ALBERT

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Tetrahedron Letters, Volume 60, Issue 31〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Tao-Shan Jiang, Yuhui Zhou, Long Dai, Xiaojun Liu, Xiuli Zhang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A metal-free 〈em〉p〈/em〉-toluenesulfonic acid (TsOH·H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O) mediated synthesis of 3-ketoquinolines from anilines, enaminones and DMSO has been developed. In this transformation, DMSO was activated by TsOH·H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O and provided the one-carbon unit of the 3-ketoquinolines. A plausible mechanism involving an electrophilic sulfenium ion intermediate was proposed.〈/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-S0040403919306562-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Tetrahedron Letters, Volume 60, Issue 31〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Lifeng Wang, Qingshan Tian, Chen Bin, Guozhu Zhang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A novel copper-catalyzed amination of ethers using isocyanates and DTBP is developed. The reaction provides a unique approach to the synthesis of Boc-protected α-aminals through three-component radical cascade reactions. It provides an alternative method for the construction of this type of valuable motifs in high yield. Meanwhile, the method exhibits high tolerance of various functional groups, such as ether, halide, ester and acyl functionalities.〈/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-S0040403919306598-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 6 July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Tetrahedron Letters〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Hironori Okamura, Takanobu Fujioka, Naoki Mori, Tohru Taniguchi, Kenji Monde, Hidenori Watanabe, Hirosato Takikawa〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Salinipostins are cyclic enol-phosphotriesters isolated from a marine-derived 〈em〉Salinispora〈/em〉 sp. as antimalarial compounds. Herein, the first enantioselective synthesis of salinipostin A was achieved. Organocatalyst-mediated asymmetric cyclopropanation and regioselective cyclopropane ring opening were the key steps.〈/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-S0040403919306549-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, Volume 181〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Jingyi Zhu, Zhaozhong Yang, Xiaogang Li, Zhichao Song, Ziwei Liu, Shiyi Xie〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Liquid foam is an alternative to water-based fracturing fluid due to its great proppant suspension ability. In this work, theoretical and experimental investigations on the settling behavior of the proppants in viscoelastic foams were analyzed on bubble scale. Settling trajectory was captured over time by optical microscope to calculate proppant settling velocity. At room temperature, proppants kept suspended well, but noticeable changes in proppant position could be observed at 70 °C. We concluded that the sedimentation of the proppants at high temperature was divided into three stages, that were drainage-dominated, structure-dominated and fluid-dominated regimes. For the large proppants, quick settling velocity was seen at first due to fast drainage rate. Then bubble pressure force and network force served as drag force exerting on the proppants when the proppants stretched or squeezed the liquid films. During this regime, bubble distribution, the existence of nodes, the length and the orientation of Plateau border leaded to the fluctuation in settling velocity. Lastly, the proppants would also flow freely along Plateau border over time, and the properties of the foam fluid such as viscosity and elasticity provided the drag force to prevent the proppants from settling. It's more likely for small proppants to change to this stage called fluid-dominated regime, but elasticity also guaranteed their low settling velocity. Moreover, in the existence of proppants, the analysis into drainage rate and bubble structure demonstrated the high stability of viscoelastic foams. These results helped understand the sedimentation of proppants in wet foams and broadened the application of viscoelastic foams in hydraulic fracturing.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 6 July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Tetrahedron Letters〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Soumen Biswas, Anubha Yadav, Debashis Majee, Shaikh M. Mobin, Sampak Samanta〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A simple, efficient, one-pot sequential process for the preparation of a family of 8,9-dihydropyrido[1,2–〈em〉a〈/em〉]indol-6(7H)-one scaffolds in acceptable yields has been established under mild conditions. The Michael-hemiaminalization-oxidation reaction proceeds between methyl 2-(3-formyl-1〈em〉H〈/em〉-indol-2-yl) acetate and 〈em〉trans〈/em〉-β-aryl/alkyl-substituted acroleins using pyrrolidine-BzOH as an efficient organocatalyst, followed by oxidation of in situ generated of C,〈em〉N〈/em〉-fused hemiaminal adducts in the presence of PDC at room temperature. Excitingly, organobase-catalyzed highly diastereoselective (up to ≤9:1 dr) construction of a series of pharmacologically attractive 1,2,3-fused tetracyclic indole scaffolds with five contiguous chiral centers including an all-carbon stereogenic center has been realized through our developed method. Moreover, pyrrolidine-BzOH and PTSA as combined catalytic systems promote the uninterrupted sequential Michael-cyclization reaction, followed by 〈em〉N〈/em〉-alkylation reaction with carbazole to produce interesting class of 6-(9〈em〉H〈/em〉-carbazol-9-yl)-6,7,8,9-tetrahydropyrido[1,2–〈em〉a〈/em〉]indole derivatives in a diastereoselective manner.〈/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-S0040403919306574-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, Volume 181〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Zhong-Zhen Chen, Hong-Ze Gang, Jin-Feng Liu, Bo-Zhong Mu, Shi-Zhong Yang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A thermal-stable and salt-tolerant biobased zwitterionic surfactant 〈em〉N, N〈/em〉-Dimethyl-〈em〉N〈/em〉-[2-hydroxy-3-sulfo-propyl]-〈em〉N〈/em〉′-phenyloctadecanoyl-1, 3-diaminopropane (SPODP) was successfully obtained from modification of oleic acids which can be regenerated from waste cooking oils, and its structure was characterized using GC-MS, ESI-MS and 〈sup〉1〈/sup〉H NMR approaches. The biobased zwitterionic surfactant demonstrated a strong interfacial activity at high salinity and high temperature conditions at a very low surfactant dosage in formation brine. The ultralow interfacial tension (≤10〈sup〉−3〈/sup〉 mN/m) between crude oil and brine was reached at 0.5 g/L in brine with a wide range compatibility of NaCl up to saturation, Ca〈sup〉2+〈/sup〉 up to 500 mg/L, and temperature up to 95 °C. Meanwhile, it also exhibited strong wetting ability and resistance against adsorption on sands. All the results from this study suggest that the biobased zwitterionic surfactant is promising over varieties of traditional surfactants in applications in alkali free systems in enhanced oil recovery (EOR).〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Carbon, Volume 153〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): A-Young Kim, Ryanda Enggar Anugrah Ardhi, Guicheng Liu, Ji Young Kim, Hyun-Jin Shin, Dongjin Byun, Joong Kee Lee〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A hierarchical hollow SnO/SnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 heterostructure anode surrounded by a dual carbon layer (DCL@SnO/SnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉), inner (host) and outer carbon layers, was successfully designed 〈em〉via〈/em〉 a simple hydrothermal method with a single Sn precursor to achieving high-performance Li-ion batteries (LIBs) and Li-ion capacitors (LICs). The carbon nanotube (CNT)-based inner carbon host and an ultrathin outer amorphous carbon layer introduced at the SnO/SnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 heterostructure had good elasticity and high electrical properties to prevent volume change and ensure fast Li-ion transport during cycling, respectively. Meanwhile, the SnO/SnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 heterostructure comprising p-type SnO and n-type SnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 facilitated further fast interfacial Li-ion transfer within the p–n SnO/SnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 heterojunction anode 〈em〉via〈/em〉 the acceleration effect induced by the built-in electric field (BEF). The resulting half cells LIBs consisting DCL@SnO/SnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 anode shows a high reversible specific capacity of 902.1 mAh g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 after 500 cycles at a current density of 1400 mA g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉. The specific capacity of 347.04 mAh g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 was still maintained even at a high current density of 10 000 mA g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉. Moreover, the maximum energy and power density of 125 W kg〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 and 200 Wh kg〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, respectively, were achieved from the half cells LIC comprising DCL@SnO/SnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 anode (LIC-DCL@SnO/SnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉).〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A hierarchical hollow SnO/SnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 heterostructure anode surrounded by a dual carbon layer (DCL@SnO/SnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉) is prepared by a simple hydrothermal method using a single Sn precursor. The CNT-based inner carbon host layer is equipped by a nanotail CNT to form a tadpole-like structure. The ultrathin elastic amorphous outer carbon layer buffers the cyclic volume change of the SnO/SnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 heterostructure, while its natural properties could realize the formation of thin, instead of thick, solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer to enhance e〈sup〉−〈/sup〉/Li〈sup〉+〈/sup〉 reversibility and transport kinetics during charge charge–discharge cycles. The p–n heterojunction created from SnO/SnO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 heterostructure facilitates the creation of the built-in electric field (BEF) to promote e〈sup〉−〈/sup〉/Li〈sup〉+〈/sup〉 transport rate during charge–discharge cycling and to maintain a reversible high capacity at a high current density.〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0008622319306888-fx1.jpg" width="288" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Carbon, Volume 153〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Chen Han, Xiaoguang Duan, Mingjie Zhang, Wenzhao Fu, Xuezhi Duan, Wenjie Ma, Shaomin Liu, Shaobin Wang, Xinggui Zhou〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Nanocarbon-catalyzed advanced oxidation processes for wastewater remediation are green and state-of-the-art methods, nevertheless, the origins of carbocatalysis remain unresolved. In this study, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are employed as typical metal-free catalysts for catalytic peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation and phenol oxidation. The surface chemistry and electronic properties of CNTs are deliberately tailored by liquid acid oxidation and subsequent thermal treatment. It is unveiled that the electron-rich carbon surface and carbonyl groups can affect organic adsorption capacity of the carbocatalysts and modulate persulfate activation in different catalytic manners. Furthermore, the relationship between the surface chemistry (oxygen functionality and electron density) and carbocatalysis is established, which is decisive to regulate the radical/nonradical pathways in the catalytic oxidation for water purification. This study provides new insights to carbon-catalyzed persulfate activation with manipulated reaction pathways and redox potentials.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0008622319306839-fx1.jpg" width="260" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Adriana Camacho, Emily Conover〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Small-scale farmers in developing countries often make production and sale decisions based on imprecise, informal, and out-of-date sources of information, such as family, neighbors, or tradition. Lack of timely and accurate information on climate and prices can lead to inefficiencies in the production, harvesting, and commercialization of agricultural products, which in turn can affect farmers’ revenues and well-being. We did a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) experiment with 500 small-scale farmers in a rural area of Colombia where there is nearly full mobile phone usage and coverage. Treated farmers received around 8 text messages per week with prices in the main markets for crops grown in the region, and customized weather forecasts. Compared to a control group, we find that treated farmers were more likely to report that text messages provide useful information for planting and selling, and more likely to always read their messages, indicating an increase in appreciation and use of this type of technology. We also found heterogeneous effects by farmer size. Smaller farmers try to make use of the intervention by planting more crops for which they have price information. Larger farmers seek new markets and increase conversations with other producers. Despite these positive effects, we do not find a significant difference in farmers reporting a price, price differential with the market price, or sale prices received. Our results indicate that farmers are amenable to learning and using new technologies, but that the introduction of these technologies do not always translate into short-run welfare improvements for them. Given the increased interest in incorporating information and communication technologies into agriculture, our findings indicate that prior to a large-scale implementation it is necessary to better understand what prevents farmers from more directly profiting from this new information.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Chemical Geology, Volume 524〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Mengxue Li, Haibo Liu, Tianhu Chen, Lin Wei, Can Wang, Wei Hu, Hanlin Wang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The transformation of Al-substituted goethite in oxidative and reductive atmosphere, which models natural fire, was investigated in detail. Various characterization results indicated that Al-substituted goethite transformed into hematite in an oxidative atmosphere and magnetite followed by zero-valent iron in a reductive atmosphere. Interestingly, the substitution of Al for Fe not only changed the crystal morphology affecting crystal surface reactivity, but also restrained the transformation of goethite into hematite, magnetite and zero-valent iron. In addition, the Al in the goethite was embedded into the crystal structure of thermally formed hematite and magnetite, considerably influencing their surface reactivity. The macroscopic adsorption results indicated that the substitution of Al for Fe increased the adsorption capacity of goethite and the corresponding derivatives except zero-valent iron. For the same Al amount, the adsorption capacity followed an order of goethite 〉 hematite 〉 magnetite, implying a loss of phosphate in goethite-rich soil after experiencing natural fire. However, with increasing in temperature in the reductive atmosphere, Al-magnetite transformed into a mixture of Al-magnetite and zero-valent iron which displayed excellent phosphate adsorption capacities increasing to 1.21–5.96 mg/g. The phosphate adsorption behaviors to thermally formed products were fitted well by surface complexation modeling with five complexation sites, which were more obvious for goethite than for hematite and magnetite. These findings presented in this study represent significant progress toward an understanding of the migration, enrichment and transformation of phosphate in Al-substituted goethite-rich soil in cases experiencing natural fire.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Solid State Chemistry, Volume 277〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Chen Chai, Caimei Fan, Jianxin Liu, Xiaochao Zhang, Yawen Wang, Rui Li, Donghong Duan, Yunfang Wang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In this work, a novel g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 modified Mn〈sub〉3〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 composite was synthesized and applied to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for phenol degradation under simulated sunlight. We investigated the effect of solution initial pH and reaction temperature, meanwhile ascertaining the optimal molar ratio of Mn〈sub〉3〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 and g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 and the stability and reusability of the materials. The g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉/Mn〈sub〉3〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 exhibited superior activity for PMS activation under simulated sunlight, 87.3% phenol degradation and 47.3% phenol mineralization at 60 min were achieved. The combination of Mn〈sub〉3〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 nanoparticles and g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 sheets results in a higher catalytic activity than pure Mn〈sub〉3〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 and g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉. Furthermore, quenching experiments and electron spin resonance measurements (ESR) prove that phenol degradation by g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉/Mn〈sub〉3〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉/PMS system is primarily attributed to the generation of sulfate radicals, hydroxyl radicals, and superoxide radicals. A possible mechanism was proposed for phenol removal by g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉/Mn〈sub〉3〈/sub〉O〈sub〉4〈/sub〉/PMS system under simulated sunlight. This work is intent to arise more interest about solar light for PMS activation and future research on water treatment.