High-Performance, Room-Temperature, and No-Humidity-Impact Ammonia Sensor Based on Heterogeneous Nickel Oxide and Zinc Oxide Nanocrystals

NiO nanocones decorated with ZnO nanothorns on NiO foil substrates are shown to be an ammonia sensor with excellent comprehensive performance, which could, in real-time, detect and monitor NH₃ in the surrounding environment. Gas-sensing measurements indicate that assembling nanocones decorated with nanothorns on NiO foil substrate is an effective strategy for simultaneously promoting the stability, reproducibility, and sensitivity of the sensor, because the NiO foil substrate as a whole can quickly and stably transfer electrons between the gas molecules and the sensing materials and the large specific surface area of both nanocones and nanothorns provide good accessibility of the gas molecules to the sensing materials. Moreover, p-type NiO, with majority charge carriers of holes, has higher binding affinity for the electron-donating ammonia, resulting in a significant increase in selectivity toward NH₃ over other organic gases. Compared with the NiO nanowires and pure NiO nanocones, the heterogeneous NiO nanocones/ZnO nanothorns exhibit less dependence on the temperature and humidity in response/recovery speed and sensitivity of sensing NH₃. Our investigation indicates that two factors are responsible for reducing the dependence on the gas sensing characteristics under various environmental conditions. One is that the n-type ZnO nanothorns growing on the surface of nanocones, with majority charge carriers of electrons, speed up adsorption and desorption of gas molecules. The other is that the abundant cone-shaped and thornlike superstructures on the substrate are favorable for constructing a hydrophobic surface, which prevents the gas sensing material from being wetted

Water Availability for Biorefineries in the Contiguous United States and the Implications for Bioenergy Production Distribution

Renewable biofuel production depends on many factors, including feedstock availability, refinery and shipment infrastructure, and in particular, water availability. This study assesses water requirement and availability for mainstream biorefinery technologies in the contiguous United States (CONUS). The assessment is conducted in newly defined spatial units, namely, biorefinery planning boundaries, considering feedstock availability, transportation cost, and refinery capacity requirement for cost-effectiveness. The results suggest that the total biorefinery water use in the CONUS by 2030 will be low compared to the total water availability. However, biorefinery water requirements can aggravate the water stress situation in many regions, including the Great Plains, California Central Valley, and the upper Columbia-Snake River basin in Washington. Bioenergy productions in these regions can be largely constrained by water. It is projected that biofuel production will concentrate in Northern Plains, Lake States, and Corn Belt regions, which contribute 94.4% of the conventional, 86.1% of biodiesel, and 54.8% of cellulosic biofuel production mandated by the renewable fuel standard. If biorefineries are constrained to use less than 10% of the locally available water, up to 7% of planned cellulosic biofuel production will be affected. Findings from this study can aid the sustainable planning of national bioenergy production

Transition Metal-Free Visible Light-Driven Photoredox Oxidative Annulation of Arylamidines

A fast catalytic synthesis of multisubstituted quinazolines from readily available amidines via visible light-mediated oxidative C­(sp³)-C­(sp²) bond formation has been established. This reaction is a metal-free oxidative coupling catalyzed by a photoredox organocatalyst. The protocol features low catalyst loading (1 mol %)

Additional file 2 of Does cone-beam computed tomography examination increase the micronuclei frequency in the oral mucosa exfoliated cells? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Additional file 2. PRISMA checklist for this systematic review

Additional file 1 of Does cone-beam computed tomography examination increase the micronuclei frequency in the oral mucosa exfoliated cells? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Additional file 1. Raw data of micronuclei frequency before and after CBCT examination in the included studies

Polylactic Acid Microplastics Do Not Exhibit Lower Biological Toxicity in Growing Mice Compared to Polyvinyl Chloride Microplastics

Biomicroplastics (BMPs) will be produced during bioplastic degradation (i.e., polylactic acid), although bioplastics have been widely used for food packaging. Like conventional microplastics (MPs), BMPs would be mistakenly ingested into the body through diet or drinking water, but their health risks in vivo are poorly understood. Here, we deeply compared the toxicity difference between irregularly shaped polylactic acid (PLA-MPs, 16–350 μm) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC-MPs, 40–300 μm) MPs in growing mice. After six weeks of exposure, PLA-MP exposure resulted in more severe inhibition of the mice’s weight gain than PVC-MPs did. Both PLA- and PVC-MPs significantly elevated the levels of oxidative stress. Moreover, significant changes including altered transcriptional profiles and significantly differentially expressed genes in liver and colon transcription levels were observed in the PVC- and PLA-MP groups. Compared with PVC-MPs, PLA-MPs have a stronger effect on lipid metabolism and digestive systems. PLA-MPs also caused gut microbiota dysbiosis, significantly interfering with the relative abundance of microbiota and altering microbial diversity. These findings indicated the toxicities of PLA-MPs in growing mice were not significantly reduced compared to PVC-MPs, which would also provide new insights for re-examining bioplastic safety

