73 research outputs found
Efficient solar-driven CO2-to-fuel conversion via Ni/MgAlO<sub>x </sub>@SiO<sub>2</sub> nanocomposites at low temperature
Solar-driven CO2-to-fuel conversion assisted by another major greenhouse gas CH4 is promising to concurrently tackle energy shortage and global warming problems. However, current techniques still suffer from drawbacks of low efficiency, poor stability, and low selectivity. Here, a novel nanocomposite composed of interconnected Ni/MgAlOx nanoflakes grown on SiO2 particles with excellent spatial confinement of active sites is proposed for direct solar-driven CO2-to-fuel conversion. An ultrahigh light-to-fuel efficiency up to 35.7%, high production rates of H2 (136.6 mmol minâ1gâ 1) and CO (148.2 mmol minâ1gâ1), excellent selectivity (H2/CO ratio of 0.92), and good stability are reported simultaneously. These outstanding performances are attributed to strong metal-support interactions, improved CO2 absorption and activation, and decreased apparent activation energy under direct light illumination. MgAlOx @SiO2 support helps to lower the activation energy of CH* oxidation to CHO* and improve the dissociation of CH4 to CH3* as confirmed by DFT calculations. Moreover, the lattice oxygen of MgAlO x participates in the reaction and contributes to the removal of carbon deposition. This work provides promising routes for the conversion of greenhouse gasses into industrially valuable syngas with high efficiency, high selectivity, and benign sustainability
Efficient organic solar cells enabled by simple non-fused electron donors with low synthetic complexity
Abstract Fusedâring electron donors boost the efficiency of organic solar cells (OSCs), but they suffer from high cost and low yield for their large synthetic complexity (SC > 30%). Herein, the authors develop a series of simple nonâfusedâring electron donors, PF1 and PF2, which alternately consist of furanâ3âcarboxylate and 2,2â˛âbithiophene. Note that PF1 and PF2 present very small SC of 9.7% for their inexpensive raw materials, facile synthesis, and high synthetic yield. Compared to their allâthiopheneâbackbone counterpart PTâE, two new polymers feature larger conjugated plane, resulting in higher hole mobility for them, especially a value up to â10 â4 cm 2 V â1 ¡s for PF2 with longer alkyl side chain. Meanwhile, PF1 and PF2 exhibit larger dielectric constant and deeper electronic energy level versus PTâE. Benefiting from the better physicochemical properties, the efficiencies of PF1â and PF2âbased devices are improved by â16.7% and â71.3% relative to that PTâEâbased devices, respectively. Furthermore, the optimized PF2âbased devices with introducing PC 71 BM as the third component deliver a higher efficiency of 12.40%. The work not only indicates that furanâ3âcarboxylate is a simple yet efficient building block for constructing nonâfusedâring polymers but also provides a promising electron donor PF2 for the lowâcost production of OSCs.A simple structure nonâfusedâring electron donor PF2 alternately consisting of furanâ3âcarboxylate and 2,2â˛âbithiophene presents very small synthetic complexity of 9.7% as well as low material cost of â19.0 $ g â1 . More importantly, PF2 delivers a high efficiency of 12.4% coupled with strong operational stability. imag
Inhalation of Hydrogen Attenuates Progression of Chronic Heart Failure via Suppression of Oxidative Stress and P53 Related to Apoptosis Pathway in Rats
Background: Continuous damage from oxidative stress and apoptosis are the important mechanisms that facilitate chronic heart failure (CHF). Molecular hydrogen (H2) has potentiality in the aspects of anti-oxidation. The objectives of this study were to investigate the possible mechanism of H2 inhalation in delaying the progress of CHF.Methods and Results: A total of 60 Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into four groups: Sham, Sham treated with H2, CHF and CHF treated with H2. Rats from CHF and CHF treated with H2 groups were injected isoprenaline subcutaneously to establish the rat CHF model. One month later, the rat with CHF was identified by the echocardiography. After inhalation of H2, cardiac function was improved vs. CHF (p < 0.05), whereas oxidative stress damage and apoptosis were significantly attenuated (p < 0.05). In this study, the mild oxidative stress was induced in primary cardiomyocytes of rats, and H2 treatments significantly reduced oxidative stress damage and apoptosis in cardiomyocytes (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01). Finally, as a pivotal transcription factor in reactive oxygen species (ROS)-apoptosis signaling pathway, the expression and phosphorylation of p53 were significantly reduced by H2 treatment in this rat model and H9c2 cells (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01).Conclusion: As a safe antioxidant, molecular hydrogen mitigates the progression of CHF via inhibiting apoptosis modulated by p53. Therefore, from the translational point of view and speculation, H2 is equipped with potential therapeutic application as a novel antioxidant in protecting CHF in the future
