Isolated Diatomic Ni-Fe Metal-Nitrogen Sites for Synergistic Electroreduction of CO2

Polynary single‐atom structures can combine the advantages of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts while providing synergistic functions based on different molecules and their interfaces. However, the fabrication and identification of such an active‐site prototype remain elusive. Here we report isolated diatomic Ni‐Fe sites anchored on nitrogenated carbon as an efficient electrocatalyst for CO2 reduction. The catalyst exhibits high selectivity with CO Faradaic efficiency above 90 % over a wide potential range from −0.5 to −0.9 V (98 % at −0.7 V), and robust durability, retaining 99 % of its initial selectivity after 30 hours of electrolysis. Density functional theory studies reveal that the neighboring Ni‐Fe centers not only function in synergy to decrease the reaction barrier for the formation of COOH* and desorption of CO, but also undergo distinct structural evolution into a CO‐adsorbed moiety upon CO2 uptake.This research was undertaken with the assistance of resources provided by the National Computing Infrastructure (NCI) facility at the Australian National University allocated through both the National Computational Merit Allocation Scheme supported by the Australian Government and the Australian Research Council grant LE160100051 (Maintaining and enhancing merit-based access to the NCI National Facility, 2016–2018). This work was supported by the Australian Research Council (DP160103107, FT170100224)

Carbon nanocages with nanographene shell for high-rate lithium ion batteries

Carbon nanocages with a nanographene shell have been prepared by catalytic decomposition of p-xylene on a MgO supported Co and Mo catalyst in supercritical CO2 at a pressure of 10.34 MPa and temperatures ranging from 650 to 750 °C. The electrochemical performance of these carbon nanocages as anodes for lithium ion batteries has been evaluated by galvanostatic cycling. The carbon nanocages prepared at a temperature of 750 °C exhibited relatively high reversible capacities, superior rate performance and excellent cycling life. The advanced performance of the carbon nanocages prepared at 750 °C is ascribed to their unique structural features: (1) nanographene shells and the good inter-cage contact ensuring fast electron transportation, (2) a porous network formed by fine pores in the carbon shell and the void space among the cages facilitating the penetration of the electrolyte and ions within the electrode, (3) thin carbon shells shortening the diffusion distance of Li ions, and (4) the high specific surface area providing a large number of active sites for charge-transfer reactions. These carbon nanocages are promising candidates for application in lithium ion batteries

Mesoporous titania nanotubes: their preparation and application as electrode materials for rechargeable lithium batteries

Mesoporous titania nanotubes with tunable dimension have been fabricated within the pores of alumina membranes by a simple sol‐gel templating method. The 3D network structures of these mesoporous nanotubes (see figure) can provide both electron pathway and lithium ion pathway which benefit their applications in a high rate rechargeable lithium battery

Individualized conservative therapeutic strategies for adenomyosis with the aim of preserving fertility

Adenomyosis is a diffuse or localized organic disease caused by benign invasion of endometrial glands and stroma into the myometrium. It is a common disease that seriously affects reproductive health of women in childbearing age. Due to the unknown etiology and pathophysiological mechanism, and the lack of unified diagnostic criteria and effective treatment methods, total or subtotal hysterectomy has become a radical treatment for adenomyosis, which will lead to the complete loss of fertility. With the continuous exploration of the treatment to adenomyotic patients who have infertility or fertility intentions, new drugs, surgical methods and treating concepts appears. Adopt individualized conservative therapeutic strategies for patients with different conditions, preserve the uterus as much as possible and protect the patient’s fertility, which will play an important role on the follow-up assisted reproductive treatment and long-term management of adenomyosis

Supercritical fluid processing of mesoporous crystalline TiO2 thin films for highly efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

In this study, a high light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of 5.14% was achieved by applying a TiO2 thin film with a thickness of 1.87 µm as an electrode material under an AM 1.5 solar light (100 mW cm−2). This high efficiency can be attributed to post-treatment by the supercritical fluid process and the addition of nanoparticles to the thin film. Supercritical fluid treatment is shown to significantly enhance the thermal stability of these thin films. Thus, the high porosity of the treated films was maintained even upon calcination at a high temperature. Additionally, the addition of crystalline light scattering nanoparticles in the thin film not only increases the crystallinity of the thin films but also ensures capture of the incident light and increases the efficiency of light harvesting. The thin film with well-preserved mesopores among the nanoparticles can capture the incident light efficiently and further increase efficiency of light harvesting, which leads to the remarkably high light-to-electricity conversion efficiency

