high-valued transformation of nonmetals in waste printed circuit boards into supercapacitor electrodes with excellent performance.

Nonmetals in waste printed circuit boards after metal separation containing brominated resin and fiberglass are considered hazardous and low-recoveryvalue e-waste. However, if these nonmetals are not treated or are improperly treated, they can cause serious environmental pollution. Therefore, there is an urgent and significant need to develop an efficient recycling process for these nonmetals.

Mechanism of diastereoisomer-induced chirality of BiOBr.

Chiral molecule-driven asymmetric structures are known to be elusive because of the intriguing chirality transfer from chiral molecules to achiral species. Here, we found that the chiral assembly of BiOBr is independent of the chirality of the organic molecular inducer but dependent on geometric structural matching between the inducer and inorganic species. Diastereoisomeric sugar alcohols (DSAs) with identical numbers of carbon chiral centers and functional groups but with different / configurations and optical activities (OAs) were chosen as symmetry-breaking agents for inducing chiral mesostructured BiOBr films (CMBFs) under hydrothermal conditions.

Multiplex detection of miRNAs based on aggregation-induced emission luminogen encoded microspheres.

Herein, we report a multiplex detection platform based on a suspension array with aggregation-induced emission luminogen (AIEgen) barcodes for simultaneous quantitative measurement of let-7b-5p, miR-16-5p and miR-19b-3p, which are associated with gastric cancer. A detection strategy by using a flow cytometer is proposed, which utilizes AIEgen-encoded microspheres to quantify the target miRNAs, and phycoerythrin as a fluorescence reporter on the detection probes to provide quantitative signals. This multiplex assay shows good specificity for recognizing single base mismatch, and possesses excellent sensitivity with limits of detection (LODs) ranging from 0.

Correction: Silica cubosomes templated by a star polymer.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1039/C8RA09130G.].

A highly sensitive gas sensor employing biomorphic SnO with multi-level tubes/pores structure: bio-templated from waste of flax.

Metal oxide gas sensors with porous structures are widely used in numerous applications ranging from health monitoring and medical detection to safety; in this study, we report a highly sensitive SnO gas sensor with a multi-level tube/pore structure prepared biomimetic technology using flax waste as a bio-template and a simple wet chemical process combined with subsequent annealing. Indeed, MLTPS not only maintained and improved the excellence of porous structure gas sensing materials with abundant active sites and large surface-to-volume ratios, but also overcame the deficiency of the lack of gas diffusion channels in porous gas sensing materials. Thus, this novel multi-level tube/pore SnO gas sensor exhibited significantly enhanced sensing performance, an ultra-low response concentration (250 ppb), a high response (87.

Silica cubosomes templated by a star polymer.

The organization of amphiphilic molecules into well-defined geometries and morphologies is an area of fundamental and practical importance. Herein, we report silica cubosomes synthesized by the cooperative self-assembly of the amphiphilic star polymer poly(ethylene glycol)-(polystyrene). The silica cubosomes exhibit a spherical shape and a highly ordered bicontinuous diamond-surface structure.

Silicon-Enhanced Adipogenesis and Angiogenesis for Vascularized Adipose Tissue Engineering.

The enhancement of adipogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and sufficient vascularization remain great challenges for the successful reconstruction of engineered adipose tissue. Here, the bioactive effects of silicon (Si) ions on adipogenic differentiation of human BMSCs (HBMSCs) and the stimulation of vascularization during adipose tissue regeneration are reported. The results show that Si ions can enhance adipogenic differentiation of HBMSCs through the stimulation of the expression of adipogenic differentiation switches such as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ and CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein α.

AgPO electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction: enhancement from positive charge.

We have demonstrated AgPO as an active non-Pt electrocatalyst with enhanced activity compared with Ag for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Density functional theory reveals that better ORR performance of Ag atoms on AgPO surface than that on pure silver surface originates from more appropriate oxygen adsorption on positively charged Ag atoms. Further study of the surface geometry of AgPO including tetrahedron, rhombic dodecahedron and cube indicates that the highest density of Ag and appropriate oxygen adsorption on {110} surface of rhombic dodecahedral AgPO lead to the highest ORR activity, which is about 12 times that of Pt catalysts from a commercial perspective.

A 3D Chemically Modified Graphene Hydrogel for Fast, Highly Sensitive, and Selective Gas Sensor.

Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) has proved to be a promising candidate in high-performance gas sensing in ambient conditions. However, trace detection of different kinds of gases with simultaneously high sensitivity and selectivity is challenging. Here, a chemiresistor-type sensor based on 3D sulfonated RGO hydrogel (S-RGOH) is reported, which can detect a variety of important gases with high sensitivity, boosted selectivity, fast response, and good reversibility.