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In order to ensure the secondary part at the front end of vehicles absorb the impact energy as much as possible in case of collision, reduce the impact on main parts, and ensure the safety of passengers and drivers, the energy absorption structure is set at the front end of the vehicle to improve the passive safety. Firstly, compared different standards at home and abroad and their requirements for collision conditions. Secondly, ASME RT-2 standard is selected as the standard, two energy absorbing structures are designed respectively. Structures mainly include head girders, corner posts and crash elements. The result shows that both structures can absorb more than 1.22 MJ of energy through the simulation by Ls-Dyna. At last, energy absorbing structures which has two energy absorb stages is tested to verify the reliability of the simulation results, and it is proved that the structure can meet the requirements of ASME RT-2.

At present, there are few studies considering both nonlinear and fractional characteristics of suspension in vehicle systems. In this paper, a fractional nonlinear model of a quarter vehicle with two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) is innovatively proposed to describe the suspension system containing the viscoelastic material metal rubber. Given the lack of a general calculation scheme for the multi-degree-of-freedom fractional-order incremental harmonic balance method (IHBM), a general calculation scheme for the 2-DOF incremental harmonic balance method for nonlinear systems with fractional order is derived. The nonlinear dynamical properties of the presented model are acquired using this method. The accuracy of the proposed method is verified through a comparison with the power series expansion method. Afterward, the effects of the various parameters on the dynamic performance are analyzed. The vibration peak value of the fractional-order model is significantly higher than that of the integer-order model (IOM). Therefore, the suspension parameters should be designed with a margin when using IOM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wet oxidation absorption is an efficient and promising method of exhaust gas treatment. When the micro-nano bubbles collapse, they can generate hydroxyl radicals with strong oxidising ability, which can oxidise a variety of pollutants in diesel exhaust. Ozone has strong oxidising properties, and the coupling of ozone and micro-nano bubbles can improve the oxidation and removal effects of polluted gases. In this study, the ozone micro-nano bubbles system was used to oxidise NOx, SO2, and CO to gases that were more readily dissolved in water, such as NO2, SO3, and CO2, and the gases were removed through the absorbent solution. The effects of surfactant, catalyst, urea, pH value, and salinity on the removal efficiency of NOx, SO2, and CO from diesel exhaust were investigated. Through experiments, it was found that the removal efficiency of pollutants was enhanced and then weakened with the increasing concentrations of surfactants, catalysts, and salinity, and continued to decrease with increasing concentrations of urea. When the pH value was < 7, the removal efficiency increased first and then weakened with the increase of the pH value. When the pH value was > 7, it mainly depended on the absorption of acid gas by the alkali solution. Under optimal conditions, the removal efficiencies were 86.3% for NO, 92.1% for SO2, and 65.4% for CO. This study could provide important theoretical support for the industrial application of this technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Petioles of non-heading Chinese cabbage are not only an important edible part but also a conduit for nutrient transport, holding significant agricultural and research value. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive genetic analysis of petiole-related traits using a segregating population. Modern quantitative genetic approaches were applied to investigate the genetic regulation of petiole thickness. The results indicated that petiole thickness is a quantitative trait, and the identified genetic model was consistent with two pairs of additive-dominant main genes and additive-dominant polygenes (2MG-AD). BSA-seq analysis identified a major effect of QTL controlling petiole thickness on chromosome A09: 42.08–45.09 Mb, spanning 3.01 Mb, designated as QTL-BrLH9. Utilizing InDel markers, the interval was narrowed down to 51 kb, encompassing 14 genes with annotations for 10 of them. Within the interval, four mutated genes were detected. Combined with gene