American Indians (AI) have the highest smoking rates and lowest quit rates of any racial/ethnic group in the U.S. Researchers and community members from the American Indian Health Research and Education Alliance (AIHREA) created and evaluated a culturally-tailored smoking cessation program, All Nations Breath of Life (ANBL) as a recruitment tool for smoking cessation programs among AI. To increase enrollment in ANBL, AI smokers were approached at cultural events and asked to attend a 30-minute educational session . Tele-video (30%) and in-person (9%) session participants were recruited into ANBL. Pre- and post-tests showed participants in both sessions demonstrated increased motivation and confidence to quit smoking but significant differences were present in both sessions (p < 0.0001). Results indicate that theoretically guided and culturally tailored education sessions are viable approaches to educate and recruit underserved populations into programs that promote smoking cessation. Commercial tobacco usage rates among American Indians (AI) are the highest when compared to all other racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. . AI haveTo better understand how to bolster AI participation into smoking cessation programs, we explored the utility of culturally tailored educational sessions as a recruitment tool. Theoretically guided and culturally tailored tobacco education sessions delivered by AI research staff provided participating AI communities with health information about the consequences of cigarette smoking. The team subsequently used the tobacco education sessions to recruit participants based on community engagement principles and Health Belief Model (HBM) constructs. Information gathered through this process provided a framework to influence and motivate individuals to quit smoking through a culturally appropriate and relevant program.From August 2011 to November 2012 American Indian Health Research Education Alliance (AIHREA) team members recruited AI smokers, 18 years of age or older N=276) for participation in tobacco education sessions (All Nations Breath of Life) [ for partRecruitment for the in-person education sessions was conducted on-site by AI team members through announcements at event venues, word of mouth, and personal invitation. These methods yielded 179 participants for 12 in-person sessions. Recruitment for the tele-video sessions was conducted in a similar fashion but incorporated the use of AI specific listservs and flyers and yielded 97 participants for the 12 tele-video sessions.An AI team member led the sessions (n=24) which lasted for 30 minutes. Prior to the start of each session, participants answered demographic and health-related questions, as well as a 12- question pre-test about their recreational smoking health knowledge. At the end of the session, participants took a 10-question post-test that mirrored the pre-test . ParticiThe education sessions were interactive; participants were encouraged to ask questions and to make comments throughout the presentation. The educational material was delivered orally, a format preferred by AI participants in previous research conducted by the team. Each presenter was given a detailed outline of information to cover and then follow during all sessions. Given that the sessions were interactive and participants could ask questions and make comments, there were some differences among the discussions; however, the educational material was presented uniformly across sessions.AI members of the research team conducted tobacco education sessions throughout regional AI community and cultural events. Throughout the sessions the team relayed information about health consequences of cigarette smoking, environmental tobacco smoke, and third hand smoke. The facts provided were specific and culturally tailored to AI populations and guided by components of the Health Belief Model . HBM conp < 0.01). Participants attending the in-person sessions had more significant partners/spouses who “currently smoke” . Participants in the in-person sessions smoked less days in the prior 30 days  and had been smoking for less years at their current rate  than participants in the tele-video sessions. Participants in the in-person sessions also had lower dependence on nicotine, measured by the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence , but were more likely to use other forms of tobacco . Participants in both groups were similar across other variables (The average age of participants for the in-person session was 32 compared to 41 for tele-video sessions (ariables .(p < 0.01). Further, participants who attended either session demonstrated significant increased confidence to quit smoking (p=0.04 for in-person participants and p < 0.01 for tele-video participants). Knowledge scores of tobacco use and side effects of tobacco usage significantly increased from pre- to post-tests in both in-person (p < 0.01) and tele-video (p < 0.01) sessions.Pre- and post-test data for motivation and confidence to quit, and tobacco knowledge, were collected during both the in-person and tele-video sessions. Similar results were found in both arms. Participants who attended either session demonstrated an increased motivation to quit smoking; this increase was significant among in-person session participants p < 0.01), but not for motivation or confidence. Similarly, overall pre- and post-test score comparisons were significant, including motivation to quit smoking , confidence to quit smoking , and knowledge .Significant differences were found in total knowledge gains pre-test to post-test for in-person participants compared to tele-video participants  after attending one of the education sessions. More than 9 % of the participants who attended an in-person session and 30% of the participants who attended a tele-video session were recruited into ANBL, even though all participants entered the sessions not planning to enroll in a quit smoking program.Results suggest that education sessions theoretically guided by the HBM and community engagement principles were an effective way to inform AI smokers about smoking-related health outcomes and other tobacco facts specific to AI. This strategy also shows promise as a successful recruitment tool for AI programs similar to the All Nations Breath of Life (ANBL) smoking cessation program in the Midwest. While participants in both sessions experienced an increase in knowledge, the in-person sessions showed a greater impact on improved total knowledge. There was a significant increase in motivation and confidence to quit smoking for both sessions. Here, theoretically guided education sessions helped increase motivation and confidence to quit smoking among AI in this sample. This suggests that education sessions based on CBPR principles and guided by constructs of the HBM may be tools to use in recruitment and tailoring specific information. There is utility in applying theoretically driven health education that accounts for individual perceptions and beliefs. This approach may prove beneficial in demystifying interventions and health promotion programs targeted to minority, underserved and vulnerable populations. Here too, CBPR principles where members of AI were involved helped to strengthen recruitment efforts into smoking cessation programs.In this study, the team was able to compare in-person versus tele-video tobacco education sessions to determine which was more successful at 1) improving participants’ tobacco knowledge and motivation to quit smoking, and 2) enrolling participants into the ANBL culturally tailored smoking cessation program. Present findings indicate that age, smoking status of significant partner/spouse, number of children living with a participant, number of days cigarettes were smoked in the past 30 days, years smoked at current smoking rate, nicotine dependence, and recreational use of other tobacco products may be important correlates of whether an individual participated in an in-person or tele-video tobacco education session. It is also possible that recruitment methods or locations for each type of session determined the type of individual to participate in that type of session.Participants from both types of education sessions were recruited into the ANBL smoking cessation program . AI smokers historically have lower quit rates and are less likely to enroll in smoking cessation programs than members of other racial/ethnic groups. Fu and colleagues .Other studies have reported factors that influence the success of study recruitment and retention, such as building rapport  increasiThere were some limitations with the study that included sample selection process and managing recruitment of individuals into education sessions near the closing of the ANBL program. All participants included in the study self-identified as smokers however it is possible that not all participants were smokers. Participants also were recruited for the sessions (in-person vs. tele-video) by team members and were not randomized into sessions. In addition, the participants were recruited throughout the region and thus there may be variation in other AI communities where geographical, historical, and sociocultural characteristics differ. The sample did represent, however, a heterogeneous mix of tribes and localities  and team members conducted purposive recruitment among AI community members to achieve a representative number in both in-person and tele-video sessions. Finally, recruitment for the ANBL effectiveness trial ended before the completion of the planned education sessions. The team chose to finish the scheduled education sessions although recruitment for the ANBL program had ended and offered these individuals an opportunity to participate in future programs. Therefore, it is possible that additional participants could have been recruited into the program. Future studies are needed to further test tobacco education sessions as a recruitment tool and the impact on health behavior . GatheriA major strength of this study was the use of education sessions (both in-person and tele-video) in recruiting for a culturally tailored quit smoking program. This study explored the impact of education sessions on motivation, confidence, knowledge and the utility in recruiting AI into a smoking cessation program. Pinpointing these individual-belief factors among AI members increases the potential to identify motivators and facilitators for smoking cessation behavior and also cues to action. These factors also may help health promoters to innovatively shape education via recruitment processes that lead to increased beneficial health promotion programming among AI populations.


