Alumina-Supported Porphyrin Zinc as a Carbonic Anhydrase Mimic: Enhanced CO Hydration Catalysis.

Zinc porphyrin is a promising carbonic anhydrase (CA) mimic for promoting CO absorption, but its application is hindered by poor dispersibility in absorption solutions. To address these challenges, we developed a strategy to impregnate zinc porphyrin on an γ-AlO carrier. The hydrophilic surface groups and porous structure of γ-AlO were expected to enhance both the hydrophilicity and stability of zinc porphyrin.

Enhancement of anaerobic digestion by adding elemental sulfur.

In this study, a new approach to enhance methane (CH) production from organic substrates in anaerobic digestion (AD) has been discovered. That is, the addition of elemental sulfur (S) particles into the AD system promotes the synergistic growth of elemental sulfur disproportionation bacteria, acidogenic bacteria and methanogenic archaea, thus facilitating hydrolysis, acidogenesis and methanogenesis. The efficacy of this AD enhancement pathway was confirmed in AD experiments with glucose as a model organic substrate.

Molybdenum Carbide Catalyst Enables Efficient Conversion of Chlorinated Volatile Organic Waste into Syngas through Catalytic Steam Reforming.

Catalytic steam reforming offers a groundbreaking approach for converting industrial chlorinated volatile organic compound (CVOC) waste into valuable syngas (H and CO) and recovering HCl. However, the lack of C-Cl bond activation ability in traditional transition metal catalysts results in their insufficient reforming activity toward CVOCs. Herein, a novel molybdenum carbide (β-MoC) catalyst is developed and loaded onto a γ-AlO support synthesized through a self-assembly method.

Creating Spin Channels in SrCoO through Trigonal-to-Cubic Structural Transformation for Enhanced Oxygen Evolution/Reduction Reactions.

Oxygen evolution and reduction reactions (OER and ORR) play crucial roles in energy conversion processes such as water splitting and air batteries, where spin dynamics inherently influence their efficiency. However, the specific contribution of spin has yet to be fully understood. In this study, we intentionally introduce a spin channel through the transformation of trigonal antiferromagnetic SrCoO into cubic ferromagnetic SrCoO, aiming to deepen our understanding of spin dynamics in catalytic reactions.

Oxygen Vacancy Induced Strong Metal-Support Interactions on Ni/CeZrO Nanorod Catalysts for Promoting Steam Reforming of Toluene: Experimental and Computational Studies.

To develop an efficient Ni-based steam reforming catalyst for tar removal from the products of biomass gasification, Ni/CeZrO nanorods were designed. The Ni/CeZrO nanorod was used as a catalyst in steam reforming of toluene, which was regarded as a model compound of biomass gasification tar. At gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of 24,000 h and Ni loading of 5 wt %, the 5Ni/CeZrO nanorod catalyst achieved 100% of toluene conversion at 600 °C.

Mechanism of microbiologically induced calcite precipitation for cadmium mineralization.

Microbiologically induced calcite precipitation (MICP) technology shows potential for remediating heavy metal pollution; however, the underlying mechanism of heavy metal mineralization is not well-understood, limiting the application of this technology. In this study, we targeted Cd contamination (using 15:1, 25:1, and 50:1 Ca/Cd molar ratios) and showed that the ureolytic bacteria Sporosarcina ureilytica ML-2 removed >99.7 % Cd with a maximum fixation capacity of 75.

Microbiologically induced calcite precipitation for in situ stabilization of heavy metals contributes to land application of sewage sludge.

Microbiologically induced calcite precipitation (MICP) has shed new light on solving the problem of in situ stabilization of heavy metals (HMs) in sewage sludge before land disposal. In this study, we examined whether MICP treatment can be integrated into a sewage sludge anaerobic digestion-land application process. Our results showed that MICP treatment not only prevented the transfer of ionic-state Cd from the sludge to the supernatant (98.

Microbiologically induced calcite precipitation technology for mineralizing lead and cadmium in landfill leachate.

