Common scab disease-induced changes in geocaulosphere microbiome assemblages and functional processes in landrace potato (Solanum tuberosum var. Rongpuria) of Assam, India.

Common scab (CS) caused by pathogenic Streptomyces spp. plays a decisive role in the qualitative and quantitative production of potatoes worldwide. Although the CS pathogen is present in Assam's soil, disease signs and symptoms are less obvious in the landrace Rongpuria potatoes that indicate an interesting interaction between the plant and the geocaulosphere microbial population. Toward this, a comparative metagenomics study was performed to elucidate the geocaulosphere microbiome assemblages and functions of low CS-severe (LSG) and moderately severe (MSG) potato plants. Alpha diversity indices showed that CS occurrence modulated microbiome composition and decreased overall microbial abundances. Functional analysis involving cluster of orthologous groups (COG) too confirmed reduced microbial metabolism under disease incidence. The top-three most dominant genera were Pseudomonas (relative abundance: 2.79% in LSG; 12.31% in MSG), Streptomyces (2.55% in LSG; 5.28% in MSG), and Pantoea (2.30% in LSG; 3.51% in MSG). As shown by the high Pielou's J evenness index, the potato geocaulosphere core microbiome was adaptive and resilient to CS infection. The plant growth-promoting traits and potential antagonistic activity of major taxa (Pseudomonads, non-pathogenic Streptomyces spp., and others) against the CS pathogen, i.e., Streptomyces scabiei, point toward selective microbial recruitment and colonization strategy by the plants to its own advantage. KEGG Orthology analysis showed that the CS infection resulted in high abundances of ATP-binding cassette transporters and a two-component system, ubiquitous to the transportation and regulation of metabolites. As compared to the LSG metagenome, the MSG counterpart had a higher representation of important PGPTs related to 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase, IAA production, betaine utilization, and siderophore production.

Correlations between preparation methods, structural features and electrochemical Li-storage behavior of reduced graphene oxide.

Wide differences in the structural features of graphenic carbon, especially in the case of reduced graphene oxides (rGO), are expected to have considerable impacts on the properties, thus leading to significant scatter and poor understanding/prediction of their performances for various applications, including as electrode materials for electrochemical Li-storage. In this context, the present work develops a comprehensive understanding (via thorough experimentation, including in situ X-ray diffraction studies, and analysis) on the effects of graphene oxide (GO) reduction methods/conditions on the structural features (mainly 'graphenic' ordering) and concomitant influences of the same on electrochemical Li-storage behavior. 'Moderately oxidized' GO (O/C ∼0.41) was reduced via three different methods, viz., (i) using hydrazine hydrate vapor at room temperature (rGO-H; O/C ∼0.23), (ii) thermal reduction by annealing at just 500 °C (rGO-A; O/C ∼0.20) and (iii) hydrazine treatment, followed by the same annealing treatment (rGO-HA; O/C ∼0.17). Raman spectroscopy, in situ X-ray diffraction recorded during annealing and high resolution TEM imaging indicate that while GO and rGO-H had considerable defect contents [I(D)/I(G) ∼1.4 for rGO-H], including a very non-uniform interlayer spacing (varying between 3.1 and 3.6 Å), the 500 °C annealed rGO-A and rGO-HA had significantly reduced defect contents [I(D)/I(G) ∼0.6] and near-perfect 'graphenic' ordering with a uniform interlayer spacing of ∼3.35 Å. Despite the nanoscaled dimensions, defect structures, especially the non-uniform interlayer spacing, resulted in relatively poor reversible Li-capacity and rate capability for the non-annealed rGO-H, even in comparison to the bulk graphitic carbon. By contrast, the annealed rGOs, especially the rGO-HA, not only possessed a superior reversible Li-capacity of ∼450 mA h g-1 (at C/20), but also exhibited a significantly improved rate capability (even compared to most rGOs reported in the literature), retaining ∼120 mA h g-1 along with flat potential profile (below ∼0.2 V against Li/Li+) even at 10C (as possibly never reported before with graphitic/graphenic carbons).

Work function modulation and thermal stability of reduced graphene oxide gate electrodes in MOS devices.

Work function (WF) tuning of the contact electrodes is a key requirement in several device technologies, including organic photovoltaics (OPVs), organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), and complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) transistors. Here, we demonstrate that the WF of the gate electrode in an MOS structure can be modulated from 4.35 eV (n-type metal) to 5.28 eV (p-type metal) by sandwiching different thicknesses of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) layers between top contact metals and gate dielectric SiO2. The WF of the gate electrode shows strong dependence on the rGO thickness and is seen to be nearly independent of the contact metals used. The observed WF modulation is attributed to the different amounts of oxygen concentrations in different thicknesses of rGO layers. Importantly, this oxygen concentration can also be varied by the reduction extent of the graphene oxide as experimentally demonstrated. The results are verified by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analyses. The obtained WF values are thermally stable up to 800 °C. At further high temperatures, diffusion of metal through the rGO sheets is the main cause for WF instability, as confirmed by cross-sectional high-resolution transmission electron microscopy analysis. These findings are not limited to MOS devices, and the WF modulation technique has the potential for applications in other technologies such as OLEDs and OPVs involving graphene as conducting electrodes.