annotation, protein sequence analysis, and homology alignment, it was found that BraA09g063520.3C's homologous gene SMXL6 in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh) is an inhibitor of the coding and synthesis of the strigolactone pathway. Strigolactone (SLs) plays an important role in plant growth and development. The cloning results showed that multiple frameshift mutations and non-synonymous mutations occurred on the exon. The qPCR results showed that the expression of the gene was significantly different between the two parents at the adult stage, so it was speculated that it would lead to changes in petiole thickness. BraA09g063520.3C was predicted as the final candidate gene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adsorption capacity of soil itself makes it difficult to efficiently remove phenanthrene and pyrene from soil by direct leaching. In this article, hydrochar was introduced into the leaching process after modification, and the enhanced leaching effect of hydrothermal carbon was explored under various influencing factors. The experimental results show that the modified hydrochar competes with the soil for adsorption during the leaching process, promotes the desorption of pollutants and adsorbs some pollutants in the leaching solution, which greatly enhances the leaching effect. The elution of phenanthrene increased from 64.06% to 91.08% and of pyrene from 70.26% to 91.13% under the optimum enhanced drenching conditions. This work provides some new ideas for the removal of PAHs from the natural soil environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ferromagnetic properties are investigated in single crystal ZnO nanorods with heavy codoping of 28 at. % Mn and 1 at. % Fe fabricated by vapor phase transport. The electron energy loss spectroscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed that Mn and Fe dopants are, respectively, +2 and +3 valence states, where Raman scattering exhibited additional peaks at 308 cm−1, 458 cm−1, 480 cm−1, 504 cm−1, 516 cm−1, 530 cm−1, and 569 cm−1, associated with MnFe dopants. Compared with undoped and Mn doped ZnO nanostructures, the MnFe-codoped ZnO nanorods are strongly ferromagnetic below Tc of 39 K and around room temperature. The ferromagnetic behavior can be mainly attributed to the carrier-mediated Ruderman–Kittel–Kasuya–Yosida mechanism below Tc and the defect-induced bound magnetic polaron mechanism around room temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufacturing high‐quality zinc oxide (ZnO) devices demands control of the orientation of ZnO materials due to the spontaneous and piezoelectric polarity perpendicular to the c‐plane. However, flexible electronic and optoelectronic devices are mostly built on polymers or glass substrates which lack suitable epitaxy seeds for the orientation control. Applying cubic‐structure seeds, it was possible to fabricate polar c‐plane and nonpolar m‐plane aluminium‐doped zinc oxide (AZO) films epitaxially on flexible Hastelloy substrates through minimizing the lattice mismatch. The growth is predicted of c‐plane and m‐plane AZO on cubic buffers with lattice parameters of 3.94–4.63 Å and 5.20–5.60 Å, respectively. The ∼80 nm‐thick m‐plane AZO film has a resistivity of ∼11.43 ± 0.01 × 10−4 Ω cm, while the c‐plane AZO film shows a resistivity of ∼2.68 ± 0.02 × 10−4 Ω cm comparable to commercial indium tin oxide films. An abnormally higher carrier concentration in the c‐plane than in the m‐plane AZO film results from the electrical polarity along the c‐axis. The resistivity of the c‐plane AZO film drops to the order of 10−5 Ω cm at 500 K owing to the semiconducting behaviour. Epitaxial AZO films with low resistivities and controllable orientations on flexible substrates offer optimal transparent electrodes and epitaxy seeds for high‐performance flexible ZnO devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The iodide interplay with polar Zn2+ and O2− induced nonpolar [10 1 ¯ 0] ZnO nanowires is fabricated via a simple vapor phase transport at a temperature of as low as 250 °C that is compatible with the nanodevice processing technique. As-fabricated nanowires exhibit single crystalline hexagonal wurtzite structures and grow along the [10 1 ¯ 0] direction instead of the conventional polar [0001] direction. The growth evolution can be explained by the synergy of the vapor–liquid–solid process and iodide direction-modulation. The electrical measurements demonstrate that the mobility of the PbI2-induced [10 1 ¯ 0] nanowires is significantly improved in comparison with that of the BiI3-modulated [11 2 ¯ 0] ones. These unique nonpolar nanowires are