Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with chronic low‑grade inflammation. Carvacrol has been confirmed to possess anti‑inflammatory properties, but its effect on diabetic vasculature remains ...unknown. The aim of the present study was to investigate the possible protective effects of carvacrol against vascular endothelial inflammation. The mice were divided into four groups (n=15 per group) as follows: Non‑diabetic control mice, db/db mice, db/db mice + carvacrol (low) and db/db mice + carvacrol (high) groups. The effects of carvacrol on the pathomorphism of the thoracoabdominal aorta in db/db mice were evaluated using hematoxylin and eosin and Masson's trichrome staining. The serum levels of insulin signaling molecules, such as phosphorylated insulin receptor, phosphorylated insulin receptor substrate‑1, insulin, triglyceride (TG) and inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor‑α, interleukin (IL)‑1β, IL‑6 and IL‑8 were measured by ELISA. Furthermore, the protein levels of the toll‑like receptor (TLR)4/nuclear factor (NF)‑κB inflammatory signaling pathway molecules were investigated in the thoracoabdominal aorta of db/db mice and in high glucose‑induced endothelial cells. Vascular endothelial cell apoptosis and viability were assessed by using flow cytometry and Cell Counting Kit‑8 assays, respectively. The results demonstrated that carvacrol alleviated vascular endothelial cell injury. Carvacrol reduced the expression levels of insulin signaling molecules, insulin, TG and inflammatory cytokines in the serum of db/db mice. Moreover, carvacrol reduced the activation of the TLR4/NF‑κB signaling pathway in vivo and in vitro. In vitro, carvacrol inhibited high glucose‑induced endothelial cell function by promoting vascular endothelial cell apoptosis and suppressing cell viability. These findings demonstrated that carvacrol could alleviate endothelial dysfunction and vascular inflammation in T2DM.
Highlights
Freestanding multicapsular carbon fibers (MCFs) cloth was synthesized by electrospinning and applied as interfacial layer to regulate the plating/stripping behavior of Zn anodes.
MCFs ...layer is supposed to uniformize the electric field and Zn
2+
flux, and the moderate zincophilicity enables the bottom-up deposition of Zn on Zn@MCFs anode, thereby leading to high-quality and rapid Zn deposition kinetics.
Superior electrochemical performance of Zn@MCFs is achieved in symmetrical, asymmetrical and Zn||MnO
2
batteries, including long cycling life, high coulombic efficiency and excellent rate performance.
Aqueous rechargeable zinc ion batteries are regarded as a competitive alternative to lithium-ion batteries because of their distinct advantages of high security, high energy density, low cost, and environmental friendliness. However, deep-seated problems including Zn dendrite and adverse side reactions severely impede the practical application. In this work, we proposed a freestanding Zn-electrolyte interfacial layer composed of multicapsular carbon fibers (MCFs) to regulate the plating/stripping behavior of Zn anodes. The versatile MCFs protective layer can uniformize the electric field and Zn
2+
flux, meanwhile, reduce the deposition overpotentials, leading to high-quality and rapid Zn deposition kinetics. Furthermore, the bottom-up and uniform deposition of Zn on the Zn-MCFs interface endows long-term and high-capacity plating. Accordingly, the Zn@MCFs symmetric batteries can keep working up to 1500 h with 5 mAh cm
−2
. The feasibility of the MCFs interfacial layer is also convinced in Zn@MCFs||MnO
2
batteries. Remarkably, the Zn@MCFs||α-MnO
2
batteries deliver a high specific capacity of 236.1 mAh g
−1
at 1 A g
−1
with excellent stability, and maintain an exhilarating energy density of 154.3 Wh kg
−1
at 33% depth of discharge in pouch batteries.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
A simple, safe and in-situ growth strategy has been proposed for the fabrication of Ti3C2Tx@CoSe2 heterostructure via Lewis acidic etching route. With Ti3C2Tx@CoSe2 heterostructure coated separators ...for lithium-sulfur batteries, the shuttle effects have been effectively suppressed, promoting the conversion of lithium polysulfides and ultimately resulting in enhanced performance.
