There is a demand for the manufacture of two-dimensional (2D) materials with high-quality single crystals of large size. Usually, epitaxial growth is considered the method of choice
in preparing ...single-crystalline thin films, but it requires single-crystal substrates for deposition. Here we present a different approach and report the synthesis of single-crystal-like monolayer graphene films on polycrystalline substrates. The technological realization of the proposed method resembles the Czochralski process and is based on the evolutionary selection
approach, which is now realized in 2D geometry. The method relies on 'self-selection' of the fastest-growing domain orientation, which eventually overwhelms the slower-growing domains and yields a single-crystal continuous 2D film. Here we have used it to synthesize foot-long graphene films at rates up to 2.5 cm h
that possess the quality of a single crystal. We anticipate that the proposed approach could be readily adopted for the synthesis of other 2D materials and heterostructures.
Synaptic plasticity is currently considered the main mechanism underlying the plastic modification of neural networks. The vast majority of studies of synaptic plasticity are carried out on reduced ...preparations, but the situation in vivo is fundamentally different from that in vitro. In this work, we used the Hebbian paradigm, which is known to induce long-term changes in synaptic strength in vitro, to manipulate the properties of a single pyramidal neuron in the mouse visual cortex. We have shown that optogenetic stimulation of a ChR2-expressing pyramidal neuron in the primary visual cortex of Thy-ChR2 mice paired with the presentation of a visual stimulus of non-optimal orientation induces long-term changes in the properties of the receptive field, manifested in alteration of the orientation selectivity of the cell. Non-paired stimulation did not lead to changes in the properties of the receptive field of the neuron during the experiment. Thus, we have demonstrated the role of associative plasticity in the dynamic organization of the receptive fields of neurons in the visual cortex.
•Optogenetic stimulation and juxtacellular recording of a single neuron in a Thy1-CHR2 mice.•Affecting the activity of a single visual cortex neuron can change its orientation selectivity.•Hebbian associative synaptic plasticity underlies dynamic organization of visual neural networks.
Monolayer hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) attracts significant attention due to the potential to be used as a complementary two-dimensional dielectric in fabrication of functional 2D heterostructures. ...Here we investigate the growth stages of the hBN single crystals and show that hBN crystals change their shape from triangular to truncated triangular and further to hexagonal depending on copper substrate distance from the precursor. We suggest that the observed hBN crystal shape variation is affected by the ratio of boron to nitrogen active species concentrations on the copper surface inside the CVD reactor. Strong temperature dependence reveals the activation energies for the hBN nucleation process of ∼5 eV and crystal growth of ∼3.5 eV. We also show that the resulting h-BN film morphology is strongly affected by the heating method of borazane precursor and the buffer gas. Elucidation of these details facilitated synthesis of high quality large area monolayer hexagonal boron nitride by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition on copper using borazane as a precursor.
By creating nanoscale pores in a layer of graphene, it could be used as an effective separation membrane due to its chemical and mechanical stability, its flexibility and, most importantly, its ...one-atom thickness. Theoretical studies have indicated that the performance of such membranes should be superior to state-of-the-art polymer-based filtration membranes, and experimental studies have recently begun to explore their potential. Here, we show that single-layer porous graphene can be used as a desalination membrane. Nanometre-sized pores are created in a graphene monolayer using an oxygen plasma etching process, which allows the size of the pores to be tuned. The resulting membranes exhibit a salt rejection rate of nearly 100% and rapid water transport. In particular, water fluxes of up to 10(6) g m(-2) s(-1) at 40 °C were measured using pressure difference as a driving force, while water fluxes measured using osmotic pressure as a driving force did not exceed 70 g m(-2) s(-1) atm(-1).
The natural deep eutectic solvent (NADES) based on choline chloride (ChCl) and lactic acid (LA) was used for the preparation of chitosan (CS) films by the solution casting method. The content of ...NADES in films was from 0 to 82 wt%. The impact of NADES on the morphology and crystalline structure of films was investigated using scanning electron microscopy as well as wide-angle and small-angle X-ray scattering. The experimental results allow to propose CS chains swelling in NADES. FTIR spectroscopy confirms the interactions between CS and NADES components via the formation of hydrogen and ion bonds. The thermal properties of the composite films were studied by simultaneous thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis. Thermomechanical analysis demonstrated appearance of two transitions at temperatures between -23 and -5 °C and 54-102 °C depending on NADES content. It was found that electrical conductivity of film with 82 wt% of NADES reaches 1.7 mS/cm. The influence of the composition and structure of films on the charge carriers concentration and their mobility is discussed.
