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We explore the polymorphism of a weakly polar molecule, dibenzoylmethane, in which the intramolecular hydrogen-bonded enol "chelated" form is favoured. A simple geometric method on the basis of interatomic distance to visualize and count favourable connections between non-hydrogen atoms was constructed to judge the strength of intermolecular interactions in polymorphs of this kind of weakly polar molecule. The number of total favourable connections mirrored with resonance-assisted hydrogen bonds (RAHB) and aromatic interactions in DBM polymorphs increases from forms I to III, in agreement with the order of their equivalent interaction energies, proving that it is feasible for this geometric approach to be used in this weakly polar system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The partial substitution of chemical fertilizers with organic manure is an important strategy for improving agricultural sustainability. However, its effect on heavy metal (HM) pollution and its potential risk to human health remain unclear. Therefore, a field study was conducted to evaluate the effects of partial organic fertilizer substitution (0, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40%) on health risks posed by HMs, including Zn, Cu, Ni, Cd, Pb, As, and Cr. The results showed that organic fertilizer substitution significantly increased Cu, Cd, Pb, and As accumulations in the soil. The Zn, Cu, Pb, and As contents were significantly higher in grains grown under organic fertilizer substitution (40%) conditions. The HM contents in the soil and grains were below the safety threshold limits in all treatments. Furthermore, the health risk caused by the exposure to As, Cu, and Zn accounted for 86% of the hazard index (HI) value. The HI value was significantly greater at a substitution ratio of 40% than in the no-nitrogen fertilizer treatment. Ingestion of the wheat grains grown at substitution ratios ≥ 30%) increased the carcinogenic risk of As and the total carcinogenic risk. In conclusion, organic fertilizer substitution at high ratios significantly increased the non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks associated with ingesting wheat grain. The optimal organic fertilizer substitution ratio (20%) maintained crop yields and improved soil fertility without increasing the non-carcinogenic or carcinogenic risks to human health. These findings highlight the importance of understanding the impacts of optimal organic fertilizer management in wheat growing systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depression is one of the most common complications in patients with diabetes. Our previous study demonstrated puerarin, a dietary isoflavone, improved glucose homeostasis and β-cell regeneration in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced diabetic mice. Here, we aim to evaluate the potential effect of puerarin on diabetes-induced depression. The co-occurrence of diabetes and depression with related biochemical alterations were confirmed in HFD mice and db/db mice, respectively using behavioral analysis, ELISA and western blotting assay. Furthermore, impacts of puerarin on depression-related symptoms and pathological changes were investigated in HFD mice. The results showed that puerarin effectively alleviated the depression-like behaviors of HFD mice, down-regulated serum levels of corticosterone and IL-1β, while up-regulated the content of 5-hydroxytryptamine. Simultaneously, puerarin increased the number of hippocampal neurons in HFD mice, and suppressed the apoptosis of neurons to protect the hippocampal neuroplasticity. GLP-1R expression in hippocampus of HFD mice was enhanced by puerarin, which subsequently activated AMPK, CREB and BDNF/TrkB signaling to improve neuroplasticity. Importantly, our data indicated that puerarin had an advantage over fluoxetine or metformin in treating diabetes-induced depression. Taken together, puerarin exerts anti-depressant-like effects on HFD diabetic mice, specifically by improving hippocampal neuroplasticity via GLP-1R/BDNF/TrkB signaling. Puerarin as a dietary supplement might be a potential candidate in intervention of diabetes with comorbid depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) emerge from hemogenic endothelial cells (HEC) in the aorta-gonad-mesonephros (AGM) region of embryos, which go through the pre-HSC process. Various intrinsic and extrinsic factors are involved in this process. We recently discovered that the existence of distinct macroautophagic/autophagic statuses in hematopoietic precursors is related to the hematopoietic potential of pre-HSCs and the depletion of the Atg5 (autophagy related 5) gene specifically in endothelial cells impaired in the transition of endothelial to pre-HSCs, by hampering the autophagic process, likely via the NCL (nucleolin) pathway.Abbreviation: Atg5: autophagy related 5; EGFP: enhanced green fluorescent protein; EHT: endothelial-to-hematopoietic transition; HEC: hemogenic endothelial cell; HSC: hematopoietic stem cell; NCL: nucleolin; RFP: red fluorescent protein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CAMSAP2 has been reported to act as an oncogene in hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the expression CAMSAP2 and its potential roles in colorectal cancer remain unclear. In this study, qRT-PCR and immunoblotting analysis were used to detect the mRNA and protein levels of CAMSAP2 in colorectal cancer tissues and cell lines. Wound-healing, transwell migration and invasion assay were performed to determine whether CAMSAP2 promotes the capabilities of migration and invasion of colorectal cancer cells. The results showed that CAMSAP2 was highly elevated in colorectal cancer tissues and cell lines. Moreover, the high CAMSAP2 expression was positively correlated with tumor invasion depth, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, and the poor prognosis of colorectal cancer. Additionally, ectopic expression of CAMSAP2 in colorectal cancer cells promoted the migration and invasion in vitro and enhanced the lung metastasis in nude mice. Conversely, silencing CAMSAP2 resulted in an opposite phenomenon. By gain- and loss-of function experiments, we demonstrated that MMP-1 was a substantial downstream target of CAMSAP2, and it played a crucial role in regulating the migration and invasion induced by CAMSAP2 in colorectal cancer cells. Mechanistically, CAMSAP2 promoted the activation of JNK/c-Jun signaling pathway and subsequently upregulated the transcription activity of MMP-1. Taken together, our findings demonstrated that CAMSAP2 promoted colorectal cancer cell migration, invasion and metastasis through activation of JNK/c-Jun/MMP-1 signaling pathway, indicating CAMSAP2 is a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effective treatment of diabetes with comorbid depression is a big challenge so far. Honokiol, a bioactive compound from the dietary supplement Magnolia officinalis extract, possesses multiple health benefits. The present study aims to propose a network pharmacology-based method to elucidate potential targets of honokiol in treating diabetes with comorbid depression and related mechanisms. The antidepressant-like efficacy of honokiol was evaluated in high-fat diet (HFD) induced diabetic mice using animal behavior testing, immuno-staining and western blotting assay. Through network pharmacology analysis, retinoid X receptor alpha (RXRα) and vitamin D receptor (VDR) were identified as potential targets related to diabetes and depression. The stable binding conformation between honokiol and RXR/VDR was determined by molecular