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1.
Inorg Chem ; 2024 Jun 28.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38941498

ABSTRACT

Complex morphologies in nature often arise from the assembly of elemental building blocks, leading to diverse and intricate structures. Understanding the mechanisms that govern the formation of these complex morphologies remains a significant challenge. In particular, the edge-base plate growth of biogenic crystals plays a crucial role in directing the development of intricate bioskeleton morphologies. However, the factors and regulatory processes that govern edge-base plate growth remain insufficiently understood. Inspired by biological skeletons and based on the soluble property of boric acid (BA) in both water and alcohols, we obtained a series of novel BA morphologies, including coccolith, and anemone biological skeletons. Here, we unveil the "inscribed circle effect", a concise mathematical model that reveals the underlying causative factors and regulatory mechanisms driving edge-base plate growth. Our findings illuminate how variations in solvent environments can exert control over the edge-base plate growth pathways, thereby resulting in the formation of diverse and complex morphologies. This understanding holds significant potential for guiding the chemical synthesis of bioskeleton materials.

2.
Conserv Biol ; 38(1): e14180, 2024 Feb.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37700668

ABSTRACT

Current biodiversity loss is generally considered to have been caused by anthropogenic disturbance, but it is unclear when anthropogenic activities began to affect biodiversity loss. One hypothesis suggests it began with the Industrial Revolution, whereas others propose that anthropogenic disturbance has been associated with biodiversity decline since the early Holocene. To test these hypotheses, we examined the unique vegetation of evergreen broadleaved forests (EBLFs) in East Asia, where humans have affected landscapes since the early Holocene. We adopted a genomic approach to infer the demographic history of a dominant tree (Litsea elongata) of EBLFs. We used Holocene temperature and anthropogenic disturbance factors to calculate the correlation between these variables and the historical effective population size of L. elongata with Spearman statistics and integrated the maximum-entropy niche model to determine the impact of climate change and anthropogenic disturbance on fluctuation in its effective population size. We identified 9 well-defined geographic clades for the populations of L. elongata. Based on the estimated historical population sizes of these clades, all the populations contracted, indicating persistent population decline over the last 11,000 years. Demographic history of L. elongata and human population change, change in cropland use, and change in irrigated rice area were significantly negatively correlated, whereas climate change in the Holocene was not correlated with demographic history. Our results support the early human impact hypothesis and provide comprehensive evidence that early anthropogenic disturbance may contribute to the current biodiversity crisis in East Asia.


Subject(s)
Anthropogenic Effects , Trees , Animals , Humans , Conservation of Natural Resources , Forests , Asia, Eastern , Biodiversity , Climate Change
3.
PLoS Biol ; 18(12): e3000978, 2020 12.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33320883

ABSTRACT

The recent outbreak of betacoronavirus Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which is responsible for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic, has created great challenges in viral diagnosis. The existing methods for nucleic acid detection are of high sensitivity and specificity, but the need for complex sample manipulation and expensive machinery slow down the disease detection. Thus, there is an urgent demand to develop a rapid, inexpensive, and sensitive diagnostic test to aid point-of-care viral detection for disease monitoring. In this study, we developed a clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-CRISPR associated proteins (Cas) 12a-based diagnostic method that allows the results to be visualized by the naked eye. We also introduced a rapid sample processing method, and when combined with recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA), the sample to result can be achieved in 50 minutes with high sensitivity (1-10 copies per reaction). This accurate and portable detection method holds a great potential for COVID-19 control, especially in areas where specialized equipment is not available.


