Author
Jin Zhai
Other affiliations: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Bio: Jin Zhai is an academic researcher from Beihang University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Wetting & Photocurrent. The author has an hindex of 46, co-authored 155 publications receiving 12642 citations. Previous affiliations of Jin Zhai include Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Papers published on a yearly basis
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TL;DR: Artificial fibres are designed that mimic the structural features of silk and exhibit its directional water-collecting ability by tapping into both driving forces.
Abstract: Many biological surfaces in both the plant and animal kingdom possess unusual structural features at the micro- and nanometre-scale that control their interaction with water and hence wettability. An intriguing example is provided by desert beetles, which use micrometre-sized patterns of hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions on their backs to capture water from humid air. As anyone who has admired spider webs adorned with dew drops will appreciate, spider silk is also capable of efficiently collecting water from air. Here we show that the water-collecting ability of the capture silk of the cribellate spider Uloborus walckenaerius is the result of a unique fibre structure that forms after wetting, with the 'wet-rebuilt' fibres characterized by periodic spindle-knots made of random nanofibrils and separated by joints made of aligned nanofibrils. These structural features result in a surface energy gradient between the spindle-knots and the joints and also in a difference in Laplace pressure, with both factors acting together to achieve continuous condensation and directional collection of water drops around spindle-knots. Submillimetre-sized liquid drops have been driven by surface energy gradients or a difference in Laplace pressure, but until now neither force on its own has been used to overcome the larger hysteresis effects that make the movement of micrometre-sized drops more difficult. By tapping into both driving forces, spider silk achieves this task. Inspired by this finding, we designed artificial fibres that mimic the structural features of silk and exhibit its directional water-collecting ability.
1,584 citations
TL;DR: Remarkable surface wettability transition occurs with an inducement of ultraviolet (UV) for aligned ZnO nanorod films and this reversible effect is ascribed to the cooperation of the surface photosensitivity and the aligned nanostructure.
Abstract: Remarkable surface wettability transition occurs with an inducement of ultraviolet (UV) for aligned ZnO nanorod films. The inorganic oxide films, which show super-hydrophobicity (left), become super-hydrophilic (right) when exposed to UV illumination. After the films are placed in the dark, the wettability evolves back to super-hydrophobicity. This reversible effect is ascribed to the cooperation of the surface photosensitivity and the aligned nanostructure. Such special property will greatly extend the applications of ZnO films.
1,137 citations
TL;DR: The authors thank the State Key Project for Fundamental Research (G1999064504) and the Special Research Foundation of the National Nature Science Foundation of China for continuing financial support.
Abstract: [*] Prof. Dr. L. Jiang, Dr. Y. Zhao, Prof. Dr. J. Zhai Center of Molecular Sciences Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100080 (P. R. China) Dr. Y. Zhao Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (P. R. China) Prof. Dr. L. Jiang National Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Beijing 100080 (P. R. China) Fax: (+86)10-8262-7566 E-mail: jianglei@iccas.ac.cn [**] The authors thank the State Key Project for Fundamental Research (G1999064504) and the Special Research Foundation of the National Nature Science Foundation of China (29992530) for continuing financial support. The Chinese Academy of Sciences is gratefully acknowledged. Communications
1,015 citations
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28,685 citations
9,432 citations
TL;DR: Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) offer the possibilities to design solar cells with a large flexibility in shape, color, and transparency as mentioned in this paper, and many DSC research groups have been established around the world.
Abstract: Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) offer the possibilities to design solar cells with a large flexibility in shape, color, and transparency. DSC research groups have been established around the worl ...
8,707 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a comprehensive review is presented on the researches and developments related to electrospun polymer nanofibers including processing, structure and property characterization, applications, and modeling and simulations.
6,987 citations
TL;DR: This paper presents a meta-analysis of the chiral stationary phase transition of Na6(CO3)(SO4)2, a major component of the response of the immune system to Na2CO3.
Abstract: Ju Mei,†,‡,∥ Nelson L. C. Leung,†,‡,∥ Ryan T. K. Kwok,†,‡ Jacky W. Y. Lam,†,‡ and Ben Zhong Tang*,†,‡,§ †HKUST-Shenzhen Research Institute, Hi-Tech Park, Nanshan, Shenzhen 518057, China ‡Department of Chemistry, HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study, Institute of Molecular Functional Materials, Division of Biomedical Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, Division of Life Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China Guangdong Innovative Research Team, SCUT-HKUST Joint Research Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China
5,658 citations