ALBERT

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 224〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Hayam M. Lotfy, Sarah S. Saleh, Christine M. El-Maraghy〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉An analytical investigation was carried out to study the treatment and amplification of the spectral signals produced by critical concentrations with high accuracy and precision using two advanced approaches. The factorized-spectrum approach was applied through two novel methods which were: absorptivity centering technique via both: factorized zero order absorption spectrum (ACT-FSD〈sup〉0〈/sup〉〈sub〉∆A〈/sub〉) and factorized ratio spectrum (ACT-FSR〈sub〉∆P〈/sub〉). The proposed methods were found to be linear in the ranges of (15–100 μg/mL) and (3–40 μg/mL) for ASP and MTO, respectively. Those methods were compared to the methods following the geometrical standard addition approach: ratio H-point standard addition method (RHPSAM) and geometrical induced amplitude modulation (GIAM). The approaches were applied for the determination of the minor component metoclopramide in its mixture with the major component aspirin in the challengeable ratio of (1,90) respectively in a white multicomponent system. The results obtained from the proposed approaches were statistically compared with each other. The methods were validated according to ICH guidelines where the results were found to be within the acceptable limits. The methods were found to be accurate and reliable for the determination of metoclopramide critical concentration besides aspirin concentration. The results of single factor ANOVA analysis indicated that there is no significant difference among the developed methods. These methods provided simple resolution of this binary combination from synthetic mixtures and pharmaceutical preparation and can be conveniently adopted for routine quality control analysis.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519307292-ga1.jpg" width="325" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 223〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Rui Zhang, Yun Liu, Lin Kong, Xian-Yun Xu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In this study, a two photon absorbing (TPA) material consisting silver nanoparticles and triphenylamine-thiol derivative (TBS) has been prepared through interfacial coordination effect according to soft-hard-acid-base principle. The interfacial structure and morphology of the hybrid are researched in detail. Linear and nonlinear optical properties of the hybrid are studied. Upon interfacial coordination, the hybrid shows red-shifted UV–Vis absorption, causing from enhanced electronic drawing strength due to existence of Ag atom. The results also indicate that the surface Plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of Ag nanoparticles (~6 nm) brings about enhancement in single photon fluorescence emission and two photon absorption. Compared with free TBS, Ag-TBS hybrids show higher TPA cross-section (δ), which is 8784 GM for TBS and up to 103876 GM for Ag-TBS hybrid, showing ~12 fold increase. Due to excellent TPA property, the hybrids have good application in the field of optical power limiting and its limiting threshold is 0.49 J/cm〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉. This type of interfacial coordination induced hybrid provides a promising strategy to regulate linear optical properties and optimize nonlinear performance.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A thiol-Ag nanohybrid has been prepared through interfacial coordination effect and self-assembly process to optimize the TPA performance.〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519307280-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 554〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xiaofei Wang, Yifu Zhang, Jiqi Zheng, Xin Liu, Changgong Meng〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Vanadium sulfide (VS〈sub〉4〈/sub〉) is recognized as a good anode material for energy storage devices because of its chain-like structure and high content of sulfur. Herein, the patronite VS〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 anchored on carbon nanocubes (denoted as VS〈sub〉4〈/sub〉/CNTs) with a petal-shape structure consisting of nanolayers is successfully prepared through a one-step hydrothermal reaction. The influence of the optimal ratio of VS〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 and CNTs on the electrochemical properties of VS〈sub〉4〈/sub〉/CNTs composite is studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The addition of CNTs increases the conductivity and relieves the volume expansion/contraction, resulting excellent electrochemical properties of VS〈sub〉4〈/sub〉/CNTs. In the potential window of −1.4 V to 1.4 V, the VS〈sub〉4〈/sub〉/CNTs composite electrode delivers an outstanding specific capacitance of 330 F g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 (924 C g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉) at 1 A g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, which is much higher than that of VS〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 with 105 F g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 (294 C g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉). The VS〈sub〉4〈/sub〉/CNTs symmetric supercapacitor (SSC) device exhibits the areal capacitance as high as 676 mF cm〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉 (1488 mC cm〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉) at 0.5 mA cm〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉, and the energy density of 4.55 W h m〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉 (51.2 W h kg〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉) at the power density of 2.75 W m〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉 (30.95 W kg〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉) within a large voltage up to 2.2 V. All the results confirm that VS〈sub〉4〈/sub〉/CNTs composite with petal-shape structures is a promising material for high-performance energy storage devices.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719307726-ga1.jpg" width="371" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 554〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Lingling Ge, Weijie Tong, Qingfa Bian, Duo Wei, Rong Guo〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Hypothesis〈/h6〉 〈p〉Various advanced geometries are endowed by the unique structure of “three rooms” of immiscible oils composing the Cerberus droplets. Adjustable interfacial properties and tunable volume ratio in the four-liquid system render it possible to realize the controlled morphology transition by the variation of temperature and emulsion composition.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Experiments〈/h6〉 〈p〉Cerberus emulsions are prepared in batch scale by traditional one-step vortex mixing, employing the oil combinations of methacryloxypropyl dimethyl silicone (DMS)/2-(perfluorooctyl) ethyl methacrylate (PFOEMA)/vegetable oil (VO). Emulsifier of pluoronic F127, a temperature sensitive surfactant is applied. Stereoscopic topological phase diagram as functions of temperature and composition are plotted. Numerical calculations on the droplet morphology including interface curvature, contact angle, and volume fraction of each domain are performed.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Findings〈/h6〉 〈p〉Four primary regions with specific morphologies, 〈em〉i〈/em〉.〈em〉e〈/em〉. “VO 〉 DMS 〈 PFOEMA”, “VO 〉 DMS 〉 PFOEMA”, “VO 〈 DMS 〉 PFOEMA”, and finally “VO 〈 DMS 〈 PFOEMA” are obtained. Extended volume ratio range of three lobes, from about 0.03 to 23.3, is achieved and precisely controlled based on the three-phase diagram. What is more, the structural features are found to be thermodynamically determined by the minimization of interfacial energy, though the emulsion is prepared kinetically by vortex mixing. The findings are attractive in the fields of materials synthesis and microreactors.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S002197971930791X-ga1.jpg" width="290" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 223〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Qiujuan Ma, Chunyan Wang, Yu Bai, Junhong Xu, Juan Zhang, Zhengkai Li, Xiaoyu Guo〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Hypochlorous acid (HClO) is an important reactive oxygen species (ROS) and plays a significant role in living organisms. Highly selective and lysosome-targetable probes for sensing hypochlorous acid are rare. In this article, we designed and prepared a new lysosome-targeting and ratiometric fluorescent probe for monitoring the levels of hypochlorous acid. 4-Aminonaphthalimide was chosen as the fluorescent group and (2-aminoethyl) thiourea group was used as a specific recognition group for HClO. A morpholine unit was employed as a lysosome-targeting group. In the absence of HClO the probe underwent intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) and showed a green emission. When excess HClO is present, the ICT process was interrupted which caused a 57 nm blue-shift of fluorescence emission from 533 nm to 476 nm. The ratiometric fluorescent probe showed outstanding selectivity toward HClO over other various bioactive species. Furthermore, the ratiometric fluorescent probe exhibited rapid response time and ability of working in a wide pH range. The linear response of I〈sub〉476nm〈/sub〉/I〈sub〉533nm〈/sub〉 toward HClO was obtained in a concentration range of HClO from 1.0 × 10〈sup〉−6〈/sup〉 to 1.0 × 10〈sup〉−4〈/sup〉 mol·L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉. The detection limit was estimated to be 8.0 × 10〈sup〉−7〈/sup〉 mol·L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 for HClO. Moreover, the probe showed a perfect lysosome-targeting ability, and has been successfully used to the confocal imaging of HClO in lysosomes of HepG2 cells with little cell toxicity. All of such good properties illustrated that it could be applied to determine HClO at lysosomes in living cells.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519307243-ga1.jpg" width="158" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 224〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Markéta Paloncýová, Gustav Aniander, Emma Larsson, Stefan Knippenberg〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Visualization of membrane domains like lipid rafts in natural or artificial membranes is a crucial task for cell biology. For this purpose, fluorescence microscopy is often used. Since fluorescing probes in lipid membranes partition specifically in e.g. local liquid disordered or liquid ordered environments, the consequent changes in their orientation and location are both theoretically and experimentally of interest. Here we focused on a liquid disordered membrane phase and performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the indocarbocyanine DiD probes by varying the length of the attached alkyl tails and also the length of the cyanine backbone. From the probed compounds in a DOPC lipid bilayer at ambient temperature, a varying orientation of the transition dipole moment was observed, which is crucial for fluorescence microscopy and which, through photoselection, was found to be surprisingly more effective for asymmetric probes than for the symmetric ones. Furthermore, we observed that the orientation of the probes was dependent on the tail length; with the methyls or propyls attached, DiD oriented with its tails facing the water, contrary to the ones with longer tails. With advanced hybrid QM/MM calculations we show that the different local environment for differently oriented probes affected the one-photon absorption spectra, that was blue-shifted for the short-tailed DiD with respect to the DiDs with longer tails. We show here that the presented probes can be successfully used for fluorescence microscopy and we believe that the described properties bring further insight for the experimental use of these probes.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S138614251930719X-ga1.jpg" width="417" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 223〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Sheng Zhou, Ningwu Liu, Chongyang Shen, Lei Zhang, Tianbo He, Benli Yu, Jingsong Li〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A compact high-resolution spectroscopic sensor using a thermoelectrically (TE) cooled continuous-wave (CW) room temperature (RT) quantum cascade laser (QCL) was demonstrated for simultaneous measurements of exhaled carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrous oxide (N〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O). The sampling pressure was optimized to improve the sensitivity, the optimal pressure was determined to be 150 mbar based on an optical density analysis of simulated and measured absorption spectra. An adaptive Kalman filtering algorithm based on back-propagation (BP) neural network was developed and proposed for real-time exhaled breath analysis in order to perform fast and high precision on-line measurements. The detection limits (1σ) of 1.14 ppb and 1.12 ppb were experimentally achieved for CO and N〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O detection, respectively. Typical concentrations of exhaled CO and N〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O from smokers and non-smokers were analyzed. The experimental results indicated that the state-of-the-art CW-QCL based sensor has a great potential for non-invasive, on-line identification and quantification of biomarkers in human breath.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S138614251930722X-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 223〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Susan Sadeghi, Samieh Olieaei〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The new ionic liquid capped CdS quantum dots (IL-CdS QDs) as a fluorescent probe was successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal method in a one step process and used for the facile and sensitive determination of florfenicol (FLF) in aqueous media. The new ionic liquid 3-(2-[(5-amino-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl)thio]ethyl)-1-methyl-1H-imidazol-3-ium chloride (IL) was synthesized by introducing 5-amino-1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-thiol as a ligand onto the alkyl chain of the 1-chloroethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ILs. This task specific ionic liquid reagent was used for the capping of CdS QDs which played the role of recognition element of FLF. The IL-CdS QDs were characterized by Ultra Violet-Visible absorption -spectroscopy (UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Quenching of fluorescence intensity of the IL-CdS QDs was in proportion to the addition of FLF concentration. Under the optimum conditions, the fluorescence intensity ratio of IL-CdS QDs in the presence and absence of FLF versus FLF concentrations gave a linear response according to the Stern-Volmer equation from 0.1 to 20 μg mL〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 (0.3 to 56 μmol L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉) with a limit of detection 0.035 μg mL〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 (0.098 μmol L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉). The developed method was applied to the determination of FLF in fish and chicken meats with satisfactory results. This method revealed some advantages such as high sensitivity, precision and wide linear range to FLF. The proposed method can be utilized for rapid screening the quality of meat products.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519307395-ga1.jpg" width="382" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 554〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Li Zhang, Weiwei Wang, Guancheng Xu, Huijun Song, Lifan Yang, Dianzeng Jia〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The electrochemical splitting of water provides an attractive method for the production of hydrogen fuels. Unfortunately, the slow kinetics of oxygen evolution (OER) on the anode side of the electrolyzer hinders the efficient and large-scale hydrogen production. In this study, starting from metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a series of bimetal phosphides Co〈sub〉x〈/sub〉Fe〈sub〉1−x〈/sub〉P (x = 0.33, 0.50, 0.66, 0.75 and 0.80) were synthesized by low-temperature phosphidiation of corresponding MOFs precursors. The as-prepared samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Studies indicate that the proportion of cobalt and iron elements make a big differences on the structure of the materials. Benefiting from the porous structure and large specific area of the MOFs precursors, as well as the synergistic effect between Co and Fe elements, the as-synthesized Co〈sub〉0.66〈/sub〉Fe〈sub〉0.33〈/sub〉P shows superior electrocatalytic performances and outstanding stability toward OER in alkaline solution.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719307878-ga1.jpg" width="251" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 223〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Masoomeh Shaghaghi, Gholamreza Dehghan, Samaneh Rashtbari, Nader Sheibani, Azam Aghamohammadi〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The binding of sitagliptin (SIT), an anti-diabetic drug, to human and bovine serum albumin (HSA and BSA; main serum transport proteins) was investigated using various spectroscopic and molecular docking techniques. The fluorescence data demonstrated that SIT quenched inherent fluorescence of these proteins through the formation of SIT-HSA/BSA complexes. The number of binding sites was obtained (~1) and binding constant (K〈sub〉b〈/sub〉) and effective quenching constant (K〈sub〉a〈/sub〉) were calculated as 10〈sup〉4〈/sup〉 for both systems. Based on thermodynamic parameters, the van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonding were the most important forces in the interactions between HSA/BSA and SIT, and the complex formation processes were spontaneous. The results of UV–vis absorption and FT-IR spectroscopic revealed that SIT induces small conformational changes in the structure of the proteins (HSA/BSA). The synchronous fluorescence (SF) spectroscopy demonstrated that the binding of SIT with HSA/BSA had no effect on the polarity around Trp and Tyr residues. The CD spectra showed changes in the secondary and tertiary structures of both proteins with a decrease in α-helices contents and an increase in β-turn structures. The molecular docking and spectroscopic data verified the binding mechanisms between SIT and HSA/BSA, and revealed that SIT completely fits into the hydrophobic cavity between domain II and domain III of these proteins.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519306766-ga1.jpg" width="348" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 223〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Praveen Mishra, Badekai Ramachandra Bhat〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉We report a facile one step in-situ synthesis of amino-functionalized graphene dots. These quantum dots were employed for the detection of glucose in both standard aqueous solutions and commercially available fruit juice to assess its practicability. The characterization of the quantum dots revealed that they were decorated with amine functionality. Additionally, the interaction between glucose and amine functionalized graphene quantum dots gave enhancement in the UV–vis absorption and photoluminescence (PL) due to aggregation of quantum dots via glucose link. Therefore, the quantum dots were able to detect the concentration of glucose in solution exhibiting linearity from 0.1 to 10 mM and 50–500 mM with a sensitivity transition from 10 mM to 50 mM. The limit of detection for the determination of glucose was found to be 10 μM. This determination was agreed from both UV–Vis absorption and PL spectroscopy. However, the PL emission method of determination was most suited with its very high accuracy of 98.04 ± 1.96% and 97.33 ± 2.67% for the linear range of glucose concentration within 0.1–10 mM and 50–500 mM, respectively. The PL enhancement was highly selective towards glucose in mixture of other form of sugars making it suitable for determining glucose in food samples.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519307152-ga1.jpg" width="301" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 554〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Hao Zheng, Zhuyi Wang, Liyi Shi, Yin Zhao, Shuai Yuan〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Electric vehicles have very strict requirements for lithium ion batteries (LIBs). However, the commercial polyethylene (PE) separators cannot meet the demands of high safety and electrochemical performance for LIBs. This work aims to enhance the electrochemical and safety performance of LIBs by coating the separator with multifunctional particles. First, the colloidal SiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 nanoparticles were etched by LiOH to form porous shell and lithium silicate (LSO) species simultaneously. Then, the SiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 nanoparticles with porous shell were coated on PE separator by dip-coating method in the presence of binder. The experiment results indicate that SiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 nanoparticles with porous shell can endow PE separator excellent thermal stability (thermal shrinkage is almost 0% at 150 ℃ for 30 min) and electrochemical properties (improved ionic conductivity and Li〈sup〉+〈/sup〉 ion transference number). Moreover, the Li/LiCoO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 cell employing the PE separator coated by SiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 with porous shell exhibits the best cycle life and C-rate performance. The discharge capacity retention of the cell assembled with LSO-SiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉@PE separator increase from 69% (cells assembled with pristine PE separator) to 86% after 100 cycles at 0.2C.