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Tailoring the architecture is of great significance for developing and designing highly active non-noble metal-based electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Here, the architecture of the precursor was improved by alkali etching after the introduction of Prussian blue analogue (PBA). The coral-like precursor was transformed into bimetallic phosphide via phosphating. Detailed investigation disclares that the introduction of PBA could dramatically improves the electrochemical surface area of the material, and the abundant active site could be obtained via alkali etching. In addition, the removal of amorphous carbon may be the main reason for the enhanced conductivity.

Transition-metal doping and structural improvement are facile and feasible strategies to obtain highly active catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, we prepare Mo-CoP with a nanosheet structure via hydrothermal reactions and phosphorization. Taking advantage of the nanosheet array, the good electrocatalytic performance of Co-based materials for HER and excellent performance of Co-based phosphide for OER are fully demonstrated. Mo-CoP requires only 112 and 329.9 mV to achieve a current density of 100 mA/cm2 for HER and OER in 1.0 M KOH, respectively. Furthermore, when it was used as bifunctional electrocatalyst, Mo-CoP could deliver 10 mA/cm2 at a low cell voltage of 1.54 V. It was found that the activity of Mo-CoP could be ascribed to the structure of nanosheet and the synergistic role of two different metal phosphides. The most important is that the introduction of Mo improves the activity of the catalyst.

The continuous degradation of carbonate electrolytes and the dissolution of transition metal cations due to parasitic reactions on the cathode-electrolyte interphase (CEI) block the practical application of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4-based lithium-ion batteries (LNMO-based LIBs) at a high voltage. cis-1,2,3,6-Tetrahydrophthalic anhydride (CTA) has been used as a functional additive in a carbonate baseline electrolyte (BE) for constructing the CEI film to enhance the cyclic stability of LNMO-based LIBs. The LNMO/Li cell with CTA exhibits a preponderant capacity retention of 83.3% compared with those of propionic anhydride (PA) (46.5%) and BE (13.6%) after 500 cycles at the current density of 1 C from 3.5 to 4.9 V. Additionally, the LNMO/graphite full cell with CTA still has a higher capacity retention of 95.46% even after 300 cycles at 1 C. By characterizations, it is reasonably demonstrated that CTA was oxidated to participate in the construction of a CEI film. An unsaturated aromatic group was introduced into the composition of the CEI film along with CTA in the formation process of the CEI film, which further improved the antioxidative activity of the CEI film under the influence of field-effect. Specifically, the CEI film obtains appreciable stability because of its higher antioxidative activity under the influence of field-effect. The stabilized CEI can significantly suppress the parasitic reactions of electrolytes, decrease the consumption of active-Li+, and protect the LNMO cathode structure, thereby enhancing the cyclic compatibility of LNMO-based LIBs with the carbonate electrolytes from 3.5 to 4.9 V.

A stable MnO2 nanowires@NiCo-layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheet core–shell heterostructure is prepared via a simple liquid-phase reaction method, in which the NiCo-LDH nanosheets grow uniform...

Owing to their low cost and high theoretical energy density, lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are highly promising as a contender for the post-lithium-ion battery era. However, the intrinsic low reversible conversion ability of lithium polysulfides to sulfur/Li2S during charging/discharging seriously hinders the sulfur utilization, resulting in poor cycling life of batteries. Herein, we report an improvement of core-shell-structured sulfur nanospheres@ultrathin δ-MnO2 nanosheet electrode materials prepared by a simple precipitation reaction method, in which the ultrathin δ-MnO2 nanosheets as a catalytic layer can promote the chemical adsorption of lithium polysulfides and their conversion rates to sulfur/Li2S. Using a combination of the UV-visible adsorption spectra and first-principles calculation, the results indicate that the Mn-O coordination center on the surface of the MnO2 structure plays an efficient catalytic role in the conversion reaction of lithium polysulfides to insoluble S/Li2S. The sulfur nanospheres@ultrathin δ-MnO2 nanosheet composite with a high S mass ratio of 82 wt % reveals a high specific capacity of 846 mA h g-1 at 1 C rate and good cycling stability. Moreover, the areal capacity of the electrode with a high sulfur loading mass of 10 mg cm-2 is 5.2 mA h cm-2, approaching the practical application standard at a current density of 1 mA cm-2.