A comparative study of the effectiveness of carbide and oxide types of strengthening of V–Cr–Zr alloy was carried out by means of a comprehensive certification of structural-phase state parameters ...and measuring the mechanical properties characteristics. It has been shown that the use of chemical-heat treatment contributes to a significant increase in the thermal stability of the microstructure and mechanical properties of V–Cr–Zr alloy in comparison with carbide strengthening under the conditions of thermomechanical treatment. A controlled increase in the volume fraction of fine particles based on ZrO2, along with an increase in the concentration of oxygen in the solid solution, leads to a decrease in the rate of oxides coagulation and an increase in the thermal stability of high disperse heterophase structure. These effects contribute to the retention of high defect structural states with nonzero values of crystal lattice curvature even after high-temperature (0.67 Tmelt) anneals. The high efficiency of dispersion and substructural strengthening is a consequence of blocking dislocation slip by fine particles stabilized by oxygen in a solid solution.
Inspired by recent reports on possible proton conductance through graphene, we have investigated the behavior of pristine graphene and defect engineered graphene membranes for ionic conductance and ...selectivity with the goal of evaluating a possibility of its application as a proton selective membrane. The averaged conductance for pristine chemical vapor deposited (CVD) graphene at pH1 is ∼4 mS/cm2 but varies strongly due to contributions from the unavoidable defects in our CVD graphene. From the variations in the conductance with electrolyte strength and pH, we can conclude that pristine graphene is fairly selective and the conductance is mainly due to protons. Engineering of the defects with ion beam (He+, Ga+) irradiation and plasma (N2 and H2) treatment showed improved areal conductance with high proton selectivity mostly for He-ion beam and H2 plasma treatments, which agrees with primarily vacancy-free type of defects produced in these cases confirmed by Raman analysis.
ABSTRACT
A majority of thousands of intracellular mammalian proteins are recognized by proteasome only being conjugated with ubiquitin (Ub), representing a universal degradation signal operated by ...the ubiquitination system. Ub‐independent proteasome targeting is rationalized by the existence of 2 types of direct proteasome signals (DPSs), specific amino acid sequences or post‐translational modifications, which are recognized by proteasome regulatory subunits. Historically, the first type was shown to exist in ornithine decarboxylase, whereas acetylation of core histones recently was reported as a second type of DPS. Here we declare a third type, representing charge‐mediated DPS. This discovered DPS may be classified as a monopartite composition‐ but not sequence‐dependent element of ∼70 Å in length enriched in basic and flexible amino acids. This type of degradation signal, which may be provided by cationic chemicals, is most efficiently engaged by proteasomes capped with regulator (REG)α or REGγ in an ATP‐independent manner. Taken together, our findings suggest a novel modality of proteasome‐substrate interrelation bypassing ubiquitination.—Kudriaeva, A., Kuzina, E. S., Zubenko, O., Smirnov, I. V., Belogurov, A. Charge‐mediated proteasome targeting. FASEB J. 33, 6852–6866 (2019). www.fasebj.org
Using the methods of scanning and transmission electron microscopy, the features of the structural-phase state of a vanadium alloy of the V-Cr-Ta-Zr system after a combined treatment, which consisted ...in cyclic alternation of thermomechanical and chemical-heat treatments, were studied. The values of yield strength and ductility of the V-Cr-Ta-Zr alloy were determined, depending on the stabilization and test temperatures. It was established that, after the combined treatment, the structural-phase state of the V-Cr-Ta-Zr alloy was composite, in which the joint implementation of dispersion and substructural strengthening ensured the formation of a gradient grain structure with a polygonal state, the elements of which were fixed by nanosized ZrO
particles characterized by a high thermal stability. Such modification of the microstructure was accompanied by an increase in the high-temperature strength and a shift in the upper limit of the temperature stability interval towards high temperatures, of up to 900 °C. It was assumed that the polygonal state inside the grains contributed to the implementation of cooperative mechanisms of the dislocation-disclination type, which ensured the accommodation of the material in the "high-strength state" under loading.
ATP-dependent Lon proteases are key participants in the quality control system that supports the homeostasis of the cellular proteome. Based on their unique structural and biochemical properties, Lon ...proteases have been assigned in the MEROPS database to three subfamilies (A, B, and C). All Lons are single-chain, multidomain proteins containing an ATPase and protease domains, with different additional elements present in each subfamily. LonA and LonC proteases are soluble cytoplasmic enzymes, whereas LonBs are membrane-bound. Based on an analysis of the available sequences of Lon proteases, we identified a number of enzymes currently assigned to the LonB subfamily that, although presumably membrane-bound, include structural features more similar to their counterparts in the LonA subfamily. This observation was confirmed by the crystal structure of the proteolytic domain of the enzyme previously assigned as
LonB, combined with the modeled structure of its ATPase domain. Several structural features present in both domains differ from their counterparts in either LonA or LonB subfamilies. We thus postulate that this enzyme is the founding member of a newly identified LonBA subfamily, so far found only in the gene sequences of firmicutes.
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