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The carburization roasting treatment followed by the magnetic separation is an effective way to utilize low-grade siderite, in which the sodium sulfate additive plays an important role. In order to investigate the role of sodium sulfate additive, the present study fixes its particular attention on the function mechanism of sodium sulfate additive during the preheating treatment, carburization, and separation process. The results show that sodium sulfate additive can enhance the oxidation, reduction, and carburization reactions of siderite pellet, which dramatically increases the carburization rate and degree of siderite pellet. Besides, sodium sulfate additive can significantly improve the growth of iron carbide particle, transform the dense gangue into loose gangue, and produce the cracks inside pellet, which greatly promotes the separation of iron carbide and gangue. In the whole process, preheating treatment at high temperature is a necessary process to intensify and maintain the additive’s effects.

Inspired by the delicate architecture of hyaline articular cartilage, we report on a biomimetic polymer hydrogel that incorporates strong intermolecular hydrogen bonding between urethane–urethane linkages as well as urethane–ester linkages. The resultant hydrogel, containing ≈75% water, can endure a compressive stress up to 56 MPa with a strain of 98%, and exhibit tunable compressive modulus (0.19–1.38 MPa), as well as toughness (3629–28290 J m–2) within a wide range. The tensile strength and elastic modulus reach as high as 0.56 and 5.5 MPa, respectively. The high stiffness and toughness enable the gel to withstand cyclic compressive loadings without fracturing. Moreover, our hydrogel mimics the extracellular matrices of cartilage and bone tissues and provides biochemical and physical cues that support the three-dimensional proliferation of chondrocytes and osteogenic differentiation of preosteoblasts.

Pt/CeO2 catalysts with unitary Pt species, nanoparticles, clusters or single atoms, often exhibit excellent activity and unique selectivity in many catalytic reactions benefiting from their small size, abundant unsaturated active sites, and unique electronic structure. In recent years, a tremendous number of related articles have provided great inspiration to future research and development of Pt/CeO2 catalysts. In this review, the state-of-the-art evolution of Pt nanoparticles to Pt single atoms on CeO2 is reviewed with the emphasis on synthetic strategies, advanced characterization techniques (allowing one to clarify the single atoms from clusters), the catalytic applications and mechanisms from the viewpoint of theoretical calculation. Finally, the critical outlooks and the challenges faced in developing the single-atom Pt/CeO2 catalysts are highlighted.

Poly[4,4′-(diphenyl ether)-5,5′-bibenzimidazole] (oPBI) based high temperature proton exchange membranes are prepared by covalent cross-linking with chloromethylated polysulfone (CMPSU) and doping with zirconium phytate (ZrPA). ZrPA is synthesized as the proton conductor through a facile method from zirconyl chloride and phytic acid which is abundant and readily available. oPBI is cross-linked by CMPSU and that hydrogen bonds are formed between ZrPA and oPBI-CMPSU. The composite membranes are dense without through holes when doping with ZrPA. The composite membranes exhibit good thermal stability below 140 °C. Meanwhile, the composite membranes reveal good mechanical strength and methanol resistance. The oxidative stability is improved because of cross-linking and the doping of ZrPA. Conductivities of oPBI-CMPSU/ZrPA at different temperatures and relative humidity (RH) are investigated. At 100% RH, 50% RH and 0 RH, the conductivity of oPBI-CMPSU(20%)/ZrPA(30%) can reach 0.072 S/cm, 0.025 S/cm and 0.012 S/cm at 140 °C, respectively. Although the proton conductivity of the composite membrane was not particularly high at 100% RH, the composite membrane comparatively exhibited good proton conductivity at high temperature and at 50% RH and 0 RH.

Vacuum-drying and freeze-drying were adopted to improve the catalytic activity of Ce0.5Pr0.5O2 for soot combustion. The specific surface area and pore volume of the as-prepared Ce0.5Pr0.5O2 were greatly increased compared to the counterpart using the common drying method. Furthermore, the redox performance and the oxidation ability for soot were enhanced, as demonstrated by H2-TPR and soot-TPR. Thus, lower combustion temperatures and higher intrinsic activity were obtained. This work demonstrated that simply changing the drying process of precipitates can be served as a paradigm to improve the structure and catalytic performance.

This paper investigated the iron recovery form pyrite cinder with the coal-based reduction–magnetic separation process in the presence of sodium sulfate additive. The functional mechanism of sodium sulfate, reduction behavior of pyrite cinder, and separation mechanism of iron mineral and gangue were investigated through discussing the influences of sodium sulfate dosage, reduction temperature, reduction time, and grinding fineness and analyzing the reduced briquette and magnetic concentrate by using X-ray diffraction, optical microscope and scanning electron microscope and energy-dispersive spectrometer (SEM–EDS). The results show that sodium sulfate can improve the occurrence state and embedded relationship of gangue. Furthermore, the sodium sulfate can promote the interconnection of metallic iron grains, which intensifies the separation of iron mineral and gangue. Under the conditions of pyrite cinder briquette containing 3% Na2SO4, reducing at 1050 °C for 80 min, the grinding fineness of 76.8% less than 45 μm, and magnetic field intensity of 73 mT, the iron grade of magnetic concentrate and iron recovery rate were 92.02% and 98.63%, respectively.

