Stabilisation of solid-state cubic ammonia confined in a glass substance at ambient temperature under atmospheric pressure.

Ammonia, a widely available compound, exhibits structural transitions from solid to liquid to gas depending on temperature, pressure, and chemical interactions with adjacent atoms, offering valuable insights into planetary science. It serves as a significant hydrogen storage medium in environmental science, mitigating carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels. However, its gaseous form, NH(g), poses health risks, potentially leading to fatalities.

Reduction of noise induced by power supply lines using phase-locked loop.

An experimental implementation for the reduction of power-line noise in delicate signal detection is presented. This implementation improves the signal-to-noise ratio without limiting the bandwidth of the measurement. A sinusoidal wave and its harmonics, both synchronized with the frequency of the power line, are used to cancel out the power supply noise induced in the measurement signal.

Unexpectedly Large Contribution of Oxygen to Charge Compensation Triggered by Structural Disordering: Detailed Experimental and Theoretical Study on a LiNbO-NiO Binary System.

Dependence on lithium-ion batteries for automobile applications is rapidly increasing. The emerging use of anionic redox can boost the energy density of batteries, but the fundamental origin of anionic redox is still under debate. Moreover, to realize anionic redox, many reported electrode materials rely on manganese ions through π-type interactions with oxygen.

A emitter for passive heat release from enclosures.

Passive radiative cooling functions by reflecting the solar spectrum and emitting infrared waves in broadband or selectively. However, cooling enclosed spaces that trap heat by greenhouse effect remains a challenge. We present a emitter (ET) consisting of an Ag-polydimethylsiloxane layer on micropatterned quartz substrate.

Spectral dependence of third-order susceptibility of Au triangular nanoplates.

We experimentally investigated the spectral dependence of the third-order susceptibility [Formula: see text] of Au triangular nanoplates in a broad wavelength region (400-1,000 nm). Complex shaped plasmonic nanoparticles provide a promising route to achieve control of their optical properties at the nanoscale. However, little is known about the effects of geometrical parameters to the optical nonlinearities and underlying mechanisms of the plasmon modes.

Imperforate tracheary elements and vessels alleviate xylem tension under severe dehydration: insights from water release curves for excised twigs of three tree species.

Premise: Water stored in the xylem of woody plants is important for supporting the transpiration stream under prolonged drought, yet the source of stored water within the xylem during drought remains unclear. Insights into xylem water utilization during drought will uncover the adaptation strategies of the test species to stress.

Methods: To fill the existing knowledge gap, we excised twigs of Abies firma (Japanese fir, conifer), Cercidiphyllum japonicum (katsura tree, diffuse-porous) and Quercus serrata (konara oak, ring-porous) to quantify interspecific variation of water transfer in xylem corresponding with increasing cumulative water release (CWR) using micro x-ray computed tomography and cryo-SEM.

Supramolecular ultrafast energy and electron transfer in a directly linked BODIPY-oxoporphyrinogen dyad upon fluoride ion binding.

A directly linked BODIPY-oxoporphyrinogen dyad has been newly synthesized and occurrence of sequential photoinduced energy and electron transfer upon fluoride anion binding to oxoporphyrinogen has been demonstrated by spectral, electrochemical and femtosecond transient absorption studies.

Raman spectroscopic study of ZnO/NiO nanocomposites based on spatial correlation model.

The effect of nickel concentration has been investigated in ZnO/NiO nanocomposites synthesized using the co-precipitation method. The X-ray diffraction and TEM measurements confirm the distinct phase of NiO in the ZnO/NiO samples. Furthermore, the Raman study shows the sharp modes at 99 cm and 438 cm corresponding to E , E of hexagonal wurtzite ZnO structure and, 1080 cm associated to the two-phonon (2P) mode of NiO, respectively.

In Situ Spectroscopic Study on the Surface Hydroxylation of Diamond Electrodes.

