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Composite electrospun fibers were fabricated to develop drug loaded scaffolds to promote bone tissue regeneration. Multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were incorporated to polylactic acid (PLA) to strengthen electrospun nanofibers. To modulate drug release behavior, different ratios of hydrophilic polyethylene glycol (PEG) were added to composite fibers. Glass transition temperature (Tg) can be reduced by the incorporated PEG to enhance the ductility of the nanofibers. The SEM images and the MTT results demonstrated that composite fibers are suitable scaffolds for cell adhesion and proliferation. Dexamethasone (DEX), an osteogenic inducer, was loaded to PLA/MWCNT/PEG fibers. The surface element analysis performed by XPS showed that fluorine of DEX in pristine PLA fibers was much higher than those of the MWCNT-containing fibers, suggesting that the pristine PLA fibers mainly load DEX on their surfaces, whereas MWCNTs can adsorb DEX with evenly distribution in nanofibers. Drug release experiments demonstrated that the release profiles of DEX were manipulated by the ratio of PEG, and that the more PEG in the nanofibers, the faster DEX was released. When rat bone marrow stromal cells (rBMSCs) were seeded on these nanofibers, the Alizarin Red S staining and calcium quantification results demonstrated that loaded DEX were released to promote osteogenic differentiation of rBMSCs and facilitate mineralized tissue formation. These results indicated that the DEX-loaded PLA/MWCNT/PEG nanofibers not only enhanced mechanical strength, but also promoted osteogenesis of stem cells via the continuous release of DEX. The nanofibers should be a potential scaffold for bone tissue engineering application.

Conjugated polyelectrolytes and their precursors as electron-injection layer (EIL) in polymer light-emitting diode have attracted extensive attention because they allow the use of environmentally stable high work function metals as cathode with efficient electron injection. Here, for the first time, we find that an undesirable green emission component (470–650 nm) in the electroluminescence spectra is observed during continuous operation of deep-blue emission β-phase poly(9,9-dioctyl-2,7-fluorene) (β-PFO) device upon introducing polyelectrolyte poly[9,9-bis(6′-(18-crown-6)methoxy)hexyl fluorene] chelating to potassium ion (PFCn6:K+) as EIL. This phenomenon also happens to nonchelating PFCn6, poly[(9,9-bis(3′-(N,N-dimethylamino)propyl)-2,7-fluorene)-alt-2,7-(9,9-dioctylfluorene)], or even nonemissive poly[4-((18-crown-6)methoxy)methyl styrene] chelating to K+ (PSCn6:K+). It can be ascribed to electric-field induction accompanied by thermal motion of a highly polar side chain in the polyelectrolyte leading ...

Alginate and polycaprolactone (PCL) were coelectrospun using a dual-jet system to prepare composite nanofibers in defined ratios, and hence both chemical properties and hydrophobicity of scaffolds can be manipulated. These nanofibers were applied in gene immobilization: positively charged polyethyleneimine (PEI)/DNA polyplexes were adsorbed onto anionic alginate fibers, and the higher ratios of alginate resulted in the more immobilized nonviral vectors. Through the incorporation of PCL, biocompatibility of scaffolds was highly improved. Finally, these scaffolds were used for in situ transfection application. Compared to pure alginate fibers, composite fibers not only successfully transferred target genes to adhered cells but also enhanced cell morphology and viability, suggesting that alginate/PCL nanofibers were multifunctional with gene delivery capability and biocompatibility, and the manipulation of their composition can balance and optimize both requirements. To our knowledge, this approach might be the first one using electrostatic interactions to immobilize genes onto nanofibrous scaffolds for in situ transfection application.

Polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) suffer from inadequate lifetimes because of the use of environmentally sensitive metals as the cathodes. We present the use of water/methanol-soluble polyfluorene grafted with 18-crown-6 chelating to K(+) as the electron-injection layer (EIL) for deep-blue-emission PLEDs, allowing the use of environmentally stable Al as the cathode since electron donation from the 18-crown-6 can reduce K(+) to a stable "pseudometallic state", enabling it to act as an intermediate step for electron injection. Furthermore, when poly(ethylene oxide) was blended into the EIL to provide hole blocking (HB), the device exhibited the highest performance reported to date for a deep-blue-emission PLED based on a conjugated polymer as the emitting layer, with a brightness of 54,800 cd/m(2) and an external quantum efficiency of 5.42%. The use of such an EI-HB layer opens a broad avenue leading toward industrialization of PLEDs.