A lithium metal anode is regarded as the most promising anode material for the next generation of high-energy density batteries because of its high specific capacity and low reduction potential. Ho...

Background: World energy crisis has triggered more attention to energy developing of clean energy carrier. To find simple, economical and effective hydrogen evolution reaction catalysts is one of the major challenges. Rational design and modification of electrocatalysts materials are of great importance for the development of low-cost and effective catalysts. Methods: Herein, we report a Ni-CNTs-HG/NF electrode catalyst, which is fabricated on the surface of Ni foam by electrodeposition technique. The fabrication strategy allows the construction of a composite architecture with the Ni foam morphology at the macro level, and the Ni nanoparticles supported by carbon nanotubes and Hydrophilic graphene nanosheets at the nanoscopic level. Results: Compared to NF electrocatalyst, the Ni-CNTs-HG/NF, the CNTs and HG sheets possess the largest electrocatalytic active surface area, providing Ni nanoparticles with catalytically active sites. The Ni-CNTs-HG/NF electrocatalyst exhibits better HER performance in alkaline electrolytes. Conclusion: The Ni-CNTs-HG cathode performs its activity under alkaline conditions with an overpotential i.e 56 and 227 mV at a current density of 10 and 100mAcm-2, which is much lower than that of Ni foam electrode (423 and 278 mV). The secret of the enhanced electrochemical activity lies in its interior structure by coupling metal nanoparticles with carbon materials.

Reflection and refraction images are treated as the texture of the object in computer graphics, which brings wrong depth information when focusing on the object in holographic display. In this paper, a method of ray tracing rendering with complete depth information for computer-generated hologram(CGH) is proposed. Correct depths of reflection and refraction images are calculated, and layer-based method is used to generate CGH. In experiment result, our method truthfully reconstructs the complete depth information of complex scene. Reflection or refraction images and its corresponding media surfaces can be focused on correct depth. All layer data is computed in a single ray tracing procedure, and the generation speed of 1024×1024 CGH for 3D scene divided into 10 layers is 100fps.

In order to reduce the overpotential of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), the ternary coating Co-W-P was deposited on the surface of the nickel foam by electrochemical deposition to obtain a highly active electrode. Based on the measured double layer capacitance (Cdl) and HER activity, there is volcanic behavior between the intrinsic activity of Co-W-P and the Co:W ratio in the electrolyte. W and P play different roles in the formation of nanoparticles, and work together to achieve the large electrochemical surface area and excellent activity. When applied to the modification of other catalysts (Ni-P and Fe-P), the higher intrinsic activity was obtained after the introduction of W.

Background: Non-precious metal based catalysts have become a hot research material due to their easy availability, low cost and outstanding electrochemical performance. Among them, carbon-based materials like carbon nanotubes and porous carbon with their own characteristics are especially favored by researchers in the field of catalyzing oxygen reduction. Therefore, rational construction of combining porous carbon with carbon nanotubes attracts great research attention on the object to utilize the excellent porosity, large specific surface area of porous carbon and the good electronic conductivity, high stability of carbon nanotubes to catalyze oxygen reduction. In this work, we synthesized two catalysts with different structure of coating carbon nanotubes with porous carbon by paralyzing a mixture of pre-prepared porous carbon, Co3O4 nanoparticles and melamine/ glucosamine hydrochloride. Then, the composites were applied to fuel cells as cathodic oxygen reduction reaction catalysts, which both exhibited good onset potential and excellent stability. Objective: Briefly, the porous carbon was prepared by heating the mixture of glucosamine hydrochloride and Co(NO3)26H2O under N2 flowing. Co3O4 nanoparticles were prepared by pyrolyzing cobalt nitrate-impregnated cotton wool. The CNTs/PC was synthesized by pyrolyzing the mixture of porous carbon, Co3O4 nanoparticles and melamine. The CNTs@PC was synthesized by pyrolyzing the mixture of porous carbon, Co3O4 nanoparticles and glucosamine hydrochloride. The cyclic voltammetry, liner sweep voltammetry and chronoamperometry measurements were analyzed to obtained the catalysis performance for oxygen reduction. Results: Through the rational design of catalyst structure, porous carbon and carbon nanotubes with different structures were constructed to expose more active sites on the surface of the sample. As a result, the onset potential of CNTs/PC and CNTs@PC are all at 0.9 V. After 20,000s chronoamperometry measurement, the current holding rate of CNTs/PC reached 95%, CNTs@PC was 94%, while Pt/C was only 77%. This shows that the prepared catalysts possess outstanding stability compared to Pt/C. Conclusion: In this work, we synthesized two catalysts with different structure by paralyzing a mixture of pre-prepared porous carbon, Co3O4 nanoparticles and melamine/glucosamine hydrochloride, growing carbon nanotubes on the surface (CNTs/PC) and inside (CNTs@PC) of the porous carbon framework. The catalytic property of prepared CNTs/PC and CNTs@PC all possess good onset potential and excellent stability toward ORR. Therefore, a reasonable design of the catalyst structure is required to expose more active sites on the sample surface.

