In situ Carbon Modification of g-C3N4 from Urea Co-crystal with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity Towards Degradation of Organic Dyes Under Visible Light

An in situ strategy was introduced for synthesizing carbon modified graphitic carbon nitride(g-C3N4) by using urea/4-aminobenzoic acid(PABA) co-crystal(PABA@Urea) as precursor materials. Via co-calcination of the PABA co-former and the urea in PABA@Urea co-crystals, C guest species were generated and compounded into g-C3N4 matrix in situ by replacing the lattice N of the carbon nitride and forming carbon dots onto its layer surface. The carbon modification dramatically enhanced visible-light harvesting and charge carrier separation. Therefore, visible light photo-catalytic oxidation of methylene blue(MB) pollution in water over the carbon modified g-C3N4 (C/g-C3N4) was notably improved. Up to 99% of methylene blue(MB) was eliminated within 60 min by the optimal sample prepared from the PABA@Urea co-crystal with a PABA content of 0.1%(mass ratio), faster than the degradation rate over bare g-C3N4. The present study demonstrates a new way to boost up the photocatalysis performance of g-C3N4, which holds great potential concerning the degradation of organic dyes from water

Detecting the QTL-Allele System of Seed Oil Traits Using Multi-Locus Genome-Wide Association Analysis for Population Characterization and Optimal Cross Prediction in Soybean

Soybean is one of the world's major vegetative oil sources, while oleic acid and linolenic acid content are the major quality traits of soybean oil. The restricted two-stage multi-locus genome-wide association analysis (RTM-GWAS), characterized with error and false-positive control, has provided a potential approach for a relatively thorough detection of whole-genome QTL-alleles. The Chinese soybean landrace population (CSLRP) composed of 366 accessions was tested under four environments to identify the QTL-allele constitution of seed oil, oleic acid and linolenic acid content (SOC, OAC, and LAC). Using RTM-GWAS with 29,119 SNPLDBs (SNP linkage disequilibrium blocks) as genomic markers, 50, 98, and 50 QTLs with 136, 283, and 154 alleles (2–9 per locus) were detected, with their contribution 82.52, 90.31, and 83.86% to phenotypic variance, corresponding to their heritability 91.29, 90.97, and 90.24% for SOC, OAC, and LAC, respectively. The RTM-GWAS was shown to be more powerful and efficient than previous single-locus model GWAS procedures. For each trait, the detected QTL-alleles were organized into a QTL-allele matrix as the population genetic constitution. From which the genetic differentiation among 6 eco-populations was characterized as significant allele frequency differentiation on 28, 56, and 30 loci for the three traits, respectively. The QTL-allele matrices were also used for genomic selection for optimal crosses, which predicted transgressive potential up to 24.76, 40.30, and 2.37% for the respective traits, respectively. From the detected major QTLs, 38, 27, and 25 candidate genes were annotated for the respective traits, and two common QTL covering eight genes were identified for further study

Injection by Hydrostatic Pressure in Conjunction with Electrokinetic Force on a Microfluidic Chip

A simple method was developed for injecting a sample on a cross-form microfluidic chip by means of hydrostatic pressure combined with electrokinetic forces. The hydrostatic pressure was generated simply by adjusting the liquid level in different reservoirs without any additional driven equipment such as a pump. Two dispensing strategies using a floating injection and a gated injection, coupled with hydrostatic pressure loading, were tested. The fluorescence observation verified the feasibility of hydrostatic pressure loading in the separation of a mixture of fluorescein sodium salt and fluorescein isothiocyanate. This method was proved to be effective in leading cells to a separation channel for single cell analysis

Aqueous two-phase systems evolved double-layer film for enzymatic activity preservation: A universal protein storage strategy for paper based microdevice

