The metal-insulator transition in correlated materials is usually coupled to a symmetrylowering structural phase transition. This coupling not only complicates the understanding of the basic mechanism of this phenomenon but also limits the speed and endurance of prospective electronic devices. We demonstrate an isostructural, purely electronically driven metal-insulator transition in epitaxial heterostructures of an archetypal correlated material, vanadium dioxide. A combination of thin-film synthesis, structural and electrical characterizations, and theoretical modeling reveals that an interface interaction suppresses the electronic correlations without changing the crystal structure in this otherwise correlated insulator. This interaction stabilizes a nonequilibrium metallic phase and leads to an isostructural metal-insulator transition. This discovery will provide insights into phase transitions of correlated materials and may aid the design of device functionalities.

Fabrication of epitaxial FeSexTe1−x thin films using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) enables improving their superconducting transition temperature (T c) by more than ~40% than their bulk T c. Intriguingly, T c enhancement in FeSexTe1−x thin films has been observed on various substrates and with different Se content, x. To date, various mechanisms for T c enhancement have been reported, but they remain controversial in universally explaining the T c improvement in the FeSexTe1−x films. In this report, we demonstrate that the controversies over the mechanism of T c enhancement are due to the abnormal changes in the chalcogen ratio (Se:Te) during the film growth and that the previously reported T c enhancement in FeSe0.5Te0.5 thin films is caused by a remarkable increase of Se content. Although our FeSexTe1−x thin films were fabricated via PLD using a Fe0.94Se0.45Te0.55 target, the precisely measured composition indicates a Se-rich FeSexTe1−x (0.6 < x < 0.8) as ascertained through accurate compositional analysis by both wavelength dispersive spectroscopy (WDS) and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS). We suggest that the origin of the abnormal composition change is the difference in the thermodynamic properties of ternary FeSexTe1−x, based on first principle calculations.

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Objective. Layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanoparticles have been studied as cellular delivery carriers for anionic anticancer agents. As MTX and 5-FU are clinically utilized anticancer drugs in combination therapy, we aimed to enhance the therapeutic performance with the help of LDH nanoparticles. Method. Anticancer drugs, MTX and 5-FU, and their combination, were incorporated into LDH by reconstruction method. Simply, LDHs were thermally pretreated at 400°C, and then reacted with drug solution to simultaneously form drug-incorporated LDH. Thus prepared MTX/LDH (ML), 5-FU/LDH (FL), and (MTX + 5-FU)/LDH (MFL) nanohybrids were characterized by X-ray diffractometer, scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, thermal analysis, zeta potential measurement, dynamic light scattering, and so forth. The nanohybrids were administrated to the human cervical adenocarcinoma, HeLa cells, in concentration-dependent manner, comparing with drug itself to verify the enhanced therapeutic efficacy. Conclusion. All the nanohybrids successfully accommodated intended drug molecules in their house-of-card-like structures during reconstruction reaction. It was found that the anticancer efficacy of MFL nanohybrid was higher than other nanohybrids, free drugs, or their mixtures, which means the multidrug-incorporated LDH nanohybrids could be potential drug delivery carriers for efficient cancer treatment via combination therapy.

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A porous hybrid of titanate nanosheets with SnO(2) nanoparticles has been realized by an exfoliation and reassembling route. The present nanohybrid shows a large reversible capacity of 860 mA h g(-1) with a good capacity retention (about 60% retention of the initial capacity after 50 cycles).

Here, we, for the first time, report on the simultaneous enhancement in cubic phase stability and Li-ion conductivity of garnettype solid electrolytes (SEs) by adding excess Li/Al. The excess Al/Li creates very large grains of up to 170 μm via the segregation of Al at the grain boundaries and enables preferential Al occupation at 96h sites over 24d sites, a behavior contrary to previous observations. The resulting SE shows improved Li-ion conductivity due to the large grain size and less blocking Li pathway caused by different preferential Al occupation. Surprisingly, it is observed that the cubic phase of the garnet-type SE is transformed to the tetragonal phase on the surface and in the bulk under the applied voltage, and the preferential Al occupation enables its cubic phase stability. Under battery operating conditions, the LLZO SE with excess Li/Al can maintain high ionic conductivity due to the cubic phase stability and large grain size. We clearly demonstrate that the cubic phase stability and ionic conductivity of LLZO can be simultaneously improved by excess Li/Al without any post-treatments. The findings and understanding will provide new insights into practical use of the garnet-type SEs for advanced all solid-state batteries.

We have successfully prepared nanohybrids of biofunctional ferulic acid and layered double hydroxide nanomaterials through reconstruction and exfoliation-reassembly routes. From X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy, both nanohybrids were determined to incorporate ferulic acid molecules in anionic form. Micrsocopic results showed that the nanohybrids had average particle size of 150 nm with plate-like morphology. As the two nanohybridization routes involved crystal disorder and random stacking of layers, the nanohybrids showed slight alteration in z-axis crystallinity and particle size. The zeta potential values of pristine and nanohybrids in deionized water were determined to be positive, while those in cell culture media shifted to negative values. According to the in vitro anticancer activity test on human cervical cancer HeLa cells, it was revealed that nanohybrids showed twice anticancer activity compared with ferulic acid itself. Therefore we could conclude that the nanohybrids of ferulic acid and layered double hydroxide had cellular delivery property of intercalated molecules on cancer cell lines.