docking simulation. Moreover, hononkiol effectively alleviated depression-like behaviors in HFD diabetic mice, presented anti-diabetic and anti-neuroinflammatory functions, and protected the hippocampal neuroplasticity. Importantly, honokiol could activate RXR/VDR heterodimer in vivo. The beneficial effects of honokiol on HFD mice were significantly suppressed by UVI3003 (a RXR antagonist), while enhanced by calcitriol (a VDR agonist). Additionally, the disruption of autophagy in the hippocampus of HFD mice was ameliorated by honokiol, which was attenuated by UVI3003 but strengthened by calcitriol. Taken together, the data provide new evidence that honokiol exerts the antidepressant-like effect in HFD diabetic mice via activating RXR/VDR heterodimer to restore the balance of autophagy. Our findings indicate that the RXR/VDR-mediated signaling might be a potential target for treating diabetes with comorbid depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the strategies of "high-quality development" and "dual carbon goals", the manufacturing industry in China is confronted with the simultaneous challenges of ensuring the production of high-quality goods and adopting environmentally friendly production practices. The integration of cleaner production and quality management has received widespread attention; however, existing research cannot comprehensively identify the interactive factors between quality management and cleaner production and analyze their mechanism of action. This research employed a multi-faceted approach involving meetings, interviews, and online data to access primary materials, and complemented by grounded theory and quality tool (5M1E), a total of 18 quality factors that exert a substantial impact on the attainment of clean production objectives were ultimately identified. To meticulously assess the interrelationships among factors, this study employed the interval value hesitant preference relationship DEMATEL-AISM technique. The findings of the study emphasize the significance of Employee Quality Skill Level (F1) and Production Environment Quality (F15) as critical quality factors that should be given priority and careful consideration by managers aiming for a cleaner production process. The results of this study have the potential to enhance the manufacturing industry's ability to predict and prevent quality and environmental issues, thereby ensuring the long-term sustainability of clean production and effective quality management. • Ensuring clean production and quality is a challenge for manufacturing sector. • Aimed to identify interactive influencing factors for both in the context of China. • Used multi-method approach using primary data, grounded theory, and quality tool. • Employed the interval value hesitant preference relationship DEMATEL-AISM. • Results expand knowledge on integrating quality tools and sustainable initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we apply the BERT model, a cut-edging deep learning model, to construct a novel textual sentiment index in the Chinese stock market. By introducing the stock market returns as sentiment labels, our BERT model effectively extracts textual sentiment-related information useful for asset pricing. We find that the BERT-based sentiment has much greater predictive power for stock market returns than the traditional dictionary method as well as the Baker–Wurgler investor sentiment index both in and out of sample. The BERT-based sentiment shows strong predictive power during economic downturns and can significantly predict future macroeconomic conditions. Overall, our BERT model offers a better measure of textual investor sentiment, highlighting the potentially significant value of deep learning, AI, and FinTech in financial market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rational design of durable and nonprecious nanocomposite photocatalysts with efficient charge separation and abundant active sites is still a grand challenge for photocatalytic hydrogen production from water reduction. Herein, a novel ternary nanocomposite, MoO 2 decorated Mn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S/Cu 2 O p-n heterojunction has been constructed via a facile two-step route employing the energy band engineering theory. Impressively, the optimized ternary Mn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S/Cu 2 O/MoO 2 nanocomposite displays a robust photocatalytic H 2 -evolution rate of 733.24 μmol h−1 under simulated solar light irradiation, more 4.2 times higher than pure Mn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S. The results demonstrated that the p-n heterojunction formed between n-type Mn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S and p-type Cu 2 O could markedly promote the interfacial charge transfer/separation through the internal electric field, whereas the MoO 2 cocatalyst with low overpotential could effectively collect photoinduced electrons and dramatically facilitate the H 2 -evolution kinetics. Moreover, both Cu 2 O and MoO 2 could improve the light-harvesting ability of pristine Mn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S, further contributing to the boosted hydrogen generation activity. [Display omitted] • MoO 2 decorated Mn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S/Cu 2 O p-n heterojunction synthesized for H 2 -production. • Multichannel charge-carrier transfer between Mn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S, Cu 2 O and MoO 2 discussed. • High H 2 -production rate achieved over composite, 4.2 folds higher than Mn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is important to understand the growth mechanism of Li dendrites for the protection of Li metal anodes. Herein, joule heat as another inducing mechanism for Li dendrites is proposed and demonstrated by experiments and theoretical simulations. A nonuniform interface structure can lead to disordered surface thermal distribution based on joule heat theory, which may induce chaotic nucleation and growth of dendrites. Based on this concept, a new strategy of liquid metal welding is explored to overcome such joule heat distribution issue. This strategy is universally compatible with other traditional protection routes such as solid electrode interphase films, charging protocols, and electrolytes. Multistrategy synergetic protection strategies result in remarkable performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of efficient semiconductor/cocatalyst heterojunction is a promising strategy to promote the photocatalytic H 2 -production efficiency from water reduction. Herein, a novel Cu 2 (OH) 2 CO 3 /Zn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S heterojunction composite with superior photocatalytic H 2 -generation activity and stability was prepared via a facile in situ synthetic route, in which Cu 2 (OH) 2 CO 3 served as cocatalyst stimulating the photocatalytic H 2 -evolution performance of Zn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S. The Cu 2 (OH) 2 CO 3 /Zn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S heterojunction photocatalyst containing 5 wt% of Cu 2 (OH) 2 CO 3 exhibited a prominent H 2 -evolution efficiency of 275.7 μmol h−1, which is superior to the noble metal Pt-modified Zn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S photocatalyst (237.3 μmol h−1) and much higher than bare Zn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S (90.8 μmol h−1). The active Cu+/Cu0 species generated during the photoreaction process is responsible for the prominent H 2 -production activity of the heterojunction photocatalyst, which plays triple roles in enhancing the