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0022459619303391-fx1.jpg" width="207" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Chemical Geology, Volume 524〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xue-Feng Hu, Jing-Long Zhao, Pei-Feng Zhang, Yong Xue, Bo-Nian An, Fang Huang, Hui-Min Yu, Gan-Lin Zhang, Xiang-Jun Liu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉To probe Fe isotopic signatures of the Quaternary Red Clay (QRC) in subtropical southeastern China, two QRC profiles located in southern Anhui Province, Southeast China, were studied. The whole profiles were generally in a narrow range in δ〈sup〉56〈/sup〉Fe of −0.040 ± 0.061‰—0.117 ± 0.048‰. The Yellow-brown Earth (YBE) and Uniform Red Clay (URC) of the upper profiles were similar in δ〈sup〉56〈/sup〉Fe to the Xiashu Loess along the Yangtze River, Southeast China, and the loess, paleosols and Tertiary red clay in the Chinese Loess Plateaus, Northwest China, as well as the baseline of terrestrial igneous rocks. The slight variation of δ〈sup〉56〈/sup〉Fe from the YBE to the URC suggests that the chemical weathering and rubification on the aerobic surface did not fractionate Fe isotopes significantly. The Reticulate Red Clay (RRC) underlying the YBE and URC fluctuated in δ〈sup〉56〈/sup〉Fe to some extent. The white veins separated from the lower RRC were depleted of Fe oxides and heavier in Fe isotopes, and the red veins, on the contrary, were isotopically lighter in Fe. δ〈sup〉56〈/sup〉Fe of the white veins, 0.345 ± 0.053‰ on average, was significantly higher than the bulk samples, 0.033 ± 0.044‰ on average, and the red veins, −0.021 ± 0.046‰ on average. This suggests that the reticulate textures of the RRC were formed by the reductive removal/re-precipitation of Fe due to the cyclical changes of redoxic conditions. Fe isotopic composition of the QRC was dominantly controlled by the redoxic mobility of Fe, rather than the degree of weathering. δ〈sup〉56〈/sup〉Fe of the profiles was not correlated with the paleoclimatic events, and thus cannot be used as a paleoclimatic proxy. The fractionation of Fe isotopes in the lower RRC, however, indicated the occurrence of over-humid paleoclimate with alternations between drought and wetness in Southern China during the Pleistocene.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Solid State Chemistry, Volume 277〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Zhuo Dai Li, Huai Qiang Zhang, Xiao Hong Xiong, Feng Luo〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) represent an exciting new type of porous organic materials, which are constructed with organic building units via strong covalent bonds. Here in, the COF-2,4,6-Triformylphloroglucinol p-Phenylenediamine (COF-TpPa-1) was synthesized by solvothermal method for the removal of U(VI) from aqueous solution. Effects of pH, adsorption dose, contact time, uranium solution concentration, temperature and adsorption and desorption cycle on the efficiency of COF-TpPa-1 removal of U(VI) are investigated. SEM, XRD, TGA and FT-IR were employed to characterize the samples and analyze adsorption mechanism. The results manifested COF-TpPa-1 has the high adsorption capacity (〈em〉q〈/em〉〈sub〉m〈/sub〉 = 152 mg/g), quick adsorption kinetic, high selectivity, outstanding recycle performance and good resistance to acids, bases and high temperature.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0022459619303342-fx1.jpg" width="478" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) represent an exciting new type of porous organic materials, which are constructed with organic building units via strong covalent bonds. In this study, the COF-2,4,6-Triformylphloroglucinol p-Phenylenediamine (COF-TpPa-1) was synthesized by solvothermal method for the removal of U(VI) from aqueous solution. The results manifested COF-TpPa-1 has the high adsorption capacity (〈em〉q〈/em〉〈sub〉m〈/sub〉 = 152 mg/g), quick adsorption kinetic, high selectivity, outstanding recycle performance and good resistance to acids, bases and high temperature.〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Solid State Chemistry, Volume 277〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Tao E, Dan Ma, Shuyi Yang, Yudong Sun, Jiasheng Xu, Eui Jung Kim〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Zirconium dioxide loaded montmorillonite (ZrO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉-MMT) composites have been prepared using an ion-exchange process at room temperature followed by a thermal treatment. The as-prepared composites are used to adsorb Cr〈sup〉3+〈/sup〉 ions in the tanning wastewater with a lower initial Cr〈sup〉3+〈/sup〉 concentration, reducing residual Cr〈sup〉3+〈/sup〉 concentration to less than 1 mg L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉. XRD, TEM, SEM-EDS and XPS analyses are made to explore the structure and morphology of the composites. ZrO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 is found to load on the interlayer and surface of MMT. The adsorption process is appropriately described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic equation and Langmuir equation. The ZrO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉-MMT composites exhibit a better adsorption capacity than adsorption materials reported in the literature, and the maximum adsorption capacity for the initial Cr〈sup〉3+〈/sup〉 concentration of 10, 20, 30 mg L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 is as large as 142.86, 158.73 and 172.41 mg g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, respectively. The removal efficiency of ZrO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉-MMT for Cr〈sup〉3+〈/sup〉 remains above 92% after six cycles.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A schematic diagram of the prepared ZrO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉-MMT composites: step 1 added Zr(SO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉)〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 solution to MMT slurry and stirred; step 2 added the NaOH solution (5 mol L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉) to the mixture to achieve pH 7–8, stirred, centrifuged and dried at 50 °C; step 3 heat-treated for 4 h at 400 °C.〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0022459619303366-fx1.jpg" width="341" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Solid State Chemistry, Volume 277〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Chen Tian, Qingshan Lu, Shifeng Zhao〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Design of low–cost and efficient materials with appropriate composition and configuration is desirable for supercapacitor electrode. In this work, hierarchical silica@manganese silicate core–shell spheres with controllable particle size and shell thickness are fabricated through a facile hydrothermal method. The monodispersed core–shell spheres dispaly the hierarchical structure composed of manganese silicate crystallites. The dependence of electrochemical performance on the particle size and the shell thickness is investigated. The finding demonstrates that the core–shell sphere prepared using small silica sphere possesses superior electrochemical properties. A specific capacitance of 297.3 F/g at a current density of 0.5 A/g is achieved. And the thick shell is also in favour of enhancing specific capacitance. The excellent surface–dependent electrochemical performance is associated with its distinctive hierarchical structure, which effectively shortens the ion/electron migration pathway and provides enough electroactive sites. The hierarchical core–shell spheres can be potentially applied in low–cost electrode for supercapacitor.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Monodispersed and hierarchical silica@manganese silicate core–shell spheres prepared by a hydrothermal method exhibit the controllable diameter, shell thickness and excellent electrochemical performance.〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0022459619303408-fx1.jpg" width="500" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Applied Geochemistry, Volume 108〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Irina Drozdova, Natalya Alekseeva-Popova, Vladimir Dorofeyev, Jaume Bech, Alla Belyaeva, Núria Roca〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Native plant species growing on contaminated sites in an urban environment successfully develop under strong anthropogenic pressure and thereby may have the potential for phytoremediation. The concentrations of potentially toxic metals were measured in leaves, roots, stems, and inflorescences of fifteen Brassicaceae plant species from the urban park of Botanical Garden of Komarov Botanical Institute. The potential of phytoextraction and phytostabilization of the species was evaluated considering the concentration of Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn in the plant organs, and the bioconcentration factor (BCF) and the translocation factor (TF). The metal content in plant organs varied with plant species. The study of metal accumulation in plants showed that 〈em〉Brassica campestris〈/em〉 has the potential for the simultaneous phytoextraction of three metals Zn, Cd, and Cu, and 〈em〉Rorippa palustris〈/em〉 – of two metals Zn and Cd. According to received data, species 〈em〉Sinapis arvensis〈/em〉 and 〈em〉Thlaspi arvense〈/em〉 can be considered adequate candidates for soil Zn and Pb phytostabilization and soil conservation.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hazardous Materials, Volume 380〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Gautam Kumar Sarma, Aslam Khan, Ahmed Mohamed El-Toni, Md. Harunar Rashid〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Herein, we report for the first time, the synthesis of CuO-Nd(OH)〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 nanocomposites via a co-precipitation method coupled with the hydrothermal aging process. Varying the pH of the reaction medium, the shape of the nanocomposites could be controlled which determines their surface areas. These CuO-Nd(OH)〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 nanocomposites exhibit very high adsorption capacity with successful removal of ∼ 97% of brilliant blue G (BBG) from water in 180 min under ambient condition. The adsorption process primarily follows Lagergren pseudo-first-order kinetics. The Langmuir isotherm model fits well with a very high monolayer adsorption capacity of 394.1 mg g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 at 30 °C. The mechanistic study supports chemisorption-type adsorption between the dye molecule and the adsorbent. Regeneration of the spent adsorbent makes the whole process cyclic and eco-friendly.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0304389419307915-ga1.jpg" width="297" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hazardous Materials, Volume 380〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Junchao Zhao, Zhitao Yin, Muhammad Usman Shahid, Haoran Xing, Xudong Cheng, Yangyang Fu, Song Lu〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The re-ignition of pool fires is a common hazard phenomenon in fire extinguishing. Dry chemicals with oleophobicity may solve this problem because powders can float on the oil surface and prevent evaporation of fuel pool. In this research, MAPP (modified ammonium polyphosphate) with superhydrophobicity, oleophobicity, and higher chemical activity is prepared which can quickly quench pool fires and provide longer protection. The activation indexes of MAPP for water, diesel, aviation kerosene and gasoline are 98.5%, 87.4%, 98.7% and 98.4%, respectively. Lower activation energy of MAPP means that it will show higher chemical activity in fire. The fire-extinguishing performance of MAPP is much higher than that of Commercial UDCA (ultra-fine dry chemical agent) during fire experiments. After extinguished by MAPP, the fuel pool is hard to be re-ignited. The significance of this study is to propose a new strategy for preventing the re-ignition of pool fires.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0304389419305497-ga1.jpg" width="492" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hazardous Materials, Volume 380〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): L. Sbardella, I. Velo-Gala, J. Comas, I. Rodríguez-Roda Layret, A. Fenu, W. Gernjak〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉Ultraviolet radiation (UV)-activated peroxydisulfate (PDS) and peroxymonosulfate (PMS) advanced oxidation processes were examined for their capacity to remove nine pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) from secondary effluent. The effect of operational parameters (initial oxidant concentration, UV exposure time, pH, common coexisting anions and effluent organic matter (EfOM)) on UV/PDS and UV/PMS treatment efficiency was investigated in a collimated beam device housing a low-pressure mercury UV lamp emitting light at 253.7 nm.〈/p〉 〈p〉Both AOPs achieved high removals (〉90%) when applied to pure water. Under otherwise similar conditions the removal percentage fell by 20–30% due to the scavenging of effluent organic matter (EfOM) in secondary effluent. Finally, eliminating EfOM but maintaining the inorganic composition, the radical scavenging effect was reduced and 98.3% and 85.6% average removals were obtained by UV/PDS and UV/PMS, respectively.〈/p〉 〈p〉Increasing pH improved degradation of several PhACs containing amine groups. Higher oxidant dosages created only a significant benefit in UV/PDS. The chloride anion produced a negligible effect on both processes, while higher nitrate concentrations increased removal percentage but did not affect degradation rate constants. Finally and surprisingly, the addition of bicarbonate had the strongest positive impact on the degradation kinetics observed, even stronger than the elimination of EfOM from secondary effluent.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0304389419308222-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Electrochimica Acta, Volume 319〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xiao-Hu Dai, Hao-Xiang Fan, Jia-Jia Zhang, Shi-Jie Yuan〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Pyrolysis gradually becomes a promising green method to dispose the sewage sludge who has brought serious problems to environment. In this study, hierarchical porous hollow carbon nanospheres are directly obtained by specific carbonization/activation procedures using sewage sludge as the only precursor for the first time. The resultant carbon possesses tailor-made hierarchically porous structure with larger surface area (1518.40 m〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉), high pore volume (1.21 cm〈sup〉3〈/sup〉 g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉), and rich oxygenic functional groups, which is favorable for lithium ion diffusion and can better enhance the ionic conductivity in an electrode system. As anode for li-ion battery, the carbon displays superior discharge capacity, which reaches 1168.9 mAh g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 at 0.1 A g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 and 287.1 mAh g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 at 2 A g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉. And the capacitance retention is 98.7% over 100 cycles at 0.1 A g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉. Therefore, it is anticipated that such a pollutants-derived carbon can facilitate the development of new green and sustainable pathways for the construction and design of well-defined porous carbon nanospheres to ease energy and environmental issues.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0013468619313313-fx1.jpg" width="245" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 5 July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Gyeong Han Jeong, Jae-Hyeon Cho, Tae Hoon Kim〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Convenient structure modification of (+)-catechin (〈strong〉1〈/strong〉) induced by nonthermal dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma treatment afforded three novel methylene-linked flavan-3-ol oligomers, methylenetetracatechin (〈strong〉2〈/strong〉), methylenetricatechin (〈strong〉3〈/strong〉), and methylenedicatechin (〈strong〉4〈/strong〉), together with two known catechin dimers, 〈em〉bis〈/em〉 8,8′-catechinylmethane (〈strong〉5〈/strong〉) and 〈em〉bis〈/em〉 6,8′-catechinylmethane (〈strong〉6〈/strong〉). The structures of the three new catechin oligomers 〈strong〉2〈/strong〉–〈strong〉4〈/strong〉 with methylene bridges were elucidated by detailed 1D- and 2D-NMR analysis, and the absolute configurations were established by the observation of circular dichroism (CD). The novel products 〈strong〉2〈/strong〉 and 〈strong〉3〈/strong〉 showed significantly enhanced anti-adipogenic capacities against both pancreatic lipase and differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes compared to the parent (+)-catechin.〈/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-S0960894X19304536-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, Volume 27, Issue 17〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Miriam Rossi, Francesco Caruso, Ilaria Costanzini, Carmen Kloer, Aron Sulovari, Elena Monti, Marzia Gariboldi, Emanuela Marras, Neduri V. Balaji, Modukuri V. Ramani, Gottumukkala V. Subbaraju〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The antiproliferative action of hispolon derivatives is stronger than that of related curcumin against several tumor cell lines. Hispolon size, smaller than curcumin, fits better than curcumin into the active site of HDAC6, an enzyme involved in deacetylation of lysine residues. HDACs are considered potential targets for tumor drug discovery and hydroxamates are known inhibitors of HDACs. One of them, SAHA (Vorinostat) is used in clinical studies. Investigations into possible mechanisms for hispolon derivatives active against the HCT116 colon tumor cell line are done after examining the structural results obtained from hispolon X-ray crystal structures as well as performing associated computational docking and Density Functional Theory techniques on HDAC6. These studies show preference for the HDAC6 active site by chelating the Zn center, in contrast with other ineffective hispolon derivatives, that establish only a single bond to the metal center. Structure activity relationships make clear that hydrogenation of the hispolon bridge also leads to single bond (non chelate) hispolon-Zn binding, and consistently nullifies the antiproliferative action against HCT116 tumor.〈/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-S0968089619301907-ga1.jpg" width="366" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 5 July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yasushi Ogasawara, Yo Nakagawa, Chitose Maruyama, Yoshimitsu Hamano, Tohru Dairi〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Mitomycins, produced by several 〈em〉Streptomyces〈/em〉 strains, are potent anticancer antibiotics that comprise an aziridine ring fused to a tricyclic mitosane core. Mitomycins have remarkable ability to crosslink DNA with high efficiency. Despite long clinical history of mitomycin C, the biosynthesis of mitomycins, especially mitosane core formation, remains unknown. Here, we report 〈em〉in vitro〈/em〉 characterization of three proteins, MmcB (acyl carrier protein), MitE (acyl AMP ligase), and MitB (glycosyltransferase) involved in mitosane core formation. We show that 3-amino-5-hydroxybenzoic acid (AHBA) is first loaded onto MmcB by MitE at the expense of ATP. MitB then catalyzes glycosylation of AHBA-MmcB with uridine diphosphate-〈em〉N〈/em〉-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc) to generate a key intermediate, GlcNAc-AHBA-MmcB, which contains all carbon and nitrogen atoms of the mitosane core. These results provide important insight into mitomycin biosynthesis.