A highly stretchable, low-cost strain sensor was successfully prepared using an extremely cost-effective ionic liquid of ethylene glycol/sodium chloride. The hysteresis performance of the ionic-liquid-based sensor was able to be improved by introducing a wavy-shaped fluidic channel diminishing the hysteresis by the viscoelastic relaxation of elastomers. From the simulations on visco-hyperelastic behavior of the elastomeric channel, we demonstrated that the wavy structure can offer lower energy dissipation compared to a flat structure under a given deformation. The resistance response of the ionic-liquid-based wavy (ILBW) sensor was fairly deterministic with no hysteresis, and it was well-matched to the theoretically estimated curves. The ILBW sensors exhibited a low degree of hysteresis (0.15% at 250%), low overshoot (1.7% at 150% strain), and outstanding durability (3000 cycles at 300% strain). The ILBW sensor has excellent potential for use in precise and quantitative strain detections in various areas, such as human motion monitoring, healthcare, virtual reality, and smart clothes.
Wearable pressure sensors are crucial building blocks for potential applications in real-time health monitoring, artificial electronic skins, and human-to-machine interfaces. Here we present a highly sensitive, simple-architectured wearable resistive pressure sensor based on highly compliant yet robust carbon composite conductors made of a vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) forest embedded in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix with irregular surface morphology. A roughened surface of the VACNT/PDMS composite conductor is simply formed using a sandblasted silicon master in a low-cost and potentially scalable manner and plays an important role in improving the sensitivity of resistive pressure sensor. After assembling two of the roughened composite conductors, our sensor shows considerable pressure sensitivity of ∼0.3 kPa up to 0.7 kPa as well as stable steady-state responses under various pressures, a wide detectable range of up to 5 kPa before saturation, a relatively fast response time of ∼162 ms, and good reproducibility over 5000 cycles of pressure loading/unloading. The fabricated pressure sensor can be used to detect a wide range of human motions ranging from subtle blood pulses to dynamic joint movements, and it can also be used to map spatial pressure distribution in a multipixel platform (in a 4 × 4 pixel array).
Retinoid X receptor ␣ (RXR␣) belongs to a family of ligandactivated transcription factors that regulate many aspects of metazoan life. Here we demonstrate that RXR␣ is a target substrate of a small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO)-specific protease, SUSP1, which is capable of controlling the transcriptional activity of RXR␣. RXR␣ was modified by SUMO-1 in vivo as well as in vitro, and the Lys-108 residue within the IKPP sequence of RXR␣ AF-1 domain was identified as the major SUMO-1 acceptor site. Prevention of SUMO modification by Lys-to-Arg mutation led to an increase not only in the transcriptional activity of RXR␣ but also in the activity of its heterodimeric complex with retinoic acid receptor-␣ or peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-␥ (PPAR␥). SUSP1 co-localized with RXR␣ in the nucleus and removed SUMO-1 from RXR␣ but not from androgen receptor or PPAR␥. Moreover, overexpression of SUSP1 caused an increase in the transcriptional activity of RXR␣, whereas small hairpin RNA-mediated knockdown of endogenous SUSP1 led to a decrease in RXR␣ activity. These results suggest that SUSP1 plays an important role in the control of the transcriptional activity of RXR␣ and thus in the RXR␣-mediated cellular processes.
Hybrid tandem solar cells comprising an inorganic bottom cell and an organic top cell have been designed and fabricated. The interlayer combination and thickness matching were optimized in order to increase the overall photovoltaic conversion efficiency. A maximum power conversion efficiency of 5.72% was achieved along with a V(oc) of 1.42 V, reaching as high as 92% of the sum of the subcell V(oc) values.
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