As an emerging method for mildly molding polymer hydrogel bioscaffolds, the enzymatically polymerized system is mainly based on the screening of various oxidoreductases to produce radicals, but the design of multifunctional nanoinitiators to facilitate hydrogel performance remains challenging. Here, we utilize N-hydroxyimide-modified silica nanoparticles as nanoinitiators to simultaneously trigger glucose oxidase anaerobic polymerization and nanoparticle-grafting enhancement of the gelatin-polyacrylamide (PAAM) hydrogel. The enzyme-nanoinitiator system produced nitrogen radicals, which were further converted into carbon radicals via GOx-catalyzed glucose reduction, as confirmed by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) analysis. Our stretchable hydrogel has a 12-fold increased fracture energy relative to traditional hydrogel due to grafting enhancement by the nanoinitiator. The temperature-dependent physical crosslinking of gelatin endowed our hydrogel facile printing ability. Cytotoxicity assay and 3D cell culture demonstrated the low toxicity of our hydrogel. As the first example of the use of nanoinitiators for enzymatic polymerization, this work provides a biocompatible platform to prepare or print hydrogel bioscaffolds with the required mechanical strength.

Sulfur cathodes in lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries still suffer from their low electronic conductivity, undesired dissolution of lithium polysulfide (Li2S n , 3 ≤ n ≤ 8) species into the electrolyte, and large degree volume change during the cycle. To overcome these problems, an effective encapsulation for the sulfur cathode is necessary. By means of particle swarm optimization (PSO) and density functional theory (DFT), we have predicted a stable metallic two-dimensional sp2-hybridized carbon allotrope (DHP-graphene). This carbon sheet can prevent S atoms from cathode entering electrolyte. However, Li-ions can shuttle freely due to the increasing difference in Li-ions concentration between electrolyte and cathode along with the potential difference between cathode and anode during charge-discharge cycles. In addition, versatile electronic band structures and linear dispersion are found in DHP-graphene nanoribbons but only metallic band structure occurs for DHP-graphene nanotubes.

Waterborne viruses frequently cause disease outbreaks and existing strategies to remove such viral pathogens often involve harsh or energy‐consuming water treatment processes. Here, a simple, efficient, and environmentally friendly approach is reported to achieve highly selective disinfection of specific viruses with living engineered biofilm materials. As a proof‐of‐concept, Escherichia coli biofilm matrix protein CsgA was initially genetically fused with the influenza‐virus‐binding peptide (C5). The resultant engineered living biofilms could correspondingly capture virus particles directly from aqueous solutions, disinfecting samples to a level below the limit‐of‐detection for a qPCR‐based detection assay. By exploiting the surface‐adherence properties of biofilms, it is further shown that polypropylene filler materials colonized by the CsgA‐C5 biofilms can be utilized to disinfect river water samples with influenza titers as high as 1 × 107 PFU L−1. Additionally, a suicide gene circuit is designed and applied in the engineered strain that strictly limits the growth of bacterial, therefore providing a viable route to reduce potential risks confronted with the use of genetically modified organisms. The study thus illustrates that engineered biofilms can be harvested for the disinfection of pathogens from environmental water samples in a controlled manner and highlights the unique biology‐only properties of living substances for material applications., A simple, efficient, and environmentally friendly approach to achieve highly selective disinfection of specific viruses with living engineered biofilm materials from virus‐polluted water is reported. The engineered biofilms can disinfect influenza virus from contaminated water to a level below the limit‐of‐detection for a qPCR‐based detection assay, thus protecting mammalian cells against virus infections efficiently.

Molecular dynamics simulation was adopted to investigate the nanoscale titanium nitride formation at the early formation stage in high-strength low-alloy steel. During the cluster formation process, the nitride clusters were formed through the atom aggregation. The atomic interactions of titanium and nitride atoms were revealed and the cluster property was discussed. The nanoscale titanium nitride clusters own a wide composition, and the cluster formation mechanism was concluded.