Subject(s)
COVID-19 Testing/methods , CRISPR-Cas Systems/genetics , SARS-CoV-2/genetics , SARS-CoV-2/isolation & purification , Base Sequence , Humans , Reproducibility of Results , Sensitivity and Specificity
4.
J Org Chem ; 88(9): 5982-5996, 2023 May 05.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37079849

ABSTRACT

A highly selective and divergent synthesis which enabled access to various complex compounds is highly attractive in organic synthesis and medicinal chemistry. Herein, we developed an effective method for divergent synthesis of highly substituted tetrahydroquinolines via Lewis base catalyzed switchable annulations of Morita-Baylis-Hillman carbonates with activated olefins. The reaction displayed switchable [4 + 2] or [3 + 2] annulations via catalyst or substrate control, providing a diverse range of architectures which contained highly substituted tetrahydroquinolines or cyclopentenes with three contiguous stereocenters bearing a quaternary carbon center in high yields with excellent diastereoselectivities and regioselectivities. Furthermore, synthetic utility of this strategy was further highlighted by gram-scale experiments and simple transformations of the products.

5.
Molecules ; 28(19)2023 Sep 22.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37836604

ABSTRACT

Substrate-controlled diversity-oriented synthesis of polycyclic frameworks via [4 + 2] and [3 + 2] annulations between ninhydrin-derived Morita-Baylis-Hillman (MBH) adducts and 3,4-dihydroisoquinolines under similar reaction conditions have been developed. The reaction provides diversity-oriented synthesis of a series of novel and structurally complex spiro multi heterocyclic skeletons in good yields (up to 87% and 90%, respectively) with excellent diastereoselectivities (up to >25:1 dr). In particular, the switchable [4 + 2] and [3 + 2] annulation reactions are controlled by tuning the hydroxyl protecting group on the ninhydrin-derived MBH adduct to deliver structural diverse spiro[indene-2,2'-[1,3]oxazino[2,3-a]isoquinoline] and spiro[indene-2,1'-pyrrolo[2,1-a]isoquinoline], respectively. Furthermore, the relative configuration and chemical structure of two kinds of cycloadducts were confirmed through X-ray diffraction analysis.

6.
Chemistry ; 23(32): 7657-7662, 2017 Jun 07.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-28449406

ABSTRACT

A stable 3D TbIII -based metal-organic framework [Tb(BPDC)2 ]⋅(CH3 )2 NH2 (DUT-101) was synthesized, and it is the first efficient dual-channel luminescence sensor for aqueous UO22+ ions. DUT-101 contains an anionic three-dimensional framework and protonated dimethylamine molecules embedded within the channels. The intense green emission of DUT-101 could be highly selectively and sensitively quenched by UO22+ ions even in the presence of other competing metal ions. A possible sensing mechanism was proposed based on both suppression of luminescence resonance energy transfer and enhancement of intermolecular electron transfer. Furthermore, visual green fluorescent test papers based on DUT-101 were fabricated and could be used to discriminate UO22+ ions among various metal ions.

7.
Chemistry ; 21(5): 2029-37, 2015 Jan 26.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-25431256

ABSTRACT

A luminescent cadmium-pamoate metal-organic framework, [Cd2 (PAM)2 (dpe)2 (H2 O)2 ]⋅0.5(dpe) (1), has been synthesized under hydrothermal conditions by using π-electron-rich ligands 4,4'-methylenebis(3-hydroxy-2-naphthalenecarboxylic acid) (H2 PAM) and 1,2-di(4-pyridyl)ethylene (dpe). Its structure is composed of both mononuclear and dinuclear Cd(II) building units, which are linked by the PAM and dpe ligands, resulting in a (4,8)-connected 3D framework. The π-conjugated dpe guests are located in a 1D channel of 1. The strong emission of 1 could be quenched efficiently by trace amounts of 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP), even in the presence of other competing analogues such as 4-nitrophenol, 2,6-dinitrotoluene, 2,4-dinitrotoluene, nitrobenzene, 1,3-dinitrobenzene, hydroquinone, dimethylbenzene, and bromobenzene. The high sensitivity and selectivity of the fluorescence response of 1 to TNP shows that this framework could be used as an excellent sensor for identifying and quantifying TNP. In the same manner, 1 also exhibits superior selectivity and sensitivity towards Cu(2+) compared with other metal ions such as Zn(2+) , Mn(2+) , Mg(2+) , K(+) , Na(+) , Ni(2+) , Co(2+) , and Ca(2+) . This is the first MOF that can serve as a dual functional fluorescent sensor for selectively detecting trace amounts of TNP and Cu(2+) .