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•Ti3C2Tx@CoSe2 was prepared by Lewis acidic etching and subsequent selenization.•The heterostructure exhibits strong confinement and accelerates redox conversion of polysulfides.•The heterostructure modified separator enables significant improvement in the Li-S battery.•Ti3C2Tx@CoSy heterostructure was also prepared as a validation of the universality of our strategy.
Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are considered the desirable candidate for the next generation energy storage system, owing to their significant advantages in high theoretical energy density (2600 Wh kg−1) and environmental friendliness. Nevertheless, the notorious shuttle effect and sluggish conversion kinetics of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) limit the application of Li-S batteries. Herein, heterostructure with CoSe2 nanoparticles strongly anchored on Ti3C2Tx substrate are prepared by a universal, simple, and non-hazardous preparation method, with Lewis acidic molten salt etching and subsequent in-situ selenization processes. The fabricated Ti3C2Tx@CoSe2 heterostructure exhibits high electrical conductivity and acts as electrocatalyst to facilitate the fast conversion of LiPSs. With Ti3C2Tx@CoSe2 heterostructure coated separator, the assembled Li-S cells deliver high initial capacity of 1183 mAh/g and well maintain at 788 mAh/g after 100 cycles at 0.5C. Besides, excellent rate performance (713 mAh/g at 3C) and long-term cycling performance (capacity fading rate of 0.059% per cycle at 0.5C and 0.041% per cycle at 1C) are achieved. The cells exhibited impressive performances even under the condition of lean electrolyte, high sulfur loading and practical shape (pouch cell). Additionally, Co atom was proved to serve as the catalytic site in the redox reaction of LiPSs by ex-situ XPS. Consequently, this work provides a new insight for the regulation of polysulfides conversion in Li-S batteries.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Zn metal has been extensively utilized as an anode in aqueous zinc-ion batteries attributed to its affordable cost and superior theoretical capacity. Nevertheless, the presence of dendrites and ...undesirable side reactions poses challenges to its widespread commercialization. To address these issues, herein, a surface coating composed of hydroxyapatite (HAP) was developed on the Zn anode to create an artificial solid electrolyte interphase. After the application of a hydroxyapatite layer, dendrites and corrosion of the Zn anode are sufficiently inhibited. Furthermore, the hydroxyapatite interphase with a low ionic diffusion barrier enables fast anodic redox kinetics. Consequently, the Zn@HAP symmetric cell possesses a durable lifespan over 2000 h at 1 mA cm–2, while maintaining minimal polarization. Moreover, the practical feasibilities of the Zn@HAP anode are also manifested in full batteries combined with MnO2 cathodes, exhibiting exceptional cycling performance up to 500 cycles at 1 A g–1 and excellent rate capability with a retention of 109 mAh g–1 at 5 A g–1.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
Here, nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbon spheres (NHPCS) with ultrahigh nitrogen content of 25.57 at% and high specific surface area (SSA) of 303.4 m
2
g
−1
are explored as a competitive ...sulfur host for high-performance lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries. The fabrication strategy, spray drying followed by annealing treatment, is simple and economical. Applied as sulfur host, high-content nitrogen doping endows NHPCS with efficient immobilization for lithium polysulfides(LiPSs), which significantly relieves the shuttle effect. Additionally, porous structure with high SSA and large pore volume provides enough space for accommodating sulfur and buffering volume expansion on the one hand and boosts the exposure of LiPSs anchoring sites on the other hand. Finally, NHPCS/S cathode delivers an impressive specific capacity of 1588.6 mAh g
−1
at C-rate of 0.2 C, corresponding to ultrahigh sulfur utilization of 94.6%. And at 0.5 C, NHPCS/S cathode still reveals highly initial capacity of 1244.2 mAh g
−1
and maintains high capacity of 605.7 mAh g
−1
after 500 cycles. This work proposes a facile and low-lost strategy to achieve ultrahigh nitrogen content in nitrogen-doped carbon and provides a promising sulfur host to achieve high-performance Li–S batteries.