The incidence of congenital hypothyroidism (CH) in newborn infants ranges from 1 in 3,000 to 1 in 4,000. Previous studies have indicated the neuroprotective role of microRNA (miR)-124-3p, however the expression and role of miR-124-3p in CH remain unclear. Therefore, the present study was performed to investigate the role and precise molecular mechanism of miR-124-3p in CH. Propylthiouracil (50 mg/day) was injected into the stomach of pregnant rats from gestational day 15 until parturition in order to establish a thyroid hypofunction model. Newborn rats were divided into the following four groups: The control group; the thyroid hypofunction group; the miR-124-3p mimic group; and the miR-124-3p negative control group. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction indicated that miR-124-3p was significantly decreased in the hippocampus of the thyroid hypofunction group compared with the control group. Bioinformatics software was used to predict mRNA targets recognized by miR-124-3p and the programmed cell death protein 6 (PDCD6) 3′ untranslated region (UTR) was demonstrated to exhibit the seed sequence of miR-124-3p. The interaction between miRNA-124-3p and PDCD6 was then verified using a dual-luciferase reporter assay system. PDCD6 expression was significantly increased in the hippocampus of rats with CH compared with the control group. Flow cytometry was performed to investigate the effects of miR-124-3p on neuronal cell apoptosis and the results indicated that the apoptosis rate in the thyroid hypofunction group was significantly increased compared with the control group; this increase was reversed by transfection with miR-124-3p mimics. Western blot analysis was used to detect the levels of cleaved poly [ADP-ribose] polymerase (PARP), full-length PARP, caspase-3, B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) and Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) proteins. The results indicated that the expression of cleaved PARP, caspase-3 and Bax protein were significantly increased and the expression of full-length PARP and Bcl-2 protein was significantly decreased compared with the control group. These effects were reversed by miRNA-124-3p mimic transfection. Taken together, the results of the present study demonstrate that miRNA-124-3p serves a protective role in CH via targeting PDCD6.

The accumulation of starch in cereal endosperm is a key process that determines crop yield and quality. Research has reported that sucrose and abscisic acid (ABA) synergistically regulate the synthesis of crop starch. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms behind this synergistic effect. In this study, the effect of sucrose and ABA on starch synthesis in maize endosperm was investigated. The starch content, the ADP-Glc pyrophosphorylase (AGPase) concentration, and the expression of AGPase-encoding genes were found to be enhanced slightly by sucrose or ABA alone, but were elevated significantly by the co-treatment of sucrose and ABA. Truncation analysis of the Bt2 promoter via transient expression in maize endosperm showed that the promoter region (-370/-186) is involved in sucrose response, and that an adjacent region (-186/-43) responds to ABA. The synergistic induction of sucrose and ABA on Bt2 promoter activity requires interaction with both of these regions. Interestingly, removal of the sucrose-responsive region (-370 to -186) abolishes ABA responsiveness in the Bt2 promoter, even in the presence of ABA-responsive region (-186 to -43). This study provides novel insights into the regulatory mechanisms that underlie the synergistic regulation of starch synthesis and grain filling from sucrose and ABA in cereal endosperm.

AGPase catalyzes a key rate-limiting step that converts ATP and Glc-1-p into ADP-glucose and diphosphate in maize starch biosynthesis. Previous studies suggest that AGPase is modulated by redox, thermal and allosteric regulation. However, the phosphorylation of AGPase is unclear in the kernel starch biosynthesis process. Phos-tagTM technology is a novel method using phos-tagTM agarose beads for separation, purification, and detection of phosphorylated proteins. Here we identified phos-tagTM agarose binding proteins from maize endosperm. Results showed a total of 1733 proteins identified from 10,678 distinct peptides. Interestingly, a total of 21 unique peptides for AGPase sub-unit Brittle-2 (Bt2) were identified. Bt2 was demonstrated by immunoblot when enriched maize endosperm protein with phos-tagTM agarose was in different pollination stages. In contrast, Bt2 would lose binding to phos-tagTM when samples were treated with alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Furthermore, Bt2 could be detected by Pro-Q diamond staining specifically for phosphorylated protein. We further identified the phosphorylation sites of Bt2 at Ser10, Thr451, and Thr462 by iTRAQ. In addition, dephosphorylation of Bt2 decreased the activity of AGPase in the native gel assay through ALP treatment. Taking together, these results strongly suggest that the phosphorylation of AGPase may be a new model to regulate AGPase activity in the starch biosynthesis process.

The formation and evolution of nanoscale titanium carbide in ferrite during the early isothermal annealing process were investigated via molecular dynamics simulation. The atomic interactions of titanium and carbon atoms during the initial formation process explained the atoms aggregation and carbides formation. It was found that the aggregation and dissociation of titanium carbide occurred simultaneously, and the composition of carbide clusters varied in a wide range. A mechanism for the formation of titanium carbide clusters in ferrite was disclosed.

Titanium carbides were studied via molecular dynamics simulation to characterize TiC[Formula: see text] structures with respect to the carbon diffusion properties in this study. The effect of carbon concentration on atomic structures of titanium carbides was investigated through discussing the structure variation and the radial distribution functions of carbon atoms in titanium carbides. The carbon diffusion in titanium carbides was also analyzed, focusing on the dependence on carbon concentration and carbide structure. Carbon diffusivity with different carbon concentrations was determined by molecular dynamics (MD) calculations and compared with the available experimental data. The simulation results showed an atomic exchange mechanism for carbon diffusion in titanium carbide.