Latest ArticlesDeveloping photocatalyst with high activity, superior stability and prominent selectivity for CO2 conversion is of great importance for the target of carbon neutralization. Herein, 3D dahlia-like NiAl-LDH/CdS heterosystem is developed through in-situ decoration of exfoliated CdS nanosheets on the scaffold of NiAl-LDH and the on-spot self-assembly. The formation of a hierarchical architecture collaborating with well-defined 2D/2D interfacial interaction is constructed by optimizing the ratio of CdS integrated in the formation of the heterojunction. The light-harvesting capacity of NiAl-LDH/CdS is improved by this unique scaffold, and the charge transfer between NiAl-LDH and CdS is effectively facilitated by virtue of the unique 2D/2D interface. As a result, the 3D hierarchical NiAl-LDH/CdS heterosystem presents 12.45µmol g−1 h−1 of CO production (3.3 and 1.6 folds of pristine NiAl-LDH and CdS) with 96% selectivity and superior stability. This 3D hierarchical design collaborating with 2D/2D interfacial interaction provides a new avenue to develop ideal catalysts for artificial photosynthesis.
In this study, novel iron-doped biochar (Fe-BC) was produced using a simple method, and it was used as an H2O2 activator for tetracycline (TC) degradation. Generally, iron loading can improve the separation performance and reactivity of biochar (BC). In the Fe-BC/H2O2 system, 92% of the TC was removed within 30 min with the apparent rate constant (kobs) of 0.155 min−1, which was 23.85 times that in the case of the BC/H2O2 system (0.0065 min−1). The effects of the H2O2 and Fe-BC dosage, initial pH, and TC concentration on the TC removal were investigated. The radical quenching and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements demonstrated that the removal of TC using the Fe-BC/H2O2 process involved both radical (•OH and O2−•) and non-radical pathways (1O2 and electron transfer). In addition, the performance of the catalyst was also affected by the persistent free radicals (PFRs) and defective sites on the catalyst. Moreover, the degradation pathways of TC were proposed according to the intermediate products detected by LC-MS and the ecotoxicity of intermediates was evaluated. Finally, the Fe-BC/H2O2 showed high resistance to inorganic anions and natural organic matter in aquatic environments. Overall, Fe-BC is expected to be an economic and highly efficient heterogeneous Fenton catalyst for removing the organic contaminants in wastewater.
Accurate single-cell capture is a crucial step for single cell biological and chemical analysis. Conventional single-cell capturing often confront operational complexity, limited efficiency, cell damage, large scale but low accuracy, incompetence in the acquirement of nano-upgraded single-cell liquid. Flow cytometry has been widely used in large-scale single-cell detection, while precise single-cell isolation relies on both a precision operating platform and a microscope, which is not only extremely inefficient, but also not conducive to couple with modern analytical instruments. Herein, we develop a modular single-cell pipette (mSCP) microfluidic chip with high efficiency and strong applicability for accurate direct capture of single viable cell from cell suspensions into nanoliter droplets (30-1000 nL). The mSCP is used as a sampling platform for the detection of CdTe quantum dots in single cells with electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) for the first time. It also ensures precise single-cell sampling and detection by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).
Hydrogen energy (H2) has been considered as the most possible consummate candidates for replacing the traditional fossil fuels because of its higher combustion heat value and lower environmental pollution. Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution (PHE) from water splitting based on semiconductors is a promising technology towards converting solar energy into sustainable H2 fuel evolution. Developing high-activity and abundant source semiconductor materials is particularly important to realize highly efficient hydrogen evolution as for photocatalysis technology. However, unmodified pristine photocatalysts are often unable to overcome the weakness of low performance due to their limitations. In recent years, transition metal phosphides (TMPs) were used as valid co-catalysts to replace the classic precious metal materials in the process of photocatalytic reaction owing to their lower cost and higher combustion heat value. What is more, bimetallic phosphides have been also caused widespread concern in H2 evolution reaction owing to its much lower overpotential, more superior conductivity, and weaker charge carriers transfer impedance in comparison to those of single metal phosphides. In this minireview, we concluded the latest developments of bimetallic phosphides for a series of photocatalytic reactions. Firstly, we briefly summarize the present loading methods of bimetallic phosphides (BMPs) anchored on the photocatalyst. After that, the H2 evolution efficiency based on BMPs as cocatalyst is also studied in detail. Besides, the application of BMPs-based host photocatalyst for H2 evolution under dye sensitization effect has also been discussed. At last, the current development prospects and prospective challenges in many ways of BMPs are proposed. We sincerely hope this minireview has certain reference value for great developments of BMPs in the future research.
