Correlating Interlayer Spacing and Separation Capability of Graphene Oxide Membranes in Organic Solvents.

Membranes synthesized by stacking two-dimensional graphene oxide (GO) hold great promise for applications in organic solvent nanofiltration. However, the performance of a layer-stacked GO membrane in organic solvent nanofiltration can be significantly affected by its swelling and interlayer spacing, which have not been systematically characterized. In this study, the interlayer spacing of the layer-stacked GO membrane in different organic solvents was experimentally characterized by liquid-phase ellipsometry. To understand the swelling mechanism, the solubility parameters of GO were experimentally determined and used to mathematically predict the Hansen solubility distance between GO and solvents, which is found to be a good predictor for GO swelling and interlayer spacing. Solvents with a small solubility distance (e.g., dimethylformamide, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone) tend to cause significant GO swelling, resulting in an interlayer spacing of up to 2.7 nm. Solvents with a solubility distance larger than 9.5 (e.g., ethanol, acetone, hexane, and toluene) only cause minor swelling and are thus able to maintain an interlayer spacing of around 1 nm. Correspondingly, GO membranes in solvents with a large solubility distance exhibit good separation performance, for example, rejection of more than 90% of the small organic dye molecules (e.g., rhodamine B and methylene blue) in ethanol and acetone. Additionally, solvents with a large solubility distance result in a high slip velocity in GO channels and thus high solvent flux through the GO membrane. In summary, the GO membrane performs better in solvents that are unlike GO, i.e., solvents with large solubility distance

Heterogeneous MoS2-GO membranes with enhanced resistance to swelling and restacking

In this study, we report a heterogeneously stacked MoS2-Graphene Oxide (GO) membrane that demonstrates enhanced resistance to restacking and swelling compared to homogeneously stacked pure MoS2 or GO membranes. The heterogeneous membrane was prepared using a mixture of MoS2 and GO suspensions with varying ratios. X-ray diffraction analysis reveals three stacking structures within the heterogeneous membrane: neighboring GO-GO, MoS2–MoS2, and MoS2-GO nanosheets. Combining XRD results and theoretical calculations, we determine that the alternately stacked MoS2-GO structure has an interlayer spacing of 0.86 ± 0.07 nm, with a free spacing of around 0.53 nm when dried. By optimizing the MoS2 to GO ratio, we can achieve a structure dominated by alternately stacked MoS2-GO nanosheets, which leads to improved filtration performances due to minimized swelling and restacking. One significant advantage of the heterogeneous MoS2-GO structure is its stability in aqueous environment. Unlike GO membranes, which can swell up to six times their original thickness, the heterogenous MoS2-GO membrane has shown minimum swelling, resulting in improved membrane selectivity. Additionally, the layer-stacked heterogeneity of the MoS2-GO structure mitigates the restacking problem inherent in pure MoS2 membranes when dried, which can lead to an irreversible loss of water permeability. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that creating a heterogeneously stacked MoS2-GO membrane significantly improves both membrane stability and separation performances compared to homogenous pure GO or MoS2 membranes

A Brassica napus Lipase Locates at the Membrane Contact Sites Involved in Chloroplast Development

Background: Fatty acids synthesized in chloroplast are transported to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) for triacylglycerols (TAGs) resembling. The development of chloroplast also requires lipids trafficking from ER to chloroplast. The membrane contact sites (MCSs) between ER and chloroplast has been demonstrated to be involved for the trafficking of lipids and proteins. Lipids trafficking between ER and chloroplast is often accompanied by lipids interconversion. However, it is rarely known how lipids interconversion happens during their trafficking. Methodology/Principal Findings: We cloned a lipase gene from Brassica napus L., designated as BnCLIP1. Green fluorescence protein (GFP)-tagged BnCLIP1 was shown to locate at the MCSs between ER and chloroplasts in tobacco leaves. Heterogeneous expression of BnCLIP1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (pep4) reduced the total amount of fatty acid. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis revealed that the truncated BnCLIP1 had a substrate preference for C16:0 lipids in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (pep4). To probe the physiological function of BnCLIP1, two Brassica napus lines with different oil-content were introduced to investigate the transcript patterns of BnCLIP1 during seed development. Intriguingly, the transcript level of BnCLIP1 was found to be immediately up-regulated during the natural seed senescence of both lines; the transcription response of BnCLIP1 in the high oil-content seeds was faster than the lower ones, suggesting a potential role of BnCLIP1 in affecting seed oil synthesis via regulating chloroplast integrity. Further researches showed tha

Moisture self-regulating ionic skins with ultra-long ambient stability for self-healing energy and sensing systems

Dehydration has been a key limiting factor for the operation of conductive hydrogels in practical application. Here, we report self-healable ionic skins that can self-regulate their internal moisture level by capturing extenral moistures via hygroscopic ion-coordinated polymer backbones through antipolyelectrolyte effect. Results show the ionic skin can maintain its mechanical and electrical functions over 16 months in the ambient environment with high stretchability (fracture stretch ∼2216 %) and conductivity (23.5 mS/cm). The moisture self-regulating capability is further demonstrated by repeated exposures to harsh environments such as 200°C heating, freezing, and vacuum drying with recovered conductivity and stretchability. Their reversible ionic and hydrogen bonds also enable self-healing feature as a sample with the fully cut-through damage can restore its conductivity after 24 h at 40 % relative humidity. Utilizing the ionic skin as a building block, self-healing flexible piezoelecret sensors have been constructed to monitor physiological signals. Together with a facile transfer-printing process, a self-powered sensing system with a self-healable supercapacitor and humidity sensor has been successfully demonstrated. These results illustrate broad-ranging possibilities for the ionic skins in applications such as energy storage, wearable sensors, and human-machine interfaces

