Owing to their high porosity and tunability, porous solids such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), zeolites, or activated carbons (ACs) are of great interest in the fields of air purification, gas separation, and catalysis, among others. Nonetheless, these materials are usually synthetized as powders and need to be shaped in a more practical way that does not modify their intrinsic property (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChallenges in enabling next-generation rechargeable batteries with lower cost, higher energy density, and longer cycling life stem not only from combining appropriate materials, but from optimally using cell components. One-size-fits-all approaches to operational cycling and monitoring are limited in improving sustainability if they cannot utilize and capture essential chemical dynamics and states of electrodes and electrolytes. Herein we describe and show how the use of tilted fiber Bragg grating (TFBG) sensors to track, via the monitoring of both temperature and refractive index metrics, electrolyte-electrode coupled changes that fundamentally control lithium sulfur batteries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this review we highlight the relevance of biodiversity that inhabit coastal lagoons, emphasizing how species functions foster processes and services associated with this ecosystem. We identified 26 ecosystem services underpinned by ecological functions performed by bacteria and other microbial organisms, zooplankton, polychaetae worms, mollusks, macro-crustaceans, fishes, birds, and aquatic mammals. These groups present high functional redundancy but perform complementary functions that result in distinct ecosystem processes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe 3D-printing technology has emerged as a well-developed method to produce parts with considerably low cost and yet with high precision (<100 μm). Recent literature has shown that the 3D-printing technology can be exploited to fabricate a magic-angle spinning (MAS) system in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. In particular, it was demonstrated that advanced industry-grade 3D printers could fabricate 3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe immune response is crucial for coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) progression, with the participation of proinflammatory cells and cytokines, inducing lung injury and loss of respiratory function. CLEC5A expression on monocytes can be triggered by viral and bacterial infections, leading to poor outcomes. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is able to induce neutrophil activation by CLEC5A and Toll-like receptor 2, leading to an aggressive inflammatory cascade, but little is known about the molecular interactions between CLEC5A and SARS-CoV-2 proteins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMetal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) with open metal sites (OMS) interact strongly with a range of polar gases/vapors. However, under ambient conditions, their selective adsorption is generally impaired due to a high OMS affinity to water. This led previously to the privilege selection of hydrophobic MOFs for the selective capture/detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLi-air batteries possess higher specific energies than the current Li-ion batteries. Major drawbacks of the air cathode include the sluggish kinetics of the oxygen reduction (OER), high overpotentials and pore clogging during discharge processes. Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) appear as promising materials because of their high surface areas, tailorable pore sizes and catalytic centers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHierarchical carbon-rich materials have shown immense potential for various electrochemical applications. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are well suited precursors for obtaining such templated carbon matrices. Usually these conversions are carried out by energy intensive processes and lead to the presence of toxic transition metal residues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe non-native African tuliptree, Spathodea campanulata (P. Beauv), is widely distributed in altered Neotropical environments, where hummingbirds are important pollinators. We investigated the assemblage of hummingbirds which fed on its nectar and described their behavior, to understand possible influences of the exotic tree on the territorial behavior in an altered environment in southeastern Brazil.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPiebaldism is a genetic pigmentation disorder, which is caused by absence of melanocytes in parts of the skin and/or hair follicles, with eyes and claws normally pigmented. The occurrence of piebaldism in natural populations is rare and the effects on fitness are still unknown. This article reports the first case of pigmentation disorders in the Fringe-lipped Bat (Spix, 1823) (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) caught in Barra do Triunfo, city of João Neiva, northeastern state of Espírito Santo, southeast Brazil.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Wooly False Vampire Bat, (Peters, 1856) (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae), feeds on small mammals, birds, lizards, frogs and occasionally large insects and fruits. In this paper we report an additional evidence of bat predation by . A male of this species was captured with a partially eaten Broad-eared Free-tailed Bat, (É.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe conjugated dicarboxylate sodium naphthalene-2,6-dicarboxylate (Na NDC) was prepared by a low-energy-consumption reflux method, and its performance as a negative electrode for sodium-ion batteries was evaluated in electrochemical cells. The structure of Na NDC was solved for the first time (monoclinic P2 /c) from powder XRD data and consists of π-stacked naphthalene units separated by sodium-oxygen layers. Through an appropriate choice of binder and conducting carbon additive, Na NDC exhibited a reversible two electron sodium insertion at approximately 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhilos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci
