38 research outputs found

    Superhydrophobic Cellulose Nanofiber-Assembled Aerogels for Highly Efficient Water-in-Oil Emulsions Separation

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    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

    No full text
    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

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    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

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    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

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    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.

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    <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

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    <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.

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    <p>PAS staining of sections from NS (A&amp;C) and ADR-injected (B&amp;D) wild type (A&amp;B) and eNOS-deficient (C&amp;D) mice at day 28. Masson trichrome staining of sections from NS (E&amp;G) and ADR-injected (F&amp;H) wild type (E&amp;F) and eNOS-deficient (G&amp;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
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