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We study the effects of the position of the passive and active cavities on the spontaneous parity-time (PT ) symmetry breaking behavior in non-Hermitian coupled cavities array model. We analyze and discuss the energy eigenvalue spectrums and PT symmetry in the topologically trivial and nontrivial regimes under three different cases in detail, i.e., the passive and active cavities are located at, respectively, the two end positions, the second and penultimate positions, and each position in coupled cavities array. The odevity of the number of cavities is further considered to check the effects of the non-Hermitian terms applied on the PT symmetric and asymmetric systems. We find that the position of the passive and active cavities has remarkable impacts on the spontaneous PT symmetry breaking behavior, and in each case the system exhibits distinguishable and novel spontaneous PT symmetry breaking characteristic, respectively. The effects of the non-Hermitian terms on the PT symmetric and asymmetric systems due to the odevity are comparatively different in the first case while qualitatively same in the second case.

Exsolution of excess transition metal cations from a non-stoichiometric perovskite oxide has sparked interest as a facile route for the formation of stable nanoparticles on the oxide surface. However, the atomic-scale mechanism of this nanoparticle formation remains largely unknown. The present in situ scanning transmission electron microscopy combined with density functional theory calculation revealed that the anti-phase boundaries (APBs) characterized by the a/2 < 011> type lattice displacement accommodate the excess B-site cation (Ni) through the edge-sharing of BO6 octahedra in a non-stoichiometric ABO3 perovskite oxide (La0.2Sr0.7Ni0.1Ti0.9O3-δ) and provide the fast diffusion pathways for nanoparticle formation by exsolution. Moreover, the APBs further promote the outward diffusion of the excess Ni toward the surface as the segregation energy of Ni is lower at the APB/surface intersection. The formation of nanoparticles occurs through the two-step crystallization mechanism, i.e., the nucleation of an amorphous phase followed by crystallization, and via reactive wetting on the oxide support, which facilitates the formation of a stable triple junction and coherent interface, leading to the distinct socketing of nanoparticles to the oxide support. The atomic-scale mechanism unveiled in this study can provide insights into the design of highly stable nanostructures.

With the rapid development of industrial technology, a large number of organic pollutants are routinely released into the environment, which has caused serious problems. Semiconductor photocatalysis is an environmentally-friendly and effective method to degrade and remove typical pollutants, and photocatalysts play a key role in the application of this technology. Therefore, various semiconductor materials have been tried and used in the field of pollutant removal. Graphite carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has attracted great interest because of its two-dimensional layered structure and good visible light response range. Owing to a narrow bandgap, adjustable band structure, and high physicochemical stability, g-C3N4 absorbs wavelengths up to 450 nm in the visible spectrum, leading to an opportunity for visible-light photocatalytic performance. Nevertheless, there are still some drawbacks that limit the photocatalytic efficiency of g-C3N4 in the removal of antibiotics and dyes under visible light, such as the rapid recombination of photoinduced charges and the weak oxidation capacity of holes. To advance this promising photocatalytic material, multiple methods have been tried to optimize the electronic band structure of g-C3N4, such as doping with various elements, morphology control, and functional group modification. Recently, a novel type of Step-scheme (S-scheme) heterojunction composed of two n-type semiconductor photocatalysts has been proposed, which can utilize a more positive valance band and a more negative conduction band. It was demonstrated that the formation of S-scheme heterojunctions is a valid way to increase photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4. Herein, novel 0D/2D Bi4V2O11/g-C3N4 S-scheme heterojunctions were prepared by a simple in situ solvothermal growth method. The Bi4V2O11/g-C3N4 composites displayed a high photocatalytic activity through the removal of oxytetracycline (OTC) and Reactive Red 2. In particular, the BVCN-50 composite showed the highest degradation efficiency for OTC of 74.1% and for Reactive Red 2 of 84.2% with •O2 − as the primary active species.This highly improved photocatalytic performance can be ascribed to the generation of S-scheme heterojunctions, which provides for a high redox capacity of the heterojunction system (strong oxidative ability of Bi4V2O11 and strong reductive capacity of g-C3N4) and facilitates the space separation of photo-generated charges. Moreover, the surface plasmon resonance effect of metallic Bi 0 broadens the light utilization range of the heterojunction system. In addition, the possible degradation pathway and intermediates throughout the degradation process of OTC based on liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer (LC-MS) analysis were also studied. This work provides a novel tactic for the design and fabrication of g-C3N4-based S-scheme heterojunctions with enhanced photocatalytic performance.

We propose a novel scheme to simulate Z topological insulators via one-dimensional (1D) cavity optomechanical cells array. The direct mapping between 1D cavity optomechanical cells array and 2D quantum spin Hall (QSH) system can be achieved by using diagonalization and dimensional reduction methods. We show that the topological features of the present model can be captured using a 1D generalized Harper equation with an additional SU(2) guage structure. Interestingly, spin pumping of effective photon-phonon bosons can be naturally derived after scanning the additional periodic parameter, which means that we can realize the transition between different QSH edge states.