Clarifying the Active Structure and Reaction Mechanism of Atomically Dispersed Metal and Nonmetal Sites with Enhanced Activity for Oxygen Reduction Reaction.

Atomically dispersed transition metal (ADTM) catalysts are widely implemented in energy conversion reactions, while the similar properties of TMs make it difficult to continuously improve the activity of ADTMs via tuning the composition of metals. Introducing nonmetal sites into ADTMs may help to effectively modulate the electronic structure of metals and significantly improve the activity. However, it is difficult to achieve the co-existence of ADTMs with nonmetal atoms and clarify their synergistic effect on the catalytic mechanism.

In Situ Symbiosis of Cerium Oxide Nanophase for Enhancing the Oxygen Electrocatalysis Performance of Single-Atom Fe─N─C Catalyst with Prolonged Stability for Zinc-Air Batteries.

The Fenton reaction, induced by the HO formed during the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) process leads to significant dissolution of Fe, resulting in unsatisfactory stability of the iron-nitrogen-doped carbon catalysts (Fe-NC). In this study, a strategy is proposed to improve the ORR catalytic activity while eliminating the effect of HO by introducing CeO nanoparticles. Transmission electron microscopy and subsequent characterizations reveal that CeO nanoparticles are uniformly distributed on the carbon substrate, with atomically dispersed Fe single-atom catalysts (SACs) adjacent to them.

Osteogenic protein-1 attenuates apoptosis and enhances matrix synthesis of nucleus pulposus cells under high-magnitude compression though inhibiting the p38 MAPK pathway.

Background: Disc degeneration is correlated with mechanical load. Osteogenic protein-1 (OP-1) is potential to regenerate degenerative disc.

Objective: To investigate whether OP-1 can protect against high magitude compression-induced nucleus pulposus (NP) cell apoptosis and NP matrix catabolism, and its potential mechanism.