Low-temperature-ordering of L10 ordered FePt films have been extensively studied in recent years due to its potential for future application on magnetic perpendicular media. The predominant issue of the ordering process is the diffusion of iron and platinum atoms from a disordered to an ordered phase. The diffusion can be enhanced by adjusting diffusivity, providing extra energy, or reducing energy barriers. In addition to reducing the ordering temperature of FePt, (001)-oriented granular films require perpendicular media because the magnetic easy axis of the ordered phase is [001]. Atomic-scale multilayer deposition is proposed to achieve designed film structures.

For spatially controlling cell alignment, near field electrospinning (NFES) was developed to direct-write alginate fiber patterns. Compared to randomly electrospun fibers, NFES fibers guided the extension of HEK 293T cells and the levels of cell alignment increased with decreasing fiber distances. However, these guiding fibers were unfavorable for cell adhesion and limited cell growth. To preserve cell alignment ability and improve biocompatibility, the stability of patterned alginate fibers was adjusted by regulating the level of ion crosslinking. These partially crosslinked NFES fibers demonstrated parallel line-patterns in the initial stage while gradually degraded with time. The reduction of fiber density increased the available area for cell growth and enhanced cell viability. On the other hand, aligned cells were still found on these degraded patterns, suggesting that cell morphologies were mainly guided during cell seeding. This dynamically controlled fiber pattern system fulfilled the need of controlling cell orientation and biocompatibility, thus was potential to modify scaffold surfaces for tissue engineering application.

(0 0 1)-orientation FePt films were successfully fabricated on hydrogen-terminated Si(1 0 0) substrates by inserting Cu underlayers. By using the Co intermediate layer to suppress the diffusion of Cu and Si, the perpendicular coercivity reaches 6500 Oe after 300 °C postannealing. The dynamic-stress-induced ordering by the formation of Cu 3 Si was the main reason for high coercivity. To improve the perpendicular anisotropy, Cu/CoFe/Ag composite underlayer was used. The large lattice constant of Ag provided a sufficient in-plane tensile static stress in FePt films. Both large perpendicular coercivity (8200 Oe) and good perpendicular squareness (∼0.9) were achieved for samples deposited at 300 °C.

L1/sub 0/ FePt films with high perpendicular coercivity were successfully fabricated by using Cr/sub 65/Mo/sub 15/Mn/sub 20/ underlayers with subsequent forming gas (Ar 95% + H/sub 2/ 5%;) annealing. To adjust the strain energy and the orientation of FePt, Fe and Pt intermediate layers were used. Samples annealed at 275/spl deg/C with thin Pt layers (

We demonstrate using both structural and magnetic analyses that an antiferromagnetic MnRu intermediate layer can simultaneously increase the anisotropy constant and reduce the intergranular exchange coupling of a ${\text{CoPtCr-SiO}}_{2}$ recording layer. The anisotropy constant of ${\text{CoPtCr-SiO}}_{2}$ is increased by an exchange coupling with the adjacent antiferromagnetic MnRu intermediate layer. Additionally, the MnRu layer leads to better ${\text{SiO}}_{2}$ segregation within the recording layer which then weakens intergrain exchange coupling. While the enhanced grain isolation leads to a reduction in the activation volume, a potential loss in thermal stability is avoided due to the enhanced anisotropy.

We demonstrate a simple method to tailor the magnetization reversal mechanisms of Co/Pt multilayers by depositing them onto large area nanoporous anodized alumina (AAO) with various aspect ratios, A = pore depth/diameter. Magnetization reversal of composite (Co/Pt)/AAO films with large A is governed by strong domain-wall pinning which gradually transforms into a rotation-dominated reversal for samples with smaller A, as investigated by a first-order reversal curve method in conjunction with analysis of the angular dependent switching fields. The change of the magnetization reversal mode is attributed to topographical changes induced by the aspect ratio of the AAO templates., 12 pages, 3 figures

In this study, the non-epitaxial FePt thin films with [001] preferred orientation have been prepared by using magnetron sputtering. A Cr/sub 65/Mo/sub 15/Mn/sub 20/ underlayer was used to induce strain energy, and Fe and Pt intermediate layers were used to adjust the orientation of FePt. By depositing films at 250/spl deg/C and post-annealing at 300/spl deg/C in the forming gas, a high perpendicular coercivity about 6800 Oe can be obtained.

Highly [001]-oriented L10-FePt grown on SiO2‖Si is achieved by using rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at 400 °C. Due to the dramatic divergence of light absorption ability between Si and FePt films, Si behaves as the light absorption layer to absorb more light emitted from RTA system, which gives rise to larger thermal expansion on Si and induces in-plane tensile stress on FePt films. By raising heating rate during RTA, the transient light intensity is increased; therefore, higher in-plane tensile stress on FePt films is generated, which effectively suppresses the opening-up of in-plane hysteresis loops.