〈/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-S0960894X19304548-ga1.jpg" width="490" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, Volume 27, Issue 16〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Zahra Mojallal-Tabatabaei, Parham Foroumadi, Mahsa Toolabi, Fereshteh Goli, Setareh Moghimi, Sussan Kaboudanian-Ardestani, Alireza Foroumadi〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The development of novel leishmanicidal agents that are capable of being replaced by the available therapeutic options has become a priority. In the present study, the synthesis and leishmanicidal activity of a series of 5-(nitroheteroaryl-2-yl)-1,3,4-thiadiazole derivatives are described. All compounds appeared to be potent anti-leishmanial agents against both promastigote and amastigote forms of 〈em〉Leishmania major〈/em〉 (〈em〉L. major)〈/em〉. Amongst the synthesized compounds, 2-([1,4′-bipiperidin]-1′-yl)-5-(5-nitrofuran-2-yl)-1,3,4-thiadiazole (〈strong〉IIa〈/strong〉) and 1-(5-(1-methyl-5-nitro-1〈em〉H〈/em〉-imidazole-2-yl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl)-4-(piperidine-1-yl) piperidine (〈strong〉IIc〈/strong〉) are the most effective. Infection index was statistically declined in the presence of all compounds. The analysis of redox-related factors revealed that exposure of 〈em〉L. major〈/em〉 cells to 〈strong〉IIa〈/strong〉 and 〈strong〉IIc〈/strong〉 led to an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS). Furthermore, two compounds were able to increase ROS and NO levels in infected macrophages in a dose-independent manner. In addition, we showed that these compounds induced cell death in promastigotes. Altogether, our results indicated the anti-leishmanial potential of 〈strong〉IIa〈/strong〉 and 〈strong〉IIc〈/strong〉 is mediated by apoptosis through an imbalance in the redox system resulting in the elevation of ROS. This new class of compound seems to hold great promise for the development of new and useful anti-leishmanial agents.〈/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-S0968089619303700-ga1.jpg" width="335" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 6 July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Tetrahedron Letters〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Mahender Khatravath, Naveen Kumar Mallurwar, Saidulu Konda, Jagan Gaddam, Pallavi Rao, Javed Iqbal, Prabhat Arya〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A practical stereoselective synthesis of the central C1–C10 fragment of eribulin and its two diastereomeric analogues is developed. Our approach relied on the use of 〈span〉l〈/span〉-ascorbic acid as the starting material which allowed accessing a key intermediate with a syn diol moiety (C9 and C10 of eribulin) and a carboxylic ester group. A functionalized six membered lactone having several required hydroxyl groups was then obtained. In a number of steps, the lactone was converted to an intermediate for our key 〈em〉oxa〈/em〉-Michael reaction. A regio- and stereocontrolled intramolecular oxa〈em〉-〈/em〉Michael reaction completed the synthesis of the C1–11 fragment having a trans-fused tetrahydropyrans with the exact stereochemistry of various hydroxyl groups, as in eribulin.〈/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-S0040403919306525-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 25 July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Tetrahedron Letters, Volume 60, Issue 30〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): 〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 25 July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Tetrahedron Letters, Volume 60, Issue 30〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): 〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, Volume 181〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Zhihua Wang, Ye Bai, Hongqi Zhang, Yang Liu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Waxy crude oil emulsions exhibit gelation behavior, with nucleation observed within a certain temperature range. A kinetic model was developed and validated based on the thermal parameters obtained from differential scanning calorimetry cooling thermograms, and the nucleation rates of various water-in-waxy crude oil emulsions were determined in the temperature range in which gelation occurs. Although temperature had a dominant effect on the gelation and nucleation behavior of waxy crude oil emulsions, the nucleation rate also increased as the water volume fraction in the emulsion increased. Emulsified water droplets with smaller radii can be completely covered by wax particles, inducing a greater nucleation rate. Subjecting the emulsions to a greater shearing strength also increased the nucleation rate. This study provided new insights into the nucleation processes that occur during the formation of waxy crude oil emulsion gels and, in particular, the role of the emulsification properties.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0920410519306424-fx1.jpg" width="496" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 5 July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Tetrahedron Letters〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Vladislav Y. Korotaev, Igor B. Kutyashev, Alexey Y. Barkov, Yuliya S. Rozhkova, Irina V. Plekhanova, Yurii V. Shklyaev, Vyacheslav Y. Sosnovskikh〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Ferrocene analogues of pyrrolo[2,1-〈em〉a〈/em〉]isoquinoline alkaloids, 2-(trifluoromethyl)-5,6-dihydroferroceno[〈em〉g〈/em〉]indolizine and 6-(trifluoromethyl)-8,9-dihydro-6〈em〉H〈/em〉-chromeno[4,3-〈em〉b〈/em〉]ferroceno[〈em〉g〈/em〉]indolizines, were obtained in 44–65% yield 〈em〉via〈/em〉 the Grob reaction between 1-nitro-1-(2,2,2-trifluoroethylidene)alkanes or 3-nitro-2-(trifluoromethyl)-2〈em〉H〈/em〉-chromenes and 1-alkyl-3,4-dihydroferroceno[〈em〉c〈/em〉]pyridines in 2-propanol at reflux.〈/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-S0040403919306537-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, Volume 181〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ulf Jakob F. Aarsnes, Nathan van de Wouw〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The present paper studies the effect of an axial elastic tool (known as a shock sub), mounted downhole in the drill-string, on the occurrence of axial and torsional self-excited vibrations. In particular, we evaluate the feasibility of stabilizing the axial dynamics, dominated by a bilateral (feedback) coupling between the bit-rock interaction and the drill-string wave-equations, through the insertion of a passive down-hole tool. We consider the problem of unwanted drill-string vibrations and explain how these vibrations relate to the so-called axial instability using a distributed parameter (infinite dimensional) model. The equations describing the feedback system causing this instability are derived and then extended to accommodate for the inclusion of the effect of the shock sub. Conditions for the design parameters of the shock sub needed to avoid axial instability are then derived and their practical feasibility are considered.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 25 July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Tetrahedron Letters, Volume 60, Issue 30〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): 〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, Volume 181〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): S. Mohammadi, M. Papa, E. Pereyra, C. Sarica〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Mechanistic modeling is one of the most popular approaches for the prediction of flow pattern, pressure gradient and liquid holdup in multiphase flow problems. Mechanistic models utilize the mass and momentum conservative equations in combination with a set of closure relationships. These closures, which are developed based on specific experimental setups, considerably affect the performance of the mechanistic models. Moreover, new closure relationships continue to be developed to improve the current mechanistic models. Thus, there is a need for a tool that allows the selection of a set of closure relationships for a given set of conditions. In this direction, this paper presents a methodology that relies on a genetic algorithm to search and select a set of closure relationships for a given experimental (field data) that minimize the error between measured and predicted pressure gradient. The results show the applying the genetic algorithm can improve the performance of the mechanistic model by about 277% when compared to selections of closure relationships made by a subject matter expert for the given data set.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Alwin Keil, Archisman Mitra, Amit K. Srivastava, Andrew McDonald〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Sustainable intensification (SI) approaches to agricultural development are urgently needed to meet the growing demand for crop staples while protecting ecosystem services and environmental quality. However, SI initiatives have been criticized for neglecting social welfare outcomes. A recent review found that better-off farmers benefitted disproportionately from SI and highlighted the dearth of studies assessing the equity of outcomes. In this study, we explore the social inclusiveness of zero-tillage (ZT) wheat adoption in Bihar, India. ZT is a proven SI technology for enhancing wheat productivity while boosting profitability and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural machinery in the densely populated Indo-Gangetic Plains. With an average landholding size of 0.39 ha, most farmers in Bihar depend on custom-hiring services to access the technology. While service provision models should foster inclusive growth by reducing financial barriers to technology adoption, early evidence suggested that smallholders remained at a disadvantage. Building on this previous research, we use a panel dataset from 961 wheat-growing households that spans a six-year period to analyze ZT adoption dynamics over time while accounting for the role of social networks and access to service provision. Using a heckprobit approach to correct for non-exposure bias, we compare determinants of ZT awareness and use in 2012 and 2015. We apply a multinomial logit model to identify determinants of early adoption, recent adoption, non-adoption, and dis-adoption. Furthermore, we explore the quality of ZT services as an additional dimension of socially-inclusive technology access. We find that the strong initial scale bias in ZT use declined substantially as awareness of the technology increased and the service economy expanded. Land fragmentation replaced total landholding size as a significant adoption determinant, which also affected the quality of ZT services received. Hence, farmers with small but contiguous landholdings appear to have gained a significant degree of access over time. We conclude that early-stage assessments of SI may be misleading, and that private sector-based service provision can contribute to socially inclusive development outcomes as markets mature.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Chiara Ravetti, Mare Sarr, Daniel Munene, Tim Swanson〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This paper analyses the ways in which ethnic identity and labour institutions shape favouritism and discrimination among workers. We conduct a lab experiment in the field with South African coal miners from various ethnic groups and with different trade union membership status. Our analysis suggests that union identity and ethnic identity are two social constructs that operate in a distinct and opposite fashion. Unionization acts as a factor of workers solidarity beyond the confine of union membership. Conversely, ethnicity operates as the linchpin through which discrimination among workers is infused not only between ethnic majority and minorities, but also within the majority group itself. We find that the widespread practice of subcontracting in the mining sector exacerbates ethnic discrimination among workers both between and within ethnic groupings.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Vanesa Jordá, Miguel Niño-Zarazúa〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Despite the growing interest in global inequality, assessing inequality trends is a major challenge because individual data on income or consumption is not often available. Nevertheless, the periodic release of certain summary statistics of the income distribution has become increasingly common. Hence, grouped data in form of income shares have been conventionally used to construct inequality trends based on lower bound approximations of inequality measures. This approach introduces two potential sources of measurement error: first, these estimates are constructed under the assumption of equality of incomes within income shares; second, the highest income earners are not included in the household surveys from which grouped data is obtained. In this paper, we propose to deploy a flexible parametric model, which addresses these two issues in order to obtain a reliable representation of the income distribution and accurate estimates of inequality measures. This methodology is used to estimate the recent evolution of global interpersonal inequality from 1990 to 2015 and to examine the effect of survey under-coverage of top incomes on the level and direction of global inequality. Overall, we find that item non-response at the top of the distribution substantially biases global inequality estimates, but, more importantly, it might also affect the direction of the trends.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: Neurotoxins are among the main components of scorpion and snake venoms. Scorpion neurotoxins affect voltage‐gated ion channels, while most snake neurotoxins target ligand‐gated ion channels, mainly nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). We report that scorpion venoms inhibit α‐bungarotoxin binding to both muscle‐type nAChR from Torpedo californica and neuronal human α7 nAChR. Toxins inhibiting nAChRs were identified as OSK‐1 (α‐KTx family) from Orthochirus scrobiculosus and HelaTx1 (κ‐KTx family) from Heterometrus laoticus, both being blockers of voltage‐gated potassium channels. With an IC50 of 1.6 μm, OSK1 inhibits acetylcholine‐induced current through mouse muscle‐type nAChR heterologously expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Other well‐characterized scorpion toxins from these families also bind to Torpedo nAChR with micromolar affinities. Our results indicate that scorpion neurotoxins present target promiscuity.

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ben Siegelman, Nora Haenn, Xavier Basurto〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This paper relates how fishermen in San Evaristo on Mexico’s Baja peninsula employ fabrications to strengthen bonds of trust and navigate the complexities of common pool resource extraction. We argue this trickery complicates notions of social capital in community-based natural resource management, which emphasize communitarianism in the form of trust. Trust, defined as a mutual dependability often rooted in honesty, reliable information, or shared expectations, has long been recognized as essential to common pool resource management. Despite this, research that takes a critical approach to social capital places attention on the activities that foster social networks and their norms by arguing that social capital is a process. A critical approach illuminates San Evaristeño practices of lying and joking across social settings and contextualizes these practices within cultural values of harmony. As San Evaristeños assert somewhat paradoxically, for them “lies build trust.” Importantly, a critical approach to this case study forces consideration of gender, an overlooked topic in social capital research. San Evaristeña women are excluded from the verbal jousting through which men maintain ties supporting their primacy in fishery management. Both men’s joke-telling and San Evaristeños’ aversion to conflict have implications for conservation outcomes. As a result, we use these findings to help explain local resistance to outsiders and external management strategies including land trusts, fishing cooperatives, and marine protected areas.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Lifang Cui, He Zhao, Yujun Yin, Chao Liang, Xiaolong Mao, Yingzheng Liu, Qilin Yu, Mingchun Li〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈em〉Candida albicans〈/em〉 is an important opportunistic pathogenic fungus in the human body. It is a common microbe inhabiting on the mucosa surfaces of healthy individuals, but may cause infections when the host immune system is weak. Autophagy is a “self-eating” process in eukaryotes, which can recover and utilize damaged organelles and misfolded proteins. Here we investigated the role of the autophagy-related protein Atg11 in 〈em〉C. albicans〈/em〉. Deletion of 〈em〉ATG11〈/em〉 led to the defect in growth under the nitrogen starvation condition. Western blotting and GFP localization further revealed that the transport and degradation of Atg8 was blocked in the 〈em〉atg11〈/em〉Δ/Δ mutant under both the nitrogen starvation and hypha-inducing conditions. Moreover, degradation of both Lap41 (the indicator of the cytoplasm-to-vacuole pathway) and Csp37 (the indicator of mitophagy) was also thoroughly suppressed in this mutant under nitrogen starvation. These results indicated that Atg11 plays an essential role in both non-selective and selective autophagy in 〈em〉C. albicans〈/em〉.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yi-meng Cao, Meng-yu Liu, Zhuo-wei Xue, Yu Qiu, Jie Li, Yang Wang, Qing-kai Wu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Promotion of wound healing is one of the most important fields in clinical medical research. This study aimed to evaluate the potential use of a new surface-structured bacterial cellulose(S-BC) biomaterial with human urine-derived stem cells (hUSCs) for wound healing. In vitro, EA.hy926 were inoculated on structured/non-structured bacterial cellulose, and the growth of EA.hy926 on bacterial cellulose in medium with/without conditioned medium of the hUSCs were observed to explore the effect of bacterial cellulose's surface structure and hUSCs-CM on vascular endothelial cell growth. In vivo, we covered wound surface with various BC materials and/or injected the hUSCs into the wound site on group BC, group S-BC, group hUSCs, group BC + hUSCs, group S-BC + hUSCs to evaluate the effect of S-BC and hUSCs on wound healing in rat full-thickness skin defect model. In vitro study, surface structure of S-BC could promote the growth and survival of EA.hy926, and the hUSCs-CM could further promote the proliferation of EA.hy926 on S-BC. In vivo study, wound healing rate of the group BC, group S-BC, group hUSCs was significantly accelerated, accompanied by faster re-epithelialization, collagen production and neovascularization than control group. It is note worthy that the effect of S-BC on wound healing was better than BC, the effect of S-BC + hUSCs on wound healing was better than BC + hUSCs. Moreover, the effect of S-BC combined with hUSCs on wound is better than treated with S-BC or hUSCs alone. All the findings suggest that the combination of S-BC and hUSCs could facilitate skin wound healing by promoting angiogenesis. This combination of the role of stem cells and biomaterial surface structures may provide a new way to address clinical wound healing problems.