As a new bioremediation technology for toxic metals, microbiologically induced calcite precipitation (MICP) is gradually becoming a research focus. This study investigated the application of MICP to mineralize toxic metals (lead and cadmium) in landfill leachate for the first time. In the experiment of remediating synthetic landfill leachate (SLL) contaminated by Pb, 100% of the 20 mg/L Pb was removed when the maximum urease activity was only 20.

Study on the feasibility of using monolithic catalyst in the in-situ catalytic biomass pyrolysis for syngas production.

In-situ catalytic biomass pyrolysis for syngas production is a competitive technology for the recovery of energy in biomass. However, in conventional in-situ catalytic pyrolysis process, the mode of catalyst introduction makes it difficult to separate the catalyst from the char after pyrolysis, resulting in difficulty in catalyst recycling. We considered that the use of monolithic catalyst which has larger size than the biomass feedstock might solve the problem of the separation difficulty between the catalyst and char.

Interfacial Titanium Diffusion Self-Adapting Layer in Ultrathin Epitaxial MnO/TiO Heterostructures.

The electrochemical performance of supercapacitors is suppressed by a large number of defects in the interface of heterostructure due to lattice mismatch. In this paper, the (001) oriented rutile MnO thin films with different thicknesses were grown on rutile TiO substrates. The lattice mismatch between film and substrate was minimized through a Ti diffusion self-adapting layer.

A strategy of using recycled char as a co-catalyst in cyclic in-situ catalytic cattle manure pyrolysis for increasing gas production.

Cattle manure is a major livestock waste in agroecosystem, and in-situ catalytic pyrolysis is considered as a potential technology for its disposal. In order to increase the gas production during cattle manure pyrolysis and alleviate the problem of frequent regeneration-separation of the in-situ catalyst, a strategy of in-situ catalytic pyrolysis was proposed in this work, in which the pyrolytic char product was not separated from the pyrolysis catalyst of NiO/γ-AlO but mixed with it and recycled for several times as the co-catalyst for cattle manure pyrolysis instead. Adopting this strategy, it was observed that the mixed-type catalyst could lead to 70% increase in gas production and 82% promotion in syngas energy conversion rate compared with the circumstance of no catalyst added.

Visualization analysis of graphene and its composites for heavy metal wastewater applications.

In order to explore the research trends and hotspots related to the treatment of heavy metals in wastewater by graphene and its composites, this study collected information on 511 publications from the Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCIE) and conducted a quantitative and visual analysis. The article on the adsorption of heavy metals in wastewater by graphene and its composites first appeared in 2006 and continued to grow since 2011. It broke through 100 articles for the first time in 2016 and the overall trend is on the rise.

Enhancing oxygen evolution efficiency of multiferroic oxides by spintronic and ferroelectric polarization regulation.

Regulating the electronic structure of catalysts is the most efficient strategy yet, despite its limitations, to improve their oxygen evolution efficiency. Instead of only adjusting the electronic structure, here we utilize ferroelectric polarization to accelerate the oxygen evolution reaction as well. This is demonstrated on a multiferroic layered perovskite BiCoTiO with in-situ grown BiCoO.

Superlattice-like structure and enhanced ferroelectric properties of intergrowth Aurivillius oxides.

Aurivillius oxides with an intergrowth structures have been receiving increasing interest because of their special structures and potential outstanding ferroelectric properties. In this work, BiLaTiNbFeO-BiTiFeO and BiTiNbO-BiLaTiNbFeO compounds were successfully synthetised using a simple solid-state reaction method. X-Ray diffraction patterns and scanning transmission electron microscopy high angle annular dark field (STEM-HAADF) images confirm the 2-3 and the 3-4 intergrowth structures in BiTiNbO-BiLaTiNbFeO and BiLaTiNbFeO-BiTiFeO compounds, respectively.

miR-548k regulates CXCL13 expression in myasthenia gravis patients with thymic hyperplasia and in Jurkat cells.

