Tuning the Electronic Property of Reconstructed Atomic Ni-CuO Cluster Supported on N/O-C for Electrocatalytic Oxygen Evolution.

Electrochemical activation usually accompanies in situ atom rearrangement forming new catalytic sites with higher activity due to reconstructed atomic clusters or amorphous phases with abundant dangling bonds, vacancies, and defects. By harnessing the pre-catalytic process of reconstruction, a multilevel structure of CuNi alloy nanoparticles encapsulated in N-doped carbon (CuNi nanoalloy@N/C) transforms into a highly active compound of Ni-doped CuO nanocluster supported on (N/O-C) co-doped C. Both the exposure of accessible active sites and the activity of individual active sites are greatly improved after the pre-catalytic reconstruction.

Enhancing Zn Storage Performance by Constructing the Interfaces Between VO and Co-N-C Layers.

Vanadium oxides have aroused attention as cathode materials in aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) due to their low cost and high safety. However, low ion diffusion and vanadium dissolution often lead to capacity decay and deteriorating stability during cycling. Herein, vanadium dioxides (VO) nanobelts are coated with a single-atom cobalt dispersed N-doped carbon (Co-N-C) layer via a facile calcination strategy to form Co-N-C layer coated VO nanobelts (VO@Co-N-C NBs) for cathodes in AZIBs.

Anchoring ZIF-67 particles on amidoximerized polyacrylonitrile fibers for radionuclide sequestration in wastewater and seawater.

Capturing uranium (U(VI)) ions from wastewater and seawater is highly attractive for the environment and clean energy with the increasing deficiency of land sources. Howbeit, the massive volume of water and the ultralow concentration of U(VI) pose a substantial challenge to the industrial application. Accordingly, we have synthesized a novel organic-inorganic hybrid adsorbent through in-situ growing MOF particles on electrospun polyacrylonitrile fibers (PAN) followed by modifing with amidoxime groups to form amidoximed PAN/ZIF-67 (AOPAN/ZIF) hybrid fibers.

Bio-Inspired Synthesis of Hematite Mesocrystals by Using Xonotlite Nanowires as Growth Modifiers and Their Improved Oxygen Evolution Activity.

Bio-inspired synthesis of functional materials with highly ordered structure and tunable properties is of particular interest, but efficient approaches that allow the access of these materials are still limited. A method has been developed for the preparation of hematite particles by using xonotlite nanowires (XNWs) as growth modifiers. The concentration of the XNWs has a profound effect on the final morphology of the products, whereas the concentration of the iron(III) ions can control the size of the hematite particles.

Charged Nanowire-Directed Growth of Amorphous Calcium Carbonate Nanosheets in a Mixed Solvent for Biomimetic Composite Films.

Bio-inspired mineralization is an effective way for fabricating complex inorganic materials, which inspires us to develop new methods to synthesize materials with fascinating properties. In this article, we report that the charged tellurium nanowires (TeNWs) can be used as biomacromolecule analogues to direct the formation of amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) nanosheets (ACCNs) in a mixed solvent. The effects of surface charges and the concentration of the TeNWs on the formation of ACCNs have been investigated.

Super-elastic and fatigue resistant carbon material with lamellar multi-arch microstructure.

Low-density compressible materials enable various applications but are often hindered by structure-derived fatigue failure, weak elasticity with slow recovery speed and large energy dissipation. Here we demonstrate a carbon material with microstructure-derived super-elasticity and high fatigue resistance achieved by designing a hierarchical lamellar architecture composed of thousands of microscale arches that serve as elastic units. The obtained monolithic carbon material can rebound a steel ball in spring-like fashion with fast recovery speed (∼580 mm s), and demonstrates complete recovery and small energy dissipation (∼0.

Synthetic nacre by predesigned matrix-directed mineralization.

Although biomimetic designs are expected to play a key role in exploring future structural materials, facile fabrication of bulk biomimetic materials under ambient conditions remains a major challenge. Here, we describe a mesoscale "assembly-and-mineralization" approach inspired by the natural process in mollusks to fabricate bulk synthetic nacre that highly resembles both the chemical composition and the hierarchical structure of natural nacre. The millimeter-thick synthetic nacre consists of alternating organic layers and aragonite platelet layers (91 weight percent) and exhibits good ultimate strength and fracture toughness.

[Preparation of recombinant Mycobacterium tuberculosis ESAT6-PPE68 fusion protein].

Objective: To construct esat6-ppe68 fusion gene and its prokaryotic expression vector for expression in E. coli.

Methods: With GeneSOEing method, a fusion gene was constructed by splicing esat6 gene and ppe68 gene and cloned into pGEX-4T-1 plasmid to construct the recombinant prokaryotic expression plasmid pGesat6-ppe68.