Borophene, an elemental metallic Dirac material is predicted to have unprecedented mechanical and electronic character. Need of substrate and ultrahigh vacuum conditions for deposition of borophene restricts its large‐scale applications and significantly hampers the advancement of research on borophene. Herein, a facile and large‐scale synthesis of freestanding atomic sheets of borophene through a novel liquid‐phase exfoliation and the reduction of borophene oxide is demonstrated. Electron microscopy confirms the presence of β12, X3, and their intermediate phases of borophene; X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning tunneling microscopy, corroborated with density functional theory band structure calculations, validate the phase purity and the metallic nature. Borophene with excellent anchoring capabilities is used for sensing of light, gas, molecules, and strain. Hybrids of borophene as well as that of reduced borophene oxide with other 2D materials are synthesized, and the predicted superior performance in energy storage is explored. The specific capacity of borophene oxide is observed to be ≈4941 mAh g−1, which significantly exceeds that of existing 2D materials and their hybrids. These freestanding borophene materials and their hybrids will create a huge breakthrough in the field of 2D materials and could help to develop future generations of devices and emerging applications.

Treatment planning is time‐consuming and the outcome depends on the person performing the optimization. A system that automates treatment planning could potentially reduce the manual time required for optimization and could also provide a method to reduce the variation between persons performing radiation dose planning (dosimetrist) and potentially improve the overall plan quality. This study evaluates the performance of the Auto‐Planning module that has recently become clinically available in the Pinnacle3 radiation therapy treatment planning system. Twenty‐six clinically delivered head and neck treatment plans were reoptimized with the Auto‐Planning module. Comparison of the two types of treatment plans were performed using DVH metrics and a blinded clinical evaluation by two senior radiation oncologists using a scale from one to six. Both evaluations investigated dose coverage of target and dose to healthy tissues. Auto‐Planning was able to produce clinically acceptable treatment plans in all 26 cases. Target coverages in the two types of plans were similar, but automatically generated plans had less irradiation of healthy tissue. In 94% of the evaluations, the autoplans scored at least as high as the previously delivered clinical plans. For all patients, the Auto‐Planning tool produced clinically acceptable head and neck treatment plans without any manual intervention, except for the initial target and OAR delineations. The main benefit of the method is the likely improvement in the overall treatment quality since consistent, high‐quality plans are generated which even can be further optimized, if necessary. This makes it possible for the dosimetrist to focus more time on difficult dose planning goals and to spend less time on the more tedious parts of the planning process.PACS number: 87.55.de

The electronic structures of Cu2S and CuS have been under intense scrutiny, with the aim of understanding the relationship between their electronic structures and commercially important physical properties. Here, X-ray absorption and emission spectroscopic data have been analyzed using a quantitative, molecular orbital (MO) based approach to understand the electronic structure of these two complex systems. Cu2S is shown to have a significant amount of Cu2+ sites and therefore Cu0 centers. The presence of low-valent Cu is correlated with the electrical conductivity of Cu2S, especially at high temperatures. CuS is shown to have tetrahedral Cu2+ and trigonal Cu1+ sites, with crystal planes that have alternating high and low charge on the Cu centers. These alternating charges may contribute to internal energy transitions required for photoluminescence properties. The in-depth electronic structure solutions presented here not only solve a complicated much-debated problem, but also demonstrate the strength of quantitative MO based approach to X-ray spectroscopies

Graphenes with varying number of layers can be synthesized by using different strategies. Thus, single-layer graphene is prepared by micromechanical cleavage, reduction of single-layer graphene oxide, chemical vapor deposition and other methods. Few-layer graphenes are synthesized by conversion of nanodiamond, arc discharge of graphite and other methods. In this article, we briefly overview the various synthetic methods and the surface, magnetic and electrical properties of the produced graphenes. Few-layer graphenes exhibit ferromagnetic features along with antiferromagnetic properties, independent of the method of preparation. Aside from the data on electrical conductivity of graphenes and graphene-polymer composites, we also present the field-effect transistor characteristics of graphenes. Only single-layer reduced graphene oxide exhibits ambipolar properties. The interaction of electron donor and acceptor molecules with few-layer graphene samples is examined in detail.

