Scalable, Flexible, Magnetic-Field-Guided rULGO Sponge-BN-Cobalt Oxide-Based Supercapacitors: Mechanistic Insights into Multiple Charge Transfer Pathways by the Distribution of Relaxation Times.

Scalable and flexible supercapacitors are in high demand from an application point of view. Through our exploration, we have attained promising performance of electrochemical energy storage under the influence of an external magnetic field for future energy-based applications. In this work, a commercial sponge is used as a template for ultra-large graphene oxide (rULGO) functionalization, followed by the incorporation of CoO:BN without the inclusion of binders or conductive additives.

Magnetically Triggered Interplay of Capacitive and Diffusion Contributions for Boosted Supercapacitor Performance.

The chemistry involved in supercapacitors in terms of their mechanistic contributions leading to improved specific capacity will aid in easy commercialization. The main contributory factors in a supercapacitor are either capacitive (non-diffusion controlled) or ion-diffusion behavior, which results in enhanced charge-discharge characteristics of a supercapacitor reflected in its power density, whereas ion-diffusion behavior will lead to the enhanced energy density of a supercapacitor. In this context, the present article attempts to understand the use of external magnetic fields, leading to the interplay between capacitive and ion-diffusion behavior in a high-performance supercapacitor.

Structurally flexible pyrrolidinium- and morpholinium-based ionic liquid electrolytes.

Ion transport measures and details as well as physico-chemical and electrochemical properties are presented for a small set of structurally flexible pyrrolidinium (Pyrr) and morpholinium (Morph) cation-based ionic liquids (ILs), all with oligoether phosphate-based anions. All have high thermal stabilities, low glass transition temperatures, and wide electrochemical stability windows, but rather moderate ionic conductivities, where both the anions and the cations of the Pyrr-based ILs diffuse faster than those of the Morph-based ILs. Overall, the Pyrr-based ILs show significantly more promise as high-temperature supercapacitor electrolytes, rendering a specific capacitance of 164 F g at 1 mV s, a power density of 609 W kg and a specific energy density of 27 W h kg at 90 °C in a symmetric graphite supercapacitor.

Ionic Liquids and Electrolytes with Flexible Aromatic Anions.

Five new n-tetrabutylphosphonium (P ) cation-based ionic liquids (ILs) with oligoether substituted aromatic carboxylate anions have been synthesized. The nature and position of the oligoether chain affect thermal stability (up to 330 °C), phase behaviour (T <-55 °C) and ion transport. Furthermore, with the aim of application in lithium batteries, electrolytes were created for two of the ILs by 10 mol% doping using the corresponding Li-salts.

Vanadium Oxide Nanosheet-Infused Functionalized Polysulfone Bipolar Membrane for an Efficient Water Dissociation Reaction.

A high-performing bipolar membrane (BPM) was fabricated using functionalized polysulfones as the ion-exchange layers (IELs) and two-dimensional (2D) VO-nanosheets blended with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as the water dissociation catalyst (WDC) at the interfacial layer. The composite BPM showed a low resistance of 0.79 Ω cm, confirming the good contact between the IEL and WDC, much needed for the ionic conductivity.

Meta-analytic connectivity modelling of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies in autism spectrum disorders.

Social and non-social deficits in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) persist into adulthood and may share common regions of aberrant neural activations. The current meta-analysis investigated activation differences between ASD and neurotypical controls irrespective of task type. Activation likelihood estimation meta-analyses were performed to examine consistent hypo-activated and/or hyper-activated regions for all tasks combined, and for social and non-social tasks separately; meta-analytic connectivity modelling and behavioral/paradigm analyses were performed to examine co-activated regions and associated behaviors.

Spectator-metal-ion-guided redox-dominant cobalt oxyhydroxide as a high-performance supercapacitor.

The ability of spectator metal ions such as vanadium to enhance the electrochemical performance of supercapacitors has been explained. Vanadium-incorporated CoO(OH) combined with NiMn-layered double hydroxide (LDH) yields a specific capacitance of 1700 F g at 1 A g with 96% retention after 5000 cycles. The assembled asymmetric supercapacitor exhibits an energy density of 45.

Synchronized redox pairs in metal oxide/hydroxide chemical analogues for an efficient oxygen evolution reaction.

A two-step electrodeposition of CoMnO and its chemical analogue CoMn(OH) directly over Ni-foam yields an excellent water oxidation overpotential of 260 mA cm with a Tafel slope of 29 mV dec and a four-fold increase in turnover frequency. The enhanced efficacy of the composite catalyst is realized through synchronized redox pairs and superior carrier transport.