photoactivity of Zn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S via accelerating the charge separation, decreasing the overpotential of H 2 -generation and improving the reduction ability of photoinduced electrons. Moreover, the formed Cu+/Cu0 species during photoreaction can be readily oxidized back to Cu 2 (OH) 2 CO 3 upon exposure to air, thus restores the photoactivity and therefore enables good reusability of the Cu 2 (OH) 2 CO 3 /Zn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S heterojunction photocatalysts. This work provides a new insight into the fabrication of Cu 2 (OH) 2 CO 3 -assisted heterojunction photocatalysts with the highly stable and efficient performances for solar-to-chemical energy conversion. Unlabelled Image • A novel binary Cu 2 (OH) 2 CO 3 /Zn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S composite was successfully synthesized. • The trifunctional roles of Cu 2 (OH) 2 CO 3 cocatalyst were discussed. • Mechanism of the enhanced photocatalytic activity was illuminated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the cleanness and renewability of the solar H2-production system, photocatalytic H2-production from water splitting with the assistance of nonprecious and Earth-abundant cocatalysts has become a research hotspot. Herein, robust Cu2(OH)2CO3 nanoparticles were successfully anchored onto the surface of g-C3N4 nanosheets through a mild precipitation route in which Cu2(OH)2CO3 serves as an effectively nonprecious metal-based cocatalyst for boosting hydrogen generation. The results demonstrated that the as-prepared hybrid Cu2(OH)2CO3/g-C3N4 nanocomposite photocatalyst with an optimum 3 wt% loading amount of Cu2(OH)2CO3 exhibited a noticeable improvement of photocatalytic H2-evolution performance under visible light illumination. The boosted H2-evolution activity was associated with the formation of active Cu species during the photocatalytic process, which could promote the interfacial charge separation and simultaneously reduce the overpotential of hydrogen generation, thus boosting the H2-evolution activity over the hybrid photocatalyst. More importantly, by introducing an optimum amount of fluorescein dye molecules into the photocatalytic system, the maximum photocatalytic H2-production rate over the binary Cu2(OH)2CO3/g-C3N4 photocatalyst could be further improved to be 22.6 μmol h−1, 19.3 and 3.8 times higher than those of pristine g-C3N4 and the corresponding binary catalyst without the assistance of fluorescein. These results could be ascribed to the positively cooperative effects of Cu2(OH)2CO3, fluorescein dye molecules and g-C3N4, which lead to the increasing light absorption ability, fast charge mobility and efficient charge separation of the fluorescein-sensitized Cu2(OH)2CO3/g-C3N4 hybrid photocatalyst, thus ultimately boosting the photocatalytic H2-production activity. This study may pave a new way for engineering a low-cost, high-efficiency, noble-metal-free and dye-sensitized cocatalyst/semiconductor system for solar-to-fuel conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We design and numerically demonstrate a novel metamaterial structure consisting of a dielectric layer sandwiched between two silver films and is perforated with two kinds of square-shaped holes at different angles, which is a dual-band double-negative (each band possesses simultaneously negative permittivity and permeability) metamaterial with broad NRI bands in mid-infrared region(3-30 μm). The broadband of NRI contributed to the strong magnetic resonance caused by the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons. The influence of the number of square-shaped holes on the properties of the designed structures are also investigated by analyzing and comparing the transmission, permeability, permittivity, refractive index, and figure of merit. Then, by optimizing the structural parameters, the proposed structure exhibits a negative band with a figure of merit of 3.3, which is to our knowledge larger than previously reported plasmonic metamaterial in mid-infrared region(M-IR). The value of negative refractive index(NRI) reaches −6 and the bandwidth of NRI can reach up to 4.2 THz in the low-frequency band of M-IR region, which is the widest NRI band in M-IR spectrum at present as far as we know. Moreover, the metamaterial structure is simple and easy to be manufactured with standard fabrication techniques. This work will be very meaningful in designing dual-band negative-index material with broad NRI band and low loss. Finally, the proposed metamaterial has huge potential applications in multiband or broadband devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fe‐N/C catalysts have currently comparable oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity to Pt/C catalysts, which are up for consideration as the most promising non‐precious metal material for research. In spite of this, its development and application are limited by the Fenton effect and insufficient stability. Herein, we have fabricated a FeNi‐nitrogen‐doped porous carbon (FeNi‐NPC) catalyst using solvent thermal method, made from the bimetallic (Fe, Ni)‐doped ZIF‐8. A soft template of glucose was used to control the pore structure and active specific surface area of the catalyst. With the benefit of the electronic effect of the bimetal, FeNi‐NPC catalysts exhibit superior ORR activity and stability to Pt/C catalysts in both acidic (E1/2=0.8672 V) and alkaline (E1/2=0.8663 V) conditions. FeNi‐NPC demonstrated peak power densities in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) of up to 865 mW cm−2, which exceeds the currently reported M‐N/C catalysts. The work presented here will lead to the design of efficient ORR electrocatalysts in PEMFC devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 /ZnFe 2 O 4 heterojunction photocatalysts with varying content of ZnFe 2 O 4 were constructed by modifying Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 nanosheets with mesoporous ZnFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles. The photoactivity of the products was investigated by decomposing RhodamineB (RhB) and it was found that the photoactivity of Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 /ZnFe 2 O 4 composite was closely related to the loading amount of ZnFe 2 O 4 . Under simulant sunlight irradiation, the optimum photoactivity of Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 /ZnFe 2 O 4 composite was almost 2.3 and 2.1 times higher than that by bare ZnFe 2 O 4 and Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 , respectively. The improved photoactivity resulted from the synergistic effect of Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 and ZnFe 2 O 4 , which not only extended the photoabsorption region but also significantly facilitated the interfacial charge transfer. Besides the high photocatalytic performance, Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 /ZnFe 2 O 4 composite also exhibited excellent stable and recycling properties, which enabled it have great potential in a long-term practical use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To more thoroughly characterize the mechanism regulating the conversion of red maple tree ( Acer rubrum L. ‘Brandywine’) foliar coloration in autumn, we analyzed the leaf coloration process using the Lab color space scale, and compared the anthocyanin concentrations, photosynthetic pigment contents, soluble sugar contents, and the phenylalanine ammonia lyase and polyphenol oxidase activities between control and band-treated red maple seedlings. We observed that stem banding enhanced the development of leaves