Borophene, a 2D allotrope of boron and the lightest elemental Dirac material, is the latest very promising 2D material owing to its unique structural and electronic characteristics of the X3 and β12 phases. The high atomic density on ridgelines of the β12 phase of borophene provides a substantial orbital overlap, which leads to an excellent electron density in the conduction level and thus to a highly metallic behavior. These unique structural characteristics and electronic properties of borophene attract significant scientific interest. Herein, approaches for crystal growth/synthesis of these unique nanostructures and their potential technological applications are discussed. Various substrate‐supported ultrahigh‐vacuum growth techniques for borophene, such as molecular beam epitaxy, atomic layer deposition, and chemical vapor deposition, along with their challenges, are also summarized. The sonochemical exfoliation and modified Hummer's technique for the synthesis of free‐standing borophene are also discussed. Solution‐phase exfoliation seems to address the scalability issues and expands the applications of these unique materials to various fields, including renewable energy devices and ultrafast sensors. Furthermore, the electronic, optical, thermal, and elastic properties of borophene are thoroughly discussed and are compared with those of graphene and its “cousins.” Numerous frontline applications are envisaged and an outlook is presented.

A novel and unique understanding pertaining to the synthesis of Cu(1.8)S and CuS in bulk was achieved from the analysis of the products of the Cu-Tu precursors, with Cl(-), NO(3)(-), and SO(4)(2-) as the counteranions, in ethylene glycol. [Cu(4)(tu)(9)](NO(3))(4)·4H(2)O always yielded CuS whether the dissociation was carried out in ethylene glycol in the presence of air or argon or under solvothermal conditions. Cu(1.8)S was the only product when [Cu(tu)(3)]Cl was dissociated in air as well as in flowing argon in ethylene glycol. A mixture of Cu(1.8)S and CuS was formed from the chloride ion containing precursor when dissociated solvothermally. [Cu(2)(tu)(6)]SO(4)·H(2)O yielded a mixture of CuS and Cu(1.8)S on dissociation in the presence of air and argon, as well as under solvothermal conditions. The oxidizing power of the anions Cl(-), SO(4)(2-), and NO(3)(-), present in the precursor, greatly determined the extent of formation of Cu(1.8)S and CuS. While Cu(1.8)S showed hexagonal plate like morphology, flower like morphology was observed for CuS in the SEM images. In the mixed phase, Cu(1.8)S + CuS, both these morphologies were present. Cu(1.8)S and CuS showed scattering resonances at 470 cm(-1) and 474 cm(-1), respectively, in the Raman spectrum. Magnetization measurements at room temperature revealed diamagnetic behavior for Cu(1.8)S indicating the presence of +1 oxidation state for copper. Weak paramagnetic behavior was observed for CuS with χ(M) value of 1.198 × 10(-3) emu/mol at 300 K. Both Cu(1.8)S and CuS showed similar emission behavior in the photoluminescence spectrum with band positions centered at around 387, 390, 401, 423, and 440 nm. The origin of photoluminescence in these two copper sulfides remains elusive.

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BackgroundAdaptive Radiotherapy aims to identify anatomical deviations during a radiotherapy course and modify the treatment plan to maintain treatment objectives. This requires regions of interest (ROIs) to be defined using the most recent imaging data. This study investigates the clinical utility of using deformable image registration (DIR) to automatically propagate ROIs.MethodsTarget (GTV) and organ-at-risk (OAR) ROIs were non-rigidly propagated from a planning CT scan to a per-treatment CT scan for 22 patients. Propagated ROIs were quantitatively compared with expert physician-drawn ROIs on the per-treatment scan using Dice scores and mean slicewise Hausdorff distances, and center of mass distances for GTVs. The propagated ROIs were qualitatively examined by experts and scored based on their clinical utility.ResultsGood agreement between the DIR-propagated ROIs and expert-drawn ROIs was observed based on the metrics used. 94% of all ROIs generated using DIR were scored as being clinically useful, requiring minimal or no edits. However, 27% (12/44) of the GTVs required major edits.ConclusionDIR was successfully used on 22 patients to propagate target and OAR structures for ART with good anatomical agreement for OARs. It is recommended that propagated target structures be thoroughly reviewed by the treating physician.