Mesoporous NiO-samaria doped ceria for low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells.

In order to prepare anode material for low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), the mesoporous NiO-SDC was synthesized using a cationic surfactant (cetyltrimethyl-ammonium bromide; CTAB) for obtaining wide triple-phase boundary (TPB). In addition, Ni-SDC anode-supported SOFC single cells with YSZ electrolyte and LSM cathode were fabricated and the performance of single cells was evaluated at 600 °C. The microstructure of NiO-SDC was characterized by XRD, EDX, SEM, and BET, and the results showed that the mesoporous NiO-SDC with 10 nm pores could be obtained. It was found that the surface area and the electrical performance were strongly influenced by the Ni content in Ni-SDC cermets. After calcined at 600 °C, the surface area of NiO-SDC was between 90-117 m2/g at 35-45 Ni wt%, which was sufficiently high for providing large TPB in SOFC anode. The optimum Ni content for cell performance was around 45 wt% and the corresponding MPD was 0.36 W/cm2. Indeed, the mesoporous NiO-SDC cermet may be of interest for use as an anode for low-temperature SOFCs.

Quantum dot-based screening system for discovery of g protein-coupled receptor agonists.

Cellular imaging has emerged as an important tool to unravel biological complexity and to accelerate the drug-discovery process, including cell-based screening, target identification, and mechanism of action studies. Recently, semiconductor nanoparticles known as quantum dots (QDs) have attracted great interest in cellular imaging applications due to their unique photophysical properties such as size, tunable optical property, multiplexing capability, and photostability. Herein, we show that QDs can also be applied to assay development and eventually to high-throughput/content screening (HTS/HCS) for drug discovery. We have synthesized QDs modified with PEG and primary antibodies to be used as fluorescent probes for a cell-based HTS system. The G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) family is known to be involved in most major diseases. We therefore constructed human osteosarcoma (U2OS) cells that specifically overexpress two types of differently tagged GPCRs: influenza hemagglutinin (HA) peptide-tagged κ-opioid receptors (κ-ORs) and GFP-tagged A3 adenosine receptors (A3AR). In this study, we have demonstrated that 1) anti-HA antibody-conjugated QDs could specifically label HA-tagged κ-ORs, 2) subsequent treatment of QD-tagged GPCR agonists allowed agonist-induced translocation to be monitored in real time, 3) excellent emission spectral properties of QD permitted the simultaneous detection of two GPCRs in one cell, and 4) the robust imaging capabilities of the QD-antibody conjugates could lead to reproducible quantitative data from high-content cellular images. These results suggest that the present QD-based GPCR inhibitor screening system can be a promising platform for further drug screening applications.