Anchoring Ni(OH)2-CeOx Heterostructure on FeOOH-Modified Nickel-Mesh for Efficient Alkaline Water-Splitting Performance with Improved Stability under Quasi-Industrial Conditions.

Developing low-cost and industrially viable electrode materials for efficient water-splitting performance and constructing intrinsically active materials with abundant active sites is still challenging. In this study, a self-supported porous network Ni(OH)2-CeOx heterostructure layer on a FeOOH-modified Ni-mesh (NiCe/Fe@NM) electrode is successfully prepared by a facile, scalable two-electrode electrodeposition strategy for overall alkaline water splitting. The optimized NiCe0.05/Fe@NM catalyst reaches a current density of 100 mA cm-2 at an overpotential of 163 and 262 mV for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), respectively, in 1.0 m KOH with excellent stability. Additionally, NiCe0.05/Fe@NM demonstrates exceptional HER performance in alkaline seawater, requiring only 148 mV overpotential at 100 mA cm-2. Under real water splitting conditions, NiCe0.05/Fe@NM requires only 1.701 V to achieve 100 mA cm-2 with robust stability over 1000 h in an alkaline medium. The remarkable water-splitting performance and stability of the NiCe0.05/Fe@NM catalyst result from a synergistic combination of factors, including well-optimized surface and electronic structures facilitated by an optimal Ce ratio, rapid reaction kinetics, a superhydrophilic/superaerophobic interface, and enhanced intrinsic catalytic activity. This study presents a simple two-electrode electrodeposition method for the scalable production of self-supported electrocatalysts, paving the way for their practical application in industrial water-splitting processes.

A critical review on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) based nanomaterials for biomedical applications: Designing, recent trends, challenges, and prospects.

Nanomaterials (NMs) have garnered significant attention in recent decades due to their versatile applications in a wide range of fields. Thanks to their tiny size, enhanced surface modifications, impressive volume-to-surface area ratio, magnetic properties, and customized optical dispersion. NMs experienced an incredible upsurge in biomedical applications including diagnostics, therapeutics, and drug delivery. This minireview will focus on notable examples of NMs that tackle important issues, demonstrating various aspects such as their design, synthesis, morphology, classification, and use in cutting-edge applications. Furthermore, we have classified and outlined the distinctive characteristics of the advanced NMs as nanoscale particles and hybrid NMs. Meanwhile, we emphasize the incredible potential of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a highly versatile group of NMs. These MOFs have gained recognition as promising candidates for a wide range of bio-applications, including bioimaging, biosensing, antiviral therapy, anticancer therapy, nanomedicines, theranostics, immunotherapy, photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy, gene therapy, and drug delivery. Although advanced NMs have shown great potential in the biomedical field, their use in clinical applications is still limited by issues such as stability, cytotoxicity, biocompatibility, and health concerns. This review article provides a thorough analysis offering valuable insights for researchers investigating to explore new design, development, and expansion opportunities. Remarkably, we ponder the prospects of NMs and nanocomposites in conjunction with current technology.

Synthesis, Molecular Modeling and Biological Evaluation of 5-arylidene-N,N-diethylthiobarbiturates as Potential α-glucosidase Inhibitors.

BACKGROUND: Barbituric acid derivatives are a versatile group of compounds which are identified as potential pharmacophores for the treatment of anxiety, epilepsy and other psychiatric disorders. They are also used as anesthetics and have sound effects on the motor and sensory functions. Barbiturates are malonylurea derivatives with a variety of substituents at C-5 position showing resemblance with nitrogen and sulfur containing compounds like thiouracil which exhibited potent anticancer and antiviral activities. Recently, barbituric acid derivatives have also received great interest for applications in nanoscience. OBJECTIVE: Synthesis of 5-arylidene-N,N-diethylthiobarbiturates, biological evaluation as potential α-glucosidase inhibitors and molecular modeling. METHODS: In the present study, N,N-Diethylthiobarbituric acid derivatives were synthesized by refluxing of N,N-diethylthiobarbituric acid and different aromatic aldehydes in distilled water. In a typical reaction; a mixture of N,N-diethylthiobarbituric acid 0.20 g (1 mmol) and 5-bromo-2- hydroxybenzaldehyde 0.199 g (1 mmol) mixed in 10 mL distilled water and reflux for 30 minutes. After completion of the reaction, the corresponding product 1 was filtered and dried and yield calculated. It was crystallized from ethanol. The structures of synthesized compounds 1-25 were carried out by using 1H, 13C NMR, EI spectroscopy and CHN analysis used for the determination of their structures. The α-glucosidase inhibition assay was performed as given by Chapdelaine et al., with slight modifications and optimization. RESULTS: Our newly synthesized compounds showed a varying degree of α-glucosidase inhibition and at least four of them were found as potent inhibitors. Compounds 6, 5, 17, 11 exhibited IC50 values (Mean±SEM) of 0.0006 ± 0.0002, 18.91 ± 0.005, 19.18 ± 0.002, 36.91 ± 0.003 µM, respectively, as compared to standard acarbose (IC50, 38.25 ± 0.12 µM). CONCLUSION: Our present study has shown that compounds 6, 5, 17, 11 exhibited IC50 values of 0.0006 ± 0.0002, 18.91 ± 0.005, 19.18 ± 0.002, 36.91 ± 0.003 µM, respectively. The studies were supported by in silico data analysis.