Hard carbon has emerged as a candidate for anode material because of its abundant resources and large interlayer spacing for lithium/sodium storage. However, disordered amorphous carbon with low el...

Background: Ni/rGO composite electrode has been fabricated by facile supergravity electrodeposition as a low-cost catalyst for efficient hydrogen evolution in alkaline media. In this paper, the electrodeposition time is the main research variable. When the electrodeposition time is 100 minutes, the Ni/rGO-100 catalyst manifests the highest electrocatalytic activity toward the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In 1.0 M NaOH solution, the overpotential at a current density of 100 mA cm-2, Tafel slope and charge transfer resistance of Ni/rGO-100 catalyst is 184 mV, 77 mV dec-1 and 4.173 Ω, respectively. In addition, Ni/rGO-100 catalyst shows a long-term durability at a constant current density of 100 mA cm-2 for 10 h. The outstanding HER electrocatalytic performance of the Ni/rGO-100 is mainly related to the synergetic combination of Ni and rGO, as well as the enlarged exposure of catalytically active sites and improved transport of electrons arising from the good conductivity of graphene. Method: In a classic experiment, GO was prepared by modified Hummers method. The Ni/rGO composite electrodes were prepared by supergravity electrodeposition, which has been reported in detail in our published paper. Firstly, a ø10 cm × 2 cm Ni foam circle was cleaned sequentially in HCl solution (15%), acetone and DI water for 5 min with ultrasonication to be used as a cathode. And a pure nickel pipe was used as anode. The Ni/rGO composite cathodes were electrodeposited in a blackish green plating bath which contained 350 g L-1 Ni(NH2SO3)2·6H2O, 10g L-1 NiCl2·6H2O, 30 g L-1 NH4Cl , 1.0 g L-1 GO colloidal solution with different electrodeposition time, 10min, 30min, 60min, 80min, 100min, respectively. The pH value of the plating bath is 3.5-3.8. The above five electrodes were respectively denominated as Ni/rGO-10, Ni/rGO-30, Ni/rGO-60, Ni/rGO-80, Ni/rGO-100. All composite electrodes were performed under the strength of the supergravity with G=350 g at a current density of 3 A dm-2 at 318 K. Afterwards the Ni foam coated with Ni/rGO hybrid was taken out of the reaction vessel, followed by washing with deionized water to remove physical adsorption residua, and then dried at 80°C. Results: In this paper, the electrodeposition time is the main research variable. When the electrodeposition time is 100 minutes, the Ni/rGO-100 catalyst manifests the highest electrocatalytic activity toward the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In 1.0 M NaOH solution, the overpotential at a current density of 100 mA cm-2, Tafel slope and charge transfer resistance of Ni/rGO-100 catalyst is 184 mV, 77 mV dec-1 and 4.173 Ω, respectively. In summary, we have synthesized a class of composite electrodes (Ni/rGO) for HER in alkaline solution by electrodeposition under supergravity field. We studied the effect of electrodeposition time on electrode performance in detail. With the increase of electrodeposition time, the number of active sites is enlarged provided by the electrode. When the electrodeposition time is 100 min, we fabricate the best electrode (Ni/rGO-100). The η100, Tafel slope and charge transfer resistance of Ni/rGO-100 is 184 mV, 77 mV dec-1 and 4.173 Ω, respectively. The introduction of graphene and supergravity field plays a key role in improving the performance of the electrodes. This work is a pivotal part of the development of Ni/rGO as a non-precious HER catalyst for green energy field.