July 2019
We combine powder neutron diffraction, magnetometry and Fe Mössbauer spectrometry to determine the nuclear and magnetic structures of a strongly interacting weberite-type inorganic-organic hybrid fluoride, FeF(H taz). In this structure, Fe and Fe cations form magnetically frustrated hexagonal tungsten bronze layers of corner-sharing octahedra. Our powder neutron diffraction data reveal that, unlike its purely inorganic fluoride weberite counterparts which adopt a centrosymmetric Imma structure, the room-temperature nuclear structure of FeF(H taz) is best described by a non-centrosymmetric Ima2 model with refined lattice parameters a = 9.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecent findings revealed that surface oxygen can participate in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) for the most active catalysts, which eventually triggers a new mechanism for which the deprotonation of surface intermediates limits the OER activity. We propose in this work a "dual strategy" in which tuning the electronic properties of the oxide, such as LaSrCoO, can be dissociated from the use of surface functionalization with phosphate ion groups (P) that enhances the interfacial proton transfer. Results show that the P functionalized LaSrCoO gives rise to a significant enhancement of the OER activity when compared to LaSrCoO and LaCoO.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlycerol carbonate and tri-O-acetyl-D-glucal were used for the synthesis of glycero-functionalized carbohydrates. Ferrier reaction between the two partners afforded the O-glucoside in 84% yield. Spontaneous crystallization yielded 28% of a pure diastereoisomer with the S configuration as determined by X-ray crystallography.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe exploration of the FeF3/FeF2-Hamtetraz-HF system in dimethylformamide by solvothermal synthesis evidences two isostructural 3D hybrid fluoroferrates. They are prepared from the same starting mixture at two different synthesis temperatures: 120 °C for [Hdma]·(Fe4(II)Fe(III)F8(H2O)2(amtetraz)4) () and 140 °C for [Hdma]1.5·(Fe4.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe compositions of ancient varnishes are mainly determined destructively by separation methods coupled to mass spectrometry. In this study, a methodology for non-invasive quantitative analyses of varnishes by vibrational spectroscopies is proposed. For that, experimental simplified varnishes of colophony and linseed oil were prepared according to 18th century traditional recipes with an increasing mass concentration ratio of colophony/linseed oil.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe solvothermal reactions of an equimolar mixture of FeF2 and FeF3 with Htaz (1,2,4-triazole), aqueous HF and DMF (dimethylformamide) at 120 °C yielded a series of new hybrid fluoroferrates (1-5). Their structures were characterized by either single crystal or powder X-ray diffraction data analysis. Both classes of hybrid networks were observed according to the Fe(n+)/Htaz/HF starting ratio: class I for 1 and 2 and class II for 3, 4 and 5.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this research was to assess water quality in a stretch of the Paraguay River within the Brazilian Pantanal by means of a micronucleus assay with fish, and by water and sediment physicochemical analysis. Significant increases (p >0.05) in the frequency of micronuclei (MN) and micronucleated cells (MNC) occurred in erythrocytes of Pimelodus maculatus and Leporinus friderici at two river sites in the town of Caceres relative to an upstream reference site.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn Brazil, restingas are under severe human-induced impacts resulting in habitat degradation and loss and remain one of the less frequently studied ecosystems. The main objectives of the present study are to describe the bat community in a restinga in Paulo Cesar Vinha State Park, Guarapari municipality, state of Espírito Santo, southeastern Brazil. Fieldwork was conducted twice a month from August 2004 to September 2005.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe genotoxic activity of surface water samples from four sites along the Paraguay River, near Cáceres, Mato Grosso State, Brazil, was investigated using the Drosophila melanogaster Somatic Mutation and Recombination test (SMART). Effluents from sanitary sewers and agroindustrial effluents (residual effluents from slaughterhouses, leather tanneries, and dairies) flow into the Paraguay River, and directly or indirectly contaminate water from sampling sites 1-3. Site 4 was an upriver reference site that received no domestic or agroindustrial discharges.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHousehold contacts of leprosy patients are the group with the highest risk of developing the disease, and although many risk or prevention factors have been identified, they have not been employed in leprosy-monitoring programs. This investigation aimed to establish the relative risks or the preventive effects of the presence of BCG vaccination, the Mitsuda test, and the ML-Flow assay. Household contacts (1,396) were monitored for a 5-year period.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlantago major is used in many parts of the world for the treatment of diseases and to promote the healing of wounds. In the present study, the somatic mutation and recombination test (SMART) in Drosophila melanogaster was used to evaluate the genotoxic activity of an aqueous extract of P. major.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF