In this study, an attempt was made to approximate the main characteristic values of Bi0.5(Na0.78K0.22)0.5TiO3 (= BNKT) depending on the content of Fe2O3 additives, aiming to approach the values of lead(Pb) piezoelectric ceramic materials (PZT). Specifically, when the piezoelectric coefficient (d33) value of lead(Pb) piezoelectric ceramic material (PZT polycrystalline ceramic powder) is 300[pC/N] or higher, it is applied for hard purposes such as ultrasonic welding machines and cleaning machines, and when it exceeds 330[pC/N], it is applied for soft purposes like piezoelectric sensors. In this study, research and development were conducted for devices with a piezoelectric coefficient (d33) of 300[pC/N] or more for actuators. For this purpose, K+ exceeding 0.02 to 0.12 mol% was added to (Na0.78K0.22)0.5Bi0.5TiO3 to analyze structural changes due to K+ excess, and (Na0.78K0.22)0.5Bi0.5TiO3 + 8mol% K2CO3 Ti4+ was substituted with Fe3+ to manufacture lead-free piezoelectric materials. As a result, ceramics with Fe3+ substitution at x = 0.0075 yielded an average value of d33 = 315[pC/N]. Furthermore, for ceramics with Fe3+ substitution at x = 0.0075, the average values of maximum polarization (Pmax), residual polarization (Prem), and coercive field (Ec) were found to be 39.63 μC/cm2, 30.45 μC/cm2, and 2.50 kV/mm, respectively. The reliable characteristic values obtained from the research results can be applied to linear actuator components (such as the zoom function of mobile cameras, LDM for skin care, etc.) and ultrasonic vibration components.

Parthenogenesis is maternally uniparental reproduction through the embryonic development of oocytes without fertilization. Artificial activation of mature oocytes could generate homozygous haploid embryos with the extrusion of the second polar body. However, the haploid embryos showed low embryo development in preimplantation embryos. In this study, we investigated whether the electronic fusion of the haploid embryos could enhance embryo development and ESC establishment in mice. Haploid embryos showed the developmental delay from 4-cell to the blastocyst stage. The haploid blastomeres of the 2-cell stage were fused electronically, resulting in that the fused embryos showed a significantly higher rate of blastocysts compared to non-fused haploid embryos (55% vs. 37%). Further, the embryonic stem cells (ESCs) derived from the fused embryos were confirmed to be diploid. The rate of ESC establishment in fused embryos was significantly higher compared to non-fused ones. Based on the results, we concluded that the electronic fusion of haploid embryos could be efficient to generate homozygous ESCs.

Somatic cell nuclear transfer derived embryonic stem cells (NT-ESCs) have significant advantages in various fields such as genetics, embryology, stem cell science, and regenerative medicine. However, the poor establishment of NT-ESCs hinders various research. Here, we applied fasudil, a Rho-associated kinase (ROCK) inhibitor, to develop somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos and establish NT-ESCs. In the study, MII oocytes were isolated from female B6D2F1 mice and performed SCNT with mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs). The reconstructed NT-oocytes were activated artificially, and cultured to blastocysts in KSOM supplemented with 10 μM fasudil. Further, the blastocysts were seeded on inactivated MEFs in embryonic stem cell medium supplemented with 10 μM fasudil. A total of 26% of embryos formed into blastocysts in the fasudil treated group, while this ratio was 44% in the fasudil free control group. On the other hand, 30% of blastocysts were established NT-ESCs after exposure of fasudil, which was significantly higher than the control group (10%). The results suggest that fasudil reduced blastocyst development after SCNT due to inhibition of 2 cell cleavage while improved the establishment of NT-ESCs through the anti-apoptotic pathway.