Carbon-based materials are regarded as an environmentally benign alternative to the conventional metal electrode used in electrochemistry from the viewpoint of sustainable chemistry. Among various carbon electrode materials, boron-doped diamond (BDD) exhibits superior electrochemical properties. However, it is still uncertain how surface chemical species of BDD influence the electrochemical performance, because of the difficulty in characterizing the surface species.

Chemomechanical Motion of a Self-Oscillating Gel in a Protic Ionic Liquid.

An autonomous swelling-deswelling oscillation of polymer gels in a hydrated protic ionic liquid (PIL) as a proton source for the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction is presented. Methylammonium hydrogen sulfate ([maH ][HSO ]) was employed as the PIL because it provides stable redox oscillation in the BZ reaction. Due to the significantly higher pK for [maH ][HSO ] than those for conventional proton sources for the BZ reaction, chemomechanical oscillation can be expected under weaker acidic conditions.

Surface Hydrogenation of Boron-Doped Diamond Electrodes by Cathodic Reduction.

Boron-doped diamond (BDD) has attracted much attention as a promising electrode material especially for electrochemical sensing systems, because it has excellent properties such as a wide potential window and low background current. It is known that the electrochemical properties of BDD electrodes are very sensitive to the surface termination such as to whether it is hydrogen- or oxygen-terminated. Pretreating BDD electrodes by cathodic reduction (CR) to hydrogenate the surface has been widely used to achieve high sensitivity.

Design of antioxidative biointerface for separation of hematopoietic stem cells with high maintenance of undifferentiated phenotype.

During cell cultivation, excessively generated reactive oxygen species (ROS) affect cellular properties and functions. Although cell cultivation media contain several types of low-molecular-weight antioxidants, these small antioxidants are internalized into the mitochondria and they disrupt regulated redox balance. Here, we developed a novel biointerface that effectively eliminates ROS on a cell culture surface.

Porous nanoarchitectures of spinel-type transition metal oxides for electrochemical energy storage systems.

Transition metal oxides possessing two kinds of metals (denoted as AxB3-xO4, which is generally defined as a spinel structure; A, B = Co, Ni, Zn, Mn, Fe, etc.), with stoichiometric or even non-stoichiometric compositions, have recently attracted great interest in electrochemical energy storage systems (ESSs). The spinel-type transition metal oxides exhibit outstanding electrochemical activity and stability, and thus, they can play a key role in realising cost-effective and environmentally friendly ESSs.

Redox nanoparticles as a novel treatment approach for inflammation and fibrosis associated with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Aim: Oxidative stress (OS) is largely thought to be a central mechanism responsible for liver damage, inflammation and fibrosis in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Our aim was to investigate whether suppression of OS in the liver via redox nanoparticles (RNPs) reduces liver damage in a mouse model of NASH.

Materials & Methods: RNPs were prepared by self-assembly of redox polymers possessing antioxidant nitroxide radicals and were orally administered by daily gavage for 4 weeks.

A novel biointerface that suppresses cell morphological changes by scavenging excess reactive oxygen species.

During cell cultivation on conventional culture dishes, various events results in strong stresses that lead to the production of bioactive species such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide. These reactive species cause variable damage to cells and stimulate cellular responses. Here, we report the design of a novel biocompatible surface that decreases stress by not only morphologically modifying the dish surface by using poly(ethylene glycol) tethered chains, but also actively scavenging oxidative stress by using our novel nitroxide radical-containing polymer.

Investigation of the influence of coadsorbent dye upon the interfacial structure of dye-sensitized solar cells.

The interface between Ru(tcterpy)(NCS)3TBA2 [black dye (BD); tcterpy = 4,4',4″-tricarboxy-2,2':6',2″-terpyridine, NCS = thiocyanato, TBA = tetrabutylammonium cation] and nanocrystalline TiO2, as found in dye-sensitized solar cells, is investigated by soft-X-ray synchrotron radiation and compared with the adsorption structure of cis-Ru(Hdcbpy)2(NCS)2TBA2 (N719; dcbpy = 4,4'-dicarboxy-2,2'-bipyridine) on TiO2 to elucidate the relationship between the adsorption mode of BD and the photocurrent with and without coadsorbed indoline dye D131. The depth profile is characterized with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and S K-edge X-ray absorption fine structure using synchrotron radiation. Both datasets indicate that one of the isothiocyanate groups of BD interacts with TiO2 via its S atom when the dye is adsorbed from a single-component solution.

