The combination of hydrogen evolution, nitric oxide oxidation and Zn-nitrate battery for energy conversion and storage by an efficient nitrogen-dopped CoO electrocatalyst with Turing structure.

We tuned the morphology from the needle-like Co(CO)(OH)·0.11HO to the unique Turing-structured CoCO through controlling the amount of glycerol in the solvothermal system, and then synthesized the Turing structure consisting of N-50 %-CoO hollow nanoparticles though the Kirkendall effect during nitriding process, which was applied as a novel bifunctional self-supporting electrode for efficient electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and electrocatalytic NO oxidation reaction (eNOOR). The eNOOR can be not only used as a substitution anode reaction of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) to couple with HER for efficient water splitting, but the production of nitrate from eNOOR also provides a strategy for the development of Zn-nitrate battery.

Synthesis of Large-Sized van der Waals Layered MoO Single Crystals with Improved Dielectric Performance.

The applications of two-dimensional semiconductors strictly require the reliable integration of ultrathin high-κ dielectric materials on the semiconductor surface to enable fine gate control and low power consumption. As layered oxide materials, MoO can be potentially used as a high-κ two-dimensional material with a larger bandgap and high electron affinity. In this work, relying on the oxidization of molybdenum chlorides, we have synthesized α-MoO single crystals, which can be easily exfoliated into flakes with thicknesses of a few nanometers and sizes of hundreds of micrometers and fine thermal stability.

Superhydrophilicity and superaerophobicity Ni/NiS/1T-MoS for hydrazine-assisted seawater splitting.

The overall hydrazine splitting (OHzS) is a promising strategy to achieve the efficient hydrogen production in seawater through replacing the slow kinetic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and toxic chlorine evolution reaction (ClOR) by hydrazine oxidation (HzOR). We report an efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst of Ni/NiS/1T-MoS on carbon cloth (Ni/NiS/1T-MoS/CC), which was formed from large layer spacing MoS and NiS with metal-Ni, and was applied as for both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and HzOR. The MoS had expanded interlayer spacing and showed 1T phase, with significantly improved conductivity and hydrophilicity, which promotes transfer process of reactants.

Engineering active and robust alloy-based electrocatalyst by rapid Joule-heating toward ampere-level hydrogen evolution.

Rational design of bimetallic alloy is an effective way to improve the electrocatalytic activity and stability of Mo-based cathode for ampere-level hydrogen evolution. However, it is still critical to realise desirable syntheses due to the wide reduction potentials between different metal elements and uncontrollable nucleation processes. Herein, we propose a rapid Joule heating method to effectively load RuMo alloy onto MoOx matrix.

Survival and disease burden analyses of occupational pneumoconiosis during 1958-2021 in Huangshi city, China: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Pneumoconiosis, a chronic disease stemming from prolonged inhalation of dust particles, stands as a significant global burden of occupational diseases. This study aims to investigate the survival outcomes of pneumoconiosis patients in Huangshi city, China, while also evaluating the disease burden on afflicted patients.

Methods: Data for this study were sourced from the Huangshi Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Polyacrylonitrile as an Efficient Transfer Medium for Wafer-Scale Transfer of Graphene.

The disparity between growth substrates and application-specific substrates can be mediated by reliable graphene transfer, the lack of which currently strongly hinders the graphene applications. Conventionally, the removal of soft polymers, that support the graphene during the transfer, would contaminate graphene surface, produce cracks, and leave unprotected graphene surface sensitive to airborne contaminations. In this work, it is found that polyacrylonitrile (PAN) can function as polymer medium for transferring wafer-size graphene, and encapsulating layer to deliver high-performance graphene devices.

Recent trends in the transfer of graphene films.

Recent years have witnessed advances in chemical vapor deposition growth of graphene films on metal foils with fine scalability and thickness controllability. However, challenges for obtaining wrinkle-free, defect-free and large-area uniformity remain to be tackled. In addition, the real commercial applications of graphene films still require industrially compatible transfer techniques with reliable performance of transferred graphene, excellent production capacity, and suitable cost.