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719307787-ga1.jpg" width="470" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 223〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Saman Khan, Atif Zafar, Imrana Naseem〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉HSA is an important plasma protein responsible for transport of drug molecules. Coumarin derivatives play critical role as anticancer, antidiabetic and antiparkinson agents. In our lab we have synthesized coumarin-based pharmacophore, di(2-picolyl)amine-3(bromoacetyl) coumarin (ligand-L) endowed with anticancer activity. Anticancer agents binding mode of HSA provides valuable pharmacological information and is a structural guidance in synthesizing new drugs with greater efficacy. Thus, binding mechanism of ligand-L with HSA was explored using spectroscopic and molecular docking techniques. UV–Vis spectroscopy demonstrates hyperchromism in the absorbance spectra of HSA on addition of ligand-L suggesting interaction of ligand-L with HSA. Fluorescence spectroscopy indicates quenching in the fluorescence of HSA in the presence of ligand-L confirming the complex formation and this binding follows static mechanism. Steady state fluorescence spectroscopy revealed high binding affinity between ligand-L and HSA with a 1:1 stoichiometry. Thermodynamic parameters obtained by ITC suggest that the interaction between ligand-L and HSA is mainly driven by van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonds, and the negative value of ΔG is an indication of spontaneous binding process. Competitive binding and molecular docking experiments showed that the binding site of ligand-L mainly resides in sub-domain IIA of HSA. CD experiments revealed no significant conformational changes in the secondary structure of HSA on binding of ligand-L. We also found that esterase-like activity of HSA was not affected by ligand-L. In conclusion, this study demonstrates binding mechanism of ligand-L with HSA, and the binding did not induce conformational changes in HSA. This study is likely to provide better understanding of transport and delivery of ligand-L via HSA. Overall, it will provide insights into pharmacokinetic properties of ligand-L and designing new ligand-L based derivatives with greater efficacy.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519307206-ga1.jpg" width="301" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 225〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xiaotong Zhang, Yurong Shi, Lei Cai, Yong Zhou, Chuan-Kui Wang, Lili Lin〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉As the third-generation organic electroluminescent materials, thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) molecules have become the research focus recently. Significant solvent effect on TADF molecules were found experimentally, while theoretical investigations are quite limited. In this work, the solvent effect on photophysical properties of DCBPy and DTCBPy are investigated with first-principles calculations. The solvent polarity has slight influence on the molecular geometries and orbitals, while it can decrease the energy gap between the first singlet excited state (S1) and first triplet excited state (T1) significantly. Both the oscillator strength and the radiation rates of S1 increase with larger solvent polarity. The large energy gap between S1 and T1 induce negligible intersystem crossing (ISC) and reverse ISC rates between them, which also indicates higher triplet excited states are involved in the up-conversion process. Our results provide valuable information about solvent influence on the light-emitting properties of TADF molecules, which could help one better understand the light-emitting mechanism of them and favor the design of TADF molecules.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519308637-ga1.jpg" width="301" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 225〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Guanhua Ren, Siqi Zong, Zhongjie Zhu, Chao Cheng, Ligang Chen, Lu Zhou, Jianbing Zhang, Liyuan Liu, Jiaguang Han, Hongwei Zhao〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉As the building blocks of proteins, amino acids serve vital metabolic functions in addition to protein synthesis and thus attract enormous interest. Here we reported the far-infrared optical properties of L-cysteine (Lcys) and its hydrochloride monohydrate (LCHM) characterized by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. The Lcys and LCHM exhibit quite distinct characteristics in the terahertz region due to diverse collective vibrations of the molecules, which is further confirmed by the solid-state density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The presented studies indicate that the intermolecular hydrogen bonds play a critical role in the far-infrared terahertz response of Lcys and LCHM.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519308662-ga1.jpg" width="449" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 225〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Preeti Gupta, Faez Iqbal Khan, Sonam Roy, Saleha Anwar, Rashmi Dahiya, Mohammed F. Alajmi, Afzal Hussain, Md. Tabish Rehman, Dakun Lai, Md. Imtaiyaz Hassan〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1) catalyzes the conversion of sphingosine to sphingosine-1-phosphate that acts as a bioactive signalling molecule, and regulates various cellular processes including lymphocyte trafficking, angiogenesis and response to apoptotic stimuli. Abnormal expression of SphK1 has been observed in a wide range of cancers highlighting their role in tumour growth and metastasis. This enzyme also plays a critical role in metabolic and inflammatory diseases, including pulmonary fibrosis, diabetic neuropathy and Alzheimer's disease. In the present study, we have investigated the structural and conformational changes in SphK1 at varying pH using various spectroscopic techniques. Consistent results were observed with the function of SphK1 at corresponding pH values. SphK1 maintains its secondary and tertiary structure in the pH range of 7.5–10.0. However, protein aggregation was observed in the acidic pH range (4.0–6.5). At pH 2.0, the SphK1 exists in the molten-globule state. Kinase assay also shows that SphK1 activity was optimal in the pH range of 7.5–8.5. To complement 〈em〉in vitro〈/em〉 results, we have performed 100 ns molecular dynamics simulation to examine the effect of pH on the structural stability of SphK1 at molecular level. SphK1 maintains its native conformation in the alkaline pH range with some residual fluctuations detected at acidic pH. A considerable correlation was noticed between spectroscopic, enzymatic activity and MD simulation studies. pH dependent structural changes can be further implicated to understand its association with disease condition, and cellular homeostasis with respect to protein function under variable pH conditions.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519308431-ga1.jpg" width="273" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 225〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Hiba Mohamed Ameen, Sándor Kunsági-Máté, Lajos Szente, Beáta Lemli〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Sulfonamides are preventive and therapeutic agents for certain infections caused by gram-positive and gram-negative microorganisms. In this work the interactions of sulfamethazine, a representative of sulfonamide antibiotics, with two β-cyclodextrin derivatives were investigated at different pH. Results show formation of stable sulfamethazine - β-cyclodextrin complexes and reflect importance of the competition of the hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions. The complex geometry formed is affected by the orientation of the pH-dependent dipole moment of sulfamethazine molecule and prolonged prior the sulfamethazine molecule enters into the β-cyclodextrin's cavity. Functionalization of the β-cyclodextrin molecule doesn't affect considerably the complex stabilities, therefore the native β-cyclodextrin molecule looks the simplest and most effective inclusion host to design selective and sensitive tool for sulfamethazine sensing.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519308650-ga1.jpg" width="235" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 225〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Adele Bosi, Alessandro Ciccola, Ilaria Serafini, Marcella Guiso, Francesca Ripanti, Paolo Postorino, Roberta Curini, Armandodoriano Bianco〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉Paints used in street art are modern materials subjected to degradation processes, which are very complex and difficult to predict without taking into account of several factors. This study investigates three outdoor murals in Lazio, – namely “graffiti”, a word now used to indicate a spontaneous street art tendency consisting in images and writings realized by spray paints in public spaces to provoke passersby -with the aim to discover materials application techniques and chemical composition and figure out whether alteration phenomena occurred.〈/p〉 〈p〉Twenty-two samples were collected, and their stratigraphy was studied by optical microscopy. Fourier Transformed Infrared spectroscopy was used to identify binders and their degradation products in paints and preparatory layers, while for characterization of organic pigments used in all different stratigraphy layers of samples micro-Raman spectroscopy analyses was carried out. Furthermore, micro-Raman spectroscopy allowed to study an unusual patina formed on the surface of a pink paint.〈/p〉 〈p〉This information is useful for artists as well as for conservators, who must face numerous issues related to the preservation of this modern and labile kind of artistic expression, very fashionable nowadays but often created without care for materials duration. Conservation issues were also deepened by interviews with several contemporary mural authors.〈/p〉 〈p〉Artists underlined how contemporary murals are a very heterogeneous means of expression. Different cultural tendencies coexisting result in different attitude towards conservation.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519308649-ga1.jpg" width="354" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 225〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Bahareh Jamshidi〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The feasibility of utilizing near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy has been recently assessed for rapid and non-destructive detection of internal insect infestation in some fruits. Based on the findings, this technology can be used for on/in-line inspection of the fruits in terms of insect infestation if suitable instrument is selected for accurate spectral measurements and system development. The spectral range and optical measurement mode are two of the most important factors which can affect the accuracy of the spectral measurements and detection models. The aim of this study is meta-analysis of these factors' effects on the ability of NIR-based spectroscopy for non-destructive detection of hidden insect infestation in fruits. Eight studies (65 observations) were extracted based on the criteria of this study. Overall, utilizing NIR-based spectroscopy led to 13.98% error (95% CI = 10.69–17.27%) for non-destructive detection of hidden insect infestation in fruits. Spectral ranges of Vis/SWNIR (above 300 up to 1100 nm), NIR (above 780 up to 2500 nm), and Vis/NIR (above 300 up to 2500 nm) showed errors of 21.71% (95% CI = 16.56–26.86%), 13.30% (95% CI = 5.24–21.36%), and 13.65% (95% CI = 5.9–21.4%), respectively. It was noted that wavelengths above 1100 nm (NIR region) are more useful to detect insect infestation in fruit. Results also indicated that optical measurement modes of interactance, reflectance, and transmittance had errors of 6.66% (95% CI = 4.18–9.14%), 15.73% (95% CI = 10.99–20.47%), and 16.04% (95% CI = 7.26–24.82%), respectively. This meta-analysis suggests that utilizing interactance mode for spectra measurement in NIR-based spectroscopy can increase the accuracy of discrimination of insect infested fruits especially when the spectral range of the spectrometer is Vis/SWNIR. Moreover, it should be selected a spectrometer with the wavelength range of NIR or Vis/NIR when using reflectance or transmittance mode is necessary for developing an in/on-line system to detect insect infestation in fruits.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 556〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yahuan Wang, Chengyu Lin, Zhiwei Wang, Zhimin Chen, Jiafu Chen, Yong Chen, Shaohua Liu, Jianwei Fu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The development of novel adsorbents with high adsorption capacity and easy recovery property is imperative in the field of wastewater treatment. In this study, a hard template-induced assembly strategy was developed to fabricate the magnetic hollow poly(cyclotriphosphazene-〈em〉co〈/em〉-4,4′-sulfonyldiphenol)-Fe〈sub〉3〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 (PZS-Fe〈sub〉3〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉) hybrid nanocapsules, in which Fe〈sub〉3〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 nanoparticles were well embedded in the cross-linked PZS shell. The resulting samples were well characterized using SEM, TEM, EDS, FT-IR, VSM, XPS, XRD and N〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 sorption. Then, using Safranine T (ST) as model dye, the adsorption behavior of as-prepared hollow PZS-Fe〈sub〉3〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 nanocapsules including adsorption kinetics, adsorption isotherms, adsorption mechanism, and recyclability were systematically evaluated and discussed. The results revealed that the magnetic hollow PZS-Fe〈sub〉3〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 nanocapsules own high adsorption capacity towards ST dye and outstanding magnetic separation functionality. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir model can well describe the experimental data, and the adsorption process is controlled by more than one diffusion step. The interaction between ST dye and hollow PZS-Fe〈sub〉3〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 nanocapsules is ascribed to π-π interaction and electrostatic interaction. The thermodynamic parameters demonstrated that the adsorption processes were physical, endothermic, and spontaneous. Additionally, the magnetic hollow PZS-Fe〈sub〉3〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 nanocapsules also shows excellent peroxidase-like catalytic activity in the oxidation of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine with H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉2〈/sub〉, indirectly confirming the adsorption kinetic results.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S002197971930983X-ga1.jpg" width="360" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 21 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Beibei Wang, Shipeng Zhang, Gang Wang, Hui Wang, Jintao Bai〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Among an enormous variety of electrode materials for lithium and sodium storage, transition metal-oxides/sulfides stand out on account of their widespread availability and high theoretical charge capacity. However, these anodes still undergo poor capacity retention and limited cycle life. Herein, we present a simple approach to synthesize one-dimensional (1D) porous Fe〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉@C and FeS@C nanofibers in which ultra-small active nanoparticles are first distributed in the internal porous carbon matrix and further encapsulated in the external nano-carbon walls. The 1D porous nano-architecture effectively alleviates the pulverization or aggregation induced by huge volume changes during cycling as well as provides a short ion/electron diffusion path in the crystal. Furthermore, the internal porous carbon matrix and the external nano-carbon layers keep the structural and mechanical stability of the entire electrode. The as-synthesized Fe〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉@C and FeS@C nanofibers show high specific capacities, robust cycling stability as well as desirable rate capability for LIBs and SIBs. Simultaneously, the FeS@C nanofibers achieve better lithium and sodium storage properties due to good electrical property and fast ion diffusion kinetics compared with Fe〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉@C nanofibers. This novel architecture design may open an avenue to seeking out high performance electrodes for advanced energy storage.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309816-ga1.jpg" width="275" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 225〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): M. Bala Divya, Lalitha Guruprasad〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉An ionic liquid (IL) is a salt in which the ions are poorly coordinated, resulting in these solvents being liquid below 100 °C or even at room temperature. ILs generally consist of large sized anions and cations, have certain unique advantageous properties and hence are considered as ‘green solvents’. Thermal stability of the α/β-serine hydrolase (SH) domain in PE1 and PE2 proteins of 〈em〉Mycobacterium tuberculosis〈/em〉 (〈em〉M.tb〈/em〉) possessing esterase activity was studied in the presence of aprotic ILs consisting of imidazolium cations and anions. Addition of ILs to an aqueous solution of proteins prevented their unfolding and aggregation at higher temperatures. The thermal denaturation curve of proteins with ILs shifted to higher temperatures compared to the absence of ILs from CD spectra. The remaining activities of PE1/PE2 proteins with 1.4 M [EMIM][BF〈sub〉4〈/sub〉], [EMIM][Cl], [BMIM][BF〈sub〉4〈/sub〉] and [BMIM][Cl] exhibited 100%/100%, 58.96%/58.84%, 78.92%/78.94% and 54.63%/54.92% greater activities, respectively after the heat treatment at 30 °C for 35 min. We conclude that the remaining activities of both proteins are sufficiently maintained after the heat treatment and this depends upon the nature, concentration of ILs, and the thermal incubation time. Specifically, [EMIM][BF〈sub〉4〈/sub〉] and [BMIM][BF〈sub〉4〈/sub〉] exhibit higher thermal stabilization compared to [EMIM][Cl] and [BMIM][Cl].〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519308674-ga1.jpg" width="424" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 19 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Jie Zhang, Suoping Peng, Yucong Wei, Shaohui Zheng〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Non-fullerene acceptor based organic bulk heterojunction solar cells have been a hot topic because their power conversion efficiencies have been up to 16.35%. Functionalized 6,13‑bis (trimethylsilyl alkynyl) pentacenes with strong electron withdrawing groups, which can be easily modified to improve charge transport properties and film morphology, seem to be promising soluble non-fullerene pentacene-based organic acceptors. But how the substitutions of electron withdrawing groups influence their electronic structures, then change the absorption spectra and power conversion efficiencies, is still not clear. In this paper, we utilize density functional theory and time-dependent density functional theory to study the effects of substitutions of different electron withdrawing groups (〈img src="https://sdfestaticassets-eu-west-1.sciencedirectassets.com/shared-assets/16/entities/sbnd"〉CN, 〈img src="https://sdfestaticassets-eu-west-1.sciencedirectassets.com/shared-assets/16/entities/sbnd"〉CF〈sub〉3〈/sub〉, 〈img src="https://sdfestaticassets-eu-west-1.sciencedirectassets.com/shared-assets/16/entities/sbnd"〉NO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉) and different positions of these groups in 6,13‑bis (trimethylsilyl alkyl) pentacene molecule on their physical and optical properties. We find that the experimental power conversion efficiencies are positively/negatively correlated with calculated dipole moments/exciton binding energies of these functionalized molecules. The computed results indicate that the molecules substituted with CN group have much larger dipole moment than the others. For the same electron withdrawing group, the dipole moment at the R2 position is generally larger than that at the R1 position. Furthermore, we find that the calculated exciton binding energy of these molecules functionalized at the R2 position is lower than that at the R1 position. In addition, the result of absorption spectra confirm that these functionalized 6,13‑bis (trimethylsilyl alkynyl) pentacenes have stronger absorption strength than C60 in the both visible and the ultraviolet regions.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519308704-ga1.jpg" width="301" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 225〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Chenguang Yang, Hao Deng, Yuanyuan Qian, Mingxing Li, Bing Chen, Zhenyu Xu, Ruifeng Kan〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉We report measured line intensities and air- and self-broadening coefficients for fifty-one carbon disulfide transitions in the ν1 + ν3 band near 4.6 μm. This spectral region was chosen due to the strong carbon disulfide absorption strength and in the range of the mid-infrared atmospheric window for laser-based sensing applications. Spectroscopic parameters were determined by spectra measuring with quantum cascade laser direct absorption spectroscopy and multi-line fitting with Voigt lineshape. These measured results would facilitate the development of calibrated-free mid-infrared carbon disulfide sensors.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519308686-ga1.jpg" width="484" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 225〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Tatyana Emelina, Anna Zadoroznaya, Irina Kalinovskaya, Anatolii Mirochnik〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The luminescent and photochemical properties of europium(III) cinnamates [Eu(Cin)〈sub〉3〈/sub〉]〈sub〉n〈/sub〉 (I) and Eu(Cin)〈sub〉3〈/sub〉·(phen) (II) were investigated in theoretical and experimental aspects. The high photostability of the complex I was explained. The complex II displays weak luminescence and low photostability in spite of the presence of a powerful antenna ligand 1,10-phenantroline in its coordination sphere. The unexpected luminescent and photochemical properties of europium(III) cinnamates were interpreted by the quantum chemistry methods. It was revealed that inclusion of phen molecule into Eu(Cin)〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 complex results in lengthening of Eu-Cin distances that promotes weakening of antenna effect. In the process of photoexcitation of this complex noticeable lengthening of Eu-Cin-2 bond takes place and Cin-3 ligand is detached from the molecule that is the cause of low photostability and weak luminescence of II.