Search for: All records

Hydrogen polysulfides (H₂S_n) have emerged as critical physiological mediators that are closely associated with hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) signaling. H₂S_nexhibit greater nucleophilicity than H₂S while also having electrophilic characteristics, enabling unique activities such as protein S‐persulfidation. Despite their physiological importance, mechanisms and reactivities of H₂S_nremain inadequately explored due to their inherent instability in aqueous environments. Consequently, there is a need to develop biocompatible methods for controlled H₂S_ngeneration to elucidate their behaviors in biological contexts. Herein, we present a dual enzyme system (containing glucose oxidase (GOx) and chloroperoxidase (CPO)) with thioglucose as the substrate to facilitate the controlled release of H₂S_n. Fluorescence measurements with SSP4 and the trapping studies allowed us to confirm the production of H₂S_n. Such a method may be useful in elucidating the reactivity of hydrogen polysulfides in biological systems as well as provide a potential delivery of H₂S_nto target sites for biological applications.

 

Hydrogel adhesion that can be easily modulated in magnitude, space, and time is desirable in many emerging applications ranging from tissue engineering and soft robotics to wearable devices. In synthetic materials, these complex adhesion behaviors are often achieved individually with mechanisms and apparatus that are difficult to integrate. Here, we report a universal strategy to embody multifaceted adhesion programmability in synthetic hydrogels. By designing the surface network topology of a hydrogel, supramolecular linkages that result in contrasting adhesion behaviors are formed on the hydrogel interface. The incorporation of different topological linkages leads to dynamically tunable adhesion with high-resolution spatial programmability without alteration of bulk mechanics and chemistry. Further, the association of linkages enables stable and tunable adhesion kinetics that can be tailored to suit different applications. We rationalize the physics of polymer chain slippage, rupture, and diffusion at play in the emergence of the programmable behaviors. With the understanding, we design and fabricate various soft devices such as smart wound patches, fluidic channels, drug-eluting devices, and reconfigurable soft robotics. Our study presents a simple and robust platform in which adhesion controllability in multiple aspects can be easily integrated into a single design of a hydrogel network.

 

Acoustic resonances in open systems, which are usually associated with resonant modes characterized by complex eigenfrequencies, play a fundamental role in manipulating acoustic wave radiation and propagation. Notably, they are accompanied by considerable field enhancement, boosting interactions between waves and matter, and leading to various exciting applications. In the past two decades, acoustic metamaterials have enabled a high degree of control over tailoring acoustic resonances over a range of frequencies. Here, we provide an overview of recent advances in the area of acoustic resonances in non-Hermitian open systems, including Helmholtz resonators, metamaterials and metasurfaces, and discuss their applications in various acoustic devices, including sound absorbers, acoustic sources, vortex beam generation and imaging. We also discuss bound states in the continuum and their applications in boosting acoustic wave–matter interactions, active phononics and non-Hermitian acoustic resonances, including phononic topological insulators and the acoustic skin effect. 

Abstract While vector fields naturally offer additional degrees of freedom for emulating spin, acoustic pressure field is scalar in nature, and it requires engineering of synthetic degrees of freedom by material design. Here we experimentally demonstrate the control of sound waves by using two types of engineered acoustic systems, where synthetic pseudo-spin emerges either as a consequence of the evanescent nature of the field or due to lattice symmetry. First, we show that evanescent sound waves in perforated films possess transverse angular momentum locked to their propagation direction which enables their directional excitation. Second, we demonstrate that lattice symmetries of an acoustic kagome lattice also enable a synthetic transverse pseudo-spin locked to the linear momentum, enabling control of the propagation of modes both in the bulk and along the edges. Our results open a new degree of control of radiation and propagation of acoustic waves thus offering new design approaches for acoustic devices. 

Structural anisotropy in crystals is crucial for controlling light propagation, particularly in the infrared spectral regime where optical frequencies overlap with crystalline lattice resonances, enabling light-matter coupled quasiparticles called phonon polaritons (PhPs). Exploring PhPs in anisotropic materials like hBN and MoO₃has led to advancements in light confinement and manipulation. In a recent study, PhPs in the monoclinic crystal β-Ga₂O₃(bGO) were shown to exhibit strongly asymmetric propagation with a frequency dispersive optical axis. Here, using scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM), we directly image the symmetry-broken propagation of hyperbolic shear polaritons in bGO. Further, we demonstrate the control and enhancement of shear-induced propagation asymmetry by varying the incident laser orientation and polariton momentum using different sizes of nano-antennas. Finally, we observe significant rotation of the hyperbola axis by changing the frequency of incident light. Our findings lay the groundwork for the widespread utilization and implementation of polaritons in low-symmetry crystals.