DJL

Article

Vultures are scavengers with a high tolerance to bacterial toxins in decaying meat. Here, Roggenbuck et al. show that the vulture’s gut microbiome displays unique features and is dominated by Clostridia and Fusobacteria, two bacterial groups commonly associated with infectious disease in other animals.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms6498

Authors: Michael Roggenbuck, Ida Bærholm Schnell, Nikolaj Blom, Jacob Bælum, Mads Frost Bertelsen, Thomas Sicheritz Pontén, Søren Johannes Sørensen, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Gary R. Graves, Lars H Hansen

Article

Large-size monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) has recently been produced via chemical vapour deposition (CVD), yet its structures and physical properties are yet to be fully explored. Here, the authors study the growth-induced strain in CVD-grown MoS 2 and strain-based bandgap engineering of MoS 2 .

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms6246

Authors: Zheng Liu, Matin Amani, Sina Najmaei, Quan Xu, Xiaolong Zou, Wu Zhou, Ting Yu, Caiyu Qiu, A. Glen Birdwell, Frank J. Crowne, Robert Vajtai, Boris I. Yakobson, Zhenhai Xia, Madan Dubey, Pulickel M. Ajayan, Jun Lou

Publication date: February 2015
Source:Tribology International, Volume 82, Part A
Author(s): M. Mahrova , F. Pagano , V. Pejakovic , A. Valea , M. Kalin , A Igartua , E. Tojo
A series of eight new dicationic ionic liquids incorporating polyethylene glycol chains linking two N-alkylpyridinium moieties through rings position 2, were synthesized and investigated for their potential use as lubricants or lubricant additives. Alkylsulfate and bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide [NTf2] were selected as anions. Dicationic ionic liquids containing [NTf2] anion demonstrated good properties as neat lubricants showing low coefficient of friction and wear comparable with the reference lubricant (glycerol). Even more interesting could be their use as friction modifier additives since an important decrease in the coefficient of friction was achieved with a really low concentration of ionic liquid. The thermal analysis of all ionic liquids by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is also described.

Abstract

Nature Nanotechnology. doi:10.1038/nnano.2014.263

Authors: Paul V. Braun & Ralph G. Nuzzo

A battery fabricated within a ceramic nanopore can be used for studying nanoscale electrochemical effects.

Publication date: February 2015
Source:Tribology International, Volume 82, Part A
Author(s): Fei Shen , Weiping Hu , Qingchun Meng
In this investigation an approach to fretting fatigue life prediction is developed with consideration of damage-coupled elastic–plastic constitutive model and wear. Nonlinear kinematic hardening is employed in the analysis of elastic–plastic damage, and the total damage is divided into two parts, elastic damage and plastic damage, which are related to the cyclic stress and accumulated plastic strain, respectively. Wear is modeled by the energy wear law to simulate the evolution of contact geometry. A two dimensional plane strain finite element implementation is presented for fretting, including the case of partial slip and gross sliding. The progressive fatigue damage and wear is simulated and the results are compared with experimental data from the literature.

Article

Individual emitters of light in close proximity, such as atoms, can couple together via the light they create leading to a concentrated burst of radiation. Here Mlynek et al. experminetally explore the fundamental origin of this superradiance by studying two superconducting qubits coupled to a microwave cavity.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms6186

Authors: J. A. Mlynek, A. A. Abdumalikov, C. Eichler, A. Wallraff

Publication date: 15 November 2014
Source:Surface and Coatings Technology, Volume 258
Author(s): Yu Xi Wang , Sam Zhang
Over the past decades, hard and super hard ceramic coatings have been developed and widely used in various industrial applications. Meanwhile, an increasing number of studies have realized that the toughness is just as crucial, if not more, than hardness especially for ceramic coatings. However, hardness and toughness do not go naturally hand in hand. In other words, hard coatings usually are brittle and less durable while toughened coatings are of lower strength. For practical engineering applications, it is more desirable to have coatings with high hardness without sacrificing toughness too much. In this article, a review is presented on continuous progress to realize hard-yet-tough ceramic coatings from an angle of hardening as well as toughening.