地质聚合物研究热点论文

编译 | 冯维维

Nature , 31 March 2022, Volume 603 Issue 7903

《自然》 2022年3月31日，第603卷，7903期

物理学 Physics

A highly magnified star at redshift 6.2

一颗红移6.2的高度放大恒星

作者：Brian Welch, Dan Coe, Tom Broadhurst , etc.

链接：

摘要

星系团通过强引力透镜作用放大背景天体。透镜星系的典型放大倍数只有几倍，但也可以高达数十或数百倍，将星系拉伸成巨大的弧形。单个恒星可以获得更高的放大倍数，如果它们碰巧与透镜星团排列在一起。最近，人们发现了几颗红移在1到1.5之间的恒星，它们被放大了数千倍。

作者报告了一颗更遥远、更持久的放大恒星在大爆炸后红移6.2 0.1亿年后的观测结果。这颗恒星被前景星系团透镜WHL0137-08（红移0.566）放大了数千倍，这是由四个独立的透镜模型估计的。

他们将描述的这一天体称为埃兰迪尔（Earendel），来自一个意为“晨星”或“升起之光”的古英语词。引力透镜揭示出它可能是一个单星或双星系统。埃兰迪尔估计质量超过太阳的50倍。红移意为光在行进中的“拉伸”程度，可用于推断天体距离；数字越大，天体就越远（或在宇宙 历史 中越早）。过去观测到放大单星的红移较小，约为1-1.5。

该恒星的温度、质量和光谱性质的确切细节尚不明确，作者希望詹姆斯•韦布望远镜或能在未来提供这些信息。

Abstract

Galaxy clusters magnify background objects through strong gravitational lensing. Typical magnifications for lensed galaxies are factors of a few but can also be as high as tens or hundreds, stretching galaxies into giant arcs. Inpidual stars can attain even higher magnifications given fortuitous alignment with the lensing cluster. Recently, several inpidual stars at redshifts between approximately 1 and 1.5 have been discovered, magnified by factors of thousands, temporarily boosted by microlensing. Here we report observations of a more distant and persistent magnified star at a redshift of 6.2   0.1, 900 million years after the Big Bang. This star is magnified by a factor of thousands by the foreground galaxy cluster lens WHL0137–08 (redshift 0.566), as estimated by four independent lens models. Unlike previous lensed stars, the magnification and observed brightness (AB magnitude, 27.2) have remained roughly constant over 3.5 years of imaging and follow-up. The delensed absolute UV magnitude, 10   2, is consistent with a star of mass greater than 50 times the mass of the Sun. Confirmation and spectral classification are forthcoming from approved observations with the James Webb Space Telescope.

Orbital-resolved visualization of single-molecule photocurrent channels

单分子光电流通道的轨道分辨显示

作者：Miyabi Imai-Imada, Hiroshi Imada, Kuniyuki Miwa, Yusuke Tanaka, Kensuke Kimura, Inhae Zoh, Rafael B. Jaculbia, Hiroko Yoshino, Atsuya Muranaka, Masanobu Uchiyama & Yousoo Kim

链接：

摘要

光诱导电子转移（PET）因在光能利用方面的核心作用，已被广泛研究。尽管显微光电流测量方法使其过程效率与局部特征联系起来成为可能，但局部分辨率不足以在分子水平上解决这一问题。最近的工作表明，将扫描隧道显微镜（STM）与可调谐激光驱动的局部等离子体场相结合，可以有效地激发和探测单个分子。

作者通过探测电子从第一激发态穿过STM尖端的隧穿，直接以原子尺度分辨率可视化光电流通道通过一个自由基酞菁（FBPc）分子轨道。

他们发现光电流的方向和空间分布对偏压非常敏感，即使在平均光电流接近零的电压下也能探测到反向流动的光电流通道。相关观测结果表明，通过将耦合调节到激发态分子轨道，可以促进或抑制特定的光电流通道，从而为通过分子界面的原子尺度电子和几何工程提高能量转换效率提供了新的前景。

Abstract

Given its central role in utilizing light energy, photoinduced electron transfer (PET) from an excited molecule has been widely studied. However, even though microscopic photocurrent measurement methods have made it possible to correlate the efficiency of the process with local features, spatial resolution has been insufficient to resolve it at the molecular level. Recent work has, however, shown that single molecules can be efficiently excited and probed when combining a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) with localized plasmon fields driven by a tunable laser. Here we use that approach to directly visualize with atomic-scale resolution the photocurrent channels through the molecular orbitals of a single free-base phthalocyanine (FBPc) molecule, by detecting electrons from its first excited state tunnelling through the STM tip. We find that the direction and the spatial distribution of the photocurrent depend sensitively on the bias voltage, and detect counter-flowing photocurrent channels even at a voltage where the averaged photocurrent is near zero. These observations suggest that specific photocurrent channels can be promoted or suppressed by tuning the coupling to excited-state molecular orbitals, and thus provide new perspectives for improving energy-conversion efficiencies by atomic-scale electronic and geometric engineering of molecular interfaces.