Subject(s)
Copper/chemistry , Fluorescent Dyes/chemistry , Picrates/chemistry , Cadmium/chemistry
8.
Appl Opt ; 54(19): 6046-52, 2015 Jul 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-26193150

ABSTRACT

An algorithm based on use of a reflected refractometer to measure the real part of the refractive index (RI) for an absorbing liquid is presented. The absorption of liquid will blur the division between bright and dark regions on a Fresnel reflective curve. However, the reflective ratio at some incident angles that are less than the critical angle have little sensitivity to absorbability. Unlike common methods that extract RI from reflectivity in critical angle vicinity, the presented method acquires the real RI from reflective ratio at a subcritical angle. Supported by the theoretical analysis and experimental results on a reflected refractometer, we have achieved accuracy better than 3×10(-4) RIU on ink samples with absorption coefficient around 300 cm(-1). Additional tests on Alizarin yellow GG solutions prove that the subcritical algorithm is feasible and of high accuracy.

9.
Appl Opt ; 54(11): 3294-302, 2015 Apr 10.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-25967316

ABSTRACT

Active polarization imaging technology is a convenient and promising method for imaging in a scattering medium such as fog and turbid water. However, few studies have investigated the influence of polarization on the resolution in underwater imaging. This paper reports on the effects of polarization detection on the resolution of underwater imaging by using active polarization imaging technology. An experimental system is designed to determine the influence under various polarization and water conditions. The modulation transfer function is introduced to estimate the resolution variations at different spatial frequencies. Results show that orthogonal detection supplies the best resolution compared with other polarization directions in the turbid water. The performance of the circular polarization method is better than the linear process. However, if the light propagates under low scattering conditions, such as imaging in clean water or at small optical thickness, the resolution enhancement is not sensitive to the polarization angles.

10.
Phys Chem Chem Phys ; 16(19): 8783-6, 2014 May 21.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-24691489

ABSTRACT

A synergic effect of sodium on the metal-insulator transition temperature reduction of tungsten-doped vanadium dioxide is noted. With the assistance of sodium, doping with tungsten yields an extra depression in phase temperature of 6-12 °C over that of 20-26 °C per at% of tungsten.

11.
Int J Biol Macromol ; 254(Pt 1): 127729, 2024 Jan.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38287566

ABSTRACT

Facemasks play a significant role as personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic, but their longevity is limited by the easy dissipation of electrostatic charge and the accumulation of bacteria. In this study, nanofibrous membranes composed of polyacrylonitrile and chitosan biguanide hydrochloride (PAN@CGH) with remarkable antibacterial characteristics were prepared through the coaxial electrospinning process. Particulate matter could be efficiently captured by the fibrous membrane, up to 98 % or more, via polarity-dominated forces derived from cyano and amino groups. As compared commercial N95 masks, the PAN@CGH was more resistant to a wider variety of disinfection protocols. Additionally, the nanofibrous membrane could kill >99.99 % of both Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Based on these characteristics, PAN@CGH nanofibrous membrane was applied to facial mask, which possessed an excellent and long-lasting effect on the capture of airborne particles. This work may be one of the most promising strategies on designing high-performance face masks for public health protection.