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Naohiro Katagiri, Satoru Nagatoishi, Kouhei Tsumoto, Hideya Endo〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Methionine aminopeptidase 2 (MetAP2) is one of the effector proteins of S100A4, a metastasis-associated calcium-binding protein. This interaction is involved in angiogenesis. The region of MetAP2 that interacts with S100A4 includes amino acids 170 to 208. A peptide corresponding to this region, named as NBD, has potent anti-angiogenic activity and suppresses tumor growth in a xenograft cancer model. However, the binding mode of NBD to S100A4 was totally unknown. Here we describe our analysis of the relationship between the inhibitory activity and the structure of NBD, which adopts a characteristic helix-turn-helix structure as shown by X-ray crystallographic analysis, and peptide fragments of NBD. We conducted physicochemical analyses of the interaction between S100A4 and the peptides, including surface plasmon resonance, microscale thermophoresis, and circular dichroism, and performed docking/molecular dynamics simulations. Active peptides had stable secondary structures, whereas inactive peptides had a little secondary structure. A computational analysis of the interaction mechanism led to the design of a peptide smaller than NBD, NBD-ΔN10, that possessed inhibitory activity. Our study provides a strategy for design for a specific peptide inhibitor against S100A4 that can be applied to the discovery of inhibitors of other protein-protein interactions.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Biomembranes, Volume 1861, Issue 9〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Anargyros Doukas, Ekaterini Karena, Maria Botou, Konstantinos Papakostas, Amalia Papadaki, Olympia Tziouvara, Evaggelia Xingi, Stathis Frillingos, Haralabia Boleti〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Recombinant expression systems for mammalian membrane transport proteins are often limited by insufficient yields to support structural studies, inadequate post-translational processing and problems related with improper membrane targeting or cytotoxicity. Use of alternative expression systems and optimization of expression/purification protocols are constantly needed. In this work, we explore the applicability of the laboratory strain LEXSY of the ancient eukaryotic microorganism 〈em〉Leishmania tarentolae〈/em〉 as a new expression system for mammalian nucleobase permeases of the NAT/NCS2 (Nucleobase-Ascorbate Transporter/Nucleobase-Cation Symporter-2) family. We achieved the heterologous expression of the purine-pyrimidine permease rSNBT1 from 〈em〉Rattus norvegicus〈/em〉 (tagged at C-terminus with a red fluorescent protein), as confirmed by confocal microscopy and biochemical analysis of the subcellular fractions enriched in membrane proteins. The cDNA of rSNBT1 has been subcloned in a pLEXSY-〈em〉sat-mrfp1〈/em〉vector and used to generate transgenic 〈em〉L〈/em〉. 〈em〉tarentolae-rsnbt1-mrfp1〈/em〉 strains carrying the pLEXSY-sat-〈em〉rsnbt1-mrfp1〈/em〉 plasmid either episomally or integrated in the chromosomal DNA. The chimeric transporter rSNBT1-mRFP1 is targeted to the ER and the plasma membrane of the 〈em〉L〈/em〉. 〈em〉tarentolae〈/em〉 promastigotes. The transgenic strains are capable of transporting nucleobases that are substrates of rSNBT1 but also of the endogenous 〈em〉L〈/em〉. 〈em〉tarentolae〈/em〉 nucleoside/nucleobase transporters. A dipyridamole-resistant Na〈sup〉+〈/sup〉-dependent fraction of uptake is attributed to the exogenously expressed rSNBT1.〈/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-S0005273619301452-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Unlabelled Image" title="Unlabelled Image"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xue Mei Li, Soo Jung Kim, Dong-Kyun Hong, Kyoung Eun Jung, Chong Won Choi, Young-Joon Seo, Jeung-Hoon Lee, Young Lee, Chang-Deok Kim〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) is a zinc-finger transcription factor that plays a role in terminal differentiation of epidermal keratinocytes. There are conflicting reports regarding the role of KLF4 in tumor development, with both the tumor suppressive and/or oncogenic properties depending on different conditions and cell types. In this study, we investigated the functional importance of KLF4 in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Immunohistochemistry showed that KLF4 expression was relatively low in SCC lesion compared to normal epidermis. To examine the effects of KFL4, we transduced SCC lines (SCC12 and SCC13 cells) with the KLF4-expressing recombinant adenovirus. Overexpression of KLF4 significantly decreased cell proliferation and colony forming activity. In addition, overexpression of KLF4 markedly reduced invasive potential, along with the downregulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related molecules. In a mechanistic study, KLF4 inhibited SOX2, of which expression is critical for tumor initiation and growth of SCC. Further investigations indicated that SOX2 expression is induced by TGF-β/SMAD signaling, and that overexpression of KLF4 inhibited SMAD signaling via upregulation of SMAD7, an important inhibitory SMAD molecule. Based on these data, KLF4 plays a tumor suppressive role in cutaneous SCC cells.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yan Shen, Shengnan Chen, Yan Zhao〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Hyperglycemia-induced podocyte injury plays a vital role in the development of diabetic nephropathy. Sulfiredoxin-1 (Srxn1) is emerging as a cytoprotective protein that protects from various insults in a wide range of cell types. However, whether Srxn1 is involved in regulating hyperglycemia-induced podocyte injury and participates in diabetic nephropathy remains unknown. In the present study, we aimed to explore the potential role of Srxn1 in regulating high glucose (HG)-induced apoptosis and oxidative stress of podocytes 〈em〉in vitro〈/em〉. Results demonstrated that Srxn1 was induced in HG-stimulated podocytes. The depletion of Srxn1 by Srxn1 siRNA-mediated gene silencing significantly exacerbated HG-induced apoptosis and the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), while Srxn1 overexpression attenuated HG-induced apoptosis and ROS production. In-depth molecular mechanism research revealed that Srxn1 overexpression promoted the nuclear expression of nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) and reinforced antioxidant response element (ARE)-mediated transcription activity. Moreover, results confirmed that Srxn1 increased the activation of Nrf2/ARE signaling associated with inactivating glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3β. Notably, the inhibition of GSK-3β significantly reversed Srxn1 silencing-induced adverse effects in HG-treated cells, while the knockdown of Nrf2 abrogated the Srxn1-mediated protective effect against HG-induced podocyte injury. Taken together, our results demonstrated that Srxn1 protects podocytes from HG-induced injury by promoting the activation of Nrf2/ARE signaling associated with inactivating GSK-3β, indicating a potential role of Srxn1 in diabetic nephropathy. Our study suggests that Srxn1 may serve as a potential target for kidney protection.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0006291X19313178-fx1.jpg" width="398" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Analytical Biochemistry, Volume 583〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Satoru Adachi, Hidetoshi Aoki, Yumi Ueda, Tetsuo Sudo, Ai Nozawa, Shigetaka Koga, Hisashi Suzuki, Sachie Shibayama, Naohiro Noda, Shin-ichiro Fujii, Sayaka Itoh, Sayaka Kawashima, Yoshihiko Suda, Hiroki Nakae〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The performance indicator called limit of detection for microarray platform (LODP) was defined in ISO 16578:2013. The methods to determine practical LODP were explored. In general, + 3 SD of the background is used as the signal strength of limit of detection and criteria for dividing positive and negative results. Since the negative signal had been defined differently for each microarray platform, signals obtained from Non-Probe Spots (NPS) installed on the microarrays were defined as the “background” of microarrays. LODP was determined as the lowest concentration of which the average signal exceeded Avg. + 3 SD of the background (NPS) and the signal was significantly different from those of the lower and higher adjacent concentration points measured with a diluted series of reference materials. For reliable qualitative analysis, the positive results can be defined as signals higher than those corresponding to LODP and negative results as lower signals, without determining limit of detection for all target probes. The use of LODP also enables comparisons of platform performances without checking sequence dependencies, and assists to select reliable and fitting platforms for experimental purposes.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical Pharmacology, Volume 168〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Daniel Lavall, Nadine Jacobs, Felix Mahfoud, Peter Kolkhof, Michael Böhm, Ulrich Laufs〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) overactivation promotes cardiac fibrosis. We studied the ability of the non-steroidal MR antagonist finerenone to prevent fibrotic remodeling. In neonatal rat cardiac fibroblasts, finerenone prevented aldosterone-induced nuclear MR translocation. Treatment with finerenone decreased the expression of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) (74 ± 15% of control, p = 0.005) and prevented aldosterone-induced upregulation of CTGF and lysyl oxidase (LOX) completely. Finerenone attenuated the upregulation of transforming growth factor ß (TGF-ß), which was induced by the Rac1 GTPase activator 〈span〉l〈/span〉-buthionine sulfoximine. Transgenic mice with cardiac-specific overexpression of Rac1 (RacET) showed increased left ventricular (LV) end-diastolic (63.7 ± 8.0 vs. 93.8 ± 25.6 µl, p = 0.027) and end-systolic (28.0 ± 4.0 vs. 49.5 ± 16.7 µl, p = 0.014) volumes compared to wild-type FVBN control mice. Treatment of RacET mice with 100 ppm finerenone over 5 months prevented LV dilatation. Systolic and diastolic LV function did not differ between the three groups. RacET mice exhibited overactivation of MR and 11ß hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2. Both effects were reduced by finerenone (reduction about 36%, p = 0.030, and 40%, p = 0.032, respectively). RacET mice demonstrated overexpression of TGF-ß, CTGF, LOX, osteopontin as well as collagen and myocardial fibrosis in the left ventricle. In contrast, expression of these parameters did not differ between finerenone-treated RacET and control mice. Finerenone prevented left atrial dilatation (6.4 ± 1.5 vs. 4.7 ± 1.4 mg, p = 0.004) and left atrial fibrosis (17.8 ± 3.1 vs. 12.8 ± 3.1%, p = 0.046) compared to vehicle-treated RacET mice. In summary, finerenone prevented from MR-mediated structural remodeling in cardiac fibroblasts and in RacET mice. These data demonstrate anti-fibrotic myocardial effects of finerenone.〈/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-S0006295219302564-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yu-Lun Huang, Gota Kawai, Atsuhiko Hasegawa, Mari Kannagi, Takao Masuda〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Reverse transcription of retroviral RNA is accomplished through a minus-strand strong stop cDNA (-sscDNA) synthesis and subsequent strand-transfer reactions. We have previously reported a critical role of guanosine (G) number at 5′-terminal of HIV-1 RNA for successful strand-transfer of -sscDNA. In this study, role(s) of the cap consisting of 7-methyl guanosine (〈sup〉7m〈/sup〉G), a hallmark of transcripts generated by RNA polymerase II, at the 5′-end G nucleotide (5′-G) of HIV-1 RNA were examined. In parallel, contribution of highly conserved GGG tract located at the U3/R boundary in 3′ terminal region of viral RNA (3′-GGG tract) was also addressed. The in vitro reverse transcription analysis using synthetic HIV-1 RNAs possessing the 5′-G with cap or triphosphate form demonstrated that the 5′-cap significantly increased strand-transfer efficiency of -sscDNA. Meanwhile, effect of the 5′-cap on the strand-transfer was retained in the reaction using mutant HIV-1 RNAs in which two Gs were deleted from the 3′-GGG tract. Lack of apparent contribution of the 3′-GGG tract during strand-transfer events in vitro was reproduced in the context of HIV-1 replication within cells. Instead, we noticed that the 3′-GGG tract might be required for efficient gene expression from proviral DNA. These results indicated that 〈sup〉7m〈/sup〉G of the cap on HIV-1 RNA might not be reverse-transcribed and a possible role of the 3′-GGG tract to accept the non-template nucleotide addition during -sscDNA synthesis might be less likely. The 5′-G modifications of HIV-1 RNAs by the cap- or phosphate-removal enzyme revealed that the cap or monophosphate form of the 5′-G was preferred for the 1st strand-transfer compared to the triphosphate or non-phosphate form. Taken together, a status of the 5′-G determined strand-transfer efficiency of -sscDNA without affecting the non-template nucleotide addition, probably by affecting association of the 5′-G with 3′-end region of viral RNA.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0006291X19312926-fx1.jpg" width="307" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 5 July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Space Policy〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Bergit Uhran, Catharine Conley, J. Andy Spry〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Planetary protection, or the protection of celestial bodies from potentially harmful contamination, has been required by international law since the ratification of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space in 1967. At that time, scientists were concerned about the potential of contaminating the Moon or bringing back a life form of lunar origin when astronauts returned to Earth with samples. The evidence is that the Moon does not contain indigenous life, but other celestial bodies may. Mars is of particular concern because of its habitability and plans to carry out a robotic sample return mission and even potentially human crewed missions in the near future (next 20–30 years). This article (recognizing that other national and international tasks are ongoing with detailed studies of technical aspects of containment and sample analysis) provides an overview of the policy aspects of planetary protection and sample return, discussing the history of planetary protection, lessons learned from the Apollo missions, and a potential strategy to ensure prevention contamination if a robotic sample return mission is carried out. It is recommended that the capability performed in the 1960s by the Interagency Committee on Back Contamination be reestablished, that regulations be developed to allow quarantine of anyone exposed to the samples, that scientific and technical personnel be trained in a receiving laboratory for at least 2 years prior to sample return, and that a test protocol be established for examining the samples. This will protect our biosphere while enabling groundbreaking research into conditions on Mars and any possible signs of life.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 5 July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Space Policy〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Harald Köpping Athanasopoulos〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This article discusses the Moon Village concept within the context of the increasing momentum to return human beings to the surface of the Moon. The article follows a dual objective. Firstly, the Moon Village is probably the most misunderstood among the plethora of ideas to explore the Moon scientifically and commercially. The article is therefore intended to explore what the Moon Village actually is. Secondly, the article explores the strengths and weaknesses of the Moon Village. The article is divided into three sections. The first section reviews the current Moon projects of public and private space actors, including the United States, Russia, China, SpaceX and Blue Origin. It sets the scene for the argument that the Moon Village has entered global discourse on space within a positive political environment. The second section discusses the premises of ESA chief Jan Wörner’s Moon Village concept, putting forward that the Moon Village is intended as an open concept rather than as a concrete plan. It is a process rather than a project and it is meant to initiate a global conversation on humanity’s future on the Moon. As such, the world café is an appropriate metaphor to illustrate the idea behind the Moon Village. In the third and final section a SWAT/PEST analysis is conducted to assess the feasibility of the Moon Village, highlighting that one of the major opportunities of the project is to promote international cooperation. The article concludes by supporting the institutionalist hypothesis that the Moon Village is arguably a translation of the ESA system to the global level, as participation is voluntary and as it builds on the strengths of each cooperation partner. As such, the Moon Village in indeed a new way of doing space on the global level.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 1 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Chemical Physics, Volume 526〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Min You, Haoran Fan, Yang Wang, Wenkai Zhang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Tryptophan derivatives have long been used as site-specific fluorescent probes. 4-cyanotryptophan emits in the visible region and is the smallest blue fluorescent amino acid probe. We performed UV–Vis, steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy on six aldehyde-derivatized indoles dissolved in water and found that indole-4-carboxaldehyde (I4A) has the largest redshifts among all reported indole derivatives and can emit in the green region of the visible spectrum, which suggests that substitution of the indole ring of Trp using I4A may make a green fluorescent amino acid probe. It differs from tryptophan by only 3 atoms and will be the smallest green fluorescent amino acid probe that has great potential to be used in spectroscopic and microscopic measurements of proteins. We also found that I4A could be used as a fluorescent probe to detect trace water in organic solvents since its maximum emission wavelength is extremely sensitive to local hydrogen-bonding status.〈/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-S0301010419305956-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xiong Wang, Huishou Zhao, Wenjun Yan, Yi Liu, Tao Yin, Shan Wang, Miaomiao Fan, Congye Li, Ling Zhang, Ling Tao〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Atherosclerosis is characterized by the accumulation of excess cholesterol in plaques. Reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) plays a key role in the removal of cholesterol. In the present study, we examined the effect of thioredoxin-1 (Trx-1) on RCT and explored the underlying mechanism. We found that Trx-1 promoted RCT 〈em〉in vivo〈/em〉, as did T0901317, a known liver X receptor (LXR) ligand. T0901317 also inhibited the development of atherosclerotic plaques but promoted liver steatosis. Furthermore, Trx-1 promoted macrophage cholesterol efflux to apoAI 〈em〉in vitro〈/em〉. Mechanistically, Trx-1 promoted nuclear translocation of LXRα and induced the expression of ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1). Apolipoprotein E knockout (apoE−/−) mice fed an atherogenic diet were daily injected intraperitoneally with saline or Trx-1 (0.33 mg/kg). Trx-1 treatment significantly inhibited the development of atherosclerosis and induced the expression of ABCA1 in macrophages retrieved from apoE−/− mice. Moreover, the liver steatosis was attenuated by Trx-1. Overall, we demonstrated that Trx-1 promotes RCT by upregulating ABCA1 expression through induction of nuclear translocation of LXRα, and protects liver from steatosis.