Diffusion-Mediated Morphological Transformation in Bifunctional MnO/CuO-(VO)(PO)·6HO for Enhanced Electrochemical Water Splitting.

A strategical approach for morphological transformation and heterojunction formation was utilized to suppress the shortcomings of uni-metal oxide electrocatalysts and enhance their bifunctionality. In situ generation of copper oxide (CuO) over the surface of manganese oxide (MnO) resulted in a morphological transformation from solid spheres to hollow spherical structures due to the ion-exchange diffusion (Kirkendall effect) of Cu ions into MnO particles. This hollowness resulted in the advancement of the bifunctional electrocatalytic behavior of MnO/CuO (overpotential (η) of 280 mV for an OER and 310 mV for an HER at a current density of 10 mA/cm) by virtue of increased exposed surface active sites aiding the adsorption of water molecules on the surface.

Physical and electrochemical properties of new structurally flexible imidazolium phosphate ionic liquids.

New structurally flexible 1-methyl- and 1,2-dimethyl-imidazolium phosphate ionic liquids (ILs) bearing oligoethers have been synthesized and thoroughly characterized. These novel ILs revealed high thermal stabilities, low glass transitions, high conductivity and wide electrochemical stability windows up to 6 V. Both the cations and anions of 1-methyl-imidazolium ILs diffuse faster than the ions of 1,2-dimethyl-imidazolium ILs, as determined by pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance (PFG-NMR).

Prediction of COVID-19 Infected Population for Indian States through a State Interaction Network-based SEIR Epidemic Model.

Objective of this present study is to predict the COVID-19 trajectories in terms of infected population of Indian states. In this work, a state interaction network of sixteen Indian states with highest number of infected caseload is considered, based on networked Susceptible-Exposed-Infected-Recovered (SEIR) epidemic model. An intervention term has been introduced in order to capture the effect of lockdown with different stringencies at different periods of time.

Hierarchical FeO(OH)-CoCeV (Oxy)hydroxide as a Water Cleavage Promoter.

The search for a bifunctional electrocatalyst having water cleavage promoting ability along with the operational stability to efficiently generate oxygen and hydrogen could lead to robust systems for applications. These fundamental ideas can be achieved by designing the morphology, tuning the electronic structure, and using dopants in their higher oxidation states. Herein, we have fabricated a binder-free FeO(OH)-CoCeV-layered triple hydroxide (LTH) bifunctional catalyst by a two-step hydrothermal method, in which the nanograin-shaped FeO(OH) coupled with CoCeV-LTH nanoflakes provides more electrocatalytically active sites and enhances the charge-transfer kinetics for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER).

Hollow cuboidal MnCoO coupled with nickel phosphate: a promising oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalyst.

The growth of hierarchical morphologies of complex metal oxides directly on the substrate is a challenging task. Herein we report a unique hollow-cuboidal MnCo2O4 (h-MCO) morphology that offers insights into the efficient charge-transfer and surface kinetics for the oxygen evolution reaction. h-MCO coupled nickel phosphate under alkaline conditions outperforms the benchmark RuO2.

Phosphorus nitride nano-dots as a versatile and metal-free support for efficient photoelectrochemical water oxidation.

Phosphorus nitride dots (PNDs) are employed as a metal-free and versatile support over a range of metal oxide-based photoanodes for efficient photoelectrochemical (PEC) water oxidation. PNDs have the ability to form various heterojunctions by virtue of their favorable band positions for enhanced charge separation leading to improved photocurrent densities.

Self-Assembly of a [1 + 1] Ionic Hexagonal Macrocycle and Its Antiproliferative Activity.

A unique irregular hexagon was self-assembled using an organic donor clip (bearing terminal pyridyl units) and a complementary organometallic acceptor clip. The resulting metallamacrocycle was characterized by multinuclear NMR, mass spectrometry, and elemental analyses. Molecular modeling confirmed hexagonal shaped cavity for this metallamacrocycle which is a unique example of a discrete hexagonal framework self-assembled from only two building blocks.

TROVE: a user-friendly tool for visualizing and analyzing cancer hallmarks in signaling networks.

Summary: Cancer hallmarks, a concept that seeks to explain the complexity of cancer initiation and development, provide a new perspective of studying cancer signaling which could lead to a greater understanding of this complex disease. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is currently a lack of tools that support such hallmark-based study of the cancer signaling network, thereby impeding the gain of knowledge in this area. We present TROVE, an user-friendly software that facilitates hallmark annotation, visualization and analysis in cancer signaling networks.

First-line antituberculosis drug, pyrazinamide, its pharmaceutically relevant cocrystals and a salt.