Subject(s)
Chitosan , Nanofibers , Humans , Chitosan/pharmacology , Biguanides/pharmacology , Pandemics , Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology , Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use , Escherichia coli , Filtration
12.
Inflammation ; 47(1): 454-468, 2024 Feb.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37979076

ABSTRACT

Besides being recognized by membrane receptor TLR4, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) can also be internalized into the cytosol and activate Caspase-4/11 pyroptotic pathways to further amplify inflammation in sepsis. The objective of this study was to investigate whether Galectin-3 (Gal3) could promote the uptake of LPS by governing RAGE or administering endocytosis, consequently activating Caspase 4/11 and mediating pyroptosis in sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (SA-AKI). By pinpointing Gal3, LPS, and EEA1 (endosome-marker) or LAMP1 (lysosome-marker) respectively, immunofluorescence discovered that Gal3 and LPS were mainly aggregated in early endosomes initially and translocated into lysosomes afterwards. In cells and animal models, Gal3 and the Caspase-4/11 pathways were simultaneously activated, and the overexpression of Gal3 could exacerbate pyroptosis, whereas inhibition of Gal3 or the knockdown of its expression could ameliorate pyroptosis, reduce the pathological changes of SA-AKI and improve the survival of the animals with SA-AKI. Silencing RAGE reduced pyroptosis in primary tubular epithelial cells (PTCs) activated by Gal3 and LPS but not in cells activated by Gal3 and outer membrane vesicles (with LPS inside), whereas pyroptosis in both was reduced by blockade of Gal3, indicating Gal3 promoted pyroptosis through both RAGE-dependent and RAGE-independent pathways. Our investigation further revealed a positive correlation between serum Gal3 and pyroptotic biomarkers IL-1 beta and IL-18 in patients with sepsis, and that serum Gal3 was an independent risk factor for mortality. Through our collective exploration, we unraveled the significant role of Gal3 in the internalization of LPS and the provocation of more intense pyroptosis, thus making it a vital pathogenic factor in SA-AKI and a possible therapeutic target. Gal3 enabled the internalization of endotoxin into endosomes and lysosomes via both RAGE-dependent (A) and RAGE-independent (B) pathways, leading to pyroptosis. The suppression of Gal3 curbed Caspase4/11 noncanonical inflammasomes and diminished sepsis and SA-AKI.


Subject(s)
Acute Kidney Injury , Sepsis , Animals , Humans , Endotoxins/metabolism , Lipopolysaccharides/pharmacology , Galectin 3/metabolism , Macrophages/metabolism , Sepsis/complications , Sepsis/metabolism , Acute Kidney Injury/metabolism
13.
Hematology ; 29(1): 2365596, 2024 Dec.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38864494

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to establish a droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) assay for South-East Asian (SEA) deletion based on a fully integrated digital PCR system DropXpert S6. METHODS: A total of 151 whole blood samples, 10 chorionic villus samples, and 17 amniotic fluid samples were collected, including 106 SEA heterozygotes, 43 normal individuals, 10 Hb Bart's hydrops details, and 19 SEA deletions combined with other genotypes.Genotypes of these samples were determined by the Gap-PCR method. We perform a series of optimizations of the ddPCR system to ensure the performance of the entire ddPCR reaction, such as droplet stability, fluorescence clustering, sensitivity, and accuracy. RESULTS: Our assay exhibited 99.4% (177/178) accuracy compared with the Gap-PCR method, and the minimum detection limit of DNA was 0.1 ng/µL.Both targets have reliable linearity, R2 = 0.9999 for the α-thalassemia SEA deletion allele and R2 = 1 for the wild-type allele. The coefficient of variation for α-thalassemia SEA deletion allele detection at 2 and 10 ng/µL concentrations was 5.42% and 1.91%, respectively. In contrast, the coefficient of variation for wild-type allele detection was 4.06% and 1.83%, demonstrating its high quantitative accuracy. In addition, the DropXpert S6 PCR system showed some advantages over other ddPCR instruments, such as reducing testing costs, simplifying and automating the workflow. CONCLUSIONS: The DropXpert S6 PCR system provided a highly accurate diagnosis for α-thalassemia SEA deletion and can be used to detect α-thalassemia as an alternative method.


