No abstract

Here, we present microfluidic methods to fabricate complex hydrogel structures for 3D tissue or organ-like cell structures in vitro. First, a microfluidic system to continuously synthesize chemically and physically anisotropic Ca–alginate hydrogel microfibers is proposed to enable the guidance of cell proliferation and differentiation. Next, the microfluidic preparation methods for yarn-ball-shape hydrogel particles and extremely-small hydrogel microspheres. Finally, a newly developed micro-molding and bonding method for hydrogel micro-patterned plates is reported.

1T’-MoTe2 has gained considerable attention owing to its topological character. This material undergoes spatial inversion symmetry at 300 K. A structural transition to the Td phase, which is represented by a kink in the resistivity, was observed below 250 K without inversion symmetry along the c-axis, while superconductivity was observed at 0.1 K. Substitution of Se into this material suppressed the appearance of the kink structure and increased the superconducting transition temperature to 2 K, which is consistent with previously reported results on polycrystalline samples. However, a specific heat jump was observed in the obtained single crystals, which did not exhibit kink structures in their resistivity. The results suggest that the Td structure was not suppressed entirely after Se substitution and that superconductivity was achieved without inversion symmetry.