Light-Reinforced Key Intermediate for Anticoking To Boost Highly Durable Methane Dry Reforming over Single Atom Ni Active Sites on CeO₂.

Dry reforming of methane (DRM) has been investigated for more than a century; the paramount stumbling block in its industrial application is the inevitable sintering of catalysts and excessive carbon emissions at high temperatures. However, the low-temperature DRM process still suffered from poor reactivity and severe catalyst deactivation from coking. Herein, we proposed a concept that highly durable DRM could be achieved at low temperatures via fabricating the active site integration with light irradiation. The active sites with Ni-O coordination (NiSA/CeO2) and Ni-Ni coordination (NiNP/CeO2) on CeO2, respectively, were successfully constructed to obtain two targeted reaction paths that produced the key intermediate (CH3O*) for anticoking during DRM. In particular, the operando diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy coupling with steady-state isotopic transient kinetic analysis (operando DRIFTS-SSITKA) was utilized and successfully tracked the anticoking paths during the DRM process. It was found that the path from CH3* to CH3O* over NiSA/CeO2 was the key path for anticoking. Furthermore, the targeted reaction path from CH3* to CH3O* was reinforced by light irradiation during the DRM process. Hence, the NiSA/CeO2 catalyst exhibits excellent stability with negligible carbon deposition for 230 h under thermo-photo catalytic DRM at a low temperature of 472 °C, while NiNP/CeO2 shows apparent coke deposition behavior after 0.5 h in solely thermal-driven DRM. The findings are vital as they provide critical insights into the simultaneous achievement of low-temperature and anticoking DRM process through distinguishing and directionally regulating the key intermediate species

Preparation of TiH1.924 nanodots by liquid-phase exfoliation for enhanced sonodynamic cancer therapy

Dynamic therapy is attracting attention for cancer treatment. Here, the authors report that metal hydride nanodots can be used for sonodynamic therapy, which can be further enhanced by photothermal heating to increase tissue oxygenation

Volatiles and Transcriptome Profiling Revealed the Formation of ‘Taro-like’ Aroma in the Leaf of Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata)

‘Taro-like’ odor is an important economic trait of pumpkin species. The metabolic and molecular bases of this aromatic trait remain largely unexplored. Therefore, in this study, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, GC-Olfactometry, and RNA-seq technology were used to illuminate the differential volatile compounds, the key volatile compounds, and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in leaves from two pumpkin samples. Eight volatile compounds, including (E)-2-nonenal, 3-octanol, 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, 1-nonanol, α-terpineol, 2,3-pentanedione, caryophyllene, and 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, were only detected in the sample with ‘taro-like’ aroma. Moreover, the variable importance in projection scores of all the above eight volatile compounds were >1.0 using PLS-DA analysis. The compounds 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, 3-octanol, 1-nonanol, and (E)-3,7-dimethyl-2,6-octadienal were identified as the key contributors using GC-Olfactometry analysis. It was determined that 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline might play a significant role in ‘taro-like’ aroma. Furthermore, most of the differential volatile compounds were derived from fatty acids, and the DEGs were also involved in the pathways related to degradation, metabolism, and biosynthesis of fatty acids. Moreover, five genes involved in the accumulation of 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline showed differential expression, and their expression trends were consistent with 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline. This study offers the basis for further studies on the mechanism of ‘taro-like’ aroma in pumpkins