Defects-Induced Single-Atom Anchoring on Metal-Organic Frameworks for High-Efficiency Photocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction.

Aiming to improve the photocatalytic activity in N fixation to produce ammonia, herein, we proposed a photochemical strategy to fabricate defects, and further deposition of Ru single atoms onto UiO-66 (Zr) framework. Electron-metal-support interactions (EMSI) were built between Ru single atoms and the support via a covalently bonding. EMSI were capable of accelerating charge transfer between Ru SAs and UiO-66, which was favorable for highly-efficiently photocatalytic activity.

Association between long-term exposure to ambient air pollutants and the risk of tuberculosis: A time-series study in Nantong, China.

Background: Increasing evidence has shown that the risk of tuberculosis (TB) might be related to the exposure to air pollutants; however, the findings are inconsistent and studies on long-term air pollutant exposure and TB risk are scarce. This study aime to assess the relationship between monthly exposure to air pollution and TB risk in Nantong, China.

Methods: We collected the time series data on the number of TB cases, as well as environmental and socioeconomic covariates from January 2005 to December 2020.

Population-level health and economic impacts of introducing Vaccae vaccination in China: a modelling study.

Introduction: Given the ageing epidemic of tuberculosis (TB), China is facing an unprecedented opportunity provided by the first clinically approved next-generation TB vaccine Vaccae, which demonstrated 54.7% efficacy for preventing reactivation from latent infection in a phase III trial. We aim to assess the population-level health and economic impacts of introducing Vaccae vaccination to inform policy-makers.

Combined impacts of environmental and socioeconomic covariates on HFMD risk in China: A spatiotemporal heterogeneous perspective.

Background: Understanding geospatial impacts of multi-sourced influencing factors on the epidemic of hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD) is of great significance for formulating disease control policies tailored to regional-specific needs, yet the knowledge is very limited. We aim to identify and further quantify the spatiotemporal heterogeneous effects of environmental and socioeconomic factors on HFMD dynamics.

Methods: We collected monthly province-level HFMD incidence and related environmental and socioeconomic data in China during 2009-2018.

TiC MXene supporting platinum nanoparticles as rapid electrons transfer channel and active sites for boosted photocatalytic water splitting over g-CN.

Two-dimension (2D) MXene materials have increasingly attracted attentions in improving the photocatalytic conversion of solar-to-chemical energy over graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN). In this work, Pt nanoparticles modified few-layer TiC MXene sheet (MXene@Pt) was successfully prepared by chemical reduction, which was used as efficient co-catalysts to enhance the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution over porous g-CN (PCN). The high work function of MXene@Pt and the tight 2D/2D interfacial contact between MXene@Pt and PCN significantly promoted the transfer and separation of photogenerated electron-hole.

Study the interactions between multiple flavonoids and bovine serum albumin by the developed equilibrium dialysis.

The therapeutic function of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is based on the combination effect of multiple active ingredients. However, the current pharmacological studies mainly focus on the protein binding of the single component from TCM, which is difficult to explain the overall therapeutic mechanism. Thus in this work the equilibrium dialysis method combined with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) was developed to study the interactions between multi-components and protein.

Preliminary screening of the potential active ingredients in traditional Chinese medicines using the Ussing chamber model combined with HPLC-PDA-MS.

An in vitro intestinal absorption model combined with high-performance liquid chromatography-photo diode array-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-PDA-MS) was used for preliminary screening of potential active ingredients from complex multi-component traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) system. Oral administration is one of the main administration methods for TCMs. Only the ingredients that could be absorbed have the opportunity to play a role.

Selective reduction of nitrate into N by novel Z-scheme NH-MIL-101(Fe)/BiVO heterojunction with enhanced photocatalytic activity.

Nitrate and its metabolites as common pollutants in water had attracted widespread attentions. Converting nitrate to nontoxic and harmless nitrogen via photocatalysis was a promising approach. In this study, a novel Z-scheme NH-MIL-101(Fe)/BiVO heterojunction was successfully prepared.

Effects of Different Biological Carriers in Microbial Fuel Cells.

