Phonon and Raman scattering of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides from monolayer, multilayer to bulk material.

Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) nanosheets exhibit remarkable electronic and optical properties. The 2D features, sizable bandgaps and recent advances in the synthesis, characterization and device fabrication of the representative MoS2, WS2, WSe2 and MoSe2 TMDs make TMDs very attractive in nanoelectronics and optoelectronics. Similar to graphite and graphene, the atoms within each layer in 2D TMDs are joined together by covalent bonds, while van der Waals interactions keep the layers together. This makes the physical and chemical properties of 2D TMDs layer-dependent. In this review, we discuss the basic lattice vibrations of 2D TMDs from monolayer, multilayer to bulk material, including high-frequency optical phonons, interlayer shear and layer breathing phonons, the Raman selection rule, layer-number evolution of phonons, multiple phonon replica and phonons at the edge of the Brillouin zone. The extensive capabilities of Raman spectroscopy in investigating the properties of TMDs are discussed, such as interlayer coupling, spin-orbit splitting and external perturbations. The interlayer vibrational modes are used in rapid and substrate-free characterization of the layer number of multilayer TMDs and in probing interface coupling in TMD heterostructures. The success of Raman spectroscopy in investigating TMD nanosheets paves the way for experiments on other 2D crystals and related van der Waals heterostructures.

Distributed OTDR-interferometric sensing network with identical ultra-weak fiber Bragg gratings.

We demonstrate a distributed sensing network with 500 identical ultra-weak fiber Bragg gratings (uwFBGs) in an equal separation of 2m using balanced Michelson interferometer of the phase sensitive optical time domain reflectometry (φ-OTDR) for acoustic measurement. Phase, amplitude, frequency response and location information can be directly obtained at the same time by using the passive 3 × 3 coupler demodulation. Lab experiments on detecting sound waves in water tank are carried out. The results show that this system can well demodulate distributed acoustic signal with the pressure detection limit of 0.122Pa and achieve an acoustic phase sensitivity of around -158dB (re rad/µPa) with a relatively flat frequency response between 450Hz to 600Hz.

[Immobilization of laccase on magnetic chitosan microspheres and study on its enzymic properties].

Laccase was immobilized on magnetic chitosan microspheres by using glutaraldehyde as cross-linking reagent. The immobilization conditions and characterization of the immobilized enzyme were investigated. immobilization conditions for laccase were: 10mL of 0.8mg/mL of laccase in phosphate buffer(0.1mol/L, pH 7.0) reacted with 50mg of magnetic chitosan microspheres at 25 degrees C for 1h and subsequently was kept at 4 degrees C for 2h. The immobilized enzyme exhibited the maximal activity at pH 3.0. The optimal temperatures for immobilized enzyme were 10 degrees C and 55 degrees C. The Km value of immobilized laccase for ABTS was 171.1 micromol/L in pH 3.0 phosphate buffer at 37 degrees C. Compared with free enzyme, the thermal, operational, and storage stabilities of the enzyme were increased after the immobilization.

Isolation and Identification of Membrane Proteins Binding to Transfer RNA.

Crude extract of total membrane proteins of yeast was obtained by a method of phase separation in Triton X-114. The membrane extract was applied to the affinity column on which yeast total tRNAs were covalently coupled to hydrazinyl Sepharose 4B. By eluting with increasing concentration gradient of (NH(4))(2)SO(4), eluted proteins were found between concentrations of (NH(4))(2)SO(4) 0.1 mol/L to 0.3 mol/L. By gel mobility-shift assays, it was also observed that there were more than two mobility-shift bands on the gel electropherogram after incubation of sample of (32)P-labeled tRNA with the eluent proteins and the reaction mixtures were analyzed by non-denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. These results confirm that these eluted proteins contain two major tRNA specific binding proteins.

[Spectroscopic studies on electrostatically self-assembled gold nanoparticulate thin films].

Colloidal gold was prepared by citrate-induced reduction of hydrogen tetrachloroaurate. Gold nanoparticulate thin films were built up using the electrostatic self-assembly technique and characterized by different spectroscopes. The UV-Vis absorbance spectrum indicated that the gold colloid was a monodisperse suspension. The calculation using the Scherrer's equation on base of the X-ray diffraction spectrum indicated that the average size of the gold particles assembled on the substrates was about 21 nm. The X-ray photoelectron spectra showed that the reduction of hydrogen tetrachloroaurate was almost complete and that the gold was present in the thin films largely as Au zero. The X-ray photoelectron spectra also showed that the gold particles were attracted and fixed onto the PDDA-modified substrates by electrostatic forces. The UV-Vis absorbance spectra and the surface enhanced Raman scattering spectra indicated that, arising from the interparticle coupling, the gold nanoparticulate thin films displayed strong collective plasma resonance absorption and sur faced enhanced Raman scattering effect.

Resonant Raman spectroscopy of twisted multilayer graphene.

Graphene and other two-dimensional crystals can be combined to form various hybrids and heterostructures, creating materials on demand with properties determined by the interlayer interaction. This is the case even for a single material, where multilayer stacks with different relative orientation have different optical and electronic properties. Probing and understanding the interface coupling is thus of primary importance for fundamental science and applications. Here we study twisted multilayer graphene flakes with multi-wavelength Raman spectroscopy. We find a significant intensity enhancement of the interlayer coupling modes (C peaks) due to resonance with new optically allowed electronic transitions, determined by the relative orientation of the layers. The interlayer coupling results in a Davydov splitting of the C peak in systems consisting of two equivalent graphene multilayers. This allows us to directly quantify the interlayer interaction, which is much smaller compared with Bernal-stacked interfaces. This paves the way to the use of Raman spectroscopy to uncover the interface coupling of two-dimensional hybrids and heterostructures.

MicroRNA-26a involved in Toll-like receptor 9­mediated lung cancer growth and migration.

Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) has been shown to have a significant role in cancer. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a group of small non-coding RNAs that fine tune translation of multiple target mRNAs, are involved in the development and progression of human cancers. The present study was undertaken to determine the roles of TLR9 on lung cancer and whether miR-26a is involved in TLR9­mediated lung cancer growth and migration. The lung cancer models were elicited by injecting human lung cancer cells into the left ventricle. The expression of TLR9 and miR-26a in lung cancer tissues obtained from lung cancer patients was increased. TLR9 ligand CpG-oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG-ODN) caused an increase in the mean tumor weight and the size of tumor mass in nude mice, and the proliferation and migration of H460 human lung cancer cells. CpG-ODN also induced an increase in the expression of miR-26a in H460 cells. The overexpression of miR-26a increased the weight and size of the tumor mass in the nude mice, and the proliferation and migration of H460 cells. Expression of phosphoinositide 3 kinase (PI3K) and phosphorylation of protein kinase B (Akt) was increased after miR-26a overexpression in the H460 cells. PI3K inhibitor wortmannin (WM) or Akt inhibitor triciribine hydrate (TCN) eliminated the increase in the proliferation and migration induced by the overexpression of miR-26a in H460 cells. These results suggested that miR-26a is involved in the TLR9­mediated growth and migration of lung cancer through the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway.