Electric field-induced collective reorientation of nematic molecules is of importance for fundamental science and practical applications. This reorientation is either homogeneous over the area of electrodes, as in displays, or periodically modulated, as in electroconvection. The question is whether spatially localized three-dimensional solitary waves of molecular reorientation could be created. Here we demonstrate that the electric field can produce particle-like propagating solitary waves representing self-trapped “bullets” of oscillating molecular director. These director bullets lack fore-aft symmetry and move with very high speed perpendicularly to the electric field and to the initial alignment direction. The bullets are true solitons that preserve spatially confined shapes and survive collisions. The solitons are topologically equivalent to the uniform state and have no static analogs, thus exhibiting a particle–wave duality. Their shape, speed, and interactions depend strongly on the material parameters, which opens the door for a broad range of future studies.

Production of stable multidimensional solitary waves is a grand challenge in modern science. Steering their propagation is an even harder problem. Here we demonstrate three-dimensional solitary waves in a nematic, trajectories of which can be steered by the electric field in a plane perpendicular to the field. The steering does not modify the properties of the background that remains uniform. These localized waves, called director bullets, are topologically unprotected multidimensional solitons of (3 + 2)D type that show fore-aft and right-left asymmetry with respect to the background molecular director; the symmetry is controlled by the field. Besides adding a whole dimension to the propagation direction and enabling controlled steering, the solitons can lead to applications such as targeted delivery of information and micro-cargo.

Visible‐light‐driven molecular switches endowing reversible modulation of the functionalities of self‐organized soft materials are currently highly sought after for fundamental scientific studies and technological applications. Reported herein are the design and synthesis of two novel halogen bond donor based chiral molecular switches that exhibit reversible photoisomerization upon exposure to visible light of different wavelengths. These chiral molecular switches induce photoresponsive helical superstructures, that is, cholesteric liquid crystals, when doped into the commercially available room‐temperature achiral liquid crystal host 5CB, which also acts as a halogen‐bond acceptor. The induced helical superstructure containing the molecular switch with terminal iodo atoms exhibits visible‐light‐driven reversible unwinding, that is, a cholesteric–nematic phase transition. Interestingly, the molecular switch with terminal bromo atoms confers reversible handedness inversion to the helical superstructure upon irradiation with visible light of different wavelengths. This visible‐light‐driven, reversible handedness inversion, enabled by a halogen bond donor molecular switch, is unprecedented.

Lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals (LCLCs) represent aqueous dispersions of organic disk-like molecules that form cylindrical aggregates. Despite the growing interest in these materials, their flow behavior is poorly understood. Here,...

Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) belongs to the picornavirus family and was first isolated in CA, USA, in 1962. EV-D68 can cause severe cranial nerve system damage such as flaccid paralysis and acute respiratory diseases such as pneumonia. There are currently no efficient therapeutic methods or effective prophylactics. In this study, we isolated the mAb A6-1 from an EV-D68–infected rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) and found that the Ab provided effective protection in EV-D68 intranasally infected suckling mice. We observed that A6-1 bound to the DE loop of EV-D68 VP1 and interfered with the interaction between the EV-D68 virus and α2,6-linked sialic acids of the host cell. The production of A6-1 and its Ab properties present a bridging study for EV-D68 vaccine design and provide a tool for analyzing the process by which Abs can inhibit EV-D68 infection.

Control of cells behavior through topography of substrates is an important theme in biomedical applications. Among many materials used as substrates, polymers show advantages since they can be tailored by chemical functionalization. Fabrication of polymer substrates with nano‐ and microscale topography requires processing by lithography, microprinting, etching, and so forth. In this work, we introduce a different approach based on anisotropic elastic properties of polymerized smectic A (SmA) liquid crystal elastomer (LCE). When the SmA liquid crystal coating is deposited onto a substrate with planar alignment of the molecules, it develops nanogrooves at its free surface. After photopolymerization, these nanogrooves show an excellent ability to align human dermal fibroblasts over large areas. The alignment quality is good for both bare SmA LCE substrates and for substrates coated with fibronectin. The SmA LCE nano‐topographies show a high potential for tissue engineering.

lightweight, portable, foldable, stretchable, and biocompatible are triggering the intense interests of researchers from multidisciplinary fields like biology, material science, and chemistry. [9][10][11] Nowadays, great attempts have been devoted to developing advanced flexible electronics by integrating various inorganic or organic traditional conductive functional materials with flexible electrochemically non-active elastic substrates. [12][13][14][15][16][17] Generally, traditional conductive functional materials encounter the shortcomings such as high price, inherent rigidity, weak biocompatibility, poor mechanical, and inferior interface bonding properties, which are employed to evaluate the performance of the flexible electronics materials. Therefore, pursuing these materials with practical applications is an emergent issue in the research field.Nevertheless, in numerous conductive functional materials, hydrogels with 3D network structures have been largely selected as the excellent candidates due to their high water content, excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability properties, high elasticity, and outstanding stimulus responsiveness. [18][19][20][21][22][23] Conductive hydrogels are generally constructed via integrating various conductive substances into the hydrogel matrix, which are comprised of carbon materials (carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphite), metal oxides, metal sulfides, metal nanoparticles and conductive polymers (polyaniline (PANI), polypyrrole (PPy), poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT:PSS)). [24][25][26][27][28][29][30] For example, Han et al. fabricated a CNTs-based conductive hydrogel for strain sensors by in situ polymerization of acrylic acid and acrylamide in water/glycerol solutions in the presence of polydopamine-decorated CNTs. [28] Devaki et al. reported a 3D Ag nanoparticles-polyacrylic acid conductive hydrogel via combining in situ polymerization of acrylic acid and reduction of Ag + . [29] Duan et al. constructed a robust and force-sensitive conductive hydrogel employing synthesizing polyacrylamide and PANI in closely packed swollen chitosan microspheres. [30] According to the different configurations of hydrogels, conductive hydrogels are allowed to be processed into 3D bulk gels, 2D gel films, 1D gel fibers, and 0D microgels. [31][32][33][34][35][36] The mechanical flexibility of 1D fibrous configuration is superior to that of 3D bulk or 2D film configuration due to its well-oriented polymer chains, light weight, and low dimensions for flexible electronics. Moreover, ultra-flexible fibrous materials can be easily woven into diverse soft and breathable fabrics, which

We present experimental studies of nanosecond electric modification of the order parameter