Particle dynamics in supercooled liquids are often dominated by string-like motions in which lines of particles perform activated hops cooperatively. The structural features triggering these motions, crucial in understanding glassy dynamics, remain highly controversial. We experimentally study microscopic particle dynamics in colloidal glass formers at high packing fractions. With a small polydispersity leading to glass-crystal coexistence, a void in the form of a vacancy in the crystal can diffuse reversibly into the glass and further induces string-like motions. In the glass, a void takes the form of a quasi-void consisting of a few neighboring free volumes and is transported by the string-like motions it induces. In fully glassy systems with a large polydispersity, similar quasi-void actions are observed. The mobile particles cluster into string-like or compact geometries, but the compact ones can further be broken down into connected sequences of strings, establishing their general importance.

A sensitive, selective and reliable liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry coupled with electrospray ionization interface method for simultaneous separation and determination of thymine, adenine, adenosine and cordycepin in Cordyceps sinensis has been established. The optimum separation for these analytes was achieved using a gradient elution system and a 2.0 × 150 mm Shimadzu VP-ODS column. 2-Chloroadenosine was used as internal standard for this assay. [M+H]+ions at m/z 127, 136, 268, 252 and 302 were chosen and selective ion monitoring (SIM) mode was used for quantitative analysis of the four main nucleosides. The regression equations were linear in the range of 1.0–117.5 μg·mL-1 for thymine, 1.8-127.0 μg·mL-1 for adenine, 0.6-114.0 μg·mL-1 for adenosine and 0.5-107.5 μg·mL-1 for cordycepin. The limits of quantitation (LOQ) and detection (LOD) were 1.0 and 0.2 μg·mL-1 for thymine, 1.8 and 0.6 μg·mL-1 for adenine, 0.6 and 0.1 μg·mL‑1 for adenosine and 0.5 and 0.1 μg·mL-1 for cordycepin, respectively. The recoveries of the four nucleosides ranged from 98.47 to 99.32%. The developed method was successfully used to determine nucleosides in Cordyceps sinensis from different sources.

Topological Dirac semimetals made of two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have attracted enormous interest for use in electronic and optoelectronic devices because of their electron transport properties. As van der Waals materials with a strong interlayer interaction, these semimetals are expected to support layer-dependent plasmonic polaritons yet to be revealed experimentally. Here, we demonstrate the apparent retardation and attenuation of mid-infrared (MIR) plasmonic waves in type-II Dirac semimetal platinum tellurium (PtTe2) nanoribbons and nanoflakes by near-field nanoimaging. The attenuated dispersion relations for the plasmonic modes in the PtTe2 nanoribbons (15–25 nm thick) extracted from the near-field standing-wave patterns are applied for the fitting of PtTe2 permittivity in the MIR regime, indicating that both free carriers and Dirac fermions are involved in MIR light–matter interaction in PtTe2. The annihilation of plasmonic modes in the ultrathin (<10 nm) PtTe2 is observed and analyzed, which manifests no near-field resonant pattern due to the intrinsic layer-dependent optoelectronic properties of PtTe2. These results could pave a potential wave for MIR photodetection and modulation with TMDC semimetals.

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The force curve measurement mode of an atomic force microscope was used to record the force required to stretch a protein molecule that was covalently sandwiched through gold-thiol bonds between a mica substrate and a silicon nitride tip, both coated with gold. In one experiment, 8 ±1 out of 20 lysyl residues of bovine carbonic anhydrase B were randomly derivatized to give free thiols, and grafted on an atomically flat gold (111) surface on mica. Force curves taken on the surface covered with protein molecules using a gold coated tip occasionally showed a large downward deflection indicating trapping and subsequent stretching of protein molecules between the tip and the substrate. In another experiment, the same protein was genetically engineered so that cysteine residues were introduced at both the amino and the carboxyl terminus. Force curves taken in a similar manner as in the first experiment indicated almost complete extension of a linear polypeptide chain. The result was explained in terms of extension of a pseudo-three-dimensional gel in both cases, with additional stretching of a linear chain in the second case.