Lanthanoid Sesquioxide Ultrafine Nanoparticles on Graphene via General Approach of Ultrafast Redox Reaction and Their Performance as Anodes in Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Herein, we propose a general route of obtaining reduced graphene oxide and metal oxide nanocomposite, demonstrated by cerium, dysprosium, and neodymium sesquioxides, via ultrafast redox reaction (URR). This method utilizes a very fast heating of graphene oxide and a metal salt without any chemical solvents or special reactors. Off the scene tests showed that different ratios of graphene oxide to metal salt change the metal oxide particle size.

Size-Dependent Effects of ZIF-8 Derived Cathode Materials on Performance of Zinc-Ion Capacitors.

Zinc-ion capacitors (ZICs) have attracted great attention due to a series of advantages. However, the cathode materials are still the bottleneck for high-performance ZICs to be achieved. Therefore, ZIF-8-derived porous carbons are one of the most promising candidates but ZIF-8 nanoparticles with different sizes exhibited various electrochemical performances in ZICs.

Comparative study of influence of Cu, CuO nanoparticles and Cu on rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss W.) spermatozoa.

The same elements can yield disparate nanoproducts that may elicit different harmful effects in cells and organisms. This study aimed to compare the effects of copper (Cu NPs) and copper oxide (CuO NPs) nanoparticles and Cu (from CuSO) on the physico-biochemical variables of rainbow trout spermatozoa. The cell death assay, along with the activation of caspases 8 and 9, the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and the percentage of cells exhibiting a high mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) were quantified over 24-hour incubation.

Spinel-Type Structured Phosphor Near-Infrared-II Emission: Intervalence Charge Transfer and Hetero-Valent Chromium Pairs.

Near-infrared (NIR) emitting phosphors draw much attention because they show great applicability and development prospects in many fields. Herein, a series of inverse spinel-type structured LiGaO phosphors with a high concentration of Cr activators is reported with a dual emission band covering NIR-I and II regions. Except for strong ionic exchange interactions such as Cr-Cr and Cr clusters, an intervalence charge transfer (IVCT) process between aggregated Cr ion pairs is proposed as the mechanism for the ~1210 nm NIR-II emission.

Sugars induced exfoliation of porous graphitic carbon nitride for efficient hydrogen evolution in photocatalytic water-splitting reaction.

Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution holds great promise for addressing critical energy and environmental challenges, making it an important area in scientific research. One of the most popular photocatalysts is graphitic carbon nitride (gCN), which has emerged as a noteworthy candidate for hydrogen generation through water splitting. However, ongoing research aims to enhance its properties for practical applications.

Highly Porous Carbon Flakes Derived from Cellulose and Nickel Phosphide Heterostructure towards Efficient Electrocatalysis of Oxygen Evolution Reaction.

This study delves into the pressing challenges of climate change and the escalating carbon dioxide (CO) emissions by exploring hydrogen technology as a sustainable alternative. In particular, there is focus on nickel phosphide-based electrocatalysts, known for their promising performance in hydrogen evolution reactions (HERs) and oxygen evolution reactions (OERs). Therefore, here we have designed a facile strategy to deliver highly porous carbon flakes derived from cellulose fibers via carbonization at 850 °C, yielding highly porous structures and outstanding specific surface area (SSAcel_carb_850_act = 3164 m/g) after activation.

The Influence of Graphene Oxide-FeO Differently Conjugated with 10-Hydroxycampthotecin and a Rotating Magnetic Field on Adenocarcinoma Cells.

Nanoparticles (e.g., graphene oxide, graphene oxide-FeO nanocomposite or hexagonal boron nitride) loaded with anti-cancer drugs and targeted at cancerous cells allowed researchers to determine the most effective in vitro conditions for anticancer treatment.

Functional BiO/GdO Silica-Coated Structures for Improvement of Early Age and Radiation Shielding Performance of Cement Pastes.

This study presents a new approach towards the production of sol-gel silica-coated BiO/GdO cement additives towards the improvement of early mechanical performance and radiation attenuation. Two types of silica coatings, which varied in synthesis method and morphology, were used to coat BiO/GdO structures and evaluated as a cement filler in Portland cement pastes. Isothermal calorimetry studies and early strength evaluations confirmed that both proposed coating types can overcome retarded cement hydration process, attributed to BiO presence, resulting in improved one day compressive strength by 300% and 251% (depending on coating method) when compared to paste containing pristine BiO and GdO particles.