Highly ordered (001)-oriented FePt nanoparticles (NPs) with controllable sizes and well-aligned easy axis were obtained by tuning the total layer number n of atomic-scale [Fe/Pt/SiO2]n multilayers deposited on SiO2∥Si substrates. After annealing at 700 °C, the ordered FePt NPs with a small particle size of 5.5 nm (an extremely high areal density of 1.2×1013dots/in.2), a large out-of-plane coercivity of 28.5 kOe, and a narrow size distribution of 13% were attained. All NPs were embedded in the SiO2 substrates, resulting in a flat top surface. Finally, a full-stack film structure of perpendicular recording media composed of FePt NPs (recording layer), SiO2 (nonmagnetic intermediate layer) and CoZrTa (soft underlayer) was demonstrated.

Highly ordered single-crystalline (001) FePt nanoparticles (NPs) with controllable sizes and a well-aligned easy axis were obtained by tuning the layer numbers and the SiO2-layer thickness of atomic-scale [Fe/Pt/SiO2]n multilayers deposited on SiO2∥Si substrates. After 700 °C annealing, quasi-self-assembled NPs with ultrahigh areal density of 1.0×1013 dots/in.2 and large out-of-plane coercivity (Hc,⊥) of 31 kOe were achieved. All particles were embedded into the SiO2 substrates due to the low surface energy of SiO2, which significantly prevented the coarsening during annealing and resulted in a reduced particle size of 5.6 nm and small size distribution of 14.1%.

Highly ordered L10 FePt–SiO2 granular films with a (001)-preferred orientation were obtained by depositing atomic-scale [Fe∕Pt∕SiO2(tox)] multilayers on glass substrates and subsequently annealing multilayers at the temperature of as low as 350°C. The tox value plays an important role on both microstructure and magnetic properties. The average grain sizes of samples A, B, and C (tox=0.11,0.28,0.56) are 12.12, 15.46, and 5.14nm, respectively, and the corresponding perpendicular coercivities are 6800, 5550, and 7700Oe. Due to different microstructures, samples show distinct coercivity dependence on annealing time.

Well-aligned (001)-oriented granular or particulate L10 FePt films on amorphous SiO2 or glass substrates were obtained by depositing atomic-scale Fe∕Pt∕SiO2 multilayers followed by various postannealing conditions. After 350°C annealing, (001) FePt–SiO2 granular films were obtained with an average grain size of 5.14nm, perpendicular coercivity of 7.7kOe, and squareness of 0.95. The diffusion of SiO2 to grain boundaries and free surface of FePt accelerated the diffusion of Fe and Pt atoms to form the L10 phase; therefore, low-temperature ordering of FePt was achieved. By further raising the annealing temperature to 700°C, isolated particles of aligned (001) single crystals were achieved. The nucleation of voids occurred at low temperatures due to the existence of low-surface-energy SiO2, and then an agglomeration process proceeded, leading to a particulate structure. The isolated particles showed a perpendicular coercivity of 60kOe and squareness of unity.

Co∕Pt multilayers deposited on anodized alumina substrates are introduced as percolated perpendicular media. The pores act as pinning sites due to variations of thickness and anisotropy direction around the perimeters. Coercivity, domain size, and switching field can be engineered by controlling pore density. The media exhibit strong perpendicular anisotropy and the switching field remains unchanged at its minimum up to an angular deviation of 50° from the easy axis. A better tolerance of switching-field distributions can thus be achieved, which may help to achieve a high signal-to-noise ratio. The thermal stability of the proposed media is investigated by micromagnetic simulations.

L10 granular FePt–SiO2 films with a (001) preferred orientation and well-separated grains of 5.14nm were obtained by depositing atomic-scale Fe∕Pt∕SiO2 multilayers (MLs) on glass substrates and subsequently annealing MLs at a temperature of 350°C. Large out-of-plane coercivity of 7700Oe and a high ordering factor of 0.83 were achieved. Alternate atomic-scale depositions promoted the formation of (001) textures. Furthermore, because of the low surface energy of SiO2 layers, SiO2 tended to diffuse into grain boundaries of FePt during annealing, which may accelerate diffusion of Fe and Pt atoms, resulting in the low-temperature ordering.

FePt Films with a large coercivity of as high as 7700Oe were obtained after forming-gas annealing at 275°C. The coercivity was further increased to 13500Oe by annealing at 400°C. Hydrogen atoms may occupy the interstitial sites of FePt, inducing a local strain or an agitation to accelerate the ordering of FePt. The (111) d-spacing of FePt depends not only on the degree of ordering but also on the amount of hydrogen atoms. The coercivity increased with the amount of hydrogen atoms dissolved in the FePt lattices. The coercivity of FePt films annealed in the forming gas also depended strongly on the thickness.