化学 Chemistry

Catalogue of flat-band stoichiometric materials

平带化学计量材料宝库

作者：Nicolas Regnault, Yuanfeng Xu, Ming-Rui Li, Da-Shuai Ma, Milena Jovanovic, Ali Yazdani, Stuart S. P. Parkin, Claudia Felser, Leslie M. Schoop, N. Phuan Ong, Robert J. Cava, Luis Elcoro, Zhi-Da Song & B. Andrei Bernevig

链接：

摘要

费米能级附近或相当水平的拓扑电子扁平带是通向非常规超导和相关绝缘态的一条很有前途的途径。然而，相关的实验大多局限于工程材料，如摩尔系统。

作者提出了在费米水平附近的平坦带自然发生的三维化学计量材料的目录。他们将拓扑量子化学网站收录的55206种无机晶体结构数据库材料纳入考量，其中提供了它们的结构参数、空间群、能带结构、态密度和拓扑表征。

他们创建了Materials Flatband数据库网站，为未来的理论和实验研究提供了一个强大的搜索引擎，并利用数据库提取了2379种高质量平带材料的列表，从中确定了345种有希望的候选材料，这些材料可能拥有平面带，但电荷中心并不强烈地定位在原子位置上。

最终作者展示了五种具有代表性的材料，并利用平行工作中引入的S矩阵方法对它们在费米能附近的平坦带的起源提供了理论解释。

Abstract

Topological electronic flattened bands near or at the Fermi level are a promising route towards unconventional superconductivity and correlated insulating states. However, the related experiments are mostly limited to engineered materials, such as moiré systems. Here we present a catalogue of the naturally occuring three-dimensional stoichiometric materials with flat bands around the Fermi level. We consider 55,206 materials from the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database catalogued using the Topological Quantum Chemistry website, which provides their structural parameters, space group, band structure, density of states and topological characterization. We combine several direct signatures and properties of band flatness with a high-throughput analysis of all crystal structures. In particular, we identify materials hosting line-graph or bipartite sublattices—in either two or three dimensions—that probably lead to flat bands. From this trove of information, we create the Materials Flatband Database website, a powerful search engine for future theoretical and experimental studies. We use the database to extract a curated list of 2,379 high-quality flat-band materials, from which we identify 345 promising candidates that potentially host flat bands with charge centres that are not strongly localized on the atomic sites. We showcase five representative materials and provide a theoretical explanation for the origin of their flat bands close to the Fermi energy using the S-matrix method introduced in a parallel work.

Observing polymerization in 2D dynamic covalent polymers

观察二维动态共价聚合物的聚合

作者：Gaolei Zhan, Zhen-Feng Cai, Karol Strutyński, Lihua Yu, Niklas Herrmann, Marta Martínez-Abadía, Manuel Melle-Franco, Aurelio Mateo-Alonso & Steven De Feyter

链接：

摘要：

结晶二维聚合物的质量与难以捉摸的聚合和结晶过程密切相关。在（亚）分子水平上理解这些过程的机理，对于改进预测合成和定制材料性能，以应用于催化和（光电子）等领域至关重要。

作者利用原位扫描隧道显微镜，对一种模型硼氧辛二维动态共价聚合物进行了表征，以实时和环境条件下揭示成核延伸过程的定性和定量细节。

序列数据分析可以观察到非晶向结晶的转变、核的时间依赖性演化、“非经典”结晶路径的存在，重要的是，可以通过实验精确地确定必要的结晶参数，包括临界核的大小，成核速率和生长速率。

Abstract

The quality of crystalline two-dimensional (2D) polymers is intimately related to the elusive polymerization and crystallization processes. Understanding the mechanism of such processes at the (sub)molecular level is crucial to improve predictive synthesis and to tailor material properties for applications in catalysis and (opto)electronics, among others. We characterize a model boroxine 2D dynamic covalent polymer, by using in situ scanning tunnelling microscopy, to unveil both qualitative and quantitative details of the nucleation–elongation processes in real time and under ambient conditions. Sequential data analysis enables observation of the amorphous-to-crystalline transition, the time-dependent evolution of nuclei, the existence of ‘non-classical’ crystallization pathways and, importantly, the experimental determination of essential crystallization parameters with excellent accuracy, including critical nucleus size, nucleation rate and growth rate.

