38 research outputs found
Superhydrophobic Cellulose Nanofiber-Assembled Aerogels for Highly Efficient Water-in-Oil Emulsions Separation
Here,
we reported a facile strategy to create superhydrophobic
aerogels via freeze-drying of silylated cellulose nanofibers and silica
nanoparticles mixed suspensions. The as-prepared aerogels possessed
a hierarchical porous structure with high roughness and low surface
energy. The hierarchical rough structure and low surface energy endowed
the resultant aerogels with superhydrophobicity (water contact angle
up to 168.4°). Importantly, the composite aerogels could separate
surfactant-stabilized water-in-oil emulsions without external pressure,
with high separation efficiency (>99%) and high flux (1910 ±
60 L m<sup>–2</sup> h<sup>–1</sup>). The aerogels were
easily recyclable and showed great antifouling performance, which
could meet the requirements for long-term use. We also assembled a
simple device to collect oil directly from water-in-oil emulsions
with the obtained aerogel and a self-priming pump. The fabrication
of the composite aerogels in our work provides a versatile way to
fabricate cellulose composite materials for water-in-oil emulsions
separation
Superhydrophobic Cellulose Nanofiber-Assembled Aerogels for Highly Efficient Water-in-Oil Emulsions Separation
Here,
we reported a facile strategy to create superhydrophobic
aerogels via freeze-drying of silylated cellulose nanofibers and silica
nanoparticles mixed suspensions. The as-prepared aerogels possessed
a hierarchical porous structure with high roughness and low surface
energy. The hierarchical rough structure and low surface energy endowed
the resultant aerogels with superhydrophobicity (water contact angle
up to 168.4°). Importantly, the composite aerogels could separate
surfactant-stabilized water-in-oil emulsions without external pressure,
with high separation efficiency (>99%) and high flux (1910 ±
60 L m<sup>–2</sup> h<sup>–1</sup>). The aerogels were
easily recyclable and showed great antifouling performance, which
could meet the requirements for long-term use. We also assembled a
simple device to collect oil directly from water-in-oil emulsions
with the obtained aerogel and a self-priming pump. The fabrication
of the composite aerogels in our work provides a versatile way to
fabricate cellulose composite materials for water-in-oil emulsions
separation
Highly Efficient Conversion of Xylose Residues to Levulinic Acid over FeCl<sub>3</sub> Catalyst in Green Salt Solutions
The
economically viable synthesis of levulinic acid (LA), a promising
and valuable renewable biomass-derived platform for bioproducts, with
high carbon efficiency is a challenge. A direct and highly effective
catalytic system for conversion of xylose residues (XRs) into LA under
mild conditions by using FeCl<sub>3</sub> as catalyst and cheaply
available NaCl as promoter has been developed. The NaCl solution exhibits
high carbon efficiency in LA (68.0 mol %) when compared with the non-NaCl
systems (48.5 mol %) due to the moderate increase of the acidity and
the higher viscosity of the NaCl system than water. The experimental
results demonstrated that the presence of NaCl caused no distinctive
changes on reaction pathways but increased the dissolution rate and
the hydrolysis rate of XRs cellulose. Moreover, further integration
of our degradation process with a reactive extraction step makes energy-efficient
separation of LA. The NaCl solutions easily and efficiently extracted
LA into LA-derived solvent 2-methyltetrahydrofuran from aqueous solutions.
The efficiency and integration of the reaction process presented a
great potential for LA production from renewable biomass with the
aid of concentrated seawater
Revealing the Dynamic Formation Process and Mechanism of Hollow Carbon Spheres: From Bowl to Sphere
Hollow
carbon spheres are attracting great attention due to their
great potential uses in drug delivery, energy storage, and catalysis.
However, the formation process and mechanism of the hollow carbon
spheres are still unclear. Herein, we chose glucose as a carbon precursor
and double surfactants poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(propylene
glycol)-block-poly(ethylene glycol) triblock copolymers and sodium oleate as the soft template.