promising for improved high efficiency nanodevices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low texture spreads of single‐crystalline‐like materials are critical for high performance of low‐cost flexible semiconductors and second‐generation high‐temperature superconductors based on metal foils. For texture improvement, a single‐crystalline‐like Ag film is epitaxially grown on an ion‐beam‐assisted deposition TiN substrate using magnetron sputtering. Ultra‐low texture spreads are found in the thin Ag film (∼330 nm), with an out‐of‐plane texture spread (Δω) of ∼1.03° and an in‐plane texture spread (Δϕ) of ∼1.34°. Compared with the texture spreads of the TiN substrate, Δω and Δϕ of the Ag film are reduced by ∼42 and ∼79%, respectively. Applying this Ag buffer, the texture spreads of a single‐crystalline‐like Ge film are reduced by ∼37% (Δω) and ∼36% (Δϕ). Factors contributing to the texture improvement by Ag are studied using single‐crystalline‐like Ag films with various thicknesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nickel silicides are widely used as contact materials for electronic devices based on silicon (Si). However, they have been predominantly fabricated by annealing separate Ni and Si phases which leads to phase and structural complexity. In this letter, direct epitaxial growth of a single-phase nickel disilicide (NiSi2) thin film by sputter deposition of NiSi2 is achieved on low-cost and flexible Hastelloy tapes which offers a promising route to fabricate low-cost, flexible electronic devices. Biaxially textured titanium nitride (TiN) is applied as the seeding layer and the diffusion barrier under NiSi2. An epitaxial relationship of (001)⟨100⟩NiSi2 ǁ (001)⟨110⟩TiN is observed with an extra-large lattice mismatch (∼10.3%) between NiSi2 and TiN. Both the bonding similarity and the passivation effect by hydrogen promote the epitaxial growth of NiSi2 on TiN. The flat and smooth NiSi2 thin film consists of grains with a size of 50–100 nm. An epitaxially grown Si film on NiSi2 further demonstrates the potential of manufacturing high-performance Si flexible electronics with NiSi2/TiN/Hastelloy as the direct contact through this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study demonstrates the first flexible single‐junction III‐V photovoltaic solar cells (SCs) based on single‐crystal‐like gallium arsenide (GaAs) thin films on a low‐cost metal substrate by direct and continuous deposition, which can bypass expensive single crystal wafer fabrication. The two‐dimensional modeling of the GaAs SC is developed and used to study feasibility of single‐crystal‐like GaAs thin films for high performance SC devices. A promising SC device performance characteristic with an open‐circuit voltage of 560 mV and short circuit current of 19.4 mA/cm2, resulting in a conversion efficiency of ~7.6%, is demonstrated. We developed flexible thin film III‐V solar cells on a new photovoltaics (PV) platform where nearly single‐crystalline III‐V thin films are directly grown on inexpensive polycrystalline metal substrates using crystallinity‐transformational buffer layers. This PV technology combines the efficiency advantages of high‐quality III‐V materials with continuous roll‐to‐roll deposition process of thin film on a low‐cost tape substrate to produce flexible, cost‐competitive, and high‐efficiency SCs with application versatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-crystalline-like germanium (Ge) templates were demonstrated on low-cost, flexible metal substrates and have been used to fabricate III–V materials and devices for photovoltaics and flexible electronics applications. However, these Ge templates, fabricated by magnetron sputtering or plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, contain a high density of defects. In order to improve the performance of optoelectronic devices made using the Ge templates, a homo-epitaxial Ge layer has been additionally grown by a liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) method. The LPE Ge layer is composed of significantly larger grains (∼26 μm) compared to that of the Ge template (∼200 nm). This large size of the LPE Ge grains effectively reduces the volume fraction of grain boundaries. The LPE Ge shows an out-of-plane texture Δ̉ of ∼0.63° and an in-plane texture ΔΦ of ∼1.26°, which signify improvements of ∼39.3% and ∼76.6% compared to that of the vapor-deposited Ge template, respectively. Further, the LPE Ge is strain free, compared to the strained Ge template hetero-epitaxially grown on cerium oxide. Defects caused by low-angle grain boundaries, impurities and strain relaxation in the Ge template are found to be suppressed in the LPE Ge. The threading dislocation density is roughly estimated to be ∼5 × 106 cm−2 in the LPE Ge compared to ∼1 × 1010 cm−2 in the Ge template. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To enhance heat transfer and reduce fouling of the finned-tube surface in economizers of coal-fired power plants, heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics for H-type finned oval tube with longitudinal vortex generators (LVG) and dimples, both in-line and staggered arrangements, are studied experimentally under flue dust condition. In addition, the ash samples and heat exchanger surfaces after the test are analyzed to help understanding the ash fouling and tube wear mechanisms. Compared to the original H-type finned oval tube, the Nusselt number of H-type finned oval tube bank with longitudinal vortex generators and dimples is improved by 34.5-41.7% (in-line arrangement) and 28.1-31.7% (staggered arrangement) within the studied Reynolds numbers, while the Euler number is increased by 21.9-28.3% (in-line arrangement) and 19% (staggered arrangement) in the clean finned-tube surface state. In the stable fouling state, the Nusselt number is improved by 37.7-42.3% (in-line arrangement) and 27.8-45.1% (staggered arrangement), while the Euler number is increased by 22.9-25.2% (in-line arrangement) and 33.3-42% (staggered arrangement). The results show that the novel fin structures can both inhibit fouling and enhance heat transfer effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • We achieved ultrathin epitaxial ZnO thin-film actuators on flexible Hastelloy tapes. • We discovered higher piezoelectric constants in thinner epitaxial ZnO thin films. • We demonstrated tunable linear piezoelectric properties in strained ZnO thin films. Linear piezoelectric materials and devices potentially serve as high-accuracy and fast-response sensors and actuators. However, linear piezoelectrics have been scarcely studied, while tuning the linear piezoelectric response of undoped ZnO remains a challenge. Here, linear piezoelectric zinc oxide (ZnO) thin film actuators are fabricated with a sandwich structure of AZO/ZnO/AZO epitaxially on CeO 2 /Hastelloy substrates, with AZO denoting the aluminum-doped ZnO electrodes and CeO 2 denoting the cerium oxide buffer. Due to the lattice mismatch between ZnO and CeO 2 , compressive in-plane lattice strains are detected. Through varying the ZnO layer thickness, a strong correlation is found between the in-plane epitaxial strain and the piezoelectric constant which proves an effective method to improve the linear piezoelectric response of ZnO. Further, the better linear piezoelectric response of the thinner flexible ZnO layer resolves the controversy between the performance and the deformation-durability of flexible piezoelectric ZnO devices. The vertical piezoelectric constant of the ultrathin (∼32 nm) ZnO film is ∼ 8.14 pm/V, which is highly suitable for positioners working at the picometer scale. Future works harnessing the epitaxial strains to further improve the piezoelectric constant of ZnO materials potentially lead to the prosperity of linear piezoelectrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persimmon (Diospyros kaki) anthracnose, predominantly caused by Colletotrichum horii, is a destructive disease of persimmon. Thus, the evaluation of resistance resources is imperative for persimmon breeding and resistant variety deployment. In this study, the isolate from persimmon branches was identified as C. horii by using molecular and morphological characteristics. A total of 142 varieties were tested for anthracnose disease response by inoculation with the conidial suspension of C. horii. A significant variability was observed among the studied accessions. Only two accessions, which had a hypersensitive reaction with a slight lesion at the infection site at 14 days post inoculation, were highly resistant to anthracnose. A total of 7 and 24 accessions exhibited resistant and susceptible responses, respectively, to anthracnose. A total of 109 varieties with the highest proportion (76.76%) of accessions showed high susceptibility to C. horii. A total of 43 persimmon main cultivars were selected for the re-evaluation of the resistance level by counting the natural disease incidence of branches and fruits that showed similar resistant response. Moreover, nine of highly resistant or resistant accessions possessed desirable agronomic characters, including high fruit weight and strong growth potential. These resistant accessions could be used in the breeding of anthracnose-resistant persimmon varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) lines and their maintainer line have the same nucleus but different cytoplasm types. We used three soybean (Glycine max L.) CMS lines, JLCMS9A, JLCMSZ9A, and JLCMSPI9A, and their maintainer line, JLCMS9B, to explore whether methylation levels differed in their nuclei. Whole-genome bisulfite sequencing of these four lines was performed. The results show that the cytosine methylation level in the maintainer line was lower than in the CMS lines. Compared with JLCMS9B, the Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis of DMR (differentially methylated region, DMR)-related genes of JLCMS9A revealed that their different 5-methylcytosine backgrounds were enriched in molecular function, whereas JLCMSZ9A and JLCMSPI9A were enriched in biological process and cellular component. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genome (KEGG) analysis of DMR-related genes and different methylated promoter regions in different cytosine contexts, hypomethylation or hypermethylation, showed that the numbers of DMR-related genes and promoter regions were clearly different. According to the DNA methylation and genetic distances separately, JLCMS9A clustered with JLCMS9B, and JLCMSPI9A with JLCMSZ9A. Thus, the effects of different cytoplasm types on DNA methylation were significantly different. This may be related to their genetic distances revealed by re-sequencing these lines. The detected DMR-related genes and pathways that are probably associated with CMS are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cover image is based on the Research Article High‐efficiency flexible III‐V photovoltaic solar cells based on single‐crystal‐like thin films directly grown on metallic tapes by Sara Pouladi et al., https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3070. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exorbitant level of hydrogen peroxide is closely related to many human diseases. The development of novel probes for H 2 O 2 detection will be beneficial to disease diagnosis. In this study, a novel Nd 3+ -sensitized upconversion nanoprobe based on Förster resonance energy transfer was first developed for sensing H 2 O 2 . This nanosystem was made of core-shell upconversion nanoparticles (emission at 540 and 660 nm), dicyanomethylene-4 H-pyran (DCM)-H 2 O 2 , and poly acrylic acid (PAA)-octylamine. Obviously, upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) doped with Nd 3+ acted as an energy donor, and DCM-H 2 O 2 , transferring to DCM-OH with the reaction of H 2 O 2 , acted as an energy acceptor. The ratiometric upconversion luminescence (540 nm/660 nm) signal could be utilized to visualize the H 2 O 2 level, and the LOD of the nanoprobe for H 2 O 2 was quantified to be 0.168 μM. Meanwhile, owing to the dope of Nd 3+ , the nanoprobe would not induce the overheating effect in biological samples and could possess deeper tissue penetration depth, compared with the UCNPs excited by 980 nm light during bioimaging. The nanoprobe could also play an important role in detecting the exogenous and endogenous H 2 O 2 in living cells with ratiometric UCL (upconversion luminescence) imaging. Furthermore, our nanoprobe could function in detecting the H 2 O 2 in a tumor-bearing mouse model. Therefore, this novel nanoprobe along with the ratiometric method for responding and bioimaging H 2 O 2 could serve as a new model that promotes the emergence of novel probes for H 2 O 2 detection.

Single-crystal-like silicon (Si) thin films on bendable and scalable substrates via direct deposition are a promising material platform for high-performance and cost-effective devices of flexible electronics. However, due to the thick and unintentionally highly doped semiconductor layer, the operation of transistors has been hampered. We report the first demonstration of high-performance flexible thin-film transistors (TFTs) using single-crystal-like Si thin films with a field-effect mobility of ∼200 cm 2 /V·s and saturation current, I/l W > 50 μA/μm, which are orders-of-magnitude higher than the device characteristics of conventional flexible TFTs. The Si thin films with a (001) plane grown on a metal tape by a "seed and epitaxy" technique show nearly single-crystalline properties characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, reflection high-energy electron diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy. The realization of flexible and high-performance Si TFTs can establish a new pathway for extended applications of flexible electronics such as amplification and digital circuits, more than currently dominant display switches.