The characteristic of the key aroma-active components in white tea using GC-TOF-MS and GC-olfactometry combined with sensory-directed flavor analysis.

BACKGROUND: White tea has become more and more popular with consumers due to its health benefits and unique flavor. However, the key aroma-active compounds of white tea during the aging process are still unclear. Thus, the key aroma-active compounds of white tea during the aging process were investigated using gas chromatography-time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS) and gas chromatography-olfactometry (GC-O) combined with sensory-directed flavor analysis. RESULTS: A total of 127 volatile compounds were identified from white tea samples with different aging years by GC-TOF-MS. Fifty-eight aroma-active compounds were then determined by GC-O, and 19 of them were further selected as the key aroma-active compounds based on modified frequency (MF) and odor activity value (OAV). CONCLUSION: Aroma recombination and omission testing confirmed that 1-octen-3-ol, linalool, phenethyl alcohol, geraniol, (E)-ß-ionone, α-ionone, hexanal, phenylacetaldehyde, nonanal, (E, Z)-(2,6)-nonadienal, safranal, γ-nonalactone and 2-amylfuran were the common key aroma-active compounds to all samples. Cedrol, linalool oxide II and methyl salicylate were confirmed peculiar in new white tea, while ß-damascenone and jasmone were peculiar in aged white tea. This work will offer support for further studies on the material basis of flavor formation of white tea. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

Tremella-Like Ni-NiO with O-Vacancy Heterostructure Nanosheets Grown In Situ on MXenes for Highly Efficient Hydrogen and Oxygen Evolution.

Electronic modulation via heterostructures or vacancies has been recently regarded as an effective strategy to improve electrocatalytic activity by optimizing the adsorption free energies of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) or oxygen evolution reaction (OER) active intermediates during the reaction. Herein, tremella-like Ni-NiO with O-vacancy heterostructure nanosheets grown in situ on Ti3C2Tx MXenes (Ni-NiO/Ti3C2Tx MXene) are fabricated via a facile strategy. Benefitting from the heterointerfaces between Ni and NiO, the synergetic coupling effects of MXenes and Ni-NiO heterostructures, the O-vacancies, and the unique architecture, the as-prepared Ni-NiO/Ti3C2Tx MXene showed superior activity toward the HER and OER in alkaline electrolyte, only requiring overpotentials of 72 mV for the HER and 248 mV for the OER to offer 10 mA cm-2. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that Ni-NiO with O-vacancies can effectively increase the electron density around the Fermi level and modulate the Gibbs free energies of the intermediates during catalytic reactions, thus accelerating the reaction kinetics.