Subject(s)
Polymerase Chain Reaction , alpha-Thalassemia , alpha-Thalassemia/genetics , alpha-Thalassemia/diagnosis , alpha-Thalassemia/blood , Humans , Polymerase Chain Reaction/methods , Female , Asia, Southeastern , Sequence Deletion , Asian People/genetics , East Asian People
14.
Nanoscale ; 16(23): 11163-11173, 2024 Jun 13.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38758041

ABSTRACT

PEO is one of the common composite polymer electrolyte vehicles; however, the presence of crystalline phase at room temperature, high interface impedance, and low oxidation resistance (<4.0 V) limit its application in stable all-solid-state lithium metal batteries. Herein, we designed a PEO-based solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) by adding boehmite nanoparticles to address the above-mentioned issues. Different-grain-sized boehmite nanoparticles were synthesized by adjusting the hydrothermal temperature. Moreover, the impacts of these distinct grain-sized boehmite nanoparticles used to fabricate boehmite/PEO polymer electrolytes (BPEs) on the performance of all-solid-state lithium metal batteries were investigated. It was found that with the increase in boehmite's grain size, BPEs show better performance. The best BPE exhibited an improved Li+ transference number (0.59), high ionic conductivity (1.25 × 10-4 S m-1), and wide electrochemical window (∼4.5 V) at 60 °C. The assembled lithium symmetric battery can stably undergo 500 hours of lithium plating/stripping at 0.1 mA cm-2. At the same time, the LiFePO4/BPE/Li battery exhibits excellent cycling stability after 100 cycles at 0.5C. This reasonable design strategy with a superior capacity retention rate (86%) demonstrates great potential in achieving high ionic conductivity and good interface stability for all-solid-state lithium metal batteries simultaneously.

15.
Lab Chip ; 24(12): 3080-3092, 2024 Jun 11.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38747247

ABSTRACT

Digital PCR is a powerful method for absolute nucleic acid quantification and is widely used in the absolute quantification of viral copy numbers, tumor marker detection, and prenatal diagnosis. However, for most of the existing droplet-based dPCR systems, the droplet generation, PCR reaction, and droplet detection are performed separately using different instruments. Making digital PCR both easy to use and practical by integrating the qPCR workflow into a superior all-in-one walkaway solution is one of the core ideas. A new innovative and integrated digital droplet PCR platform was developed that utilizes cutting-edge microfluidics to integrate dPCR workflows onto a single consumable chip. This makes previously complex workflows fast and simple; the whole process of droplet generation, PCR amplification, and droplet detection is completed on one chip, which meets the clinical requirement of "sample in, result out". It provides high multiplexing capabilities and strong sensitivity while all measurements were within the 95% confidence interval. This study is the first validation of the DropXpert S6 system and focuses primarily on verifying its reliability, repeatability, and consistency. In addition, the accuracy, detection limit, linearity, and precision of the system were evaluated after sample collection. Among them, the accuracy assessment by calculating the absolute bias of each target gene yielded a range from -0.1 to 0.08, all within ±0.5 logarithmic orders of magnitude; the LOB for the assay was set at 0, and the LoD value calculated using probit curves is MR4.7 (0.002%); the linearity evaluation showed that the R2 value of the BCR-ABL was 0.9996, and the R2 value of the ABL metrics calculated using the ERM standard was 0.9999; and the precision evaluation showed that all samples had a CV of less than 4% for intra-day, inter-day, and inter-instrument variation. The CV of inter-batch variation was less than 7%. The total CV was less than 5%. The results of the study demonstrate that dd-PCR can be applied to molecular detection and the clinical evaluation of CML patients and provide more precise personal treatment guidance, and its reproducibility predicts the future development of a wide range of clinical applications.


