Effect of Modified Bioceramic Mineral Trioxide Aggregate Cement with Mesoporous Nanoparticles on Human Gingival Fibroblasts.

The ion doping of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) has played an important role in revolutionizing several materials applied in medicine and dentistry by enhancing their antibacterial and regenerative properties. Mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) is a dental material widely used in vital pulp therapies with high success rates. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the modification of MTA with cerium (Ce)- or calcium (Ca)-doped MSNs on the biological behavior of human gingival fibroblasts (hGFs). MSNs were synthesized via sol-gel, doped with Ce and Ca ions, and mixed with MTA at three ratios each. Powder specimens were characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Biocompatibility was evaluated using a 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay following hGFs' incubation in serial dilutions of material eluates. Antioxidant status was evaluated using Cayman's antioxidant assay after incubating hGFs with material disc specimens, and cell attachment following dehydration fixation was observed through SEM. Material characterization confirmed the presence of mesoporous structures. Biological behavior and antioxidant capacity were enhanced in all cases with a statistically significant increase in CeMTA 50.50. The application of modified MTA with cerium-doped MSNs offers a promising strategy for vital pulp therapies.

Efficient C(sp3)-H Bond Oxidation on Perovskite Quantum Dots Based on Ce-Oxygen Affinity.

Perovskite quantum dots (QDs) have shown attractive prospects in the field of visible photocatalysis, especially in the synthesis of high value-added chemicals. However, under aerobic conditions, the stable operation of QD catalysts has been limited by the reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by photoexcitation, especially superoxide species O2⋅-. Here, we propose a strategy of Ce3+ doping in perovskite QDs to guide superoxide species for photocatalytic oxidation reactions. In C(sp3)-H bond oxidation of hydrocarbons, superoxide species were rapidly generated and efficiently utilized on the surface of perovskite QDs, which achieves the stable operation of the catalytic system and obtains a high product conversion rate (15.3 mmol/g/h for benzaldehydes). The mechanism studies show that the strong Ce-oxygen affinity accelerates the relaxation process of photoinduced exciton transfer to superoxide species and inhibits the radiative recombination pathway. This work provides a new idea of utilizing oxygen species on perovskite surface and broadens the design strategy of high-performance QD photocatalysts.

Biological characterization of microwave based synthesized ZnO and Ce doped ZnO nanoflowers impeded chitosan matrix with enhanced antioxidant and anti-diabetic properties.

The chitosan matrix was used as a substrate for ZnO nanoflowers (ZnO/CH) and Ce-doped ZnO nanoflowers (Ce-ZnO/CH) by microwave-induced hydrothermal synthesis processes. The obtained hybrid structures were assessed as enhanced antioxidant and antidiabetic agents considering the synergetic effect of the different components. The integration of chitosan and cerium induced significantly the biological activity of ZnO flower-like particles. Ce-doped ZnO nano-flowers show higher activities than both ZnO nanoflowers and ZnO/CH composite reflecting the strong effect of surface electrons that were formed by the doping process as compared to the high interactive interface of the chitosan substrate. As an antioxidant the synthetic Ce-ZnO/CH composite achieved remarkable scavenging efficiencies for DPPH (92.4 ± 1.33 %), nitric oxide (95.2 ± 1.81 %), ABTS (90.4 ± 1.64 %), and superoxide (52.8 ± 1.22 %) radicals which are significantly higher values than Ascorbic acid as standard and the commercially used ZnO nanoparticles. Also, its antidiabetic efficiency enhanced greatly achieving strong inhibition effects on porcine α-amylase (93.6 ± 1.66 %), crude α-amylase (88.7 ± 1.82 %), pancreatic α-glucosidase (98.7 ± 1.26 %), crude intestinal α-glucosidase (96.8 ± 1.16 %), and amyloglucosidase (97.2 ± 1.72 %) enzymes. The recognized inhibition percentages are notably higher than the determined percentages using miglitol drug and slightly higher than acarbose. This recommends the Ce-ZnO/CH composite as a potential antidiabetic and antioxidant agent compared with the high cost and the reported side effects of the commonly used chemical drug.

