3D printed photonics is gaining the interest of both researchers in the industry and academia because of the exceptional capabilities that only 3D printing (3DP) technology offers. 3DP opens up new opportunities to create novel photonics-integrated devices. Several kinds of fabrication techniques have emerged thus far; to the best of our knowledge, none of the current fabricating technologies can simultaneously satisfy the size, roughness, and speed requirements. This presents excellent opportunities for the advancement of 3D printing in terms of photonics. Apart from excellent 3D printing technology, gaining access to printable materials and 3D printed photonic devices is also of the utmost significance. Here, we provide a broad overview of the recent advancements in 3D printing technology and the realization of novel, practical photonics technologies in a review article. We also present the recent advancements of 3D printing photonics materials and the opportunities of 3D printing photonics applications. The review is focused on recent advancements in technology and materials, and promising application opportunities of 3DP photonics.

Over the past few decades, superconductivity has been a central focus of condensed matter physics and materials science due to its remarkable physical origins and great potential applications. Reflecting on the history of superconductivity, the emergence of new material systems and the discovery of new quantum states set the milestones in its development. On one hand, the emergence of new material systems has sparked exploration into the physical origins of unconventional superconductivity. Apart from BCS superconductors, the pairing mechanism of Cooper pairs has remained a challenging problem in unconventional superconductors, such as Cu-based (cuprates), Fe-based, and heavy-fermion superconductors. On the other hand, the discovery of new superconducting quantum states can deepen the fundamental understanding and expand the application domains of superconductivity. Examples include topological superconductivity for constructing quantum computers and two-dimensional (2D) superconductivity for novel quantum devices. Noteworthily, Titanium (Ti:3d² 4s²) based superconductors have garnered great attention in recent years due to their various unconventional superconducting phenomena. Given its multifaceted characteristics, the family of Ti-based superconductors encompasses various superconducting pairing mechanisms and exhibits intriguing quantum states. This work provides an overview of the crystal structure, electronic structure, and superconducting properties of those Ti-based superconductors. Several cutting-edge topics, including 2D superconductivity, topological superconductivity, and the interplay between superconductivity and magnetism, have been discussed within the Ti-based family. It is worth noting that such rich, unconventional superconducting phenomena are dominated by the same element, Ti, which may help us explore the origin of unconventional superconductivity and induce novel superconducting quantum states. The challenges and opportunities of Ti-based superconductors are discussed.

This paper presents a Particle-in-Cell Monte Carlo Collision (PIC/MCC) numerical simulation to investigate plasma etching processes utilizing an anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) mask. The model characterizes key plasma parameters, including electron/ion density distributions and particle flux, and analyzes the interactions between plasma and the AAO mask/substrate during etching. By simulating plasma evolution within a cylindrical AAO cavity, this study reveals charge density distributions, particle trajectories, and the coupling effects of physical bombardment and chemical etching. The results provide a theoretical foundation for optimizing the fabrication of nanostructured silicon via AAO-templated dry etching, emphasizing the critical influence of charge accumulation on etching profiles.

In this study, various precipitation experiments were conducted using MnCl₂⋅4H₂O salt along with different carbonate precipitants such as K₂CO₃, Na₂CO₃, and NH₄HCO₃ to produce Mn₂O₃ phase and to investigate whether these oxides could function as NIR reflective pigments. The products produced with three different precipitants show the formation of MnCO₃ as an intermediate phase. After being heated at 600 °C for 3 to 12 h, these intermediate products crystallize into pure cubic Mn₂O₃ phase materials. The TGA and DTA plots of the products made with K₂CO₃ and Na₂CO₃ as precipitating agents show a similar trend, indicating a weight loss of 24.5%–26.5%, while NH₄HCO₃ exhibits a relatively higher weight loss of ∼35%. Different morphologies are observed for K₂CO₃, Na₂CO₃, and NH₄HCO₃ as precipitants, including spherical/agglomerated shapes, a mix of spherical particles and nanowires, and porous-like nanospheres, respectively. The broad Raman peak observed between 640 and 650 cm⁻¹ is associated with the characteristic Mn-O-Mn stretching bridge of the Mn₂O₃ phase. The Tauc plots yielded E_g values in the range of 1.35–1.85 eV for the Mn₂O₃ samples obtained from different precipitants. NH₄HCO₃-derived Mn₂O₃ exhibits ∼60% NIR reflectance (1350–2500 nm), far higher than 15%–30% for K₂CO₃/Na₂CO₃ samples.

