Facile synthesis of Fe-doped CoP nanosheet arrays wrapped by graphene for overall water splitting.

The development of durable, beneficial, and highly active non-precious metal-based electrocatalysts for hydrogen generation is a vital concern. This study proposes an effective strategy for the construction of Fe doped CoP nanosheet arrays wrapped by graphene (F0.25CP-G) on nickel foam as an efficient electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In this design, the final catalyst possesses a combination of the high conductivity of graphene, great surface porosity, and the intrinsic electrocatalytic activity of the F0.25CP-G which results in high-performance electrocatalytic activity toward the HER and OER. Therefore, the as-synthesized F0.25CP-G catalyst can achieve overpotentials of 66 mV and 230 mV for the HER and OER, respectively, in KOH at 10 mA cm-2. Furthermore, a practical electrolyzer (F0.25CP-G||F0.25CP-G) exhibits a current density of 10 mA cm-2 at 1.60 V along with good durability for 24 h.

Highly efficient electrochemical determination of propylthiouracil in urine samples after selective electromembrane extraction by copper nanoparticles-decorated hollow fibers.

In this work, a novel, inexpensive and fast strategy was described for selective and effective extraction and determination of propylthiouracil (PTU) with a high polarity (log P = 1.2) based on electromembrane extraction (EME) followed by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). For this purpose, copper nanoparticles (CuNPs)-decorated hollow fiber was used as the selective membrane for EME of PTU in urine samples. The influential parameters on extraction such as extraction solvent, pH, agitation speed, applied potential and extraction time were systematically investigated. In optimized conditions, acceptable linearity was attained between 0.05 and 5 µg mL-1 (R2 value = 0.9994); moreover, superb enrichment factor (200) and repeatability (RSD%, n = 4, 5.7%) for 0.1 µg mL-1 of PTU solution were in desirable range. In addition, extraction recovery of 80.0% was achieved in this condition and the limit of detection (S/N ratio of 3:1) was 0.02 µg mL-1. Finally, the proposed method was successfully applied to determine PTU concentration in urine samples.

Selective and sensitive speciation analysis of Cr(VI) and Cr(III), at sub-µgL-1 levels in water samples by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry after electromembrane extraction.

In this work, electromembrane extraction in combination with electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ET-AAS) was investigated for speciation, preconcentration and quantification of Cr(VI) and Cr(III) in water samples through the selective complexation of Cr(VI) with 1,5-diphenylcarbazide (DPC) as a complexing agent. DPC reduces Cr(VI) to Cr(III) ions and then Cr(III) species are extracted based on electrokinetic migration of their cationic complex (Cr(III)-DPC) toward the negative electrode placed in the hollow fiber. Also, once oxidized to Cr(VI), Cr(III) ions in initial sample were determined by this procedure. The influence of extraction parameters such as pH, type of organic solvent, chelating agent concentration, stirring rate, extraction time and applied voltage were evaluated following a one-at-a-time optimization approach. Under optimized conditions, the extracted analyte was quantified by ETAAS, with an acceptable linearity in the range of 0.05-5ngmL-1 (R2 value=0.996), and a repeatability (%RSD) between 3.7% and 12.2% (n=4) for 5.0 and 1.0ngmL-1 of Cr(VI), respectively. Also, we obtained an enrichment factor of 110 that corresponded to the recovery of 66%. The detection limit (S/N ratio of 3:1) was 0.02ngmL-1. Finally, this new method was successfully employed to determine Cr(III) and Cr(VI) species in real water samples.

An efficient approach to selective electromembrane extraction of naproxen by means of molecularly imprinted polymer-coated multi-walled carbon nanotubes-reinforced hollow fibers.