Integration and storage of bioactive reagents is an important and challenging task in microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (mu PADs). Here, we developed a convenient and universal method to store proteins and preserve their activities in mu PADs by using aqueous two-phase systems (ATPs) evolved film. A polyethylene glycol (PEG)-dextran (DEX) double-layer film was formed through dehydration of ATPs. Functional biomolecules were stored in the bottom DEX layer on the basis of the biased partitioning and rehydrated conveniently by simple addition of buffer solution at usage. As a demonstration, enzyme immunoassay (EIA) of carcinoembryonic antigen was performed successfully on mu PAD integrated with antibodies. Even after 104 days of storage at 4 degrees C and ambient conditions, the EIA signal just lost less than 10% and 30%, which meet the storage requirements of invitro diagnosis reagents. The ATPs evolved double-layer film has double functions of stabilization and insulation, and provide a high efficiency of biomolecule preservation, thereby promoting the applications of mu PADs in POC diagnostic assay. (C) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Visualizing Chemical Interactions in Life Sciences with Wide-Field Fluorescence Microscopy towards the Single-Molecule Level

Systematic understanding of dynamic biological networks is grounded at the molecular level. Knowledge at this level will discover the functions of molecular components and their interactions with cells or among the molecules themselves. Single-molecule detection has proved to be an indispensable technique for characterizing molecular interactions in various physiological conditions. Among the single-molecule-detection methods, wide-field microscopy-based fluorescence imaging is unique in that dynamic single-molecule events can be vividly observed in a wide observation field. Such a technique has obvious advantages for direct tracking of the pathways and processes of molecular interactions and giving visual information about the molecular mechanisms of many biological events. We discuss experimental schemes and applications of wide-field fluorescence microscopy in characterizing biological molecular interactions and studying virus-cell or particle-cell interactions

Electrophoretic Mobility of carp erythrocyte on Microfluidic Chip

The electrophoretic mobility of three groups of common carp erythrocyte on polymethal methacrylate chip has been studied by singe-cell imaging. The values of cell electrophoretic mobility were 1.138 × 10-4, 0.1279 × 10-4, -0.8520 × 10-4 cm2V -1s-1 respectively. It is demonstrated that the variation of the cell migration velocity is originated from the change of water quality and Lambda-cyhalothrin. The cell electrophoretic mobility being used as a parameter for cell classification have also been discussed

Electrophoretic Mobility of Carp Erythrocyte on Microfluidic Chip

The electrophoretic mobility of three groups of common carp erythrocyte on polymethal methacrylate chip has been studied by singe-cell imaging. The values of cell electrophoretic mobility were 1.138 × 10-4, 0.1279 × 10-4, -0.8520 × 10-4 cm2V -1s-1 respectively. It is demonstrated that the variation of the cell migration velocity is originated from the change of water quality and Lambda-cyhalothrin. The cell electrophoretic mobility being used as a parameter for cell classification have also been discussed

Perylene tetracarboxylic bisimide decorated g-C3N4 with enhanced photocatalytic activity

A water-soluble perylene bisimide derivative, N, N'-di(2-succinic acid)-perylene-3, 4, 9, 10-tetracarboxylic bisimide (PASP) was synthesized by using 3, 4, 9, 10-perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride and L-aspartic acid as starting materials. The PASP were grafted onto graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) via hydrothermal method to prepare PASP modified g-C3N4 hybrid photocatalyst (g-C3N4-PASP). The composition, structure, morphology and optical properties of the prepared g-C3N4-PASP samples were typically characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS), scanning electron microscopy(SEM), transmission electron microscopy(TEM), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy(UV-Vis DRS), and solid-state fluorescence spectroscopy. In addition, the photocatalytic activities of the prepared g-C3N4-PASP photocatalysts were evaluated by decomposition of methylene blue(MB) pollutant in water solution under visible light. The results reveal that PASP can be facilely linked to the g-C3N4 covalently via amide bond by hydrothermal treatment; compared to pristine g-C3N4, the g-C3N4-PASP possesses obviously higher specific surface area, dramatic red shifted absorption edge of 614 nm, and more efficient charge separation. Therefore, the visible light photo-catalytic degradation of MB pollution in water over the g-C3N4-PASP is notably improved. The g-C3N4-PASP could degrade 99.4% of MB dyes in 60 min under visible light irradiations (λ >420 nm), with a pseudo-first-order rate constant 2 times higher than that of pristine g-C3N4