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 13 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 1〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): 〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Azuma Kosai, Nanao Horike, Yoshiaki Takei, Akihiro Yamashita, Kaori Fujita, Takashi Kamatani, Noriyuki Tsumaki〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The maturation of chondrocytes is strictly regulated for proper endochondral bone formation. Although recent studies have revealed that intracellular metabolic processes regulate the proliferation and differentiation of cells, little is known about how changes in metabolite levels regulate chondrocyte maturation. To identify the metabolites which regulate chondrocyte maturation, we performed a metabolome analysis on chondrocytes of Sik3 knockout mice, in which chondrocyte maturation is delayed. Among the metabolites, acetyl-CoA was decreased in this model. Immunohistochemical analysis of the Sik3 knockout chondrocytes indicated that the expression levels of phospho-pyruvate dehydrogenase (phospho-Pdh), an inactivated form of Pdh, which is an enzyme that converts pyruvate to acetyl-CoA, and of Pdh kinase 4 (Pdk4), which phosphorylates Pdh, were increased. Inhibition of Pdh by treatment with CPI613 delayed chondrocyte maturation in metatarsal primordial cartilage in organ culture. These results collectively suggest that decreasing the acetyl-CoA level is a cause and not result of the delayed chondrocyte maturation. Sik3 appears to increase the acetyl-CoA level by decreasing the expression level of Pdk4. Blocking ATP synthesis in the TCA cycle by treatment with rotenone also delayed chondrocyte maturation in metatarsal primordial cartilage in organ culture, suggesting the possibility that depriving acetyl-CoA as a substrate for the TCA cycle is responsible for the delayed maturation. Our finding of acetyl-CoA as a regulator of chondrocyte maturation could contribute to understanding the regulatory mechanisms controlling endochondral bone formation by metabolites.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Saujanya Acharya, Shubhankar Dutta, Sucheta Chopra, Kakoli Bose〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Human HtrA3 (High temperature requirement protease A3) is a trimeric PDZ bearing propapoptotic serine protease, which is involved in various diseases including cancer and pre-eclampsia. Proposed to be a tumor suppressor, its role as a potential therapeutic target is strongly advocated. Therefore, it becomes imperative to gain insights into its mechanism of action and regulation. Allostery is a well-known mechanism of catalytic activation for many HtrA3 homologs, which opens up avenues for manipulating enzyme functions for therapeutic intervention. In our study, through 〈em〉in silico〈/em〉 and biochemical approaches, we have reported for the first time that HtrA3 shows allosteric behaviour. We identified a novel selective binding pocket, which triggers conformational reorientations through signal propagation to the distantly situated active-site pocket via the functionally important loop regions. Using molecular docking, simulation studies and biochemical studies we have identified the regulatory movements at and around the active site pocket. Our study is the first one to report a non-classical binding site for HtrA3, which is instrumental for formation of a catalytically efficient orthosteric pocket upon substrate binding.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0006291X19313312-fx1.jpg" width="470" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Farnoush Asghari-Paskiabi, Mohammad Imani, Hashem Rafii-Tabar, Mehdi Razzaghi-Abyaneh〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Selenium sulfide is a well-known bioactive chemical whose biosynthesis as a nanoparticle (NP) is a controversial issue. In the present study, we employed 〈em〉Saccharomyces cerevisiae〈/em〉 to generate a novel synthetic process of selenium sulfide NPs. The addition of selenium/sulfur precursors to 〈em〉S. cerevisiae〈/em〉 culture produced NPs, which we isolated and characterized the physicochemical properties, toxicity, and antifungal activity. Transmission electron microscopy indicated the presence of the NPs inside the cells. Selenium sulfide NPs were successfully synthesized with average size of 6.0 and 153 nm with scanning electron micrographs and 360 and 289 nm in Zeta sizer using different precursors. The presence of sulfur/selenium in the particles was confirmed by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and elemental mapping. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy supported the production of selenium sulfide NPs. X-ray diffractograms showed the presence of characteristic peaks of selenium sulfide NPs which were further confirmed by mass spectrometry. The obtained NPs strongly inhibited the growth of pathogenic fungi that belonged to the genera 〈em〉Aspergillus〈/em〉, 〈em〉Candida〈/em〉, 〈em〉Alternaria〈/em〉 and the dermatophytes, while no cytotoxicity was observed in MTT assay. In conclusion, efficient green synthesis of selenium sulfide NPs with appropriate physicochemical properties is possible in bio-systems like 〈em〉S. cerevisiae〈/em〉.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0006291X19313361-fx1.jpg" width="285" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Masashi Maekawa, Hiromi Hiyoshi, Jun Nakayama, Kohki Kido, Tatsuya Sawasaki, Kentaro Semba, Eiji Kubota, Takashi Joh, Shigeki Higashiyama〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 3 subunit D (EIF3D) binds to the 5′-cap of specific mRNAs, initiating their translation into polypeptides. From a pathological standpoint, EIF3D has been observed to be essential for cell growth in various cancer types, and cancer patients with high EIF3D mRNA levels exhibit poor prognosis, indicating involvement of EIF3D in oncogenesis. In this study, we found, by mass spectrometry, that Cullin-3 (CUL3)/KCTD10 ubiquitin (Ub) ligase forms a complex with EIF3D. We also demonstrated that EIF3D is K27-polyubiquitinated at the lysine 153 and 275 residues in a KCTD10-dependent manner in human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells. Similar to other cancers, high expression of EIF3D significantly correlated with poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma patients, and depletion of EIF3D drastically suppressed HepG2 cell proliferation. These results indicate that EIF3D is a novel substrate of CUL3/KCTD10 Ub ligase and suggest involvement of K27-polyubiquitinated EIF3D in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 16 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Tetrahedron, Volume 75, Issue 33〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Chuang Zhao, Gao-Feng Zha, Wan-Yin Fang, Njud S. Alharbi, Hua-Li Qin〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A simple, practical and gram-scale process for direct transformation of primary alcohols or silyl ethers to ammonium salts was developed. This method has the feathers of easy work-up (a simple filtration), mild condition, high yield, great practicality and robustness. And the application of the ammonium salts in Suzuki coupling reaction was also accomplished.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0040402019307495-fx1.jpg" width="500" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/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: 15 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, Volume 257〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Dan Yang, Liyun Cao, Liangliang Feng, Jianfeng Huang, Koji Kajiyoshi, Yongqiang Feng, Qianqian Liu, Wenbin Li, Li Feng, Guojuan Hai〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The synergistic achievement of geometric optimization and surface/interfacial modulation of electrocatalysts for booting the overall efficiency of water splitting is highly desirable yet challenging. Herein, a novel hierarchical Ni〈sub〉3〈/sub〉S〈sub〉2〈/sub〉/VS〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 nanohorn array grown on nickel foam (NS-horn/NF) is prepared by a self-driven synthesis strategy. We demonstrate that 〈em〉in-situ〈/em〉 generation of VS〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 in the NS-horn/NF not only triggers the formation of such unique hierarchical architecture, but favors the graft of enriched active bridging S〈sub〉2〈/sub〉〈sup〉2−〈/sup〉 on the strong coupling interface between Ni〈sub〉3〈/sub〉S〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 and VS〈sub〉4〈/sub〉, and thus the enhanced HER kinetics. More importantly, the abundant active nickel oxides for the OER availably form on the interface benefiting from the surface reconstruction of NS-horn/NF due to the partial leaching of vanadium (IV) of VS〈sub〉4〈/sub〉, which promotes the adsorption of OH〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 and leads to the fast OER rate-determining step in alkaline media. When employed to assemble an alkaline electrolyzer as both anode and cathode, NS-horn/NF electrode only needs a small voltage of 1.57 V to yield 10 mA cm〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉 and retains this activity for at least 70 h. Our findings put forward fresh insights into the rational design of highly efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts toward water spitting for next-generation energy conversion and storage devices.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0926337319306575-ga1.jpg" width="433" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, Volume 578〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yadan Guo, Chenxi Li, Yiqin Guo, Xuegang Wang, Xiaomeng Li〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉) is a new type of nonmetal polymeric semiconductor photocatalyst for removal of pollutants. To overcome the low BET surface and the low electron–hole recombination rate of the g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 photocatalysts, we successfully synthesized g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉/Na-bentonite composites using an ultrasonic-assisted method. The XRD showed that the composite was composed of g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 and Na-bentonite. The analyses of TEM and XPS indicated that graphite carbon nitride was successfully intercalated on Na-bentonite via the ultrasonic-assisted strategy, and the g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉/Na-bentonite nanocomposites presented remarkable light absorption capacities and mesoporous structure observed by UV–vis DRS and BET method. In addition, the as-prepared composites can be used for the photocatalytic removal of single RhB or Cr(VI), and the efficiencies of the Cr(VI) reduction are increased from 53.2% to 88.6% in RhB/Cr(VI) mix-system. Superior stability and high efficiencies of g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉/Na-bentonite composites were also exhibited for up to 4 cycles. The photocatalytic enhancement was due to the strong adsorption and the higher charge separation efficiency of as-prepared g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉/Na-bentonite composites.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0927775719306065-ga1.jpg" width="219" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, Volume 578〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Lifeng Chen, Zhen Qian, Liang Li, Meilong Fu, Hui Zhao, Lipei Fu, Gang Li〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Water production is getting worse along with the continuous water injection in the reservoir with fracture, but common hydrogels cannot be successfully applied for water shutoff due to its poor resident ability in fracture. In this work, an interpenetrating network hydrogel has been developed innovatively by polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber and common polyacrylamide (PAM) hydrogel. Plugging ability, long-term thermal stability and the interaction between PVA fiber and hydrogel were detailedly studied. Results show that PVA fiber is beneficial to the stability of the PAM hydrogel, and the syneresis rate can be decreased from 30% to 3% on the 120〈sup〉th〈/sup〉 day. PVA fiber accelerates the hydrogel gelation, and the high concentration of fiber leads to good hydrogel strength. PVA fiber increases the amount of the bound water in hydrogel, leading the hydrophilcity increase of hydrogel. An interpenetrating network is formed on the micrometer level, resulting from the three-group crosslinking among polymer, cross-linker and fiber. Compared with common PAM hydrogel, the interpenetrating network hydrogel has better water shutoff effect and EOR performance. Core flow experiment and micromodel test show that the interpenetrating network hydrogel forms an effective bridge in fracture, and it is hard to be moved due to the water washing. The introduction of fiber to hydrogel is an innovative research, which not only improves the water shutoff effect of hydrogel in fracture, but also provides reference to increase the performance of drilling fluid, fracturing solution and EOR polymer utilized in petroleum engineering.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉Micropresentation of synergistic effect of PVA fiber on PAM solution (A, B) and hydrogel (C, D).〈/p〉 〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0927775719305928-ga1.jpg" width="252" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, Volume 578〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Krzysztof Kolman, Zareen Abbas〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations provide molecular level information about the interaction of organic molecules with the solid surfaces. There has been much development of this method to simulate the interaction of organic molecules with neutral surfaces but relatively less information is available regarding the interactions with charged surfaces. In this study we have developed MD model for the charged silica surface and have investigated the interactions of different benzoic acid derivatives with the charged silica surface in pure and saline water at acidic, neutral and basic pH. The investigated molecules were 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid (23DHBA), 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (34DHBA), 1,2,4-benzenetricarboxylic acid (BTCA) and phthalic acid (PHTHA). To simplify the analysis of results, three different simulation systems were considered. Clustering simulations showed how molecules aggregate in solution, pulling simulations provided quantitate information regarding the interactions of single molecule with the silica surface, whereas adsorption simulations focused on the adsorption of multiple molecules on the surface. In general, at pH 2–3, all investigated molecules were clustering and were attracted towards the surface. At pH 7, due to arising electrostatic repulsion, the interactions became weaker which prevented 23DHBA, 34DHBA and BTCA from clustering, however, they continued to adsorb on the silica surface. The adsorption of 23DHBA and 34DHBA decreased significantly at pH 9–10 due to electrostatic repulsion between the molecules and charged silica surface, while BTCA adsorbed slightly stronger due to interactions with ions close to the surface. PHTHA molecules behaved differently by clustering stronger and adsorbing weaker at higher pH. The results of MD simulations presented in this work by using pulling and adsorption approaches provide possibility to compare the results with experimental data.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0927775719301748-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, Volume 578〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): José G. Parra, Héctor Domínguez, Yosslen Aray, Peter Iza, Ximena Zarate, Eduardo Schott〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Structural characteristics, interfacial distribution and molecular interactions of the components of the CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉(gas)/SDS/water/SDS/CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉(gas) systems as a function of the CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉(gas)/water interface coverage by the SDS surfactant to different amounts of the CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 were studied with molecular dynamics simulations and the NVT ensemble. Initially, the repulsive nonbonding parameter between the water oxygen and CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 oxygen was adjusted to improve the prediction of the solvation free energy, solubility of the CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 gas in water and the behavior of the CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉(gas)/SDS/water/SDS/CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉(gas) systems at molecular level. Our results show that the stability of the studied foams can be improved incrementing of the vapor/water interface coverage with the SDS surfactant and the amount of CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 in the system. With the highest interface coverage, the sulfate group has a molecular array more compact at the interface. Furthermore, CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 gas have a reduction of the diffusion across of the hydrocarbon chains to the water layer with an increment of the number of CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 molecules in the system, indicating a behavior more hydrophobic of the CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 gas. The tendencies obtained of the simulations are consistent with the reported experimental results.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0927775719305989-ga1.jpg" width="239" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, Volume 257〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Tao Zeng, Shuqi Li, Yi Shen, Haiyan Zhang, Hongru Feng, Xiaole Zhang, Lingxiangyu Li, Zongwei Cai, Shuang Song〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Herein, we designed a novel sodium-doped covalent triazine-based framework with a 3D honeycomb nanoarchitecture (H-CTF-Na) as visible-light-responsive organocatalyst to efficiently drive advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). Experimental and theoretical findings reveal that Na doping narrows the band gap by elevating the band edges and the 3D hierarchical nanocellular morphology improves light harvesting and electron transfer. With these merits, H-CTF-Na showed a photoactivity enhancement of 4.9–6.0-fold for the degradation of carbamazepine (CBZ) compared to those of pristine CTFs and g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 through peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation under visible-light irradiation. The quenching and EPR results indicate that a synergistic effect between photooxidation (〈em〉h〈sup〉+〈/sup〉〈/em〉) and PMS activation (〈sup〉•〈/sup〉OH and SO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉〈sup〉•−〈/sup〉) derived from the vigorous capture of photogenerated e〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 by PMS is responsible for the marked efficacy of H-CTF-Na/vis/PMS system. Moreover, this system exhibited excellent versatility in degrading other organics (such as various phenols and dyes) and good reusability in terms of five high-efficiency recycled uses.