The growing demand for sustainable and functional nanocomposites in biomedicine and environmental remediation motivates this study on the structural and thermal evolution of chitosan–montmorillonite systems. Using a combined experimental–computational approach, nanocomposites were synthesized at pH = 4.1 with varying chitosan-to-clay ratios and systematically characterized. X-ray diffraction revealed an expansion of basal spacing from 12.0 Å (pure montmorillonite) to 20.3 Å at the highest chitosan content, aligning with theoretical predictions (19.18 Å) for monolayer and bilayer intercalation. FTIR spectra confirmed strong hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions between chitosan and clay layers. Thermogravimetric analysis indicated a slight decrease in decomposition temperature (198 → 182–186 °C) but improved overall thermal stability, evidenced by reduced mass loss and higher residual content. Molecular dynamics simulations further elucidated intercalation mechanisms, with a 5.06% theoretical deviation for bilayer formation and RDF peaks at 1 Å (53.4 Å for monolayer and 68.7 Å for bilayer), highlighting stabilizing molecular forces. These findings establish a predictive framework for tailoring chitosan–montmorillonite nanocomposites with enhanced structural and thermal performance, underscoring their promise for sustainable applications such as food packaging and edible films.

Integration optical waveguides can be fabricated by the femtosecond laser inside quartz-based transparent dielectric materials. The complex dielectric function 𝜀( 𝜔) is a core optical parameter for waveguide performances. Ground-state 𝜀( 𝜔) has been calculated in the past. However, the laser-induced ultrafast modification of excited-state 𝜀( 𝜔) at a femtosecond scale was rarely studied. In this work, the electron excitation and lattice structure of quartz under femtosecond laser irradiation within tens of femtoseconds were calculated using the real-time dependent density functional theory (rt-TDDFT) and molecular dynamics (MD), and the excited-state 𝜀( 𝜔) was calculated using the random phase approximation (RPA) theory. Then, the real part ( 𝜀⁽¹⁾( 𝜔)), the imaginary part ( 𝜀⁽²⁾( 𝜔)) and the refractive index 𝑛( 𝜔) were investigated. The redshift of absorption edge was observed with the increase of laser power density. 𝜀⁽¹⁾( 𝜔) and 𝑛( 𝜔) increased in the visible light band and the infrared band as the input laser power density increased indicating a greater polarization capability within a laser field. Besides, optical waveguides with a same diameter were fabricated in a quartz glass by using a femtosecond laser direct writing (FsLDW) system and optical mode fields were measured, also demonstrating that the core layer 𝑛( 𝜔) increased with the increase of laser power, which showed a certain correlation with the femtosecond-scale theoretical calculation results. This work is conducive to understand the ultrafast laser-induced optical modification of quartz and promote the precise fabrication of optical waveguides.

TiAlSiN coating deposited on carbon steel can improve the anti-wear and anti-corrosion performances. In present study, the film is fabricated on H13 die steel using the technique of high power impulse magnetron sputtering. Mutual diffusion of elements between the coating and substrate can be obviously found, which promotes the metallurgical bonding. The adhesion ability can be significantly enlarged by increasing the bias voltage, deposition temperature and time, with a growing amplitude of 62.4%. When considering the corrosion resistance after coating TiAlSiN, the corrosion current diminishes and the potential shifts to the positive side in the potentiodynamic polarization tests. The corrosion inhibition efficiency can reach 96.8% when setting the bias voltage, deposition temperature and film thickness as − 100 V, 550 °C and 3 μm, respectively. The significant corrosive protection is achieved by the formation of the passivation Al₂O₃ layer when dipping the as-deposited film in electrolyte.