Highly Adaptable Strain Capacitive Sensors with Exceptional Selectivity Using Spontaneous Micrometer-Pyramid Electrodes

Strain capacitive sensors are essential to develop various applications, such as human–machine interfaces and monitoring of dynamic body movement. However, a big limitation of this sensor is its complex integration process and inherent property of low sensitivity. Herein, a highly adaptable strain capacitive sensor is developed by using spontaneous micrometer-pyramid electrodes via a facile, low-cost, and scalable solution method. The strain sensor in this study possesses a high gauge factor of 2.9, which is independent of the strain direction. In addition, the sensor has high linearity, high stability, and negligible hysteresis at a maximum applied strain of 70% and outstanding durability for over 1000 cycles at an applied strain of 60%. Finally, the highly adaptable strain sensor is further demonstrated in wearable applications. The potential applications of the highly adaptable sensors reported here may shed light on next-generation soft and flexible electronics

Data_Sheet_1_Detection of Alternaria solani with high accuracy and sensitivity during the latent period of potato early blight.docx

Early blight (EB) disease, caused mainly by Alternaria solani, is an economic threat to potato and tomato production worldwide. Thus, accurate and sensitive detection of the fungal pathogen of this disease in plants at the early infection stage is important for forecasting EB epidemics. In this study, we developed an RNA-based method that enables highly accurate and sensitive A. solani detection in a whole potato leaf at a single spore level based on quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). We discovered jg1677, a highly expressed gene whose full-length coding sequence is very specific for A. solani, by analyzing A. solani transcripts isolated from enhanced high throughput transcriptome of infected potato leaves by A. solani and using the National Center for Biotechnology Information’s basic local alignment search tool. The specificity of the primers derived from jg1677 was determined using 22 isolates of common potato pathogens, including seven Alternaria isolates. Detecting jg1677 transcripts with qPCR is 1,295 times more sensitive than detecting genomic DNA. In addition, the expression pattern of jg1677 at different infection stages was determined by qPCR. What is more, jg1677 was expressed relatively stable between 15 and 35°C in infected leaves, and its expression was virtually unaffected in isolated leaves left at room temperature for 24 h. Our work provides a much more sensitive and accurate method compared to conditional DNA-based ones, permitting a very early diagnosis of EB and lowering the risk of EB epidemics.</p

Asymmetric α‑Arylation of Amino Acid Derivatives by Clayden Rearrangement of Ester Enolates via Memory of Chirality

A method for asymmetric α-arylation of amino acid derivatives has been developed. The arylation was performed by Clayden rearrangement of ester enolates via memory of chirality to give hydantoins with an aryl-substituted tetrasubstituted carbon with up to 99% ee

Flexible Transparent Conductive Films of Ag/Cr₂O₃ Core–Shell Nanowires as Electrodes for Electroluminescent Devices and Heaters

Due to their outstanding optoelectronic capabilities, silver nanowires (Ag NWs) are regarded as one of the potential substitutes for ITO electrodes. However, the high aspect ratio of Ag NWs leads to their poor stability in harsh environments and easy oxidation, which are far from the requirements of actual industrial production. Herein, we demonstrate a scalable solution approach for growing a Cr2O3 shell on the surface of Ag NWs, which is low cost, has short growth time, and can be prepared at low temperatures without vacuum. The covered Cr2O3 shells enhance the oxidative stability of the Ag NWs. The optoelectronic characteristics of Ag/Cr2O3 NW networks remain similar to the original performance Ag NW networks (for example, before covering: 14.8Ω/sq. at 89.4%, after encapsulating: 15.5 Ω/sq. at 89.8%), which indicates that the encapsulation of Cr2O3 shell enables the preservation of transparency and conductivity of Ag NW networks. More importantly, the Ag/Cr2O3 NWs maintain good oxidation resistance, thermal stability, and chemical stability under various harsh environments and demonstrated good mechanical stability and flexibility by bending and fatigue tests. Finally, flexible electroluminescent devices and heaters are fabricated from Ag/Cr2O3 NWs transparent conductive films to verify the practicality of Ag/Cr2O3 NWs