In Situ Raman Observation of Oxygen Activation and Reaction at Platinum-Ceria Interfaces during CO Oxidation.

Understanding the fundamental insights of oxygen activation and reaction at metal-oxide interfaces is of significant importance yet remains a major challenge due to the difficulty in in situ characterization of active oxygen species. Herein, the activation and reaction of molecular oxygen during CO oxidation at platinum-ceria interfaces has been in situ explored using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) via a borrowing strategy, and different active oxygen species and their evolution during CO oxidation at platinum-ceria interfaces have been directly observed. In situ Raman spectroscopic evidence with isotopic exchange experiments demonstrate that oxygen is efficiently dissociated to chemisorbed O on Pt and lattice Ce-O species simultaneously at interfacial Ce defect sites under CO oxidation, leading to a much higher activity at platinum-ceria interfaces compared to that at Pt alone.

Probing Single-Atom Catalysts and Catalytic Reaction Processes by Shell-Isolated Nanoparticle-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy.

Developing advanced characterization techniques for single-atom catalysts (SACs) is of great significance to identify their structural and catalytic properties. Raman spectroscopy can provide molecular structure information, and thus, the technique is a promising tool for catalysis. However, its application in SACs remains a great challenge because of its low sensitivity.

In Situ Raman Monitoring and Manipulating of Interfacial Hydrogen Spillover by Precise Fabrication of Au/TiO /Pt Sandwich Structures.

The spillover of hydrogen species and its role in tuning the activity and selectivity in catalytic hydrogenation have been investigated in situ using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) with 10 nm spatial resolution through the precise fabrication of Au/TiO /Pt sandwich nanostructures. In situ SERS study reveals that hydrogen species can efficiently spillover at Pt-TiO -Au interfaces, and the ultimate spillover distance on TiO is about 50 nm. Combining kinetic isotope experiments and density functional theory calculations, it is found that the hydrogen spillover proceeds via the water-assisted cleavage and formation of surface hydrogen-oxygen bond.

Cerebral protection of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) via preservation of mitochondrial function and ERK inhibition in a rat resuscitation model.

Background: Various and opposite roles of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) have been reported in different studies. We aimed to investigate how EGCG affects the cerebral injury in a cardiac arrest/cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CA/CPR) model of rat.

Methods: The rats which were subjected to CA/CPR randomly received low dose of EGCG (3 mg/kg, Low-EGCG group, n=16), high dose of EGCG (9 mg/kg, High-EGCG group, n=16) and equal volume of 0.

Understanding the strain effect of Au@Pd nanocatalysts by in situ surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.

A gap-mode configuration was developed for the in situ SERS study of the structure-activity relationship of Au@Pd core-shell nanocatalysts, which show much better performance in the selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol compared to Pd. The in situ SERS results reveal that the tensile strain in the Pd shell could promote the activation of oxygen, thus improving the activity. Such a tensile strain effect decreases with the increase of the Pd shell thickness, leading to a volcano correlation between the activity and the shell thickness.

Elevated Serum Potassium Concentration Alleviates Cerebral Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury via Mitochondrial Preservation.

Background/aims: The anti-apoptotic effect of an increase in the extracellular concentration of potassium ([K+]) has been confirmed in vitro. However, it is not yet known whether elevated serum [K+] exerts a cerebroprotective effect in vivo. In this study, we aimed to explore the effect of elevated serum [K+] in a rat model of middle cerebral artery occlusion and reperfusion (MCAO/R).