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519308716-ga1.jpg" width="363" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 224〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Fayan Zhu, Wenqian Zhang, Hongyan Liu, Xiufang Wang, Yongquan Zhou, Chunhui Fang, Yunhong Zhang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In this study, ion pairs in a single sodium tetrahydroxyborate [Na [B(OH)〈sub〉4〈/sub〉] droplet were analyzed using an “in-situ strategy” in which a sample-droplet of nanogram mass was deposited on a hydrophobic substrate and droplet was forced to enter into a supersaturated state by decreasing the relative humidity (RH) of the environment. The structure of the solvated [B(OH)〈sub〉4〈/sub〉〈sup〉−〈/sup〉] ionic moiety with various molar water-to-solute ratios (WSR) was analyzed using Raman spectroscopy. To confirm the structural changes in the droplet, electronic structure calculations were carried out using density functional theory (DFT). The frequencies calculated for the totally symmetric BO stretching vibration (〈em〉v〈/em〉〈sub〉sym(BO)〈/sub〉) of the [B(OH)〈sub〉4〈/sub〉〈sup〉−〈/sup〉] moiety were compared with those of the fundamental bands observed in the Raman spectra recorded of the droplets. The following results have been obtained: (i) when WSR is reduced from 9 to 0.1, the frequency of the band that corresponds to 〈em〉v〈/em〉〈sub〉sym(BO)〈/sub〉 shifts from 745 to 746 cm〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, and its full-width at half-maximum value increases from 19.7 to 20.5 cm〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉; (ii) when WSR ≥7, the solvent-shared ion pair (SIP) is predominantly present in the solution, whereas in the case of WSR 〈 7, SIP transforms into a contact ion pair (CIP) formed by Na〈sup〉+〈/sup〉 and [B(OH)〈sub〉4〈/sub〉〈sup〉−〈/sup〉] in bidentate coordination; (iii) when WSR = 3, most of the CIPs transform into a cationic type of triple ion pair (TIP) composed of two Na〈sup〉+〈/sup〉 and one [B(OH)〈sub〉4〈/sub〉〈sup〉−〈/sup〉] in bidentate coordination; (iv) when WSR is further reduced, most TIP continually associate to form a more complex structure and with a small amount of six-membered ring complex also formed. These results will help us understand the ion association mechanism during dehydration process of Na[B(OH)〈sub〉4〈/sub〉] droplets.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519306985-ga1.jpg" width="426" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Elisangela P. Da Silva, Adley F. Rubira, Odair P. Ferreira, Rafael Silva, Edvani C. Muniz〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In recent years, electrochemical energy devices, i.e. batteries, fuel cells, solar cells, and supercapacitors, have attracted considerable attention of scientific community. The architecture of active materials plays a crucial role for improving supercapacitors performance. Herein, titanium dioxide (TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉) nanofibers (1D) have been synthesized by electrospinning process and used as a backbone to manganese dioxide (MnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉) nanosheets (2D) growth through hydrothermal method. This strategy allows the obtaining of 1D/2D heterostructure architecture, which has demonstrated superior electrochemical performance in relation to pristine MnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉. The highest electrochemical performance is due to the synergic effect between the metal oxides, where TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 nanofibers provide electrochemical stability for active MnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 phase. Thus, the designed TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉@MnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 structure can reach maximum specific capacitance of 525 F·g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 at a current density of 0.25 A·g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, and it demonstrates an excellent stability by retaining 81% of the initial capacitance with coulombic efficiency of 91%. Therefore, the novel architecture of TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉@MnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 based on nanofibers and nanosheets exhibits superior electrochemical properties to be used in supercapacitor applications.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉@MnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 3D architecture was synthesized using TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 nanofibers and MnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 nanosheets. The 1D and 2D structures combine high fibers porosity, which could facility diffusion ions from electrolyte, with a large number of active sites in the nanosheets. The 3D architecture enhanced electrochemical reaction and ions transport allowing the hybrid TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉@MnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 outstanding high specific capacitance with an excellent stability with potential as electrode for supercapacitor.〈/p〉 〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308446-ga1.jpg" width="295" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Qiuxia Fu, Yang Si, Lifang Liu, Jianyong Yu, Bin Ding〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The development of chromatographic media with superb adsorption capacity and large processing throughput is of great importance for highly efficient protein adsorption and separation, yet still faces a huge challenge. Herein, a new kind of butane tetracarboxylic acid (BTCA) functionalized ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVAL) nanofibrous membranes (BTCA@EVAL NFM)-based chromatographic media is fabricated, for the first time, by combining blend electrospinning technique with 〈em〉in-situ〈/em〉 modification technology. The resulting BTCA@EVAL NFM possesses an enhanced equilibrium protein adsorption capability (716 mg g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉), a high saturated dynamic protein binding capacity (490 mg g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉), and a distinctive selectivity towards positively charged proteins, which are attributed to the synergistic effects of the hydrophilic EVAL nanofibrous matrix and the plentiful carboxyl groups introduced by BTCA. Besides, benefiting from its stable physical and chemical structures, the membrane also presents excellent acid and alkaline resistance as well as good reusability. Significantly, the BTCA@EVAL NFM can directly extract lysozyme from egg white with a relatively large capture capability of 353 mg g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, highlighting its superb potential practicability. We sincerely hope that this new design concept and the highly effective nanofiber-based chromatographic media can provide some guidance for the further development of bio-separation and purification.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308458-ga1.jpg" width="277" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): S.Q. Gao, P.P. Zhang, S.H. Guo, W.Q. Chen, M. Li, F. Liu, J.P. Cheng〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Developing safe, efficient and environment-friendly energy storage systems continues to inspire researchers to synthesize new electrode materials. Doping or substituting host material by some guest elements has been regarded as an effective way to improve the performance of supercapacitors. In this work, single-phase CuCo〈sub〉2−x〈/sub〉Ni〈sub〉x〈/sub〉S〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 materials were synthesized by a facile two-step hydrothermal method, where Co in CuCo〈sub〉2〈/sub〉S〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 was substituted by Ni. Cobalt could be easily substituted with Ni in a rational range to keep its constant phase. But, a high content of Ni resulted in a multi-phase composite. Among a series of CuCo〈sub〉2−x〈/sub〉Ni〈sub〉x〈/sub〉S〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 materials with different Ni/Co mole ratios, CuCo〈sub〉1.25〈/sub〉Ni〈sub〉0.75〈/sub〉S〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 material presented a significantly high specific capacitance (647 F g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 or 272 C g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 at 1 A g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉) and the best cycling stability (∼98% specific capacitance retention after 10,000 charge-discharge cycles), which was mainly due to the modified composition, specific single phase, higher electroconductivity, more electroactive sites and the synergistic effect between Ni and Co. Moreover, the assembled asymmetric capacitor using CuCo〈sub〉1.25〈/sub〉Ni〈sub〉0.75〈/sub〉S〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 as a positive electrode and activated carbon as a negative electrode delivered a high energy density of 31.8 Wh kg〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 at the power density of 412.5 W kg〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉. These results demonstrated that ternary metal sulfides of CuCo〈sub〉2−x〈/sub〉Ni〈sub〉x〈/sub〉S〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 are promising electrode materials for high-performance supercapacitors.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308720-ga1.jpg" width="316" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xiaozhe Yuan, Shiyuan Peng, Wenjing Lin, Jufang Wang, Lijuan Zhang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This study introduced multistage pH-responsive nanohybrids (MSN-hyd-MOP) based on mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) modified with polymers with charge-reversal property via an acid-labile hydrazone linker, which were applied as a drug delivery system loaded anticancer drugs. In this study, MSN-hyd-MOP nanohybrids were completely investigated for their synthesis, pH response, drug release behavior, cytotoxicity capability and endocytic behavior. Responding to the acidic extracellular microenvironment of solid tumor (pH 6.5), MSN-hyd-MOP nanohybrids exhibited surface charge-reversal characteristic from negative (−10.2 mV, pH 7.4) to positive (16.6 mV, pH 6.5). The model drug doxorubicin (Dox) was efficiently loaded within the channels of MSN-hyd-MOP (encapsulation efficiency about 87%). The increased acidity in endo-/lysosome promote Dox-loaded MSN-hyd-MOP (MSN-hyd-MOP@Dox) release Dox quickly. 〈em〉In vitro〈/em〉 study revealed the drug delivery system had good biocompatibility and could deliver the payload to tumor cells. Overall, the described nanohybrids can be used as a potential anticancer drug delivery system.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308410-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ru-Lan Zhang, Jiu-Ju Feng, Lu Zhang, Chuan-Guo Shi, Ai-Jun Wang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Synthesis of high-efficiency catalysts for alcohol oxidation reaction caused great interest in direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs). Ultrathin PdFePb nanowires (NWs) with an average diameter of 2.3 nm were synthesized by a simple and fast one-pot aqueous synthesis, using octylphenoxypolyethoxyethanol (NP-40) as the structure-directing agent. The as-prepared PdFePb NWs displayed an increscent electrochemically active surface area (ECSA, 121.18 m〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 〈sub〉Pd〈/sub〉). For ethylene glycol oxidation reaction (EGOR) and glycerol oxidation reaction (GOR), PdFePb NWs exhibited much higher activity and superior stability, outperforming those of homemade PdFe NWs, PdPb NWs, commercial Pd black and Pd/C (20 wt%). These results reveal dramatically high catalytic activity and durability of ultrathin PdFePb NWs in enhancing polyols electrooxidation.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308756-ga1.jpg" width="314" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xinyuan Xu, Jinqiang Zhang, Shuaijun Wang, Zhengxin Yao, Hong Wu, Lei Shi, Yu Yin, Shaobin Wang, Hongqi Sun〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Hydrogen generation from biomass reforming via solar energy utilisation has become a fascinating strategy toward future energy sustainability. In this study, ZnS nanoparticles with an average size around 10–15 nm were synthesised by a facile hydrothermal method, and then hybridised with g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 (MCN, DCN, and UCN) derived from melamine, dicyandiamide and urea, producing the heterojunctions denoted as ZMCN, ZDCN and ZUCN, respectively. Advanced characterisations were employed to investigate the physiochemical properties of the materials. ZMCN and ZDCN showed a slight red shift and better light absorbance ability. Their catalytic performances were evaluated by photocatalytic biomass reforming for hydrogen generation. The hydrogen generation rate on ZMCN, the best photocatalyst among MCN, DCN, UCN, ZDCN and ZUCN, was around 2.5 times higher than the pristine MCN. However, the photocatalytic efficiency of ZUCN experienced decrease of 36.6% compared to pure UCN. The mechanism of the photocatalytic reforming process was discussed. The photoluminescence spectra of ZMCN suggested that the introduction of ZnS for ZMCN would reduce the recombination of photoinduced carriers. It was also found that both microstructure and band structure would influence the photocatalytic reforming efficiency.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S002197971930846X-ga1.jpg" width="326" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Mian Li, Jirong Yang, Mingjiao Lu, Yingjie Zhang, Xiangjie Bo〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Ultrafine Co〈sub〉7〈/sub〉Fe〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 nanoparticles embedded in nitrogen-doped porous carbon nanosheets (denoted as Co〈sub〉7〈/sub〉Fe〈sub〉3〈/sub〉/NPCSs) are successfully synthesized by utilizing porous plant tissue as a precursor. The morphological, structural, and chemical contents of the Co〈sub〉7〈/sub〉Fe〈sub〉3〈/sub〉/NPCSs and other control samples are analyzed by X-ray (powder) diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), N〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 adsorption–desorption, Raman spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma (ICP), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques. The glucose oxidation and detection performances of each catalyst are evaluated by using cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. The experimental results demonstrate that the electrocatalytic abilities of the resultant catalysts toward glucose oxidation decrease in the order of Co〈sub〉7〈/sub〉Fe〈sub〉3〈/sub〉/NPCSs 〉 Co/NPCSs 〉 CoFe/NPCSs 〉 Fe〈sub〉2〈/sub〉C-Co〈sub〉3〈/sub〉Fe〈sub〉7〈/sub〉/NPCSs 〉 Fe〈sub〉2〈/sub〉C/NPCSs. The experimental results prove that a small number of Fe atoms in Co〈sub〉7〈/sub〉Fe〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 can increase the number of active Co〈sup〉4+〈/sup〉 sites. Meanwhile, the ultrafine Co〈sub〉7〈/sub〉Fe〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 nanoparticles uniformly dispersed along the porous carbon nanosheets’ surfaces, which further improved the dispersion of the abundant electrochemically available active sites. Due to the synergistic effect of the hierarchical porous structures, high-density active sites and excellent electron conductivity, the optimal Co〈sub〉7〈/sub〉Fe〈sub〉3〈/sub〉/NPCSs display the best glucose detection efficiency of all the catalysts examined. For instance, the Co〈sub〉7〈/sub〉Fe〈sub〉3〈/sub〉/NPCSs exhibit large sensitivity values (795.28 µA cm〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉 mM〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 between 0.001 and 2.20 mM and 401.98 μA cm〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉 mM〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 between 2.20 and 14.00 mM), a rapid response time (2.2 s), a low detection limit (1.0 µM), excellent anti-interference toward electroactive molecules, a perfect reproducibility and a superior long-term stability. The Co〈sub〉7〈/sub〉Fe〈sub〉3〈/sub〉/NPCSs also exhibit a satisfying efficiency for glucose detection in human serum samples. Finally, our low-cost synthetic strategy can advance research used for designing 3D hierarchical meso/macroporous noble-metal-free catalysts without any tedious steps or templates.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308793-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Chen Gu, Wei-Qiang Tao, Min Li, Yao Jiang, Xiao-Qin Liu, Peng Tan, Lin-Bing Sun〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Catalysis benefits from biomimetic materials with sophisticated structures because a variety of functions can be integrated into one structure, satisfying the demands of a diverse range of applications. Magnetic catalysts have been widely used in various applications, but the magnetic components are most commonly used for recycling. In this study, we report the fabrication of magnetic nanocatalysts composed of a support of magnetic nanobars and Ag nanoparticles confined between two silica layers. Notably, the catalysts are constructed as nanoscale stirring bars that are able to generate disturbances at this scale. More importantly, the catalysts can be applied in both macro- and micro-systems, effectively addressing the conventional mixing method. The catalysts can then be conveniently separated from the system after use. The performances of magnetic nanoscale catalysts are well maintained through recycling.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308768-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Zhen Zhang, Maria Cheng, Mia San Gabriel, Ângela Albuquerque Teixeira Neto, Juliana da Silva Bernardes, Richard Berry, Kam C. Tam〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A practical and sustainable method to prepare polymeric hollow microcapsules (PHMs) using cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) stabilized Pickering emulsion polymerization was developed. Pristine CNCs hydrolyzed from wood pulp are hydrophilic and could be employed as emulsifiers to prepare oil-in-water (O/W) Pickering emulsions. The O/W Pickering emulsions were used as templates for the Pickering emulsion polymerization of hydrophobic monomers inside the emulsion droplets. The crosslinked hydrophobic polymers phase separated and partitioned to the interface of the Pickering emulsion, leading to the formation of hydrophobic PHMs. Correspondingly, cinnamate modified CNCs with less surface hydrophilicity were employed as emulsifiers to obtain water-in-oil (W/O) inverse Pickering emulsions, which were then used as templates for inverse Pickering emulsion polymerization of hydrophilic monomers to prepare hydrophilic PHMs. Therefore, both hydrophobic and hydrophilic PHMs could be obtained via this approach. Herein, polystyrene, poly(4-vinylpyridine), and poly(〈em〉N〈/em〉-isopropyl acrylamide) hollow microcapsules were prepared as models, where the size, crosslinking density, shell structure and stimuli-responsive properties of PHMs could be tuned by varying the synthesis parameters.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308938-ga1.jpg" width="395" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Haiping Li, Guiming Ba, Zhiwei Liang, Quanhua Deng, Wanguo Hou〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Construction of Z-scheme heterojunction (ZCH) is one of the most effective ways to enhance photocatalytic performance of photocatalysts. The direct all-solid-state 〈em〉p〈/em〉-〈em〉n〈/em〉 ZCH shows the best prospect, but its fabrication mechanism, especially function of the interfacial electric field (IEF) was rarely expounded explicitly. Herein, a direct all-solid-state 〈em〉p〈/em〉-〈em〉n〈/em〉 copper indium disulfide/tungsten oxide (CIS/WO) ZCH was prepared through a facile hydrothermal process for the first time. The CIS/WO ZCH exhibits enhanced photocatalytic activity because of significantly accelerated photogenerated charge separation via a Z-scheme charge migration process. The Z-scheme charge transfer pathway is inferred from matched energy band levels of CIS and WO and the IEF is confirmed to play a key role. The CIS/WO ZCH can fast produce singlet oxygen via hole oxidation of superoxide radicals under visible light irradiation, while pure CIS and WO cannot, effectively verifying the Z-scheme charge transfer process. This work illustrates the principle for fabrication of the direct all-solid-state 〈em〉p〈/em〉-〈em〉n〈/em〉 ZCH and function of the IEF, as well as provides a new ZCH.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308501-ga1.jpg" width="215" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Jinchao Xu, Jian Rong, Fengxian Qiu, Yao Zhu, Kaili Mao, Yuanyuan Fang, Dongya Yang, Tao Zhang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉To solve the energy crisis problem, many efforts have been devoted to develop clean and sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels. Among varieties of pathways to obtain clean energy, electrochemical water splitting is a promising approach. Herein, we had successfully synthesized the NiCo〈sub〉2〈/sub〉S〈sub〉4〈/sub〉@porous nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibers (NiCo〈sub〉2〈/sub〉S〈sub〉4〈/sub〉@NCNF) nanocomposite via three successive steps consisted of in-situ oxidative polymerization, calcination, and solvothermal sulfuration reaction processes. The effect of controlled molar ratios to electrocatalytic performance was studied in detail. The optimized NiCo〈sub〉2〈/sub〉S〈sub〉4〈/sub〉@NCNF nanocomposite exhibits superior electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction with a small overpotential of 117 mV to drive a current density of 10 mA cm〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉. More importantly, it exhibits similar electrocatalytic activity to the initial state even after successive cyclic voltammetry scan for 3000 cycles, indicating its excellent long-term stability. The superior electrochemical performance is attributed to the developed three-dimensional (3D) network nanostructure derived from bacterial cellulose nanofibers, the highly conductive porous nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibers, and the synergistic effect between metal Ni and Co of NiCo〈sub〉2〈/sub〉S〈sub〉4〈/sub〉. This study permits a new pathway to design efficient electrocatalysts based on eco-friendly materials for the production of clean hydrogen energy.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308847-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Kaiqiang Zhang, Zhan Meng, Lirong Liu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In this paper, a factorial analysis approach is applied to characterize the potential single and interactive factors as well as their effects on the interface and miscibility of three light oil–CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 systems under 32 different conditions. First, a modified Peng–Robinson equation of state coupled with the parachor model is applied to calculate the vapour–liquid equilibrium and interfacial tensions (IFTs) at a variation of pore radii and different pressures, based on which the MMPs are determined from the diminishing interface method. Second, by means of the factorial-analysis approach and calculated IFTs and minimum miscibility pressures (MMPs), the following five factors are specifically studied to evaluate their main and interactive effects on the IFTs and MMPs: temperature, initial oil and gas compositions, feed gas to oil ratio (feed GOR), and pore radius. It is found that the main and interactive effects of the five factors on the IFTs are inconsistent at different pressures. The effects of the five factors on the MMPs are evaluated quantitatively, which contribute to screen out significant factors, analyze interactions, and identify schemes for the miscible CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 enhanced oil recovery. The most positive significant main and interactive effects on the MMPs are Factors C (gas composition) and AB (temperature and oil composition), whereas the most negative results are Factors E (pore radius) and AC (temperature and gas compositions). A three-factor analysis indicates that the MMP is substantially reduced in small pores by controlling the percentage of the CH〈sub〉4〈/sub〉-dominated gas in the impure CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 sample and lowering the feed GOR.