Formation and growth characteristics of nanostructured carbon films on nascent Ag clusters during room-temperature electrochemical CO2 reduction

Synthesis of carbon nanostructures at room temperature and under atmospheric pressure is challenging but it can provide significant impact on the development of many future advanced technologies. Here, the formation and growth characteristics of nanostructured carbon films on nascent Ag clusters during room-temperature electrochemical CO(2) reduction reactions (CO(2)RR) are demonstrated. Under a ternary electrolyte system containing [BMIm](+)[BF(4)](−), propylene carbonate, and water, a mixture of sp(2)/sp(3) carbon allotropes were grown on the facets of Ag nanocrystals as building blocks. We show that (i) upon sufficient energy supplied by an electric field, (ii) the presence of negatively charged nascent Ag clusters, and (iii) as a function of how far the C–C coupling reaction of CO(2)RR (10–390 min) has advanced, the growth of nanostructured carbon can be divided into three stages: Stage 1: sp(3)-rich carbon and diamond seed formation; stage 2: diamond growth and diamond–graphite transformation; and stage 3: amorphous carbon formation. The conversion of CO(2) and high selectivity for the solid carbon products (>95%) were maintained during the full CO(2)RR reaction length of 390 min. The results enable further design of the room-temperature production of nanostructured carbon allotropes and/or the corresponding metal-composites by a viable negative CO(2) emission technology

In vivo functional neurochemistry of human cortical cholinergic function during visuospatial attention

Cortical acetylcholine is involved in key cognitive processes such as visuospatial attention. Dysfunction in the cholinergic system has been described in a number of neuropsychiatric disorders. Levels of brain acetylcholine can be pharmacologically manipulated, but it is not possible to directly measure it in vivo in humans. However, key parts of its biochemical cascade in neural tissue, such as choline, can be measured using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). There is evidence that levels of choline may be an indirect but proportional measure of acetylcholine availability in brain tissue. In this study, we measured relative choline levels in the parietal cortex using functional (event-related) MRS (fMRS) during performance of a visuospatial attention task, with a modelling approach verified using simulated data. We describe a task-driven interaction effect on choline concentration, specifically driven by contralateral attention shifts. Our results suggest that choline MRS has the potential to serve as a proxy of brain acetylcholine function in humans