Because SARS-CoV-2 infection can provoke neurological complications, prospective antivirals must combine high viral potency with central-nervous-system (CNS) safety. Seven flavone-derived analogues (M1–M7) were therefore evaluated with a fully in-silico workflow that linked ADME filtering, ProTox-III neuro-toxicity prediction, multi-target docking (main protease M^pro: 7RN1, 9ARQ, 9ART; ACE2: 7UFL), density functional theory (DFT) and 100 ns atomistic molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations. SwissADME and ADMETlab 3 indicated full compliance with Lipinski, Veber and Ghose rules, balanced polarity-lipophilicity and predicted human intestinal absorption of 2%–28%, while all analogues remained outside blood-brain-barrier risk space. ProTox-III placed the series in GHS hazard class 5 (LD5 n ≈2500–4000 mg kg⁻¹) with ≥ 84% probability of neuro-inactivity. Docking returned mean binding energies of −7.0 kcal mol⁻¹ for M^pro and −7.5 kcal mol⁻¹ for ACE2; M₆ ranked first for M^pro through hydrogen bonds to CYS145 and GLN189, whereas M4 and M7 favoured ACE2 via a GLN98/TYR196 network. Redocking reproduced co-crystal poses with RMSD ≤ 1.52 Å, validating the protocol. MD confirmed stability: M6-M^pro and M4-ACE2 plateaued at ligand RMSD ≤ 0.6 nm and damped catalytic-site RMSF, whereas M7-ACE2 drifted after 70 ns. DFT revealed that M6 possesses the narrowest HOMO-LUMO gap (3.47 eV) and highest electrophilicity ( ω = 7.17 eV), rationalising its reactivity. Convergent evidence identifies M6, M4 and M7 as CNS-safe, drug-like antivirals worthy of experimental validation.

Corundum-type 𝛼-(In_xGa_1-x)₂O₃ offers a promising platform for deep-ultraviolet optoelectronics and power devices due to their tunable wide bandgap and compatibility with common oxide substrates. This work presents a comprehensive study combining first-principles calculations and mist chemical vapor deposition (mist-CVD) to investigate the structural stability, electronic properties, and epitaxial growth of these alloys. Density functional theory (DFT) and cluster expansion analysis reveal a wide miscibility gap and positive formation enthalpies, indicating a strong tendency for phase separation under equilibrium conditions. However, a metastable composition window was identified for In content up to x ≈0.21 at a typical growth temperature of 773 K. Theoretical calculations predict a bandgap reduction from 5.22 to 4.46 eV with increasing In content within this metastable range. In good agreement with these predictions, thin films grown on c-plane sapphire via mist-CVD exhibit systematic XRD peak shifts and a corresponding optical bandgap narrowing from 5.16 to 4.40 eV. Furthermore, post-deposition annealing above 700 °C was found to induce phase separation in films with higher In content, confirming the predicted thermodynamic instability. These results provide key insights into the metastable phase formation and bandgap engineering of 𝛼-(In_xGa_1-x)₂O₃, highlighting its potential for high-performance UV photodetectors and power electronics.

The development of cost-effective and resource-abundant sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) is crucial for large-scale energy storage and electric vehicle field. However, the commercial layered transition metal oxide cathodes in SIBs still face some drawbacks of inferior cycling stability, structural instability, and side reactions at the electrode-electrolyte interface. To overcome these limitations, a novel dual-surface coating strategy was developed by integrating NaBO₂ and NaAlO₂ coating layers onto NaNi_1/3Fe_1/3Mn_1/3O₂ (NFM) cathodes. The dual layers of NaBO₂ and NaAlO₂ effectively isolate the cathode from the electrolyte, while the outer NaBO₂ layer further enhances Na⁺ transport and stabilizes the solid electrolyte interface, thereby dramatically enhancing the structural stability of the NFM cathode. Coupling with the dual-modification strategy, NaBO₂/NaAlO₂-NFM exhibited much enhanced rate capability and cycling stability. It retains 73.3% of its initial capacity after 300 cycles at 50 mA g⁻¹, markedly outperforming B-NFM (42.6%) and bare NFM (33.7%). This work establishes a rational interface design principle-combining a physical barrier with an ion-conductive promoter-as a general and scalable route to project high-performance SIB cathodes, highlighting the pivotal role of precise interfacial control in next-generation battery technology.