Although electrospun nanofibers are expanding their potential commercial applications in various fields, the issue of energy savings, which are important for cost reduction and technological feasibility, has received little attention to date. In this study, a concentric spinneret with a solid Teflon-core rod was developed to implement an energy-saving electrospinning process. Ketoprofen and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) were used as a model of a poorly water-soluble drug and a filament-forming matrix, respectively, to obtain nanofibrous films via traditional tube-based electrospinning and the proposed solid rod-based electrospinning method. The functional performances of the films were compared through in vitro drug dissolution experiments and ex vivo sublingual drug permeation tests. Results demonstrated that both types of nanofibrous films do not significantly differ in terms of medical applications. However, the new process required only 53.9% of the energy consumed by the traditional method. This achievement was realized by the introduction of several engineering improvements based on applied surface modifications, such as a less energy dispersive air-epoxy resin surface of the spinneret, a free liquid guiding without backward capillary force of the Teflon-core rod, and a smaller fluid–Teflon adhesive force. Other non-conductive materials could be explored to develop new spinnerets offering good engineering control and energy savings to obtain low-cost electrospun polymeric nanofibers.

PdTe ₂ -based photodetectors reveal anisotropic and highly efficient intraband photocurrents at long wavelength.

Terahertz (THz) photon detection is of particular appealing for myriad applications, but it still lags behind efficient manipulation with electronics and photonics due to the lack of a suitable principle satisfying both high sensitivity and fast response at room temperature. Here, a new strategy is proposed to overcome these limitations by exploring the photothermoelectric (PTE) effect in an ultrashort (down to 30 nm) channel with black phosphorus as a photoactive material. The preferential flow of hot carriers is enabled by the asymmetric Cr/Au and Ti/Au metallization with the titled‐angle evaporation technique. Most intriguingly, orders of magnitude field‐enhancement beyond the skin‐depth limit and photon absorption across a broadband frequency can be achieved. The PTE detector has excellent sensitivity of 297 V W⁻¹, noise equivalent power less than 58 pW/Hz^0.5, and response time below 0.8 ms, which is superior to other thermal‐based detectors at room temperature. A rigorous comparison with existing THz detectors, together with verification by further optical‐pumping and imaging experiments, substantiates the importance of the localized field effect in the skin‐depth limit. The results allow solid understanding on the role of PTE effect played in the THz photoresponse, opening up new opportunities for developing highly sensitive THz detectors for addressing targeted applications.

Structured plasmonic metamaterials offer a new way to design functionalized optical and electrical components, since they can be size-scaled for operation across the whole electromagnetic spectrum. Here, we theoretically investigated electrical active split ring resonators based on graphene metamaterials on a SiO₂/Si substrate that shows tunable frequency and amplitude modulation. For the symmetrical structure, the modulation depth of the frequency and amplitude can reach 58.58% and 99.35%, and 59.53% and 97.7% respectively in the two crossed-polarization orientations. Once asymmetry is introduced in the structure, the higher order mode which is inaccessible in the symmetrical structure can be excited, and a strong interaction among the modes in the split ring resonator forms a transparency window in the absorption band of the dipole resonance. Such metamaterials could facilitate the design of active modulation, and slow light effect for terahertz waves. Potential outcomes such as higher sensing abilities and higher-Q resonances at terahertz frequencies are demonstrated through numerical simulations with realistic parameters.