The synthesis process of hollow carbon spheres was investigated in
the coupling of a soft templating method and hydrothermal carbonization
system by regulating the reaction time. A dynamic formation process
of the hollow carbon spheres was identified based on the results from
scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy
images, in which three evolution stages were seen including hollow
carbon bowls, capsules, and spheres. In addition, the formation mechanism
was also presumed: During the synthesis process, the double surfactants
interacted with each other to act as the soft template, and the glucose
underwent hydration, polymerization, and aromatization stages. When
the concentration of aromatic compounds reached the critical supersaturation,
the nucleation took place from a point and extended outward gradually
along the interface to widen and thicken the carbon shell, resulting
in different hollow structured carbon particles being formed successively
by controlling the reaction time. Furthermore, the resultant hollow
structured carbon particles were stable and uniform, and we made preliminary
explorations on their biochemical and electrochemical performance
Synthesis of Magnetic Lignin-Based Hollow Microspheres: A Highly Adsorptive and Reusable Adsorbent Derived from Renewable Resources
Lignin,
a byproduct of the wood-pulping industry, is mostly treated as a noncommercialized
waste product. Therefore, it is significant to study its potential
for the conversion of this renewable and sustainable resource into
high-valued chemicals and materials. In this study, a renewable lignin-based
material with high performance in wastewater treatment has been explored
on account of its satisfactory properties and being environmentally
friendly. Herein, lignin hollow microspheres (LHM) were facilely prepared
from esterified organosolv lignin with maleic anhydride (MA) via self-assembly
in the mixed tetrahydrofuran–Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> nanoparticles
aqueous media. Moreover, the magnetic lignin spheres (MLS) were also
successfully fabricated by introducing Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> nanoparticles. The structural changes of esterified lignin polymers
were identified and morphology and property of obtained LHM and MLS
were characterized by means of TEM, SEM, VSM and FT-IR. In addition,
the adsorption capacities of MLS for methylene blue and Rhodamine
B from aqueous solutions were also comparatively investigated. It
was observed from SEM and TEM images that the LHM from larch lignin
exhibited uniform spherical and dense surface, but that from poplar
lignin was not rigid enough to keep the perfect spherical shape and
partially collapsed. The adsorption capacity results showed that the
MLS from larch lignin exhibited better adsorption properties for methylene
blue (31.23 mg/g) and Rhodamine B (17.62 mg/g) than that from poplar
lignin (25.95 and 15.79 mg/g, respectively). Simultaneously, the adsorption
kinetics and adsorption isotherm experiments indicated that the data
were agreed well with the pseudo-second-order and Langmuir model,
respectively. Moreover, after three cycles of desorption, the removal
efficiencies of the MLS from larch and poplar lignin could still reach
more than 98% and 96%, respectively. Therefore, the developed magnetic
lignin-based hollow microspheres has shown a great potential as a
low-cost, highly adsorptive and reusable adsorbent for the applications
in the wastewater treatments
eNOS overexpression protecting podocytes from TNF-α-induced loss of synaptopodin.
<p>GFP eNOS – positive (GFP-eNOS<sup>+</sup>) and GFP-eNOS – negative (GFP-eNOS<sup>−</sup>) MMECs were obtained by FACS (A). Confocal microscopy of GFP in GFP-eNOS<sup>−</sup> (B) and GFP-eNOS<sup>+</sup> (C) MMECs. (D) Western blotting using anti-eNOS and anti-GFP antibodies to detect endogenous eNOS and overexpression of GFP-eNOS in GFP-eNOS<sup>−</sup> and GFP-eNOS<sup>+</sup> MMECs. (E) Conditioned media from GFP-eNOS<sup>−</sup> and GFP-eNOS<sup>+</sup> MMECs was added to podocytes in the presence or absence of TNF-α, western blotting demonstrated expression levels of synaptopodin 36 hours after TNF-α stimulation. (F) Quantification of expression levels of synaptopodin by western blotting. <i>One-way ANOVA</i>, data are means ± SD.</p
Coding and non-coding gene regulatory networks underlie the immune response in liver cirrhosis
<div><p>Liver cirrhosis is recognized as being the consequence of immune-mediated hepatocyte damage and repair processes. However, the regulation of these immune responses underlying liver cirrhosis has not been elucidated. In this study, we used GEO datasets and bioinformatics methods to established coding and non-coding gene regulatory networks including transcription factor-/lncRNA-microRNA-mRNA, and competing endogenous RNA interaction networks. Our results identified 2224 mRNAs, 70 lncRNAs and 46 microRNAs were differentially expressed in liver cirrhosis. The transcription factor -/lncRNA- microRNA-mRNA network we uncovered that results in immune-mediated liver cirrhosis is comprised of 5 core microRNAs (e.g., miR-203; miR-219-5p), 3 transcription factors (i.e., FOXP3, ETS1 and FOS) and 7 lncRNAs (e.g., ENTS00000671336, ENST00000575137). The competing endogenous RNA interaction network we identified includes a complex immune response regulatory subnetwork that controls the entire liver cirrhosis network. Additionally, we found 10 overlapping GO terms shared by both liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma including “immune response” as well. Interestingly, the overlapping differentially expressed genes in liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma were enriched in immune response-related functional terms. In summary, a complex gene regulatory network underlying immune response processes may play an important role in the development and progression of liver cirrhosis, and its development into hepatocellular carcinoma.</p></div
Pathological characterization of ADR-induced nephropathy in C57BL/6 mice with eNOS deficiency.
<p>PAS staining of sections from NS (A&C) and ADR-injected (B&D) wild type (A&B) and eNOS-deficient (C&D) mice at day 28. Masson trichrome staining of sections from NS (E&G) and ADR-injected (F&H) wild type (E&F) and eNOS-deficient (G&H) mice at day 28. eNOS-deficient mice with ADR-induced nephropathy exhibited well developed exudative (fibrin-cap) lesions, glomerular sclerosis, interstitial fibrosis and inflammation at day 28. Original magnifications, 400 X.</p