Sarcoidosis is a granulomatous systemic disease of unknown etiology. Mononuclear cells such as macrophages or lymphocytes in lung tissue and hilar or mediastinal lymph nodes have been recognized to play an essential role in granuloma formation in pulmonary sarcoidosis. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) consist of several immunocompetent cells and have been shown to play a mechanistic role in the pathogenesis of sarcoidosis. However, the genetic modifications that occur in bulk PBMCs of sarcoidosis remain to be elucidated.This study aimed to explore the pathobiological markers of sarcoidosis in PBMCs by comparing the transcriptional signature of PBMCs from patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis with those of healthy controls by RNA sequencing.n = 8) and healthy controls (n = 11) from August 2020 to April 2021, and RNA sequencing was performed with the PBMC samples.PBMC samples were collected from subjects with pulmonary sarcoidosis with no steroid/immunosuppressant drugs -1 and IFN-γ, regulation of IL-6 production, IL-8 secretion, regulation of mononuclear cell migration, and response to lipopolysaccharide, were involved. Enrichment analysis of the KEGG pathway indicated the involvement of tumor necrosis factor (TNF), toll-like receptor signaling, IL-17 signaling pathways, phagosomes, and ribosomes. Most of the genes involved in TNF and IL-17 signaling pathways and phagosomes were upregulated, while most of the ribosome-related genes were downregulated.The present study demonstrated that bulk gene expression patterns in PBMCs were different between patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis and healthy controls. The changes in the gene expression pattern of PBMCs could reflect the existence of sarcoidosis lesions and influence granuloma formation in sarcoidosis. These new findings are important to strengthen our understanding of the etiology and pathobiology of sarcoidosis and indicate a potential therapeutic target for sarcoidosis. Granulomas consist of monocyte-derived epithelioid and giant cells encircled by various immune-competent cells such as CD4 + helper T (Th) cells, CD8 T cells, fibroblasts, regulatory T cells, and B lymphocytes -2 and IFN-γ  comprise immunocompetent cells, which are mainly classified into two cell types: monocytes and lymphocytes. Monocytes are defined as CD14in PBMCs , which cal roles . As suchOmics is a recently developed analysis method that encompasses genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, and has already been widely used to understand polygenic and phenotypically diverse diseases. In particular, transcriptomics has also been applied to understand the pathogenesis of sarcoidosis at the levels of PBMCs, monocytes, regulatory T cells, and single cells of PBMCs, to explore specific genetic expressions of mRNAs or microRNAs that might explain disease progression and distinguish it from other diseases , 9.A previous study showed that gene expression in PBMCs was different between sarcoidosis patients and healthy controls ; howeverTherefore, this study aimed to explore the pathobiological significance of PBMCs in sarcoidosis by comparing the transcriptional signature of PBMCs from healthy controls with that from pulmonary sarcoidosis subjects not receiving steroids and/or immunosuppressant drugs.This study was approved by the Human Ethics Committee of Chiba University (protocol number 2083). PBMCs were collected from patients diagnosed with pulmonary sarcoidosis and from healthy controls between August 2020 and April 2021 at Chiba University Hospital. Patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis were diagnosed according to the recommendations of the ATS/ERS/WASOG statement , and allPeripheral blood was collected using a BD Vacutainer CPT Cell Preparation Tube with sodium citrate according to the manufacturer's protocol (#362760) . Briefly, the tubes containing blood were centrifuged at 1,500 rpm at room temperature for 20 min. After centrifugation, the plasma was removed from the uppermost layer. The PBMC layer was transferred to 15 ml conical tubes, washed with PBS twice, followed by the addition of Isogen , and then stored at −80°C.6 PBMCs, and each sample was transferred to 1.0 ml isogen reagent . The solution was vigorously vortexed and incubated at room temperature for 5 min. The solution was then centrifuged after adding chloroform, and the aqueous phase was carefully transferred to a new tube, following which 10 mg glycogen (Life Technologies) was added as a co-precipitant. RNA was precipitated by adding 600 μL of isopropyl alcohol. The RNA pellet was washed once with 75% ethanol and then dissolved in 10 μL RNase-free water. The concentration and quality of the RNA were verified using a Qubit fluorometer (Life Technologies) and an Agilent 2100 bioanalyzer, respectively. Purified total RNA (200 ng) was used for RNA library preparation, according to the instructions of the Quant Seq 3' mRNA-seq library preparation kit FWD for Illumina . The RNA libraries were sequenced on an Illumina NextSeq 500 system with 75-nt-long reads.Total RNA was extracted from 1.0 to 2.0 × 10http://bioinformatics.sdstate.edu/idep92/) and published paper .The present study included two groups: subjects comprising 8 patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis and 11 healthy controls. The subjects' demographics are shown in We prepared RNA-seq libraries from mRNA isolated from the PBMCs of subjects with pulmonary sarcoidosis and healthy controls. The RNA integrity number values of all samples were >8, and 26,472 genes from mRNA were obtained. After additional quality control methods, 18,139 genes were retained as DEGs for further analyses. Next, the count data obtained by RNA-seq were processed and analyzed using iDEP.92.2-fold change and FDR expression levels for the 18,139 genes expressed in these samples by volcano plotting with 270 DEGs (FDR < 0.05 and fold-change > 2 or < 0.5) highlighted in color. PCA enables us to project samples into two-dimensional space . We perfTo explore the pathways that are modulated in PBMCs of pulmonary sarcoidosis compared to that of healthy controls, we performed enrichment analysis  using GSEA . As shown in n = 4) with those of older age (n = 4)  to see if the findings described above become biologically irrelevant. PCA was performed by comparing gene expression patterns between older and younger patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis. The results showed that the two groups appeared to be undifferentiated, as shown in Significant difference in mean age between sarcoidosis and healthy controls was detected . Age is n = 5) with those of males (n = 3) to see if the findings described above become biologically irrelevant. PCA was performed by comparing gene expression patterns between the male and female patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis. The results showed that the two groups appeared to be divided, as shown in Sex difference is also a very important factor that could influence the transcriptional signatures. Therefore, additional transcriptome analysis was performed focusing on gender by comparing the data of females (n = 3) with those having only pulmonary lesion (n = 5) to clarify if differences in transcriptome of PBMCs exist between them. The results of PCA showed that the two groups appeared to be undifferentiated, as shown in Multiorgan involvements were observed in 3 out of 8 pulmonary sarcoidosis patients , therefoIn the present study, transcriptome analysis indicated that gene expression profiles differ in PBMC level between pulmonary sarcoidosis and healthy controls, probably reflecting the pathobiological state with granuloma formation. To our knowledge, the present study revealed, for the first time, the potential difference in gene expression profiles of PBMCs between healthy controls and pulmonary sarcoidosis without the influence of any immunomodulatory drugs such as steroids and/or immunosuppressant drugs. The present gene expression study using heterogeneous cell mixtures lacks insight into cell type-specific immune dysregulation. However, bulk RNA evaluation at the PBMC level could reflect some aspects of the clinical phenotype as a final product of cell-cell interactions among blood immune cells. Of note, changes in transcriptome of lots of mediators and pathways that were reported to be related to sarcoidosis, were detected in PBMC levels.The present study revealed that 270 genes were differentially expressed in PBMCs between subjects with pulmonary sarcoidosis and healthy controls. Enrichment analysis with GO analysis revealed that various biological pathways were enriched such as “Cellular response to IL-1,” “Cellular response to IFN-γ,” “Positive regulation of IL-6,” “IL-8 secretion,” “Mononuclear cell migration,” “Regulation of mononuclear cell migration,” and “Response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS),” all of which are reported to be in relation to granuloma formation in sarcoidosis lesion . In addiFirst, the terms “Cellular response to IL-1,” and “TNF signaling pathway” were listed in this study . In sarcNext, “IL-17 signaling pathway” was listed in this study . IL-17 hThe terms “Response to lipopolysaccharide” and “Toll-like signaling pathway” were listed in this study . LPS is + cytotoxic T cells  and were less likely to develop sarcoid-like granulomas within 5 years of cancer diagnosis   . The eth= 0.006) . Many as= 0.006) . TherefoIn the present study, additional transcriptome sub-analyses were performed to see apparent influence of differences in age, sex, and the lesions, although the sample number in each group was small –S3. The In conclusion, the current study suggests that bulk gene expression patterns in PBMCs are different between healthy controls and patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis. Most of the terms from enrichment analysis in the present study were different from those in a previous study that performed transcriptome analysis of PBMC comparing healthy controls with pulmonary sarcoidosis patients, more than half of whom received anti-inflammatory drugs. The changes in gene expression patterns of PBMCs could reflect the existence of sarcoidosis lesions and have an influence on granuloma formation in sarcoidosis. These new findings are important to strengthen our understanding of the etiology and pathobiology of sarcoidosis and indicate a potential therapeutic target for sarcoidosis.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/, GSE192829.The datasets presented in this study can be found in online repositories. The names of the repository/repositories and accession number(s) can be found below: The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.TK and KT: conceptualization. KY, TK, DI, TI, and MA: data curation. KY, HS, TK, YH, and OO: formal analysis and methodology. KT: funding acquisition. KY, HS, TK, and KT: investigation. TK, KT, and TS: project administration. OO, KT, and TS: supervision. KY and HS: visualization. KY and TK: writing – original draft. TK, OO, KT, and TS: writing – review and editing. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.This research was funded by a research grant from the Intractable Respiratory Diseases and Pulmonary Hypertension Research Group, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan (Grant Number 20FC1027).The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.