Facile Strategy for Boosting of Inorganic Fillers Retention in Paper.

Achieving the desired properties of paper such as strength, durability, and printability remains challenging. Paper mills employ calcium carbonate (CaCO) as a filler to boost paper's brightness, opacity, and printability. However, weak interaction between cellulose fibers and CaCO particles creates different issues in the papermaking industry.

MIL-53(Al) assisted in upcycling plastic bottle waste into nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbon for high-performance supercapacitors.

Disposable aluminum cans and plastic bottles are common wastes found in modern societies. This article shows that they can be upcycled into functional materials, such as metal-organic frameworks and hierarchical porous carbon nanomaterials for high-value applications. Through a solvothermal method, used poly(ethylene terephthalate) bottles and aluminum cans are converted into MIL-53(Al).

Oxygen evolution reaction on MoS/C rods-robust and highly active electrocatalyst.

Recently, water oxidation or oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in electrocatalysis has attracted huge attention due to its prime role in water splitting, rechargeable metal-air batteries, and fuel cells. Here, we demonstrate a facile and scalable fabrication method of a rod-like structure composed of molybdenum disulfide and carbon (MoS/C) from parent 2D MoS. This novel composite, induced via the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, exhibits superior oxygen evolution performance (overpotential = 132 mV at 10 mA cmand Tafel slope = 55.

In vivo study on borophene nanoflakes interaction with Tenebrio molitor beetle: viability of hemocytes and short-term immunity effect.

The family of graphene-based materials welcomed a new member, borophene, in 2014. Research on synthesis routes and experimental study on physicochemical and biological (especially in vivo) properties still is strongly desired in order to evaluate its practical potential as a drug delivery-system. The effect of two-dimensional borophene nanoflakes on cells, systems and the entire animal organism has not been studied so far.

Ball milling induced borophene flakes fabrication.

To fill the knowledge gap for borophene, as the youngest member of the two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials family, a facile, cost effective, scalable and reproducible fabrication route is still strongly required. Among so far studied techniques the potential of pure mechanical processes such as ball milling is not explored yet. Therefore, in this contribution, we explore the efficiency to exfoliate bulk boron into a few-layered borophene induced by mechanical energy in the planetary ball mill.

Sandwich-type architecture film based on WS and ultrafast self-expanded and reduced graphene oxide in a Li-ion battery.

Since its discovery, graphene has been widely considered a great material that has advanced the Li-ion battery field and allowed development in its performance. However, most current graphene-related research is focused on graphene-based composites as electrode materials, highlighting the role of graphene in composite materials. Herein, we focused on a three-dimensional composite film with unique sandwich-type architecture based on ultrafast self-expanded and reduced graphene oxide (userGO) and exfoliated WS.

Bottom up approach of metal assisted electrochemical exfoliation of boron towards borophene.

Electrochemical exfoliation of nonconductive boron to few-layered borophene is reported. This unique effect is achieved via the incorporation of bulk boron into metal mesh inducing electrical conductivity and opening a venue for borophene fabrication via this feasible strategy. The experiments were conducted in various electrolytes providing a powerful tool to fabricate borophene flakes with a thickness of ~ 3-6 nm with different phases.

Waste-based nanoarchitectonics with face masks as valuable starting material for high-performance supercapacitors.

Surgical face masks waste is a source of microplastics (polymer fibres) and inorganic and organic compounds potentially hazardous for aquatic organisms during degradation in water. The monthly use of face masks in the world is about 129 billion for 7.8 billion people.

Nanoparticles Influence Lytic Phage T4-like Performance In Vitro.

Little is known about interactions of non-filamentous, complex-structured lytic phages and free, non-ordered nanoparticles. Emerging questions about their possible bio-sanitization co-applications or predictions of possible contact effects in the environment require testing. Therefore, we revealed the influence of various nanoparticles (NPs; SiO2, TiO2-SiO2, TiO2, Fe3O4, Fe3O4-SiO2 and SiO2-Fe3O4-TiO2) on a T4-like phage.

The cellulose fibers functionalized with star-like zinc oxide nanoparticles with boosted antibacterial performance for hygienic products.

