation of coherent light. A proof-of-concept demonstration of integrated circuits is also conducted by combining microcavity lasers with waveguides for encoding photonic outputs into information bits.