Graphene-based composite aerogel (GCA) refers to a solid porous substance formed by graphene or its derivatives, graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO), with inorganic materials and polymers. Because GCA has super-high adsorption, separation, electrical properties, and sensitivity, it has great potential for application in super-strong adsorption and separation materials, long-life fast-charging batteries, and flexible sensing materials. GCA has become a research hotspot, and many research papers and achievements have emerged in recent years. Therefore, the fabrication, structure, performance, and application prospects of GCA are summarized and discussed in this review. Meanwhile, the existing problems and development trends of GCA are also introduced so that more will know about it and be interested in researching it.  Aerogel, a highly porous material with low density and high specific surface area, is obtained by replacing the liquid in wet gel with gas without significantly changing the structure and volume of the gel network. Graphene-based composite aerogel (GCA) is composed of graphene and its derivatives graphene oxide (GO) and reduced GO (rGO) with other matrix materials. Its functions are mainly derived from graphene and its derivatives , while its structure and volume stability are mainly determined by other matrix materials . The resThe preparation principle of GCA includes three key processes: sol, gel, and drying. In the sol-gel process, the reactants are uniformly mixed and reacted in the liquid phase to form clusters of different structures. The sol of graphene-based materials and matrix may be obtained by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), hydrothermal reaction, chemical reduction, and vacuum carbonization . Then coGCA usually consists of graphene-based materials and inorganic 2D nanosheets materials, inorganic nanoparticle materials, synthetic polymers, and natural polymers. 3C2Tx (MXenes), transition metal sulfide (TMD), metal organic framework (MOF), hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), layered double hydroxide (LDH), perovskite and black phosphorus (BP), and other hot materials . Sh. Sh31]. GCA has a porous network structure and low density. Pore structure is closely related to strength, thermal performance, and electrochemical performance. In addition, GCA can uniformly disperse the graphene nanolayers in the matrix in the form of a single layer or a few layers to reduce agglomeration. Different pore diameters of aerogels also affect their density, pore volume, and specific surface area. For example, pore volume is the volume of pores per unit mass of aerogel and is related to the inner and outer diameter. With the same inner diameter, the pore volume decreases along with the increase of the outer diameter, and with the same outer diameter, the larger the inner diameter, the larger the pore volume. Like specific surface area, pore volume is another important factor affecting the surface adsorption and loading properties of aerogels. The structural parameters, including specific surface area, density, and pore size of GCA, are listed in In terms of the morphology of aerogels, GCA can be roughly divided into two categories: porous structure and mesoporous core–shell structure. The common porous structures include honeycomb, microsphere, etc. The local compressibility and elasticity of aerogel honeycomb structure were well studied by density functional theory (DFT) . The hon2 drying. Liu et al. [Microspheres with mesoporous and core–shell structure produced by GCA exhibit greater strength and have wider application. These aerogels can usually be obtained using the sol-gel, blending, or other method to obtain hydrogels, which are then transformed into aerogel by freeze-drying or super-zero boundary COu et al.  preparedCompared with the mesoporous microspheres structure, the core–shell structure is more complicated. Researchers have adjusted the pore structure of GCA aerogels by controlling the freezing temperature and direction of ice crystals formed between graphene layers. In addition, in order to form dense nuclei and sparse filling shells, the freezing temperature gradient is needed to control the nucleation and growth of ice crystals to obtain GCA microspheres with core–shell structure . This unThe pore structure of GCA can be adjusted by controlling the concentration of polymers, inorganic nanomaterials, and graphene nanosheets. The template effects and self-assembly process of graphene-based materials can be used to change the pore structure of aerogels and other materials . In addi3O4, Fe3O4) is easy to recycle [Adsorption properties include physical and chemical adsorption. GCA aerogel’s abilities are connected with the structural design and performance of the material. In terms of structural design, 3D GCA usually has a larger specific surface area, higher porosity, and an interconnected porous structure, which can increase its combination with other functional materials and promote the diffusion of ions and molecules . In addi recycle . Introdu recycle . The adsorption of metal ions requires a large number of oxygen-containing functional groups  on the GO surface combined with positively charged heavy metal ions through electrostatic interactions, or surface complexes to form metal complexes . At the Furthermore, after the design and construction of roughness, the introduction of hydrophobic groups, and the thermal annealing reduction process, GCA was shown to have hydrophobic and lipophilic adsorption properties, which benefited oil–water separation . Using tThe key mechanical properties of GCA include compressive strength and deformation resistance. However, pure graphene aerogel is too weak for practical use. For this reason, various cross-linking agents or structural enhancers are introduced to prepare GCA with high elasticity and mechanical properties . For exaAs shown in −1·K−1, which makes it a suitable filler for the preparation of composites, with excellent thermal properties [The thermal conductivity of graphene is 5000 W·moperties . The inhoperties . Therefooperties  preparedIn short, the introduction of graphene-based materials improves the thermal performance of aerogel and provides a scheme to overcome the problem of energy consumption , which g7–108 S/cm, and makes it possible to prepare GCA with excellent electrical performance [The ultra-high electrical conductivity of graphene is one of its most attractive characteristics, which can reach 10formance . Howeverformance , which w2O3, Co(OH), Co3O4, MnO2, and MoS2 increase the electrical conductivity of GCA. For example, with the hydrothermal method, GCA was obtained by doping nano-Fe2O3 into graphene aerogel, and its specific capacitance was 81.3 F·g−1 at a constant current density of 1 A·g−1 and working potential of −0.8–0.8 V. GCA can also be functionalized by O, N, S, B, etc. [2O3 to produce GCA by form N-CQDs/rGO/Fe2O3 composite, and the preparation process is shown in 2O3 and stable high-conductivity N-CQD/rGO. The proper doping proportion can further improve electrical conductivity [Common metal oxides such as Fe B, etc. . Yun et  B, etc.  doped N uctivity . Yang etuctivity  successf2+. When the GO content in the aerogel was 5 wt%, the adsorption capacity of Pb2+ increased from 68.5 to 100 mg·g−1. The adsorption mechanism of common metal ions Pb2+ and Cu2+ may consist of intergroup coordination and complexation  of the aerogels  determinThe unique porous structure of GCA gives it good flexibility and elasticity, and it has become the preferred material for piezoelectric resistance sensors. In addition, GCA has great application potential in the field of energy storage and sensing, including supercapacitors, lithium batteries, solar cells, and fuel cells, because of its high conductivity, high electrochemical stability, and good mechanical stability . −1; when the stress increased from 0.05 N to 10 N, the response current varied from 0.44–2.89 mA to 10 N, so it could be applied in high-performance stress sensors , which was attributed to the highly conductive 3D multichannel, high charge transfer rate, and efficient transport guaranteed by the close interaction between dopamine and graphene [Furthermore, these materials could also be applied as biosensors to provide a wealth of information for early diagnosis of diseases and prevention of their evolution . Composigraphene . The mulgraphene . The ext2, SnO2, SnO2, TiO2) aerogel and heat-insulating flame-retardant materials, and graphene-based/synthetic polymer aerogel and graphene-/natural sugar-based polymer aerogel used as adsorbents to remove metal ions and dye contaminants in water. This paper reviews the material composition, preparation methods, structural characteristics, properties, and applications of GCA. Here we focus on several types of GCA, including graphene-based/2D nanomaterial (MXenes) aerogel for sensors and supercapacitors, graphene-based/inorganic nanomaterial  of GCA on its mechanical, thermal, and electrochemical properties. At the same time, the commonly used methods for preparing GCA are briefly described, including template method, self-assembly, chemical vapor deposition, 3D printing, and performance improvement strategies . GCA not only makes up for the deficiencies in the mechanical properties of graphene aerogel, but also retains excellent electrical conductivity, good mechanical flexibility, low thermal expansion coefficient, and other physical properties. It meets the special requirements for material properties in new fields, such as environmental purification, sensing, energy storage, biomedicine, heat insulation, and fire protection, and has become a hot spot in the field of graphene research in recent years. However, at present, the preparation method of graphene aerogel is relatively cumbersome, and it is necessary to find a quick preparation method to realize large-scale industrial production, although the chemical exfoliation method described in previous studies can be used to easily prepare graphene and its derivatives on a large scale. This still needs to be optimized to control the structure and size of materials. In terms of well-designed GCA, it is necessary to further explore the relationship between its properties and microstructure and optimize the preparation process parameters. For example, in the previous introduction, the pore structure of the aerogel was adjusted by controlling the formation of ice crystals between graphene sheets, but it is difficult to obtain uniform pore structure due to the existence of a temperature gradient, so it is still a difficult problem to skillfully control the morphology and size distribution of the product. In addition, most of the research has remained in the laboratory stage. Researchers should combine studies with production demand and broaden the scope of application.In summary, the future research direction of GCA will move toward the design and preparation of new graphene derivatives and their composite materials, with multi-dimensionality and better performance. Compared with GCA, it is difficult to use other materials in so many areas, especially energy storage, sensing, and adsorption, which are based on the characteristics of graphene-based and aerogel materials. With the continuous advancement of science and technology, GCA that is more environmentally friendly and has excellent application performance and better structural properties will be prepared in the future, which is both an opportunity and a challenge.


