We present an optical method of simultaneous measurement of liquid surface tension, contact angle, and the curved liquid surface shape, which uses the light reflection from this liquid surface due to the wettability. When an expanded and collimated laser beam is incident upon the curved liquid surfaces vertically, the special light reflection pattern, which includes a dark central region and a bright field outside, was observed. A critical spot on the curved liquid surface was found, and the dark field distribution is related to both the width of incidence beam and this critical spot. In our experiment, the different dark field distribution patterns were recorded when the width of the incidence beam changed. The liquid surface tension, contact angle, and the liquid surface shape were measured simultaneously. The proposed method is a new effective tool for present wetting characterization methods.

Halide perovskites have attracted surge of interest in the memristor field due to their superior electrical property and corresponding remarkable device performances. However, the issues of toxicity and unstable properties still severely restrict their potential applications. Here, the lead-free all-inorganic perovskite Cs₃Cu₂Br₅ films are adopted as the switching layer to fabricate memristors with Al/Cs₃Cu₂Br₅/ITO structure. The prepared Al/Cs₃Cu₂Br₅/ITO memristors exhibit typical reproducible bipolar resistive switching (RS) behavior with striking characteristics, including ultralow operating voltages (0.45, −0.39 V), moderate high resistance state/low resistance state ratio (≈10²), and remarkable retention time (>10⁴ s). In addition, the multilevel storage capability can be achieved by controlling compliance current. The RS effect, stemming from the formation/rupture of both localized conductive Br vacancy/Al atom filaments, is proposed to illustrate the memristors. More importantly, the RS behavior of Al/Cs₃Cu₂Br₅/ITO memristors maintains robustness in harsh environments with humidity up to 80%, enabling secure hardware applicable in extreme environments. This work demonstrates the opportunity for exploring the next-generation nonvolatile memories based on lead-free all-inorganic halide perovskites in future environmental-friendly and humidity robust electronics.

Implementation of tunable digital and analog resistive switching (RS) behaviors for memristors is crucial toward their development in data storage and energy-efficient computations. Herein, the CsPbBr3 film-based RS memristors with different switching film thickness and adaptable electrodes are constructed, which are implemented by the solution processed method. All the constructed memristors demonstrate stable bipolar switching behaviors, and in special, the gradual analog RS behavior with multi-level conductance is observed for the thin memristor, making it as the promising artificial synapse. As a comparison, the thick memristor demonstrates digital abrupt RS behavior, accompanying with a high memory window (>103), which can be applied in data storage field. Furthermore, the evolution of conductive filaments, stemming from synergetic bromine vacancies and aluminum atoms, is proposed to clarify the distinguished dynamic changes in the RS process. This work provides an optimization strategy to tune RS behavior for CsPbBr3-based RS memristors and paves the way for both data storage and artificial synapse applications.

The near-field and photo-thermal properties of nanostructures have always been the focus of attention due to their wide applications in nanomaterials. In this work, we numerically investigate the near-field and photo-thermal temperature distribution in a nanoparticle array when the scattering light field among particles is considered. ‘Hot spots’, which represent strong electric field enhancement, were analyzed at the difference of the particle size, particle spacing and the polarization direction of the incident light. Interestingly, it is found that the position of the ‘hot spots’ does not rotate with the polarization direction of the incident light and always remains in the particle gaps along the line between particle centers. Moreover, the near-field is independent of the polarization in some special areas, and the factor of near-field enhancement keeps constant in these spots when the illumination polarization varies. As for photo-induced heating, our results show that both the temperature of the structure center and maximum temperature increase linearly with the particle number of the array while decreasing with the increase in particle spacing. This work provides some theoretical considerations for the near-field manipulation and photo-thermal applications of nanoarrays.

Hafnium oxide (HfOx) films are highly valued as functional layers in nonvolatile resistive switching (RS) memristors due to their scalability, compatibility with CMOS technology, and high dielectric constant. However, the low reliability of HfOx-based memristors is the key factor hindering their widespread practical applications. Herein, amorphous HfOx (a-HfOx) films are used as the switching layers to construct memristors, and the nitrogen treatment strategy is employed to enhance the switching characteristics. All the fabricated Al/a-HfOx/ITO memristors demonstrate bipolar digital RS behaviors, and specifically, the 500 °C-treated a-HfOx device exhibits highly reliable RS performance, including low cycle-to-cycle variability, concentrated distributions and low operating voltages, long-term retention capacity (>104 s), and good cycle endurance (>200 cycles). The mechanisms and physical models for enhanced switching performance are thoroughly elucidated, revealing that the formation of stable oxygen vacancy–dinitrogen complexes confines the conductive filament path and significantly reduces filament randomness during formation and rupture. This work renders an effective material engineering strategy for widening a path toward designing highly reliable nonvolatile data storage devices with striking switching performances.