Doping-induced coloration in titania

Thermal decomposition of Ti3GeC2 MAX phase at 1773 K yields an orange-colored titania powder. Micro-XRD of the powder under oscillation mode reveals a pure rutile phase (space group P42/mnm). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed substitutional doping of Ge in the titania lattice. The presence of Ti-O-Ge bond was observed in O 1s spectrum and confirmed by the shift in binding energy in Ti 2p3/2 and Ge 3d peaks. The UV-visible Diffuse Reflectance Spectrum studies on the Ge-doped titania powder show wide absorption in the visible region (380 to 650 nm) yielding a bandgap of 2.83 eV, which is desirable for photocatalytic applications. Defect states formed due to Ge doping led to lowering of the titania conduction band inducing an orange coloration in the powder. © 2021 The American Ceramic Societ

Magneto-optical properties of Fe-doped bismuth oxide nanorods for photocatalytic and antimicrobial applications

Pure and Fe-doped Bi2O3 nanorods were synthesized using a hydrothermal method and characterized by XRD, FTIR, Raman, FE-SEM, BET, UV–VIS, VSM, and PL. The impact of Fe doping on Bi2O3 causes variation in properties. The 0.5% Fe-doped sample exhibited high surface area (21.732 m2/g) and defects, resulting in exceptional photocatalytic efficiency (93.37%) for Methylene Blue dye degradation under visible light. In addition, their magnetic properties were also investigated, along with observing improved antimicrobial activity. The 0.5% Fe-doped Bi2O3 exhibited a notable 20 mm diameter zone of inhibition against bacteria and 23 mm against fungi, highlighting. This study highlights the versatile potential of Fe-doped Bi2O3 nanorods in photocatalysis and antimicrobial applications

Bi-allelic variants in <em>SPATA5L1</em> lead to intellectual disability, spastic-dystonic cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and hearing loss.

Spermatogenesis-associated 5 like 1 (SPATA5L1) represents an orphan gene encoding a protein of unknown function. We report 28 bi-allelic variants in SPATA5L1 associated with sensorineural hearing loss in 47 individuals from 28 (26 unrelated) families. In addition, 25/47 affected individuals (53%) presented with microcephaly, developmental delay/intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, and/or epilepsy. Modeling indicated damaging effect of variants on the protein, largely via destabilizing effects on protein domains. Brain imaging revealed diminished cerebral volume, thin corpus callosum, and periventricular leukomalacia, and quantitative volumetry demonstrated significantly diminished white matter volumes in several individuals. Immunofluorescent imaging in rat hippocampal neurons revealed localization of Spata5l1 in neuronal and glial cell nuclei and more prominent expression in neurons. In the rodent inner ear, Spata5l1 is expressed in the neurosensory hair cells and inner ear supporting cells. Transcriptomic analysis performed with fibroblasts from affected individuals was able to distinguish affected from controls by principal components. Analysis of differentially expressed genes and networks suggested a role for SPATA5L1 in cell surface adhesion receptor function, intracellular focal adhesions, and DNA replication and mitosis. Collectively, our results indicate that bi-allelic SPATA5L1 variants lead to a human disease characterized by sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) with or without a nonprogressive mixed neurodevelopmental phenotype