A side-chain engineering strategy for constructing fluorescent dyes with direct and ultrafast self-delivery to living cells.

Organic fluorescent dyes with excellent self-delivery to living cells are always difficult to find due to the limitation of the plasma membrane having rigorous selectivity. Herein, in order to improve the permeability of dyes, we utilize a side-chain engineering strategy (SCES): adjusting the side-chain length of dyes to fine-tune the adsorption and desorption processes on the membrane-aqueous phase interfaces of the outer and inner leaflets of the plasma membrane. For this, a family of fluorescent derivatives () was prepared by functionalizing a styryl-pyridinium fluorophore with alkyl side-chains containing a different carbon number from 1 to 22.

synthesis of monolayer graphene on silicon for near-infrared photodetectors.

Direct integration of monolayer graphene on a silicon (Si) substrate is realized by a simple thermal annealing process, involving a top copper (Cu) layer as the catalyst and an inserted polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) as the carbon source. After spin-coating the PMMA carbon source on the Si substrate, the Cu catalyst was deposited on PMMA/Si by electron beam evaporation. After that, graphene was directly synthesized on Si by decomposition and dehydrogenation of PMMA and the catalyzation effect of Cu under a simple thermal annealing process.

Birnessite-coated sand filled vertical flow constructed wetlands improved nutrients removal in a cold climate.

At low temperature, plants wither and microbial activities decrease, leading to a decline in the pollutant-treatment performance of constructed wetlands (CWs). In this study, vertical flow CWs (VFCWs) with birnessite (Mn oxides)-coated sand (Mn-CWs) were developed to investigate the pollutant removal performance and mechanism in a cold climate. The results showed that the average removal efficiencies for NH-N, NO-N, TN, and TP were 73.

Induced growth of quasi-free-standing graphene on SiC substrates.

Free-standing graphene grown on SiC substrates is desirable for micro- and nano-electronic device applications. In this work, an induced growth method to fabricate quasi-free-standing graphene on SiC was proposed, where graphene nucleation sites were generated on the SiC substrate and active carbon sources were subsequently introduced to grow graphene centered along the established nucleation sites. The structure and morphology of the cultivated graphene were characterized by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM).

Electrochemical Flocculation Integrated Hydrogen Evolution Reaction of Fe@N-Doped Carbon Nanotubes on Iron Foam for Ultralow Voltage Electrolysis in Neutral Media.

Hydrogen (H) production is a key step in solving the energy crisis in the future. Electrocatalytic water splitting suffers from sluggish anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) kinetics leading to low energy conversion efficiency. Herein, a strategy is presented that integrates anodic electrochemical flocculation with cathodic hydrogen production from water splitting in 0.

Suppressing Photoinduced Charge Recombination via the Lorentz Force in a Photocatalytic System.

Suppressing the recombination of photogenerated charges is one of the most important routes for enhancing the catalytic performance of semiconductor photocatalysts. In addition to the built-in field produced by semiconductor heterostructures and the photo-electrocatalysis realized by applying an external electrical potential to photocatalysts assembled on electrodes, other strategies are waiting to be scientifically explored and understood. In this work, a Lorentz force-assisted charge carrier separation enhancement strategy is reported to improve the photocatalytic efficiency by applying a magnetic field to a photocatalytic system.

A theoretical study on the formation and oxidation mechanism of hydroxyalkylsulfonate in the atmospheric aqueous phase.

Hydroxymethanesulfonate (HMS) is an important organosulfur compound in the atmosphere. In this work, we studied the formation mechanism of HMS the reaction of formaldehyde with dissolved SO using the quantum chemistry calculations. The results show that the barrier (9.

Living Atomically Dispersed Cu Ultrathin TiO Nanosheet CO Reduction Photocatalyst.

Supported atomically dispersed metals are proving to be efficacious photocatalysts for CO reduction to solar fuels. While being atom efficient, they suffer from being noble, rare, and costly (Pt, Pd, Au, Ag, Rh) and lacking in long-term stability. Herein, all of these problems are solved with the discovery that atomically dispersed Cu supported on ultrathin TiO nanosheets can photocatalytically reduce an aqueous solution of CO to CO.

The characteristics of high-quality Yb:YAG single crystal fibers grown by a LHPG method and the effects of their discoloration.