exhibiting brilliant red coloration in the upper treated branches, and weakened the brightness of yellow leaves. Additionally, studies also revealed that leaf anthocyanin contents increased significantly. Moreover, carotenoid contents and polyphenol oxidase activity decreased considerably by banding. In contrast, the chlorophyll pigment, phenylalanine ammonia lyase activity and soluble sugar contents were only minimally affected by the long-term banding of trees. Our results indicate that the Lab color model is appropriate for quantifying leaf coloration changes, and for revealing the relationship between leaf coloration and internal physiological changes. Changes to leaf coloration are a consequence of the actions of photosynthetic pigments and anthocyanins. Our results also demonstrate that anthocyanin accumulation influences the underlying biochemical mechanism. The successful manipulation of leaf coloration changes highlights the significance of anthocyanins in this process, and is consistent with the possibility that anthocyanin accumulation influences the underlying biochemical activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess the preservative effects of the active ingredients in the leaves of Liquidambar formosana Hance, the present study assessed the antioxidant activity of ellagic acid using various antioxidant assays; 2,2′-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl, superoxide anion radical scavenging activity and reducing power. The results of these assays were combined with principal component analysis to analyze the effect of ellagic acid treatment on the overall quality of kumquat. Whole kumquat fruit were immersed in different concentrations of ellagic acid (0, 100 and 300 mg L −1 ) for 5 min, naturally dried then stored at room temperature (14–16 °C) for 18 days. During storage, the percentage weight loss and decay, firmness, total soluble solids, titratable acid and contents of malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase and vitamin C were measured every 3 days. The results showed that, by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl scavenging activity and reducing power, the antioxidant activity of ellagic acid was more effective than butylated hydroxyanisole or ascorbic acid. Compared with untreated kumquat fruit, ellagic acid treatments can delay the decline in fruit firmness, total soluble solids, titratable acid and vitamin C contents, inhibit increases in malondialdehyde and enhance superoxide dismutase activity. The comprehensive evaluation of the results using principal component analysis was consistent with the experimental results, namely that ellagic acid treatment can significantly reduce the rate of deterioration in the quality of kumquat fruit, with the 300 mg L −1 treatment being better than the 100 mg L −1 treatment. The results show that ellagic acid has good prospects as a preservative treatment for kumquat fruit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sparse Bayesian learning (SBL) is applied to the coprime array for underdetermined wideband direction of arrival (DOA) estimation. Using the augmented covariance matrix, the coprime array can achieve a higher number of degrees of freedom (DOFs) to resolve more sources than the number of physical sensors. The sparse-based DOA estimation can deteriorate the detection and estimation performance because the sources may be off the search grid no matter how fine the grid is. This dictionary mismatch problem can be well resolved by the SBL using fixed point updates. The SBL can automatically choose sparsity and approximately resolve the non-convex optimizaton problem. Numerical simulations are conducted to validate the effectiveness of the underdetermined wideband DOA estimation via SBL based on coprime array. It is clear that SBL can obtain good performance in detection and estimation compared to least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), simultaneous orthogonal matching pursuit least squares (SOMP-LS) , simultaneous orthogonal matching pursuit total least squares (SOMP-TLS) and off-grid sparse Bayesian inference (OGSBI). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The photodegradation of organic pollutants is an attractive green chemistry technology for water pollution control. Here we prepared a new composite material consisting of BiPO 4 nanocrystals grown on layered graphene and MoS 2 as a high-performance photocatalyst for the photodegradation of organic pollutants. This composite material was synthesized by a facile one-pot microwave-assisted hydrothermal technique in the presence of layered graphene and MoS 2 . Through optimizing the loading content of each component, the BiPO 4 -MoS 2 /graphene nanocomposite exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity for the degradation of Rhodamine (RhB) when the content of MoS 2 and graphene was 2 wt% and 7 wt%, respectively. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of the new composite photocatalyst was attributed to the positive synergetic effect of the layered graphene and MoS 2 as cocatalyst, which acted as electron collector and transporter for the interfacial electron transfer from BiPO 4 to electron acceptor in the aqueous solution and thus suppressed the charge recombination and made the photogenerated holes more available to participated in the oxidation process. Moreover, the presence of layered MoS 2 /graphene hybrid could offer more reactive sites and activated the O 2 molecular in water to form superoxide radical, thereby resulting in the enhanced photocatalytic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current consensus is exploring and optimizing the sensing performance of plasmonic transmission structure. The theory used is always trying to reduce the size of the structure, enhance the transmission efficiency, and improve the sensitivity. Here the polarization insensitive transmission and refractive index sensing performance enhanced by staggered metal disk array are investigated at infrared regime. With the metal disks being periodically staggered on both sides of a dielectric layer, there is a great improvement of the transmission efficiency at a specific operating wavelength. Compared with the extraordinary optical transmission on one-dimensional gratings, it is found that the transmission phenomenon is insensitive to the polarization of the incident light. Moreover, the sensing performances at each mode peak are enhanced by the staggered design, and the highest sensitivity reaches more than 5000 nm per refractive index unit (RIU). This work is beneficial for biosensing and extraordinary optical transmission research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upconversion nanocrystals (UCNCs) hold promise for bioimaging, solar cells, photocatalysis and volumetric displays. However, their upconversion luminescence intensities are usually low due to the weak and narrowband near-infrared absorption of lanthanide ions. Herein, we introduce and validate a strategy to hugely enhance upconversion luminescence intensity by using an organic near-infrared dye as an antenna to sensitize core/shell UCNCs. The dye can increase absorptivity and broaden the absorption spectrum of the UCNCs. Such dye sensitization, in combination with a core/shell structure, can tremendously enhance the upconversion luminescence (UCL) intensity of the UCNCs. The UCL intensity of dye-sensitized UCNCs excited at 820 nm is 800-folds higher than that of pure UCNCs excited at 980 nm. Further enhancement can be obtained by optimization of the dye emission and UCNC absorption spectral overlap. Moreover, the proposed approach can