Although various phenomena have confirmed that surface geometry has an impact on surface energy at micro/nano scales, determining the surface energy on micro/nano curved surfaces remains a challenge. In this paper, based on Lennard-Jones (L-J) pair potential, we study the geometrical effect on surface energy with the homogenization hypothesis. The surface energy is expressed as a function of local principle curvatures. The accuracy of curvature-based surface energy is confirmed by comparing surface energy on flat surface with experimental results. Furthermore, the surface energy for spherical geometry is investigated and verified by the numerical experiment with errors within 5%. The results show that (i) the surface energy will decrease on a convex surface and increase on a concave surface with the increasing of scales, and tend to the value on flat surface; (ii) the effect of curvatures will be obvious and exceed 5% when spherical radius becomes smaller than 5 nm; (iii) the surface energy varies with curvatures on sinusoidal surfaces, and the normalized surface energy relates with the ratio of wave height to wavelength. The curvature-based surface energy offers new insights into the geometrical and scales effect at micro/nano scales, which provides a theoretical direction for designing NEMS/MEMS.

The rambler Rosa wichuraiana Crép. is an important founder species during modern rose domestication. However, the chloroplast genome (plastome) of this wild species remains unavailable. Here, we assembled the complete chloroplast genomes for two genotypes of R. wichuraiana. Both plastomes were typical quadripartite circular with 156,500/156,504 bp in length, comprising a large single-copy (LSC) region of 85,651/85,660 bp and a small single-copy (SSC) region of 18,751/18,744 bp, separated by two inverted repeat (IR) regions of 26,049/26,050 bp, respectively. Both plastomes encoded 113 unique genes, including 79 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNA genes, and 4 rRNA genes. Phylogenetic reconstruction with several rose plastomes revealed that both genotypes were sisters to a clade including Rosa luciae, Rosa multiflora, and Rosa maximowicziana.

Light-activated shape memory polymers (LaSMPs) exhibit stiffness variations when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) lights. Thus, LaSMP could manipulate structural frequencies with UV light exposures when laminated on structures. This study aims to experimentally demonstrate the effectiveness of LaSMP frequency control of a flexible beam. The natural frequency of a three-layered Euler–Bernoulli beam composed of LaSMP, adhesive tape, and the flexible beam is analyzed and its frequency formulation exhibits the LaSMP stiffness influence. Since the LaSMP adopted in this study is a new spiropyran-based composition—Sp3/EVA_4, a generic Young’s modulus model is proposed and then simplified to model this new LaSMP composition. To guarantee a homogenous light field, light intensities on the UV surface light source at different positions are tested. The temperature change of the LaSMP sample under UV exposures is also measured. The time constant and the threshold intensity of the reverse reaction are measured. LaSMP Young’s modulus variation is tested with a uniaxial tension experiment. The constitutive model of LaSMP’s Young’s modulus is validated by experimental data. With these preparations, the LaSMP laminated flexible beam model is exposed to UV lights and its natural frequencies are identified with data acquisition and analysis system. Then, natural frequency variations of 25%, 50%, 75%, to 100% exposure areas are also evaluated. The maximum natural frequency variation ratio achieves 9.7%; theoretical predictions and experimental data of LaSMP natural frequency control are compared very well.

Fast diffusion induced by thermal fluctuation and vibration has been detected at nanoscales. In this paper, the movement of particle on a graphene layer with travelling surface wave is studied by molecular dynamics simulation and theoretical model. It is proved that the particle will keep moving at the wave speed with certain prerequisite conditions, namely speed-locking effect. By expressing van der Waals (vdW) potential between particle and wavy surface as a function of curvatures, the mechanism is clarified based on the puddle of potential in a relative wave-frame coordinate. Two prerequisite conditions are proposed: the initial position of particle should locate in the potential puddle, and the initial kinetic energy cannot drive particle to jump out of the potential puddle. The parametric analysis indicates that the speed-locking region will be affected by wavelength, amplitude and pair potential between particle and wave. With smaller wavelength, larger amplitude and stronger vdW potential, the speed-locking region is larger. This work reveals a new kind of coherent movement for particles on layered material based on the puddle potential theory, which can be an explanation for fast diffusion phenomena at nano scales.