Single crystal fibers (SCFs), especially ytterbium (Yb) doped crystal fibers, have great potential in the field of high-power lasers. Colorless Yb:YAG single crystal fibers were fabricated using a laser heated pedestal growth (LHPG) method with a diameter fluctuation of less than 2% and a length to diameter ratio greater than 320 : 1. An abnormal color issue exists with respect to Yb:YAG crystals.

Study on the thermal stress evolution in large scale KDP crystals during the crystal extraction process.

Transient numerical calculations were carried out to predict the evolution of temperature and thermal stress in traditionally grown large-size KDP crystals during the removal process, considering two methods that are used to accomplish the crystal extraction. The influence of the crystal size and the difference of temperature between the crystal and environment on the stresses inside the KDP crystals were also investigated in detail. Results indicate that, in both processes of isolating crystals, the highest stress transfers from the crystal periphery to the internal part from the early to the later time stage.

Mechanism and kinetic study of the reaction of benzoic acid with OH, NO and SO radicals in the atmosphere.

Benzoic acid (BA) is one of the most common organic acids in the Earth's atmosphere and an important component of atmospheric aerosol particles. The reaction mechanism of OH, NO and SO radicals with BA in atmospheric water droplets and that of OH radicals with BA in the atmosphere were studied in this paper. The results show that in atmospheric water droplets the potential barriers of the elementary addition reactions of BA with OH radicals are lower than those of elementary abstraction reactions, and the potential barriers of OH-initiated reactions are less than for NO and SO reactions.

Tuning the electronic and magnetic properties of MoS nanotubes with vacancy defects.

By using density functional theory calculations, we evaluated the effects of vacancy defects on the electronic and magnetic properties of MoS nanotubes. While both zigzag and armchair MoS tubes are intrinsically semiconducting, armchair (6, 6) tubes with simple disulfur and mono-molybdenum vacancies, as well as a large vacancy cluster consisting of both Mo and S vacancies (V ), and zigzag (10, 0) tubes with a mono-molybdenum defect are metallic. In particular, the (6, 6) tube with disulfur and V defects is half-metallic, which is promising for applications in spintronic devices.

The energy band structure analysis and 2 μm Q-switched laser application of layered rhenium diselenide.

Layered rhenium diselenide (ReSe) has triggered strong interest because of its outstanding optical and electrical properties. In this paper, we prepared a high-quality multilayer ReSe saturable absorber with a liquid-phase exfoliation method and characterized its saturable absorption properties around 2 μm. During the Q-switching regime, a maximum average output power of 1.

A bis-benzimidazole PMO ratiometric fluorescence sensor exhibiting AIEE and ESIPT for sensitive detection of Cu.

A novel bis-benzimidazole organic siloxane precursor (BBM-Si) was prepared, and was combined with tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as a mixed Si source. Then, bridged periodic mesoporous organosilica (BBM-PMO) spherical nanoparticles were synthesized by co-condensation using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as structure directing agent. The optical properties showed that BBM qualifies as an "aggregation induced emission enhanced" (AIEE) molecule, exhibiting characteristics of excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT), such as a large Stokes shift and dual fluorescence emission.

Mechanistic insight into the self-coupling of 5-hydroxymethyl furfural to C fuel intermediate catalyzed by ionic liquids.

DFT calculations have been carried out to obtain insight into the self-coupling of biomass-based 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF) to C fuel intermediate 5,5'-dihydroxymethyl furoin (DHMF) catalyzed by ionic liquids (ILs). It was found that acetate-based IL or thiazolium IL in combination with the additive EtN show high catalytic performance, wherein N-heterocyclic carbons (NHCs) derived from the cations of ILs act as the nucleophiles and the protonated acetate anion or the [EtNH] acts as the proton shuttle. The effectiveness of this catalysis is attributed to the proton-shared three-center-four-electron (3c-4e) bonds between HMF and HOAc or [EtNH], which stabilize the transition states and the intermediates.

Annealing effects on the structural and dielectric properties of (Nb + In) co-doped rutile TiO ceramics.

Density functional theory calculations were conducted to investigate the electronic structures of rutile TiO, TiNbInO, and TiNbInO systems. High density (Nb + In) co-doped rutile TiO ceramics were successfully prepared by one modified solid state method. XRD, XPS, Raman scattering and FT-IR measurements were performed to investigate the structural properties of the (Nb + In) co-doped rutile TiO ceramics annealed in different atmospheres.