Roles of CeO2 in preparing Ce-doped CdIn2S4 with boosted photocatalytic degradation performance for methyl orange and tetracycline hydrochloride.

Element doping is considered as a feasible strategy to develop efficient photocatalysts. In this study, a Ce-doped CdIn2S4 photocatalyst was prepared through a modified coprecipitation method. During the synthesis of Ce-doped CdIn2S4, the CeO2 nanorods were gradually reduced by the decomposition products of thioacetamide (TAA), and mainly existed as Ce(III) in the supernatant. This resulted in a large increase in the specific surface area of the as-obtained products, providing more exposed active sites for the reactant. Additionally, a trace amount of Ce was doped into the lattice of the CdIn2S4, resulting in a significant effect on the band structure. By tracing the roles of CeO2 during the synthesis process, a possible reaction mechanism was proposed. Benefiting from the synergistic advantages of the structural and compositional features, the optimal sample showed enhanced photocatalytic activities for the degradation of methyl orange (94.6% within 25 min) and tetracycline hydrochloride (85.6% within 120 min). The degradation rates were 13.3 times and 2.7 times higher than that of pristine CdIn2S4. This work may provide a strategy for designing metal element doped photocatalysts with good activity for pollutant removal.

Modulating the electronic structures of cobalt-organic frameworks for efficient electrocatalytic oxygen evolution.

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is a key process in various energy storage/generation technologies. Tuning the electronic structures of catalysts is an effective approach to improve the catalyst's activity. In this work, we synthesized Ce-doped cobalt-organic frameworks with benzene-1, 4-dicarboxylic acid (BDC) as the ligand as efficient OER electrocatalysts (denoted as Co3Ce1 BDC) with excellent stability and improved catalytic performance. The introduced Ce in Co3Ce1 BDC changes the surface configuration and tunes electronic structures of the active Co site, leading to enhanced interaction between intermediates and catalysts. Besides, the specific surface area, reaction kinetics, charge transfer efficiency, and turnover frequency are also improved in the presence of Ce. As a result, the Co3Ce1 BDC demonstrated excellent performance with a low overpotential of 285 mV at a current of 10 mA·cm-2, a preferable Tafel slope of 56.1 mV·dec-1, and an excellent durability in 1 M KOH, indicating the potential for practical applications in water splitting and other energy storage technologies wherein the OER plays a critical role. Comprehensive theoretical calculations and modeling further identified the key role of Ce in modulating the electronic structure and OER activity of cobalt-organic frameworks. Most importantly, this work provides a new strategy to the development of efficient cobalt-organic framework catalysts in OER-related applications.

Effects of Cerium Doping on the Mechanical Properties and Energy-Releasing Behavior of High-Entropy Alloys.

Energetic structural materials play an important role in improving the damage performance of future weapons. To improve the energy-releasing behavior, Al0.5NbZrTi1.5Ta0.8Cex high-entropy alloys were prepared by vacuum-arc melting. The results showed the presence of BCC and FCC phases in the alloy with dendritic-morphology-element segregation and there were significant dislocations in the alloys. The current study focused on the effects of cerium content on the dynamic compressive mechanical and energetic characteristics. Cerium doping enhanced the energy-releasing characteristics of high-entropy alloys. The severity of the reaction increased with the increase in the cerium content, while the dynamic compressive strength generally decreased with the increase in cerium content. The Al0.5NbZrTi1.5Ta0.8Ce0.25 showed excellent mechanical and energy-releasing characteristics. The ballistic experiments indicated that Al0.5NbZrTi1.5Ta0.8Ce0.25 can penetrate 6-millimeter A3 plates and ignite the cotton behind the target at a velocity of 729 m/s, making it an ideal energetic structural material.

Cerium-doped MIL-101-NH2(Fe) as superior adsorbent for simultaneous capture of phosphate and As(V) from Yangzonghai coastal spring water.

