A 30-50 GHz CMOS ultra-wideband (UWB) low-noise amplifier (LNA) with a flat high power gain (S 21), along with a flat low-noise figure (NF) is demonstrated for the Atacama large millimetre array (ALMA) band-1 (31.3-45 GHz) system applications. The high S 21 and low NF are achieved because the triple-well transistors are utilised with their respective source and body terminals connected together. Furthermore, the bandwidth extension and gain flatness is achieved due to the careful design of the inductive-peaking networks. The LNA has a measured S 21 of 21.5 ± 1.5 dB, a minimum NF (NF min) of 3.8 dB at 32.5 GHz, an average NF (NF avg) of 4.67 dB over the range of 30-50 GHz and an input third-order intercept point (IIP3) of 0 dBm, with a DC power consumption of 20.4 mW at 1.2 V supply. The proposed LNA outperforms all the reported commercial standard CMOS Q-band LNAs, with the highest gain bandwidth product and highest IIP3 suitable for the ALMA band-1 system applications.

Light-fueled photothermal actuators play a significant role in spatiotemporal accurate and contactless control, and they have been widely applied in stimuli-responsive intelligent devices. However, traditional photothermal actuators suffer from environmental thermal dissipation, which reduces their efficiency in low-temperature conditions. To address this shortcoming, vulcanized layered double hydroxide nanosheets with photothermal efficiency of 86.1% and outstanding hydrophilicity were incorporated into poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) hydrogel networks to fabricate highly efficient near-infrared light-fueled soft actuators. The generated composite hydrogels exhibit excellent actuation performances in a 0 °C environment, thus demonstrating their enhanced robustness at low temperatures. Moreover, a light-controlled valve and bendable bilayer hydrogel actuator were produced, which demonstrated fast and reversible responses in water via photothermal contraction and expansion control. This work therefore significantly broadens the application prospects of hydrogel-based intelligent materials in remote light-controlled devices.

Although recent decades have witnessed rapid development of e-commerce, direct sale of time-sensitive commodities on ecommerce platforms still faces significant challenges due to the dilemma between short delivery time and high delivery costs. To alleviate these challenges, manufacturers with online retailing operations have attempted to cooperate with offline retailers by using an “order-online, pickup-offline” (OOPO) strategy. To study the problem of effectively implementing the OOPO strategy for time-sensitive commodities, we consider a mechanism under which the manufacturer pays the retailers a cooperative service fee to ensure delivery coordination between the online and offline channels. We develop Stackelberg game-theoretic models to compare the profits of both delivery channels before and after the implementation of the OOPO strategy. By analyzing the models, we derive a feasible range on the cooperative service fee such that both channels are more profitable with the implementation. We further examine the plausibility of implementing the strategy when both channels are required to charge the same price on the commodities, which can lead to both channel coordination and pricing coordination.

Photocatalytic valorization of lignin to aromatic monomers by cleaving the Cβ–O bond is a promising approach for the utilization of biomass resources. Herein, we achieved nearly 100% conversion of the model compound 2-phenoxy-1-phenylethanol (PP-ol), and the selectivity of phenol and acetophenone reached 96 and 95%, respectively, using water and Cr-doped ZnIn2S4 (CZIS) as the hydrogen source and photocatalyst, respectively. Density functional theory calculations showed that Cr present on the CZIS surface can provide appropriate free energy for the target reaction intermediate, reducing the uphill ΔG for cleaving the Cβ–O ether bond reaction of the Cα radical (Cα •) intermediate to form acetophenone and phenol (from 2.15 to −0.81 eV), which facilitate the photocatalytic PP-ol conversion. In addition, controlling the competitive hydrogen evolution on the photocatalyst surface by adjusting the alkalinity of the reaction solvent is also a key factor to improve the photocatalytic performance.

Low-cost and effective cocatalyst Ni 2 O 3 was loaded on SrTiO 3 (STO) via a simple one-step hydrothermal method. The Ni 2 O 3 ∕SrTiO 3 ðmÞ photocatalysts were systematically characterized and applied to visible-light-driven CO 2 reduction to investigate their photocatalytic activity. The series of the Ni 2 O 3 -modified SrTiO 3 photocatalysts presented an improved photocatalytic activity and stability. Here, the N 5.4 STOðmÞ catalyst showed the best photocatalytic activity, with CO and CH 4 yielding up to 11.57 and 1.51 μmol∕g, respectively, under visiblelight irradiation of 3 h, which were 3.15 and 14.84 times higher than that of pure STO(m), respectively. Based on the characterization and experimental results, the enhanced photocatalytic activity might be attributed to the following reasons: (1) Ni 2 O 3 well dispersed on SrTiO 3 served as CO 2 attachment sites; (2) the modification of Ni 2 O 3 could red shift the absorption edge and broaden the visible-light response ability; and (3) Ni 2 O 3 nanoparticles act as electron traps to capture photogenerated electrons, effectively blocking the recombination of electron-hole pairs. The work offers important insights into the design of non-noble metal oxide cocatalyst modified photocatalysts for electron capture and photoreduction.