Prediction of Driver Modules via Balancing Exclusive Coverages of Mutations in Cancer Samples.

Mutual exclusivity of cancer driving mutations is a frequently observed phenomenon in the mutational landscape of cancer. The long tail of rare mutations complicates the discovery of mutually exclusive driver modules. The existing methods usually suffer from the problem that only few genes in some identified modules cover most of the cancer samples.

Simultaneous bifunctional application of solid-state lighting and ratiometric optical thermometer based on double perovskite LiLaMgWO:Er thermochromic phosphors.

Realization of simultaneous, efficient bifunctional application of thermochromic phosphors on light emitting diodes (LEDs) and as ratiometric thermometers is significant. Herein, doped Er ions are introduced as an activator into double perovskite LiLaMgWO host lattice. The developed phosphors can be efficiently excited by a near-ultraviolet LED chip and show bright green emission, mainly at 527 and 543 nm, as well as very low thermal quenching.

Preparation and spectral characteristics of Tm/Ho co-doped TeO-BO-BaO glass.

TeO-BO-BaO glasses with different compositions were prepared by the conventional melt-quenching technique. The spectral properties of Tm/Ho co-doped TeO-BO-BaO glasses with different doping concentrations were studied. In order to analyze the spectroscopic properties in detail, the Judd-Ofelt intensity parameters, spontaneous radiative probabilities, branching ratios, absorption and emission cross-sections, and gain coefficient spectra were calculated using Judd-Ofelt and McCumber theory based on the absorption and emission spectra.

Efficient dehydrogenation of a formic acid-ammonium formate mixture over AuPd catalyst.

A series of AuPd/C catalysts were prepared and tested for the first time for active and stable dehydrogenation of a formic acid-ammonium formate (FA-AF) mixture. The catalysts with different Au-to-Pd molar ratios were prepared using a facile simultaneous reduction method and characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It was found that the catalytic activity and stability of the AuPd/C catalyst was the best.

Secondary metabolites from the endolichenic fungus .

The isolation of the cytotoxic fractions from the endolichenic fungus yielded six new metabolites, including five polyketides (ophiofuranones A (1) and B (2), with unusual furopyran-3,4-dione-fused heterocyclic skeletons, ophiochromanone (3), ophiolactone (4), and ophioisocoumarin (5)), one sesquiterpenoid ophiokorrin (10), and nine known compounds. Their structures were established on the basis of the analysis of HRESIMS and NMR spectroscopic data. ECD calculations, GIAO NMR shift calculations and single-crystal X-ray diffraction were employed for the stereo-structure determination.

Efficient remediation of crude oil-contaminated soil using a solvent/surfactant system.

Crude oil contaminated soil has been widely recognized to constitute a major environmental issue due its adverse effects on human health and ecological safety. The main objective of this study is to explore the possibility of using an solvent/surfactant washing technique for the remediation of crude oil-contaminated soil. Three organic solvents (methanol, acetone, and toluene) and one surfactant (AES-D-OA) were employed to form three kinds of solvent/surfactant systems, and utilized to evaluate the desorption performance of crude oil from soil.

Magnetic Hyperbolic Metasurface: Concept, Design, and Applications.

A fundamental cornerstone in nanophotonics is the ability to achieve hyperbolic dispersion of surface plasmons, which shows excellent potentials in many unique applications, such as near-field heat transport, planar hyperlens, strongly enhanced spontaneous emission, and so forth. The hyperbolic metasurfaces with such an ability, however, are currently restricted to electric hyperbolic metasurface paradigm, and realization of magnetic hyperbolic metasurfaces remains elusive despite the importance of manipulating magnetic surface plasmons (MSPs) at subwavelength scale. Here, magnetic hyperbolic metasurfaces are proposed and designed, on which diffraction-free propagation, anomalous diffraction, negative refraction, and frequency-dependent strong spatial distributions of the MSPs in the hyperbolic regime are experimentally observed at microwave frequencies.

Improving nutrient removal performance of surface flow constructed wetlands in winter using hardy submerged plant-benthic fauna systems.

Constructed wetlands (CWs) have been widely used as an ecological technology for removing nutrients from aquatic ecosystems. However, the treatment efficiency of surface flow constructed wetlands (SFCWs) in winter is generally low. To enhance the nutrient removal performance of SFCWs in winter, we developed a novel hardy submerged plant-benthic fauna system by adding () larvae and planting L.