be extended to cover any part of the solar spectrum by using a set of dyes. This work provides new insights into the efficient enhancement of upconversion luminescence of the UCNCs and facilitates their applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The solid - liquid equilibrium solubility of β -Alanine in three different binary solvent mixtures, including (methanol + water), (ethanol + water) and (DMF + water), was measured by a gravimetric method at temperatures ranging from 288.15 K to 323.15 K. It is found that the solubility of β -Alanine is positively correlated with temperatures at a given solvent composition and negatively correlated with the molar fraction of organic solvents. The solid - liquid equilibrium data of β -Alanine was fitted by the modified Apelblat equation, CNIBS/R-K equation and NRTL model. It turned out that all the selected thermodynamic models could give satisfactory results. Moreover, the apparent thermodynamic properties of the dissolution process, including the standard Gibbs free energy, enthalpy, and entropy were calculated based on the van't Hoff analysis. The corresponding results indicate that these dissolving processes of β -Alanine in the selected solvents are endothermic and entropy-driving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The solubility of calcium d -pantothenate in (water + methanol) mixtures and the effect of β -alanine on the solubility of calcium d -pantothenate in a constant mole ratio of methanol and water was measured from 263.15 K to 303.15 K by the HPLC analysis method ( P = 0.1 MPa). The solubility of calcium d -pantothenate increased with increasing temperature in all the mixtures at constant composition. Besides, it also increased with mole fraction of water in (water + methanol) mixtures at a constant temperature. Additionally, the solubility of calcium d -pantothenate was enhanced by β -alanine at a given temperature. The experimental solubility in (water + methanol) mixtures was correlated by the modified Apelblat equation, the ternary NRTL equation and Solubility-Polarity Model. The Apelblat equation, the quaternary NRTL equation and the Cohn equation were adopted to correlate the experimental solubility in the (water + methanol + β -alanine) mixtures. Worthwhile, the quaternary NRTL equation was first applied to correlating the quaternary solid-liquid equilibrium. It turned out that all the selected models give good performance on solubility prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To conquer the disadvantage of low photocatalytic efficiency resulted from narrow photoresponse range and electron-hole recombination, a 2D nanoplate-like MoS 2 /Bi 2 WO 6 heterojunction photocatalyst was designed and prepared by a facile two-step hydrothermal technique. Compared with pure Bi 2 WO 6 , the MoS 2 / Bi 2 WO 6 composite displayed an enhanced photoabsorption in the whole visible light region. Through the photodegradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light irradiation (λ>400 nm), the photocatalytic activities of the obtained products were evaluated and the MoS 2 /Bi 2 WO 6 composite exhibited higher photocatalytic performance than that of pure Bi 2 WO 6 . The enhanced photocatalytic performance was attributed to the broad photoabsorption and low charge recombination driven by the photogenerated potential difference formed at the MoS 2 /Bi 2 WO 6 heterojunction interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Arbitrary polarization rotating angle generation. • High-efficient linear polarization conversion. • Easy customization of polarization angle. • High degree of freedom. Polarization converters are essential components of optical systems. Here we propose an all-dielectric metasurface linear-polarization converter composed of silicon diatomic nanopillar arrays. The two nanopillars are identical except for the azimuthal angle. The converter can orient the linear polarization to arbitrary angles by changing the two orientation angles of the nanopillars. And the polarization conversion efficiency remains above 90%. The mentioned metasurface is analyzed theoretically and demonstrated by numerical simulation. The results show that the polarization angle of the output wave is exactly equal to the sum of two orientation angles. Thus, the polarization angle of the output wave can be easily controlled. The proposed metasurface breaks the limitation of traditional line polarization converters and may have broad application prospects in wireless communications, imaging systems, and other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bragg gratings, because of their favored surface plasmon coupling characteristic, are widely applied in nano-optics. We propose a periodic staggered Bragg gratings structure as a refractive index sensor by the finite element method. The optimized extraordinary optical transmission based on staggered gratings can excite surface plasmon resonance for much larger wavelength. The refractive index can be obtained by detecting the resonant wavelength shift of transmittance peak. This sensor exhibits high sensitivity and favorable linear characteristic in a wide variation interval of refractive index. The simulation results provide a further insight into nano optical sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anatase TiO 2 ultra-thin nanosheets (TiO 2 -NS) are synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method. Several merits are realized when employing the prepared TiO 2 -NS as lithium ion battery anode material, compared to TiO 2 nanoparticles. Firstly, the as-prepared TiO 2 -NS has high charge capacities and a specific surface area up to 98.8 m 2 g −1 , which is beneficial for the insertion of lithium ion. Secondly, the large specific surface area is helpful in enlarging the electrode/electrolyte interfacial area. Finally, the EIS result verifies short electron transfer paths. More importantly, the stability of the nanosheet structure is indirectly confirmed by the excellent cycling performance of charge capacity and the curve of charge capacities versus cycle number at different current densities. After galvanostatic charge/discharge of the batteries for 1000 cycles, the HRTEM images of post-mortem batteries directly reveal a good reversibility of the lithium ion insertion/extraction process aided by TiO 2 -NS. Thus, all these advantages and the special structure facilitate an excellent cycling performance: the charge capacity with the maximum value of 250 mAh g −1 keeps half after 2000 cycles at a current density of 840 mA g −1 (5 C). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a novel three dimensional metamaterial design with eight-fold rotational symmetry that shows a polarization-insensitive, wide-angle and broadband perfect absorption in the microwave band. By simulation, the polarization-insensitive absorption is over 90% between 26.9 GHz to 32.9 GHz, and the broadband absorption remains a good absorption performance to a wide incident angles for both TE and TM polarizations. The magnetic field distribution are investigated to interpret the physical mechanism of broadband absorption. The broadband absorption is based on overlapping the multiple magnetic resonances at the neighboring frequencies by coupling effects of multiple metallic split-ring resonators (SRRs). Moreover, it is demonstrate that the designed structure can be extended to other frequencies by scale down the size of the unit cell, such as the visible frequencies. The simulated results show that the absorption of the smaller absorber is above 90% in the frequency range from 467 THz to 765 THz(392–642 nm), which include orange to purple light in visible region(400–760nm). The wide-angle and polarization-insensitive stabilities of the smaller absorber is also demonstrated at visible region. The proposed work provides a new design of realization of a polarization-insensitive, wide-angle and broadband absorber ranging different frequency bands, and such a structure has potential application in the fields of solar cell, imaging and detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upconversion nanocrystals (UCNCs) hold promise for bioimaging, solar cells, photocatalysis and volumetric displays. However, their upconversion luminescence intensities are usually low due to the weak and narrowband near-infrared absorption of lanthanide ions. Herein, we introduce and validate a strategy to hugely enhance upconversion luminescence intensity by using an organic near-infrared dye as an antenna to sensitize core/shell UCNCs. The dye can increase absorptivity and broaden the absorption spectrum of the UCNCs. Such dye sensitization, in combination with a core/shell structure, can tremendously enhance the upconversion luminescence (UCL) intensity of the UCNCs. The UCL intensity of dye-sensitized UCNCs excited at 820 nm is 800-folds higher than that of pure UCNCs excited at 980 nm. Further enhancement can be obtained by optimization of the dye emission and UCNC absorption spectral overlap. Moreover, the proposed approach can be extended to cover any part of the solar spectrum by using a set of dyes. This work provides new insights into the efficient enhancement of upconversion luminescence of the UCNCs and facilitates their applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Localized optical resonances in silicon nanostructures have been increasingly used in color printing. By changing the geometric parameters of the silicon nanostructures to obtain different structural colors, it is possible to get a larger coverage range than the sRGB color gamut in the CIE color space, and achieve ultra-high-resolution color printing. However, the design of specific colors involves iterative optimization of geometric parameters, which is computationally expensive. Thus, it is very challenging to obtain millions of different colors in the color space. In this paper, we trained a feature-crossed neural network with attention mechanism to predict the structural color produced by random silicon nano truncated cones with high accuracy. On the problem of inverse design, we improve the loss function of the tandem network, which solves the non-uniqueness problem in the inverse design process and avoids the tandem net from falling into the wrong solution space. Our model can accurately predict millions of different color points in the CIE color gamut. In addition, the proposed methods can be easily extended to solve the optimization design problems in the field of nanophotonics. • A truncated cone silicon metasurface covering a wide color gamut. • More accurate metasurface forward prediction. • More reliable metasurface inverse design. • A new loss function for metasurface inverse design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) refractive index sensor based on a single defect nanocavity coupled with a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguide is proposed and numerically simulated by using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method with perfectly matched layer absorbing boundary condition. It is found that the defect structure can realize two Fano resonances and these two Fano resonances originate from two different mechanisms. The results demonstrate the liner correlation between the resonance wavelengths of the device and the refractive index of the material under sensing. Through the optimization of structural parameters, we achieve a theoretical value of the refractive index sensitivity as high as 1800.4 nmRIU. It could be utilized to develop ultra-compact nanodevice for high-resolution biological sensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We synthesized highly uniform Au-decorated core-shell β -NaYF 4 :Er/Yb@SiO 2 microprisms and investigated its coupling effects on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). The incorporation of upconversion phosphors (UCPs) and localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) arising from Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) was beneficial to achieve a higher photocurrent and power conversion efficiency of the devices. Furthermore, the contribution and interaction between upconversion and LSPR on the performance of DSCs were identified by UV–vis spectroscopy, upconversion fluorescence spectroscopy, and J - V characterization under different simulated illuminations. The presence of AuNPs increased the optical absorption of dye molecules in the visible region, but decreased the emission of UCPs. Thorough analysis showed that the energy of upconversion emission was transferred to the upconversion induced LSPR of AuNPs, that resulted from the incorporation between the SPR band of AuNPs and a matched emission bands of UCPs. These results validated the advantages of incorporation between upconversion and LSPR for DSC applications and revealed the underlying enhancement mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical flower-like Bi 2 WO 6 microspheres assembled from 2D nanosheets were successfully prepared by a simple hydrothermal route using the non-ionic surfactant F127 (EO 100 –PO 65 –EO 100 ) as the morphology director. On the basis of the evolution of the morphologies as a function of reaction time, a possible formation mechanism for the hierarchical architecture was proposed. The photocatalytic activities of the as-prepared Bi 2 WO 6 samples were evaluated for the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) under visible-light irradiation. Due to the combined effects of large surface area and efficient separation of charge carriers, the hierarchical flower-like Bi 2 WO 6 microspheres exhibited improved photocatalytic performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, novel TiO 2 /Bi 2 WO 6 heterojunction photocatalysts with hollow microsphere structures were successfully fabricated by a one-pot glucose-assisted hydrothermal route followed by the calcination at 450 °C. The photocatalytic activities of the as-prepared photocatalysts were evaluated on the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) aqueous solution under visible light irradiation and the results indicated that the as-prepared TiO 2 /Bi 2 WO 6 composite exhibited higher photocatalytic activity than bare TiO 2 and Bi 2 WO 6 . In addition, the TiO 2 /Bi 2 WO 6 composite with TiO 2 loading of 20 wt.% showed the highest photocatalytic activity and retained the high photocatalytic performance after four recycles for the photodegradation of RhB, confirming its stability and practical usability. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 /Bi 2 WO 6 composite was attributed to well matched energy band positions of TiO 2 and Bi 2 WO 6 , which facilitated the efficient separation of photogenerated electron–hole pairs and thereby led to the increasing photocatalytic activity. On the basis of calculated energy band positions, the results of photoluminescence (PL) and active species trapping experiments, the mechanism of the obviously enhanced photocatalytic performance was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An equilibrium approach is used to calculate the free energy and composition distribution of InGaN/GaN quantum dot located on the InGaN/GaN pyramid. The energy balance method is adopted to predict critical conditions for quantum dot formation. We find that the formation of QD depends strongly on the size of pyramid top surface. The results can fit our experiment qualitatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Those comments from Acree on “Effect of β -alanine and the solvent composition on the solubility of solvate of calcium d -pantothenate containing four molecules of methanol and one molecule of water ( d -PC·4MeOH·1H 2 O)” are very valuable and helpful for improving the quality of our paper. Here according to the comments, we make a deep analysis and discussion of our article again. Firstly, we need to make a restatement that S 0 and S actually represent the solubility with no impurity in the solution and the solubility in the solution containing impurity in our article, respectively. Secondly, the experimental solubility was reanalysed by the new Cohen equation suggested by Acree Jr, and the results show that the original Cohen equation could give the better agreement. Finally, the modified Solubility-Polarity equation was adopted to correlate the solubility in terms of the relative dielectric constant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) temperature sensor which consists of two metal–insulator–metal (MIM) waveguides coupled to each other by an ethanol-sealed rectangular cavity is proposed. The transmission characteristics of the nanodevice are theoretically analyzed and numerically simulated by two-dimension finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. The temperature sensing characteristics of the SPPs waveguide sensor are systematically analyzed by investigating the transmission spectra. The results indicate that the position of the transmission peak wavelengths has a linear relationship with the ambient temperature. The temperature sensitivity increases with the increase of the cavity length and decrease of the cavity height. The temperature sensitivity of the nanometeric sensor can reach as high as −0.65 nm/°C. It could be utilized to develop ultracompact temperature sensor for high integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A reduction-carbonization approach for the formation of one-dimensional (1D) silver telluride nanocables and tellurium nanorods with a sheath of amorphous carbon are proposed. Here the carbon shell is obtained with the assistance of glucose which behaves as carbonizing agent; silver nitrate and sodium tellurite are utilized as precursors and ethylene glycol acts as reducing agent. The results demonstrate the AgTe/C and Te/C nanostructures with average diameters of 150 and 100 nm, respectively. The crystal structures, morphology, and composition are studied using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy characterizations. The formation mechanism of amorphous carbon sheath and finally core-shell nanostructures is elaborated on the basis of the experimental results. In addition, nonlinear absorption and refraction coefficients along with 3rd order nonlinear optical properties are investigated by open/closed-aperture Z-scan measurements using femtosecond pulse laser at 800 nm in a systematic way. This study provides a guide to the nonlinear properties, which may hold promise as advanced materials for various applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A novel two-dimensional nanoscale structure for sensing which consists of a metal–insulator–metal (MIM) waveguide with a defect, is designed and numerically simulated by using the finite element method (FEM). Both of the refractive index sensing characteristics and the temperature sensing characteristics of the structure are analyzed systematically by investigating the transmission spectrum. The numerically simulated results show that the dip positions of the transmission spectrum have linear relationships with the refractive index of the material under sensing and the ambient temperature, respectively. Based on the relationships, the refractive index of the material under sensing or the ambient temperature can be obtained from the dip wavelength shift detection. When the width and the height of the defect are set to be 50nm, 300nm, respectively, the refractive index sensitivity can be obtained as high as 1736nmRIU−1 and the temperature sensitivity is about 0.51nm/°C with a FOM of 9.79. This work has a certain significance for designing nanoscale refractive index sensors and temperature sensors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Self-assembled three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical Bi2WO6 microspheres built from 2D nanoplates alignment were successfully prepared by the sol–gel–hydrothermal route. Based on X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy observation of the products at different reaction time periods, the formation mechanism of 3D hierarchical Bi2WO6 microspheres was proposed. UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra indicated that the obtained 3D hierarchical Bi2WO6 microspheres had enhanced absorption in both UV and visible light regions. The photocatalytic activities of the as-prepared products were evaluated by monitoring the degradation of methylene blue solution under visible light irradiation. Due to the structural feature and good optical quality, Bi2WO6 prepared by the sol–gel–hydrothermal route possessed the highest photocatalytic activity than those of Bi2WO6 samples prepared by hydrothermal and sol–gel routes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: ZnO with hierarchical microspheres and hexagonal prisms structures were successfully synthesized by hydrothermal microemulsion route. Based on X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy observation of the products at the different reaction time periods, the formation mechanism of three-dimensional hierarchical ZnO microspheres was proposed. Ultraviolet and visible diffuse reflectance spectra indicated that as-synthesized ZnO microspheres had enhanced absorption in both ultraviolet and visible light areas. The photocatalytic activities of as-synthesized products were evaluated by monitoring the degradation of methylene blue solution. Due to the synergistic effects of the high crystallization and special hierarchical structure, the hierarchical ZnO microsphere exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] We model dislocation in quantum dot with and without inclination. [•] We compute critical misfit for dislocation inclination. [•] We compute effective bending area for dislocation inclination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Bi2WO6 samples with hierarchical microspheres structures built by higher order 2D nanoplate alignment were successfully synthesized by sol–gel-hydrothermal route. The structures and morphologies of the products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra indicated that as-prepared Bi2WO6 with hierarchical microspheres structures had enhanced absorption in both UV and visible light areas. Photocatalytic activities of the samples were evaluated by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation. Due to the unique morphology and porous structure, the hierarchical Bi2WO6 microspheres exhibited better photocatalytic activities than that of the Bi2WO6 prepared by hydrothermal routes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Our work proposes universal rules for simplifying the numerical design of phase metasurface, which alleviates the problem of lots of iterative calculations and low design efficiency due to the consideration of dispersion and phase distribution of materials and so on. According to the different effects of structure sizes and materials on metasurface, the parameters can be divided into two