Subject(s)
Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive , Humans , Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive/diagnosis , Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive/genetics , Lab-On-A-Chip Devices , Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl/genetics , Polymerase Chain Reaction , Microfluidic Analytical Techniques/instrumentation
16.
Eur J Med Chem ; 269: 116325, 2024 Apr 05.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38527378

ABSTRACT

By virtue of the drug repurposing strategy, the anti-osteoporosis drug raloxifene was identified as a novel PPARγ ligand through structure-based virtual high throughput screening (SB-VHTS) of FDA-approved drugs and TR-FRET competitive binding assay. Subsequent structural refinement of raloxifene led to the synthesis of a benzothiophene derivative, YGL-12. This compound exhibited potent PPARγ modulation with partial agonism, uniquely promoting adiponectin expression and inhibiting PPARγ Ser273 phosphorylation by CDK5 without inducing the expression of adipongenesis associated genes, including PPARγ, aP2, CD36, FASN and C/EBPα. This specific activity profile resulted in effective hypoglycemic properties, avoiding major TZD-related adverse effects like weight gain and hepatomegaly, which were demonstrated in db/db mice. Molecular docking studies showed that YGL-12 established additional hydrogen bonds with Ile281 and enhanced hydrogen-bond interaction with Ser289 as well as PPARγ Ser273 phosphorylation-related residues Ser342 and Glu343. These findings suggested YGL-12 as a promising T2DM therapeutic candidate, thereby providing a molecular framework for the development of novel PPARγ modulators with an enhanced therapeutic index.


Subject(s)
PPAR gamma , Raloxifene Hydrochloride , Thiophenes , Mice , Animals , PPAR gamma/metabolism , Molecular Docking Simulation , Drug Repositioning
17.
Autoimmunity ; 56(1): 2276066, 2023 12.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37994026

ABSTRACT

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) has been manifested to be involved in the development of human diseases, including sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (SA-AKI). However, the function and mechanism of circ_0006944 in SA-AKI has not been validated. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was utilised to induce AKI cell model. Levels of genes and proteins were monitored by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blot. Cell counting kit 8 assay, EdU assay and flow cytometry were exploited to estimate cell proliferation and apoptosis. The concentrations of inflammation factors were measured via using ELISA assay. The levels of MDA and SOD were tested by the corresponding kits. The relationship between miR-205-5p and circ_0006944 or UBL4A was verified by dual-luciferase reporter assay and RIP assay. Circ_0006944 was overexpressed in SA-AKI patients, and interference of circ_0006944 restrained LPS-stimulated HK2 cell proliferation repression, apoptosis, inflammation and oxidative stress. Mechanistically, circ_0006944 could sponge miR-205-5p, and miR-205-5p interference counteracted circ_0006944 inhibition-mediated impact on the biological functions in LPS-induced HK2 cell. Additionally, UBL4A was targeted by miR-205-5p, and UBL4A overexpression also partially abolished the repressive impacts of miR-205-5p on LPS-triggered HK2 cell damage. Importantly, circ_0006944 sponged miR-205-5p to mediate the expression of UBL4A. Our outcomes identified that circ_0006944 exacerbated SA-AKI development via miR-205-5p/UBL4A axis, which might be a potential treatment and diagnosis biomarker for SA-AKI.


Subject(s)
Acute Kidney Injury , MicroRNAs , RNA, Circular , Sepsis , Ubiquitins , RNA, Circular/genetics , MicroRNAs/genetics , Ubiquitins/genetics , Sepsis/complications , Acute Kidney Injury/etiology , Acute Kidney Injury/genetics , Humans , Cell Line , Inflammation , Oxidative Stress
18.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces ; 15(1): 2112-2123, 2023 Jan 11.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36577088

