Achieving efficient and sustainable hydrogen production through photocatalysis is highly promising yet remains a significant challenge, especially when replacing costly noble metals with more abundant alternatives. Conversion efficiency with noble-metal-free alternatives is frequently limited by high charge recombination rates, mainly due to the sluggish transfer and inefficient consumption of photo-generated holes. To address these challenges, a rational design of noble-metal-free cocatalysts as oxidative sites is reported to facilitate hole consumption, leading to markedly increased H yield rates without relying on expensive noble metals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSingle atom catalyst (SAC) is one of the most efficient and versatile catalysts with well-defined active sites. However, its facile and large-scale preparation, the prerequisite of industrial applications, has been very challenging. This dilemma originates from the Gibbs-Thomson effect, which renders it rather difficult to achieve high single atom loading (< 3 mol%).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArtificial photosynthesis for high-value hydrogen peroxide (HO) through a two-electron reduction reaction is a green and sustainable strategy. However, the development of highly active HO photocatalysts is impeded by severe carrier recombination, ineffective active sites, and low surface reaction efficiency. We developed a dual optimization strategy to load dense Ni nanoparticles onto ultrathin porous graphitic carbon nitride (Ni-UPGCN).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Bioeng Biotechnol
January 2024
Chronic wound management is an intractable medical and social problem, affecting the health of millions worldwide. Decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM)-based materials possess remarkable biological properties for tissue regeneration, which have been used as commercial products for skin regeneration in clinics. However, the complex external environment and the longer chronic wound-healing process hinder the application of pure dECM materials.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBacterial infections cause severe health conditions, resulting in a significant economic burden for the public health system. Although natural phytochemicals are considered promising anti-bacterial agents, they suffer from several limitations, such as poor water solubility and low bioavailability , severely restricting their wide application. Herein, we constructed a near-infrared (NIR)-responsive carrier-free berberine hydrochloride (BH, phytochemicals)/indocyanine green (ICG, photosensitizer) nanoparticles (BI NPs) for synergistic antibacterial of an infected wound.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTwo loci inhibiting Fhb1 resistance to Fusarium head blight were identified through genome-wide association mapping and validated in biparental populations. Fhb1 confers Fusarium head blight (FHB) resistance by limiting fungal spread within spikes in wheat (type II resistance). However, not all lines with Fhb1 display the expected resistance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAripiprazole (ARI), a second-generation atypical antipsychotic drug approved for schizophrenia treatment, shows good efficacy against depression. However, the poorly aqueous solubility of ARI leads to low bioavailability and increased dose-related side effects, seriously limiting its application in pharmaceutics. Herein, we demonstrated the fabrication of ARI and poly (methyl vinyl ether--maleic anhydride) (PVMMA) composite nanoparticles (PA NPs) using the supercritical antisolvent (SAS) process for enhancing its water-solubility and curative anti-depressant effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDeeply photocatalytic oxidation of nitrogen oxides is still difficult to achieve, mainly limited by few intrinsic active sites and inefficient carrier separation of photocatalysts. Accordingly, we develop a simple room temperature tactic to introduce oxygen vacancies (OVs) into BiTaO (BTO). Based on solid experimental and DFT theoretical supports, we explore the mechanism of NO removal over OVs decorated BTO (OVs-BTO).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhotocatalytic conversion of CO to high-value products plays a crucial role in the global pursuit of carbon-neutral economy. Junction photocatalysts, such as the isotype heterojunctions, offer an ideal paradigm to navigate the photocatalytic CO reduction reaction (CRR). Herein, we elucidate the behaviors of isotype heterojunctions toward photocatalytic CRR over a representative photocatalyst, g-CN.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe photocatalytic CO reduction reaction is a sustainable route to the direct conversion of greenhouse gases into chemicals without additional energy consumption. Given the vast amount of greenhouse gas, numerous efforts have been devoted to developing inorganic photocatalysts, e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHigh-valence cobalt sites are considered as highly active centers for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and their corresponding construction is thus of primary importance in the pursuit of outstanding performance. Herein, we report the design and facile synthesis of abundant high-valence cobalt sites by introducing Zn into CoFe Prussian blue analogues (PBAs). The modification results in the drastic morphological transformation from a pure phase (CoFe-PBA) to a three-phase composite (CoFeZn-PBA), with a significant increase not only the amount of highly oxidized Co sites but the specific surface area (by up to 4 times).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnatase TiO (A-TiO) usually exhibits superior photocatalytic activity than rutile TiO (R-TiO). However, the phase transformation from A-TiO to R-TiO will inevitably happens when the calcination temperature is up to 600°C, which hampers the practical applications of TiO photocatalysis in hyperthermal situations. In this paper, high energy faceted TiO nanosheets (TiO-NSs) with super thermal stability was prepared by calcination of TiOF cubes.
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