A few pyrazinamide (Pyz) cocrystals involving hydroxybenzoic/cinnamic acid derivatives [2,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (24DHBA); 2,6-dihydroxybenzoic acid (26DHBA); 3,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (35DHBA) and nutraceutical molecule ferulic acid (FRA)] and the first example of a molecular salt with p-toluenesulfonic acid (pTSA) have been prepared and characterized using various solid-state techniques. A high-temperature cocrystal polymorph of Pyz·FRA has been characterized from the endothermic peaks observed using differential scanning calorimetry. The presence of substituent groups carrying hydrogen bond donors or acceptors and their influence on supramolecular synthon formation has been investigated using a Cambridge Structural Database search.

Coordination-Driven Self-Assembly of Ionic Irregular Hexagonal Metallamacrocycles via an Organometallic Clip and Their Cytotoxicity Potency.

Two new irregular hexagons (6 and 7) were synthesized from a pyrazine motif containing an organometallic acceptor clip [bearing platinum(II) centers] and different neutral donor ligands (4,4'-bipyridine or pyrazine) using a coordination-driven self-assembly protocol. The two-dimensional supramolecules were characterized by multinuclear NMR, mass spectrometry, and elemental analyses. Additionally, one of the macrocycles (6) was characterized by single-crystal X-ray analyses.

Coupling conditions for globally stable and robust synchrony of chaotic systems.

We propose a set of general coupling conditions to select a coupling profile (a set of coupling matrices) from the linear flow matrix of dynamical systems for realizing global stability of complete synchronization (CS) in identical systems and robustness to parameter perturbation. The coupling matrices define the coupling links between any two oscillators in a network that consists of a conventional diffusive coupling link (self-coupling link) as well as a cross-coupling link. The addition of a selective cross-coupling link in particular plays constructive roles that ensure the global stability of synchrony and furthermore enables robustness of synchrony against small to nonsmall parameter perturbation.

Synergistic target combination prediction from curated signaling networks: Machine learning meets systems biology and pharmacology.

Given a signaling network, the target combination prediction problem aims to predict efficacious and safe target combinations for combination therapy. State-of-the-art in silico methods use Monte Carlo simulated annealing (mcsa) to modify a candidate solution stochastically, and use the Metropolis criterion to accept or reject the proposed modifications. However, such stochastic modifications ignore the impact of the choice of targets and their activities on the combination's therapeutic effect and off-target effects, which directly affect the solution quality.

Self-assembly of DNA-porphyrin hybrid molecules for the creation of antimicrobial nanonetwork.

DNA derived well-controlled arrangement of porphyrins has emerged as promising hybrid nanostructures. Exceptional biocompatibility and DNA-directed surface addressability coupled with rich symmetry features of the porphyrin have made these hybrid nanostructures attractive candidates for potential biomedical and biotechnological applications. However, the noteworthy photophysical properties of porphyrin and related molecules when present in DNA based nanostructures are yet to be explored fully and should be a matter of intense research that may unearth a plethora of interesting applications of these nanostructures.

Design of a flexible organometallic tecton: host-guest chemistry with picric acid and self-assembly of platinum macrocycles.

The synthesis and characterization of a new pyrazine-based "flexible" and ditopic platinum(ii) organometallic molecule (3) is being reported. Flexibility in this molecule is due to the presence of ether functional groups that bridge the rigid core and periphery. Due to the presence of square planar Pt(ii) centers at the two ends, the molecule's potential to act as an acceptor building block in the construction of metallamacrocycles was tested.

Hierarchical coassembly of DNA-triptycene hybrid molecular building blocks and zinc protoporphyrin IX.

Herein, we describe the successful construction of composite DNA nanostructures by the self-assembly of complementary symmetrical 2,6,14-triptycenetripropiolic acid (TPA)-DNA building blocks and zinc protoporphyrin IX (Zn PpIX). DNA-organic molecule scaffolds for the composite DNA nanostructure were constructed through covalent conjugation of TPA with 5'-C12-amine-terminated modified single strand DNA (ssDNA) and its complementary strand. The repeated covalent conjugation of TPA with DNA was confirmed by using denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF).

Pyrazine motif containing hexagonal macrocycles: synthesis, characterization, and host-guest chemistry with nitro aromatics.

The synthesis and characterization of cationic two-dimensional metallamacrocycles having a hexagonal shape and cavity are described. Both macrocycles utilize a pyrazine motif containing an organometallic acceptor tecton with platinum(II) centers along with different donor ligands. While one macrocycle is a relatively larger [6 + 6], the other is a relatively smaller [2 + 2] polygon.