生物和地球物理学 Biophysics & Geophysics

The colloidal nature of complex fluids enhances bacterial motility

复合液体的胶体性质增强了细菌的运动

作者：Shashank Kamdar, Seunghwan Shin, Premkumar Leishangthem, Lorraine F. Francis, Xinliang Xu & Xiang Cheng

链接：

摘要

在人类微生物群落、海洋和土壤生态系统中，微生物的自然栖息地充满了胶体和大分子。这种环境表现出非牛顿流体性质，极大地影响微生物的运动。

作者发现鞭毛细菌在稀释的胶体悬浮液中表现出与稀释的聚合物溶液中显示出定量相似的运动行为，特别是普遍的颗粒大小相关的运动增强高达80%，并伴有对细菌摆动的强烈抑制。

由于胶体的硬球性质，其大小和体积分数在不同的实验中有所不同，该结果阐明了长期以来关于复杂流体中细菌运动性增强的争议，并表明聚合物动力学或非捕获这种现象的必要条件。

Abstract：

The natural habitats of microorganisms in the human microbiome, ocean and soil ecosystems are full of colloids and macromolecules. Such environments exhibit non-Newtonian flow properties, drastically affecting the locomotion of microorganisms. Here we show that flagellated bacteria in dilute colloidal suspensions display quantitatively similar motile behaviours to those in dilute polymer solutions, in particular a universal particle-size-dependent motility enhancement up to 80% accompanied by a strong suppression of bacterial wobbling. By virtue of the hard-sphere nature of colloids, whose size and volume fraction we vary across experiments, our results shed light on the long-standing controversy over bacterial motility enhancement in complex fluids and suggest that polymer dynamics may not be essential for capturing the phenomenon.

Assembly of the basal mantle structure beneath Africa

非洲地幔基底结构的组合

作者：Nicolas Flament, Ömer F. Bodur, Simon E. Williams & Andrew S. Merdith

链接：

摘要

板块构造塑造了地球表面，并与地球内部深处的运动有关。寒冷的海洋岩石圈下沉到地幔中，热的地幔柱从地球深处升起，导致火山活动。过去3.2亿年间的火山爆发与目前位于非洲和太平洋下面的地幔底部的两个大型结构有关。这导致了一种假设，即这些基底地幔结构在地质年代中一直是静止的。

与此相反的是，观测和模型表明，构造板块、俯冲带和地幔柱一直是活动的，而基底地幔结构目前正在变形。

作者重建了10亿年前到现在的地幔流动，以表明火山活动的 历史 在统计上与固定的基底地幔结构一致。在重建过程中，寒冷的岩石圈在740年到5亿年前深入非洲半球，从4亿年前开始，在冈瓦纳前后板块的推动下，非洲下面的结构逐渐组装起来，直到6000万年前才成为一个连贯的结构。

作者称地幔流动模型表明，基底地幔结构是可移动的，随着时间的推移会聚集和分散，类似于地球表面的大陆。其模型还预测了非洲地幔中大陆物质的存在，这与地球化学数据一致。

Abstract

Plate tectonics shapes Earth’s surface, and is linked to motions within its deep interior. Cold oceanic lithosphere sinks into the mantle, and hot mantle plumes rise from the deep Earth, leading to volcanism. Volcanic eruptions over the past 320 million years have been linked to two large structures at the base of the mantle presently under Africa and the Pacific Ocean. This has led to the hypothesis that these basal mantle structures have been stationary over geological time, in contrast to observations and models suggesting that tectonic plates, subduction zones and mantle plume have been mobile, and that basal mantle structures are presently deforming. Here we reconstruct mantle flow from one billion years ago to the present day to show that the history of volcanism is statistically as consistent with mobile basal mantle structures as with fixed ones. In our reconstructions, cold lithosphere sank deep into the African hemisphere between 740 and 500 million years ago, and from 400 million years ago the structure beneath Africa progressively assembled, pushed by peri-Gondwana slabs, to become a coherent structure as recently as 60 million years ago. Our mantle flow models suggest that basal mantle structures are mobile, and aggregate and disperse over time, similarly to continents at Earth’s surface. Our models also predict the presence of continental material in the mantle beneath Africa, consistent with geochemical data