Flexible and Transparent Electrode Based on Ag-Nanowire Embedded Colorless Poly(amide-imide).

Graphene oxide-cysteamine-silver nanoparticle (GCA)/silver nanowire (AgNW)/GCA/colorless poly(amide-imide) (cPAI) structures based on cPAI substrates with polyimide and polyamide syntheses were fabricated to study their characteristics. A layer of electrodes was constructed using a sandwich structure-such as GCA/AgNW/GCA-with cPAI used as a substrate to increase the heat resistance and improve their mechanical properties. Furthermore, to overcome the disadvantages of AgNWs-such as their high surface roughness and weak adhesion between the substrate and electrode layers-electrodes with embedded structures were fabricated using a peel-off process. Through bending, tapping, and durability tests, it was confirmed that these multilayer electrodes exhibited better mechanical durability than conventional AgNW electrodes. Resistive random-access memory based on GCA/AgNW/GCA/cPAI electrodes was fabricated, and its applicability to nonvolatile memory was confirmed. The memory device had an ON/OFF current ratio of ~104@0.5 V, exhibiting write-once-read-many time characteristics, maintaining these memory characteristics for up to 300 sweep cycles. These findings suggest that GCA/AgNW/GCA/cPAI electrodes could be used as flexible and transparent electrodes for next-generation flexible nonvolatile memories.

Repeatable Self-Healing of a Protective Coating Based on Vegetable-Oil-Loaded Microcapsules.

Generally, microcapsule-based self-healing materials have the limitation of single local self-healing. A few studies have reported repeatable self-healing in these microcapsular materials, but there is a challenge to develop multi-cycle self-healing materials that have the advantages of easier preparation and a more efficient operation. In this work, a mixture of two vegetable oils, soybean and olive oil, was used as a healing agent. The atmospheric oxygen-induced reaction behavior (in the presence of a catalyst) was investigated for various compositions of the vegetable oil mixtures; infrared spectroscopy, recovery testing, and viscoelasticity measurement were performed to find an optimum composition of the healing agent. Microcapsules loaded with soybean oil and catalyst-containing olive oil were separately prepared and used to prepare a dual-capsule self-healing coating. It was demonstrated through optical and scanning electron microscopy that, upon scribing the self-healing coating, the vegetable oils flowed out from microcapsules to self-heal the damaged area. When the healed area of the self-healing coating was re-scribed, self-healing was repeated, which was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and anticorrosion and electrochemical testing. Our new repeatable self-healing coating provides the merits of easy preparation, no need for external intervention such as light irradiation, and an environmentally-friendly nature.

Flexible Transparent Electrode Characteristics of Graphene Oxide/Cysteamine/AgNP/AgNW Structure.

Graphene oxide (GO)-cysteamine-Ag nanoparticles (GCA)-silver nanowire (AgNW) fabricated by depositing GCA over sprayed AgNWs on PET films were proposed for transparent and flexible electrodes, and their optical, electrical, and mechanical properties were analyzed by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, current-voltage measurements, and bending test. GCA-AgNW electrodes show optical transmittance of >80% at 550 nm and exhibit a high figure-of-merit value of up to 116.13 in the samples with sheet resistances of 20-40 Ω/◻. It was observed that the detrimental oxidation of bare AgNWs over time was considerably decreased, and the mechanical robustness was improved. To apply the layer as an actual electrode in working devices, a Pt/GO/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate/GCA-AgNW/polyethylene terephthalate structure was fabricated, and resistive switching memory was demonstrated. On the basis of these results, we confirm that the proposed GCA-AgNW layer can be used as transparent and flexible electrode.

Metabolic Suppression by 3-Iodothyronamine Induced Muscle Cell Atrophy via Activation of FoxO-Proteasome Signaling and Downregulation of Akt1-S6K Signaling.

The homeostasis of muscle properties depends on both physical and metabolic stresses. Whereas physical stress entails metabolic response for muscle homeostasis, the latter does not necessarily involve the former and may thus solely affect the homeostasis. We here report that metabolic suppression by the hypometabolic agent 3-iodothyronamine (T1AM) induced muscle cell atrophy without physical stress. We observed that the oxygen consumption rate of C2C12 myotubes decreased 40% upon treatment with 75 µM T1AM for 6 h versus 10% in the vehicle (dimethyl sulfoxide) control. The T1AM treatment reduced cell diameter of myotubes by 15% compared to the control (p<0.05). The cell diameter was reversed completely by 9 h after T1AM was removed. The T1AM treatment also significantly suppressed the expression levels of heat shock protein 72 and αB-crystallin as well as the phosphorylation levels of Akt1, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), S6K, forkhead box O1 (FoxO1) and FoxO3. In contrast, the levels of ubiquitin E3 ligase MuRF1 and chymotrypsin-like activity of proteasome were significantly elevated by T1AM treatment. These results suggest that T1AM-mediated metabolic suppression induced muscle cell atrophy via activation of catabolic signaling and inhibition of anabolic signaling.

Green synthesis and biological evaluation of new di-α-aminophosphonate derivatives as cytotoxic agents.

A series of novel di-α-aminophosphonate derivatives were synthesized by a one-pot method in the presence of PEG-H2 O under ultrasonic irradiation and were characterized by IR, (1) H NMR, (13) C NMR, mass spectrometry, and elemental analysis. The newly synthesized compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities against the human lung cancer cell line H1299 and the human breast cancer cell line MCF7 in vitro by the MTT method. All compounds showed moderate cytotoxic activity on both cell lines, and compounds 4b and 4c showed marked activity.

Sustained torpidity following multi-dose administration of 3-iodothyronamine in mice.

Despite significant medical benefits as in space exploration or emergency care, prolonged torpidity of non-hibernator mammals remains unexplored to date. Here, we report that male Institute of Cancer Research mice could sustain two separate 2-day torpor bouts and maintain body temperature of 28-33°C following repeated treatments of 3-iodothyronamine (T(1) AM), a natural derivative of thyroid hormone. A 1-day interbout arousal period, adopted to mimic the behavior of true hibernators, seemed critical for the subjects to restore physiological homeostasis. Molecular studies of neuron-specific enolase, S100 calcium binding protein B and heat shock protein 72 suggested that the brain maintains functional and cytoprotective activities during sustained torpidity. Together, the results of this study propose a practical protocol using a torpor-arousal cycle that can be applied to the extreme medical situations.

Electrochemical immunosensor for prostate-specific antigen using self-assembled oligophenylethynylenethiol monolayer containing dendrimer.

Electrochemical immunosensor for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) was fabricated with a self-assembled 4-(2-(4-(acetylthio)phenyl)ethynyl)benzoic acid (APBA) as a bioreceptor. In order to enhance the electrochemical activity of PSA detection, poly(amidoamine) dendrimer was linked on the APBA self-assembled monolayer (SAM). The formation and electrical properties of the SAMs were investigated by surface plasmon resonance and cyclic voltammetry, respectively. The surface morphology of PSA sandwich complex onto the APBA SAM was studied by atomic force microscopy.