Blastomyces, Coccidioides and Histoplasma). These introns are the most biochemically reactive group II introns ever reported, and they self-splice rapidly under near-physiological conditions without protein cofactors. Moreover, we demonstrated the small molecule targetability of these introns by showing that they can be inhibited by the FDA-approved drug mitoxantrone in vitro. Taken together, our results highlight the utility of structure-based informatic searches for identifying riboregulatory elements in pathogens, revealing a striking diversity of reactive self-splicing introns with great promise as antifungal drug targets.Fungal pathogens represent an expanding global health threat for which treatment options are limited. Self-splicing group II introns have emerged as promising drug targets, but their development has been limited by a lack of information on their distribution and architecture in pathogenic fungi. To meet this challenge, we developed a bioinformatic workflow for scanning sequence data to identify unique RNA structural signatures within group II introns. Using this approach, we discovered a set of ubiquitous introns within thermally dimorphic fungi (genera of  Coccidioides) upon temperature change. It is estimated that three thermally dimorphic fungi endemic in North America  cause >650 000 new infections annually, 50 000 of which are life-threatening  gene leads to potent and selective growth inhibition of this fungus  . These ms fungus .However, it has been difficult to extrapolate and generalize this pharmacological approach because we know little about the location, structures and subtypes of group II introns in therapeutically important fungi. The identification of novel group II introns within pathogen genomes has been hampered by the fact that group II introns do not display extensive sequence conservation. For this reason, conventional group II intron search strategies have focused on identification of reverse-transcriptase (RT) proteins known as ‘maturases’ that are encoded within certain group II intron subtypes . While tHere, we describe an RNA structure-guided approach for discovering novel group II introns in fungal organisms and for defining their functional architecture. This approach has enabled us to discover structurally well-defined, biochemically reactive group II introns in various human pathogenic fungi. Furthermore, we show that these reactive introns are readily inhibited by a small molecule that targets RNA tertiary structure. Our results reveal a diverse and previously invisible intron landscape within human pathogenic fungi, thereby facilitating the future development of group II introns as novel antifungal drug targets for the treatment of severe systemic fungal infections.https://megasun.bch.umontreal.ca/cgi-bin/RNAweasel/RNAweaselInterface.pl) , and the annotations were further subject to manual inspection to validate intron boundaries and flanking gene identity.Reference mitochondrial genomes of human pathogenic fungi were retrieved from NCBI GenBank database  . For mitThe secondary structures were predicted using the mfold webserver  with conB.d.LSU.I1, C.i.LSU.I3 and C.i.SSU.I1 introns, the original intron domain 4 sequence (containing intronic ORF sequence) was reduced to a simple stem-loop capped with UUCG tetraloop  and cloned into the pUCminusMCS vector. For H.c.LSU.I1 intron, pLTS103 for C.i.LSU.I3 intron, pLTS104 for C.i.SSU.I1 intron and pLTS105 for B.d.LSU.I1 intron) were linearized using BamHI (New England Biolabs) to generate the DNA template for in vitro transcription.The plasmids containing the sequences of the intron self-splicing constructs  and 1 mM of UTP along with 50 μCi of [α-32P]-UTP (PerkinElmer) were added for the transcription. The reaction was incubated at 37°C for 1.5 h, followed by purification on a 5% denaturing polyacrylamide gel. The band corresponding to precursor RNA was cut and eluted overnight in a gel elution buffer . The RNA transcripts were ethanol precipitated and resuspended in a RNA storage buffer (6 mM MES-NaOH pH 6.0). The RNA stock solution was aliquoted and stored frozen.Radiolabeled precursor RNA transcripts were prepared using 5 μg of linearized plasmid and T7 RNA polymerase (expressed and purified in-house) in a transcription buffer containing 40 mM Tris-HCl pH 8.0, 10 mM NaCl, 15 mM MgCl4-HEPES pH 7.5 at 90°C for 1 min, followed by incubation at 37°C for 10 min. Monovalent salt stock solution was then added. For reaction with PEG-8000, 50% (w/v) stock solution was also added to the final concentration of 10% (w/v). After incubation at 37°C for 10 min, the splicing reaction was initiated by adding 2 μl of 10× MgCl2 stock solution  to a final volume of 20 μl and incubated at 37°C. To monitor reaction time courses, 1 μl was removed from the reaction mixture at specific time points and quenched by mixing with 2× formamide loading buffer (72% (v/v) formamide, 10% sucrose, 0.2% bromophenol blue dye, 0.2% xylene cyanol dye and 50 mM EDTA) and placing on ice. The timepoint samples were then loaded on to a 5% denaturing polyacrylamide gel to resolve individual bands.For the self-splicing assay, body-labeled precursor RNA  was incubated in 40 mM NH4-HEPES pH 7.5 and 2 mM MgCl2 was used for the assay involving the C.i.LSU.I3 and C.i.SSU.I1 introns and the buffer containing 40 mM NH4-HEPES pH 7.5, 150 mM NH4Cl and 10 mM MgCl2 was used for the H.c.LSU.I1 intron. Total reaction volume was 20 μl and the reaction was incubated 37°C. Time points were taken and analysis was done as aforementioned.For the small molecule inhibition assay, body-labeled intron precursor RNA  was incubated with 2 μl of 10× small molecule stock solution ). The reaction buffer containing 40 mM NHGels containing the separated reaction products were dried and exposed to phosphor screens overnight. The screens were scanned using Typhoon FLA9500 phosphorimager  or Typhoon RGB Biomolecular imager (Cytiva). Individual bands were quantified using ImageQuant 8.2 software . The band intensity was corrected for the uridine content of corresponding species and internally calibrated by calculating the fraction of each species in the reaction.fprecursor is the fraction of precursor, factive is the fraction of actively converting precursor, kobs is the observed rate and finactive is the fraction of non-converting precursor.The precursor depletion time course data were analyzed and plotted using Kaleidagraph 4.5.4 software (Synergy Software). Reactions with monophasic kinetic behavior were fitted into Equation .(1)\docufprecursor is the fraction of precursor, ffast is the fraction of fast converting precursor, kfast is the observed rate of fast converting precursor, fslow is the fraction of slowly converting precursor and kslow is the observed rate of slowly converting precursorReactions with biphasic kinetics were fitted into Equation .(2)\docuAll reaction time courses were performed in triplicates and error bars in the kinetic plots were reported as standard errors of the mean (S.E.M.).Ki value for small molecule inhibition, the observed rate constant (kobs) was obtained from the precursor depletion time course, plotted against small molecule concentration and fitted to the noncompetitive inhibition model  and dematiaceous fungi   . The intronic ORF location was also found to be variable, as it was located in D4 for the first mtSSU  intron in C. immitis (C.i.SSU.I1) and in D3 for the second mtSSU intron (C.i.SSU.I2).Having established the intron mining workflow, we then employed it to probe the presence of novel group II introns within the reference mitochondrial genomes of important human pathogenic fungi . In addientified ,15, we ua) Table . Howevera) Table  and therrasitica . Thereforasitica . The GC equence) ,27. MoreH. capsulatum. In the African strain , the intron is ORF-less while in the North American strain , the intron contains the ORF encoding for LHE . By contrast, the SSU introns have two insertion sites  and represent a unique lineage lacking the IBS2–EBS2 interaction, as previously noticed in other fungi  and the two introns from C. immitis represent the LSU and SSU intron lineage respectively. Hence, we selected them for downstream in vitro biochemical characterization.Four introns, namely in vitro. Self-splicing precursor molecules were designed and synthesized from DNA templates using T7 RNA polymerase. After purification and isolation by electrophoresis, these precursor molecules were subject to the pilot self-splicing assay to evaluate the magnesium ion dependence of self-splicing  for further investigation. The B.d.LSU.I2 intron was not subject to additional biochemical characterization as it has high degree of sequence similarity and demonstrates nearly identical biochemical behavior to the H.c.LSU.I1 intron, which is line with the close phylogenetic distance between H. capsulatum and B. dermatitidis  and 10% PEG-8000  at 37°C. The magnesium ion concentration was titrated from 0 to 5 mM . As a comparison, the observed rate constant of DEAD-box helicase Mss116-promoted ai5γ (LE) intron splicing is 0.052 ± 0.0059 min–1   , which iin vitro biochemical reactions are typically performed in a highly diluted solution environment devoid of those factors. To recapitulate the in vivo reaction conditions, crowding agents such as PEG (polyethylene glycerol) have been employed . The precursor depletion time courses . PEGs with shorter length, such as PEG-2000 and PEG-4000, can also promote the efficiency of self-splicing (H.c.LSU.I1 intron precursor RNA with and without PEG-8000 (C.i.LSU.I3 and C.i.SSU.I1 introns achieves 2.00 ± 0.22 min–1 and 2.94 ± 0.18 min–1 (fast species rate), respectively, in the presence of PEG-8000. To the best of our knowledge, these are the fastest rate constants ever observed for a group II intron self-splicing reaction, and it underscores the importance of stable folding and molecular crowding in promoting catalytic efficiency of group II introns.We then examined the effect of crowding agent PEG-8000 on the self-splicing kinetics. Unlike a cellular environment containing osmolytes and macromolecules that affect RNA folding , many inemployed ,35. One ribozyme , so we ss Figure –C revealsplicing  but to aPEG-8000 . Little 4-HEPES pH 7.5 buffer with no additional ammonium salt), self-splicing of C.i.LSU.I3 and C.i.SSU.I1 introns occurs even under conditions of sub-millimolar magnesium ion  were determined to be 0.64 ± 0.08 μM, 0.18 ± 0.03 μM and 0.15 ± 0.01 μM for the H.c.LSU.I1, C.i.LSU.I3 and C.i.SSU.I1 introns, respectively , as it might serve as a selection pressure against intron degeneration or loss. It is known that group II introns can act as temperature sensors for post-transcriptional response to temperature cues (In addition to a possible role in host adaption, it is interesting to postulate the potential involvement of group II intron splicing in the mitochondrial regulatory network of thermally dimorphic fungi that are endemic in North America (ure cues ,47. Thesin vitro and in murine infection models (From a therapeutic perspective, targeting fungal mitochondrial function has become a promising new paradigm in the development of antifungal drugs. A clinical stage mitochondrial functional inhibitor, T-2307, displays potent inhibitory activity against a wide array of pathogenic fungi both n models ,49. In pn models . Here weCryptococcus contains an intein within its central spliceosomal protein Prp8 and small molecules inhibiting specific intein splicing might lead to potent anti-Cryptococcus activity (Beyond autocatalytic introns, the targeting of other selfish genetic elements also emerges as a new concept in the continuous fight against microbial human pathogens. For example, the fungal pathogen activity ,52. TakeAll data are available in the main text or the supplementary materials. Additional data related to this paper may be requested from the corresponding author.gkab1077_Supplemental_FilesClick here for additional data file.