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0926337319306617-ga1.jpg" width="265" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, Volume 257〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Zhihong Ye, Enric Brillas, Francesc Centellas, Pere Lluís Cabot, Ignasi Sirés〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The feasibility of destruction of organic pollutants in water at near-neutral pH by homogeneous electro-Fenton (EF) process employing a soluble Fe(III)–EDDS complex as catalyst is demonstrated for the first time. The performance of the Fe(III)–EDDS-assisted EF process with carbon-felt or air-diffusion cathodes was evaluated from the degradation of butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) in sulfate medium. The influence of applied current, pH and Fe(III):EDDS ratio and dosage on BHA decay and mineralization was related to the evolution of H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 and iron concentrations. Using Fe(III)–EDDS, up to 50% Fe(II) regeneration was achieved in 10 min, whereas only 23% was transformed using hydrated Fe〈sup〉3+〈/sup〉. Almost total removal of BHA was achieved thanks to homogenous Fenton, heterogeneous Fenton with cathodically adsorbed Fe(III), and electrocatalysis. The mineralization partly corresponded to the gradual destruction of EDDS by hydroxyl radical (〈em〉k〈/em〉〈sub〉abs〈/sub〉 = 5.22 × 10〈sup〉9〈/sup〉 M〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 s〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉), and involved the formation of 5 oxidation and 6 dimerization or cyclization by-products.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0926337319306538-ga1.jpg" width="327" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, Volume 257〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Jiangyao Chen, Zhigui He, Yuemeng Ji, Guiying Li, Taicheng An, Wonyong Choi〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The photocatalytic transformation mechanisms of styrene, were compared in TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 system under ultraviolet (UV) and vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) irradiations. TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉/VUV displayed higher photocatalytic degradation and mineralization efficiencies (100% and 51% within 8 min) than TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉/UV (86% and 21% within 60 min), and the increased efficiencies were contributed from enhanced production of 〈sup〉〈img src="https://sdfestaticassets-eu-west-1.sciencedirectassets.com/shared-assets/16/entities/rad"〉〈/sup〉OH through VUV photolysis of H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O and O〈sub〉2〈/sub〉. The addition reactions of these enhanced 〈sup〉〈img src="https://sdfestaticassets-eu-west-1.sciencedirectassets.com/shared-assets/16/entities/rad"〉〈/sup〉OH converted styrene to benzaldehyde and other small molecular carbonyl compounds in TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉/VUV gas system. Due to absence of atmospheric 〈sup〉〈img src="https://sdfestaticassets-eu-west-1.sciencedirectassets.com/shared-assets/16/entities/rad"〉〈/sup〉OH in TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉/UV system, styrene underwent cycloisomerisation to form a bicyclic byproduct, benzocyclobutene, which further transformed to benzocyclobutenone, benzocyclobutenol, phthalan, phthalide and phthalic anhydride on photocatalyst TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉. Meanwhile, both systems shared same pathways from styrene to monoaromatic alcohols, ketones, aldehydes on TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 through 〈sup〉〈img src="https://sdfestaticassets-eu-west-1.sciencedirectassets.com/shared-assets/16/entities/rad"〉〈/sup〉OH addition. Our results provide a deep insight into 〈sup〉〈img src="https://sdfestaticassets-eu-west-1.sciencedirectassets.com/shared-assets/16/entities/rad"〉〈/sup〉OH-determined photocatalytic transformation mechanism of AHs and their final fate in atmospheric environment.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0926337319306587-ga1.jpg" width="247" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, Volume 578〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): M. Jinish Antony, C. Albin Jolly, K. Rohini Das, T.S. Swathy〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉We report here the synthesis of polyaniline (PANI) nanomaterials using sodium bis (2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (AOT) micelles assisted chemical oxidative interfacial polymerization. We have employed two interfaces (chloroform-water and hexane-water) and two oxidizing agents (ammonium persulfate and ferric chloride). The anionic surfactant sodium bis (2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (AOT) forms normal micelles in aqueous solution and reverse micelles in hydrophobic solvents like hexane or chloroform. The factors influencing the properties and morphologies of polyaniline nanomaterials such as monomer: surfactant ratio, monomer: oxidant ratio, types of interfaces and oxidants used have been studied. Powder X-ray diffraction of the polyaniline nanomaterials have revealed that polyaniline samples were semi-crystalline in nature. Morphology of polyaniline samples studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) have revealed that most of the polyaniline nanomaterials synthesized using ferric chloride possess spherical nature, whereas polyaniline samples synthesized using ammonium persulfate (APS) possess short nanofibers especially at lower aniline/AOT mole ratio in feed (12.5–6.5). The four probe electrical conductivity of the samples were found to be of the order of 1.8 × 10〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 to 8.6 × 10〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 S/cm. Thermal stability of the polyaniline samples recorded by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) have revealed that polyaniline samples were thermally stable up to 275 °C for 10% weight loss. Interfacial polymerization of aniline monomer using reverse micelles of AOT in hexane phase and ammonium persulfate as oxidizing agent in aqueous phase have been proved to be efficient method for the synthesis of short polyaniline nanofibers.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0927775719306090-ga1.jpg" width="316" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, Volume 578〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Feng Zhao, Shibin Wang, Xin Shen, Jianchun Guo, Yuxuan Liu〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Inhibiting acid-rock reaction rate is an important key in the field of acid fracturing. Based on the acid-rock reaction mechanism and the performance characteristics of surfactant, the surfactant is applied to cover the rock surface for forming an adsorption layer, which can keep H〈sup〉+〈/sup〉 from contacting the surface of rock during acid fracturing. In this paper, a series of cationic Gemini surfactants with different hydrophobic chain length are synthesized (C〈sub〉n〈/sub〉-4-C〈sub〉n〈/sub〉, n = 12, 14, 16).The surface tension, adhesion work, and AFM are used to investigate the effect of hydrophobic chain length and concentration of surfactant on surface activities, adsorption morphology and adsorption capacities. The static acid-rock reaction rate is measured and the surface of the rock plate is digitally characterized by 3D scanning. The results show that Gemini surfactants have the high surface activities. It can be recognized from AFM that as the length of the carbon chain increases, the aggregation of Gemini surfactants on the surface to form micelles becomes more and more obvious, resulting in a decrease in the density and area of the adsorption. However there are few differences for adsorption capacities. Therefore, 12-4-12 can restart H〈sup〉+〈/sup〉 most efficiently. This conclusion is proved by static acid-rock reaction. In addition, H〈sup〉+〈/sup〉 only reacted with the rock from the micro fractures of the adsorption layer formed by 12-4-12, the surface morphology of the rock plate after etching is the best rugged. In conclusion, it is believed that using the Gemini surfactant to form an adsorption layer on the rock surface is a new approach for inhibiting acid rock reaction rate and has great potential in oil field application.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉Inhibiting acid-rock reaction rate is an important key in the field of acid fracturing. The morphology of the surfactant on the rock controls the rate between acid and rock. The properties of the different chain length surfactant form different layered structure on the substrate. 12-4-12 can play an efficacious role to adsorb on the rock surface to prevent H〈sup〉+〈/sup〉 from contacting the surface of rock.〈/p〉 〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0927775719306119-ga1.jpg" width="295" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, Volume 578〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Zhao Mu, Jianhao Hua, Sai Kumar Tammina, Yaling Yang〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In current investigation, we synthesized a new Cu, N co-doped carbon dots/Ag〈sub〉3〈/sub〉PO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 (Cu, N-CDs/Ag〈sub〉3〈/sub〉PO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉) nanocomposite by one-step thermolysis and precipitation method. In addition, we evaluated the activity of Ag〈sub〉3〈/sub〉PO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 and Cu,N-CDs/Ag〈sub〉3〈/sub〉PO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 nanomaterials in degrading an environmental pollutant called neutral red under visible radiations. Compared to the pure Ag〈sub〉3〈/sub〉PO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉, Cu, N-CDs/Ag〈sub〉3〈/sub〉PO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 had shown high degradation efficiency by more than 25% and shown good recyclability. The synthesized nanocomposite was characterized by XRD, HRTEM, FT-IR, Raman and XPS techniques. The optical property of Cu, N-CDs/Ag〈sub〉3〈/sub〉PO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 nanocomposite was examined with UV–vis DRS (Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy). And the excellent photocatalytic performance of this Cu, N-CDs system was ascribed to the increased conversion of ·O〈sub〉2〈/sub〉〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 under visible light irradiations and effective separation of electron-hole pairs, results in inhibited photocorrosion of the system. Also, this nanocomposite could successfully degrade the neutral red dye (mention the concentration) about 95.5% under LED irradiations within 60 min.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0927775719306193-ga1.jpg" width="222" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, Volume 578〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Juan David Beltrán, Camilo Eduardo Sandoval-Cuellar, Katherine Bauer, María Ximena Quintanilla-Carvajal〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Liposomes are spherical vesicles which can be used as encapsulation systems for transporting and releasing many biocomposites which can be affected by conditions in the gastrointestinal tract; such affectation means that the dominant degradation mechanisms and the factors influencing such degradation must be identified by means of digestion studies. This study was thus aimed to evaluate the physical stability and intestinal digestibility of nanoliposomes (NLs) produced by microfluidization (MF) and ultrasound (US) for high oleic palm oil (HOPO) encapsulation. A standardized 〈em〉in vitro〈/em〉, three-stage (〈em〉i.e.〈/em〉 oral, gastric and intestinal) static model of the gastrointestinal tract was used which had been published by the INFOGEST research network. No statistically significant changes were observed concerning any of the properties regarding stability during the oral phase; however, both types of NL studied here became destabilized during the gastric phase by environmental conditions, such as acid pH and high ion concentration. This was reflected by increased average particle size, the polydispersity index and the Z potential. Decreased particle size was observed during intestinal digestion regarding both technologies compared to gastric phase. MF-produced NLs were larger than US-produced ones during this phase. Intestinal enzymes degraded the system’s triglycerides, leading to 116.04 ± 2.62%w MF and 80.39 ± 2.26%w US free fatty acid release.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0927775719305862-ga1.jpg" width="389" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, Volume 578〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Chengwei Wang, Lili Ma, Qingkun Wen, Baoxiang Wang, Rongjiang Han, Chuncheng Hao, Kezheng Chen〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In this work, an electrorheological (ER) fluid containing titanium oxide@ H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉Ti〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉5〈/sub〉 nanotube core/shell nanocomposite was prepared via the combination of hydrothermal and solvo-thermal method. The morphological evolution was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. Furthermore, the structural characteristics of the as-obtained core/shell nanoparticles were confirmed by x-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and nitrogen adsorption measurements respectively. Titanium oxide@H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉Ti〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉5〈/sub〉 nanotube core/shell nanocomposite is showed to possess tube-like and core-shell structure and enhanced ER properties under external electric fields.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S092777571930617X-ga1.jpg" width="235" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Materials Letters, Volume 253〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Camila Machado de Oliveira, Thuani Gesser Müller, Rafael Alves André, Elen Machado de Oliveira, Elis Machado de Oliveira, Michael Peterson, Fabiano Raupp-Pereira〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Pyrite is part of the tailings from coal mining and presents a great valorization potential technological, economic and environmental in the production of nanoparticles. In this work, pyrite from coal mining was subjected to high-energy milling and the particle size reduction, electrical and optical properties were evaluated. With the milling parameters used, the apparent size of the crystallites was reduced from 34.7 nm to 23.8 nm, resulting in highly unstable particles and charge carriers with low mobility. Due to this instability, submicron particles were observed, in the range of 300–500 nm, with a hydrodynamic diameter of 1257 ± 36 nm. The processed pyrite showed good visible light absorption and an indirect band gap of 1.51 eV.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Materials Letters, Volume 253〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Zunyu Ke, Changbo Yi, Lei Zhang, ZhengYuan He, Jun Tan, YeHua Jiang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The Ti-13Nb-13Zr-10Cu alloy as new biomedical material was prepared by Ar-arc melting. The microstructure characteristics, mechanical properties and antibacterial properties of Ti-13Nb-13Zr-10Cu alloy after heat treatment were studied. Results show that the Ti-13Nb-13Zr-10Cu alloy is mainly composed of 〈em〉β〈/em〉-Ti, 〈em〉α〈/em〉-Ti, and some Cu-containing phases, 〈em〉e.g.〈/em〉 CuZr, Ti〈sub〉2〈/sub〉Cu, and Cu〈sub〉10〈/sub〉Zr〈sub〉7〈/sub〉. With the addition of Cu, the 〈em〉α〈/em〉-Ti phase significantly decreased, and some Cu-containing phases appeared in the form of reticular structure, which was mainly consisted of Cu, Zr and Ti elements. The CuZr and Ti〈sub〉2〈/sub〉Cu phases in the reticular structure were identified by TEM. Compared with CP-Ti and Ti-13Nb-13Zr alloy, the elastic modulus of Ti-13Nb-13Zr-10Cu alloy was significantly reduced to 66 GPa, but its yield strength and compressive strength still retained at high levels. The Ti-13Nb-13Zr-10Cu alloy after 24 h of culture with 〈em〉S. aureus〈/em〉 exhibits an enhanced antibacterial activity.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Materials Letters, Volume 253〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Liman Zhao, Zechuan Yang, Yanchun Li, Tongfei Shi, Danfeng Pei, Fan Li〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Biomimetic glycopolymers poly(dopamine methacrylamide-〈em〉co〈/em〉-lactobionamidoethyl methacrylate) (PDMA〈em〉-co-〈/em〉PLAMA) based ligand was synthesized, used to effectively reduce the gold ions and anchored on the surface of gold nanoparticles to prepare the glycopolymers modified gold nanoparticles (Gly@AuNPs). The Gly@AuNPs were prepared and stabilized in one step, which did not require classical thiol-containing polymer to stabilize AuNPs. The Gly@AuNPs were found to be highly stable at high salt concentrations (500 mM NaCl) and different pH conditions over a long time. These stable Gly@AuNPs could provide useful information in applications of targeted cancer imaging and photothermal therapy.〈/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-S0167577X1930970X-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hazardous Materials, Volume 380〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Chi Xu, Lirong Gao, Minghui Zheng, Lin Qiao, Lili Cui, Kunran Wang, Di Huang〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Short- and medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs and MCCPs) in commercial rubber track products and raw materials (rubber granules and adhesives) were investigated by two-dimensional gas chromatography with electron-capture negative-ionization mass spectrometry (GC × GC-ECNI-MS). The mean SCCP and MCCP concentrations in the rubber track products were 3.64 × 10〈sup〉3〈/sup〉 and 4.14 × 10〈sup〉4〈/sup〉 μg/g, respectively. The mean SCCP concentration in the products was significantly higher than those in the rubber granules (2.78 μg/g), but in the same order of magnitude as those in the adhesives (3.34 × 10〈sup〉3〈/sup〉 μg/g). The SCCP concentrations in almost half of the rubber track products and four fifths of the adhesives exceeded the limit (1.5 g/kg) set in Chinese standard GB 36246-2018. The dominant SCCP and MCCP congeners in the rubber track products were similar to those in the relevant adhesives but different from those in the paired granules. Principal component analysis and contribution calculations indicated that chlorinated paraffins (CPs) in adhesives could be the main sources of CPs in rubber track products. The high CP concentrations found in rubber track products are of special concern because of the relatively high exposures for children and negative effect on human health and environment.