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, lithium-ion batteries are required to have a higher energy density and safety because of their wide applications. Current commercial separators have poor wettability and thermal stability, which significantly impact the performance and safety of batteries. In this study, a class of boehmite particles with different grain sizes was synthesized by adjusting hydrothermal temperatures and used to fabricate boehmite/polyacrylonitrile (BM/PAN) membranes. All of these BM/PAN membranes can not only maintain excellent thermal dimensional stability above 200 °C but also have good electrolyte wettability and high porosity. More interestingly, the BM/PAN membranes' thermal shutdown temperature can be adjusted by changing the grain size of boehmite particles. The lithium-ion batteries assembled with BM/PAN separators exhibit different thermal stability phenomena at 150 °C and have excellent rate performance and cycle stability at room temperature. After 120 cycles at 1C, the LiFePO4 half-cell assembled by the best BM/PAN separator has almost unchanged discharge capacity, whereas the capacity retention of Celgard 2325 is only about 85%. Meanwhile, the NCM523 half-cell assembled with the best BM/PAN separator shows superb cycle stability after 500 cycles at 8C, with a capacity retention of 79% compared with 56% for Celgard 2325.

19.
J Colloid Interface Sci ; 641: 577-584, 2023 Jul.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36963251

ABSTRACT

The electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) for ammonia (NH3) under ambient conditions is emerging as a potentially sustainable alternative to the traditional, energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process for ammonia production. Currently, metal-based electrocatalysts constitute the majority of reported NRR catalysts. However, they often suffer from the shortcomings of competitive reactions of nitrogen adsorption/activation and hydrogen generation. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop more environmentally friendly, low energy consumption, and non-polluting high-performance metal-free electrocatalysts. In this study, borocarbonitride (BCN) materials derived from boron imidazolate framework (BIF-20) were used to boost efficient electrochemical nitrogen conversion to ammonia under ambient conditions. The BCN catalyst demonstrated excellent performance in 0.1 M KOH, with an ammonia yield of 21.62 µg h-1 mgcat-1 and a Faradaic efficiency of 9.88% at -0.3 V (Reversible Hydrogen Electrode, RHE). This performance is superior to most metal-free catalysts and even some metal catalysts for NRR. The 15N2/14N2 isotope labeling experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations showed that N2 can be adsorbed and converted to NH3 on the surface of BCN, and that the energy barrier can be significantly reduced by structural design for BCN. This work highlights the important role played by the presence of Lewis acid-base pairs in metal-free catalysts for enhancing electrochemical NRR performance.

20.
ACS Appl Bio Mater ; 6(7): 2837-2848, 2023 07 17.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37319103

ABSTRACT

Diseases caused by bacterial infection have resulted in serious harm to human health. It is crucial to develop a multifunctional antibiotic-independent antibacterial platform for combating drug-resistant bacteria. Herein, titanium diboride (TiB2) nanosheets integrated with quaternized chitosan (QCS) and indocyanine green (ICG) were successfully prepared as a synergetic photothermal/photodynamic antibacterial nanoplatform (TiB2-QCS-ICG). The TiB2-QCS-ICG nanocomposites exhibit effective photothermal conversion efficiency (24.92%) and excellent singlet oxygen (1O2) production capacity simultaneously under 808 nm near-infrared irradiation. QCS improved TiB2 stability and dispersion, while also enhancing adhesion to bacteria and further accelerating the destruction of bacteria by heat and 1O2. In vitro experiments indicated that TiB2-QCS-ICG had excellent antibacterial properties with an inhibition rate of 99.99% against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), respectively. More importantly, in vivo studies revealed that the nanoplatform can effectively inhibit bacterial infection and accelerate wound healing. The effective wound healing rate in the TiB2-QCS-ICG treatment group was 99.6% which was much higher than control groups. Taken together, the as-developed TiB2-QCS-ICG nanocomposite provides more possibilities to develop metal borides for antibacterial infection applications.


Subject(s)
Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus , Nanocomposites , Photochemotherapy , Humans , Photochemotherapy/methods , Escherichia coli , Indocyanine Green/pharmacology , Boron Compounds/pharmacology , Nanocomposites/therapeutic use , Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology , Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use
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