Efficacy and safety of Qingda granule versus valsartan capsule in Chinese grade 1 hypertensive patients with low-moderate risk: A randomized, double-blind, double dummy, non-inferiority, multi-center trial.

BACKGROUND: The efficacy and safety of Qingda granule (QDG) in managing blood pressure (BP) among grade 1 hypertensive patients with low-moderate risk remain uncertain. METHODS: In the randomized, double-blind, double dummy, non-inferiority and multicenter trial, 552 patients with grade 1 hypertension at low-moderate risk were assigned at a ratio of 1:1 to receive either QDG or valsartan for 4 weeks, followed up by a subsequent 4 weeks. RESULTS: Post-treatment, clinic systolic/diastolic BPs (SBP/DBP) were reduced by a mean change of 9.18/4.04 mm Hg in the QDG group and 9.85/5.05 mm Hg in the valsartan group (SBP P = 0.47, DBP P = 0.16). Similarly, 24-hour, daytime and nighttime BPs were proportional in both groups (P > 0.05) after 4 weeks treatment. After discontinuing medications for 4 weeks, the mean reduction of clinic SBP/DBP were 0.29/0.57 mm Hg in the QDG group compared to -1.59/-0.48 mm Hg in the valsartan group (SBP P = 0.04, DBP P = 0.04). Simultaneously, the 24-hour SBP/DBP were reduced by 0.9/0.31 mm Hg in the QDG group and -1.66/-1.08 mm Hg in the valsartan group (SBP P = 0.006, DBP P = 0.02). And similar results were observed regarding the outcomes of daytime and nighttime BPs. There was no difference in occurrence of adverse events between two groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: QDG proves to be efficacious for grade 1 hypertension at a low-to-medium risk, even after discontinuation of the medication for 4 weeks. These findings provide a promising option for managing grade 1 hypertension and suggest the potential for maintaining stable BP through intermittent administration of QDG. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ChiCTR2000033890.

Quantitative measurement of cell-surface displayed proteins based on split-GFP assembly.

BACKGROUND: Microbial cell surface display technology allows immobilizing proteins on the cell surface by fusing them to anchoring motifs, thereby endowing the cells with diverse functionalities. However, the assessment of successful protein display and the quantification of displayed proteins remain challenging. The green fluorescent protein (GFP) can be split into two non-fluorescent fragments, while they spontaneously assemble and emit fluorescence when brought together through complementation. Based on split-GFP assembly, we aim to: (1) confirm the success display of passenger proteins, (2) quantify the number of passenger proteins displayed on individual cells. RESULTS: In this study, we propose two innovative methods based on split-green fluorescent protein (split-GFP), named GFP1-10/GFP11 and GFP1-9/GFP10-11 assembly, for the purpose of confirming successful display and quantifying the number of proteins displayed on individual cells. We evaluated the display efficiency of SUMO and ubiquitin using different anchor proteins to demonstrate the feasibility of the two split-GFP assembly systems. To measure the display efficiency of functional proteins, laccase expression was measured using the split-GFP assembly system by co-displaying GFP11 or GFP10-11 tags, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides two split-GFP based methods that enable qualitative and quantitative analyses of individual cell display efficiency with a simple workflow, thus facilitating further comprehensive investigations into microbial cell surface display technology. Both split-GFP assembly systems offer a one-step procedure with minimal cost, simplifying the fluorescence analysis of surface-displaying cells.

Comparison of laparoscopic hepatectomy and percutaneous radiofrequency ablation for the treatment of small hepatocellular carcinoma: a meta-analysis.