In this study, to investigate their effects on battery power generation performance and wastewater treatment capacity, coal semicoke granular-activated carbon, granular graphite, and walnut shell-activated carbon were added to the anode compartment of a microbial fuel cell. As revealed from the experimental results, adding activated carbon and graphite can significantly decrease the startup time of microbial fuel cells as well as provide the shortest startup time of coal semicoke-activated carbon fluidized bed microbial fuel cells (MGAC-MFCs). The activated carbon particle diameter did not increase from 0.

In-situ construction of ternary TiC MXene@TiO/ZnInS composites for highly efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution.

Facing the demand of cleaning energy, the development of efficient photocatalysts for hydrogen evolution is a promising way to realize solar-to-chemical energy conversion for solving energy crisis. Hence, a novel hierarchical TiC MXene@TiO/ZnInS photocatalyst with rapid charge transfer channels was constructed by two-step hydrothermal for efficient hydrogen production, adopting hydrothermal oxidation to in-situ synthesize TiC MXene embedded with TiO nanosheets (M@TiO), which was applied to load ZnInS (ZIS). The hybridized photocatalyst with optimized ZIS amount had a hydrogen generation rate of 1185.

Chlorella to fuel conversion on amphiphilic SOH-SBA-15 catalysts: Pyrolysis characteristics and kinetics.

The aim of this work was to propose a novel process to make Chlorella pyrolyzed and in situ upgraded to fuel over amphiphilic SOH-SBA-15 catalysts. This strategy is developed to build a Pickering emulsion system through the w/o (water/decalin) droplets. Chlorella catalytic pyrolysis has been conducted under the different heating rates to get the activation energy 166 kJ/mol (α = 0.

Microalgae hydrothermal liquefaction and derived biocrude upgrading with modified SBA-15 catalysts.

In this study, a novel route was proposed for microalgae biofuel production by catalytic upgrading of Chlorella hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) derived biocrude. Al-SBA-15, CuO/Al-SBA-15, ZuO/Al-SBA-15, and CuO-ZnO/Al-SBA-15 catalysts were synthesized in a facile, one-pot way, and tested for methyl palmitate decarboxylation and biocrude upgrading without H addition. These modified SBA-15 catalysts enhanced alkane selectivity of methyl palmitate decarboxylation from 7.

Iridium nanoparticles supported on hierarchical porous N-doped carbon: an efficient water-tolerant catalyst for bio-alcohol condensation in water.

Nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbons were synthesized successfully by a controllable one-pot method using glucose and dicyandiamide as carbon source and nitrogen source via hydrothermal carbonization process. The nitrogen-doped materials, possessing high nitrogen content (up to 7 wt%), large surface area (>320 m(2) g(-1)) and excellent hierarchical nanostructure, were employed as catalyst supports for immobilization of iridium nanoparticles for bio-alcohol condensation in water. The introduction of nitrogen atoms into the carbon framework significantly improved iridium nanoparticles dispersion and stabilization.

Acidic resin-catalysed conversion of fructose into furan derivatives in low boiling point solvents.

Conversion of fructose into furan derivatives 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and 5-methoxymethylfurfural (MMF) is performed in tetrahydrofuran (THF) and methanol-organic solvent systems, catalysed by an acidic resin Amberlyst-15. The melted fructose can be converted into HMF on the surface of the solid resin catalyst in the presence of THF as an extracting phase, which is a good solvent for HMF and other by-products. The solid resin catalyst can be reused eleven times without losing its catalytic ability, with an average HMF yield of approximately 50%.

Investigation on activated semi-coke desulfurization.

An activated semi-coke with industrial-scale size was prepared by high-pressure hydrothermal chemistry activation, HNO3 oxidation and calcination activation in proper order from Inner Mongolia Zhalainuoer semi-coke, which is rich in resource and cheap in sale. SO2 adsorption capacity on this activated semi-coke was assessed in the fixed bed in the temperature range of 60-170 degrees C, space velocity range of 500-1300 h(-1), SO2 concentration of 1000-3000 ppmv, and N2 as balance. The surface area, elemental and proximate analysis for both raw semi-coke and activated semi-cokes were measured.