Tearful/sad and Talked spontaneously, and a significant increase in the items Enjoying self, active or alert, and Relaxed, content or sleeping appropriately. Interact scores during the sessions reflected a significant decrease in the speech-related items. Both physiological parameters changed positively from before to after sessions. Our results suggest that BLT provides immediate positive effects on mood, stimulation level, and physiological parameters, as well as a trend toward decreased speech. More robust research is needed to further explore the immediate impact of BLT. This study is registered with Clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04949984).Bright light therapy (BLT) has demonstrated positive short- and long-term effects in people with cognitive impairment or dementia; however, the immediate impact of BLT sessions has been scarcely investigated. In this study, we aimed to explore the immediate effects of BLT on behavior, mood, and physiological parameters (oxygen saturation/heart rate) in a sample of institutionalized older adults with moderate to very severe dementia, with a median age of 85.0 , being higher in men  than in women . The BLT protocol consisted of 30-min morning sessions of 10,000 lux, Monday through Friday, for 4 weeks. The physiological parameters were recorded immediately before and after each session by pulse oximetry. Mood and behavior were assessed before, after, and during the sessions using the Interact scale. Post-session Interact scores showed a significant decrease in the items  Dementia is one of the main causes of disability and dependence among older adults worldwide, constituting a public health priority due to its significant human and financial costs to society . OxidatiTreatment development for BPSD includes both pharmacological and nonpharmacological therapies. In clinical settings, pharmacological agents are frequently used in the management of these symptoms but show modest efficacy and significant serious side-effects ,14, inclIn this study, we focus on bright light therapy (BLT). This therapy consists of the controlled application of certain levels of light that can be administered in different ways, including outdoor sunlight, light boxes, light visors worn on the head, ceiling lights, or dawn-dusk simulation . BLT is This study was designed as a randomized controlled trial. Participants were stratified according to their cognitive status and were subsequently randomly assigned to the experimental group (BLT) or control group. In the analysis and exploitation of results, we only considered the response of the BLT group with regard to the stated objective since the control group did not undergo the intervention needed to complete Interact assessment during the study.n = 64, with a mean age of 88.4 ± 8.0 years and a median age of 89.0 ); 29.7% were men, with a mean age of 88.5 ± 9.4 years and a median age of 91.0 , and 70.3% were women, with a mean age of 88.4 ± 7.5 years and a median age of 88.0 . To delimit the sample, before the recruitment process, inclusion and exclusion criteria were established according to the existing literature. As inclusion criteria, participants were required to satisfy the conditions of being 65 years or older, diagnosed with dementia, scoring ≥4 points on the global deterioration scale (GDS) [Participants were recruited from among the residents of a gerontological complex specializing in dementia (78.7% with cognitive impairment) and located in A Coruña, Spain. The gerontological complex has 70 older people in a day care-setting and 64 institutionalized older people in a nursing home. We selected all institutionalized participants (le (GDS) , and havle (GDS) , individle (GDS) .The research protocol (code 2017/408) received favorable authorization from the Galician Research Ethics Committee of Xunta de Galicia, Spain, and was developed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The participants and their legal guardians were informed about the study and signed the corresponding informed consent. All the information transmitted was adapted to the level of comprehension of the participants to facilitate their understanding and comfort throughout the study.The study was retrospectively registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04949984) on 2 July 2021. The study protocol was based on the implementation guidelines that we described in a recent review . The BLTIn every session, the researchers supervised the participants to ensure full compliance with the treatment and evaluated the physiological parameters, mood, and behavior of the participants. Once in the room, the investigators measured the heart rate (beats per minute) and blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) of each participant using a mobile finger pulse oximeter before and after the session.Mood and behavior were assessed during the sessions and in the 10 min periods immediately before and after each session using the Interact scale  and its p < 0.05. The normal distribution of the variables was tested using the Shapiro–Wilk test. For subsequent analyses, we applied parametric or nonparametric tests depending on whether the assumption of normality was met or not for each measured variable. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test or paired t-test were employed to measure significant changes between the Interact short scores before and after the intervention sessions for each of the assessed mood and behavior items. Likewise, these same tests were used to analyze the evolution of the Interact during scores by comparing the average scores of the first week with those of the fourth week. In addition, the evolution of mood and behavior scores throughout the four weeks of treatment was analyzed with the Friedman test for related samples. The paired t-test was also used to determine the existence of any differences between before and after the sessions in the physiological parameters investigated. In the variables in which statistically significant differences were found, Cohen’s d or r values were used to report the effect size (ES) of these changes. The interpretation of the importance of the ES was made according to the benchmarks defined by Cohen [All data were analyzed using the SPSS statistical software package (version 26.0)  and statistical significance was set at by Cohen  as folloAfter applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, the total sample was reduced from 64 to 39 institutionalized older people (20 participants assigned to the control group and 19 to the BLT group). Tearful/sad item (p = 0.044) with a medium effect size (r = −0.32). The results of the paired t-test showed significant changes in the score of the Talked spontaneously item (p = 0.035) with a medium effect size (d = 0.52). Moreover, two items of the Stimulation level construct showed a significant increase in scores: Enjoying self, active or alert (p = 0.034) and Relaxed, content or sleeping appropriately (p = 0.001), with medium (d = −0.52) and large (d = −0.94) effect sizes, respectively.Significant effects were detected between before and after the intervention sessions in 4 of the 12 items evaluated in the Interact short see . The resComments or questions about activities/objects item of the Relating to the environment construct. The results did not differ when analyzing the evolution of the four weeks versus the evolution between only the first and last week, with the same variables being significant in both comparisons.To analyze the significance of the changes in the evolution of behavioral and psychological symptoms during the sessions, a comparison was made between the mean/median scores of the Interact during items of the four weeks of intervention. As can be seen in Regarding the type of experience felt by the participants during the sessions, the evaluators recorded most of the sessions as leisure (32.98%), followed by relaxing (34.23%), stimulating (23.35), arousing curiosity (16.18%), and improving communication (6.43%). The researchers only perceived 6.32% of the sessions as unpleasant for the participants.p < 0.001, p < 0.001, There were significant changes between before and after the sessions in both physiological parameters see . ParticiThe purpose of this study was to examine the immediate effects of a four-week BLT intervention program on the behavior, mood, oxygen saturation, and heart rate of institutionalized older patients with moderate to very severe dementia. The main results revealed promising evidence of the benefits of BLT on specific aspects of mood and behavior in participants both during and after the sessions, as well as positive effects on the physiological parameters analyzed.As previously stated, mood and behavior were assessed using the Interact scale . AlthougTearful/sad and Talked spontaneously, and, on the other hand, a significant change in their stimulation level—specifically in the items Enjoying self, active or alert, and Relaxed, content or sleeping appropriately. Therefore, participants were less sad and less spontaneously talkative immediately after BLT sessions, which in turn could be related to the fact that they were also more relaxed, content, or sleeping appropriately. Concurring with some of these findings, other authors [The Interact short scores obtained by the participants before and after BLT sessions revealed, on the one hand, a significant decrease in the items of  authors  investig authors ,36,37, wMaking comments or asking questions about the activity item, which makes sense due to the habituation of the participants to the intervention program as it progressed. Scores on the Interact during also reflected that as the weeks of intervention progressed, the participants talked less clearly, sensibly, and spontaneously and with shorter sentences, i.e., an overall decrease in speech during the sessions. These results may also be linked to the lower post-session scores on the Talked spontaneously item of the Interact short. None of the existing studies on BLT in the literature address the immediate effects that occur within sessions, so we cannot discuss our results from the perspective of previous studies.The Interact during showed a significant decrease in the score of the Regarding physiological parameters, the measurements showed positive changes between before and after the sessions in the two analyzed parameters, with a significant increase in mean SpO2 and a significant reduction in mean heart rate. These changes may be related to the fact that participants were more relaxed, as shown by the Interact scores, since these biological responses are considered physiological indicators of a relaxation response ,39. ConsTo the best of our knowledge, the immediate impact of BLT sessions on mood and behavior has been virtually unexamined previously, so the present study provides novel and relevant data for clinical practice. However, the results of this work should be regarded as preliminary and interpreted with caution due to certain existing limitations. This study is one part of a larger and more comprehensive BLT investigation. The current study only analyzed the immediate effects during and after BLT sessions, and the long-term effects should be further established. Therefore, these limitations stem mainly from the small sample size and the use of a single-arm intervention with no control group, both of which limit the generalizability of the results found. Additionally, mood and behavior were measured based on the observations of unblinded researchers, which may have resulted in researcher bias. Future research should address these limitations by employing a double-blind design in controlled studies with larger sample sizes. Another physiological parameter (determination of blood pressure at least three times during the sessions) could also be used to further assess the impact of bright light therapy.The results of the present study suggest that a bright light therapy intervention program of 30-min sessions provides promising outcomes and immediate positive effects on mood, stimulation level, blood oxygen saturation, and heart rate. On the other hand, there was a tendency for a decrease in speech both during and after the intervention sessions. Further research is needed to strengthen these findings and to explore in depth the possible immediate effects of BLT.