AIM: The purpose of this study was to compare the long-term outcomes of laparoscopic hepatectomy (LH) and percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (PRFA) for the treatment of small hepatocellular carcinoma. METHODS: We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Medline from January 2000 to May 2022 for literature comparing the efficacy of LH and PRFA in the treatment of small hepatocellular carcinoma (largest tumour diameter ≤ 3 cm, number of intrahepatic tumours ≤3, or diameter of a single intrahepatic lesion ≤5 cm. ). We assessed overall survival (OS), recurrence-free survival (RFS), local recurrence and complication rates. RESULTS: A total of 1886 patients with small HCC were included in the 8 studies included in this study, of which 839 underwent LH and 1047 underwent PRAF. The results of the meta-analysis showed that the two groups had the same 3-year (HR: 0.99, 95% CI: 0.67 to 1.47) and 5-year (HR: 1.30, 95% CI: 0.90 to 1.87) OS rates, and the LH group had better 3-year (HR: 0.58, 95% CI: 0.49 to 0.68) and 5-year (HR: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.37 to 0.85) RFS rates. The LH group had a lower local recurrence rate (OR: 0.19, 95% CI: 0.12 to 0.32), but the PRFA group had a lower complication rate (OR: 2.49, 95% CI: 1.76 to 3.54). CONCLUSION: There was no difference in OS between LH and PRFA in the treatment of small HCC. LH had a higher RFS rate and a lower local recurrence rate, but PRFA had a lower complication rate. In general, the long-term efficacy of LH in the treatment of small HCC is better than that of PRFA. Considering the advantages of less trauma and a low complication rate of PRFA, a large number of RCT studies are needed for further verification in the future.

Dual Engineering of Lattice Strain and Valence State of NiAl-LDHs for Photoreduction of CO2 to Highly Selective CH4.

Converting CO2 to clean-burning fuel such as natural gas (CH4 ) with high activity and selectivity remains to be a grand challenge due to slow kinetics of multiple electron transfer processes and competitive hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, the fabrication of surfactants (C11 H23 COONa, C12 H25 SO4 Na, C16 H33 SO4 Na) intercalated NiAl-layered double hydroxides (NiAl-LDH) is reported, resulting in the formation of LDH-S1 (S1 = C11 H23 COO- ), LDH-S2 (S2 = C12 H25 SO4 - ) and LDH-S3 (S3 = C16 H33 SO4 - ) with curved morphology. Compared with NiAl-LDH with a 1.53% selectivity of CH4 , LDH-S2 shows higher selectivity of CH4 (83.07%) and lower activity of HER (3.84%) in CO2 photoreduction reaction (CO2 PR). Detailed characterizations and DFT calculation indicates that the inherent lattice strain in LDH-S2 leads to the structural distortion with the presence of VNi/Al defects and compressed MOM bonds, and thereby reduces the overall energy barrier of CO2 to CH4 . Moreover, the lower oxidation states of Ni in LDH-S2 enhances the adsorption of intermediates such as OCOH* and *CO, promoting the hydrogenation of CO to CH4 . Therefore, the coupling effect of both lattice strain and electronic structure of the LDH-S2 significantly improves the activity and selectivity for CO2 PR.

Revealing the Kinetic Balance between Proton-Feeding and Hydrogenation in CO2 Electroreduction.

Electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to high-value-added chemicals provides a feasible path for global carbon balance. Herein, the fabrication of NiNP x @NiSA y -NG (x,y = 1, 2, 3; NG = nitrogen-doped graphite) is reported, in which Ni single atom sites (NiSA ) and Ni nanoparticles (NiNP ) coexist. These NiNP x @NiSA y -NG presented a volcano-like trend for maximum CO Faradaic efficiency (FECO ) with the highest point at NiNP2 @NiSA2 -NG in CO2 RR. NiNP2 @NiSA2 -NG exhibited ≈98% of maximum FECO and a large current density of -264 mA cm-2 at -0.98 V (vs. RHE) in the flow cell. In situ experiment and density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirmed that the proper content of NiSA and NiNP balanced kinetic between proton-feeding and CO2 hydrogenation. The NiNP in NiNP2 @NiSA2 -NG promoted the formation of H* and reduced the energy barrier of *CO2 hydrogenation to *COOH, and CO desorption can be efficiently facilitated by NiSA sites, thereby resulting in enhanced CO2 RR performance.

LncRNA DNAJC3-AS1 promotes the biological functions of papillary thyroid carcinoma via regulating the microRNA-27a-3p/CCBE1 axis.

Long noncoding RNA DNAJC3-AS1 (lncRNA DNAJC3-AS1) has been probed in many studies, while the regulatory mechanism of DNAJC3-AS1 on papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) via regulating microRNA (miR)-27a-3p remains inadequate. This research aims to depict the role of DNAJC3-AS1, miR-27a-3p, collagen, and calcium-binding EGF domain-containing protein 1 (CCBE1) on PTC development. DNAJC3-AS1, miR-27a-3p, and CCBE1 expression levels in PTC tissues and adjacent normal tissues were tested. The relation of DNAJC3-AS1, miR-27a-3p, and CCBE1 was analyzed. DNAJC3-AS1 and miR-27a-3p and CCBE1-related oligonucleotides were transfected into IHH-4 cells to investigate their role in PTC development. Cell tumorigenicity was detected by in vivo assay. DNAJC3-AS1 and CCBE1 expressed highly and miR-27a-3p expressed lowly in PTC. Downregulation of DNAJC3-AS1, upregulating miR-27a-3p or downregulating CCBE1 impaired the malignant behaviors of IHH-4 cells. Depletion of miR-27a-3p reversed the DNAJC3-AS1 suppression-induced phenotypic inhibition of IHH-4 cells. DNAJC3-AS1 bound to miR-27a-3p and CCBE1 as a target of miR-27a-3p. Our study highlights that DNAJC3-AS1 inhibits miR-27a-3p to promote CCBE1 expression, thereby facilitating PTC development. This study affords distinguished therapeutic strategies and novel research directions for PTC treatment.

Extended application of defective metal oxide BiO2-x: Liquid phase low-temperature thermal catalysis for the removal of phenolic pollutants.

Bismuth oxide (BiO2-x) with oxygen vacancies was created using a hydrothermal process and was found to exhibit good catalytic oxidation performance under low-temperature heating without the addition of external oxidants. The catalytic activity of BiO2-x was tested using 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) as the target aqueous pollutant. We observed that 10 ppm of 4-CP was completely degraded within 40 min at a reaction temperature of 65 °C. The effective elimination of 4-CP was attributed to active oxygen species produced by the release of lattice oxygen. Furthermore, the low-temperature thermal catalytic activity of BiO2-x was affected by the electron transfer characteristics of pollutants, leading to the rapid degradation of electron-rich pollutants. This study reveals the unique application of BiO2-x as a catalyst for removing phenolic pollutants under low-temperature thermal catalysis, thereby expanding its catalytic application scenarios and offering a new approach for the degradation of phenolic pollutants.

Conditional Knockout of Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1-Alpha in Tumor-Infiltrating Neutrophils Protects against Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma.

Large numbers of neutrophils infiltrate tumors and comprise a notable component of the inflammatory tumor microenvironment. While it is established that tumor cells exhibit the Warburg effect for energy production, the contribution of the neutrophil metabolic state to tumorigenesis is unknown. Here, we investigated whether neutrophil infiltration and metabolic status promotes tumor progression in an orthotopic mouse model of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). We observed a large increase in the proportion of neutrophils in the blood and tumor upon orthotopic transplantation. Intriguingly, these tumor-infiltrating neutrophils up-regulated glycolytic factors and hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF-1α) expression compared to neutrophils from the bone marrow and blood of the same mouse. This enhanced glycolytic signature was also observed in human PDAC tissue samples. Strikingly, neutrophil-specific deletion of HIF-1α (HIF-1αΔNφ) significantly reduced tumor burden and improved overall survival in orthotopic transplanted mice, by converting the pro-tumorigenic neutrophil phenotype to an anti-tumorigenic phenotype. This outcome was associated with elevated reactive oxygen species production and activated natural killer cells and CD8+ cytotoxic T cells compared to littermate control mice. These data suggest a role for HIF-1α in neutrophil metabolism, which could be exploited as a target for metabolic modulation in cancer.

Optical reflectometric measurement of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) RNA based on cationic cysteamine-capped gold nanoparticles.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged as a major public health outbreak in late 2019 and was proclaimed a global pandemic in March 2020. A reflectometric-based RNA biosensor was developed by using cysteamine-stabilized gold nanoparticles (cysAuNPs) as the colorimetric probe for bioassay of COVID-19 RNA (SARS-CoV-2 RNA) sequence. The cysAuNPs aggregated in the presence of DNA probes via cationic and anionic electrostatic attraction between the positively charged cysteamine ligands and the negatively charged sugar-phosphate backbone of DNA, whilst in the presence of target RNAs, the specific recognition between DNA probes and targets depleted the electrostatic interaction between the DNA probes and cysAuNPs signal probe, leading to dispersed particles. This has rendered a remarkable shifting in the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) on the basis of visual color change of the RNA biosensor from red to purplish hue at the wavelength of 765 nm. Optical evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 RNA by means on reflectance transduction of the RNA biosensor based on cysAuNPs optical sensing probes demonstrated rapid response time of 30 min with high sensitivity, good linearity and high reproducibility across a COVID-19 RNA concentration range of 25 nM to 200 nM, and limit of detection (LOD) at 0.12 nM. qPCR amplification of SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA showed good agreement with the proposed RNA biosensor by using spiked RNA samples of the oropharyngeal swab from COVID-19 patients. Therefore, this assay is useful for rapid and early diagnosis of COVID-19 disease including asymptomatic carriers with low viral load even in the presence of co-infection with other viruses that manifest similar respiratory symptoms.

Rational Regulation of Electronic Structure in Layered Double Hydroxide Via Vanadium Incorporation to Trigger Highly Selective CO2 Photoreduction to CH4.

To realize excellent selectivity of CH4 in CO2 photoreduction (CO2 PR) is highly desirable, yet which is challenging due to the limited active sites for CH4 generation and severe electron-hole recombination on photocatalysts. Herein, based on the theoretically calculated effects of vanadium incorporation into the laminate of layered double hydroxides (LDHs), V into NiAl-LDH to synthesize a series of LDHs with various V contents is introduced. NiV-LDH is revealed to afford a high CH4 selectivity (78.9%), and extremely low H2 selectivity (only 0.4%) under λ > 400 nm irradiation. By further tuning the molar ratio of Ni to V, a CH4 selectivity of as high as 90.1% is achieved on Ni4 V-LDH, and H2 is completely prohibited on Ni2 V-LDH. Fine structural characterizations and comprehensive optical and electrochemical studies uncover V incorporation creates the lower-valence Ni species as active sites for generating CH4 , and enhances the generation, separation, and transfer of photogenerated carriers.

Assessing the cost-effectiveness of mepolizumab as add-on therapy to standard of care for severe eosinophilic asthma in Singapore.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of mepolizumab added to standard of care (SOC) compared with SOC alone among patients with severe uncontrolled eosinophilic asthma in the Singapore setting. METHODS: A Markov model with three health states (asthma on mepolizumab and SOC, asthma on SOC alone, and death) was developed from a healthcare system perspective over a lifetime horizon. During each 4-week cycle, patients in the non-death health states could experience asthma exacerbations requiring oral corticosteroid burst, emergency department visit, or hospitalization. Asthma-related mortality following an exacerbation or all-cause mortality could also occur at each cycle. The model was populated using local costs while utilities were derived from international literature. Transition probabilities were obtained from a mixture of Singapore-specific and internationally published data. RESULTS: The base-case analysis comparing mepolizumab plus SOC with SOC alone resulted in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of SGD335 486 (USD238 195) per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained. Sensitivity analysis demonstrated that the ICER was most sensitive to the price of mepolizumab, followed by the proportion of exacerbations which required hospital intensive care. Despite restricting mepolizumab use to patients with a higher baseline exacerbation rate (3 in the past year) in a scenario analysis, the ICER remained high at SGD238 876 (USD 169 602) per QALY gained. CONCLUSION: At its current price, mepolizumab is not considered a cost-effective use of healthcare resources in Singapore. Substantial price reductions for mepolizumab are required to improve its cost-effectiveness to an acceptable range. These results will be useful to inform national funding decisions.

