Realizing Ultrabroadband NIR-II Emission and Wide-Range Wavelength Tuning in Cr4+-activated ABO2 (A = Li, Na; B = Al, Ga) Phosphors.

Cr4+-activated phosphors are important candidate materials for NIR-II light sources, but providing a suitable lattice coordination environment for Cr4+ and achieving long wavelength broadband emission remains a challenge. In this work, a series of Cr4+-activated ABO2 (A = Li, Na; B = Al, Ga) phosphors were successfully prepared. Due to the presence of only tetrahedral coordination structures available for Cr4+ to occupy in the matrix crystal ABO2, the valence state and luminescence stability of Cr4+ are effectively guaranteed. Through the cation substitution design of A-site (Na → Li) and B-site (Ga → Al), the [BO4] tetrahedron is distorted and expanded, which degrades the symmetry of the Cr4+ coordination crystal field. Consequently, the central wavelength of the Cr4+ emission peak is tuned from 1280 to 1430 nm, and the fwhm is significantly extended from 257 to 355 nm. Thebroadband NIR-II light sources constructed with LiAlO2: 0.03Cr4+ and NaGaO2: 0.03Cr4+ phosphors verify their important potential applications in nondestructive testing and biological imaging.

Zinc Oxide Nanoclusters Encapsulated in MFI Zeolite as a Highly Stable Adsorbent for the Ultradeep Removal of Hydrogen Sulfide.

Often, trace impurities in a feed stream will cause failures in industrial applications. The efficient removal of such a trace impurity from industrial steams, however, is a daunting challenge due to the extremely small driving force for mass transfer. The issue lies in an activity-stability dilemma, that is, an ultrafine adsorbent that offers a high exposure of active sites is favorable for capturing species of a low concentration, but free-standing adsorptive species are susceptible to rapidly aggregating in working conditions, thus losing their intrinsic high activity. Confining ultrafine adsorbents in a porous matrix is a feasible solution to address this activity-stability dilemma. We herein demonstrate a proof of concept by encapsulating ZnO nanoclusters into a pure-silica MFI zeolite (ZnO@silicalite-1) for the ultradeep removal of H2S, a critical need in the purification of hydrogen for fuel cells. The Zn species and their interaction with silicalite-1 were thoroughly investigated by a collection of characterization techniques such as HADDF-STEM, UV-visible spectroscopy, DRIFTS, and 1H MAS NMR. The results show that the zeolite offers rich silanol defects, which enable the guest nanoclusters to be highly dispersed and anchored in the silicious matrix. The nanoclusters are present in two forms, Zn(OH)+ and ZnO, depending on the varying degrees of interaction with the silanol defects. The ultrafine nanoclusters exhibit an excellent desulfurization performance in terms of the adsorption rate and utilization. Furthermore, the ZnO@silicalite-1 adsorbents are remarkably stable against sintering at high temperatures, thus maintaining a high activity in multiple adsorption-regeneration cycles. The results demonstrate that the encapsulation of active metal oxide species into zeolite is a promising strategy to develop fast responsive and highly stable adsorbents for the ultradeep removal of trace impurities.

Continuous and controllable synthesis of MnO2 adsorbents for H2S removal at low temperature.

H2S is an extremely noxious impurity generated from nature and chemical industrial processes. High performing H2S adsorbents are required for chemical industry and environmental engineering. Herein, α-, γ-, and δ-MnO2 adsorbents with high sulfur capacity were synthesized through a continuous-flow approach with a microreactor system, achieving much higher efficiency than hydrothermal methods. The relationship between crystal structure and synthesis conditions such as residence time, reaction temperature, concentration of K+ in solution and reactant ratio is discussed. According to the H2S breakthrough tests at 150 °C, continuously prepared α-, γ-, and δ-MnO2 exhibited sulfur capacities of 669.5, 193.8 and 607.6 mg S/g sorbent, respectively, which was at a high level among the reported adsorbents. Such enhanced performance is related to the large surface area and mesopore volume, high reducibility, and a large number of oxygen species with high reactivity and mobility. Manganese sulfide and elemental sulfur were formed after desulfurization, which indicated the reaction consisted of two steps: redox and sulfidation of the sorbents. This study provides an innovative design strategy for the construction of nanomaterials with high H2S adsorption performances.