Bacterial infectious diseases are serious health problem which extends to economic and social complications. Moreover, bacterial antibiotic resistance, lack of suitable vaccine or emergence of new mutations is forcing the development of novel antimicrobial agents. The objective of this study is to synthesize and characterize star-like zinc oxide nanoparticles for the application of antibacterial activities in cellulose based hygiene products.

Intumescent flame retardants inspired template-assistant synthesis of N/P dual-doped three-dimensional porous carbons for high-performance supercapacitors.

Heteroatom-doped three-dimensional (3D) porous carbons possess great potential as promising electrodes for high-performance supercapacitors. Inspired by the inherent features of intumescent flame retardants (IFRs) with universal availability, rich heteroatoms and easy thermal-carbonization to form porous carbons, herein we proposed a self-assembling and template self-activation strategy to produce N/P dual-doped 3D porous carbons by nano-CaCO template-assistant carbonization of IFRs. The IFRs-derived carbon exhibited large specific surface area, well-balanced hierarchical porosity, high N/P contents and interconnected 3D skeleton.

Influence of Hydrogenation on Morphology, Chemical Structure and Photocatalytic Efficiency of Graphitic Carbon Nitride.

In this contribution, the effect of hydrogenation conditions atmosphere (temperature and time) on physicochemical properties and photocatalytic efficiency of graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN, gCN) was studied in great details. The changes in the morphology, chemical structure, optical and electrochemical properties were carefully investigated. Interestingly, the as-modified samples exhibited boosted photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) with the assistance of visible light irradiation.

Co-Existence of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles and Manganese Oxide Nanorods as Decoration of Hollow Carbon Spheres for Boosting Electrochemical Performance of Li-Ion Battery.

Here, we report that mesoporous hollow carbon spheres (HCS) can be simultaneously functionalized: (i) endohedrally by iron oxide nanoparticle and (ii) egzohedrally by manganese oxide nanorods (FeO/MnO/HCS). Detailed analysis reveals a high degree of graphitization of HCS structures. The mesoporous nature of carbon is further confirmed by N sorption/desorption and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies.

Fabrication of Paper Sheets Coatings Based on Chitosan/Bacterial Nanocellulose/ZnO with Enhanced Antibacterial and Mechanical Properties.

Here, we designed paper sheets coated with chitosan, bacterial cellulose (nanofibers), and ZnO with boosted antibacterial and mechanical activity. We investigated the compositions, with ZnO exhibiting two different sizes/shapes: (1) rods and (2) irregular sphere-like particles. The proposed processing of bacterial cellulose resulted in the formation of nanofibers.

Boosting of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution via chlorine doping of polymeric carbon nitride.

Chlorine is found to be a suitable element for the modification of polymeric carbon nitride properties towards an efficient visible-light photocatalytic activity. In this study, chlorine-doped polymeric carbon nitride (Cl-PCN) has been examined as a photocatalyst in the hydrogen evolution reaction. The following aspects were found to enhance the photocatalytic efficiency of Cl-PCN: (i) unique location of Cl atoms at the interlayers of PCN instead of on its π-conjugated planes, (ii) slight bandgap narrowing, (iii) lower recombination rate of the electron-hole pairs, (iv) improved photogenerated charge transport and separation, and (v) higher reducing ability of the photogenerated electrons.

0D, 1D, 2D molybdenum disulfide functionalized by 2D polymeric carbon nitride for photocatalytic water splitting.

Photocatalytic activity of molybdenum disulfide structures with different dimensions (0D, 1D and 2D) functionalized with polymeric carbon nitride (PCN) is presented. MoSnanotubes (1D), nanoflakes (2D) and quantum dots (0D, QDs) were used, respectively, as co-catalysts of PCN in photocatalytic water splitting reaction to evolve hydrogen. Although, 2D-PCN showed the highest light absorption in visible range and the most enhanced photocurrent response after irradiation with light from 460 to 727 nm, QDs-PCN showed the highest photocatalytic efficiency.

The impact of environmental water on the potential application of core-shell titania-silica nanospheres as photocatalysts.

In this study, the core-shell silica nanospheres modified with titanium dioxide were tested in the photocatalytic decomposition of dyes. The presented data underlines the advantages and shortcomings in the potential application of silica-based catalysts to neutralize organic pollutants. During the photocatalytic reaction in distilled water, catalysts showed decreased efficiency due to a carbon layer deposited on its surface.