Comparison of the prognosis of four different surgical strategies for proximal gastric cancer: a network meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: There is controversy regarding the long-term prognosis and short-term postoperative complications of different surgical strategies for proximal gastric cancer (PGC). METHODS: We searched for articles published in Embase (Ovid), Medline (Ovid), PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science between January 1, 1990, and February 1, 2021. We screened out the literature comparing different surgical strategies. We then evaluated the long-term and short-term outcome of different surgical strategies using a network meta-analysis, which summarizes the hazard ratio, odds ratio, mean difference, and 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between different surgical strategies for 5-year overall survival (OS), anastomotic leakage, or weight loss after 1 year. Compared with total gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y reconstruction (TG-RY) and proximal gastrectomy with double tract reconstruction (PG-DTR), the proximal gastrectomy with esophagogastrostomy (PG-EG) strategy significantly increased the incidence of reflux esophagitis; and the operation time and blood loss of the PG-EG strategy were significantly less than those of the other surgical strategies. The anastomotic stenosis rates of the PG-EG and proximal gastrectomy with jejunum interstitial (PG-JI) strategies were significantly higher than those of TG-RY and PG-DTR; the hemoglobin level after 1 year for the PG-DTR strategy was significantly higher than that of the TG-RY strategy. CONCLUSION: Our comprehensive literature research found that different surgical strategies had no significant difference in the long-term survival of PGC, but the incidence of reflux esophagitis and anastomotic stenosis after PG-DTR and TG-RY was significantly reduced.

Assessing the Impacts of COVID-19 on the Industrial Sectors and Economy of China.

Since December 2019, the COVID-19 epidemic has been spreading continuously in China and many countries in the world, causing widespread concern among the whole society. To cope with the epidemic disaster, most provinces and cities in China have adopted prevention and control measures such as home isolation, blocking transportation, and extending the Spring Festival holiday, which has caused a serious impact on China's output of various sectors, international trade, and labor employment, ultimately generating great losses to the Chinese economic system in 2020. But how big is the loss? How can we assess this for a country? At present, there are few analyses based on quantitative models to answer these important questions. In the following, we describe a quantitative-based approach of assessing the potential impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the economic system and the sectors taking China as the base case. The proposed approach can provide timely data and quantitative tools to support the complex decision-making process that government agencies (and the private sector) need to manage to respond to this tragic epidemic and maintain stable economic development. Based on the available data, this article proposes a hypothetical scenario and then adopts the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model to calculate the comprehensive economic losses of the epidemic from the aspects of the direct shock on the output of seriously affected sectors, international trade, and labor force. The empirical results show that assuming a GDP growth rate of 4-8% in the absence of COVID-19, GDP growth in 2020 would be -8.77 to -12.77% after the COVID-19. Companies and activities associated with transportation and service sectors are among the most impacted, and companies and supply chains related to the manufacturing subsector lead the economic losses. Finally, according to the calculation results, the corresponding countermeasures and suggestions are put forward: disaster recovery for key sectors such as the labor force, transportation sector, and service sectors should be enhanced; disaster emergency rescue work in highly sensitive sectors should be carried out; in the long run, precise measures to strengthen the refined management of disaster risk with big data resources and means should be taken.

Research on early warning of renal damage in hypertensive patients based on the stacking strategy.

BACKGROUND: Among the problems caused by hypertension, early renal damage is often ignored. It can not be diagnosed until the condition is severe and irreversible damage occurs. So we decided to screen and explore related risk factors for hypertensive patients with early renal damage and establish the early-warning model of renal damage based on the data-mining method to achieve an early diagnosis for hypertensive patients with renal damage. METHODS: With the aid of an electronic information management system for hypertensive out-patients, we collected 513 cases of original, untreated hypertensive patients. We recorded their demographic data, ambulatory blood pressure parameters, blood routine index, and blood biochemical index to establish the clinical database. Then we screen risk factors for early renal damage through feature engineering and use Random Forest, Extra-Trees, and XGBoost to build an early-warning model, respectively. Finally, we build a new model by model fusion based on the Stacking strategy. We use cross-validation to evaluate the stability and reliability of each model to determine the best risk assessment model. RESULTS: According to the degree of importance, the descending order of features selected by feature engineering is the drop rate of systolic blood pressure at night, the red blood cell distribution width, blood pressure circadian rhythm, the average diastolic blood pressure at daytime, body surface area, smoking, age, and HDL. The average precision of the two-dimensional fusion model with full features based on the Stacking strategy is 0.89685, and selected features are 0.93824, which is greatly improved. CONCLUSIONS: Through feature engineering and risk factor analysis, we select the drop rate of systolic blood pressure at night, the red blood cell distribution width, blood pressure circadian rhythm, and the average diastolic blood pressure at daytime as early-warning factors of early renal damage in patients with hypertension. On this basis, the two-dimensional fusion model based on the Stacking strategy has a better effect than the single model, which can be used for risk assessment of early renal damage in hypertensive patients.

Near Miss Research in the Healthcare System: A Scoping Review.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to depict a comprehensive description of near miss research and clarify research gaps. BACKGROUND: Learning from near miss can provide early warnings and is critical for proactive and prospective risk management. Because of the lack of structured reviews, there is little knowledge about how near miss management has been managed in the past. METHODS: This review was conducted following the Arksey and O'Malley's methodology and reported by the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews. RESULTS: Sixty-seven research articles were included. The results revealed that the most investigated fields include near miss reporting, near miss characteristics, and good catch project. Poor theoretical investigation, underreporting, and inconsistent outcome indicators are major problems. CONCLUSIONS: Solely understanding causes of near misses cannot guarantee effective learning; we also need to apply appropriate learning theories. Advanced technologies should be applied to solve long-standing underreporting issues. Accurate and consistent indicators should be applied in near miss research and management.

Harmful Microalgae Detection: Biosensors versus Some Conventional Methods.

In the last decade, there has been a steady stream of information on the methods and techniques available for detecting harmful algae species. The conventional approaches to identify harmful algal bloom (HAB), such as microscopy and molecular biological methods are mainly laboratory-based and require long assay times, skilled manpower, and pre-enrichment of samples involving various pre-experimental preparations. As an alternative, biosensors with a simple and rapid detection strategy could be an improvement over conventional methods for the detection of toxic algae species. Moreover, recent biosensors that involve the use of nanomaterials to detect HAB are showing further enhanced detection limits with a broader linear range. The improvement is attributed to nanomaterials' high surface area to volume ratio, excellent biological compatibility with biomolecules, and being capable of amplifying the electrochemical signal. Hence, this review presents the potential usage of biosensors over conventional methods to detect HABs. The methods reported for the detection of harmful algae species, ranging from conventional detection methods to current biosensor approaches will be discussed, along with their respective advantages and drawbacks to indicate the future prospects of biosensor technology for HAB event management.

The Longitudinal Plasma Modes of κ-Deformed Kaniadakis Distributed Plasmas Carrying Orbital Angular Momentum.

Based on plasma kinetic theory, the dispersion and Landau damping of Langmuir and ion-acoustic waves carrying finite orbital angular momentum (OAM) were investigated in the κ-deformed Kaniadakis distributed plasma system. The results showed that the peculiarities of the investigated subjects relied on the deformation parameter κ and OAM parameter η. For both Langmuir and ion-acoustic waves, dispersion was enhanced with increased κ, while the Landau damping was suppressed. Conversely, both the dispersion and Landau damping were depressed by OAM. Moreover, the results coincided with the straight propagating plane waves in a Maxwellian plasma system when κ=0 and η→∞. It was expected that the present results would give more insight into the trapping and transportation of plasma particles and energy.

Ultrafast Fabrication of Graphene-Reinforced Nanocomposites via Synergy of Steam Explosion and Alternating Convergent-Divergent Flow.