Self-assembly: from amphiphiles to chromophores and beyond.

Self-assembly has been recognised as a ubiquitous aspect of modern chemistry. Our understanding and applications of self-assembly are substantially based on what has been learned from biochemical systems. In this review, we describe various aspects of self-assembly commencing with an account of the soft structures that are available by assembly of surfactant amphiphiles, which are important scientific and industrial materials.

Sulfobetaine-terminated PEG improves the qualities of an immunosensing surface.

Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) possessing a sulfobetaine (SB) moiety at one end and a pentaethylenehexamine (N6) at the other end (SB-PEG-N6) was newly synthesized as a blocking agent for immunosensing surfaces. The N6 moiety strongly coordinates on gold surfaces, facilitating the tethering of the PEG chain to the sensor chip surface, and leaves the SB moiety free. Non-specific adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA) was analyzed on the SB-PEG-N6 tethered surface and compared with the methoxy-PEG-N6 (M-PEG-N6) tethered surface using a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor.

On practical charge injection at the metal/organic semiconductor interface.

We have revealed practical charge injection at metal and organic semiconductor interface in organic field effect transistor configurations. We have developed a facile interface structure that consisted of double-layer electrodes in order to investigate the efficiency through contact metal dependence. The metal interlayer with few nanometers thickness between electrode and organic semiconductor drastically reduces the contact resistance at the interface.

Ligand displacement for fixing manganese: relevance to cellular metal ion transport and synthesis of polymeric coordination complexes.

A dinuclear manganese(III) complex (1) of an N-(carboxymethyl)-N-[3,5-bis(α,α-dimethylbenzyl-2-hydroxybenzyl)]glycine (HDA) ligand (L) binds a manganese(II) species through displacement of its solvating ligands by appropriately dispositioned carbonyl groups of a dinuclear complex {[Mn(2)(L)(2)(OH)(OCH(3))][Mn(H(2)O)(3)(CH(3)OH)(3)], 2, triclinic P1, a = 13.172(3) Å, b = 15.897(3) Å, c = 19.

Novel redox nanomedicine improves gene expression of polyion complex vector.

Gene therapy has generated worldwide attention as a new medical technology. While non-viral gene vectors are promising candidates as gene carriers, they have several issues such as toxicity and low transfection efficiency. We have hypothesized that the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) affects gene expression in polyplex supported gene delivery systems.

Gd@C metallofullerenes for neutron capture therapy-fullerene solubilization by poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(2-(, -diethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) and resultant efficacy .

Poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(2-(,-diethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (PEG--PAMA) was found to solubilize fullerenes such as C, and this technique was applied to metallofullerenes. Gd@C was easily dissolved in water in the presence of PEG--PAMA without any covalent derivatization, forming a transparent complex about 20-30 nm in diameter. Low cytotoxicity was confirmed .

Engineering of poly(ethylene glycol) chain-tethered surfaces to obtain high-performance bionanoparticles.

A poly(ethylene glycol)--poly[2-(-dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate] block copolymer possessing a reactive acetal group at the end of the poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) chain, that is, acetal-PEG--PAMA, was synthesized by a proprietary polymerization technique. Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) were prepared using the thus-synthesized acetal-PEG--PAMA block copolymer. The PEG--PAMA not only acted as a reducing agent of aurate ions but also attached to the nanoparticle surface.

Effect of anion binding on charge stabilization in a bis-fullerene-oxoporphyrinogen conjugate.

Presence of strongly binding anion, F(-) stabilizes the photo-induced charge-separated states of a bis-fullerene-substituted oxoporphyrinogen due to the large shift in the oxidation potential of the oxoporphyrinogen moiety upon anion binding through hydrogen bonding at its core.