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308963-ga1.jpg" width="274" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 30 July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Carlos G. Lopez, Thomas Lohmeier, John E. Wong, Walter Richtering〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉We report dynamic light scattering data for a PNIPAM based microgel copolymerised with 2〈math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si71.svg"〉〈mrow〉〈mo〉%〈/mo〉〈/mrow〉〈/math〉 ionic groups. The hydrodynamic radius is measured as a function of temperature (which varies the solvent quality) and added salt concentration (〈math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si72.svg"〉〈mrow〉〈msub〉〈mrow〉〈mi〉c〈/mi〉〈/mrow〉〈mrow〉〈mi〉S〈/mi〉〈/mrow〉〈/msub〉〈/mrow〉〈/math〉) from salt-free conditions up to 〈math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si73.svg"〉〈mrow〉〈msub〉〈mrow〉〈mi〉c〈/mi〉〈/mrow〉〈mrow〉〈mi〉S〈/mi〉〈/mrow〉〈/msub〉〈/mrow〉〈/math〉 = 0.1 M. Incorporation of the ionic co-monomer leads to an increase of the volume phase transition temperature with respect to a non-ionic microgel from 〈math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si74.svg"〉〈mrow〉〈mi〉T〈/mi〉〈mo〉≃〈/mo〉〈mn〉306〈/mn〉〈/mrow〉〈/math〉 K to 〈math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si75.svg"〉〈mrow〉〈mi〉T〈/mi〉〈mo〉≃〈/mo〉〈mn〉317〈/mn〉〈/mrow〉〈/math〉 K in salt-free water. The hydrodynamic radius varies as 〈math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si76.svg"〉〈mrow〉〈msub〉〈mrow〉〈mi〉R〈/mi〉〈/mrow〉〈mrow〉〈mi〉H〈/mi〉〈/mrow〉〈/msub〉〈mo〉∝〈/mo〉〈msubsup〉〈mrow〉〈mi〉c〈/mi〉〈/mrow〉〈mrow〉〈mi〉S〈/mi〉〈/mrow〉〈mrow〉〈mo〉-〈/mo〉〈mn〉0.05〈/mn〉〈/mrow〉〈/msubsup〉〈/mrow〉〈/math〉 in good solvent (〈math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si77.svg"〉〈mrow〉〈mi〉T〈/mi〉〈mo〉≃〈/mo〉〈mn〉278〈/mn〉〈mo〉-〈/mo〉〈mn〉298〈/mn〉〈/mrow〉〈/math〉 K) and 〈math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si78.svg"〉〈mrow〉〈msub〉〈mrow〉〈mi〉R〈/mi〉〈/mrow〉〈mrow〉〈mi〉H〈/mi〉〈/mrow〉〈/msub〉〈mo〉∝〈/mo〉〈msubsup〉〈mrow〉〈mi〉c〈/mi〉〈/mrow〉〈mrow〉〈mi〉S〈/mi〉〈/mrow〉〈mrow〉〈mo〉-〈/mo〉〈mn〉0.15〈/mn〉〈/mrow〉〈/msubsup〉〈/mrow〉〈/math〉 in poor solvent (〈math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si79.svg"〉〈mrow〉〈mi〉T〈/mi〉〈mo〉≃〈/mo〉〈mn〉313〈/mn〉〈mo〉-〈/mo〉〈mn〉319〈/mn〉〈/mrow〉〈/math〉 K). Deep into the poor solvent regime the microgel is collapsed for all salt concentrations and 〈math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si80.svg"〉〈mrow〉〈msub〉〈mrow〉〈mi〉R〈/mi〉〈/mrow〉〈mrow〉〈mi〉H〈/mi〉〈/mrow〉〈/msub〉〈mo〉∝〈/mo〉〈msubsup〉〈mrow〉〈mi〉c〈/mi〉〈/mrow〉〈mrow〉〈mi〉S〈/mi〉〈/mrow〉〈mrow〉〈mn〉0〈/mn〉〈/mrow〉〈/msubsup〉〈/mrow〉〈/math〉. Data are fitted to the Flory-Rehner model modified to account for the osmotic pressure of the counterions through the Donnan model. We find that the Flory-Rehner-Donnan (FRD) model does not fully account for the experimental observations, particularly at low ionic strengths, possibly due to the influence of electrostatic excluded volume. The disagreements between theory and experiments are greatly reduced if a cross-linking density three times lower than that expected from synthesis is assumed. The scaling theory exponents for the variation of gel size with temperature and added salt are not in agreement with the experimental results presented.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308227-ga1.jpg" width="253" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Zhiguang Zhang, Siqi Wang, Mingjun Bao, Jiawen Ren, Sihang Pei, Shijun Yu, Jun Ke〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉An Ag/AgCl/NH〈sub〉2〈/sub〉-UiO-66 hybridized photocatalyst was successfully constructed via facile solvothermal with UV reduction method for efficient photocatalytic Cr (VI) reduction. The photoelectrochemical data indicate that compared with the UiO-66, the charge separation and transfer efficiency of Ag/AgCl/NH〈sub〉2〈/sub〉-UiO-66 heterojunction is significantly enhanced due to the introduction of amine functionalization and formation of inorganic-organic hybrid. The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect deriving from Ag nanoparticles (NPs) largely extends photo-response range whilst the separation efficiency of photo-generated electrons and holes is improved significantly. The synthesized Ag/AgCl/NH〈sub〉2〈/sub〉-UiO-66 hybrid system shows ameliorated structural stability and superior photocatalytic activity for Cr (VI) reduction under visible light irradiation, which is 1.7 times higher than that of the bare UiO-66. Furthermore, the possible mechanism of Cr (VI) reduction is proposed by analyzing electron transfer path in the ternary Ag/AgCl/NH〈sub〉2〈/sub〉-UiO-66 hybridized system.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308835-ga1.jpg" width="427" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yue Yu, Mingwu Xiang, Junming Guo, Changwei Su, Xiaofang Liu, Hongli Bai, Wei Bai, Kaijiao Duan〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The improvements of cyclability and rate capability of lithium ion batteries with spinel LiMn〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 as cathode are imperative demands for the large-scale practical applications. Herein, a nickel (Ni) and magnesium (Mg) co-doping strategy was employed to synthesize LiNi〈sub〉0.03〈/sub〉Mg〈sub〉0.05〈/sub〉Mn〈sub〉1.92〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 cathode material via a facile solid-state combustion approach. The effects of the Ni-Mg co-doping on crystalline structure, micromorphology and electrochemical behaviors of the as-prepared LiNi〈sub〉0.03〈/sub〉Mg〈sub〉0.05〈/sub〉Mn〈sub〉1.92〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 are investigated by a series of physico-chemical characterizations and performance tests at high-rate and elevated-temperature. The resultant LiNi〈sub〉0.03〈/sub〉Mg〈sub〉0.05〈/sub〉Mn〈sub〉1.92〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 has the intrinsic spinel structure with no any impurities, and exhibits an elevated average valence of manganese in comparison to the pristine LiMn〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉. Owing to the Ni and Mg dual-doped merits, the LiNi〈sub〉0.03〈/sub〉Mg〈sub〉0.05〈/sub〉Mn〈sub〉1.92〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 sample demonstrates a robust spinel structure and high first discharge specific capacity of 112.3 mAh g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, whilst undergoing a long cycling of 1000 cycles at 1 C. At a high current rate of 20 C, the capacity of 91.2 mAh g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 with an excellent retention of 77% is obtained after 1000 cycles. Even at 10 C under 55 °C, an excellent capacity of 97.6 mAh g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 is also delivered. These results offer a new opportunity for developing high-performance lithium ion batteries with respect to the Ni-Mg co-doping strategy.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308586-ga1.jpg" width="431" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Shuaiwei Wang, Zhuoran Chen, Baocheng Yang, Houyang Chen, Eli Ruckenstein〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The rapid development of stretchable electronics, which have wide applications from clinical applications to stretchable smart phones, requires numerous advanced stretchable energy technologies, such as stretchable batteries. However, maintaining performance in such batteries during deformation and developing stretchable batteries with suitable mechanical robustness for industrial applications remain challenges. In this work, by using first-principles calculations, the performance of three-dimensional (3D) topological semimetal porous carbon material bct-C〈sub〉40〈/sub〉 anodes in stretchable lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is investigated. We find that the mechanical deformation is a feasible route for reconfiguration of inner surfaces of porous carbon material anodes to modulate their high performance in stretchable LIBs. The bct-C〈sub〉40〈/sub〉 anode delivers a high theoretical capacity of 893 mA h/g, which is approximately 2.4 times larger than that of the commercial graphite anode (372 mA h/g). Adsorption-activation-adsorption mechanism and (de)activation-adsorption mechanism are proposed for the capacities of the anode under strain-free and strained states, respectively. Under the strain-free state, the adsorption of Li atoms changes the size of porous of bct-C〈sub〉40〈/sub〉 at the atomic scale and readjusts the electron distribution on bct-C〈sub〉40〈/sub〉 at the electronic scale, activating more adsorption sites. Large tensile strains expand its inner space and inner surface area, forming new adsorption sites and boosting its high capacities. Large compressive strains undermine its inner surface and deactivate some adsorption sites, reducing its capacities. Small compressive and tensile strains play a little role in the inner surface and do not affect adsorption sites, retaining its high capacities. More excitingly, diffusion barriers under strain-free and strained states, which are sensitive to the inner surface, are (ultra)low, demonstrating that the anode has (ultra)fast charge/discharge rates. This work provides new insights for the modulatable performance of 3D porous carbon material anodes, and offers an approach to innovate high performance stretchable metal-ion battery anodes with suitable mechanical robustness.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉The 3D porous topological semimetal bct-C〈sub〉40〈/sub〉 is used as the high-performance Li-ion battery anode.〈/p〉 〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308811-ga1.jpg" width="282" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 224〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Zheng Fei Liu, Xue Chen, Wen Xin Wu, Gui Qi Zhang, Xin Li, Zhen Zhen Li, Wei Jun Jin〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials have become a hot topic in fields of organic light-emitting dioes, biological sensing and imaging. The present work reports firstly that 1,3,5-trifluoro-2,4,6-triiodobenzene (TITFB) can act as a simple pure organic NIR phosphor due to its novel function in promoting n-π* transition. Also, TITFB crystal has longer phosphorescence lifetime than other ordinary multiiodoluminophors and TITFB powder. Based on the TITFB crystal structure, σ-hole and π-hole capture mechanism of n-electron is proposed, i.e., the excited state energy is decreased and n-electrons are stabilized to cause slower radiative decay rate due to the restriction of σ-hole and π-hole bond. Both computational and experimental studies support the mechanism. The new electron-capture mode is more conducive to understanding pure organic ultralong lifetime RTP.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉TITFB as a simple pure organic NIR phosphor from n-π* transition and σ- and π-hole capture state of excited electron.〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519308182-ga1.jpg" width="424" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 224〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ashok Zachariah Samuel〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Physical properties of polymers (e.g. crystallinity, lamella thickness, thermodynamic properties etc.) can in principle be reliably estimated from their Raman spectral intensities by converting intensities to corresponding concentrations of conformers. However, such conversions are not straightforward due to the unknown scattering cross-sections. The study demonstrates that for several practical applications of Raman spectroscopy, a ratio of cross-sections can be used instead of the absolute values. A straight forwards method for accurately estimating ratio of scattering cross-section from variable temperature measurements is described here. In order to demonstrate its applicability, percent crystallinity (PC) of polyethylene has been directly estimated from Raman intensities without external calibration with other techniques. This general method can be applied to any polymer when there is a continuous change in composition of conformers over a range of temperatures.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519308212-ga1.jpg" width="493" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 224〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Shargina Beegum, Y. Sheena Mary, Y. Shyma Mary, Renjith Thomas, Stevan Armaković, Sanja J. Armaković, Jan Zitko, Martin Dolezal, C. Van Alsenoy〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This article represents the spectroscopic and computational studies of two new pyrazine compounds. In order to establish the structure and functional nature of the compounds, we have employed Fourier transformed infrared (FT-IR) and Raman spectra, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra, and ultraviolet (UV) absorptions and have compared them with the simulated computational spectra and found that they are in the agreeable range. Simulated hyperpolarisability values are used to obtain the nonlinear optic (NLO) activity of the compound, to be used in organic electronic materials. The charge transfer and related properties was investigated by the simulation of electronic spectrum with time dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT). Natural transition orbitals (NTO) provides information about which region of the molecules are more involved in the electronic transitions and the charge transfer properties for the lowest energy excitation have been analyzed on the basis of electron density variation. Molecular dynamics simulations provide information about the behavior of the molecule in solutions. Frontier orbital analysis and study of various reactivity descriptors like ALIE and Fukui provided deep knowledge on the reactivity side. Molecular docking has been also performed to investigate the interaction between title molecules and exhibits inhibitory activity against 〈em〉Pseudomonas aeruginosa〈/em〉 Enoyl-Acyl carrier protein reductase (Fabl).〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519308042-ga1.jpg" width="334" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 556〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yanjun Xue, Yichen Guo, Zhangqian Liang, Hongzhi Cui, Jian Tian〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The porous g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 with nitrogen defects and cyano groups (NC-g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉) is prepared via an alkali-assisted heat treatment of urea. Alkali can break hydrogen bonds, which accelerate thermal polymerization of urea and formation of nitrogen defects/cyano groups. The presence of nitrogen defects extends the absorption of visible light to longer wavelengths region. The cyano groups can trap g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉′s photoinduced electrons and therefore suppress charge recombination. The formation of porous structure increases the surface area and exposes more active sites. As a consequence, compared to pure g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉, NC-g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 shows boosted visible photocatalytic nitrogen fixation activity (1.59 mmol h〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉) without co-catalysts.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309683-ga1.jpg" width="380" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 556〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Gui-Lin Wen, Hua-Jie Niu, Ai-Jun Wang, Zheng-Zhi Yin, Qian-Li Zhang, Jiu-Ju Feng〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Green and efficient non-precious metal electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) are prepared to meet the increasing demand for clean, secure and sustainable energy. Herein, we report a novel and environmentally friendly strategy for synthesis of graphene-wrapped iron carbide (Fe〈sub〉7〈/sub〉C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉) nanoparticles supported on hierarchical fibrous N-doped graphene with open-mesoporous structures (Fe〈sub〉7〈/sub〉C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉/NG) by simply annealing the mixture of melamine, iron (II) phthalocyanine (FePc) and Fe〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉. The effects of the pyrolysis temperature and the molar ratio of FePc to melamine were critically examined in the controls. Remarkably, the Fe〈sub〉7〈/sub〉C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉/NG obtained at 800 °C (i.e. Fe〈sub〉7〈/sub〉C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉/NG-800) manifested the forward shifts in the onset potential (0.98 V) and half-wave potential (0.85 V) with respective to commercial Pt/C (50 〈em〉wt〈/em〉%) in 0.1 M KOH, coupled with the great enhancement in the durability (still remained 92.11% of its initial current density even after 40,000 s) and strong methanol tolerance. This research presents a promising strategy for developing Pt-free non-precious efficient ORR electrocatalysts in fuel cells.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309658-ga1.jpg" width="297" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 224〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ruixin Xu, Wei Hu, Yanchen Zhou, Xianyi Zhang, Shu Xu, Qingyuan Guo, Ping Qi, Lingling Chen, Xuezhen Yang, Fan Zhang, Like Liu, Lijuan Qiu, Jun Wang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Water soluble protein content (WSPC) is a parameter of great significance to the soybean food industry. So far, genetic studies and breeding practices have been limited by the lack of a rapid technique for the evaluation of WSPC. Near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) is widely applied for rapid quantification of many traits, including moisture, protein and oil content, and dietary fiber. The present study aimed to establish and evaluate a NIRS regression model for the rapid prediction of WSPC in soybean. Results showed that seed coat color had a profound impact on the accuracy of protein content prediction, whereas the seed coat itself deeply influenced protein determination. We established a partial least squares (PLS) regression model with 167 soybean samples whose seed coat had been removed. Based on multiplicative scatter correction and Savitsky-Golay transformation, the highest determination coefficient (R〈sup〉2〈/sup〉) was 0.831, and the relative predictive determinant was 2.417. Further analysis showed that seed roundness correlated negatively with WSPC (〈em〉r〈/em〉 = −0.59, 〈em〉P〈/em〉 〈 0.001) and greatly impacted PLS regression model prediction accuracy. The PLS model was suitable only for intact seeds whose coat had been peeled off, but not for broken seeds, soy powder, and green cotyledon soybean seeds. This study highlights the effect the seed coat has on soybean composition determination by NIRS. Moreover, the established PLS model for soybean WSPC determination could facilitate genetic studies and breeding.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519307905-ga1.jpg" width="170" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 224〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yang-Zi Ouyang, Hai-Long Wu, Huan Fang, Tong Wang, Xiao-Dong Sun, Yue-Yue Chang, Yu-Jie Ding, Ru-Qin Yu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The matter of fluoroquinolone residues in various foods still arouses wide public concern nowadays. In the present work, the strategy of excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence data coupled with second-order calibration method based on alternating normalization-weighted error (ANWE) algorithm was used to determine ofloxacin, lomefloxacin and ciprofloxacin in milk powder, milk and beef. Owning the unique “second-order advantage”, the ANWE-assisted analytical method was proved to successfully and eco-friendly resolve the overlapped fluorescence spectra of multi-component in complex food matrixes without tedious pretreatment steps and sophisticated high-cost instrumentations. The feasibility of the proposed method was validated by experiments. The average spiked recoveries of three fluoroquinolones range from 82.6% to 110.5% with relative standard deviations lower than 7.4%, and the limits of detection range from 0.18 and 2.41 ng mL〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉. For further evaluation, analytical figures of merit such as sensitivity and selectivity, as well as the RSDs of intra-day (≦10.6%) and inter-day (≦9.4%) were calculated. The satisfactory analytical results demonstrated that the proposed strategy could be a competitive alternative for simple, rapid and simultaneous determination of multiple fluoroquinolones in animal-derived food samples.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519308480-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 224〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yiran Zhang, Peng Liu, Youping Li, Reggie Zhan, Zhen Huang, He Lin〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) is an effective technique for non-intrusive and on-line measurement of PAHs in sooting flames but it is still need further investigation due to the complexity of PAH fluorescence characteristics. Therefore, in-depth investigations on the fluorescence spectroscopy of PAHs with different molecular structures are relevant. In this study, we investigated the fluorescence spectrum characteristics of 13 gas-phase PAHs using LIF measurement and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculation. The experimental results showed that the fluorescence emission wavelengths increased with more aromatic (benzenoid) rings, but this relationship no longer existed when the PAH molecules contain the five-membered ring structures. The TD-DFT calculation showed that the fluorescence emission wavelength ranges of PAHs with different molecular structures were dominantly determined by the electronic structures of highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) and their energy gaps. It was found that the saturated aliphatic branched chains (methyl and ethyl) only slightly influenced the LIF spectra, while the unsaturated aliphatic branched chains (ethenyl and ethynyl) caused remarkable redshifts. The TD-DFT results indicated that the aliphatic branched chains changed the electric structures of HOMO and LUMO of the core aromatic rings, and then influence the fluorescence emission wavelength ranges.