Stabilization of Natural Organic Matter by Short-Range-Order Iron Hydroxides.

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is capable of modifying the surfaces of soil minerals (e.g., Fe hydroxides) or even forming stable co-precipitates with Fe(III) in a neutral environment. The DOM/Fe co-precipitation may alter biogeochemical carbon cycling in soils if the relatively mobile DOM is sorbed by soil minerals against leaching, runoff, and biodegradation. In this study, we aimed to determine the structural development of DOM/Fe co-precipitates in relation to changes in pH and C/(C + Fe) ratios using XRD, XPS, Fe K-edge XAS, FTIR, and C-NEXAFS techniques. The results showed that in the system with bulk C/(C + Fe) molar ratios ≤0.65, the ferrihydrite-like Fe domains were precipitated as the core and covered by the C shells. When the C/(C + Fe) molar ratio ranged between 0.71 and 0.89, the emerging Fe-C bonding suggested a more substantial association between Fe domains including edge- and corner-sharing FeO6 octahedra and DOM. With C/(C + Fe) bulk molar ratios ≥0.92, only corner-sharing FeO6 octahedra along with Fe-C bonding were found. The homogeneously distributed C and Fe domains caused the enhancement of Fe and C solubilization from co-precipitates. The C/(C + Fe) ratios dominated structural compositions and stabilities of C/Fe co-precipitates and may directly affect the Fe and C cycles in soils.

Engineering Cathode-Electrolyte Interface of High-Voltage Spinel LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 via Halide Solid-State Electrolyte Coating.

The high-voltage spinel LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 (LNMO) cathode material with high energy density, low cost, and excellent rate capability has grabbed the attention of the field. However, a high-voltage platform at 4.7 V causes severe oxidative side reactions when in contact with the organic electrolyte, leading to poor electrochemical performance. Furthermore, the contact between the liquid electrolyte and LNMO leads to Mn dissolution during cycles. In this work, we applied the sol-gel method to prepare Li3InCl6-coated LNMO (LIC@LNMO) to address the mentioned problems of LNMO. By introducing a protective layer of halide-type solid-state electrolyte on LNMO, we can prevent direct contact between LNMO and electrolyte while maintaining good ionic conductivity. Thus, we could demonstrate that 5 wt % LIC@LNMO exhibited a good cycle performance with a Coulombic efficiency of 99% and a capacity retention of 80% after the 230th cycle at the 230th cycle at 1C at room temperature.

Factors influencing neutralizing antibody titers elicited by coronavirus disease 2019 vaccines.

The World Health Organization has highlighted the importance of an international standard (IS) for severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) neutralizing antibody titer detection to calibrate diagnostic techniques. We applied an IS to calibrate neutralizing antibody titers (NTs) (international units/mL) in response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination. Moreover, the association between different factors and neutralizing antibodies was analyzed. A total of 1667 serum samples were collected from participants receiving different COVID-19 vaccines. Antibody titers were determined by a microneutralization assay using live viruses in a biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) laboratory and a commercial serological MeDiPro kit. The titer determined using the MeDiPro kit was highly correlated with the NT determined using live viruses and calibrated using IS. Fever and antipyretic analgesic treatment were related to neutralizing antibody responses in ChAdOx1-S and BNT162b2 vaccinations. Individuals with diabetes showed a low NT elicited by MVC-COV1901. Individuals with hypertension receiving the BNT162b2 vaccine had lower NTs than those without hypertension. Our study provided the international unit (IU) values of NTs in vaccinated individuals for the development of vaccines and implementation of non-inferiority trials. Correlation of the influencing factors with NTs can provide an indicator for selecting COVID-19 vaccines based on personal attributes.

Redox reactions between chromium(VI) and hydroquinone: Alternative pathways for polymerization of organic molecules.

Chromium (VI) reduction by organic compounds is one of the major pathways to alleviate the toxicity and mobility of Cr(VI) in the environment. However, oxidative products of organic molecules receive less scientific concerns. In this study, hydroquinone (H2Q) was used as a representative organic compound to determine the redox reactions with Cr(VI) and the concomitant oxidative products. Spectroscopic analyses showed that Cr(III) hydroxides dominated the precipitates produced during redox reactions of Cr(VI) and H2Q. For the separated filtrates, the acidification induced the oxidative polymerization of organic molecules, accompanied with the complexation with Cr(III). The aromatic domains dominated the chemical structures of the black and fluffy organic polymers, which was different to the natural humic acids due to the shortage of aliphatic chains. Results of linear combination fitting (LCF) for Cr K-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectra demonstrated that up to 90.4% of Cr inventory in precipitates derived after the acidification of filtrates was Cr(III) complexed with humic-like polymers, suggesting that Cr(III) possibly acted as a linkage among organic molecules during the polymerization processes of H2Q. This study demonstrated that Cr(VI) may lead to the polymerization of organic molecules in an acidic solution, and thus, it could raise scientific awareness that the oxidative decomposition of organic molecules may not be the only pathway while interacting with the strong oxidant of Cr(VI).