Formation of Si nanopillars through partial sacrificing in super passivation reactive ion etching.

The vertical gate-all-around (VGAA) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) holds remarkable potential in the three-dimensional (3D) integrated circuits (ICs), primarily owing to its capacity for vertical integration. The Si nanopillar, a crucial channel in the VGAA MOSFET, is conventionally shaped via the reactive ion etching (RIE) system employing SF6/O2. Past studies have indicated that high O2gas conditions in RIE often result in Si grasses irregular nanostructures, such as nanospikes on the bottom surface, due to over-passivation. However, this study revealed that ultrahigh O2proportions (>70%), especially when combined with low chamber pressure, inhibit the development of Si grasses in the RIE system (termed as super passivation). Nevertheless, this scenario leads to the segmentation of the Si nanopillar. To address this issue, a proposed partial sacrificing method, achieved by sacrificing the upper segment of the nanopillar through prolonged processing time and reduced mask size, successfully yielded Si nanopillars without Si grasses. Furthermore, an empirical model was developed to elucidate how experimental parameters influence etching characteristics, encompassing etching rate and Si nanopillar shape, through a systematic examination of the RIE etching process. This research significantly contributes to the production of VGAA MOSFETs and 3D ICs.

Structurally integrated asymmetric polymer electrolyte with stable Janus interface properties for high-voltage lithium metal batteries.

Solid-state polymer electrolytes are outstanding candidates for next-generation lithium metal batteries in the realm of high specific energy densities, high safeties and tight contact with electrodes. However, their applications are still hindered by the limitations that no single polymer is electrochemically stable with the oxidizing high-voltage cathode and the highly reductive Li anode, simultaneously. Herein, a bilayer asymmetric polymer electrolyte (SL-SPE) without accessional interface resistance that using poly (ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) as a "bridge" to connect the sulfonyl (OS = O)-contained oxidation-tolerated layer and polyether-derived reduction-tolerated layer (SPE), is proposed and synthesized by sequential two-step UV polymerizations. SL-SPE can provide widened electrochemical stability window up to 5 V, while simultaneously deploying a stable Janus interface property. Eventually, the superior high-voltage (4.4 V) cycling durability can be displayed in LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2|SL-SPE|Li batteries. This finding provides a bran-new idea for designing multifunctional polymer electrolytes in the application of solid-state batteries.

First report of wild tomato mosaic virus infecting chilli pepper in China.

Chilli pepper is an important economic crop and virus diseases are constraints on its production. In 2018, disease surveys were conducted at a 15-ha chilli pepper plantation in Dehong, southwest of Yunnan Province, China. Throughout the chilli pepper growing season from March to September, pepper plants developed three different virus-like symptoms on leaves, including mosaic, yellow mottle and shrinkage (Fig. S1). Based on observation of virus-like symptomatic phenotypes, the field surveys indicated that the disease incidence ranged from 30% in March to a peak 100% in July, resulting in a significant loss of pepper fruit from 30 to 100% depending on plot of the field. Potyvirus-like filamentous particles, around 11*760 nm, were observed under electron microscopy in the sap of symptomatic leaves (Fig. S1). To further determine the viral species in these samples, total RNA was extracted from three symptomatic samples using a Trans ZolUp Plus RNA Kit (Trans Gene, Beijing, China). Complementary DNA (cDNA) was synthesized using oligo (dT) and M-MLV reverse transcriptase (Promega, Madison, Wisconsin, USA) according to the manufacturer's instructions, and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed using degenerate primers specific to genus Potyvirus targeting HC-Pro region (HPFor: 5-TGYGAYAAYCARYTIGAYIIIAAYG-3; HPRev: 5-GAICCRWAIGARTCIAIIACRTG-3) (Ha et al. 2008) under the following conditions: an initial denaturation at 94°C for 4min, 30 cycles of denaturation at 94°C for 30 s, annealing at 56°C for 30 s, extension at 72°C for 30s, and a 10min final extension at 72°C. An expected 683-bp DNA fragment was amplified and cloned into the pMD 18-T Vector (Takara, Japan) for sequencing. Sequence analysis using BLAST revealed that the amplicons of phenotype I (Fig. S1a) shared highest nucleotide identity (85.6%) with wild tomato mosaic virus (WTMV) isolate from Vietnam (GenBank no. DQ851495) while the amplicons of phenotype III (Fig. S1c) showed the highest nucleotide identity (93%) with chilli veinal mottle virus (ChiVMV) isolate from Sichuan, China. (GenBank no. MK405594). Amplicons of phenotype II included both sequence of above WTMV and ChiVMV, indicating co-infection of phenotype II (Fig. S1b). Phenotype I sample was used for mechanical inoculation on chilli pepper as described previously (Yang et al.2013). After ten days, virus-like symptoms similar to phenotype I were observed on leaves, and WTMV infection, but not ChiVMV infection, was confirmed by RT-PCR tests on inoculated pepper plants (Fig. S1 e, f). To further ascertain the incidence of these two viruses in the field, primers WT-F: 5'-GTTGTTGAATGTGGTTTAGTT-3' and WT-R: 5'-AGATGTGCTTTGGAAGCGACC-3' were designed based on the WTMV sequence (GenBank no. DQ851495) to amplify a 476 bp product, and primers Ch-F/Ch-R (Ch-F: 5'-AAAGAAGAACAAGCGACAGAA-3', Ch-R: 5'-CATCACGCAAATATTCAAAGC-3') were designed based on ChiVMV sequence (GenBank no. MK405594.1) to amplify a 332 bp product. RT-PCR was conducted on 31 field-collected samples, and amplicons of expected sizes, 476bp and 332bp, corresponding to WTMV and ChiVMV, respectively, were obtained and sequenced to verify their identity. The results (Fig. S2) showed that 71% (22/31) of the samples tested positive for WTMV, 90% (28/31) tested positive for ChiVMV, and 65% (20/31) were co-infected with the two viruses. The WTMV was first reported infecting wild tomatoes in Vietnam in 2008 (Ha et al. 2008), and later reported in China in Nicotiana tabacum (Sun et al. 2015), Solanum nigrum (Zhang et al. 2019), and wild eggplant (Zhang et al. 2014). To our knowledge, this is the first report of WTMV infection on chilli pepper under natural conditions. Our study revealed that the chilli pepper disease in Dehong was caused by single or co-infection of WTMV and ChiVMV. It is necessary to find effective methods to control these two viruses.

Renewable Cyclopentanol From Catalytic Hydrogenation-Rearrangement of Biomass Furfural Over Ruthenium-Molybdenum Bimetallic Catalysts.

Biomass furfural-like compounds are chemicals that cannot be extracted from fossil materials, through which a large number of fine chemicals and fuel additives can be opened up, but one big efficiency problem during the transformation is the accumulation of oligomers. Here, we propose a novel and efficient Ru-Mo bimetallic catalyst for selective hydrogenation-rearrangement of furfural-like compounds. The result showed that an unprecedented rearrangement product selectivity of 89.1% to cyclopentanol was achieved under an optimized reaction condition over a 1%Ru-2.5%Mo/CNT catalyst reduced at 600°C. Subsequent characterization suggested that the catalyst presented with weak acidity and strong hydrogenation activity for the reaction, which not only ensures the smooth hydrogenation-rearrangement reaction but also inhibits the accumulation of furan polymers. These findings provide a convenient strategy to tune the catalytic performance of Mo-based catalysts by controlling the reduction and carburization conditions, which appear to be versatile for the rearrangement of furans and similar compounds.