Reversible cycling of rare-earth elements between an aqueous electrolyte solution and its free surface is achieved by X-ray exposure. This exposure alters the competitive equilibrium between lanthanide ions bound to a chelating ligand, diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA), in the bulk solution and to insoluble monolayers of extractant di-hexadecyl phosphoric acid (DHDP) at its surface. Evidence for the exposure-induced temporal variations in the lanthanide surface density is provided by X-ray fluorescence near total reflection measurements. Comparison of results when X-rays are confined to the aqueous surface region to results when X-rays transmit into the bulk solution suggests the importance of aqueous radiolysis in the adsorption cycle. Amine binding sites in DTPA are identified as a likely target of radiolysis products. The molecules DTPA and DHDP are like those used in the separation of lanthanides from ores and in the reprocessing of nuclear fuel. These results suggest that an external source of X-rays can be used to drive rare-earth element separations. More generally, use of X-rays to controllably dose a liquid interface with lanthanides could trigger a range of interfacial processes, including enhanced metal ion extraction, catalysis, and materials synthesis.

All-solid-state potassium metal batteries have caught increasing interest owing to their abundance, cost-effectiveness, and high energy/power density. However, their development is generally constrained by the lack of suitable solid-state electrolytes. Herein, we report a new complex KCB9H10·2C3H4N2, synthesized by grinding and heating the mixture of potassium decahydrido-monocarba-closo-decaborate (KCB9H10) and imidazole (C3H4N2) under mild conditions, to achieve the K-ion superionic solid-state electrolyte. The crystal structure was revealed as an orthorhombic lattice with the space group of Pna21 by FOX software. The diffusion properties for K+ in the crystal structure were calculated using the climbing image nudged elastic band (CI-NEB) method. KCB9H10·2C3H4N2 exhibited a high ionic conductivity of 1.3 × 10-4 S cm-1 at 30 °C, four orders of magnitude higher than that of KCB9H10. This ionic conductivity is also the highest value of hydridoborate-based K+ conductors reported. Moreover, KCB9H10·2C3H4N2 demonstrated a K+ transference number of 0.96, an electrochemical stability window of 1.2 to 3.2 V vs. K/K+, and good stability against the K metal coated by a layer of potassium imidazolate (KIm). These great performances make KCB9H10·2C3H4N2 a promising K-ion solid-state electrolyte.

The perovskite solar cells (PSCs) technology translated on flexible substrates is in high demand as an alternative powering solution to the Internet of Things (IOTs). An efficiency of ∼26.1% on rigid and ∼25.09% on flexible substrates has been achieved for the PSCs. Further, it is also reported that F-PSC modules have a surface area of ∼900 cm2, with a PCE of ∼16.43%. This performance is a world record for an F-PSC device more significant than ∼100 cm2. The process optimization, and use of new transport materials, interface, and compositional engineering, as well as passivation, have helped in achieving such kind of performance of F-PSCs. Hence, the review focuses mainly on the progress of F-PSCs and the low-temperature fabrication methods for perovskite films concerning their full coverage, morphological uniformity, and better crystallinity. The transmittance, band gap matching, carrier mobility, and ease of low-temperature processing are the key figures of merit of interface layers. Electrode material\'s flexible and transparent nature has enhanced the device\'s mechanical stability. Stability, flexibility, and scalable F-PSC fabrication challenges are also addressed. Finally, an outlook on F-PSC applications for their commercialization based on cost will also be discussed in detail.

In recent years, self-assembly has emerged as a powerful tool for fabricating functional materials. Since self-assembly is fundamentally determined by the particle interactions in the system, if we can gain full control over these interactions, it would open the door for creating functional materials by design. In this paper, we exploit capillary interactions between colloidal particles at liquid interfaces to create two-dimensional (2D) materials where particle interactions and self-assembly can be fully programmed using particle shape alone. Specifically, we consider colloidal particles which are polygonal plates with homogeneous surface chemistry and undulating edges as this particle geometry gives us precise and independent control over both short-range hard-core repulsions and longer-range capillary interactions. To illustrate the immense potential provided by our system for programming self-assembly, we use minimum energy calculations and Monte Carlo simulations to show that polygonal plates with different in-plane shapes (hexagons, truncated triangles, triangles, squares) and edge undulations of different multipolar order (hexapolar, octopolar, dodecapolar) can be used to create a rich variety of 2D structures, including hexagonal close-packed, honeycomb, Kagome, and quasicrystal lattices. Since the required particle shapes can be readily fabricated experimentally, we can use our colloidal system to control the entire process chain for materials design, from initial design and fabrication of the building blocks, to final assembly of the emergent 2D material.

Stratified films offer high performance and multifunctionality, yet achieving fully stratified films remains a challenge. The layer-by-layer method, involving the sequential deposition of each layer, has been commonly utilized for stratified film fabrication. However, this approach is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and prone to leaving defects within the film. Alternatively, the self-stratification process exploiting a drying binary colloidal mixture is intensively developed recently, but it relies on strict operating conditions, typically yielding a heterogeneous interlayer. In this study, an active interfacial stratification process for creating completely stratified nanoparticle (NP) films is introduced. The technique leverages NPs with varying interfacial activity at the air-water interface. With the help of depletion pressure, the lateral compression of NP mixtures at the interface induces individual desorption of less interfacial active NPs into the subphase, while more interfacial active NPs remain at the interface. This simple compression leads to nearly perfect stratified NP films with controllability, universality, and scalability. Combined with a solvent annealing process, the active stratification process enables the fabrication of stratified films comprising a polymeric layer atop a NP layer. This work provides insightful implications for designing drug encapsulation and controlled release, as well as manufacturing transparent and flexible electrodes.