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0304389419308076-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Volume 804〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Christopher S. Daniel, Peter D. Honniball, Luke Bradley, Michael Preuss, João Quinta da Fonseca〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The properties and performance of Zr-2.5 Nb alloys are strongly influenced by their crystallographic texture. As in similar Ti alloys, the texture evolution during hot-processing depends on the complex interactions between the α and β phases and involves deformation, annealing and phase transformation. Although the effect of temperature and deformation has been studied for extruded tube in this alloy, there is no data for texture development during rolling. There is some rolling data for Ti-64 (Ti–6Al–4V), but it is usually for just one of the phases and for a limited set of temperatures. We carried out hot-rolling trials from 700 °C–900 °C to reductions of 50%, 75% and 87.5% and found that the texture in both phases strengthens sharply before the β-transus and when both phases are present in similar amounts. At this point, the texture in α is a strong 〈math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si1.svg"〉〈mrow〉〈mn〉0002〈/mn〉〈mo〉|〈/mo〉〈mo〉|〈/mo〉〈mtext〉TD〈/mtext〉〈/mrow〉〈/math〉 and the texture in β a strong 〈math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si2.svg"〉〈mrow〉〈mrow〉〈mo stretchy="true"〉{〈/mo〉〈mrow〉〈mn〉001〈/mn〉〈/mrow〉〈mo stretchy="true"〉}〈/mo〉〈/mrow〉〈mrow〉〈mo〉〈〈/mo〉〈mrow〉〈mn〉110〈/mn〉〈/mrow〉〈mo〉〉〈/mo〉〈/mrow〉〈/mrow〉〈/math〉 rotated cube component. The results suggest there might be a synergistic effect between the two components, which includes dynamic phase transformation. The texture evolution towards stable α 〈math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si3.svg"〉〈mrow〉〈mrow〉〈mo stretchy="true"〉{〈/mo〉〈mrow〉〈mn〉11〈/mn〉〈mrow〉〈mover accent="true"〉〈mn〉2〈/mn〉〈mo〉¯〈/mo〉〈/mover〉〈/mrow〉〈mn〉0〈/mn〉〈/mrow〉〈mo stretchy="true"〉}〈/mo〉〈/mrow〉〈mrow〉〈mo〉〈〈/mo〉〈mrow〉〈mn〉10〈/mn〉〈mrow〉〈mover accent="true"〉〈mn〉1〈/mn〉〈mo〉¯〈/mo〉〈/mover〉〈/mrow〉〈mn〉0〈/mn〉〈/mrow〉〈mo〉〉〈/mo〉〈/mrow〉〈/mrow〉〈/math〉 or 〈math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si4.svg"〉〈mrow〉〈mrow〉〈mo stretchy="true"〉{〈/mo〉〈mrow〉〈mn〉11〈/mn〉〈mrow〉〈mover accent="true"〉〈mn〉2〈/mn〉〈mo〉¯〈/mo〉〈/mover〉〈/mrow〉〈mn〉1〈/mn〉〈/mrow〉〈mo stretchy="true"〉}〈/mo〉〈/mrow〉〈mrow〉〈mo〉〈〈/mo〉〈mrow〉〈mn〉10〈/mn〉〈mrow〉〈mover accent="true"〉〈mn〉1〈/mn〉〈mo〉¯〈/mo〉〈/mover〉〈/mrow〉〈mn〉0〈/mn〉〈/mrow〉〈mo〉〉〈/mo〉〈/mrow〉〈/mrow〉〈/math〉 crystallographic components and their final intensity depend on the starting texture. Texture was measured using electron-backscatter diffraction (EBSD) over large areas, with a β reconstruction software used to determine the high temperature β orientations. The texture development in Zr-2.5Nb appears similar to that reported for rolled Ti-64 at temperatures with equivalent phase fractions, although it is difficult to compare the two because of the lack of a titanium dataset as detailed as the one presented here.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0925838819324351-fx1.jpg" width="248" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Volume 804〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): E.M.M. Ibrahim, M.A.A. Mohamed, H.M. Ali, Vyacheslav O. Khavrus, Silke Hampel, M.M. Wakkad〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Hydrothermal synthesis as a commonly bottom-up growth method has considerable advantages for manufacturing thermoelectric nanomaterials with advanced thermoelectric properties. However, the hydrothermally synthesized thermoelectric nanostructures often show a low thermoelectric performance due to their low power factor. In this work, we report on using a hydrothermal method for the growth of n-type Bi〈sub〉2-x〈/sub〉Sb〈sub〉x〈/sub〉Se〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 nanoflakes with a fixed thickness of ∼16 quintuple-layers. The controlling of the stoichiometric composition, phase purity and crystallinity of the Bi〈sub〉2-x〈/sub〉Sb〈sub〉x〈/sub〉Se〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 nanoflakes are demonstrated by the X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and high resolution transmission electron microscopy. We further prove that adding of antimony into Bi〈sub〉2〈/sub〉Se〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 compound mostly influences the in-plane vibration mode. The optical energy gap is sharply increased as the Sb content increases. The effect of the antimony incorporation on the electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and power factor of Bi〈sub〉2-x〈/sub〉Sb〈sub〉x〈/sub〉Se〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 nanoflakes is systematically investigated. The Bi〈sub〉1.92〈/sub〉Sb〈sub〉0.08〈/sub〉Se〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 sample is found to have the highest power factor ∼13.17 μW/cm.K〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 at 470 K which is much higher than those published for other various nanostructured or bulk Bi〈sub〉2〈/sub〉Se〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 compounds. The results propose a great prospect for further enhancing the thermoelectric power factor of the Bi〈sub〉2〈/sub〉Se〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 nanostructures synthesized by this hydrothermal method. Taking into consideration the progress in Bi–Se compounds, the results of this work advocate the promise of Bi–Se nanostructures towards producing high performance thermoelectric devices.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hazardous Materials, Volume 380〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Tufan Paul, Dimitra Das, Bikram Kumar Das, Saikat Sarkar, Soumen Maiti, Kalyan Kumar Chattopadhyay〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Photocatalytic activity of low band gap semiconductor largely restrained by high recombination rate of photogenerated charge carriers. To enhance the catalytic performance numerous protocols were adopted amongst which designing of novel hybrid via coupling of semiconductors are very intriguing from modest application point of view. Here, we report facile realization of type II heterojunctions embracing polymeric graphitic carbon nitride (g-C〈sub〉3〈/sub〉N〈sub〉4〈/sub〉/GCN) and all-inorganic cesium lead halide perovskite (CsPbBrCl〈sub〉2〈/sub〉) for degradation complex organic effluents under visible-light illumination. Synthesized hybrid presented much improved performance in toxic cationic and anionic dyes degradation as compared to individual building units. Signature of favorable staggered gap junction’s formation at interface was confirmed via Mott-Schottky analysis. Such kind of junctions delay the recombination of photogenerated electron holes and facilitates active radical generation at catalyst surface thereby ensures improved photocatalytic performance. Charge transfer process in heterojunction further illustrated via Density functional theory (DFT) based calculations. Several scavenger tests have been performed to examine the impact of different active radicals in the photocatalysis which suggests manifold performance improvement in the presence of very small concentrations of EDTA. A plausible photocatalytic mechanism in accordance with the type II junction has been proposed.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0304389419308088-ga1.jpg" width="311" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hazardous Materials, Volume 380〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Vepika Kandjou, Ana M. Perez-Mas, B. Acevedo, M. Hernaez, Andrew G. Mayes, Sonia Melendi-Espina〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The increasing depletion of freshwater necessitates the re-use and purification of wastewaters. Among the existing separation membrane materials, graphene oxide (GO) is a promising candidate, owing to its tunable physicochemical properties. However, the widening of GO membranes pore gap in aqueous environments is a major limitation. Crosslinking agents can be incorporated to alleviate this problem. This study describes a comparative analysis of uncrosslinked and p-Phenylenediamine (PPD) crosslinked GO membranes’ water purification performance. Dip-coating and dip-assisted layer-by-layer methods were used to fabricate the uncrosslinked and crosslinked membranes respectively. The covalent interaction between GO and PPD was confirmed by Fourier Transform Infra-Red and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy. The excellent membrane topographical continuity and intactness was assessed by means of Scanning Electron Microscopy, while water contact angle measurements were undertaken to evaluate and confirm membrane hydrophilicity. The improvement impact of the crosslinker was manifested on the enhancement of the stability and performance of the membranes during nanofiltration tests of aqueous solutions of methylene blue in a homemade nanofiltration cell operated at 1 bar.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0304389419307939-ga1.jpg" width="452" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hazardous Materials, Volume 380〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Elisabete Luís Afonso, Lina Carvalho, Sara Fateixa, Carlos Oliveira Amorim, Vitor S. Amaral, Carlos Vale, Eduarda Pereira, Carlos Manuel Silva, Tito Trindade, Cláudia Batista Lopes〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Technology critical elements (TCE) are considered the vitamins of nowadays technology. Factors such as high demand, limited sources and geopolitical pressures, mining exploitation and its negative impact, point these elements as new emerging contaminants and highlight the importance for removal and recycling TCE from contaminated waters. This paper reports the synthesis, characterization and application of hybrid nanostructures to remove and recover lanthanides from water, promoting the recycling of these high value elements. The nanocomposite combines the interesting properties of graphite nanoplatelets, with the magnetic properties of magnetite, and exhibits good sorption properties towards La(III), Eu(III) and Tb(III). The sorption process was very sensitive to solution pH, evidencing that electrostatic interactions are the main binding mechanism involved. Removal efficiencies up to 80% were achieved at pH 8, using only 50 mg/L of nanocomposite. In ternary solution, occurred a preferential removal of Eu(III) and Tb(III). The equilibrium evidenced a rare but interesting behaviour, and as a proof-of-concept the recoveries and reutilization rates, at consecutive cycles, highlight the recyclability of the composite without loss of efficiency. This study evidences that surface charge and the number of active sites of the composite controls the removal process, providing new insights on the interactions between lanthanoids and magnetic-graphite-nanoplatelets.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0304389419307988-ga1.jpg" width="406" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hazardous Materials, Volume 380〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Daria Boglaienko, Hilary P. Emerson, Yelena P. Katsenovich, Tatiana G. Levitskaia〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Technetium-99 (Tc) is a long-lived radioactive contaminant present in legacy nuclear waste streams and contaminated plumes of the nuclear waste storage sites worldwide that poses risks for human health and the environment. Pertechnetate (TcO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉〈sup〉−〈/sup〉), the most common chemical form of Tc under oxidative conditions, is of particular concern due to its high aqueous solubility and mobility in the subsurface. One approach to treatment and remediation of TcO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 is reduction of Tc〈sup〉7+〈/sup〉 to less soluble and mobile Tc〈sup〉4+〈/sup〉 and its removal from the contaminated streams such as liquid secondary waste generated during vitrification of the Hanford low activity tank waste. Zero valent iron (ZVI) is a common reactive agent for reductive treatment of environmental contaminants, including reducible heavy metal ions, which can offer a potential solution to this challenge. Here, we present a comparative study of eleven commercial ZVI materials manufactured by different methods that were evaluated for the reductive removal of TcO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 from an aqueous 80 mM NaCl solution at near neutral pH representing low activity waste off-gas condensate. Performance of ZVI materials was analyzed in relation to time-dependent Fe〈sup〉2+〈/sup〉 dissolution as well as pH and ORP profiles of the contact solution. Large variability in the efficiency and kinetics of Tc〈sup〉7+〈/sup〉 reduction by different ZVI materials was contingent on their origin. ZVI materials manufactured by electrolytic method exhibited superior performance, and the kinetics of the Tc〈sup〉7+〈/sup〉 reduction correlated to particle size. ZVI materials manufactured by iron pentacarbonyl reduction with hydrogen were ineffective for Tc〈sup〉7+〈/sup〉 reduction. In general, our results highlight the need for thorough performance analysis of commercial ZVI materials for any contaminant of interest.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0304389419307897-ga1.jpg" width="470" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 3 July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hazardous Materials〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Manzoor Ahmad, Qingsong Yang, Yanying Zhang, Juan Ling, Wasim Sajjad, Shuhua Qi, Weiguo Zhou, Ying Zhang, Xiancheng Lin, Yuhang Zhang, Junde Dong〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Understanding the microbial community succession to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and identification of important degrading microbial groups are crucial for the designing of appropriate bioremediation strategies. In the present study, two distinct phenanthrene enriched bacterial consortia were treated against high molecular weight (Pyrene, Benzo (a) pyrene and Benzo (a) fluoranthene) and the response was studied in term of taxonomic variations by using High Throughput Illumina sequencing and qPCR analysis. Overall, the type of PAHs significantly affected the composition and the relative abundance of bacterial communities while no obvious difference was detected between bacterial communities of benzo (a) pyrene and benzo (a) fluoranthene treatments. Genera, 〈em〉Novosphingobium〈/em〉, 〈em〉Pseudomonas〈/em〉, 〈em〉Flavobacterium〈/em〉, 〈em〉Mycobacterium, Hoeflae,〈/em〉 and 〈em〉Algoriphagus〈/em〉 dominated all PAHs treatment groups indicating that they could be the key PAHs degrading phylotypes. Due to the higher abundance of gram-negative PAH-ring hydroxylating dioxygenase gene than that of gram-positive bacteria in all treated groups, we speculated that gram-negative bacteria may contribute more in the PAH degradation. The studied sediments harbored rich PAHs degrading bacterial assemblages involved in both low and high molecular weight PAHs and these findings provided new insight into the perspective of microbial PAHs bioremediation in the mangrove ecosystem.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0304389419308167-ga1.jpg" width="301" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hazardous Materials, Volume 380〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Zizhen Li, Anthony Ivanenko, Xiangchao Meng, Zisheng Zhang〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Methanol is widely applied in photocatalysis as a scavenger of holes, and is also studied as a model system for heterogeneous photocatalysis for the production of formaldehyde. Compared to commercial processes for formaldehyde production via thermal catalytic methanol oxidation, photocatalytic oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde may be more promising when considering the following aspects: 1) lower reaction temperature and pressure (generally operated at room temperature and ambient pressure); 2) lower cost of the energy source (such as solar light) and 3) easy-to-design reactive system. Photocatalytic methanol oxidation was carried out using four different bismuth-based semiconductors (BBS), Bi〈sub〉2〈/sub〉WO〈sub〉6〈/sub〉, Bi〈sub〉2〈/sub〉MoO〈sub〉6〈/sub〉, BiOBr and BiVO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉, under varying system temperature (5–50 °C), bubbling speed (0.1–1.0 LPM), catalyst dosage (0.2–2.0 g/L), and initial methanol concentration (12.5–250 mM). It was found that the formaldehyde formation rate for all photocatalysts increased as a function of each of these system parameters. Of these four BBS, it was found that Bi〈sub〉2〈/sub〉WO〈sub〉6〈/sub〉 had the highest formaldehyde formation rate (0.081 mM/h). This work provides a new approach to produce formaldehyde using photocatalysis, and future work has also been proposed.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0304389419307757-ga1.jpg" width="341" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hazardous Materials, Volume 380〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xiaohui Li, Hongxia Xu, Bin Gao, Yuanyuan Sun, Xiaoqing Shi, Jichun Wu〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Laboratory saturated columns packed with granular limestone grains were used to explore the retention and remobilization of functional bacteria FA1 under various physicochemical conditions. The unique surface properties of limestone and FA1 caused some unexpected phenomena. Solution IS, cation type, temperature and surface biological property all affected FA1 retention in the columns. The IS effect was temperature dependent and initial solution pH showed little influence due to the strong buffering ability of limestone. Perturbations of solution IS caused slight release of previously retained bacteria in some columns with NaCl as the background electrolyte, while increase in flow rate caused no release at all. When CaCl〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 was the background, bacterial remobilization only occurred following both cation exchange and IS reduction. DLVO forces incorporating with surface roughness calculation were determined to assist with interpretation of interaction mechanisms. All the experimental evidences suggest the importance of cation bridging, cation exchange, surface roughness, and hydrophobic interaction in controlling bacterium transport in saturated limestone porous media.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0304389419308118-ga1.jpg" width="336" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hazardous Materials, Volume 380〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Lei Qin, Huan Yi, Guangming Zeng, Cui Lai, Danlian Huang, Piao Xu, Yukui Fu, Jiangfan He, Bisheng Li, Chen Zhang, Min Cheng, Han Wang, Xigui Liu〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In this study, four kinds of porous carbon materials were used as supports to anchor gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) for catalytic reduction of nitroaromatics and 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) was employed as a model material. Results identified that carbon black (CB) restricted-Au catalyst (Au/CB) provided large specific surface area, small AuNPs size, and low cost, which showed highly catalytic activity for 4-NP reduction. Besides, with the increase of Au loadings, the catalytic activity of Au/CB was enhanced and the 1.2 wt% of Au loading exhibited the best catalytic activity with the high rate of 0.8302 min〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 and the turnover frequency of 492.50 h〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉. Universality and real water application demonstrated that the as-prepared Au/CB catalyst was promising candidate for other phenols and azo dyes reduction and had great potential for practical application. Furthermore, after ten cycles, Au/CB still retained satisfying stability and activity. These results suggested that the larger specific surface area and smaller particle size attributing to the porosity of CB were conducive to improving the catalytic activity of Au catalysts. This design shows high potential of hierarchical porous carbon materials for highly catalytic reaction in many fields, especially the water purification.