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519308406-ga1.jpg" width="355" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 224〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Lijuan Ma, Yang Li, Leting Lei, Jingqi Zeng, Jing Zhang, Yanjiang Qiao, Zhisheng Wu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Real-time process quality control of 〈em〉ramulus cinnamomi〈/em〉 (〈em〉cassia twig〈/em〉) is still a challenge in pharmaceutical industry. Rapid critical quality attribute (CQA) determination of 〈em〉ramulus cinnamomi〈/em〉 is essential for quality control. Microscale thermophoresis (MST) was used to investigate the CQA of 〈em〉ramulus cinnamomi〈/em〉 by the interaction with biomacromolecule. There was a good affinity between cinnamaldehyde and human serum albumin (HSA) with 〈em〉K〈/em〉〈sub〉a〈/sub〉 as 2.1722 × 10〈sup〉3〈/sup〉 mol/L. It was an excellent combination of similarity to ibuprofen with same binding force as discovered as hydrogen bond and van der Waals force. Furthermore, regarding cinnamaldehyde as CQA, on-line near-infrared was used to monitor pilot extraction process of 〈em〉ramulus cinnamomi〈/em〉 combined with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Quantitative model was established with R〈sub〉pre〈/sub〉〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 as 0.9798 and RMSECV as 0.0993, suggesting the NIR model was so robust and accurate for pilot process quality control. This method provided a perfect guideline for rapid CQA determination and real-time process quality control of Chinese materia medica (CMM) based on a vital CQA.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519308534-ga1.jpg" width="355" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 556〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Manivannan Madhu, Tzu-Heng Chen, Wei-Lung Tseng〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Different-sized carbon dots (CDs) with full-color emissions have immerse potentials as a novel class of light source in the field of light-emitting diodes (LED). However, few studies have been devoted to the development of the one-step process for preparing white-light-emitting CDs (WLECDs). Herein, we present a facile and one-pot synthesis of the WLECDs through microwave-assisted hydrothermal carbonization of poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA). The as-synthesized WLECDs had a round shape with a mean particle size of 2.22 nm and their zeta potential reached up to 47 mV. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed the appearance of nitrogen and oxygen-containing functional groups on the CD surface, generating many surface state emissive traps. Additionally, photoluminescence spectroscopy showed that the CDs exhibited excitation-dependent surface-state emission and excitation-independent core-state emission. When excited at 350 nm, an aqueous solution of the WLECDs emitted white light with an absolute quantum yield of 11% and a correlated color temperature of 5999 K at Commission International de l'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.321, 0.348). Single-particle photoluminescence spectroscopy demonstrated that the WLECDs still possessed broadband white-light emission from 400 to 800 nm at a single particle level. Furthermore, a white-light-emitting polymer composite film excited by 365-nm UV light was fabricated by embedding the WLECDs into a polyvinyl alcohol matrix. This flexible solid-state film showed a correlated color temperature of 7023 K at CIE coordinates of (0.303, 0.332) and. Given that the WELCDs have highly positive charges, the fabrication of a white-light-illuminating film was successfully conducted by layer-by-layer assembly of the WELCD and poly(4-styrenesulfonic acid).〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309506-ga1.jpg" width="320" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 556〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Janneke M. Dickhout, Ettore Virga, Rob G.H. Lammertink, Wiebe M. de Vos〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉Membrane filtration is a technique that can be successfully applied to remove oil from stable oil-in-water emulsions. This is especially interesting for the re-use of produced water (PW), a water stream stemming from the petrochemical industry, which contains dispersed oil, surface-active components and often has a high ionic strength. Due to the complexity of this emulsion, membrane fouling by produced water is more severe and less understood than membrane fouling by more simple oil-in-water emulsions. In this work, we study the relation between surfactant type and the effect of the ionic strength on membrane filtration of an artificial produced water emulsion. As surfactants, we use anionic sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), cationic hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), nonionic Triton 〈sup〉TM〈/sup〉X-100 (TX) and zwitterionic N-dodecyl-N,N-dimethyl-3-ammonio-1-propanesulfonate (DDAPS), at various ionic strengths (1, 10, 100 mM NaCl). Filtration experiments on a regenerated cellulose ultrafiltration (UF) membrane showed a pronounced effect of the ionic strength for the charged surfactants SDS and CTAB, although the nature of the effect was quite different. For anionic SDS, an increasing ionic strength leads to less droplet-droplet repulsion, allowing a denser cake layer to form, resulting in a much more pronounced flux decline. CTAB, on the other hand leads to a lower interfacial tension than observed for SDS, and thus more deformable oil droplets. At high ionic strength, increased surfactant adsorption leads to such a low oil-water surface tension that the oil droplets can permeate through the much smaller membrane pores. For the nonionic surfactant TX, no clear effect of the ionic strength was observed, but the flux decline is very high compared to the other surfactants. For the zwitterionic surfactant DDAPS, the flux decline was found to be very low and even decreased with increasing ionic strength, suggesting that membrane fouling decreases with increasing ionic strength. Especially promising is that at lower surfactant concentration (0.1 CMC) and high ionic strength no flux decline was observed, while a high oil retention (85%) was obtained.〈/p〉 〈p〉From our results, it becomes clear that the type of the surfactant used is crucial for a successful application of membrane filtration for PW treatment, especially at high ionic strengths. In addition, they point out that the application of zwitterionic surfactants can be highly beneficial for PW treatment with membranes.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308483-ga1.jpg" width="336" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Quantong Che, Ziyun Li, Bin Pan, Xiangqing Duan, Tingting Jia, Lei Liu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Spin coating technique is a simple and effective method to fabricate layered membranes and it has been widely used in the field of energy storage and transformation, biomaterials and electronics. The aim of this work is to develop anhydrous proton exchange membranes (PEMs) based on cheap polymers bearing the simple structure with spin coating technique. Successful fabrication of anhydrous PEMs based on polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer, cadmium telluride (CdTe) nanocrystals and phosphoric acid (PA) molecules has been demonstrated by identification of high and stable proton conductivity. Specifically, (PVDF-CdTe-PA)〈sub〉5〈/sub〉/85%PA membranes present the maximum proton conductivity of 7.70 × 10〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉 S/cm at 160 °C and 1.42 × 10〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉 S/cm at 140 °C lasting 620 h. The decreased proton conduction resistance is revealed from the drastic reduction of activation energy (〈em〉Ea〈/em〉) owing to the layered structure and the adsorption of PA molecules. The introduction of CdTe nanocrystals to form the organic/inorganic composite membranes that is substantially more effective at improving proton conductivity and stiffness, showing great promise in solving the dilemma of proton conductivity and mechanical property. This study provides the support to exploit anhydrous PEMs with more cheap polymers using spin coating technique.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309373-ga1.jpg" width="444" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 556〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Dongqiao Zhang, Shuoyang Qiu, Wenjing Huang, Dongjie Yang, Huan Wang, Zhiqiang Fang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Flexible and conductive polypyrrole (PPy) paper shows the potential use in electromagnetic shielding, antistatic packaging, and electrochemical materials due to its low cost and facile manufacturing procedure. However, the poor mechanical strength and relatively low electrical stability of PPy paper is still challenging. In this study, we use horseradish peroxidase polymerized sulfonated alkaline lignin (HSAL) as a dispersant and dopant for PPy and demonstrate mechanically strong and electrically stable PPy paper by a combination of multiple impregnations and in-situ polymerization. The abundant sulfonic, carboxyl, and phenolic hydroxyl groups of HSAL could significantly improve the interfacial interaction between cellulose fibers and PPy. Meanwhile, its high molecular weight facilitated the uniform distribution of pyrrole along the fiber axial direction during 〈em〉in-situ〈/em〉 polymerization. As a result, the resulting PPy paper exhibits enhanced mechanical properties and electrical stability, as well as high conductivity (24.84 S cm〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉). More significantly, we investigated the influences of the dosage of HSAL and the cycles of multilayer impregnations on the electrical and mechanical properties of PPy paper. This work sheds light on the design and fabrication of flexible and conductive PPy paper with superior mechanical robustness and stable electrical performance.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309300-ga1.jpg" width="250" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yijiang Li, Wencheng Xia, Baofeng Wen, Guangyuan Xie〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Fine minerals, such as silicate and clay minerals are difficult to filtrate and dewater in mineral processing industry. In this study, quartz and kaolinite particles were mixed in different proportions to investigate the filtration and dewatering behavior difference. Combined with the calculation of DLVO theory, the particles size of quartz flocs, kaolinite flocs and the flocs of quartz and kaolinite mixture under pH of 7 and 11 were analyzed by focused beam reflectance measurement (FBRM). In addition, the structure of quartz/kaolinite flocs and the filter cake porosity were analyzed by 3D-high solution X-ray microanalyser (3D-XRM). The mixture of 80% quartz and 20% kaolinite had the maximum filtration velocity. The DLVO theoretical analyses show that the interaction between the aluminum-oxygen surface of kaolinite and silicon-oxygen surface of kaolinite/quartz particles is an attractive force at pH of 7, but repulsion force at pH of 11. The FBRM tests found that quartz and kaolinite tended to form relative larger agglomerates at pH of 7 when compared to a pH of 11. The results of 3D-XRM showed the kaolinite flocs were surrounded by amounts of quartz particles at pH of 7, which formed many quartz-kaolinite agglomerates, and therefore the porosity of the cake was increased for the water to easily pass through, which finally sped up the filtration process. However, quartz and kaolinite were evenly dispersed and had no obvious aggregates phenomenon at pH of 11, and the filtration velocity was slow because the kaolinite filled in the gap between quartz particles, which reduced the porosity of filter cake.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309336-ga1.jpg" width="353" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Niloofar Kamyar, Sharifeh Rezaee, Saeed Shahrokhian, Mostafa M. Amini〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In this work, we present the design and fabrication of a novel nanocomposite based on noble metal and metal oxide nanoparticles dispersed on highly porous carbon obtained via the pyrolysis of an inorganic complex and metal-organic frameworks. This nanocomposite is prepared by a two-step procedure: first, the composite support of nanoporous carbon (NPC) is obtained by the direct carbonization of the Cr-benzene dicarboxylic ligand (BDC) MOF in an Argon atmosphere at 500 °C (Cr〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉-NPC). A mixture containing Cr〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉-NPC and [PtCl(SnCl〈sub〉3〈/sub〉)(SMe〈sub〉2〈/sub〉)〈sub〉2〈/sub〉] is then prepared, and underflow of Argon is heated to 380 °C. Finally, Pt-SnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 nanoparticles are loaded on the Cr〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉-NPC support, and the obtained nanocomposite was denoted as Pt-SnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉/Cr〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉-NPC. The morphology and crystalline structure of the prepared nanocomposites were characterized using XRD, SEM, EDX, FT-IR, and XPS. In addition, the prepared nanocomposite was examined as a novel electrocatalyst for the ethanol electro-oxidation reaction (EOR). The obtained results demonstrated that, compared with Pt/Cr〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉-NPC, Pt-SnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉/Cr〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉-NPC showed higher electrocatalytic activity, lower onset potential, and a higher level of poisoning tolerance toward of ethanol oxidation in acidic media. The overall results corroborate the predominant role of SnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 as an excellent catalytic-enhancing agent thorough facilitating the charge transfer process and increasing the CO poisoning oxidation by the spillover of OH〈sub〉ads〈/sub〉 to the Pt surface. Thus, the prepared Pt-SnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉/Cr〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉-NPC catalyst could be considered a promising anode catalyst for direct ethanol fuel cells.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309191-ga1.jpg" width="304" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Junhui Li, Li Shan, Binjian Ma, Xinyu Jiang, Abel Solomon, Madhusudan Iyengar, Jorge Padilla, Damena Agonafer〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Evaporation of sessile droplet suffers from reduced evaporation rate due to the confinement of vapor diffusion imposed by the bottom substrate. However, it is possible to change the evaporation behavior of a droplet by suspending it from the bottom substrate, in particular, supporting the droplet on a micropillar. This is expected to enable diffusion transport in the downward direction that will subsequently enhance evaporative transport. In this study, we investigate the diffusion confinement effect imposed by the bottom substrate and the side wall of the micropillar through numerical simulations and experimental investigation. The approximate solutions for total evaporation rate and local evaporative flux were subsequently derived from the total evaporation rate predicted by the simulation results. The simulation results, agreeing within 5% with the experimental measurements, show that increasing the micropillar height enhances the total evaporation rate from the suspended hemispherical droplet. This enhancement is due to a dramatic improvement of the local evaporation rate near the contact line region as micropillar heights increase. The micropillar heights examined for maximum evaporation rates were observed under substrate temperatures from 60–98 °C. The increasing pillar height leads to smaller vapor diffusion resistance but greater conduction resistance.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308744-ga1.jpg" width="452" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ruixia Yuan, Jincheng Liu, Zhijun Li, Yanguang Chen, Zhaohui Wang, Zhanjian Liu, Guolin Jing, Yanji Zhu, Huaiyuan Wang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Single-stage oil/water separation membranes usually suffer from weak chemical stability, susceptible mechanical damage and relatively low permeating flux, and the sophisticated preparation processes also limit their massive utilization. In this work, Cu(OH)〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 nanoneedles coated copper mesh (CM) is prepared by simple and eco-friendly anodic oxidation at a current density of 4 mA/cm〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 for 6 min, which is the most efficient route reported so far. The mesh exhibits outstanding superhydrophilicity and underwater superoleophobicity towards various oils with contact angles up to 164.9°, achieving superior oil/water separation efficiency of above 99.5% and ultrahigh permeating flux of 191 160 L·m〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉h〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 solely driven by gravity. Impressively, the Cu(OH)〈sub〉2〈/sub〉/CM demonstrates excellent chemical stability and anti-fouling performance when exposed to acidic and strongly alkaline solutions, saturated NaCl solution and various organic solvents. High durability to withstand mechanical challenges, e.g. high-power sonication and sand abrasion, is experimentally confirmed owing to strong cohesional strength of Cu(OH)〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 nanoneedles on CM surface. Importantly, the Cu(OH)〈sub〉2〈/sub〉/CM exhibits favorable long-term recyclability with stable microstructure morphologies even after 50 cycles. These distinct advantages endow the Cu(OH)〈sub〉2〈/sub〉/CM to be an ideal candidate to efficiently separate oil pollutants from water. The oil/water separation mechanisms are proposed based on the concept of intrusion pressure.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309129-ga1.jpg" width="465" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Shuangshuang Wu, Wei Li, Yuqiong Sun, Xuejie Zhang, Jianle Zhuang, Hang Hu, Bingfu Lei, Chaofan Hu, Yingliang Liu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Carbon dots as an emerging photoluminescent material has attracted growing attention. Hence, there is a highly urgent to develop kinds of multicolor emission carbon dots materials. Here, we report a new kind of dual-emissive carbon dots which display two emission band located at 457 and 643 nm (blue and red) in alcohols solvent, respectively. In particular, the red emission band of carbon dots independent of the excitation wavelength can be manipulated by changing the polarity of the solvent, which is called solvatochromic phenomenon. It is incredibly rare for bare carbon dots to have both dual-emission and solvatochromic phenomenon at the same time. The temperature-dependent emission spectra of synthesized carbon dots have been measured to go insight into the hydrogen bond interaction, and the aggregation in microscale is observed by transmission electron microscopy. Results indicates that the special dual-emission and solvatochromic phenomenon stem from partially nanoparticle agglomerates which caused by intermolecular hydrogen bond (between solvents and carbon dots). Benefiting from the special optical characteristics, the applications of ratiometric detecting water in ethanol was carried out.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉In our work, a type of CDs is designed to realize continuously tunable multicolor emission by simply adjusting the solvents. Schematic illustration of the formation of DS-CDs and possible dispersion morphology of DS-CDs in diverse polar solvents.〈/p〉 〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308690-ga1.jpg" width="330" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 224〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Shuoyang Zhang, Hui Chen, Ruiyun Li, Zhiguo Yu, Feng Lu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉As expired medical products can be repackaged and sold by unscrupulous counterfeiters, it is essential to find a rapid and convenient method for distinguishing expired and unexpired drugs. Standard detection methods such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and thin-layer chromatography are complex, time-consuming, and require organic solvents (that are environmentally unfriendly). Additionally, the Pharmacopoeia publications do not include information about identifying expired drugs. In this study, we proposed a novel method for identifying expired medications based on Raman spectra and verified it using 〉20 types of expired (Old) and unexpired (New) drugs, each type from the same manufacturer. A portable Raman spectrometer was used to collect Raman spectra of all samples and the similarities between the Old and New drugs (S〈sub〉N-O〈/sub〉) were evaluated. Drugs with S〈sub〉N-O〈/sub〉 values 〈0.9 were classified directly as expired drugs. For drugs with S〈sub〉N-O〈/sub〉 values 〉0.9, the content of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) might be so low (below or around 10 wt%) that its Raman signal is largely obscured by that of the excipients. In such cases, changes in the API content are undetectable using the portable instrument. Therefore, we adopted Raman mapping technology and established a virtual imaging map to locate areas of high API content. The similarities between the Old or New spectrum and that of the API (S〈sub〉O-A〈/sub〉 and S〈sub〉N-A〈/sub〉, respectively) were calculated after removing the signal from the excipients. Our novel methods provide a precise, rapid, convenient, and environmentally friendly way to identify expired drugs that is more effective than the standard HPLC assay.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Expired and unexpired drugs were discriminated by Raman spectrometer and mapping technology, combining generation of Virtual Imaging Map (VIM), and finding the most similar-to-API pixel (M point) before deduction of excipients.〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519307978-ga1.jpg" width="454" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Richard Wyndham O'Brien〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This paper is concerned with effects that arise from the electric charge on the surface of porous colloidal particles. When an external disturbance is applied, for example a change in the concentration of the surrounding electrolyte or an applied electric field, a complicated interaction ensues between the electric field, the liquid pressure field and the ion concentration fields in these particles. In this paper we derive the governing equations for these electrokinetic interactions for a general pore geometry and particle shape, and we present a procedure for solving these equations in the case of a general binary electrolyte. As an illustration, we obtain a new result: a formula for the complex electrical conductivity spectrum of a dilute suspension of porous spheres.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308549-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Jun Liu, Jia Li, Gui Wang, Wenning Yang, Jie Yang, Yong Liu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This paper reports the first proof-of-concept of using bioinspired ZIF-8 based micromotors for efficient water remediation. Natural kapok fibers have unique hollow structure that contains cellulose and lignin, inspiring the design and fabrication of bubble-driving tubular micromotors as an active self-propelled micromachine for the removal of organic pollutants from water. The outer dense ZIF-8 layer can adsorb organic pollutants on the micromotors, and the inner catalyst acts as the engine decomposing fuel H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 for providing bubble propulsion. The magnetic γ-Fe〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 enables the external magnetic control movement and recovery of micromotors. The maximum adsorption capacity of ZIF-8-based magnetic micromotors toward Congo red and doxycycline were high as 394 and 242 mg g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, respectively, mainly due to the enhanced micromotor-pollutant contacts by their autonomous motion and the resulting mixing associated effect. This novel ZIF-8 micromotor also showed outstanding stability and reusability in aqueous solution, indicating that their great potential for future application in water treatment.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308392-ga1.jpg" width="324" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Gui-Ying Zhuge, Wei-De Zhang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The photocatalytic activity of graphitic carbon nitride (CN) is mainly restricted by its high recombination rate of charge carriers and narrow visible light absorption. In the present work, nitrogen-deficient CN (NDCCN) nanosheets with high crystallinity were synthesized using molten salt (NaLiCO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉) as an etching agent and high-temperature solvent. The electronic structure and energy band levels of the obtained NDCCN are optimized to extend its optical absorption and enhance separation efficiency of photo-generated charge carriers. With these changes, NDCCN displays high photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution under visible light illumination (111 μmol h〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉), which is 4.6 times of that over pristine CN. This finding opens up a new window to simultaneously decrease nitrogen composition and increase crystallinity of carbon nitride for higher solar-light-driven hydrogen production efficiency.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308598-ga1.jpg" width="297" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 224〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Lin Li, Juan Chen, Yang Li, Nan Song, Lulu Zhu, Zhiying Li〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Detecting NAA in food has drawn intense attention as it has imposed significant threat to people's health and the growth of food industry. Over the past few years, great importance has been attached to the application of copper nanomaterials as fluorescent probe to food and environmental detection. Here, the simple, rapid, cost effective and water soluble fluorescent copper nanoparticles were synthesized with chemical reduction sonochemical assisted method for highly selective and sensitive detection of α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) by using 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) as a protecting agent and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as a stabilizing agent (MBT-PVP CuNPs). The resultant CuNPs has a spherical shape with an average diameter of 10–15 nm and strong fluorescent pink emission characteristic peak at 580 nm upon 334 nm excitation. Interestingly, upon the addition of NAA, the fluorescence of MBT-PVP CuNPs can be effectively quenched for the reason that NAA could interact with MBT via hydrogen bonding and conform copper-NAA clathrate with Cu〈sup〉+〈/sup〉 via coordination bond, which shows a good linearity in the range of NAA from 0.5 to 50 μM and with a detection limit of 9.6 nM. Moreover, the prepared probe has good selectivity for NAA detection over other co-existing molecules. It is worth mentioning that this method has been successfully applied to authentic comestible sample analysis and obtained satisfying and promising results, which indicates that this strategy is likely to have a promising application potential for NAA detection in the field of food safety.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519308236-ga1.jpg" width="301" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Guiqiang Wang, Jieqiong Liu, Ke Chen, Rajesh Pathak, Ashim Gurung, Qiquan Qiao〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉CsPbI〈sub〉2〈/sub〉Br inorganic perovskite has been considered as a promising candidate for application in photovoltaic devices due to its high thermal stability and reasonable bandgap of 1.92 eV. However, CsPbI〈sub〉2〈/sub〉Br perovskite is sensitive to moisture, which remarkably deteriorates the stability of CsPbI〈sub〉2〈/sub〉Br perovskite solar cells under the ambient conditions. Here, by using hydrophobic poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) layer in conjunction with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as the hole transporting layer, we develop a stable and high-performance carbon electrode-based CsPbI〈sub〉2〈/sub〉Br inorganic perovskite solar cell (PSC). The P3HT-MWCNTs composites not only can prevent moisture ingress but also enhance the holes extraction and transport. A conversion efficiency up to 10.01% with a stabilized efficiency of 8.85% is achieved for the champion device. In addition, the as-prepared carbon electrode-based CsPbI〈sub〉2〈/sub〉Br PSC exhibits an excellent long-term stability which retains ∼85% of its initial value over 240 h under the ambient conditions (∼35% R.H.) without encapsulation.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308641-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Wanjian Yu, Nuo Yu, Zhaojie Wang, Xuan Li, Cen Song, Ruiqi Jiang, Peng Geng, Maoquan Li, Shiwu Yin, Zhigang Chen〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉CuS nanomaterials capped with artificial organic-molecules or polymers have been well demonstrated as efficient photothermal nanoagents for the therapy of tumor, but their biocompatibility and target ability should be improved. To address these problems, we have used chitosan (CS) as the biomacromolecule model and surface ligands to prepare CuS quantum dots (QDs) via a simple co-precipitation method. CuS-CS QDs are then conjugated with folic acid (FA). The resulting CuS-CS-FA QDs are composed of hexagonal phase nanodots with sizes of about 4 nm. FA modification process has no apparent influence on the size, phase and composition of the QDs. Furthermore, the zeta potential and infrared spectroscopy confirm the efficient conjugation of FA. CuS-CS-FA QDs exhibit strong near-infrared photoabsorption and high photothermal efficiency (47.0%). As a result of the presence of CS ligand and FA modification, CuS-CS-FA QDs have good biocompatibility and relatively high cellular uptake efficacy. When CuS-CS-FA QD dispersion is injected intravenously into the tumor-bearing mice, the photoacoustic imaging reveals that CuS-CS-FA QD can be efficiently targeted and accumulated in the tumor and reach the peak dose at 60 min. The irradiation of 1064-nm laser (1.0 W cm〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉, 10 min) results in the efficient inhibition of tumor growth, without treatment-induced toxicity. Therefore, CuS-CS-FA QDs have great potential to become biocompatible multifunctional nanoagents for imaging guided therapy of tumor.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉CuS quantum dots have been prepared with chitosan (CS) as surface ligands and then conjugated with folic acid (FA). The resulting CuS-CS-FA QDs have been successfully used for the photoacoustic imaging guided photothermal therapy of tumor.〈/p〉 〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308987-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Da-Eun Lee, Eun-Young Choi, Hye-Jin Yang, Akula S.N. Murthy, Tejinder Singh, Jong-Min Lim, Jungkyun Im〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Hypothesis〈/h6〉 〈p〉Obtaining simultaneous stretchability and superhydrophobicity remains a great challenge in stretchable electronics, and wearable devices. Inspired by natural surfaces, such as lotus leaf, surface roughness and coating materials are the fundamental requirements to achieve superhydrophobicity.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Experiments〈/h6〉 〈p〉We prepared an elastic fibrous mat by electrospinning of a composite solution made of thermoplastic elastomer as an organic polymer matrix, and silica nanoparticles as inorganic additives to support surface roughness. To enhance hydrophobicity, the pristine mat was immersed into a solution of fluorinated material, which can decrease the surface energy.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Findings〈/h6〉 〈p〉The pristine fibrous mat showed high stretchability (with more than 1000% strain), and superhydrophobicity (with a contact angle of 156°, and a sliding angle of 7.8°). Superhydrophobicity did not disappear when the fibrous mat was stretched up to 1000%. Sliding angles were less than 10° under different strain levels only in longitudinal direction, suggesting the stretchable superhydrophobic surface is effective in rolling off the water droplet in one direction. The fibrous mat was repeatedly stretched 1000 times to 1000% strain; the material showed stable stretchability and superhydrophobicity. Based on these observations, the resulting fibrous mat appears to be in the Cassie-Baxter wetting state.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309014-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Jessica Lucenius, Juan José Valle-Delgado, Kirsti Parikka, Monika Österberg〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Plant-based polysaccharides (cellulose and hemicellulose) are a very interesting option for the preparation of sustainable composite materials to replace fossil plastics, but the optimum bonding mechanism between the hard and soft components is still not well known. In this work, composite films made of cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) and various modified and unmodified polysaccharides (galactoglucomannan, GGM; hydrolyzed and oxidized guar gum, GGhydHox; and guar gum grafted with polyethylene glycol, GG-g-PEG) were characterized from the nano- to macroscopic level to better understand how the interactions between the composite components at nano/microscale affect macroscopic mechanical properties, like toughness and strength. All the polysaccharides studied adsorbed well on CNF, although with different adsorption rates, as measured by quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D). Direct surface and friction force experiments using the colloidal probe technique revealed that the adsorbed polysaccharides provided repulsive forces–well described by a polyelectrolyte brush model – and a moderate reduction in friction between cellulose surfaces, which may prevent CNF aggregates during composite formation and, consequently, enhance the strength of dry films. High affinity for cellulose and moderate hydration were found to be important requirements for polysaccharides to improve the mechanical properties of CNF-based composites in wet conditions. The results of this work provide fundamental information on hemicellulose-cellulose interactions and can support the development of polysaccharide-based materials for different packaging and medical applications.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308331-ga1.jpg" width="399" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 224〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Jenny Jeehan Nasr, Shereen Shalan〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Five Selective, rapid and sensitive spectrofluorimetric methods were performed in this study for the simultaneous estimation of amlodipine besylate (AML) and atorvastatin (ATR) in their binary mixtures and combination polypills that are used for management of cardiovascular conditions. The first method depends on micelle-enhanced first derivative synchronous fluorimetric analysis (method I) and the other four methods are multivariate analysis techniques based on the use of factor-based calibration prediction methods comprising partial least squares (PLS), Principal Component Regression (PCR), genetic algorithm PLS (GA-PLS) and genetic algorithm PCR (GA-PCR). The synchronous fluorescence spectra of the solutions were measured at a constant wavelength difference; Δλ = 100 nm. The magnitudes of the peaks of the first derivative spectra (1D) were measured at 292 nm and 387 nm for ATR, and AML correspondingly. The multivariate models were constructed utilizing fifteen mixtures as a calibration set and ten mixtures as a validation set. The linearity of all the methods was in the concentration ranges of (0.1–4.0 μg mL〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, 0.4–10.0 μg mL〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉) for AML and ATR, correspondingly. Statistical analysis revealed no significant difference between the proposed methods and the reference method. The validity of the proposed methods allows their suitability for quality control work. All the analysis settings were optimized and all the suggested procedures were applied productively for the determination of both drugs in synthetic mixtures, validation set, and combination polypills.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519308200-ga1.jpg" width="276" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 224〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Sagar B. Yadav, Sumeet S. Sonvane, Nagaiyan Sekar〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Novel Donor (D)-π-Acceptor (A) NLOphoric triphenylamine-imidazole based dye 〈strong〉9〈/strong〉 was designed, synthesized, and confirmed by Mass, 〈sup〉13〈/sup〉C NMR, and 〈sup〉1〈/sup〉H NMR analysis. Photophysical properties of 〈strong〉9〈/strong〉 were studied in solvents of different polarities and compared with analogues compounds 〈strong〉7〈/strong〉 and 〈strong〉8〈/strong〉. Phenonthroline acceptor based dye 〈strong〉9〈/strong〉 shows highly bathochromic shifted absorption and emission compared to dyes 〈strong〉7〈/strong〉 and 〈strong〉8〈/strong〉. Positive solvatochromism was noticed in 〈strong〉7〈/strong〉, 〈strong〉8〈/strong〉, and 〈strong〉9〈/strong〉 which was supported by the linear (i.e. Lippert-Mataga and Mac-Rae polarity functions) and multi-linear (i.e. Kamlet-Taft and Catalan parameters) analysis. Moreover, solvent polarizability (d〈sub〉SP〈/sub〉) and solvent dipolarity (C〈sub〉SdP〈/sub〉) are the major factors responsible for red shift in absorption as well as in emission spectra. Charge transfer descriptors as well as the polarity graphs are in good relation with Generalized Mulliken-Hush (GMH) parameters. NLO properties of 〈strong〉7〈/strong〉, 〈strong〉8〈/strong〉, and 〈strong〉9〈/strong〉 were studied by using solvatochromic and computational methods. The static first hyperpolarizability (β〈sub〉0〈/sub〉) and relevant microscopic parameters (μ,α〈sub〉0〈/sub〉,α,β,γ) were determined using DFT with B3LYP, BHHLYP, and CAM-B3LYP functionals. Third-order NLO properties of nitrogen containing phenanthroline based compound 〈strong〉9〈/strong〉 were observed to be several times higher than those of the compounds 〈strong〉7〈/strong〉 and 〈strong〉8〈/strong〉, justify the design approach.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S138614251930811X-ga1.jpg" width="415" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 224〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xiaoming Dou, Yubin Zhao, Mingda Li, Qinmiao Chen, Yoshinori Yamaguchi〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Raman microspectroscopy as a non-invasive and label-free technique was applied to diagnose the early stage differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells. The differentiated and undifferentiated embryonic bodies (EBs) were cultured using handing drop method by the control of Leukemia Inhibitory Factor (LIF). Raman spectra of the periphery cells of differentiated EBs (PrE cells) and those of the interior of undifferentiated EBs (ES cells) were obtained to diagnose the stem cells of different differentiation. It was found from the spectra that the protein content increased as the cells differentiated. Principal component analysis (PCA) was carried out to further analyze the differences between ES cells and PrE cells. The first three principle components contained 98.19% from the total variance. Characteristic bands of ES and PrE cells were chosen to acquire Raman images of two cells according to the results of PCA. In the Raman images, PrE cells had a clear and bright outline in the peripheral areas while ES cells were difficult to identify, this could be a distinct characteristic to discriminate them. The result of the Raman images was consistent with the biological agreement that the differentiated cells were distributed around the periphery.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519308285-ga1.jpg" width="301" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 224〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Miao Yu, Chun-Shan Zuo, Ning Zhang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Rational design chelating fluorescent sensors probing metal ions in biological system are continuously hot essays nowadays, especially for zinc detection. Herein, a naphthylideneimine based zinc fluorescence probe (〈strong〉3〈/strong〉) was prepared and characterized in this work. Structural features and optical properties of 〈strong〉3〈/strong〉 and its metallic complexes were characterized. Fluorescent experiment indicates 〈strong〉3〈/strong〉 is extremely sensitive and selective for Zn〈sup〉2+〈/sup〉 with a strong fluorescence enhancement (~34 folds) in aqueous buffer solution with a limit of detection (LOD) of 3.78 × 10〈sup〉−7〈/sup〉 mol L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉. Formation constant (log〈em〉K〈/em〉〈sub〉a〈/sub〉) of the chelating complex of 〈strong〉3〈/strong〉 and Zn〈sup〉2+〈/sup〉 ion was determined to be 4.45. Theoretical studies were carried out to get deep insight into the response mechanism in the sensing process. Density functional theory (DFT) methods calculated formation Gibbs free energy (Δ〈sub〉r〈/sub〉G〈sub〉m〈/sub〉〈sup〉ө〈/sup〉) of the deprotonated complexes model (〈strong〉3〈/strong〉〈sup〉2−〈/sup〉 〈strong〉⊃〈/strong〉 〈strong〉Zn〈/strong〉) is −2.9 kcal/mol, which is in good agreement with the experimental result. The calculation results show that the low excitation states can be ascribe to S0 → T2 and S0 → S1 at 390–430 nm and 310–330 nm, respectively, due to the π → π* transition. Finally, yeast cell imaging experiments indicate that 〈strong〉3〈/strong〉 can monitor intracellular Zn〈sup〉2+〈/sup〉 as well. These findings would enable this fluorescent probe to be used as a Zinc sensor.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519307796-ga1.jpg" width="434" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Marina Massaro, Francesco Armetta, Giuseppe Cavallaro, Delia F. Chillura Martino, Michelangelo Gruttadauria, Giuseppe Lazzara, Serena Riela, Marco d'Ischia〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Hypothesis〈/h6〉 〈p〉Polydopamine (PDA) is widely used as hydrophilic coating for several applications. However, most of the methods studied to improve or manipulate PDA properties are multistep and time-consuming, and there is a need for versatile strategies aimed at controlling and modifying the properties of PDA.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Experiments〈/h6〉 〈p〉PDA-halloysite nanocomposites were produced under different oxidation conditions in alkaline and acidic media and were characterized by UV–visible and attenuated total refraction- Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopies, thermogravimetric analysis, porosimetry, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and contact angle measurements against the reference PDA polymer.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Findings〈/h6〉 〈p〉Inclusion of the inorganic halloysite nanofiller in the PDA component was found to affect the thermal properties of the nanocomposite as well as its structure, depending on the experimental conditions. The ability of the nanocomposites to adsorb organic dyes as possible membrane coatings for environmental remediation was also investigated by different models, suggesting promising applications as adsorbents for the treatment of wastewaters.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S002197971930880X-ga1.jpg" width="426" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Juan Wang, Qin Zhong, Yiqing Zeng, Danyu Cheng, Yongheng Xiong, Yunfei Bu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Reasonably designing self-supported metal-organic framework (MOF) nanoarrays is profound for applications in energy storage and conversion. Herein, we construct a triangle-like nickel-cobalt bimetallic metal-organic framework nanosheet array on nickel foam (NiCo-MOF/NF) via facile one-step hydrothermal reaction, served as battery-like electrode material for hybrid supercapacitors. By adjusting the molar ratio of Ni and Co, the optimal NiCo-MOF/NF with Ni/Co = 3:2 (3-2 NiCo-MOF/NF) produces an impressive specific capacity of 1003.5 C/g (2230 F/g) at 1 A/g, surpassing most of the previously reported MOF based electrode materials. The superior electrochemical performances may be related to their 3D well-aligned MOF nanosheets arrays, which provides enlarged electroactive areas. Meanwhile, the tight junction of electrode materials and conductive substrate nickel foam (NF) can guarantee their sufficient electric contact, contributing to fast electron transfer from electrodes to conductive substrates. Finally, a hybrid supercapacitor fabricated by the 3-2 NiCo-MOF/NF against active carbon (AC) delivers an advantageous energy density of 34.3 Wh/kg at a power density of 375 W/kg. These results certificate that such bimetallic NiCo-MOF nanosheets arrays hold great potential as novel electrode materials for hybrid supercapacitors.