Layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanoparticles are extensively explored as multifunctional nanocarriers due to their versatility in both the host layer and the interlayer anion. In this study, we report modification of positively charged Cu-containing LDH nanoparticles with a pH-responsive charge-changeable polymer to improve the particle colloidal stability in blood circulation, reduce the nonspecific uptake by normal cells in organs, and subsequently facilitate tumor accumulation and uptake by tumor cells in the acidic tumor microenvironment. In vitro experimental results demonstrate that this promising chargeconvertible polymer−LDH nanocarrier well reduces the capture by macrophages in the physiologic medium (pH 7.4) but facilitates the uptake by tumor cells due to detaching of the coated polymer layer in the weakly acidic condition (pH 6.8). Cu-containing LDH nanoparticles also show pH-responsive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast capacity (i.e., r 1 relaxivity). In vivo MRI further confirms effective tumor accumulation of the chargeconvertible nanohybrids, with ∼4.8% of the injected dose accumulated at 24 h postintravenous injection, proving the potential as a versatile delivery nanocarrier to enhance the antitumor treatment.
Contact property is now becoming to be a key factor for achieving high performance and high reliability in GaN-based III-V semiconductor devices. Energetic ion sputter, as an effective interface probe, is widely used to profile the metal/GaN contacts for interfacial analysis and process optimization. However, the details of ion-induced interfacial reaction, as well as the formation of sputter by-products at the interfaces are still unclear. Here by combining state-of-the-art Ar+ ion sputter with in-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and ex-situ high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), we have observed clearly not only the ion-induced chemical state changes at interface, but also the by-products at the prototypical Ti/GaN system. For the first time, we identified the formation of a metallic Ga layer at the GaOx/GaN interface. At the Ti/GaOx interface, TiCx components were also detected due to the reaction between metal Ti and surface-adsorbed C species. Our study reveals that the corresponding core level binding energy and peak intensity obtained from ion sputter depth profile should be treated with much caution, since they will be changed due to ion-induced interface reactions and formation of by-products during ion bombardment.
Two-dimensional (2D) island morphologies have been widely reported for green light-emitting InGaN quantum well (QW) layers, but the step-flow morphology has not been obtained for a green InGaN QW layer to date. In this Letter, we first investigate the cause of the 2D island morphology of green InGaN QWs via a comparison study with blue InGaN QWs. The short diffusion lengths of adatoms at low growth temperatures were found to be the cause of the 2D island morphology for the green InGaN QW. Step-flow growth of green InGaN QWs was obtained by increasing the miscut angle of the c-plane GaN substrates from 0.20° to 0.48°, which reduces the atomic terrace width. Green InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) with step-flow morphologies were found to have sharper well/barrier interfaces than MQWs with 2D island morphologies. The internal quantum efficiency of the green InGaN/GaN MQWs with the step-flow morphology is double that of the corresponding MQWs with the 2D island morphology at an excitation power density of 6.4 kW/cm2. Additionally, the emission linewidth of the green InGaN/GaN MQWs with the step-flow morphology is greatly reduced. As a result, the threshold currents of green laser diodes with larger miscut angles are greatly reduced.
Hole transport in c-plane InGaN-based green laser diodes (LDs) has been investigated by both simulations and experiments. It is found that holes can overflow from the green double quantum wells (DQWs) at high current density, which reduces carrier injection efficiency of c-plane InGaN-based green LDs. A heavily silicon-doped layer right below the green DQWs can effectively suppress hole overflow from the green DQWs.
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