categories: one affects the 2π phase shifting mechanism and phase linearity, and the other affects the anomalous deflection performance of the device, such as bandwidth, reflection, and angle of emergence. Through the proposed design rules, the uncertain parameters can be reduced by more than 60%, greatly improving the numerical design efficiency. To verify the rules, we design several metasurfaces: the large angle deflector at 430 to 630 nm waveband and the broadband (more than 700 nm) high-efficiency reflective metasurface in the near-infrared, where the perfect 2π phase linearity is achieved at the communication wavelength 1550 nm. Moreover, we simply combine two trapezoids in one unit, so that the metasurface can be used as a beam splitter to verify the generality of the rules. The optimal conversion efficiency of equal power beam splitter is more than 95%, and the reflectivity is more than 0.85 at near-infrared. It is of guiding significance to the theoretical design of phase metasurface with excellent performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Single crystalline ZnO with hexagonal cylinder-like bipods morphologies were successfully synthesized via a cationic surfactant-assisted hydrothermal microemulsion route. The structure, morphologies and properties of the as-prepared samples were determined using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, photoluminescence spectrum and Ultraviolet and Visible absorption spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activities of the obtained products were evaluated by the degradation of Reactive Brilliant Red K-2BP in aqueous solution under a variety of conditions. Under the optimum condition, approximately 99.5% decolorization efficiency within 45 min and 65.3% TOC removal efficiency within 3 h were achieved, which were higher than that by the commercial ZnO. Moreover, the degradation products were analyzed by a gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry system and the probable pathways for the formation of the intermediates were proposed. The photocatalytic results indicated that the as-prepared ZnO showed good photocatalytic activity and it could be considered as a promising photocatalyst for dyes wastewater treatment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Manganese dioxides octahedral molecular sieve nanowires with 2×2 tunnels (designated OMS-2) and amorphous manganese dioxides were synthesized via a hydrothermal treatment and a sol–gel method, respectively. Amorphous MnO2 nanoparticles were incorporated into the matrix of OMS-2 nanowires to form homogenous nanocomposites. The structures and morphologies of as-synthesized OMS-2 nanowires and amorphous MnO2 nanoparticles were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Electrochemical behaviors of the as-prepared nanocomposites with varying ratios were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge/discharge and potentiostatic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) using a three-electrode system in a 0.5M Na2SO4 aqueous solution. Pure OMS nanowires exhibit a specific capacitance of about 37Fg−1, and amorphous MnO2 nanoparticles demonstrate relatively higher specific capacitance of about 106Fg−1 at a scan rate of 2mVs−1. The enhancement of specific capacitance can be carried out by mixing OMS-2 nanowires and amorphous MnO2 nanoparticles to form nanocomposites and the optimized mole ratio of OMS-2 nanowires to amorphous MnO2 as 1:5 can be achieved. The improved specific capacitance can be attributed to the increase of electrode conductivity and the effective interfaces between MnO2 active materials and electrolyte. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A thermodynamic equilibrium approach is used to simulate the stress field and calculate the total strain energy of InAs/GaAs quantum dots in the framework of anisotropic elasticity, before and after the onset of dislocation. The model can directly calculate the strain energy in the incoherent system with the dislocation forms at any position. Taking the influence of dislocation positions into consideration and based on the energy balance between the coherent and dislocated states, the equilibrium critical size of InAs quantum dots is determined. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Nucleic acids detection is becoming increasingly vital for disease's diagnosis. A sensitive, convenient and simple detection method provide the possibility of self‐diagnosis to prevent the disease's development. Herein, we designed a novel branched DNA nanostructure as probe, which could induce DNA hybridization chain reaction in the presence of target DNA. The strategy as amplifier enhanced the electrochemical signal of target DNA for sensitive nucleic acids detection. In this system, the branched DNA probe possessed more capturing points for Target DNA than previous single‐stranded DNA. Target DNA as trigger were used to induce hybridization chain reaction in three dimensions. The limit of detection of this strategy can reach to 1 pM with excellent specificity and selectivity. Meanwhile, the linear working range was from 10 pM to 100 μM. The biosensor had a great promising in the determination of nucleic acids for disease's diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Three-dimensional LiNi0.5Mn0.5O2 (3D-LiNi0.5Mn0.5O2) nanostructures are in situ prepared using cryptomelane-type octahedral molecular sieve manganese dioxide (OMS-2) in the form of dendritic nanostructures as templates. The complete conversion of the OMS-2 precursor to layered α-NaFeO2-type LiNi0.5Mn0.5O2 and the retention of the 3D dendritic nanostructures have been confirmed by XRD, FE-SEM, TEM, and HR-TEM. The as-synthesized nanostructured positive electrode exhibits a significant improvement in rate performance and cycling reversibility due to its unique nanostructures composed of single-crystalline LiNi0.5Mn0.5O2 nanorods. And the influence of the assembly mode of nanosize LiNi0.5Mn0.5O2 positive electrode material to its electrochemical performances has been investigated. The battery based on 3D-LiNi0.5Mn0.5O2 retains a discharge capacity of 151.6mAhg−1 (93% of the first discharge capacity) after 50 cycles. A specific discharge capacity of 141.8mAhg−1 was retained at a rate of 3.2C, which is about 80% of the capacity at a rate of 0.2C. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The interaction between ZnO compact layer and TiCl4 post-treatment on TiO2 photoelectrode for dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is investigated. Photoelectrode combined the two modifications is designated as ZnO+2l+TiCl4. It is found that after the TiCl4 treatment the ZnO compact layer transforms to a bi-functional layer, which suppresses back electrons transfer from FTO to electrolyte and reduces the FTO/TiO2 interfacial resistance. In addition, the newly formed TiO2 coating generated by TiCl4 post-treatment contains abundant and well dispersed Zn element, which further facilitates electron transfer at TiO2 layer. Meanwhile, the electron lifetime in ZnO+2l+TiCl4 is the longest. Consequently, the overall energy conversion efficiency of the cell with ZnO+2l+TiCl4 is significantly enhanced to 8.9%, which is 8.8% higher than that with pure TiCl4 post-treatment and 17.7% higher than that without any treatment. These results are verified by material characterization and corresponding opto-electrical properties measurements. Experimental results demonstrate this facile method is a more promising alternative to the conventional interface and surface modification in high efficient DSSCs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]