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308434-ga1.jpg" width="270" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Russell Macoon, Timothy Guerriero, Anuj Chauhan〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Hypothesis〈/h6〉 〈p〉Topical and systemic methods are not able to deliver ophthalmic drugs for treatment of retinal diseases. Consequently, invasive monthly intravitreal injections through the eyeball are required to deliver retinal drugs. A reduction in the frequency of the injection through extended release of the drugs could have significant clinical benefits.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Experiments〈/h6〉 〈p〉Oleogels containing ethyl cellulose as the gelator at 10% (wt%) in soybean oil were loaded with dexamethasone above the solubility limit and expunged from a syringe to create cylindrical rods for extended drug delivery. The devices were imaged to explore particle distribution and drug release was measured under sink conditions in buffer. A model was developed and fitted to data to determine effective drug diffusivity.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Findings〈/h6〉 〈p〉Dexamethasone is released slowly due to the presence of the drug particles that serve as drug depots. The release increases from 600 to 3000 h as the drug loading is increased from 3% to 28%. The release profiles can be modeled by considering drug dissolution and diffusion, as well as the tortuosity of the matrix due to the presence of the voids formed after the drug particles have dissolved. The proposed approach is promising as the release profiles of the drug are comparable to commercial devices.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308628-ga1.jpg" width="384" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Zhe Fan, Li Zhang, Shangying Liu, Lingyu Luan, Gongrang Li, Dejun Sun〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Hypothesis〈/h6〉 〈p〉High temperatures can reduce the colloidal stability and rheological properties of nonpolar organoclay suspensions. The desorption of surfactants from organoclay has been proposed to explain this effect, but the mechanism remains unclear. In this work, it was hypothesized that the high-temperature-induced desorption of ion-exchanged surfactants is the main factor affecting the stabilization of suspensions.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Experiments〈/h6〉 〈p〉Using the cationic surfactant dimethyldioctadecylammonium chloride (DODMAC) and Na-montmorillonite (Na-MMT), the high-temperature-induced reestablishment of the adsorption–desorption equilibrium of DODMAC in organoclay suspensions was studied. Thermogravimetric analysis combined with infrared spectroscopy and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry experiments were performed to determine the thermal decomposition products and, ultimately, infer the adsorption modes and locations of DODMAC on Na-MMT. Thermal analysis and rheology were utilized to demonstrate the high-temperature-induced desorption and transfer of DODMAC in organoclay suspensions.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Findings〈/h6〉 〈p〉High temperatures induced the complete desorption of physically adsorbed DODMAC molecules from particle surfaces, the partial desorption of ion-exchanged dimethyldioctadecylammonium ions (DODMA〈sup〉+〈/sup〉 ions) from particle surfaces, and the partial transfer of ion-exchanged DODMA〈sup〉+〈/sup〉 ions from the surfaces to the interlayers. Importantly, desorption of ion-exchanged DODMA〈sup〉+〈/sup〉 ions resulted in destabilization of the organoclay suspensions at high temperatures.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308537-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 19 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xuan Li, Yao-Wen Hai, Da Ma, Jing Chen, Martin G. Banwell, Ping Lan〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Hypothesis〈/h6〉 〈p〉The development of functional and nutritional surfactants for the food industry remains a subject of great interest. Herein, therefore, we report on the design and synthesis of novel trisaccharide (raffinose) monoester-based surfactants in the expectation that they would display functional properties superior to certain disaccharide-based, commercially-deployed emulsifiers and thus have potential for industrial applications.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Experiments〈/h6〉 〈p〉The title esters were prepared by enzymatic methods and their properties as surfactants evaluated through determination of their HLB values, water solubilities, CMCs, foamabilities and foaming stabilities as well as through investigation of their impacts on the stability of oil-in-water emulsions over a range of storage times and under certain other conditions.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Findings〈/h6〉 〈p〉The emulsifying properties of 6-〈em〉O〈/em〉-acylraffinose esters are dictated, in large part, by the length of the associated alkyl chains. The results of storage and environmental stress experiments revealed that the increasing length of alkyl chains enhances the stability of the derived emulsions. All the raffinose ester-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions displayed stratification effects under strongly acidic conditions (pH ≤ 4) or at high ionic strength (≥ 300 mM) while possessing reasonable resistance to variations in temperature. As such, a number of the raffinose esters showed greater stability to environmental stress than their commercially-deployed and sucrose-based counterparts. The structure-property profiles established through the present study provide a definitive guide to the development of raffinose esters as novel emulsifiers, particularly for the food industry.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309786-ga1.jpg" width="403" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 556〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ghassem Rezaei, Seyed Mojtaba Daghighi, Mohammad Raoufi, Mehdi Esfandyari-Manesh, Mahban Rahimifard, Vahid Iranpur Mobarakeh, Sara Kamalzare, Mohammad Hossein Ghahremani, Fatemeh Atyabi, Mohammad Abdollahi, Farhad Rezaee, Rassoul Dinarvand〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Enhanced understanding of bio-nano interaction requires recognition of hidden factors such as protein corona, a layer of adsorbed protein around nano-systems. This study compares the biological identity and fingerprint profile of adsorbed proteins on PLGA-based nanoparticles through nano-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The total proteins identified in the corona of nanoparticles (NPs) with different in size, charge and compositions were classified based on molecular mass, isoelectric point and protein function. A higher abundance of complement proteins was observed in modified NPs with an increased size, while NPs with a positive surface charge exhibited the minimum adsorption for immunoglobulin proteins. A correlation of dysopsonin/opsonin ratio was found with cellular uptake of NPs exposed to two positive and negative Fc receptor cell lines. Although the higher abundance of dysopsonins such as apolipoproteins may cover the active sites of opsonins causing a lower uptake, the correlation of adsorbed dysopsonin/opsonin proteins on the NPs surface has an opposite trend with the intensity of cell uptake. Despite the reduced uptake of corona-coated NPs in comparison with pristine NPs, the dysopsonin/opsonin ratio controlled by the physicochemistry properties of NPs could potentially be used to tune up the cellular delivery of polymeric NPs.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309592-ga1.jpg" width="472" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 556〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Nicole Zoratto, Isabelle Grillo, Pietro Matricardi, Cécile A. Dreiss〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The association between a hydrophobically modified polysaccharide, gellan gum, with micelles based on a surfactant bearing the same hydrophobic tail as pendant groups was investigated by rheology and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). Gellan gum grafted with cholesterol groups (20% mol/mol tetrasaccharide unit), GeCh, was mixed with polyoxyethylene cholesteryl ether (ChEO〈sub〉10〈/sub〉), which comprises a cholesterol group as the tail linked to a small polyoxyethylene headgroup, and self-assembles into micelles with an unusual disc-like morphology. The addition of 0.5% polymer to solutions of ChEO〈sub〉10〈/sub〉 induced a remarkable transition from a Newtonian fluid to a predominantly solid-like viscoelastic behaviour, leading to a ×10〈sup〉5〈/sup〉 increase in zero-shear viscosity (with 5% ChEO〈sub〉10〈/sub〉). Increasing surfactant concentration led to an enhancement of the viscoelasticity, but the elastic modulus 〈em〉G′〈/em〉 reached a plateau around 15% surfactant, attributed to a saturation of the sticker groups. The effect of micellar morphology on the network was studied by adding a small headgroup co-surfactant, triethylene glycol monododecyl ether, to ChEO〈sub〉10〈/sub〉 micelles, which drives their elongation into wormlike micelles. Networks obtained with the long, flexible micelles displayed enhanced solid-like behaviour, with no cross-over between 〈em〉G′〈/em〉 and 〈em〉G″〈/em〉 over the measured range of frequencies, reflecting relaxation times of the order of minutes or hours. The morphology of the gels studied by SANS revealed a scattering dominated by strongly interacting micelles (described by discs of 140 Å diameter and a hydrated ∼38 Å PEO corona) and the presence of micellar clusters induced by the presence of the polymer. The scattering data therefore confirm that the onset of gelation is due to surfactant micelles acting as junction points for the network.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309580-ga1.jpg" width="457" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 556〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Vimal Kumar Mariappan, Karthikeyan Krishnamoorthy, Parthiban Pazhamalai, Surjit Sahoo, Sang-Jae Kim〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Carbon- and carbon derivatives are widely employed as efficient electrode materials for supercapacitor applications. Herein, we demonstrate a cost-effective dip-coating process followed by dehydrohalogenation of PVDF-Ni for the preparation of carbyne enriched carbon anchored on nickel (CEC-Ni) as high-performance electrode material. The removal of halogens in the prepared CEC-Ni were widely characterized using XRD, XPS, Laser Raman, and FT-IR analysis. The occurrence of carbon-carbon vibration in the prepared CEC-Ni foam was confirmed using FT-IR spectroscopy. Laser Raman analysis confirms that the CEC-Ni foam contains both sp and sp〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 hybridized carbon. The electrochemical properties of prepared carbyne enriched carbon anchored on nickel foam electrode (CEC-NiE) showed an ideal capacitive properties and delivered a maximum specific capacitance of about 106.12 F g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 with excellent cyclic retention. Furthermore, the mechanism of charge-storage in the CEC-NiE was analyzed using Dunn’s method. In additon, the asymmetric supercapacitor device was fabricated using CEC-NiE as positive and rGO as negative electrode achieved a remarkable energy density of 33.57 Wh Kg〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 with a maximal power density of 14825.71 W Kg〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉. These results suggested that the facile preparation of CEC-NiE could be a promising and effective electrode material for future energy storage application.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309567-ga1.jpg" width="323" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 224〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xilang Jin, Jingkai Gao, Ting Wang, Wan Feng, Rong Li, Pu Xie, Lele Si, Hongwei Zhou, Xianghan Zhang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Herein, we presented two novel turn-on colorimetric and fluorescent probes based on a F〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 triggered Si〈img src="https://sdfestaticassets-eu-west-1.sciencedirectassets.com/shared-assets/16/entities/sbnd"〉O bond cleavage reaction, which displayed several desired properties for the quantitative detection for F〈sup〉−〈/sup〉, such as high specificity, rapid response time (within 3 min) and naked-eye visualization. The fluorescence intensity at 574 nm (absorbance at 544 nm) of the solution was found to increase linearly with the concentration of F〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 (0.00–30.0 μM) with the detection limit was estimated to be 0.47 μM/0.48 μM. Based on these excellent optical properties, the probes were employed to monitor F〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 in real water samples and tea samples with satisfactory. Furthermore, it was successfully applied for fluorescent imaging of F〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 in living nude mice, suggesting that it could be used as a powerful tool to predict and explore the biological functions of F〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 in physiological and pathological processes.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519308571-ga1.jpg" width="249" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 556〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Arpan Biswas, Vinod K. Aswal, Pralay Maiti〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In-situ inclusion of different nanoclays during synthesis results in different level of dispersion of nanoclays in the polymer matrix depending upon the surface modification of the nanoclay. Higher intercalation of the polymer chains within the galleries of organically modified nanoclay results better dispersion as compared to pristine nanoclay. The spectroscopic measurement shows that the extent of interaction between the nanoclay and polymer chains is higher in modified nanoclay nanocomposite which decreases the crystallinity considerably as compared to pristine clay nanocomposite. Interestingly, shape memory behavior measured at physiological temperature (37 °C) improves significantly in presence of organically modified nanoclay while it decreases in presence of unmodified nanoclay in same polyurethane matrix. Complete melting of soft segment along with restricted flipping of hard segment with temperature in presence of extensive interaction in nanocomposite with modified nanoclay helps it to achieve better shape memory behavior against flipping induced stacking of hard segment with temperature along with poor interaction decreases its shape memory behavior in nanocomposite with unmodified nanoclay. Temperature dependent nanostructure reveals the cause of variation in shape memory behavior in presence of organically modified nanoclay. Further, the cell culture studies like cell adhesion, cell viability assay and fluorescence imaging, suggest superior biomaterial of the nanocomposite with modified nanoclay as compared to other composite. Better biodegradable nature of the modified nanocomposite makes it suitable candidate for its potential biomedical applications.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309543-ga1.jpg" width="284" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 556〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Krishna Kanta Haldar, Swati Tanwar, Rathindranath Biswas, Tapasi Sen, Jouko Lahtinen〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉We demonstrated the design of tiny bowls of copper-silver-gold (Cu-Ag-Au) alloy type noble trimetallic nanocrystals with a unique shape. All the structural characterizations confirm the presence of copper (Cu), silver (Ag), and gold (Au) in the trimetallic nanobowls. Finally, we examined the catalytic efficiency of trimetallic Cu-Ag-Au nanobowls for reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol and found that these nanobowls were 14, 23 and 43-fold more active than each of the constituent metals, Au, Cu and Ag, respectively.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S002197971930949X-ga1.jpg" width="488" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 556〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Dapeng Wu, Rui Wang, Can Yang, Yipeng An, Hai Lu, Hongju Wang, Kun Cao, Zhiyong Gao, Wenchao Zhang, Fang Xu, Kai Jiang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Bismuth oxychloride micro-sheets with rich oxygen vacancies (BiOCl-OV) are firstly prepared through a surfactant assisted solvothermal method. Due to the selective surfactant adsorption, the as-prepared BiOCl-OV exposes high percentage {0 0 1} facets. Moreover, the ion-exchange process not only introduces Br atoms but also creates cavities in crystal structure of the Br doped BiOCl-OV (Br-BiOCl-OV). When used as photocatalyst for N〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 photo-fixation, the optimized Br-BiOCl-OV demonstrates an ammonia producing rate of 6.3 μmol h〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 under visible light irradiation, which is greatly enhanced than that of pristine BiOCl-OV (4.1 μmol h〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉). The density functional theory (DFT) calculation suggests that because of the introduced Br atoms and the oxygen vacancies, the adsorbed N〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 on Br-BiOCl-OV exhibits greater N〈img src="https://sdfestaticassets-eu-west-1.sciencedirectassets.com/shared-assets/16/entities/sbnd"〉N bond length than that adsorbed on pristine BiOCl-OV, attributing to the effective activation of the inert N〈img src="https://sdfestaticassets-eu-west-1.sciencedirectassets.com/shared-assets/16/entities/sbnd"〉N bonds. Photocurrent response, state/transient PL spectra and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy indicate that the Br-BiOCl-OV possesses promoted charge separation and suppressed charge recombination, which finally leads to the high N〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 photo-fixation performances.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309488-ga1.jpg" width="269" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yuan Xu, Aleks Atrens, Jason R. Stokes〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Hypothesis〈/h6〉 〈p〉Liquid crystal hydroglass (LCH) is a biphasic soft material with flow programmable anisotropy that forms via phase separation in suspensions of charged colloidal rods upon increases in ionic strength. The unique structure and rheology of the LCH gel formed using nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) is hypothesised to be dependent on colloidal stability that is modulated using specific ion effects arising from Hofmeister phenomena.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Experiments〈/h6〉 〈p〉LCHs are prepared in NCC suspensions in aqueous media containing varying levels of sodium chloride (NaCl) or sodium thiocyanate (NaSCN). The NCC suspensions are characterised using rheology and structural analysis techniques that includes polarised optical microscopy, zeta potential, dynamic light scattering and small-angle X-ray scattering.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Findings〈/h6〉 〈p〉The two salts have a profound effect on the formation process and structure of the LCH. Differences in network density and size of the liquid crystal domains are observed within the LCH for each of the salts, which is associated with the strength of interaction between NCC particles during LCH formation. In comparison to Cl〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 at the same salinity, the chaotropic nature of the weakly hydrated SCN〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 enhances colloidal stability by rendering NCC particles more hydrated and repulsive, but this also leads to weaker gel strength of the LCH. The results suggest that salts are a means in which to control the formation, structure and rheology of these anisotropic soft materials.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309233-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 556〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Zhiyuan Liu, Yadong Song, Qingyao Wang, Yao Jia, Xinying Tan, Xinxin Du, Shanmin Gao〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The fabrication of TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 NTs/Bi〈sub〉2〈/sub〉MoO〈sub〉6〈/sub〉 type-II heterojunction photocatalyst was carried out by a simple solvothermal method. Bi〈sub〉2〈/sub〉MoO〈sub〉6〈/sub〉 nanoparticles with nanosheet microstructures were successfully loaded on TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 NTs surface through the adjustment of reaction intervals. The heterojunction photocatalyst showed excellent organic dye and heavy metal ion removal performances, and nearly 100%, 75%, 100% and 100% of MO, RhB, MB and Cr (VI) were removed by simulative sunlight irradiation for 3 or 2 h, respectively. The outstanding photocatalyic performance was mainly due to the formation of type-II heterojunction between TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 and Bi〈sub〉2〈/sub〉MoO〈sub〉6〈/sub〉. The type-II heterojunction not only enhanced visible light response but also accelerated photogenerated charge carrier transfer and restrained the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs with the assistance of internal electric field.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉The nanosheets of Bi〈sub〉2〈/sub〉MoO〈sub〉6〈/sub〉 were loaded to surface of TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 NTs (grown on Ti mesh) via simple solvothermal method and the amount of Bi〈sub〉2〈/sub〉MoO〈sub〉6〈/sub〉 nanosheets was adjusted by changing reaction intervals. The PEC removal efficiency of RhB, MO, MB and Cr (VI) achieved 75%, 100%, 100% and 100%. The type-II heterojunction mechanism was tentatively proposed.〈/p〉 〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309348-ga1.jpg" width="376" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Manviri Rani, Rachna, Uma Shanker〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are causing environmental concerns due to their persistent nature and carcinogenicity. Hence, their removal through advanced nanomaterials with characteristics of low-cost and high efficiency is essential. In view of this, bimetallic oxides (BMOs) nanocomposites of NiO-ZnO, ZnCo〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4,〈/sub〉 MnCo〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 and CoFe〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 were synthesized via green route using leaf extract of 〈em〉Aegle marmelos.〈/em〉 Subsequently, these BMOs were investigated for photocatalytic removal of selected PAHs like anthracene (ANTH) and phenanthrene (PHEN) from water. Nanospheres of NiO-ZnO, ZnCo〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4,〈/sub〉 and CoFe〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 and nanosheets of MnCo〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 with particle size range of 10–30 nm were confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. At neutral pH, nanocomposites showed excellent ability in degrading 2 mg L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 of PAHs (ANTH: 98%; PHEN: 93%) within 12 h under the exposure of sunlight. Among the synthesized BMOs, NiO-ZnO was found best followed by ZnCo〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4,〈/sub〉 MnCo〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 and CoFe〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4.