The continuous degradation of carbonate electrolytes and the dissolution of transition metal cations due to parasitic reactions on the cathode-electrolyte interphase (CEI) block the practical application of LiNi

The present study was designed to serve as a comprehensive analysis of Citrus sinensis (C. sinensis) pectin acetylesterases (CsPAEs), and to assess the roles of these PAEs involved in the development of citrus bacterial canker (CBC) caused by Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (Xcc) infection. A total of six CsPAEs were identified in the genome of C. sinensis, with these genes being unevenly distributed across chromosomes 3, 6, and 9, and the unassembled scaffolds. A subset of CsPAEs were found to be involved in responses to Xcc infection. In particular, CsPAE2 was identified to be associated with such infections, as it was upregulated in CBC-susceptible variety Wanjincheng and inversely in CBC-resistant variety Calamondin. Transgenic citrus plants overexpressing CsPAE2 were found to be more susceptible to CBC, whereas the silencing of this gene was sufficient to confer CBC resistance. Together, these findings provide evolutionary insights into and functional information about the CsPAE family. This study also suggests that CsPAE2 is a potential candidate gene that negatively contributes to bacterial canker disease and can be used to breed CBC-resistant citrus plants.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of miR-324-5p on the proliferation of rat glomerular mesangial (HBZY-1) cells and the role of Syk/Ras/c-fos signaling pathway in mediating this effect. METHODS: HBZY-1 cells cultured in vitro were transiently transfected with miR-324-5p mimics or miR-324-5p-mimics-NC followed by treatment with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). MTT assay was used to detect the proliferation activity of HBZY-1 cells, and RT-qPCR was used to detect the expressions of miR-324-5p and the mRNA expressions of Syk, Ras, MEK1/2, ERK1/2 and c-fos mRNA. The protein expressions of p-Syk, Ras, p-MEK1/2, p-ERK1/2 and c-Fos were detected by Western blotting and immunofluorescence assay. RESULTS: MTT assay showed that exposure to LPS significantly enhanced the proliferative activity of HBZY-1 cells. Compared with the cells treated with LPS and LPS + mimics NC, the cells transfected with miR-324-5p mimics prior to LPS exposure exhibited significantly lowered proliferative activity. Transfection with miR-324-5p mimics significantly lowered the mRNA expressions of Syk, Ras, MEK1/2, ERK1/2 and c-fos and the protein expressions of p-Syk, Ras, MEK1/2, ERK1/2 and c-Fos (P < 0.05), and reduced numbers of cells positive for p-Syk, Ras, p-MEK1/2, p-ERK1/2 and c-Fos proteins following LPS exposure. CONCLUSION: miR-324-5p can inhibit the proliferation of rat chronic glomerulonephritis cells induced by LPS by inhibiting Syk/Ras/c-fos signaling pathway and may potentially serve as a diagnostic indicator and a therapeutic target for chronic glomerulonephritis.

The ultrahigh specific capacity of lithium (Li) metal makes it possible to serve as the ultimate candidate for an anode in high-energy density secondary batteries, whereas the safety hazards caused by Li dendrite growth severely hamper the commercialization process of a lithium metal anode. Here, we propose a 3D conductive skeleton by anchoring MXene on Cu foam (MXene@CF) to significantly improve the electrochemical Li plating/stripping behavior. Li metal tends to nucleate uniformly and grow horizontally along the MXene nanosheets under the strong Coulomb interaction between adsorbed Li and MXene. Moreover, the abundant fluorine termination groups in MXene contribute to forming a stable fluorinated solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) and thus effectively regulating the Li deposition behaviors and prolonging the stability of the Li metal anode. Therefore, the MXene@CF skeleton maintains a high Coulombic efficiency (CE) of 98.5% after 200 cycles at 1 mA cm-2. The MXene@CF-based symmetric cells can run for more than 1000 h without intense voltage fluctuation and demonstrates remarkable deep charge/discharge abilities. The MXene@CF-Li|LiFePO4 full cell exhibits outstanding long-term cycling stability (95% capacity retention after 300 cycles). Our research suggests that MXene could effectively regulate the Li plating behavior that might provide a feasible solution for a dendrite-free Li anode.

