Many surfactant-based formulations are utilized in industry as they produce desirable viscoelastic properties at low concentrations.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/nvp-bgt226.html  These properties are due to the presence of worm-like micelles (WLMs), and as a result, understanding the processes that lead to WLM formation is of significant interest. Various experimental techniques have been applied with some success to this problem but can encounter issues probing key microscopic characteristics or the specific regimes of interest. The complementary use of computer simulations could provide an alternate route to accessing their structural and dynamic behavior. However, few computational methods exist for measuring key characteristics of WLMs formed in particle simulations. Further, their mathematical formulations are challenged by WLMs with sharp curvature profiles or density fluctuations along the backbone. Here, we present a new topological algorithm for identifying and characterizing WLMs in particle simulations, which has desirable mathematical properties that address shortcomings in previous techniques. We apply the algorithm to the case of sodium dodecyl sulfate micelles to demonstrate how it can be used to construct a comprehensive topological characterization of the observed structures.The bottom-up synthesis process often allows the growth of metastable phase nanowires instead of the thermodynamically stable phase. Herein, we synthesized Cd3As2 nanowires with a controlled three-dimensional Dirac semimetal phase using a chemical vapor transport method. Three different phases such as the body centered tetragonal (bct), and two metastable primitive tetragonal (P42/nbc and P42/nmc) phases were identified. The conversion between three phases (bct → P42/nbc → P42/nmc) was achieved by increasing the growth temperature. The growth direction is [110] for bct and P42/nbc and [100] for P42/nmc, corresponding to the same crystallographic axis. Field effect transistors and photodetector devices showed the nearly same electrical and photoelectrical properties for three phases. Differential conductance measurement confirms excellent electron mobility (2 × 104 cm2/(V s) at 10 K). Negative photoconductance was first observed, and the photoresponsivity reached 3 × 104 A/W, which is ascribed to the surface defects acting as trap sites for the photogenerated electrons.We recently proposed domain separated density functional theory (DS-DFT), a framework that allows for the combination of different levels of theory for the computation of the electronic structure of molecules. This work discusses the application of DS-DFT to the computation of transition-state energy barriers and optical absorption spectra. We considered several hydrogen abstraction reactions and optical spectra of molecule/metal cluster systems, including the absorption of individual species such as carbon monoxide, methane, and molecular hydrogen to a Li6 cluster. We present and discuss two domain-separated methods (i), the screened-density approximation (SDA) and (ii) linearly weighted exchange (LWE). We find that SDA, which is applied as a hybridization based on atomic domains, could be useful to computing energy barriers, whereas LWE is suited for the analysis of electronic properties such as ground-state gaps, excitation energies, and oscillator strengths.The availability of transparent conductive thin films that exhibit mechanical flexibility and are adapted to low-cost and large-area fabrication is a major obstacle for high-performance flexible thin-film optoelectronics. Here, by combining printing, thin-film deposition, and wet-etching processes, interconnected transparent metal micromesh (TMM) electrodes are reported. Blade-coating is used to generate self-assembled polymer micromesh networks on flexible substrates. The network structures are subsequently converted into conductive metal networks. As-fabricated TMM films display a surface roughness of around 20 nm with thickness down to 50 nm. A transmittance of 86% and a conductance of 80 Ω sq-1 are achieved at the described optimal blade-coating suspension concentration. The electrodes show mechanical flexibility with no conductivity degradation with the smallest bending radius of 1 mm or at repeated bending over 3000 cycles at a bending radius of 15 mm. We successfully demonstrate organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) using TMM electrodes via the blade-coating technique. The printed OLEDs have a low turn-on voltage of 3.4 V and can achieve a luminance of over 4000 cd/m2 at 6.5 V. At a luminance of 100 cd/m2, the OLEDs show a current density of 7.6 mA/cm2, an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 3.6%, and a luminous efficacy of 1.4 lm/W.Lignin-based nano- and microcarriers are a promising biodegradable drug delivery platform inside of plants. Many wood-decaying fungi are capable of degrading the wood component lignin by segregated lignases. These fungi are responsible for severe financial damage in agriculture, and many of these plant diseases cannot be treated today. However, enzymatic degradation is also an attractive handle to achieve a controlled release of drugs from artificial lignin vehicles. Herein, chemically cross-linked lignin nanocarriers (NCs) were prepared by aza-Michael addition in miniemulsion, followed by solvent evaporation. The cross-linking of lignin was achieved with the bio-based amines (spermine and spermidine). Several fungicides-namely, azoxystrobin, pyraclostrobin, tebuconazole, and boscalid-were encapsulated in situ during the miniemulsion polymerization, demonstrating the versatility of the method. Lignin NCs with diameters of 200-300 nm (determined by dynamic light scattering) were obtained, with high encapsulation efficiencies (70-99%, depending on the drug solubility). Lignin NCs successfully inhibited the growth of Phaeomoniella chlamydospora and Phaeoacremonium minimum, which are lignase-producing fungi associated with the worldwide occurring fungal grapevine trunk disease Esca. In planta studies proved their efficiency for at least 4 years after a single injection into Vitis vinifera ("Portugieser") plants on a test vineyard in Germany. The lignin NCs are of high interest as biodegradable delivery vehicles to be applied by trunk injection against the devastating fungal disease Esca but might also be promising against other fungal plant diseases.