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Synthesis of Ni and nitrogen-codoped carbon nanosheets by pyrolyzing citric acid and melamine at 900 °C. Single-atom catalysts have attracted wide attention recently because of their unique size quantum effect and superior atom utilization in CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR). Here, ultrathin Ni and nitrogen-codoped carbon nanosheets (Ni- N -CNSs) were proposed by a facile in-situ pyrolytic strategy. The ultrathin porous structure of Ni- N -CNSs affords large surface area, rich mesoporous volume and vast uniformly dispersed Ni atoms. The optimized catalyst exhibits a high CO Faradaic efficiency of nearly 100%, partial current density of 121.4 mA mg−1, CO production rate of 37.7 μmol mg−1 min−1, and super durability. In addition, the first principles calculations and the Mulliken charge analyses reveal the Ni sites show high bonding force towards the CO 2 molecules, which gives rise to the high activity and selectivity of Ni- N -CNSs in CO 2 RR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Refractory high-entropy alloy nanocomposites (HEA-NPs) are important class of materials with unique structure and potential applications. Although several synthetic methods have been reported, developing novel routes to prepare nanoscale HEA-based catalysts facilely is still urgently desired. This work takes advantage of confinement assisted arc and plasma shock (APS) to prepare a series of HEA-NPs by regulating the type and proportion of metal precursors. The phase constitutes and morphology of the HEA-NPs are fully characterized. The prepared refractory HEA-NPs possesses five highly dispersed metal components, including titanium (Ti), niobium (Nb), tantalum (Ta), chromium (Cr), molybdenum (Mo) and simultaneously exhibits an uniform hexagonal morphology of nanocrystals. By taking advantage of its unique corrosion resistance, TiNbTaCrMo HEA-NPs can function as a promising candidate for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in natural seawater. And its catalytic performance after alloying is significantly enhanced compared with the elemental metal. Theoretically, the promoted HER activity can be attributed to the strong adsorption for the various metal components in HEA-NPs caused by the upshifting d -band center close to the Fermi level. Furthermore, this confinement strategy can be further extended to synthesize other HEA-NPs. Our strategy provides a novel method to synthesize various HEA-NPs for further catalytic application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] FK506 is a local drug that is commonly used in the treatment of psoriasis. Its clinical application, however, is limited by its transdermal drug delivery rate, the time-consuming, and the greasy therapy. In this study, which was inspired by local block injection used in the clinical treatment for keloid, a hyaluronic acid (HA) based system to transport FK506 into the skin to treat psoriasis, named blocking patch (BP) was developed. BP has a complete appearance, sufficient puncture strength, and is virtually non-irritating in vivo. By confocal fluorescence microscopy, BP loaded with FK506 (FK506-BP) showed satisfactory transdermal release ability in vivo. Further animal studies revealed that FK506-BP showed a good anti-inflammatory ability in the imiquimod (IMQ)-induced mouse psoriasis-like dermatitis and inhibited the activation of associated immune cells. This study indicates that BP as a novel delivery system, realizes an efficient local delivery of FK506 in psoriasis and holds great potential in transdermal delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] FK506 is a local drug that is commonly used in the treatment of psoriasis. Its clinical application, however, is limited by its transdermal drug delivery rate, the time-consuming, and the greasy therapy. In this study, which was inspired by local block injection used in the clinical treatment for keloid, a hyaluronic acid (HA) based system to transport FK506 into the skin to treat psoriasis, named blocking patch (BP) was developed. BP has a complete appearance, sufficient puncture strength, and is virtually non-irritating in vivo. By confocal fluorescence microscopy, BP loaded with FK506 (FK506-BP) showed satisfactory transdermal release ability in vivo. Further animal studies revealed that FK506-BP showed a good anti-inflammatory ability in the imiquimod (IMQ)-induced mouse psoriasis-like dermatitis and inhibited the activation of associated immune cells. This study indicates that BP as a novel delivery system, realizes an efficient local delivery of FK506 in psoriasis and holds great potential in transdermal delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B, N co-doped TiO 2 with engineered band structure, abundant surface state and rich B-N motifs was successfully synthesized using NH 3 BH 3 as green and triple-functional precursor. Due to these unique structural qualities, the as-yield B, N co-doped TiO 2 demonstrates enhanced photocatalytic CO 2 reduction activity under simulated sunlight and ambient pressure. Boron and nitrogen co-doped Titanium dioxide (TiO 2) nanosheets (BNT) with high surface area of 136.5 m2 g−1 were synthesized using ammonia borane as the green and triple-functional regent, which avoids the harmful and explosive reducing regents commonly used to create surface defects on TiO 2. The decomposition of ammonia borane could incorporate reactive Lewis acid-base (B, N) pairs, together with the as-generated H 2 to create mesoporous structure and rich oxygen vacancies in pristine TiO 2. The BNTs prepared from various ammonia borane loading are evaluated in photoreduction of carbon dioxide (CO 2) with steam under simulated sunlight, achieving about 3.5 times higher carbon monoxide (CO) production than pristine TiO 2 under the same conditions. Steady state and transient optical measurements indicated BNT with reduced band gap, rich defect states and elevated conduction band position could enhance the light harvesting efficiency and promote the charge transfer at the catalyst/CO 2 interface. Density functional theory simulation and in situ FTIR suggest that the Lewis acid-base (B, N) pairs on BNT may very substantially increase the activation of inert CO 2 which facilitates their photoreduction with the hydrogen from the water splitting at the surface defects on TiO 2. Finally, a reaction mechanism of Lewis acid-base assisted CO 2 photoreduction leading to substantially improved performance is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]