Integrated analysis identified novel miRNAs and mRNA in endometriosis

Objectives: Endometriosis is a common gynecological disease that seriously affects women’s health and quality of life. However, the pathogenesis of endometriosis remains uncertain. This study aims to find the key microRNAs (miRNAs) and mRNAs and further to elucidate the pathogenesis of endometriosis. Material and methods: Differentially expressed mRNAs (DEmRNAs) and the differentially expressed miRNAs (DEmiRNAs) were obtained by Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets integration analysis. Functional enrichment analysis of DEmRNAs and DEmRNAs targeted by DEmiRNAs was enforced using GeneCodis3. The DEmiRNA-DEmRNA interaction network was built using Cytoscape. The expression of candidate DEmRNA and DEmiRNA was verified using quantitative real time-polymerase chain reaction (QRT-PCR) and online datasets followed by diagnostic and immune cell infiltration analysis. Results: A total of 835 (327 down-regulated and 508 up-regulated) DEmRNAs and 39 (24 down-regulated and 15 up-regulated) DEmiRNAs were identified between ectopic endometria (EC) group and eutopic endometria (EU) group. DEmRNAs targeted by DEmiRNAs were markedly enriched in cell adhesion molecules, pathways in cancer, leukocyte transendothelial migration, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction and MAPK signaling pathway. The DEmiRNA-DEmRNA interaction network of up-regulated miRNAs was consisted of 15 miRNAs and 188 corresponding mRNAs. For down-regulated miRNAs, the DEmiRNA-DEmRNA interaction network was consisted of 24 miRNAs and 305 corresponding mRNAs. QRT-PCR validation results of IRF6, PTGER3, NTRK2, hsa-miR-449a and hsa-miR-873-5p were in line with the GEO analysis result. RF6, PTGER3 and NTRK2 had a potential diagnostic value for endometriosis. In addition, the infiltration of macrophages M2 and NK cells activated was the most significantly increased and reduced in ectopic endometrial, respectively. Conclusions: These identified DEmRNAs and DEmiRNAs may be may be associated with the pathogenesis of endometriosis. The integrated analysis of miRNA and mRNA expression profiles may provide a new perspective for understanding the mechanisms of endometriosis and developing new treatments

Synthesis and characterisation of ordered arrays of mesoporous carbon nanofibres

A facile and reproducible one-step pathway has been developed for preparing ordered arrays of mesoporous carbon nanostructures within the pores of anodized aluminium oxide (AAO) membranes, through the confined self-assembly of phenol/formaldehyde resol and amphiphilic copolymer templates. The morphology of the mesoporous carbon nanostructures can be controlled by varying the copolymer surfactant, the quantity of the resol–surfactant precursor sol used and the amount of phenol–formaldehyde resol introduced into the resol–surfactant sol. One-dimensional (1-D) carbon nanostructures, such as carbon fibres with a core–shell structure and carbon ribbons with circular mesopores running parallel to the longitudinal axis of the ribbons, have been successfully prepared. More importantly, the orientation of the mesoporous channels within these 1-D carbon nanostructures can be tuned by changing the mean pore diameter of the AAO membranes and the surfactants used in their preparation. The conductive properties of these vertically aligned mesoporous carbon nanofibres within the AAO membranes have been characterised by conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM)

A supercritical-fluid method for growing carbon nanotubes

Large‐scale generation of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MCNTs) is efficiently achieved through a supercritical fluid technique employing carbon dioxide as the carbon source. Nanotubes with diameters ranging from 10 to 20 nm and lengths of several tens of micrometers are synthesized (see figure). The supercritical‐fluid‐grown nanotubes also exhibit field‐emission characteristics similar to MCNTs grown by chemical‐vapor deposition