The synergistic effect of oxygen vacancy as the center of a trap and p–n heterojunction forming an electric potential field at the interface is explained, and the mechanism of improving photocatalysis and gas sensitivity is analyzed. This work will provide an innovative vision for dual-performance oxygen vacancy modification of heterojunctions through photocatalysis.In this paper, ZnO/NiO composites rich in oxygen vacancies are prepared by the solvothermal method and reduction method. In the test, through the use of X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), we effectively prove the existence of phase, morphology and oxygen vacancies in the material. Through the photocatalysis test and gas sensitivity test, it is found that 10% Ni doped OZN-10 has the best photocatalytic activity and gas sensitivity characteristics. The degradation rate of methylene blue (MB) was 98%. The gas sensitivity test shows that OZN-10 has good selectivity, good response performance  and excellent response recovery time  for saturated NH Nanoparticles have attracted much attention because of their versatility, which can be used for photoelectric sensing, photocatalysis and gas sensor. Due to their large surface-to-volume ratio ,2,3,4, t5O2I/ZnO n–n heterojunction formed by calcination, which expanded the light response to the visible region and improved the separation efficiency of electron–hole pairs [2O nanoparticles and ZnO nanorods on the nickel foam (AZN) by combining hydrothermal and precipitation methods, successfully constructed three-dimensional mesh composites, and evaluated their photocatalytic performance under simulated sunlight. A series of photochemical test results show that the charge separation efficiency of AZN is significantly improved, which is attributed to the synergistic effect of direct Z-type heterojunction, matched band structure and three-dimensional porous structure [ZnO is an N-type semiconductor with a band gap of 3.37 eV. Therefore, it acts as a photocatalyst under UV irradiation ,7,8,9. Ile pairs . Song ettructure .O) and zinc (VZn) vacancies deserve special attention for a variety of reasons. First, they are considered to be the defects with the lowest formation energy in ZnO, so their presence in ZnO is likely and observable [−2 to produce superoxide radicals, which can oxidize NO to the final product nitrate [2 and ZnO effectively amplified the resistance changes caused by oxygen adsorption changes. Two-dimensional (2D) porous structures also play an important role in excellent sensing performance due to excellent electron transport capacity and abundant gas diffusion channels [Among the various defects observed in ZnO, oxygen , nickel nitrate hexahydrate (Ni(NO3)2·6H2O), caustic potash (KOH), ethanol, sodium borohydride, tert-butanol, isopropanol, and potassium iodide were obtained from the Macklin company .Ethylene glycol (EG), zinc acetate dihydrate (Zn(Ac)2 at a heating rate of 5 °C/min at 400 °C for 70 min. Then, the calcined powder was added to 1000 mL of deionized water. It was stirred well to dissolve the unreacted sodium borohydride and by-products. Finally, the precipitate was centrifuged, washed, and dried at 60 °C under vacuum to obtain OZN-5, OZN-10, and OZN-15. Afterwards, pure ZnO samples were prepared under the same conditions.The synthesis of nanosized oxygen vacancy zinc oxide/nickel oxide spherical particles is based on a previously reported modification strategy with ulterior motives. The specific synthesis process is shown in 2) and was used as the light source to test the photocatalytic activity of the prepared photocatalyst to decompose MB in XPA-7 photochemical reactor. A photoelectric integrated test platform was used to test the gas sensitivity performance . As shown in 2O2. Through the conversion of ppm and mass fraction, a certain amount of saturated liquid was injected into a 500 mL conical bottle and put into a drying oven for natural volatilization until complete, and then the bottle was removed. Both ends of the electrode piece were clamped with an electrode clamp, and the performance of the electrode piece at room temperature and standard atmospheric pressure was tested by the CGS-MT instrument, a rubber plug was used to maintain a high concentration of 3000 ppm in the conical bottle. The electrode was quickly inserted into the bottle for response recovery test and the change of the current resistance of the sample was observed.The morphological characteristics of the object were observed by scanning electron microscope ; a photoluminescence (PL) spectrometer  was used to judge the electron directional movement and electron-hole recombination; a transmission electron microscope  was used to determine the sample morphology, sample phase and sample 7 diffraction pattern; X-ray diffractometry  was used for the analysis of the sample phase; a UV-visible spectrophotometer  was used for liquid and solid UV analysis; and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy  was used for elemental and valence band analysis. EPR strength was measured using an electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometer . Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was measured by ZAHNER-Im6ex  electrochemical workstation. The workstation adopts a three-electrode mode with 1m KOH solution as electrolyte, Ag/AgCl as reference electrode, sample as working electrode and platinum as counter electrode. Photocurrent was measured using a three-electrode system, electrochemical workstation  and xenon lamp . The photocatalytic workstation is equipped with a 350 W xenon lamp , (203) and (103), while the 2 inner rings are mainly characteristic crystal planes of nickel oxide (200) and (111). The above analysis confirmed the successful synthesis of nano-ZnO/NiO particle structure.3/2 and Zn 2p1/2, which are consistent with the state of Zn2+ in ZnO. We observed the strongest Zn 2p peak in pure ZnO, and the addition of nickel led to the weakening of the Zn 2p peak. It may be caused by the partial NiO covering on ZnO nanoparticles. In 3/2 852.87 eV indicates the presence of Ni3+. The remaining peaks indicate the presence of Ni2+, and the comparison between ZN and OZN shows that Ni3+ is also reduced to Ni2+ after the reduction in NaBH4. Compared with the Ni 2p peaks (2p3/2 and 2p1/2) of ZN nanoparticles, the Ni 2p peaks of OZN move towards the lower binding energy, which is about 0.6 eV. Traditionally, binding energy shifts in XPS spectra have been explained by two mechanisms: different electronegativity of metal ions and strong interactions between nanocrystals. The electronegativity of Ni2+ is about 1.91, which is about 0.26 than that of Zn2+. Ni2+ can absorb electrons from Zn2+, so the shielding effect of electrons on Zn2+ is reduced, but the shielding effect on Ni2+ is increased [O or VZn in the ZnO lattice accompanied by the doping of metal ions. The free competitive growth pattern of Zn–O and Ni–O bonds at the Zn–O–Ni interface leads to a large number of oxygen vacancies, and the lattice perturbation and reconstruction are induced by doping. In addition, the ionic radii of zinc and nickel are different, and the addition of Ni to ZnO nanoparticles leads to the destruction of the local equilibrium of the crystal structure. This causes an increase in internal stress in the main lattice, and in order to release the stress, oxygen vacancies need to be formed. In OZN-10, the strongly reductive NaBH4 was calcined in an N2 atmosphere. Compared with the previous two figures, we successfully introduced a large number of oxygen vacancies in ZnO/NiO. These data are in good agreement with previous reports on ZnO. Oxygen vacancies are introduced to the surface at high temperatures, hypoxia and reductive materials.The chemical composition and elemental states of pure ZnO, ZN-10 and OZN-10 samples were measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). ZN-10 and OZN-10 samples showed the presence of Zn, O, Ni and C in the whole XPS spectrum, and no other elements were found. The presence of component C is mainly attributed to its absorption in the atmosphere before XPS measurement. Zn 2p, O 1s, and Ni 2p in the high-resolution XPS are shown in ncreased . Thus, tncreased . As can αhv)2 = A(hv − Eg), with which the bandgap energy (Eg) is calculated, where α, hv and A are absorption coefficients, photon energy and constants. Therefore, the calculated band gaps of pure ZnO, ZN-5, ZN-10, ZN-15, OZN-5, OZN-10 and OZN-15 are 3.21, 3.18, 3.12, 3.17, 3.07, 2.88 and 2.92 eV, respectively. The order of band gap is consistent with the previous analysis; the band gap of OZN series is smaller than that of ZN series, and the introduction of oxygen vacancy is beneficial to enhance the light absorption [Diffuse ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy is used to study the optical adsorption performance of ZnO samples, and the corresponding spectra are shown in sorption . The add2+ doping, the emission of ZN and OZN is greatly inhibited. It is possible to increase the electron transfer rate between ZnO nanoparticles and Ni2+, thereby improving the interface interaction between them. Thus, the Ni2+ and oxygen defects inhibit electron–hole pair recombination and accelerate electron transfer.Photoluminescence spectroscopy is an effective method to study the electronic structure and optical properties of semiconductor nanomaterials. It can reveal the structural properties of materials, such as surface oxygen vacancy and defect, surface states, and separation and recombination of photogenerated carriers, thus providing a strong basis for the development and preparation of high-performance semiconductor functional materials. In 0) × 100%, where C0 is the initial MB concentration and absorbance before illumination, respectively, and C is the MB concentration and absorbance at t (min) after illumination, respectively. 0) = kt, where t is time (min). The rate constants k of pure ZnO, ZN-5, ZN-10, ZN-15, OZN-5, OZN-10 and OZN-15 are 0.22 × 10−2, 0.56 × 10−2, 0.67 × 10−2, 0.55 × 10−2, 0.65 × 10−2, 1.2 × 10−2, 0.8 × 10−2, respectively, and the reaction rate with OZN-10 was 1.2 × 10−2 min−1, which was about six times that of pure ZnO sample. The linear relationship confirmed that the photocatalytic behavior of MB was completely consistent with the quasi-first-order kinetics under these reaction conditions. This enhanced ability is attributed to the reduction in the recombination ability of electron hole pairs due to the potential plant of heterojunction generation. Additionally, it can be attributed to the narrow band gap extending the light response to the visible region. OZN has a small particle size in its structure, which can provide a large reaction space and numerous active sites. Because of the formation of surface oxygen vacancy defects, it has a good electron hole separation efficiency and long excitation life.Pure ZnO, ZN-5, ZN-10, ZN-15, OZN-5, OZN-10, and OZN-15 nanoparticles were used to degrade MB dye in order to evaluate the photocatalytic performance of the prepared ZN series and OZN series catalysts. We prepared 30 mg/L methylene blue solution and added 10 mg photocatalyst to it for reaction. The photodegradation rate was calculated by using the equation: D(%) =  and OH−/•OH (1.99 eV NHE), it can be concluded that the valence band potential of OZN-10 can cause H2O or OH− to produce •OH. On the other hand, the valence band conduction potential of OZN-10 is −0.23 eV, which is positive than O2/•O2− (−0.33 eV NHE), so •O2− cannot be formed, but is negative than O2/H2O2 (+0.69 eV NHE), so the reaction can be carried out. Under the excitation of visible light, H2O or OH− in the liquid produces •OH, and O2 reacts to generate H2O2 [2− and h+ were captured by isopropanol (IPA), p-benzoquinone (BQ) and potassium iodide (KI), respectively. After the addition of scavengers in the photocatalytic reaction system, the photodegradation rate of MB of KI and IPA decreased most evidently, and the photocatalytic activity of OZN-10 was inhibited. As it can be seen from the figure, the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of