Producing high-quality graphene and polymer/graphene nanocomposite is facing the problems of complex procedure, low efficiency, and serious resource waste. To explore a new fabrication approach with high efficiency and low cost is crucial for solving these technical issues, which becomes a current research hotspot and also a great challenge. Herein, a one-step melt mixing strategy based on the synergy of steam explosion and alternating convergent-divergent flow, is innovatively developed to fabricate high-density polyethylene (HDPE)/graphene nanocomposites using industrial-grade expanded graphite (EG) without chemical agents and complex procedures. The co-action of the external force derived from elongational melts and the internal force generated by steam explosion make EG ultrafastly exfoliate into few-layer graphene nanosheets (GNS) and simultaneously disperse in melts within 4 min. The as-produced GNS have a lateral size of over 5 µm and a minimum thickness of 1.4 nm, can introduce super heterogeneous nucleation to HDPE macromolecules and greatly increases nanocomposite crystallinity up to 86.5%. Moreover, plentiful HDPE crystallites and well-dispersed GNS jointly form an improved thermally-conductive network, making nanocomposites with a rapid-respond ability in solar-to-thermal conversion and heat dissipation. This facile strategy will facilitate the development of scalable production and wide application of high-performance graphene and highly-filled nanocomposites.

Discovery and Facile Synthesis of a New Silicon Based Family as Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Catalysts: A Computational and Experimental Investigation of Metal Monosilicides.

A new family of transition-metal monosilicides (MSi, M = Ti, Mn, Fe, Ru, Ni, Pd, Co, and Rh) electrocatalysts with superior electrocatalytic performance of hydrogen evolution is reported, based on the computational and experimental results. It is proposed that these MSi can be synthesized within several minutes by adopting the arc-melting method. The previously reported RuSi is not only fabricated more readily but eventually explored 8 MSi that can be good hydrogen evolution reaction catalysts. Silicides then can be another promising electrocatalysts family as carbides, wherein carbon has the same electronic configuration as silicon. All explored silicides electrodes exhibited low overpotentials (34-54 mV at 10 mA cm-2 ) with Tafel slopes from 23.6 to 32.3 mV dec-1 , which are comparable to that of the commercial 20 wt% Pt/C (37 mV, 26.1 mV dec-1 ). First-principles calculations demonstrated that the superior performance can be attributed to the high catalytic reactivity per site that can even function at high hydrogen coverages (≈100%) on multiple low surface energy facets. The work sheds light on a new class of electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution, with earth-abundant and inexpensive silicon-based compounds.

CoOx @Co-NC Catalyst with Dual Active Centers for Enhanced Oxygen Evolution: Breaking Trade-Off of Particle Size and Metal Loading.

Increasing the metal loading and downsizing the metal particle size are two effective ways to boost the electrochemical performance of catalysts. However, it is difficult to simultaneously increase the metal loading and reduce the particle size since isolated individual atoms are easy to aggregate into nanoparticles when increasing the metal loading. To tackle this contradiction, we report a bottom-up ligand-mediated strategy to facilely prepare ultrafine CoOx nanoclusters anchored on a Co-N-containing carbon matrix (CoOx @Co-NC). The co-exist of N and O atoms prevent Co atoms agglomerating into large particles and allowing the formation of ultrafine dispersed Co species with large Co loading (up to 20 wt.%). Since the relationship between ultrasmall size and large metal loading is well balanced, the CoOx nanoclusters have no inhibitory effect, but facilitate the catalytic performance of Co-N4 sites during OER process. Consequently, due to the synergistic effect of ultrafine CoOx nanoclusters and Co-N4 macrocycles, the as-synthesized CoOx @Co-NC exhibit promising OER activity (η10 =370 mV, Tafel plot=40 mV/dec), bettering than that of benchmark RuO2 (η10 =411 mV, Tafel plot=72 mV/dec). This ligand-mediated strategy to synthesize carbonaceous materials containing dual active centers with large metal loading is promising for developing active and stable catalysts for electrocatalytic applications.