Charcoal evidence traces diverse fungal metabolic strategies to the Late Paleozoic.

Wood decomposition through fungal activity is essential to the natural carbon cycle. There are three primary patterns of wood decay: white rot, brown rot, and soft rot. However, geological records of wood decay mainly originate from fossil woods, which exclusively describe white rot before the Cenozoic. Fossilized charcoal is another excellent medium for preserving pre-charring decay structures. In this study, we collected numerous charcoals from the upper Permian and observed multiple microstructures indicative of wood decay. The distinctive characteristics closely resemble the symptoms of contemporary wood-rotting types, including the removal of the middle lamella and channel-like lysis seen in white rot, shot-like holes and wavy cell walls in brown rot, and cavities within the secondary walls in soft rot. This study documents the early occurrences of multiple wood-rotting types during the Late Paleozoic and provides insights into the range of fungal metabolic strategies employed during this period.

Simple bipolar hosts with high glass transition temperatures based on 1,8-disubstituted carbazole for efficient blue and green electrophosphorescent devices with "ideal" turn-on voltage.

Two hybrids based on 1,8-disubstituted carbazole, 1,8-OXDCz and 1,8-mBICz, have been designed and synthesized through a facile process. The incorporation of oxadiazole or N-phenylbenzimidazole moieties at the 1,8-positions of carbazole greatly improves its morphological stability, giving glass transition temperatures (T(g)) as high as 138 and 154 °C, respectively. Blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting devices (PhOLEDs) with 1,8-mBICz exhibit almost the same performance as a similarly structured device based on the mCP host, and green PhOLEDs employing the new host material 1,8-OXDCz exhibit an ideal turn-on voltage (2.5 V at 1.58 cd m(-2)), a maximum current efficiency (η(c,max)) of 73.9 cd A(-1), and a power efficiency (η(p,max)) of 89.7 lm W(-1). These results are among the best performances of [Ir(ppy)(3)]-based devices with simple device configurations.

Experimental demonstration of skyrmionic magnetic tunnel junction at room temperature.

Chiral magnetic skyrmions are topological swirling spin textures that hold promise for future information technology. The electrical nucleation and motion of skyrmions have been experimentally demonstrated in the last decade, while electrical detection compatible with semiconductor processes has not been achieved, and this is considered one of the most crucial gaps regarding the use of skyrmions in real applications. Here, we report the direct observation of nanoscale skyrmions in CoFeB/MgO-based magnetic tunnel junction devices at room temperature. High-resolution magnetic force microscopy imaging and tunneling magnetoresistance measurements are used to illustrate the electrical detection of skyrmions, which are stabilized under the cooperation of interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, and dipolar stray field. This skyrmionic magnetic tunnel junction shows a stable nonlinear multilevel resistance thanks to its topological nature and tunable density of skyrmions under current pulse excitation. These features provide important perspectives for spintronics to realize high-density memory and neuromorphic computing.

Spin-Torque Memristors Based on Perpendicular Magnetic Tunnel Junctions for Neuromorphic Computing.

Spin-torque memristors are proposed in 2009, and can provide fast, low-power, and infinite memristive behavior for neuromorphic computing and large-density non-volatile memory. However, the strict requirements of combining high magnetoresistance, stable domain wall pinning and current-induced switching in a single device pose difficulties in physical implementation. Here, a nanoscale spin-torque memristor based on a perpendicular-anisotropy magnetic tunnel junction with a CoFeB/W/CoFeB composite free layer structure is experimentally demonstrated. Its tunneling magnetoresistance is higher than 200%, and memristive behavior can be realized by spin-transfer torque switching. Memristive states are retained by strong domain wall pinning effects in the free layer. Experiments and simulations suggest that nanoscale vertical chiral spin textures can form around clusters of W atoms under the combined effect of opposite Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions and the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction between the two CoFeB free layers. Energy fluctuation caused by these textures may be the main reason for the strong pinning effect. With the experimentally demonstrated memristive behavior and spike-timing-dependent plasticity, a spiking neural network to perform handwritten pattern recognition in an unsupervised manner is simulated. Due to advantages such as long endurance and high speed, the spin-torque memristors are competitive in the future applications for neuromorphic computing.

Large-Size Transparent Wood for Energy-Saving Building Applications.

As an energy-saving building material, transparent wood (TW) is highly attractive because of the advantages of high optical transmittance, excellent mechanical properties, and good thermal insulation. However, the current research is limited to fabricating small-size samples in the laboratory because thick or large-size transparent wood is almost impossible to be achieved. A method that can easily and efficiently produce transparent wood with any size and any thickness is desirable for practical applications. Transparent wood made from wood fibers as a substrate allows the cell walls to bind more tightly to the impregnated polymer, resulting in high light transmittance. Compared with wood prepared by using previously reported approaches, the transparent wood prepared by this new method not only retains the same advantages but also has higher preparation efficiency and is suitable for large-scale production. Under a simulated real environment, the retainability of indoor temperature by a sample house utilizing the transparent wood reveals excellent thermal insulation of the fiber-based transparent wood owing to its low thermal conductivity, showing significant benefits in saving thermal energy.

Butterfly-shaped tetrasubstituted carbazole derivatives as a new class of hosts for highly efficient solution-processable green phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes.

A new bromination method, where butterfly-shaped tetrasubstituted carbazole derivatives TSPFCz and TTPhCz have been designed and synthesized, which possess the twist butterfly skeletons and exhibit excellent thermal and morphological stabilities, has been adopted. By utilizing these novel compounds as host materials, high efficiency solution-processed green phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (PhOLEDs) have been achieved.