MB decreased by about 90% when holes and captured, indicating that holes and •OH are the main free radical substances in OZN-10 system, which matches the chemical potential analysis.According to the tangent line of data line obtained in ate H2O2 . Such do2−, which is very helpful in the depolymerization of intermediates into valuable products due to its moderate redox potential. On the other hand, because photoelectrons are captured effectively, electrons and holes are separated effectively. At the same time, the photogenic hole reacts with OH− in the solution to form •OH. Because •OH exhibits a high oxidation potential, it cannot selectively oxidize MB to intermediates and further oxidize to CO2 and H2O. In addition, photogenic holes can also oxidize MB directly into intermediates and further oxidize CO2. On the other hand, the introduction of oxygen vacancies not only improves the separation efficiency of optical carriers as trap centers, but also produces defect-related states near the valence band, resulting in a narrower band gap and enhanced light absorption. In fact, the doping of Ni2+ and the appropriate oxygen vacancy concentration promote the production of •O2− to a certain extent [2 and H2O [Based on the above discussion and previous studies, the degradation mechanism of MB by OZN-10 photocatalyst is shown in n extent . It is g and H2O . It is a3 gas was accurately measured at room temperature and standard atmospheric pressure to explore the role of oxygen vacancy and NiO doping, as shown in 2O2, were tested to explore the selectivity of the sensor. As shown in 3 is low, which is 0.2% of the response of saturated NH3. This can be attributed to the similar characteristics of the electrons of NH3. The other mentioned systems can be ignored and hardly affect the detection of NH3. OZN-10 showed good selectivity for ammonia gas. VO acts as the preferred adsorption site for NH3 molecules. It causes the extraction or capture of electrons from the conduction band, resulting in a change in resistivity. The more oxygen vacancies are produced, the more sensitive the gas is, because a higher concentration of NH3 molecules can be adsorbed. Oxygen vacancies provide additional electrons to participate in the response and recovery process, thus improving the adsorption of ZnO to gas molecules. Moreover, the formation of a p–n heterojunction at the interface between n-type ZnO and p-type NiO plays an important role in improving the performance. Due to the difference in band gap and Fermi level between the p-type NiO and n-type ZnO, they form a p–n heterojunction at the interface through charge carrier transport, thus increasing the barrier height and generating an additional depletion region [In order to prove that adding NiO and oxygen vacancy into ZnO nanoparticles is an effective method to enhance the gas sensitivity of ZnO-based gas sensors, the gas sensitivity of pure ZnO, ZN-10, OZN-10 and OZN-15 sensors were tested. Surveys were conducted separately. The sensor response to saturated NHn region . As a re3 were also found through gas sensitivity tests. The adopted synthesis strategy opens up interesting perspectives for the design of a p–n heterojunction and oxygen vacancy composite nanostructures for different types of applications, from selective sensor devices to high-performance photocatalysts.In conclusion, ZnO/NiO nanoparticles containing oxygen vacancy defects were prepared by the solvothermal reduction and high temperature reduction. The small particle size and large specific surface area of nanoparticles can greatly improve their optical, photocatalytic and gas sensitive properties. OZN-10 showed excellent photocatalytic performance driven by solar energy and almost completely degraded methylene blue. The degradation efficiency of OZN-10 is the highest among all the analyzed samples, and the amount of degradation within the same time is about twice of that of pure ZnO, which is related to the heterojunction structure and surface oxygen vacancy defects of OZN-10. In addition, the good response and selectivity of the material to NH


The underlying mechanism for the abnormal electrical performance was further demonstrated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) detection and first-principles calculations. The analysis found that chemical bonds were formed between the oxide (O) of amorphous ZnO and the carbon (C) of graphene and that the transfer of the π electrons was restricted by C=O and C-O-C bonds. Given the above, this study further clarifies the mechanism affecting the photoelectric properties of amorphous composite films.Research on the preparation and performance of graphene composite materials has become a hotspot due to the excellent electrical and mechanical properties of graphene. Among such composite materials, zinc oxide/graphene (ZnO/graphene) composite films are an active research topic. Therefore, in this study, we used the vacuum thermal evaporation technique at different evaporation voltages to fabricate an amorphous ZnO/graphene composite film on a flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The amorphous ZnO/graphene composite film inherited the great transparency of the graphene within the visible spectrum. Moreover, its electrical properties were better than those of pure ZnO but less than those of graphene, which is not consistent with the original theoretical research (wherein the performance of the composite films was better than that of ZnO film and slightly lower than that of graphene). For example, the bulk free charge carrier concentrations of the composite films (0.13, 1.36, and 0.47 × 10 Zinc oxide (ZnO) films underpin the development of solar cells ,2, gas sThe properties of ZnO/graphene composite films are different from those of the individual constituent materials. Experimental studies have been conducted on graphene composites with ZnO nanoparticles or nanorods ,28,29,30To understand the underlying mechanism of performance change, some scholars have studied crystalline ZnO/graphene via density functional theory (DFT). The results showed that by changing the layer spacing of ZnO/graphene, the carrier mobility of the system could be modulated , and theMost studies have focused on crystalline ZnO/graphene composite films, but amorphous ZnO/graphene composite films remain to be explored. Thus, there is the question as to whether an amorphous ZnO/graphene composite film would retain the high transparency and conductivity of graphene. In this work, through the vacuum thermal evaporation technique, an amorphous ZnO layer was deposited onto graphene/PET to form an ultrathin flexible composite film. There are many ways to prepare composite ZnO/graphene films. The cost of magnetron sputtering technology is high, the efficiency of chemical vapor deposition is low, and wastewater treatment by electrochemical plating is difficult and pollutes the environment. However, the vacuum thermal evaporation method has the advantages of low cost, fast evaporation rate, and environmental friendliness. Therefore, the evaporation method is the best choice .After preparation, we carried out relevant detection techniques and the optical and electrical properties of the amorphous ZnO/graphene composite film were characterized to clarify the unexpected results, i.e., the significantly lower electrical properties of the composite films compared with those of the graphene sheet. The interfacial chemical effect of amorphous ZnO/graphene was investigated and analyzed via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and DFT calculations.−1 and 90%, respectively. Zinc oxide powder  was purchased from Shanghai Aladdin Biochemical Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China.Graphene/PET composite film was purchased from 2D Carbon Graphene Material Co., Ltd., Changzhou, China . Double-layer graphene was grown via the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of graphene on a PET substrate with 125 μm thickness. The sheet resistance and visible transparency of the graphene/PET were 157 Ω·sq−4 Pa at room temperature. Zinc oxide powder was placed onto a tungsten (W) boat, which was 160 mm below the substrate. Amorphous ZnO layers with different thicknesses of 40, 75, and 160 nm were thermally evaporated under different evaporation voltages , i.e., the voltage applied on the tungsten boat as a heating source, and the rate of voltage increase was 5 V/min. A schematic diagram of the parallel resistance of amorphous ZnO/graphene composite film and the technological parameter graph of the deposition process are shown in The fresh graphene/PET flexible substrate was transferred into the vacuum chamber for ultrathin ZnO layer evaporation at a pressure of 8 × 102 samples in a square shape. The electrical properties of the composite films were measured using a HALL 8800 Hall-effect measurement device, which was carried out in four-point mode with gold electrodes by DC voltage in a 4800-gauss magnetic field. The transmittance of composite films was measured using a CARY 5000 UV–VIS–NIR spectrometer in the wavelength region of 175–3300 nm (test coverage: 200–800 nm).The samples were cut into 10 × 10 mm+ sputtering gun at 1 kV with an etching rate of 3 nm/min for standard SiO2.The thicknesses of the ZnO layers were measured using a KLA-Tencor Alpha-Step D-100 profilometer at a speed of 0.03 mm/s and stylus force of 0.03 mg. The roughness of the substrate was measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM CSPM5500), and the roughness was analyzed using Imager software. The samples were scanned in contact mode using a Tap300Al-G probe under ambient atmosphere. The surface morphologies of the film were obtained using a SIGMA high-definition field-emission scanning electron microscope, which was operated at 15 kV. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the composite film were recorded using an X’Pert powder X-ray diffractometer with monochromatized Cu Kα radiation. The tube was operated at a scanning speed of 0.05°/s from 20° to 60°. The structures of graphene and ZnO/graphene composite film were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) at 200 kV. The TEM samples were prepared by scratching the ZnO and graphene layers and placing the minimal debris onto amorphous carbon-coated cooper grids. The element distribution and the interfacial chemical bonds were analyzed via a PHI Quantera SXM scanning photoelectron spectrometer, using an ArThe Vienna ab initio simulation package (VASP) code was used to calculate the electron localization function (ELFCAR) of the interfacial models of amorphous ZnO and graphene. In VASP, the interactions of electrons and ions were described by their projector-augmented wave (PAW) potentials. The generalized gradient approximation parametrized by Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof was used for the electron exchange–correction function.6 was obtained after structural optimization. Similar models have been mentioned in other studies [In this study, the initial structures of the amorphous ZnO/graphene interface model were investigated. A cluster model of (ZnO)n was selected to represent the amorphous ZnO model. To better match the (ZnO)n clusters and graphene, n was chosen to be 6, so that the model had 6 Zn atoms and 6 O atoms. The cluster model of (ZnO) studies ,42,43.104s2, O 2s2p4, and C 2s22p2.The structure of crystalline ZnO (2 × 2 × 1) was obtained from the Materials Project database, with code number 2133; the crystalline ZnO had a P63mc space group symmetry. The structure of graphene (2 × 2) was obtained from the Materials Project database, with the code number 990448; the graphene had a P6/mmm space group symmetry. The valence electron configurations were Zn 3dThe two interface models were established. −5 eV, and the width of the Gaussian smearing was 0.05 eV. A Monkhorst-Pack 5 × 5 × 5 k-point mesh was used for the Brillouin zone integration to compute the electron localization function.The cut-off energy in this calculation was 500 eV. The convergence threshold for self-consistent-field iteration was set at 10The surface morphological structures of the bare graphene and amorphous ZnO/graphene composite films are displayed in It is worth mentioning that the range of ZnO particle sizes of the film with 40 nm thickness was from 10 nm to over 50 nm. The roughnesses of the graphene and the films with thickness of 40, 75, and 160 nm were 5, 46, 49, and 77 nm, respectively. This proved that the ZnO film with 40 nm thickness was un-continuous. The ZnO films with thicknesses of 75 nm and 160 nm were dense and continuous.The phase structures of the bare graphene and ZnO/graphene composite film were characterized by XRD, and the results are shown in From the X-ray diffractometer (XRD) patterns a, the inIn addition, there is no (002) diffraction peak at 34.40° in The transparent spectra of the graphene/PET and amorphous ZnO/graphene/PET are displayed in 5Ω·sq−1, while the carrier concentration and mobility are as low as 1017 cm−3 and 6-10 cm2·v−1·s−1, respectively.t = 1/RZnO + 1/Rgraphene [17–18 cm−3) were remarkably lower than that of bare graphene (1020 cm−3). To determine the mechanism of the loss of free charge carriers in the ZnO/graphene composite film, we focused on the interfacial chemical effect of amorphous ZnO/graphene. The continuous and dense ZnO layer makes relatively little contribution to the sheet resistance of the composite film. The parallel resistance of the graphene and ZnO layers was equivalent to that of a single resistor; that is, 1/Rgraphene . Accordigraphene . HoweverThe above mentioned amorphous ZnO/graphene/PET films exhibited unexpectedly deteriorative electrical properties. The amorphous ZnO/graphene/PET sample with ZnO thickness of 75 nm was selected for XPS analysis, which provided the elemental composition and bonding information.