Composition is a powerful principle for systems biology, focused on the interfaces, interconnections, and orchestration of distributed processes. Whereas most systems biology models focus on the structure or dynamics of specific subsystems in controlled conditions, compositional systems biology aims to connect such models into integrative multiscale simulations. This emphasizes the space between models-a compositional perspective asks what variables should be exposed through a submodel\'s interface? How do coupled models connect and translate across scales? How can we connect domain-specific models across biological and physical research areas to drive the synthesis of new knowledge? What is required of software that integrates diverse datasets and submodels into unified multiscale simulations? How can the resulting integrative models be accessed, flexibly recombined into new forms, and iteratively refined by a community of researchers? This essay offers a high-level overview of the key components for compositional systems biology, including: 1) a conceptual framework and corresponding graphical framework to represent interfaces, composition patterns, and orchestration patterns; 2) standardized composition schemas that offer consistent formats for composable data types and models, fostering robust infrastructure for a registry of simulation modules that can be flexibly assembled; 3) a foundational set of biological templates-schemas for cellular and molecular interfaces, which can be filled with detailed submodels and datasets, and are designed to integrate knowledge that sheds light on the molecular emergence of cells; and 4) scientific collaboration facilitated by user-friendly interfaces for connecting researchers with datasets and models, and which allows a community of researchers to effectively build integrative multiscale models of cellular systems.

OBJECTIVE: Thin liquid films play a crucial role in various systems and applications. Understanding the mechanisms that regulate their morphology is a scientific challenge with obvious implications for application optimization. Thin liquid films trapped between bubbles and air-liquid interface can show various configurations influenced by their deformation history and system characteristics.
METHODS: The morphology of thin liquid films formed in the presence of surface-active molecules is here studied with interferometric techniques. Three different systems with varying interfacial properties are investigated to understand their influence on film morphology. Specific deformation histories are applied to the films to generate complex film structures.
RESULTS: We achieve the creation of a rather stable wimple by implementing controlled bubble motions against the air-liquid interface. We provide a criterion for wimple formation based on lubrication theory. The long-term stability of the wimple is also investigated, and more complex multi-wimple structures are experimentally produced building upon the achieved wimple stability.

Biomolecular condensates arising from liquid-liquid phase separation contribute to diverse cellular processes, such as gene expression. Partitioning of client molecules into condensates is critical to regulating the composition and function of condensates. Previous studies suggest that client size limits partitioning, with dextrans >5 nm excluded from condensates. Here, we asked whether larger particles, such as macromolecular complexes, can partition into condensates based on particle-condensate interactions. We sought to discover the biophysical principles that govern particle inclusion in or exclusion from condensates using polymer nanoparticles with tailored surface chemistries as models of macromolecular complexes. Particles coated with polyethylene glycol (PEG) did not partition into condensates. We next leveraged the PEGylated particles as an inert platform to which we conjugated specific adhesive moieties. Particles functionalized with biotin partitioned into condensates containing streptavidin, driven by high-affinity biotin-streptavidin binding. Oligonucleotide-decorated particles exhibited varying degrees of partitioning into condensates, depending on condensate composition. Partitioning of oligonucleotide-coated particles was tuned by altering salt concentration, oligonucleotide length, and oligonucleotide surface density. Remarkably, beads with distinct surface chemistries partitioned orthogonally into immiscible condensates. Based on our experiments, we conclude that arbitrarily large particles can controllably partition into biomolecular condensates given sufficiently strong condensate-particle interactions, a conclusion also supported by our coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations and theory. These findings may provide insights into how various cellular processes are achieved based on partitioning of large clients into biomolecular condensates, as well as offer design principles for the development of drug delivery systems that selectively target disease-related biomolecular condensates.

We study transitions in intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) upon complex formation, utilizing X-ray-solved structural dataset of protein-DNA and protein-RNA complexes, along with their available unbound protein forms. The identified IDRs are categorized into three classes: Disordered-to-Ordered (D-O), Disordered-to-Partial Ordered (D-PO) and Disordered-to-Disordered (D-D) after comparing them in unbound and complex forms. In the D-O class, IDRs form secondary structures like coils, helices, and strands upon binding to nucleic acids. Though a majority of these IDRs are present at the surface of the complexes, a significant number of IDRs are also observed at the interfaces and are involved in polar interactions. The hydrogen bonds made by the interface IDRs (B_IDRs) with phosphates and bases of nucleic acids are comparatively more than those formed with sugars. B_IDRs form more H-bonds with the ribose in protein-RNA than with the deoxyribose in protein-DNA. Among the B_IDRs, Arg and Lys prefer to interact with the major and minor grooves of DNA and RNA, respectively. Ser, however, prefers the minor groove in both the nucleic acids. Interestingly, we report 61 and 48 IDRs in 31 protein-DNA and 22 protein-RNA complexes, respectively, suggesting nucleic acid binding to proteins may also result in ordered-to-disordered transitions.

Two model substrates for the grafting to reaction are considered: not-deglazed silicon, whose surface is coated by a thin oxide layer with reactive silanol groups on its surface; and deglazed silicon, where the oxide layer is removed by treatment with hydrofluoric acid. The reactive polymers are hydroxy-terminated polystyrenes with molecular weights ranging from 3.9 to 13.9 kg mol⁻1. The grafting to reaction is carried out at different temperatures and for different periods of time on the two different substrates. The thickness and the thermal stability of the resulting brushes are evaluated. Furthermore, the grafting of a highly dispersed system is simulated by blending two polymers with different molecular weights. Although the brush thickness growth is found to be faster on deglazed silicon, the preferential grafting of short chains occurs with equal chain selection propensity on both substrates.