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a B cell-mediated and T cell-dependent autoimmune disease. Thymic hyperplasia has great significance for MG pathogenesis and treatment. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a newly recognized type of gene expression regulatory factor that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level.

Simple fabrication of Chitosan/Graphene nanoplates composite spheres for efficient adsorption of acid dyes from aqueous solution.

A facile method for the fabrication of crosslinked chitosan/graphene nanoplates composite sphere (CS/GNPs) was presented. The obtained samples were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The adsorption activities of CS/GNPs for methyl orange (MO) and acid red 1 (AR1) were evaluated such as the effect of pH and GNPs content, as well as adsorption kinetics and isotherms.

Nanoscale Structural Modulation and Low-temperature Magnetic Response in Mixed-layer Aurivillius-type Oxides.

Nanoscale structural modulation with different layer numbers in layer-structured complex oxides of the binary BiTiO-BiFeO system can give rise to intriguing phenomena and extraordinary properties, originating from the correlated interfaces of two different phases with different strain states. In this work, we studied the nanoscale structural modulation induced by Co-substitution in the Aurivillius-type oxide of BiFeTiO with a unique and naturally occurred mixed-layer structure. Nanoscale structural evolution via doping occurred from the phase-modulated structure composed of 4- and 5-layer phases to a homogeneous 4-layer structure was clearly observed utilizing x-ray diffraction and electron micro-techniques.

Oxidative degradation stability and hydrogen sulfide removal performance of dual-ligand iron chelate of Fe-EDTA/CA.

Catalytic oxidation desulfurization using chelated iron catalyst is an effective method to remove HS from various gas streams including biogas. However, the ligand of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), which is usually adopted to prepare chelated iron catalyst, is liable to be oxidative degraded, and leads to the loss of desulfurization performance. In order to improve the degradation stability of the iron chelate, a series of iron chelates composed of two ligands including citric acid (CA) and EDTA were prepared and the oxidative degradation stability as well as desulfurization performance of these chelated iron catalysts were studied.

Altered expression of miR-125a-5p in thymoma-associated myasthenia gravis and its down-regulation of foxp3 expression in Jurkat cells.

Myasthenia gravis is an autoantibody-mediated and T cell-dependent autoimmune disease of neuromuscular junctions. Thymomas may play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of thymoma-associated myasthenia gravis (TAMG), but the thymic pathogenesis of TAMG is unknown. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNA molecules 21-24 nt in length that regulate the expression of their target genes in a post-transcriptional manner.

Detecting and classifying linear structures in mammograms using random forests.

Detecting and classifying curvilinear structure is important in many image interpretation tasks. We focus on the challenging problem of detecting such structure in mammograms and deciding whether it is normal or abnormal. We adopt a discriminative learning approach based on a Dual-Tree Complex Wavelet representation and random forest classification.

Impact of using high-density polyethylene geomembrane layer as landfill intermediate cover on landfill gas extraction.

Clay is widely used as a traditional cover material for landfills. As clay becomes increasingly costly and scarce, and it also reduces the storage capacity of landfills, alternative materials with low hydraulic conductivity are employed. In developing countries such as China, landfill gas (LFG) is usually extracted for utilization during filling stage, therefore, the intermediate covering system is an important part in a landfill.

Overview on LFG projects in China.

Since the first landfill gas (LFG) power plant in China was built in 1998, by now more than 10years have passed. In this period the LFG utilization process has progressed greatly in China. An overall review of the process is presented in this paper, which includes the background of policies, the information about the approval procedure of LFG projects, and the theoretical methods used to estimate the amount of LFG's generation.

[Effect of ethanol on sulfate reduction and methanogenesis].

Base on the different niche characteristics of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB), acidogenic bacteria (AB) and methane-producing bacteria (MPB), this experiment used two-stage anaerobic treatment and circular gas stripping. Sucrose and ethanol were used as organic substrate (COD = 6 000 mg x L(-1). The effect of ethanol concentration on sulfate reduction, COD removal and methanogenesis, the effect of sulfide stripping and the best recycle ratio were investigated respectively at different COD/SO4(2-) ratios.