〈/sub〉 This fact is attributed to the highest surface area (129 m〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉) and particles stability (zeta potential: −30 eV) of NiO-ZnO. Photodegradation of PAHs by nanocomposites followed first order kinetics and fitted in Langmuir model for adsorption. Higher degradation under sunlight and lower removal efficiency with scavenger confirmed the photodegradation activity of nanocomposites. Overall, reusable (n = 10) nanocomposites with no loss of activity have high photocatalytic potential in the removal of carcinogenic PAHs.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309178-ga1.jpg" width="454" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 556〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Jing Huang, Junwei Mei, Jianxin Han, Hui Liang, Wei Wang, Bohua Dong, Lixin Cao〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Two-dimensional (2D) sulfides have attracted much attention as a promising photocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction. In this work, a highly active and stable vertical 1T/2H-WS〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 nanoflakes grown on 2D-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 with multiple charge transfer channels through a simple and efficient colloidal strategy is reported. This three-dimensional (3D) composite presents the usual semiconducting 2H phase WS〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 as well as the unusual distorted octahedral 1T phase WS〈sub〉2〈/sub〉, which vertically connect 2D-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 constructing an interesting 3D structure with more active sites. The H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 production rate of the optimal product has reached 350.75 μmol·g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉·h〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, which is 66.8 and 8.2 times higher than the rate of 2D-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 and 1T/2H-WS〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 respectively. The predominant charge transfer occurs between 2D-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 and 2H-WS〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 nanoflakes due to their vertical connection and the matched energy structure while the existence of the metallic 1T-WS〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 acts as a cocatalyst with an enhanced conductivity to provide multiple charge transfer channels over its basal and edge sites for H〈sup〉+〈/sup〉 reduction.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309440-ga1.jpg" width="297" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Jinghao Huo, Yujia Xue, Lifeng Zhang, Xiaofei Wang, Yiqiao Cheng, Shouwu Guo〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Hybrid Li-ion capacitor (LIC) draws more attention as novel energy storage device owing to its high power density and high energy density. Designing three-dimensional electrode materials is beneficial for improving electrochemical performance of LICs. Herein, an improved hydrothermal method combined with an ion-exchange reaction is used to manufacture oxygen vacancies (OVs)-doping TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 (TiO〈sub〉2-x〈/sub〉) nanowires/nanosheets (NWS) on Ti-foil. Then TiCl〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 treatment is performed to form TiO〈sub〉2-x〈/sub〉 NWS/nanocrystallines (NWSC). These-obtained hierarchical nanoarchitectures assumes enrich electro-active sites and contact areas, which can improve electron transference and structural stability. The TiO〈sub〉2-x〈/sub〉 NWSC is used as binder-free anode for Li-ion battery and achieves high specific capacity (300 mAh g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 at 0.1 A g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉), excellent rate capability (102 mAh g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 at 5 A g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉) and long cycle stability (44% after 1000 cycles at 1 A g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉). LICs assembled with a TiO〈sub〉2-x〈/sub〉 NWSC anode and an activated carbon cathode have an energy density of 44.2 W h kg〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 at the power density of 150 W kg〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉. Therefore, the TiO〈sub〉2-x〈/sub〉 NWSC is a potential candidate for high energy and high power electrochemical energy storage devices.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309312-ga1.jpg" width="294" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 556〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yajie Hou, Yiming Li, Lisha Wang, Dafan Chen, Mutai Bao, Zhining Wang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Application of dispersants is one of the widely used oil spill response strategies. With the growing concern for particulate emulsifiers, applying amphiphilic Janus particles to emulsify oil in seawater has been examined in this paper. Amphiphilic Janus particles with a combination of colloidal particles and amphiphilic characteristic are found to show a highly effective emulsification for various oils in seawater and overcome several drawbacks of conventional chemical dispersants. We report the synthesis of amphiphilic Janus silica particles (JSPs) as a novel oil spill dispersant and confirm their amphiphilicity by various techniques. The oil-in-seawater emulsion stabilized by JSPs presents small and stable oil droplets in one month, even at a higher volume ratio of oil to seawater and a wide temperature range. It is believed that the small size and high stability of droplets are very important to oil dispersion and eventual biodegradation. Through confocal laser scanning microscopy and scanning electron microscope observations, JSPs were found to anchor tightly at droplet surface and form a dense interfacial particle film to prevent droplets coalescence. The appropriate wettability of JSPs and the reduced interfacial tension contribute to the high interfacial adsorption energy of JSPs. Additionally, JSPs show weak inhibitory effect on oil-degrading bacteria, which is confirmed by bacterial growth curve, resazurin test and oil biodegradation experiment. This study reveals that amphiphilic Janus silica particles hold an impressive capability for environmentally friendly treatment of oil spills.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309439-ga1.jpg" width="372" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 556〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Arianna Bartolini, Paolo Tempesti, Ahmad F. Ghobadi, Debora Berti, Johan Smets, Yousef G. Aouad, Piero Baglioni〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Hypothesis〈/h6〉 〈p〉Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) can provide micron-sized liquid compartments dispersed in an aqueous medium. This phenomenon is increasingly appreciated in natural systems, 〈em〉e.g.〈/em〉, in the formation of intracellular membraneless organelles, as well as in synthetic counterparts, such as complex coacervates and vesicles. However, the stability of these synthetic phase-separated microstructures versus coalescence is generally challenged by the presence of salts and/or surfactants, which narrows the range of possible applications. We propose a new strategy to obtain micron-sized liquid domains 〈em〉via〈/em〉 LLPS, by mixing an amphiphilic copolymer with surfactants and sodium citrate in water at room temperature.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Experiments〈/h6〉 〈p〉Combining Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) with Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPD) simulations, we map the phase diagram to detect LLPS and address the presence and morphology of these microscopic domains. This mapping in turn provides a first mechanistic hypothesis for the formation of such confined polymer-rich microenvironments.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Findings〈/h6〉 〈p〉LLPS is driven by the phase behavior of the copolymer in water and by its associative interactions with surfactants, combined with the water-sequestering ability of salting-out electrolytes. The key factor for LLPS and formation of microdomains is the entropy-driven dehydration of the copolymer head groups, which can be quantified through the Free Water Content (FWC). Interestingly, the internal morphology of the LLPS microdomains is finely controlled by the ratio between nonionic and anionic surfactants. Beside its applicative potential, this approach represents a tool for designing synthetic mimics that improve our understanding of the occurrence of LLPS in cells.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309166-ga1.jpg" width="273" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 224〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yanjing Dong, Zikang Chen, Meirong Hou, Li Qi, Chenggong Yan, Xiaodan Lu, Ruiyuan Liu, Yikai Xu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Mitochondria are essential organelles in eukaryotic cells and act as the energy powerhouse and biosynthetic compartment. Fluorescent dyes are widely used powerful molecular tools for analytical sensing and optical imaging. Low photostability, short excitation and emission wavelengths, and aggregation-induced quenching effects restrict the application of traditional commercial mitochondrial fluorescent probes for bioimaging. In this study, using rhodamine as the acceptor and phenothiazine as the donor, we synthesized a novel mitochondrial-targeted near infrared (NIR) fluorescent probe, MIT-PZR. Due to low cytotoxicity, great photostability and high specificity for mitochondria targeting, MIT-PZR has enormous potential for cell imaging. Furthermore, with a sizeable Stokes shift (emission peak at 705 nm), MIT-PZR penetrated tissues providing stable red fluorescence for imaging 〈em〉in vivo〈/em〉. The histological assessment of various tissues after treatment with MIT-PZR indicated that it has good biocompatibility. Thus, MIT-PZR is a promising mitochondrial NIR fluorescent probe for future application in clinical diagnosis and modern biological research.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉An AIE-active, near-infrared fluorescent probe (MIT-PZR) based on an energy donor-acceptor (D-A)-type structure is explored for fluorescent visualization and detection of mitochondria in view of a large Stokes shift, NIR emission, excellent photostability, and mitochondria-targeted.〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519308467-ga1.jpg" width="310" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yao Chen, Jiu-Ju Feng, Li-Ping Mei, Chuan-Guo Shi, Ai-Jun Wang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA) has great diagnostic values for its high specificity (90–96%) in diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma especially cancers, where electrochemical immunoassay is powerful for its accurate and reliable detection of specific tumor biomarkers at very low levels. In this work, well-defined three-dimensional dendritic core-shell rhodium@platinum-cobalt nanocrystals (Rh@PtCo NCs) were facilely prepared via a simple one-pot solvothermal strategy. Taking advantage of dramatically enhanced catalytic activity of the Rh@PtCo NCs for catechol oxidation, a label-free electrochemical immunosensor was developed for highly sensitive assay of SCCA. Under optimal conditions, the electrochemical signals were linearly correlated with the logarithm of the SCCA concentration, showing a broad linear range from 0.0001 to 10.0 ng mL〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 and a ultralow detection limit of 0.04 pg mL〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 (S/N = 3). The resultant immunosensor was further exploited for actual analysis of serum samples with convinced results. This immunosensor has good expectation in actual samples analysis and provides a universal approach for detection of other tumor markers and disease surveillance.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309130-ga1.jpg" width="435" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Saeed Zajforoushan Moghaddam, Esben Thormann〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Specific ion effects in aqueous polymer solutions have been under active investigation over the past few decades. The current state-of-the-art research is primarily focused on the understanding of the mechanisms through which ions interact with macromolecules and affect their solution stability. Hence, we herein first present the current opinion on the sources of ion-specific effects and review the relevant studies. This includes a summary of the molecular mechanisms through which ions can interact with polymers, quantification of the affinity of ions for the polymer surface, a thermodynamic description of the effects of salts on polymer stability, as well as a discussion on the different forces that contribute to ion–polymer interplay. Finally, we also highlight future research issues that call for further scrutiny. These include fundamental questions on the mechanisms of ion-specific effects and their correlation with polymer properties as well as a discussion on the specific ion effects in more complex systems such as mixed electrolyte solutions.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719308471-ga1.jpg" width="288" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Jun Song, Jianyong Yu, Gang Sun, Yang Si, Bin Ding〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Constructing a flexible inorganic membrane photocatalyst for efficient visible-light-driven water disinfection is highly desired but remains a great challenge. Herein, we fabricated a flexible and heterostructured silver/bismuth oxyiodide/titania (Ag/BiOI/TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉) nanofibrous membrane by combining the electrospinning technique with simple successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) and photodeposition process. In this ternary nanocomposite, ultrathin BiOI nanoplates were firmly anchored onto TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 nanofibers, while Ag nanoparticles were uniformly decorated on the surface of both BiOI and TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉. Benefiting from the large surface area, improved visible-light absorption, and the effective interfacial charge transfer induced by multi-heterojunctions, the resultant Ag/BiOI/TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 membrane exhibited superior photocatalytic disinfection activity (7.5 log inactivation of 〈em〉E. coli〈/em〉 within 1 h) under visible light illumination. Moreover, the plasmonic Z-scheme charge transfer mode was also proposed for Ag/BiOI/TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 system according to the band structure and reactive species analysis. More significantly, the Ag/BiOI/TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 membrane-based photoreactor could be facilely constructed for high-efficiency disinfection of high volume contaminated water, and the membrane still maintained good structural integrity and mechanical flexibility after utilization. This work may open up new avenues for designing and constructing flexible high-performance photocatalytic membranes for environmental applications.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S002197971930918X-ga1.jpg" width="328" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 555〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Chao Yang, Song Yang, Huiling Fan, Yeshuang Wang, Ju Shangguan〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Herein, an unusual strategy is reported to enhance the H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉S uptake capacity by varying the ZnO-support interaction and controlling the acid-basic environment of the pore channel; this is in place of the generally reported method of decreasing ZnO nanoparticle size and optimizing their porosity. With this regard, coal based activated carbon (AC) is selected as the support and the interaction with ZnO is tuned by introducing N species on AC surface through a soft nitriding strategy. Our strategy is confirmed to be prospective based on the fact that the 〈em〉N〈/em〉-modifying AC supported ZnO adsorbent show a maximum breakthrough sulfur capacity (BSC) of 62.5 mg S/g sorbent, two times larger than that without 〈em〉N〈/em〉-modification (30.5 mg S/g sorbent). The enhanced BSC is attributed to the introduced N species, which not only increases the basicity of the water film condensed in the pores, promoting the dissociation of H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉S and H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O, but also influences the electronic structure of ZnO, accelerating the rate of lattice diffusion during in sulfidation process. It is also found that the high BSC of sorbent with N modification is related to the doped N concentrations, ZnO dispersion and the material porosity. This paper provides a new insight for designing supported ZnO based adsorbents.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979719309154-ga1.jpg" width="374" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 224〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Aiqing Feng, Fangru Jiang, Guiyuan Huang, Peilian Liu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Anionic surfactants were widespread used in car cleaning agents, household detergents, agricultural and industrial processes, and considered as a major source of environmental pollutant. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a fast, simple, highly selective and sensitive probe for the detection of anionic surfactants. Here, we synthesized two aggregation induced emission (AIE)-active molecules 4,4′,4″,4‴-(ethene-1,1,2,2-tetrayltetrakis(benzene-4,1-diyl))tetrakis (1-(4-bromobenzyl)pyridin-1-ium) bromide (〈strong〉TPE〈/strong〉-〈strong〉Br〈/strong〉) and 4,4′,4″,4‴-(ethene-1,1,2,2-trayltetrakis(benzene-4,1-diyl))tetrakis(1-methylpyridin-1-ium)iodide (〈strong〉TPE〈/strong〉-〈strong〉I〈/strong〉), which were then applied as fluorescence probes for detecting sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) with high selectivity and sensitivity. In the presence of SDS, a multi-fold fluorescence emission intensity enhancement was observed in both two probes (〈strong〉TPE〈/strong〉-〈strong〉Br〈/strong〉 and 〈strong〉TPE〈/strong〉-〈strong〉I〈/strong〉) due to the electrostatic self-assembly of AIE molecular. The limits of detection are 71.5 and 120 nM for 〈strong〉TPE〈/strong〉-〈strong〉Br〈/strong〉 and 〈strong〉TPE〈/strong〉-〈strong〉I〈/strong〉, respectively. This study may provide a new strategy for environmental monitoring by AIE-based fluorescent probe.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Two cationic fluorescent probes (〈strong〉TPE-Br〈/strong〉 and 〈strong〉TPE-I〈/strong〉) were designed and synthesized for detecting sodium dodecyl sulfonate (SDS) with high selectivity and sensitivity. In the presence of SDS, a multi-fold fluorescence emission intensity enhancement was observed in the both of two probes due to the electrostatic self-assembly of AIE molecular.〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1386142519308364-ga1.jpg" width="404" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 224〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xueqin Jiang, Zengjin Liu, Youzhe Yang, Hao Li, Xiaoyi Qi, Wen Xiu Ren, Mingming Deng, Muhan Lü, Jianming Wu, Sicheng Liang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A novel two-photon pH probe, 3-benzimidazole-7-hydroxycoumarin (〈strong〉BHC〈/strong〉), was designed and synthesized based on the structures of hydroxycoumarin and benzimidazole. 〈strong〉BHC〈/strong〉 showed good linearity in the pH ranges of 3.30–5.40 (pKa = 4.20) and 6.50–8.30 (pKa = 7.20) at a maximum emission wavelength of 480 nm. 〈strong〉BHC〈/strong〉 in acidic and alkaline media could be distinguished by an obvious spectral shift of the maximum absorption wavelength from 390 nm to 420 nm. In addition, 〈strong〉BHC〈/strong〉 was well localized to mitochondria and successfully applied to one-photon and two-photon imaging of pH changes in the mitochondria of HeLa cells. The findings presented herein suggest that 〈strong〉BHC〈/strong〉 can serve as an excellent fluorescent probe for selectively sensing mitochondrial pH changes with remarkable photostability and low cytotoxicity.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S138614251930825X-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 224〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Manuel J. Schuler, Raphael Henn, Christian G. Kirchler, Inge Schlapp-Hackl, Christian W. Huck, Thomas S. Hofer〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉In this article the extension of the grid-based Numerov approach to probe two coupled, localised vibrational modes is assessed. The theoretically obtained wave numbers are compared to experimental results for five increasingly complex organic molecules carrying two OH groups measured in gas-phase as well as carbon tetrachloride. By using an appropriate spacing of the associated potential energy grid a deviation of the predicted wave numbers with experiment of ≤1% is achieved for both the fundamental and the first overtone bands. In particular the calculated wave numbers of aliphatic species in vacuum underline the versatility of this approach. In addition, it is demonstrated that bicubic interpolation is a viable strategy to greatly reduce the required data points and thus, the computational effort. Comparison of predicted wave numbers obtained for different conformers with experimental data enables the identification of the most relevant conformer present in solution.〈/p〉 〈p〉Since especially the accurate calculation of overtone vibrations is known to be challenging in case of strongly anharmonic potentials such as OH bonds, the presented approach provides a particularly efficient route to study the properties of the associated overtone contribution under the influence of inter-mode coupling. This is due to the fact that the Numerov approach requires no assumption about form and composition of the vibrational wave functions. In addition, the presented method also provides one of the simplest routes to access combined excitations of the considered vibrational modes.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S138614251930767X-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