High-performance piezoelectric materials are pivotal to many electromechanical applications including piezoelectric actuators, sensors, and transducers. However, the general approach to achieve high piezoelectric properties by establishing morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) has limitation due to the weak anisotropy of the Gibbs free energy profile at the MPB region. Here, aliovalent Sm 3+ -doped 0.4Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 -(0.6−x)PbZrO 3 -xPbTiO 3 piezoelectric ceramics were fabricated by a solid-state method, where the optimized piezoelectric coefficient d 33 = 910 pC/N, dielectric constant ε r = 4090, and Curie temperature T C = 184 °C were obtained at x = 0.352, being attributed to the synergistic contributions from the MPB and enhanced local structural heterogeneity. Rayleigh analysis was adopted to study the intrinsic and extrinsic contributions in Sm-doped PMN-PZ-PT ceramics, where the extrinsic contribution was found to be on the order of 25−67% at 4 kV/cm. Of particular significance is that a large signal d 33 * = 820 pm/V (at 20 kV/cm) with a minimal strain variation of 5% was achieved for a composition of x = 0.372 over the temperature range of 20−160 °C, being superior to those previously reported piezoelectric ceramic materials. This work offers a good paradigm to simultaneously achieve high piezoelectric properties with good temperature stability in ferroelectric ceramics, which have great potential for piezoelectric application at elevated temperatures.

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Aerogels, with porous channels for water supply and vapor escape, can provide many inherent advantages in solar desalination and wastewater treatment. For the first time, this work demonstrates the preparation of a novel three-dimensional (3D) MoS2-based aerogel with high porosity and mechanical stability by a facile strategy for solar desalination. This 3D MoS2 aerogel has an excellent light-absorbing efficiency of over 95% within the whole solar spectrum range, enabling a high evaporation efficiency of 88.0% under a low solar irradiation of 1.0 kW m–2 and superhigh evaporation efficiencies of over 90% under a slightly enhanced solar irradiation of 1.5–3.0 kW m–2 as well as a remarkable desalination performance. In addition, the excellent mechanical stability of this MoS2 aerogel renders it to be reused for at least 10 cycles with stable water productivity. Because of its 3D architectures with high porosity and easy separation, this MoS2-based aerogel also provides promising applications in solar-driven water purification, sterilization, and so forth.

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BackgroundSET domain bifurcated 1 (SETDB1) has been widely considered as an oncogene playing a critical role in many human cancers, including breast cancer. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanism by which SETDB1 regulates breast cancer tumorigenesis is still unknown.MethodsqRT-PCR assay or western blot analysis was performed to assess the expression level of SETDB1 mRNA or protein, respectively. siSETDB1, pCMV6-XL5-SETDB1, miR-381-3p mimic, or miR-381-3p inhibitor was transfected into cells to regulate the expression of SETDB1 or miR-381-3p. MiRNA directly interacted with SETDB1 was verified by luciferase reporter assay and RNA immunoprecipitation. CCK-8 assay, colony formation assay, flow cytometric analysis, and transwell assay were used to detect the abilities of cell proliferation, cell cycle progression and migration, respectively. Animal model of xenograft tumor was used to observe the regulatory effect of SETDB1 on tumor growth in vivo.ResultsWe verified that SETDB1 mRNA level was upregulated in breast cancer tissues and cell lines, and SETDB1 depletion led to a suppression of cell proliferation, cell cycle progression and migration in vitro, as well as tumor growth in vivo. SETDB1 was verified to be a target of miR-381-3p. Moreover, miR-381-3p overexpression suppressed cell proliferation, cell cycle progression and migration, whereas SETDB1 abated miR-381-3p-mediated regulatory function on breast cancer cells.ConclusionsThis study revealed that SETDB1 knockdown might suppress breast cancer progression at least partly by miR-381-3p-related regulation, providing a novel prospect in breast cancer therapy.

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Rare earth (Eu3+)‐modified Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3‐PbTiO3 (PMN‐PT) polycrystalline ferroelectric ceramics were fabricated by high‐temperature solid‐state sintering, the phase structure, dielectric and piezoelectric properties were investigated. Eu3+ addition was found to significantly improve dielectric and piezoelectric properties of PMN‐PT, where the optimized properties were achieved for the composition of 2.5 mol%Eu: 0.72PMN‐0.28PT, with the piezoelectric d33 = 1420 pC/N, dielectric εr = 12 200 and electromechanical k33 = 0.78, respectively. All these results indicate that the Eu3+‐doped PMN‐PT ceramics are promising candidates for high‐performance room‐temperature piezoelectric devices.

Even to date, Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), which is one of the most common malignancies worldwide, is still a major public health problem. The cellular mechanisms underlying development of OSCC are poorly understood. Lipid rafts-associated proteins not only serve as a docking platform for protein sorting and membrane trafficking, but also coordinate signaling molecules at cell membrane to mediate intracellular responses, which makes them susceptible to be subverted by cancer cells. Although Flotillin-1 has been discovered for decades, its potential role in OSCC development is largely unknown. In current study, we demonstrate that Flotillin-1 is highly expressed in OSCC cell lines compared to normal oral epithelial cells. Modulation of Flotillin-1 expression via transfection with Flotillin-1 expression vector or shRNA showed that Flotillin-1 has a clearly positive impact on cell growth and motility in KB and/or Tca8113 cell lines. These observations were further supported by using mice or zebrafish tumor xenograft models. Mechanistic study indicated that Flotillin-1 expression activates NF-κB signaling pathway by enhancing phosphorylation of p65 and IκBα, and translocation of p65 into nucleus. Furthermore, inhibition of EGFR by AG1478 markedly repressed Flotillin-1-induced activation of NF-κB signaling pathway. Our studies suggested that Flotillin-1 plays an important role in OSCC development, and might be a potential therapeutic target for OSCC.