A molecular device fabricated from metallic deoxyribonucleic acid (M-DNA) exhibits a negative differential resistance (NDR) behavior. When two gold electrodes were connected by Ni2+-chelated DNA, which was converted from λ-DNA, not only was the conductivity of DNA improved, but a NDR device was formed as a full cyclic voltage sweep was applied to measure its current versus voltage characteristics at room temperature and in an ambient environment. Such electronic characteristics of a M-DNA device may have been caused by the redox reactions of Ni ions. This finding provides a simple way to construct electrical nanodevices from biological molecules.

Owing to the presence of a large amount of fine (Fe,Mn) 3 AlC carbides within austenite () matrix, the tensile property of the Fe-30%Mn-8.5Al%-2.0%C (in mass%) alloy in the as-quenched condition was clearly superior to that of the as-quenched FeMnAlC (C 5 1:3%) alloys investigated by previous workers. After being aged at 823 K for 3 h, the present alloy could possess high yield strength up to 1262 MPa with an excellent 32.5% elongation. With almost equivalent ductility, the yield strength obtained was about 16% higher than that of the FeMnAlC (C 5 1:3%) alloys after solution heat-treatment or controlled-rolling followed by an optimal aging at 823 K. Additionally, due to the pre-existing fine (Fe,Mn) 3 AlC carbides within the matrix in the as-quenched alloy, the aging time required for attaining the optimal combination of strength and ductility was much less than that of the FeMnAlC (C 5 1:3%) alloys aged at 823 K. When the present alloy was aged at 823 K for a time period longer than 4 h, both the strength and ductility were drastically dropped due to the occurrence of o = ( o : carbon-deficient austenite) lamellar structure on the = grain boundaries.

DNA is a one-dimensional nanowire in nature, and it may not be used in nanodevices due to its low conductivity. In order to improve the conducting property of DNA, divalent Ni(2+) are incorporated into the base pairs of DNA at pH≥8.5 and nickel DNA (Ni-DNA) is formed. Conducting scanning probe microscopy (SPM) analysis reveals that the Ni-DNA is a semiconducting biopolymer and the Schottky barrier of Ni-DNA reduces to 2 eV. Meanwhile, electrochemical analysis by cyclic voltammetry and AC impedance shows that the conductance of Ni-DNA is better than that of native DNA by a factor of approximately 20-fold. UV spectroscopy and DNA base pair mismatch analyses show that the conducting mechanism of Ni-DNA is due to electrons hopping through the π-π stacking of DNA base pairs. This biomaterial is a designable one-dimensional semiconducting polymer for usage in nanodevices.

The corrosion behaviors of the as-quenched austenitic 5,6.5,8)%Cr-1%C (in mass%) alloys in 3.5% NaCl solution have been examined. Passivation could be observed for all of the four alloys. The corrosion potential (E corr ) and pitting potential (E pp ) increased pronouncedly as Cr content increased from 3 to 5%, and decreased as Cr content up to 6.5 and 8%. The decrease of E corr and E pp of alloys containing 6.5 and 8% Cr was due to the formation of (Fe,Mn,Cr) 7 C 3 carbides within the austenite matrix and on the grain boundaries. The present result indicates that the Fe-9%Al-30%Mn-5%Cr-1%C alloy exhibited the highest corrosion resistance in 3.5% NaCl solution. It is worthy to note that the corrosion behaviors of the austenitic FeAlMnCrC alloys with higher Cr (! 3%) content have never been reported in previous literature.

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