Skeletonema costatum is a diatom widely distributed in red tide microalgae blooms and as one of the main algae causing harmful algal blooms, because of their rapid reproduction and production of toxic and harmful substances, often play a negative role in aquatic ecosystems, and human health and wellbeing. Bacillomycin D is a nonribosomal cyclic antifungal lipopeptide in the iturins family. In this study, Bacillomycin D was tested for its ability to inhibit the growth of S. costatum. The EC50 24h of Bacillomycin D on S. costatum was 24.70 μg/mL. The chlorophyll fluorescence parameters Fv/Fm, Fv/Fo, and yield of the diatoms decreased significantly with increasing concentrations of Bacillomycin D. Study of the mechanism showed that Bacillomycin D induced cell death by changing cell membrane permeability, promoting the release of cellular contents. In this study, transcriptomic analysis showed Bacillomycin D significantly inhibited the photosynthesis and metabolism of S. costatum. These findings investigated the inhibitory effect of Bacillomycin D on the growth of S. costatum and provided a theoretical foundation for the development of new environmentally friendly biological algicide.
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been limited in photocatalysis due to its wide band gap (3.2 eV) and limited absorption in the ultraviolet range. Therefore, organic components have been introduced to hybrid with TiO2 for enhanced photocatalytic efficiency under visible light. Here, we report that benzo[1, 2-b: 4, 5-b']dithiophene polymer was an ideal organic material for the preparation of a hybrid material with TiO2. The energy band gap of the resulting hybrid material decreased to 2.9 eV and the photocatalytic hydrogen production performance reached 745.0 µmol g−1 h−1 under visible light irradiation. Meanwhile, the material still maintained the stability of hydrogen production performance after 40 h of photocatalytic cycles. The analysis of the transient current response and electrochemical impedance revealed that the main reasons for the enhanced water splitting of the hybrid materials were the faster separation of electron hole pairs and the lower recombination of photocarrier ions. Our findings suggest that polythiophene is a promising organic material for exploring hybrid materials with enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production.
Herein, we developed a fractionation-free negative enriching method incorporating methylamidation, site-selective dimethylation and aldehyde resin coupling (MADMAR) for in-depth C-terminome analysis. The methylamidation blocked the free carboxyl group on proteins first, followed by LysC digestion of methylamidated proteins. Then, the site-selective dimethylation blocked the N-terminal amino group of the digested peptides without affecting the amino groups of lysine. Finally, the aldehyde resin was used to capture non-C-terminal peptides containing amino groups from lysine, while leaving the C-terminal peptides without free amino group in the supernatant for its analysis. We identified 1359 database-annotated protein C-termini from 50 µg HeLa proteins, which was 74% more than our previous method based on aldehyde resin. Moreover, 279 protein neo-C-termini were identified.