An up-conversion Ba3In(PO4)3:Er3+/Yb3+ phosphor that enables multi-mode temperature measurements and wide-gamut 'temperature mapping'.

At present, most fluorescent materials that can be used for optical temperature measurement exhibit poor thermochromic performance, which limits their applications. In this study, the phosphor Ba3In(PO4)3:Er/Yb was synthesized with a high doping concentration of Yb3+, and it emitted composition- and temperature-induced wide color gamut up-conversion luminescence from red to green. Four modes of fluorescence thermometry can be realized in the temperature range of 303-603 K, which is based on the ratio of fluorescence intensity between thermally coupled energy levels and non-thermally coupled energy levels, color coordinate shift, and fluorescence decay lifetime, respectively. The highest Sr value obtained was 0.977% K-1. Taking advantage of the fact that temperature can significantly change the luminous color of the phosphor Ba3In(PO4)3:0.02Er3+/0.05Yb3+, we demonstrated 'temperature mapping' on a smooth metal surface with multiple optical encryptions. These results indicate that the Ba3In(PO4)3:Er/Yb phosphor is an excellent fluorescent material for thermal imaging and has great application potential in temperature visualization measurement and optical encryption.

Hierarchical Fe-Mn binary metal oxide core-shell nano-polyhedron as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for efficient water splitting.

Electrochemical water splitting is convinced as one of the most promising solutions to combat the energy crisis. The exploitation of efficient hydrogen and oxygen evolution reaction (HER/OER) bifunctional electrocatalysts is undoubtedly a vital spark yet challenging for imperative green sustainable energy. Herein, through introducing a simple pH regulated redox reaction into a tractable hydrothermal procedure, a hierarchical Fe3O4@MnOx binary metal oxide core-shell nano-polyhedron was designed by evolving MnOx wrapped Fe3O4. The MnOx effectively prevents the agglomeration and surface oxidation of Fe3O4 nano-particles and increases the electrochemically active sites. Benefiting from the generous active sites and synergistic effects of Fe3O4 and MnOx, the Fe3O4@MnOx-NF nanocomposite implements efficient HER/OER bifunctional electrocatalytic performance and overall water splitting. As a result, hierarchical Fe3O4@MnOx only requires a low HER/OER overpotential of 242/188 mV to deliver 10 mA cm-2, a small Tafel slope of 116.4/77.6 mV dec-1, combining a long-term cyclability of 5 h. Impressively, by applying Fe3O4@MnOx as an independent cathode and anode, the overall water splitting cell supplies a competitive voltage of 1.64 V to achieve 10 mA cm-2 and super long cyclability of 80 h. These results reveal that this material is a promising candidate for practical water electrolysis application.

Hsa-circ_0000064 accelerates the malignant progression of gastric cancer via sponging microRNA-621.

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common digestive system tumors in the world. Many circular RNAs (circRNAs) are involved in the progression of GC. The purpose of this study was to delve into the expression characteristics and biological functions of circ_0000064 in GC, and further study its mechanisms. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was performed to detect circ_0000064 expression in 61 GC tissues and cell lines. Circ_0000064 knockdown was successfully modeled with siRNA. The effects of circ_0000064 on the biological functions of GC cells were analyzed by CCK-8, BrdU, and Transwell assays. Bioinformatics and dual-luciferase reporter gene assay were adopted to explore the relations between circ_0000064 and microRNA-621 (miR-621). Western blot was used to examine the regulatory function of circ_0000064 and miR-621 on SYF2 pre-mRNA splicing factor 2. Cric_0000064 expression was elevated in GC tissues and cell lines. Knocking down cric_0000064 could inhibit the viability, migration, and invasion of GC cells. Dual-luciferase reporter gene assay showed that miR-621 could bind circ_0000064 and SYF2 3'UTR; in addition, miR-621 overexpression or SYF2 knockdown could partially weaken the cancer-promoting effect of circ_0000064 on GC cells. Circ_0000064 expression was negatively correlated with miR-621 expression in GC tissues while positively with SYF2 expression. Circ_0000064 can participate in the GC progression via modulating miR-621/SYF2 axis. This implies that circ_0000064 may be a new diagnosed biomarker or a new therapeutic target of GC.