We report a strongly amplified photoacoustic (PA) performance of the new functional hybrid material composed of reduced graphene oxide and gold nanorods. Due to the excellent NIR light absorption properties of the reduced graphene oxide coated gold nanorods (r-GO-AuNRs) and highly efficient heat transfer process through the reduced graphene oxide layer, r-GO-AuNRs exhibit excellent photothermal stability and significantly higher photoacoustic amplitudes than those of bare-AuNRs, nonreduced graphene oxide coated AuNRs (GO-AuNRs), or silica-coated AuNR, as demonstrated in both in vitro and in vivo systems. The linear response of PA amplitude from reduced state controlled GO on AuNR indicates the critical role of GO for a strong photothermal effect of r-GO-AuNRs. Theoretical studies with finite-element-method lab-based simulation reveal that a 4 times higher magnitude of the enhanced electromagnetic field around r-GO-AuNRs can be generated compared with bare AuNRs or GO-AuNRs. Furthermore, the r-GO-AuNRs are expected to be a promising deep-tissue imaging probe because of extraordinarily high PA amplitudes in the 4-11 MHz operating frequency of an ultrasound transducer. Therefore, the r-GO-AuNRs can be a useful imaging probe for highly sensitive photoacoustic images and NIR sensitive therapeutics based on a strong photothermal effect.

This research introduces a method to directly detect serotonin in a single platelet through single-entity electrochemistry. Platelets isolated from human blood were analyzed by cyclic voltammetry and current–time measurements. When a single platelet collides with an ultramicroelectrode, serotonin inside the platelet is oxidized at the electrode surface, and an anodic current peak is consequently observed during measurement. The concentration of serotonin can be determined by integrating this peak current. In addition, this method can be used to determine the platelet concentration. Analysis of the collision frequency of platelets can provide information about the platelet concentration in the blood. As a result, platelet levels and serotonin concentrations in single platelets can be measured quickly and easily.

In this paper, we investigate the behavior of bipartite entanglement of fermonic systems when one of parties is traveling with a uniform acceleration. For the ordering problem in fermonic systems, we apply the recent result in [Montero and Martín-Martínez, Phys. Rev. A 83 052306 (2011)]. Based on the approach, we consider both pure and mixed entangled states, and we show that the behavior in terms of the entanglement measure, negativity, allows one to obtain physical results, i.e. its convergence in the infinite acceleration. The behavior shows that the ordering employed is relevant to derive physical results for fermonic entanglement. This also corrects the previous analysis of [Martín-Martínez and Fuentez.

With increasing demand for high-capacity and rapidly rechargeable anodes, problems associated with unstable evolution of a solid-electrolyte interphase on the active anode surface become more detrimental. Here, we report the near fatigue-free, ultrafast, and high-power operations of lithium-ion battery anodes employing silicide nanowires anchored selectively to the inner surface of graphene-based micro-tubular conducting electrodes. This design electrically shields the electrolyte inside the electrode from an external potential load, eliminating the driving force that generates the solid-electrolyte interphase on the nanowire surface. Owing to this electric control, a solid-electrolyte interphase develops firmly on the outer surface of the graphene, while solid-electrolyte interphase-free nanowires enable fast electronic and ionic transport, as well as strain relaxation over 2000 cycles, with 84% capacity retention even at ultrafast cycling (>20C). Moreover, these anodes exhibit unprecedentedly high rate capabilities with capacity retention higher than 88% at 80C (vs. the capacity at 1C).

In this article, we investigate the error bound of quantum discord, obtained by the analytic formula of Ali et al.[Phys. Rev. A 81(2010)

In this article we present an analysis to derive physical results in the entanglement amplification of fermonic systems in the relativistic regime, that is, beyond the single-mode approximation. This leads a recent work in [M. Montero and E. Mart\'{i}n-Mart\'{i}nez, JEHP 07 (2011) 006] to a physical result, and solidifies that phenomenon of entanglement amplification can actually happen in the relativistic regime

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