Recent Development on Narrow Bandgap Conjugated Polymers for Polymer Solar Cells
There have been exciting developments in the field of polymer solar cells (PSCs) as the potential competitor to the traditional silicon-based solar cells in the past decades. The most successful PSCs are based on the bulk hetero-junction (BHJ) structure, which contains a bicontinuous nanoscale interpenetrating network of a conjugated polymer and a fullerene blend. The power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of BHJ PSCs have now exceeded 11%. In this review, we present an overview of recent emerging developments of narrow bandgap conjugated polymers for PSCs. We focus on a few important acceptors used in the donor-acceptor type conjugated polymers for highly efficient PSCs. We also reviewed the emerged donor-Ď-acceptor (D-Ď-A) side chains polymers. The band-gaps and energy levels as well as the photovoltaic performances of conjugated polymers are discussed
Novel benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']difuran-based copolymer enables efficient polymer solar cells with small energy loss and high VOC
Efficient Organic Solar Cells Enabled by Simple Non-Fused Electron Donors with Low Synthetic Complexity
Data underlying the research into Experimental study on seismic performance of lightweight steel-desert sand lightweight aggregate concrete composite shear wall
The dataset includes the experimenta and numerical simulation data of Experimental Study on Seismic Performance of Lightweight Steel-Desert Sand Lightweight Aggregate Concrete Composite Shear Wal
Study of the mechanical-electrical-magnetic properties and the microstructure of three-layered cement-based absorbing boards
In this paper, a three-layered cement-based wave-absorbing board is designed and prepared by mixing wave-absorbing fillers such as nano-Si3N4, multi-layer nano graphene platelets (NGPs), nano-Ni, carbon fiber (CF) and carbon black (CB) into cement slurry. The effect of the amount of wave-absorbing fillers on the mechanical properties, resistivity and wave-absorbing reflectivity of cement slurry is studies. The microstructure of NGPs, nano-Si3N4 and the wave-absorbing board are characterized by TEM and SEM. Research shows that low content of NGPs and other wave-absorbing fillers can significantly reduce the resistivity of cement slurry and improve its mechanical strength, and dense massive crystals are precipitated in the cement hydration products. The reflectivity test reveals that in the frequency range of 2~18 GHz, the minimum reflectivity of the three-layered cement-based wave absorbing board reaches â18.8 dB, and the maximum bandwidth less than â10 dB reaches 15.3 GHz. This study can serve as reference for the preparation of new three-layered cement-based wave absorbing boards
Changes in the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of Rosa rugosa âMohongâ during fermentation
Fermented rose petals are a traditional delicacy of the Dali Bai community in Yunnan, China. Fermentation enhances the quality and nutritional value of roses, as well as their efficacy, by increasing the levels of phenolic compounds. This study aimed to investigate the significant variations in four active compounds throughout the traditional fermentation process. Four compounds in Rosa rugosa âMohongâ were examined, and significant variations among polyphenols and antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities were observed. These variations were studied during fermentation by Saccharomyces rouxii at varying temperatures and durations. Moreover, the results showed that gallic acid and syringic acid content significantly increased (P < 0.05) with a rise in temperature from 20°C-35 °C during fermentation. Simultaneously, rutin and quercetin levels significantly decreased (P < 0.05) at all four temperatures throughout the five periods. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of fermented R. rugosa âMohongâ methanol extracts were dose-dependent. Our results provide valuable insights into optimizing the processing scale and quality control of fermented rose products
S-allylmercaptocysteine promotes anti-tumor immunity by suppressing PD-L1 expression
SAMC (S-allylmercaptocysteine) possesses significant anti-tumor effects and is proven to inhibit inflammation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The potential to regulate the immune system of SAMC inspired us to detect whether SAMC can promote anti-tumor immunity. Here we found that SAMC inhibits tumor development and progression by boosting CD8+ T cell and NK cell infiltration and decreasing the frequency of immune suppressing Treg cells in tumor tissue and enhancing the systemic immune function. Mechanistically, we found that SAMC suppresses PD-L1 expression at transcriptional level to increase the activation of anti-tumor cytotoxic T cells. Finally, we proved that SAMC inhibits PD-L1 transcription by suppressing the phosphorylation activation of STAT3. In conclusion, our findings reveal that SAMC is a potent immunity regulator and a potential agent for immune checkpoint inhibition in tumor therapy
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