Owing to their low cost and high theoretical energy density, lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are highly promising as a contender for the post-lithium-ion battery era. However, the intrinsic low reversible conversion ability of lithium polysulfides to sulfur/Li

Citrus bacterial canker (CBC) is a disease resulting from Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (Xcc) infection and poses a grave threat to citrus production worldwide. Wall-associated receptor-like kinases (WAKLs) are proteins with a central role in resisting a range of fungal and bacterial diseases. The roles of WAKLs in the context of CBC resistance, however, remain unclear. Here, we explored the role of CsWAKL08, which confers resistance to CBC, and we additionally analyzed the molecular mechanisms of CsWAKL08-mediated CBC resistance. Based on systematic annotation and induced expression analysis of the CsWAKL family in Citrus sinensis, CsWAKL08 was identified as a candidate that can be upregulated by Xcc infection in the CBC-resistant variety. CsWAKL08 can also be induced by the phytohormones salicylic acid (SA) and methyl jasmonic acid (MeJA) and spans the plasma membrane. Overexpression of CsWAKL08 resulted in strong CBC resistance in transgenic sweet oranges, whereas silencing of CsWAKL08 resulted in susceptibility to CBC. The peroxidase (POD) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were significantly enhanced in the CsWAKL08-overexpressing plants compared to the control plants, thereby mediating reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis in the transgenic plants. Moreover, the JA levels and the expression of JA biosynthesis and JA responsive genes were substantially elevated in the CsWAKL08 overexpression plants relative to the controls upon Xcc infection. Based on these findings, we conclude that the wall-associated receptor-like kinase CsWAKL08 positively regulates CBC resistance through a mechanism involving ROS control and JA signaling. These results further highlight the importance of this kinase family in plant pathogen resistance.

A lithium metal anode is regarded as the most promising anode material for the next generation of high-energy density batteries because of its high specific capacity and low reduction potential. However, dendritic deposition and severe side reactions in continuous Li plating/stripping inevitably hinder the practical application of Li metal batteries. A solid polymer electrolyte protective layer with synergistic Li3PO4/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) features is in situ constructed on a lithium metal anode to obtain a stable interface during charge/discharge cycles. The protective layer can adapt to volume changes and inhibit lithium dendrites. The in situ reaction guaranteed the uniformity of ion transport and a tight interface between the protective layer and the lithium metal, so that the lithium deposition behavior was effectively regulated. The PP-Li anode presented a stable Li plating/stripping for 1000 h in a symmetrical cell system and exhibited an enhanced performance of the lithium titanium oxide cell. The in situ Li3PO4/PVA solid polymer electrolyte protective layer provided a promising strategy to tackle the challenges raised by the intrinsic properties of the lithium metal anode.

Citrus is one of the most important commercial fruit crops worldwide. With the vast genomic data currently available for citrus fruit, genetic relationships, and molecular markers can be assessed for the development of molecular breeding and genomic selection strategies. In this study, to permit the ease of access to these data, a web-based database, the citrus genomic variation database (CitGVD, http://citgvd.cric.cn/home) was developed as the first citrus-specific comprehensive database dedicated to genome-wide variations including single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertions/deletions (INDELs). The current version (V1.0.0) of CitGVD is an open-access resource centered on 1,493,258,964 high-quality genomic variations and 84 phenotypes of 346 organisms curated from in-house projects and public resources. CitGVD integrates closely related information on genomic variation annotations, related gene annotations, and details regarding the organisms, incorporating a variety of built-in tools for data accession and analysis. As an example, CitGWAS can be used for genome-wide association studies (GWASs) with SNPs and phenotypic data, while CitEVOL can be used for genetic structure analysis. These features make CitGVD a comprehensive web portal and bioinformatics platform for citrus-related studies. It also provides a model for analyzing genome-wide variations for a wide range of crop varieties.