City University of Hong Kong

Wenjun Zhang

Shuit-Tong Lee

Igor Bello

Peng Shi

Hao Wang

Xianfeng Chen

Chun-sing Lee

Xin Wang

Linfeng Huang

You-Sheng Zou

Yat Ming Chong

Kwok Leung Ma

Kar Man Leung

Kaili Zhang

You-Shen Zou

Chit Yiu Chan

Zhenzhen Lu

Shuilin Wu

Zixun Wang

Bin Liu

He-qin Li

A method of determining one or more target nucleic acids in cells includes the steps of: delivering one or more probes into the cells, each of the one or more probes being capable of binding with corresponding target nucleic acid present in the cells to form a double-stranded sequence; inserting an array of functionalized nanoneedles into the cells to bind with the double-stranded sequence; and hybridizing the bound double-stranded sequence with a first and second DNA sequence to produce a hybridized product, the first and second DNA sequence being at least partially complementary to each other. A kit for determining a target nucleic acid in cells includes a first reagent comprising a probe for binding with the target nucleic acid to form a double-stranded sequence; and an array of functionalized nanoneedles comprising a protein for binding with the double-stranded sequence.

Method of determining target nucleic acid

An electrode for use in an electrical energy storage apparatus includes: a carrier structure including a plurality of vacancies thereon; and an active material arranged to undergo chemical reaction during charging and/or discharging of the electrical energy storage apparatus; wherein the active material occupies the plurality of vacancies on the carrier structure.

Electrode for use in an electrical energy storage apparatus and a method for manufacturing an electrode for use in an electrical energy storage apparatus

A method of preparing a metal nitride includes the steps of: a) subjecting a metal precursor to plasma treatment to form the metal nitride, the metal precursor including a transition metal selected from the group consisting of titanium, cobalt, iron and molybdenum; and b) cooling down the metal nitride after the step a). An electrocatalyst including the metal nitride and a method of conducting water hydrolysis by using an electrocatalyst comprising the metal nitride is also disclosed.

Method of preparing metal nitride, electrocatalyst wth the metal nitride and use thereof

The present invention is concerned with a system and method for introducing a substance into cells. The system has an assembly including a plurality of elongate non-hollow nanoneedles forming a nanoneedle array or patch for delivering the substance into the cells, at least some of the nanoneedles have a non-uniform diameter with a wider upper end, a narrower lower end for penetration into the cells and a length from substantially 200 nm to 100 um. The lower end has a diameter from substantially 20-436 nm. Adjacent nanoneedles are spaced apart by substantially 5-50 um. The nanoneedles are made from a material selected from the group consisting of diamond, cubic boron nitride, carbon nitride, boron nitride, boron carbon nitride, metal borides and essentially boron materials, allowing the nanoneedles to maintain sufficient thinness and yet adequate rigidity during penetration. The nanoneedles are applied onto the cells grown on substrates at a preferred rate from 1 to 5 m/s. Alternatively, the nanoneedles are applied onto the cells grown on substrates by centrifugation force from 0.5 to 10 nN. Yet alternatively, the cells suspended in a fluid are applied to the nanoneedle array at a rate of 1 to 10 m/s.

Method and apparatus for delivery of molecules to cells

There is provided a screen scattering system. The system has a transparent substrate forming a substrate layer, and wide band gap materials made of 0D, 1D and 3D elements forming a scattering layer. The 0D, 1D and 3D elements are in the form of nanostructures aligned uniformly on said substrate layer.

Scattering screen system, method of manufacture and application thereof

A method for fabricating diamond nanopillars includes forming a diamond film on a substrate, depositing a metal mask layer on the diamond film, and etching the diamond film coated with the metal mask layer to form diamond nanopillars below the mask layer. The method may also comprise forming diamond nuclei on the substrate prior to forming the diamond film. Typically, a semiconductor substrate, an insulating substrate, a metal substrate, or an alloy substrate is used.

Method of making diamond nanopillars

A multilayer coating (MLC) is composed of two chemically different layered nanocrystalline materials, nanodiamond (nanoD) and nano-cubic boron nitride (nono-cBN). The structure of the MLC and fabrication sequence of layered structure are disclosed. The base layer is preferably nanoD and is the first deposited layer serving as an accommodation layer on a pretreated substrate. It can be designed with a larger thickness whereas subsequent alternate nano-cBN and nanoD layers are typically prepared with a thickness of 2 to 100 nm. The thickness of these layers can be engineered for a specific use. The deposition of the nanoD layer, by either cold or thermal plasma CVD, is preceded by diamond nucleation on a pretreated and/or precoated substrate, which has the capacity to accommodate the MLC and provides excellent adhesion. Nano-cBN layers are directly grown on nanodiamond crystallites using ion-assisted physical vapor deposition (PVD) and ion-assisted plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), again followed by nanodiamond deposition using CVD methods in cycles until the intended number of layers of the MLC is obtained.

Ultrahard multilayer coating comprising nanocrystalline diamond and nanocrystalline cubic boron nitride

Cubic boron nitride/diamond (cBND) composite films with excellent adherence to various substrates and their fabrication method are disclosed. The cBND composite confining cBN can be prepared without any amorphous/turbostratic BN (aBN/tBN) incubation layers. The cBND composite is established on the compatibility of structural and physical properties of two superior materials: cBN on top and diamond beneath. The underlying diamond is adapted to the substrate of choice using a variety of methods which may include prescratching the substrates, bias enhanced nucleation, etching for depleting undesirable chemical elements, construction of buffer layers and gradient buffer layers for the isolation of undesirable chemical elements or/and adaptation of physical properties. The diamond nuclei are preferably formed either by bias-enhanced nucleation or by pre-scratching the substrate prior to nucleation. The cBN films in cBND composites of the present invention can grow directly on the underlaying diamond films in heteroepitaxial relationships.

Cubic boron nitride/diamond composite layers

The present invention deals with the generation of sharp single crystal diamond tips and the arrays of these tips, and their fabrication technology. The invention combines the deposition of synthetic diamond films with reactive etching processes. Upon the diamond orientation prepared and reactive etching environment with considerable directivity of ions, single crystal diamond tips with different apical angles can be fabricated. Very sharp diamond tips with an apical angle of no more than about 28&#xb0; and a tip radius smaller than 50 nm are fabricated on pyramidal-shaped [001]-textured diamond films by subsequent reactive etching., The technology is based on selective etching of sp- and sp- hybridized carbons by the activated constituents of an etching environment, in particular based on atomic hydrogen, in a way similar to ion bombardment, which contributes to overall etching and local conversion of diamond to graphitic phase promoting further etching with chemically activated species. This novel method is capable of forming diamond tip arrays over large areas with great uniformity and high reproducibility. The diamond tips prepared are single diamond crystals with their [001] axes parallel each other and normal to the substrate surface. The invented technology enables the control of the apical angle, radius and density of the diamond tips.

Growing community of inventors

Hong Kong, China

Wenjun Zhang