+ ion bombardment did not damage the graphene hexahedral structure [The distributions of C, O, and Zn elements at different depths of the ZnO/graphene/PET composite film are shown in tructure ,50,51; tThe XPS C1s and O1s spectra were fitted by the Gaussian–Lorenzian (GL30) functions to reveal the chemical bonding state of the carbon and oxygen a–f. CasaThe binding energies of O1 at 530.0–531.6 eV overlapped and were identified as C=O and C-O bonds; the binding energies of O2 and O3 at 532.4–533.3 eV were identified as C-OH . The two−4 Pa; that is, the oxygen not bonded with the C of the graphene was pumped away. Third, the oxygen atoms in the chamber were only provided by ZnO molecules.One may argue that the oxygens of C=O and C-O came from pollution of the graphene surface because the graphene was used as received, without surface cleaning by the sputtering process. Although it is possible that the oxygen came from surface pollution, the possibility is low, due to the following reasons: First, the graphene was kept in a vacuum bag before use. Second, the fresh graphene was placed in a vacuum chamber, the pressure of which was as low as 10When the ZnO powder was evaporated by the vacuum thermal technique, there were ZnO molecules or clusters between the hot tungsten boat and cold graphene/PET substrate. There was not enough energy for ZnO molecules to crystalize, and therefore, the films remained amorphous. The oxide (O) in ZnO molecules was attracted by the carbon (C) in graphene according to the first-principles calculations, which resulted in the formation of C=O and C-O-C bonds.In general, the formation of C=O and C-O-C bonds at the interface of amorphous ZnO/graphene caused the bonding of the π electrons of the graphene and thereby limited their mobility. In other words, the formation of C=O and C-O-C bonds should be responsible for the decrease in the bulk free charge carriers in the amorphous ZnO/graphene composite film, which is contradictory to earlier studies on crystalline ZnO/graphene composites. Therefore, we believe that the amorphous structure of the ZnO layer is the cause of the formation of the C=O and C-O-C chemical bonds.The electron localization functions (ELFs) were calculated to further investigate the bonding natures at the crystal a and amo18 cm−3 corresponding to composite films with thickness of 40, 75, and 160 nm) were remarkably lower than that of bare graphene (964 × 1018 cm−3) and better than that of ZnO (0.10 × 1018 cm−3). The results from XPS analysis showed the formation of C=O and C-O-C bonds between O from ZnO and C from graphene at the interface of ZnO and graphene. The first-principles calculations revealed that the oxide from amorphous ZnO tended to be attracted by C from graphene to form strong, dense localized electron clouds. The electrical properties of the composite films deteriorated because of the formation of the C=O and C-O-C chemical bonds at the interface of amorphous ZnO/graphene, which restrained the transfer of the π electrons from graphene. This discovery is still helpful for the development of transparent conductive films.In this study, amorphous ZnO layers on flexible graphene/PET substrates were prepared via vacuum thermal evaporation at room temperature. With the increase in the amorphous ZnO layer thickness, the morphological structure of the layer changed from loose un-continuous granular, to relatively dense granular, to continuous and dense. The transparency of the composite films within the visible spectrum was comparable to that of graphene/PET. Its electrical properties were better than those of the pure ZnO but less than those of graphene. For example, the bulk free charge carrier concentrations of the composite films (0.13, 1.36, and 0.47 × 10


A hybrid structure composed of periodic monolayer graphene nanoribbons and a dielectric multilayer structure was designed to generate a Fano resonance (FR). The strong interaction between the surface plasmon resonance of graphene and the dielectric waveguide mode results in the FR. The finite element method is utilized to investigate the behaviors of the FR, and it matches well with the theoretical calculations using rigorous coupled wave theory. The results demonstrate that the profile of the FR can be passively tuned by the period of the graphene nanoribbons and actively tuned by the Fermi level of the graphene. The decoupled nature of the FR gives it potential applications as a self-calibrated refractive index biosensor, and the sensitivity can reach as high as 4.615 μm/RIU. Thus, this work provides a new idea for an excellent self-referencing refractive index biosensor. The surface plasmon polariton (SPP), a surface evanescent wave formed by the interaction of free electrons and photons on the surface of a metal or an insulator, has been regarded as the information carrier in micro-nano optics with the most potential. As the SPP can break through the diffraction limit in traditional optics and support the propagation of light in acceptable wavelengths, it has promoted the development and manufacturing of optical devices ,2. In adGraphene, emerging as a promising plasmon material, has been studied intensively due to its excellent photoelectric properties, including low losses, tight field localization, broad response spectrum, and flexible tunability. The extraordinary plasma properties of graphene make it active in various coupling systems, such as plasmon-induced transparency ,5 and FaIn this work, we proposed a hybrid structure constructed by periodic monolayer graphene nanoribbons and a dielectric waveguide to realize an active tunable FR, where the waveguide mode supports the narrow resonance, and the graphene plasmon provides the broad resonance. An FR with a high-quality factor can be observed when the graphene SPR is coupled with the waveguide mode. The finite element method  was utilized to simulate the behaviors of the FR. To confirm the accuracy of the results, the results were also calculated by rigorous coupled wave theory (RCWA) ,25. The 2, with the refractive index n1 = 1.3; the PWG core is set to be Ge with the refractive index n2 = 4. The thickness of each layer is set to be d1 = 1.2 μm and d2 = 2.8 μm, respectively. Then, the FR can be excited at the response wavelengths when the transverse magnetic (TM) light is incident on the structure with an incident angle θ. For the experimental fabrication of this structure, the dielectric multilayer can be prepared by the electron beam deposition method. The monolayer graphene can be grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and transferred onto the planar waveguide. Then, the monolayer graphene can be utilized to fabricate the graphene nanoribbons by the atomic-force-microscope- (AFM) based lithography method [y method .ω is the angular frequency, ε0 is the vacuum permittivity, dg = 0.34 nm is the thickness of the monolayer graphene, and σ is the surface conductivity of the graphene constructed by intraband σintra and interband σinter, described as [Bk is the Boltzmann constant, ћ is the reduced Planck constant, T expresses the absolute temperature of the environment, e is the elementary charge, and the carrier relaxation time τ is expressed as fv, the carrier mobility μ, and the Fermi energy FE. In this work, the Fermi velocity was set to be 2/Vs.As is mentioned above, the FR is achieved by the coupling between a broad resonance and a narrow resonance. In this hybrid structure, the graphene nanoribbons were utilized to excite a surface plasmon resonance as the broad resonance. In ribed as (1)σintrk0 is the wave vector of the plane incident wave in free space, β is the propagating constant, and m is the mode order of PWG. By solving equation (3) and neff = β/k0, the effective refractive index was obtained and was plotted as the red solid line in β = k0sinθ ± 2nπ/Λ. Hence, the theoretical resonant wavelength of the waveguide mode could be easily derived. With the incident angle θ = 0°, the period Λ = 4 μm, the waveguide mode order m = 0, and the diffraction mode order of grating n = 1, the resonant wavelength was calculated to be 13.24 μm, which was depicted in The narrow resonance was provided by the waveguide mode in this coupled system. In order to make the waveguide mode couple with the GSPR, we calculated the dispersion of the PWG mode to obtain the resonance wavelength of the waveguide mode, and the dispersion is expressed as (3)n22k0FE of the graphene was tuned from 0.95 eV to 0.99 eV. The reflection spectra were simulated by the FEM (black solid line) and theoretically calculated by the RCWA (red dash line), as seen in λ = 13.164 μm, indicating the graphene SPP. As seen in To investigate the dynamic tunability of the FR in the proposed structure, the Fermi energy n from 1 to 1.02, as shown in n, while the wavelength of the right resonance was almost fixed. It promises a potential application for self-referencing RI sensors. In this sensing system, the right resonance works as a reference signal, and the absolute RI can be measured according to the calibration curve when the calibration samples are introduced. We plotted the change curve of the resonant wavelength versus n in S = Δλ/Δn, can be as high as 4.615 μm/RIU, which is significantly better than the sensors presented in Refs. [According to the previous studies ,12, FRs in Refs. ,27,28. TIn summary, we proposed an actively tuned FR constructed by periodic monolayer graphene nanoribbons hybridized on a distributed planar waveguide. In this structure, the periodic monolayer graphene nanoribbons can not only excite the graphene SPPs, but can also work as a grating to provide the momentum-matching condition for exciting the waveguide mode. The FR can be observed when these two modes are coupled with each other. The influences of the period and groove of the periodic monolayer graphene nanoribbons on the shape of the FR were discussed and it was found that the period and groove of the periodic monolayer graphene nanoribbons played a crucial role in the FR shape. In addition, the studies have shown that the shape of the FR can be tuned dynamically by the Fermi energy of graphene. Finally, we applied the results to the self-referenced RI sensor, and its sensitivity could reach 4.615 μm/RIU. Thus, this work provides a new idea for an excellent self-referencing RI sensor.