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0304389419308179-ga1.jpg" width="249" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hazardous Materials, Volume 380〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Rahul Ram, James Vaughan, Barbara Etschmann, Joël Brugger〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉The longest-lived naturally occurring isotope of polonium is polonium-210, one of the daughters of uranium-238 (138 days half-life). As a daughter radionuclide of radon-222, polonium-210 can become enriched in pore fluids in U-bearing rocks, leading to contents in excess of 100 Bq.g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 in some products from the mineral, coal, oil and gas industries (e.g., anode slimes in copper refinement; sludge from the oil and gas industry). Since 2006, IAEA recommendation limits require polonium and other radionuclides from the U- and Th-series decay to be regulated for products and wastes that contain 〉1 Bq.g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, which results in the classification of large amounts of industrial products and waste as radioactive.〈/p〉 〈p〉To develop effective methods for polonium removal and/or control, it is necessary to acquire an understanding of its aqueous chemistry. Based on a review of available experimental data, we developed a self-consistent thermochemical model for polonium in inorganic aqueous solutions. Polonium exists mainly in two oxidation states in aqueous solutions: Po(IV) and Po(II). The importance of Po(II) is unique, as Te(II) or Se(II) complexes do not appear to play a significant role in aqueous solution at room temperature. The model is used to discuss polonium speciation in some environmental and process waters.〈/p〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hazardous Materials, Volume 380〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Benjamin Tawiah, Bin Yu, Ruichao Wei, Richard K.K. Yuen, Wei Chen, John H. Xin, Bin Fei〈/p〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is an important bioplastic polymer with wide engineering applications, but has relatively low tensile strength and high susceptibility to flames. This manuscript reports the synthesis of a new cyclo-phosphorus-nitrogen flame retardant (FR) - hexaphenyl (nitrilotris(ethane-2,1-diyl))tris(phosphoramidate) (HNETP) for concurrent FR and tensile strength enhancement. 〈sup〉1〈/sup〉H, 〈sup〉13〈/sup〉C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Fourier Transform Infra-red spectra showed that HNETP was successfully synthesized. The FR properties of PLA/HNETP composites were investigated, and the peak heat release rate (PHRR) reduced by ˜ 51.3%, total heat released (THR) ˜ 43.1%, and carbon monoxide (CO) production by ˜ 46.5% with 3 wt% HNETP loading. The fire performance index increased by ˜ 65.8%, while the fire growth index decreased by ˜ 56.7%. The tensile strength and the Young’s Modulus improved to ˜ 67.4 and ˜ 87.8% respectively. A significant increase in limiting oxygen index (LOI) (32.5%) was attained with a V-0 rating in the vertical burning test. TG-IR study showed considerable reduction in pyrolysis gaseous products by the PLA/HNETP composites compared to PLA. Insignificant changes were observed in the glass transition and the melting temperature of PLA and PLA/HNETP biocomposites.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S030438941930809X-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/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 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Volume 804〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Javed Rehman, Roshan Ali, Nisar Ahmad, Xiaodong Lv, Chunlei Guo〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉It poses a great challenge to design anode materials with large capacity, excellent cyclic stability and high rate performance. In this paper, through first principle calculations, we computed electronic properties of monolayer WSe〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 with and without strain effects. Our results show that the electronic band gap decreases with strain percent. At 0% tensile strain the value of the band gap is 1.4 eV while at 10% tensile strain the band gap decreases to 0.7 eV. Therefore, the strain effect enhances the electronic conductivity and leads to an increase in the charge carrier transport. In addition, our predictions show that the adsorption energy increases with the strain. Finally, we computed the diffusion barrier for the migration of Li on the surface of a strain engineered WSe〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 monolayer. The lower barrier energy (0.24 eV) reveals that Li can easily overcome this barrier. Our results show that the strain-engineered WSe〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 monolayers are promising anode material for Li-ion battery.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Volume 805〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Seyedeh Marjan Bararpour, Hamed Jamshidi Aval, Roohollah Jamaati〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉AA5083 and AA5052 alloys were utilized as consumable rod and substrate, respectively, in Friction Surfacing (FS) process and a three-dimensional finite element software known as ABAQUS was employed to anticipate the materials thermo-mechanical behavior over this procedure. At that point, in order to investigate the mechanical and microstructures characteristics of the coated samples, the experimental observations and model predictions have been implemented. The results clarified that the strain rate and temperature values are not high at the interface of the substrate and coating layer, also, we observed their maximum values in a layer nearby the upper surface of the coating in the advancing side (AS). Regardless of the irregular strain rate and temperature profiles, there are no important differences in the microstructure of the materials detected in the center of the cross-sections in the direction of advancing and retreating sides (RS). It should be noted that the grain structure is not influenced by the strain energy effect which is kept in the coating layer all through the FS procedure. Moreover, we can consider the grain structure recrystallization as a contributing factor in improving the material strength of the coating which is anticipated to be proportional to the grain size in reverse.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 5 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Volume 804〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Aref Alqahtani, Shahid Husain, Anand Somvanshi, Wasi Khan〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Perovskite-type GdCr〈sub〉1-〈em〉x〈/em〉〈/sub〉Mn〈sub〉〈em〉x〈/em〉〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 (0.0 ≤ 〈em〉x〈/em〉 ≤ 0.4) nano-crystalline samples are synthesized using sol-gel auto combustion process. The effect of Mn-doping in GdCrO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉is investigated in term of structural, morphological, optical and thermal properties. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirm orthorhombic crystal structure of all the samples. The lattice parameters bond lengths and bond angles as obtained from Rietveld refinement analysis are found to vary systematically with Mn concentration. The crystallite sizes as calculated from the Scherrer's equation are found to decrease with Mn content. The Williamson-Hall (W–H) analysis reveals that the crystallite sizes decrease whereas lattice strain, stress, and energy density become more with the increase in Mn doping except for 〈em〉x〈/em〉 = 0.3.The particle size estimated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are consistent with that obtained through W–H analysis. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images with energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) analysis exhibit significant change in the surface morphology with Mn doping and ensure the elemental compositions of the samples. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of these samples confirm the formation of desired crystal structure with two main characteristic bands at 476 and 586 cm〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉. The optical band gap is found to reduce whereas Urbach energy increases with the increase in Mn concentration. The values of refractive index decrease in the ultraviolet region as a function of wavelength for all the samples and minimizes at the main absorption peak position as observed in the UV/Vis. spectra. The value of heat capacity at constant pressure (〈em〉C〈/em〉〈sub〉〈em〉p〈/em〉〈/sub〉) decreases with Mn doping except for 30% Mn concentration. Therefore, the present investigation suggests that the properties of GdCrO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 system can be tuned with the appropriate doping of Mn for the potential applications.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Volume 805〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xinghua Zhu, Qingshuang Xie, Haibo Tian, Ming Zhang, Zongyan Gou, Shuai He, Peng Gu, Haihua Wu, Jitao Li, Dingyu Yang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Usually, ZnO thin films used in ultraviolet photodetector exhibit good photoresponse property when ultraviolet signal is strong enough. However, due to the high dark current, pure ZnO is insusceptible to weak ultraviolet signal. To address this problem, lithium-doped ZnO (LZO) thin films were prepared using the sol-gel method in this study. Results revealed that the LZO thin film doped with low concentration (2 at.%) had a dark current about 10 times lower than the pure ZnO. In addition, the ultraviolet with a low irradiance of 90 μW/cm〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 was used. According to the results of the investigations on the external quantum efficiency and responsivity, the inherent photocurrent generation ability of ZnO was not deteriorated through low concentration lithium doping. LZO thin film doped with 2 at.% exhibited a high sensitivity to weak ultraviolet signal --- the signal-to-noise ratio was enhanced by approximately 10 times compared with that of pure ZnO. This study indicates that LZO thin films with low doping concentration are promising application on weak ultraviolet signal photodetector.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Volume 805〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Jian Lan, Weidong Xuan, Yu Han, Yongshun Li, Huaizhou Wu, Wei Shao, Chuanjun Li, Jiang Wang, Zhongming Ren〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The effect of hot isostatic pressing on the tensile property of single crystal superalloys at elevated temperature is studied experimentally. The results show that the high temperature elongation of nickel based single crystal superalloys is obviously enhanced by hot isostatic pressing, while the yield strength is unchanged. Besides, it is found that the hot isostatic pressing causes the change of fracture surface. The enhancement of elongation and the change of fracture behavior are discussed.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Volume 805〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Z.M. Li, X.N. Li, C.Y. Wang, Y.H. Zheng, Q.X. Yu, X.T. Cheng, N.J. Li, L.X. Bi, Q. Wang, C. Dong〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The heat resistance of copper alloys is desirable to improve while it services at high temperature as electrically and thermally conductive components. In present paper, the strengthening pattern of nickel-based superalloys is expected to be applied in copper alloys. Here the Cu〈sub〉50〈/sub〉Ni〈sub〉37.5〈/sub〉〈em〉M〈/em〉〈sub〉12.5〈/sub〉 (〈em〉M〈/em〉 = Al, Cr, Mo) alloys were prepared by vacuum arc melting and heat-treated in the corresponding conditions to obtain three different kinds of typical microstructure. The room temperature (RT) properties (hardness and resistivity) and high temperature properties (melting point, softening temperature and variable temperature resistivity) of the three alloys are contrasted and analyzed in detail. The Cu〈sub〉50〈/sub〉Ni〈sub〉37.5〈/sub〉Al〈sub〉12.5〈/sub〉 alloy strengthened through the γ′ phase coherent precipitation shows the best conductivity and highest hardness (5.47 %IACS (International Annealed Copper Standard) and 310.1 HV). The splitting of the γ′ phase is contributing to hardening at high aging temperature. The resistivity-temperature behavior of the three alloys shows that the resistivity with rising temperature consists of the ideal lattice resistivity and the resistivity increment due to the defects. The Cu〈sub〉50〈/sub〉Ni〈sub〉37.5〈/sub〉Al〈sub〉12.5〈/sub〉 alloy has the smallest room temperature resistivity and its resistivity maintains the lowest during the whole heating process (RT-1077K). Therefore, the coherent precipitated γ′ phase is expected to improve the heat resistance of the copper alloys while maintaining its electrical conductivity.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0925838819325708-fx1.jpg" width="282" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Volume 805〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Cui-Ning Feng, Xiao-Ye Zhan, Pan Li, Xiao-Feng Guo, Dan Li, Xiu-Cheng Zheng, Guang-Ping Zheng〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Glucose-derived porous activated carbon materials (AGC-600-4 and AGC-180-〈em〉x〈/em〉) are prepared using ZnCl〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 as the etching agent via impregnation treatment and hydrothermal method followed by the calcination process. The analytic results indicate that the obtained materials exhibit higher specific surface area and superior double-layer capacitive behavior than the corresponding pristine carbon (GC-600 and GC-180) when used as electrode materials for supercapacitors. Moreover, compared with the AGC-600-4 nanosheets, the optimal AGC-180-4 microspheres have a high specific surface area of 1713 m〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 and a maximum specific capacitance of 235.9 F g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 at a current density of 1.0 A g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 in the three-electrode system. Meanwhile, AGC-180-4 also exhibits better capacitive properties than AGC-600-4 in the two-electrode system, showing an excellent cyclic stability with a high energy density of 24.63 Wh kg〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 at the power density of 949.5 W kg〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉. It is thus demonstrated that AGC-180-4 could be ideal electrode materials for supercapacitor due to its unique etched spherical structure and excellent electrochemical properties.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0925838819325903-fx1.jpg" width="500" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Volume 805〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ilham Bezza, Erwann Luais, Fouad Ghamouss, Mustapha Zaghrioui, François Tran-van, Joe Sakai〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉An 〈em〉in-situ〈/em〉 temperature-controlled Raman spectroscopy aided unique electrode fabrication technique has been developed for Li-ion battery applications, ensuring superior electrochemical quality of the multi-porous LiCoO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 films with higher stoichiometric purity of high temperature (HT)-LiCoO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 phase, by observing the structural changes during the fabrication process and thus confirming the transformation from the low temperature (LT)-LiCoO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 phase. This much desired simple process is not only free of any sort of binders or carbon additives but also works at atmospheric pressure, leading to a very simple deposition technique using a homemade and inexpensive set-up. Also, the time of depositions were varied and resultant films we investigated for their electrochemical performance. The high-resolution scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation has revealed not only a μm-size porous structure but also three-dimensional cross-link with 10 nm-level pores of the material, which ensured the much-desired porosity for high-performance cathodes.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Volume 805〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): S.C. Ram, K. Chattopadhyay, I. Chakrabarty〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Functionally graded in-situ A356-Mg〈sub〉2〈/sub〉Si composites by centrifugal casting method have been studied with varying percentage of extra Mg additions during synthesis. The coarse primary Mg〈sub〉2〈/sub〉Si particles and the Si morphology in eutectic do not yield appreciable mechanical properties. Solution treatment and artificial ageing (T6) are effective means to improve mechanical properties by refining the as-cast structure with additional formation of very fine precipitates during ageing. The microstructural evolution has been assessed by optical, scanning and transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. Ageing curves are plotted with hardness versus ageing time. High temperature tensile properties are evaluated at room temperature, 150 °C and 300 °C at different layers of the graded composites and are compared between as-cast and T6 conditions. The tensile fracture mechanisms are explained from fractographs. A remarkable improvement in high temperature tensile strength at 150 °C with adequate ductility is observed in T6 condition with respect to as-cast condition.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0925838819325721-fx1.jpg" width="264" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Volume 805〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Taiqian Mo, Zejun Chen, Boxin Li, Hongtao Huang, Weijun He, Qing Liu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The impact of strain path on microstructure and mechanical properties in AA1100/AA7075 laminated metal composite was investigated in present work. The results indicate that the plastic instabilities occurred in the hard layer can be inhibited effectively and the mechanical properties of the composite were improved obviously after the cross rolling (CR) process. The formation of continuous and straight interface was attributed to the difference in flow properties between the constituent layers was decreased after CR process. It is found that the strain path change during CR results in the typical rolling texture is shifted from the ideal Brass (110)〈112〉 along the 〈em〉α〈/em〉-fiber to the near ND-rotated Brass (011)〈755〉 component, promoting a better mechanical isotropy of the AA1100/AA7075 laminated metal composite. In addition, the Al/Al alloy laminated metal composite with continuous layer structure exhibits better load-bearing capacity in hard layers than the wave layer structure during deformation, which is a main reason for increasing of the strength.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