Luminescence-based imaging-fiber oxygen sensors (IFOSs) were utilized for the in situ measurement of oxygen consumption from intact perfused mouse hearts. IFOSs were fabricated using a technically expedient, photoinitiated polymerization reaction whereby an oxygen-sensitive polymer matrix was immobilized in a precise location on an imaging fiber's distal face. The oxygen-sensing layer used in this work comprised a transition metal complex, Ru(Ph2phen)3(2+), entrapped in a gaspermeable photopolymerizable siloxane membrane (PS802). The transduction mechanism was based upon the oxygen collisional quenching of the ruthenium complex luminescence; detection was performed utilizing an epi-fluorescence microscope/charge coupled device imaging system. IFOS measurements from working mouse hearts were validated through concurrent, blind, ex situ blood gas analyzer (BGA) measurements. The BGA and IFOS methodologies were utilized successfully to measure oxygen concentrations in aortic and pulmonary artery perfusates from the working mouse heart before and after isoproterenol administration. Coupled with coronary-flow measurements, these data were used to calculate myocardial oxygen consumption. Regression analysis of measurements of myocardial oxygen consumption showed that there was a strong correlation between the values generated by the BGA sampling and those obtained via in situ IFOS methods. To our knowledge, this research represents the first report of in situ fiber-optic sensor monitoring of oxygen content from the intact, beating mouse heart.

We present a combined experimental-theoretical study of graphene folding on flat substrates. The structure and deformation of the folded graphene sheet are experimentally characterized by atomic force microscopy. The local graphene folding behaviors are interpreted based on nonlinear continuum mechanics modeling and molecular dynamics simulations. Our study on self-folding of a trilayer graphene sheet reports a bending stiffness of about 6.57 eV, which is about four times the reported values for monolayer graphene. Our results reveal that an intriguing free sliding phenomenon occurs at the interlayer van der Waals interfaces during the graphene folding process. This work demonstrates that it is a plausible venue to quantify the bending stiffness of graphene based on its self-folding conformation on flat substrates. The findings reported in this work are useful to a better understanding of the mechanical properties of graphene and in the pursuit of its applications.

The authors report on the temperature dependence of electronic transport property of Ag/ La 2 CuO 4+x ͑LCO͒ heterostructures with different oxygen contents. Bipolar resistance switching was observed in the sample with larger oxygen content and disappears below 200 K, consistent with the characteristic temperature of oxygen migration in LCO. The resistance relaxation of the low resistance state shows similar behavior as that of oxygen diffusion in LCO and vanishes below 200 K. Analysis of the results strongly indicates that the resistance switching results from the modulation of Schottky barrier by oxygen electromigration at the interface.