Development of new self-calibrating fluorescent sensing methods has been a popular research field with the aim of protecting the human health and environment sustainability. In this work, a novel Eu-based metal organic framework (MOF) Eu(2,6-NDC)(COO) (BUC-88) was developed by employing 2,6-NDC (2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid) as bridging ligands. BUC-88 performed different sensing process toward quinolone antibiotics and tetracyclines antibiotics in terms of fluorescence intensity and color. BUC-88 exhibited excellent selectivity and sensitivity detection property toward enrofloxacin (ENR), norfloxacin (NOR) and ciprofloxacin (CIP) over other Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products (PPCPs), accomplishing the detection limit of 0.12 μmol/L, 0.52 μmol/L, 0.75 μmol/L, respectively. Notably, BUC-88 acted as an excellent fluorescence sensor for tetracyclines antibiotics with fast response time (less than 1 s), high selectivity and sensitivity (LODs = 0.08 μmol/L). The fluorescent detection method was successfully used for visual and ultrasensitive detection of ENR, NOR, CIP and tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) in lake water with satisfied recovery from 99.75% to 102.30%. Finally, the photoinduced electron transfer and the competitive absorption of ultraviolet light are the main mechanisms for sensitive detection toward quinolone antibiotics and tetracyclines antibiotics.
This study has demonstrated an interesting amplification effect of magnetic field (MF) on the hydroxylamine (HA)-promoted zero valent iron (ZVI)/H2O2 Fenton-like system. Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) could be efficiently degraded at near neutral pH. Conditional parameters affecting the SMX degradation in the ZVI/H2O2/HA/MF system, e.g., pH and the dosages of ZVI, HA and H2O2, were investigated. Unlike the acid-favorable ZVI/H2O2 and ZVI/H2O2/HA systems, the MF-assisted system exhibited good performances even at pH up to 6.0 and highest degradation rate at pH of 5.0. •OH was still identified as the responsible oxidant. A mechanism involving the MF-enhanced heterogeneous-homogeneous iron cycle was proposed in the near-neutral ZVI/H2O2/HA system. Without MF, HA-induced reductive dissolution of the surface iron oxides occurred and thus leaded to homogeneous Fenton reactions. After the introduction of MF, the gradient magnetic field formed on the ZVI particles would induce the generation of concentration cells of Fe(Ⅱ) and local corrosion of iron. Large amounts of aqueous and bounded Fe(Ⅱ) catalyzed H2O2 to efficiently produce •OH, while HA maintained the surface and bulk cycles of Fe(Ⅱ)/Fe(Ⅲ). The result of study is expected to provide a green, energy-free method in improving the effectiveness of ZVI-based Fenton-like technologies at weak-acidic circumstances.
Cell is the most basic unit of the morphological structure and life activity of an organism. Learning the composition, structure and function of cells, exploring the life activities of cells and studying the interaction between cells are of great significance for human cognition and control of the life activities of organisms. Therefore, rapid, convenient, inexpensive, high-precision and reliable methods of cell separation and analysis are being developed to obtain accurate information for the study of cytology and pathology. Microfluidic chip is a new emerging technology in recent years. It has a micromanufacturing structure, which can not only realize the precise space-time control of fluid and cells, but also reproduces the three-dimensional dynamic microenvironment of cell growth in the body. In addition, the microfluidic chip has unique microphysical properties and facilitates the integration of microdevices, which provides the possibility of real-time monitoring, continuous culture, separation and enrichment, and even in situ analysis of cells. In this review, we summarized recent advances in the development of different techniques for cell isolation and analysis on microfluidic platforms. Focus was put on biochemical and physical methods for cell separation on microfluidic chips. Subsequent cell analysis depending on fluorescence, Raman, cytomicroscopic imaging, mass spectrometry and electrochemical methods also was remarked. Through analyzing and learning the advantages and disadvantages of different technologies, we hope that microfluidic chips will continue to be improved and expanded for medical and clinical applications.
No. 86 Xueyuan South Road, Haidian District, Beijing
010-62199257
qkjq@cast.org.cn
Copyright © 2025 China Association for Science and Technology. All rights reserved. For all open access content, the relevant licensing terms apply.
Sponsored by the Office of the Leading Group for Cybersecurity and Informatization of CAST, and supported by Science and Technology Review Publishing House