A series of novel cerium-doped MIL-101-NH2 materials were synthesized using the solvothermal method for the simultaneous efficient removal of phosphate and As(V). According to the characterization results, cerium was successfully loaded onto MIL-101-NH2 and that Ce-MOFs might be generated during the loading process, which modified the crystal structure of MIL-101-NH2 and resulted in MOFs with different microstructures. In single-uptake systems containing only phosphate or As(V), isothermal adsorption experiments showed that 1Ce-MIL-101-NH2 exhibited better adsorption properties of phosphate and As(V) than MIL-101-NH2. Furthermore, the uptake amounts of phosphate and As(V) reached 341.5 mg/g and 249 mg/g, respectively. Superior uptake amounts for binary phosphate (167.36 mg/g) and As(V) (87.55 mg/g) were achieved with 1Ce-MIL-101-NH2. Kinetic experiments revealed a higher uptake rate of phosphate than of As(V). FT-IR and XPS analyses showed that the main mechanism for the removal of phosphate and As(V) from water by 1Ce-MIL-101-NH2 was the formation of an Fe/CeOP inner complex through ligand complexation and electrostatic attraction. Furthermore, 1Ce-MIL-101-NH2 exhibited high selectivity and excellent efficiency in removing phosphate and As(V) in contaminated spring water in the presence of competing anions; this further confirms the application potential of the novel adsorbent.

Effect of Artemisinin-Loaded Mesoporous Cerium-Doped Calcium Silicate Nanopowder on Cell Proliferation of Human Periodontal Ligament Fibroblasts.

Ion doping has rendered mesoporous structures important materials in the field of tissue engineering, as apart from drug carriers, they can additionally serve as regenerative materials. The purpose of the present study was the synthesis, characterization and evaluation of the effect of artemisinin (ART)-loaded cerium-doped mesoporous calcium silicate nanopowders (NPs) on the hemocompatibility and cell proliferation of human periodontal ligament fibroblasts (hPDLFs). Mesoporous NPs were synthesized in a basic environment via a surfactant assisted cooperative self-assembly process and were characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (XRF), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray Diffraction Analysis (XRD) and N2 Porosimetry. The loading capacity of NPs was evaluated using Ultrahigh Performance Liquid Chromatography/High resolution Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC/HRMS). Their biocompatibility was evaluated with the MTT assay, and the analysis of reactive oxygen species was performed using the cell-permeable ROS-sensitive probe 2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (H2DCFDA). The synthesized NPs presented a mesoporous structure with a surface area ranging from 1312 m2/g for undoped silica to 495 m2/g for the Ce-doped NPs, excellent bioactivity after a 1-day immersion in c-SBF, hemocompatibility and a high loading capacity (around 80%). They presented ROS scavenging properties, and both the unloaded and ART-loaded NPs significantly promoted cell proliferation even at high concentrations of NPs (125 µg/mL). The ART-loaded Ce-doped NPs with the highest amount of cerium slightly restricted cell proliferation after 7 days of culture, but the difference was not significant compared with the control untreated cells.

Ultrasonic-assisted synthesis of Ce doped cubic-hexagonal ZnTiO3 with highly efficient sonocatalytic activity.

Ce doped ZnTiO3 as a novel catalyst with highly efficient and stable sonocatalytic activity was synthesized via an ultrasound-assisted sol-gel method using non-ionic surfactant Pluronic F127 as structure directing agent. Synthesized samples were characterized by using various techniques, such as XRD, TEM, SEM, EDX, ​XRF, BET, DRS, and PL, and their sonocatalytic activity studied toward degradation of p-Nitrophenol as a model organic compound. The synthesized mesoporous Ce/ZnTiO3 had mixed cubic-hexagonal phase with large surface area (118.2 m(2) g(-1)) and narrow pore size distribution (4.9 nm). The effects of cerium concentration, calcination temperature, and calcination time on the structure and the sonocatalytic activity of Ce/ZnTiO3 were studied in detail. XRD results were suggested that the relation between the phase structure and the catalytic activity is considerable. Significant decrease in band-gap and PL intensity was observed with increasing the cerium concentration in the ZnTiO3. It became clear that the Ce/ZnTiO3 (0.81 mol%) shows high sonocatalytic activity compared with pure ZnTiO3 and other Ce/ZnTiO3 samples as well as commercial TiO2-P25. The possible mechanism for the enhanced sonocatalytic activity of Ce/ZnTiO3 was discussed in details. The electrical energy consumption was also considered during sonocatalytic experiments.