In this work, a novel microextraction technique using molecularly imprinted polymer-coated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MIP-MWCNTs) in electromembrane extraction (EME) procedure is described. The method in combination with HPLC-UV was utilized to determine naproxen, as an acidic model drug, in urine, plasma and wastewater samples. For this purpose, MIP-MWCNTs were placed in the pores of polypropylene hollow fiber. The MIP-MWCNTs-EME method has the advantages of high selectivity and cleanup of MIP along with high enrichment ability of the EME in a single step extraction. Continuing with the research, optimization of the factors affecting the migration of naproxen from sample solutions to MIP-MWCNTs sites and then into the lumen of hollow fiber was explored. Under the optimized conditions, the limit of detection (LOD) of the developed method was calculated to be 0.3µgL-1. All relative standard deviations (RSDs) were lower than 3%. Linearity of the method was obtained within the range of 1-1000µgL-1 with the coefficient of determination (r2) being higher than 0.999. Under the optimized conditions, an extraction recovery of 66% was obtained, which corresponded to a preconcentration factor of 88. Finally, the developed method was satisfactorily used to determine naproxen in urine, plasma and wastewater samples.

Osteophilic properties of bone implant surface modifications in a cassette model on a decorticated goat spinal transverse process.

UNLABELLED: This study comparatively evaluated the osteophilic capacity of 17 different surface modifications (i.e. fourteen different chemical modifications via ceramic coatings and three different physical modifications via surface roughness) for titanium (Ti) surfaces. All surface modifications were subjected to physico-chemical analyses and immersion in simulated body fluid (SBF) for coating stability assessment. Subsequently, a bone conduction chamber cassette model on the goat transverse process was used for comparative in vivo analysis based on bone responses to these different surface modifications after twelve weeks. Histological and histomorphometrical analyses in terms of longitudinal bone-to-implant contact percentage (BIC%), relative bone area (BA%) were investigated within each individual channel and maximum bone height (BH). Characterization of the surface modifications showed significant differences in surface chemistry and surface roughness among the surface modifications. Generally, immersion of the coatings in SBF showed net uptake of calcium by thick coatings (>50µm; plasma-sprayed and biomimetic coatings) and no fluctuations in the SBF for thin coatings (<50µm). The histomorphometrical data set demonstrated that only plasma-sprayed CaP coatings performed superiorly regarding BIC%, BA% and BH compared to un-coated surfaces, irrespective of surface roughness of the latter. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that the deposition of plasma-sprayed CaP coating with high roughness significantly improves the osteophilic capacity of titanium surfaces in a chamber cassette model. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: For the bone implant market, a large number of surface modifications are available on different types of (dental and orthopedic) bone implants. As the implant surface provides the interface at which the biomaterial interacts with the surrounding (bone) tissue, it is of utmost importance to know what surface modification has optimal osteophilic properties. In contrast to numerous earlier studies on bone implant surface modifications with limited number of comparison surfaces, the manuscript by van Oirschot et al. describes the data of in vivo experiments using a large animal model that allows for direct and simultaneous comparison of a large variety of surface modifications, which included both commercially available and experimental surface modifications for bone implants. These data clearly show the superiority of plasma-sprayed hydroxyapatite coatings regarding bone-to-implant contact, bone amount, and bone height.

Electrically enhanced liquid-phase microextraction of three textile azo dyes from wastewater and plant samples.

An electromembrane extraction procedure coupled with HPLC and visible detection was applied for the extraction of three textile azo dyes as organic salts. The extraction parameters such as extraction time, applied voltage, pH range, and concentration of salt added were optimized. A driving force of 60 V was applied to extract the analytes through 2-nitrophenyl octyl ether, used as the supported liquid membrane, into a neutral aqueous solution. This method required 20 min extraction time from a neutral sample solution. The proposed microextraction technique provided good linearity with correlation coefficients from 0.996 to 0.998 over a concentration range of 1.0-1000.0 ng/mL. The LODs of dyes were 0.30-0.75 ng/mL, while the reproducibility ranged from 6.7 to 12.9% (n = 6). Also, enrichment factors of 96-162 that corresponded to the recoveries ranging from 48 to 81% were achieved. Finally, the application of this new method was demonstrated on wastewater samples and some plants grown in contaminated environments. Excellent selectivity was obtained as no interfering peaks were detected.