Continuous preparation of bicelles using hydrodynamic focusing method for bicelle to vesicle transition

Bicelle is one of the most stable phospholipid assemblies, which has tremendous applications in the research areas for drug delivery or structural studies of membrane proteins owing to its bio-membrane mimicking characteristics and high thermal stability. However, the conventional preparation method for bicelle demands complicated manufacturing processes and a long time so that the continuous synthesis method of bicelle using microfluidic chip has been playing an important role to expand its feasibility. We verified the general availability of hydrodynamic focusing method with microfluidic chip for bicelle synthesis using various kinds of lipids which have a phase transition temperature ranged from − 2 to 41°C. Bicelle can be formed only when the inside temperature of microfluidic chip was over the phase transition temperature. Moreover, the concentration condition for bicelle formation varied depending on the lipids. Furthermore, the transition process characteristics from bicelle to vesicle were analyzed by effective q-value, mixing time and dilution condition. We verified that the size of transition vesicles was controlled according to the effective q-value, mixing time, and temperature.RDA (PJ01574703), NRF (2020K2A9A2A08000174), NK226E, MAFRA (118105–3

Engineered Dissolution for Better Electrocatalysts

Structural change of electrocatalysts is typically considered a negative effect but can be utilized for controlling interfacial kinetics. In the December issue of Matter, Wang et al. demonstrate a new strategy for enhancing the performance of NiMoFe electrocatalyst by MoO42- dissolution and subsequent reconstruction into the active species.N

Dynamic Compressive Deformation Behavior of Austenitic High-Manganese Steels Used for Extremely-Low-Temperature Applications

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Inverse Fracture Occurring during Drop Weight Tear Teat (DWTT) and Stain Hardening Obtained from Dynamic Compressive Test in Lineplpe Steels

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Mechanistic Investigation of Biomass Oxidation Using Nickel Oxide Nanoparticles in a CO2-Saturated Electrolyte for Paired Electrolysis

A highly efficient CO2 electrolysis system could be created by introducing biomass oxidation as an alternative anodic reaction to the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction in a CO2-saturated and near-neutral electrolyte. Here, we successfully demonstrate anodic biomass oxidation by synthesizing 5 nm nickel oxide nanoparticles (NiO NPs). NiO NPs show a unique electrocatalytic activity for 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) oxidation under near-neutral conditions, exhibiting an anodic current onset (1 mA cm(-2)) at 1.524 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode and a total Faradaic efficiency of <= 70%. Electrokinetic and in situ ultraviolet-visible spectroscopic analyses suggest that a redox active nickel hydroxide species is formed on the surface of NiO electrocatalysts during HMF oxidation, and this oxidation of Ni(II) hydroxide to Ni(III) oxyhydroxide could be the rate-determining step. This mechanistic study of biomass oxidation in a CO2-saturated electrolyte provides insight into constructing a highly efficient system for the paired electrolysis of CO2 reduction and biomass oxidation.N