Graphene transistors are of considerable interest for radio frequency (RF) applications. In general, transistors with large transconductance and drain current saturation is desirable for RF performance, which is however nontrivial to achieve in graphene transistors. Here we report high performance top-gated graphene transistors based on chemical vapor deposition (CVD) grown graphene with large transconductance and drain current saturation. The graphene transistors were fabricated with evaporated high dielectric constant material (HfO2) as the top-gate dielectrics. Length scaling studies of the transistors with channel length from 5.6 µm to 100 nm shows that complete current saturation can be achieved in 5.6 µm devices and the saturation characteristics degrade as the channel length shrinks down to 100–300 nm regime. The drain current saturation was primarily attributed to drain bias induced shift of the Dirac points. With the selective deposition of HfO2 gate dielectrics, we have further demonstrated a simple scheme to realize a 300 nm channel length graphene transistors with self-aligned source-drain electrodes to achieve the highest transconductance of 250 µS/µm reported in CVD graphene to date.

Sulfur-containing polymers have renewed widespread attention due to their fascinating properties like high refractive index and semiconducting character. However, examples of direct polymerization involving elemental sulfur are limited. Herein, a new strategy to prepare polythioamide (PTA) by direct polymerization of aliphatic primary diamines in the presence of sulfur is reported. The polymerization of p-xylylenediamine (1) and sulfur at 110 °C in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone afforded PTA1 of high M w and high yield when the feed ratio of [1]:[S] ranged from 1:2 to 1:3. 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectra confirmed that there are three kinds of structural units among the PTA1 chains. Moreover, different diamines including m-xylylene­diamine (2), 1,6-hexane­diamine (3), ethylene­diamine (4), and 1,4-cyclohexane­diamine (5) were copolymerized with 1 in the presence of sulfur to obtain PTA copolymers. With an increase in 5 content, the copolymer PTA1/5 with an alternating sequence in the range of 56%–94% was prepared. Solubility and thermal properties of homopolymers and copolymers were studied. Meanwhile, the copolymers PTA1/3 and PTA1/5 possessed a high refractive index as high as 1.7.

Cell‐free deoxyribonucleic acid (cfDNA) released from either dead or damaged cells serves as a key autoantigen in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). They can be recognized by nucleic acid (NA) sensors such as the toll‐like receptor (TLR), leading to activation of the innate immune system and chronic inflammation. Developed here is a cationic molecular scavenger, by screening cationic dendronized polymers, which eliminates cfDNA and inhibits TLR recognition and nucleic‐acid‐induced inflammation. The structure–property study demonstrates that toxicity, NA binding capacity, and biodistribution could be balanced to achieve maximum therapeutic effect by exquisite control of the molecular structure. In addition, the optimized cationic polymer effectively inhibited joint swelling, synovial hyperplasia, and bone destruction in collagen‐induced arthritis (CIA) rat models. The results offer support for synthetic polymers offering new paradigm in autoimmune disease treatment.

Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) released from damaged or dead cells combines with LL37 and is converted into an immune response activator to exacerbate psoriasis. Here, we show that cationic nanoparticles (cNPs) efficiently compete for DNA from the DNA-LL37 immunocomplex and inhibit DNA-LL37-induced cell activation. Using phenotypical images, psoriasis area and severity index scoring, histology, and immunohistochemical analysis, we demonstrate that topical application of cNPs on psoriasiform skin of a mouse model relieves psoriatic symptoms. It is noteworthy that the results were confirmed in a cynomolgus monkey model. Moreover, topically administrated cNPs showed low in vivo toxicity because of their retention in skin. Mechanistic analyses of cytokine expression in the psoriatic site, cfDNA levels in circulation and inflamed skin, skin permeation, and biodistribution of cNPs also matched the therapeutic outcomes. Therefore, we present a previously unidentified strategy of nanomedicine to treat skin inflammatory diseases, which demonstrates great potential for clinical application.