Sol-gel Synthesis of TiO2 With p-Type Response to Hydrogen Gas at Elevated Temperature

Titanium dioxide is considered as one of the potential candidates for high-temperature gas sensing applications due to its excellent sensitivity and stability. However, its practical use as a gas sensor under elevated conditions is limited on account of its selectivity and insufficient understanding of response conversion from n- to p-type. To this context, the present work is intended to prepare and understand the p-type response of anatase TiO2 toward H2 gas (20–1,000 ppm) at elevated temperature (500°C). Sol-gel route is adopted to facilely synthesize powders containing pure and chromium (1–10 at.%) doped TiO2 nanoparticles, which are then brushed onto substrates with already patterned inter-digitated platinum electrodes. In this work, even, the undoped TiO2 samples showed p-type gas sensing response, which then decreased with Cr doping. However, in comparison to previously reported work, the sensing characteristics of all sensors is improved. For instance, 5 at.% Cr-TiO2 showed high response (147), fast response and recovery (142/123s) time, and good selectivity to hydrogen against monoxide and methane. Despite better response values, the TiO2 based samples show instability and drift in baseline resistance; such issues were not observed for Cr-doped TiO2 samples (≥3 at.%). The powders were further analyzed by XRD, SEM, TEM, and XPS to understand the basic characteristics, p-type response and stability. Further, a plausible sensing mechanism is discussed on basis of results obtained from aforementioned techniques

Adjuvant Chemotherapy Versus Adjuvant Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy After Radical Surgery for Early-Stage Cervical Cancer: A Randomized, Non-Inferiority, Multicenter Trial

We conducted a prospective study to assess the non-inferiority of adjuvant chemotherapy alone versus adjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) as an alternative strategy for patients with early-stage (FIGO 2009 stage IB-IIA) cervical cancer having risk factors after surgery. The condition was assessed in terms of prognosis, adverse effects, and quality of life. This randomized trial involved nine centers across China. Eligible patients were randomized to receive adjuvant chemotherapy or CCRT after surgery. The primary end-point was progression-free survival (PFS). From December 2012 to December 2014, 337 patients were subjected to randomization. Final analysis included 329 patients, including 165 in the adjuvant chemotherapy group and 164 in the adjuvant CCRT group. The median follow-up was 72.1 months. The three-year PFS rates were both 91.9%, and the five-year OS was 90.6% versus 90.0% in adjuvant chemotherapy and CCRT groups, respectively. No significant differences were observed in the PFS or OS between groups. The adjusted HR for PFS was 0.854 (95% confidence interval 0.415-1.757; P = 0.667) favoring adjuvant chemotherapy, excluding the predefined non-inferiority boundary of 1.9. The chemotherapy group showed a tendency toward good quality of life. In comparison with post-operative adjuvant CCRT, adjuvant chemotherapy treatment showed non-inferior efficacy in patients with early-stage cervical cancer having pathological risk factors. Adjuvant chemotherapy alone is a favorable alternative post-operative treatment

Household, community, sub-national and country-level predictors of primary cooking fuel switching in nine countries from the PURE study

Introduction. Switchingfrom polluting (e.g. wood, crop waste, coal)to clean (e.g. gas, electricity) cooking fuels can reduce household air pollution exposures and climate-forcing emissions.While studies have evaluated specific interventions and assessed fuel-switching in repeated cross-sectional surveys, the role of different multilevel factors in household fuel switching, outside of interventions and across diverse community settings, is not well understood. Methods.We examined longitudinal survey data from 24 172 households in 177 rural communities across nine countries within the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology study.We assessed household-level primary cooking fuel switching during a median of 10 years offollow up (∼2005–2015).We used hierarchical logistic regression models to examine the relative importance of household, community, sub-national and national-level factors contributing to primary fuel switching. Results. One-half of study households(12 369)reported changing their primary cookingfuels between baseline andfollow up surveys. Of these, 61% (7582) switchedfrom polluting (wood, dung, agricultural waste, charcoal, coal, kerosene)to clean (gas, electricity)fuels, 26% (3109)switched between different polluting fuels, 10% (1164)switched from clean to polluting fuels and 3% (522)switched between different clean fuels

Research Progress of in-Situ TiC-TiB₂ Composite Coating

Wear is one of the main failure forms of metal parts， and the surface coating technology is one of the important methods to protect metals from wear. TiC-TiB2 dual-phase composite wear-resistant ceramic coating is widely used as a protective coating for material surface due to dual advantages of carbide and boride ceramics，such as higher hardness and better wear and corrosion resistance. In this paper，the research progress of in-situ TiC-TiB2 composite coating was reviewed from two aspects: preparation method and main metal binders of TiC-TiB2 coating.The advantages and disadvantages of different preparation methods for TiC-TiB2 coating were compared， and the problems and possible solutions in practical applications were referred. The synthesis mechanisms and the reasons for improving the performance of TiC-TiB2 coating after adding different metal binders were summarized. The advantages and disadvantages of various metal binders in actual applications were analyzed. Finally， the future optimization directions and urgent problems of the preparation process of TiC-TiB2coating were pointed out