Graphical abstract
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DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Rampant dendrites and parasitic reactions have been seriously hampering the application of Zn metal anode. The construction of artificial interface layer is considered to be an effective strategy to ...solve these problems. Herein, we designed an organic-inorganic hybrid interface coating to regulate zinc deposition behavior. The chitin-rich outer layer with abundant polar groups exhibits good zincophilicity, as well as the good trapping ability to SO42- and H2O molecule, thereby promoting the rapid desolvation of Zn2+ and inhibiting the parasitic reactions. The vermiculite-rich inner layer promotes the multi-site nucleation and leads to the uniform deposition of Zn2+, which also works as a tough physical parclose to inhibit dendrite growth. Moreover, according to the experimental results and theoretical calculation, the chitin-vermiculite interface supplies a fast diffusion path with low energy barriers, enabling fast zinc deposition kinetics. As a result, the hybrid coating protected Zn anode (denoted as Zn@VMCT) exhibits high electrochemical reversibility of average CE up to 99.6% in Zn||Cu battery, long plating/stripping lifespan of 2800 h under 1 mA cm−2/1 mAh cm−2 and exceeding 400 h under 10 mA cm−2/10 mAh cm−2 in symmetrical battery. Impressively, when paired with MnO2 cathode, the Zn@VMCT||MnO2 full battery delivers 201.0 mAh g−1 at 1 A g−1 and maintains 92.9% after 800 cycles.
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•An organic-inorganic hybrid interface coating was constructed on Zn anode.•The hybrid coating shows good electrolyte sieve ability and dendrite resistance.•The hybrid coating shows a low diffusion battier for Zn2+ ions.•The hybrid coating enables the long-term and high-capacity Zn deposition.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The present study aimed to investigate the protective effect of carvacrol on liver injury in mice with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and to assess its potential molecular mechanism. Mice were ...divided into three groups (n=15/group): Non‑diabetic db/m+ mice group, db/db mice group and db/db mice + carvacrol group. In the db/db mice + carvacrol group, db/db mice were administered 10 mg/kg carvacrol daily by gavage for 6 weeks. Fasting blood glucose and insulin levels were separately examined. Pathological changes were observed using hematoxylin and eosin, Masson's trichrome, periodic acid Schiff and reticular fiber staining. In addition, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence and western blotting were used to examine the expression levels of Toll‑like receptor 4 (TLR4), NF‑κB, NALP3, AKT1, phosphorylated (p)‑AKT1, insulin receptor (INSR), p‑INSR, mTOR, p‑mTOR, insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS1) and p‑IRS1 in the liver tissues. The results revealed that carvacrol improved blood glucose and insulin resistance of T2DM db/db mice. After treatment with carvacrol for 6 weeks, the serum levels of TC, TG and LDL‑C were markedly reduced, whereas HDL‑C levels were significantly increased in db/db mice. Furthermore, carvacrol administration significantly decreased serum ALT and AST levels in db/db mice. Serum BUN, Cre and UA levels were markedly higher in db/db mice compared with those in the control group; however, carvacrol treatment markedly reduced their serum levels in db/db mice. Furthermore, histological examinations confirmed that carvacrol could protect the liver of db/db mice. Carvacrol could ameliorate liver injury induced by T2DM via mediating insulin, TLR4/NF‑κB and AKT1/mTOR signaling pathways. The present findings suggested that carvacrol exerted protective effects on the liver in T2DM db/db mice, which could be related to insulin, TLR4/NF‑κB and AKT1/mTOR signaling pathways.
The invention of defect‐engineering motivated Z‐scheme photocatalytic complexes has been treated as an emerging opportunity to accomplish effective carrier separation and electron transfer in hybrid ...heterojunctions, contributing a novel approach to accomplish modified visible‐light driven photocatalytic performance compared to traditional nanocomposites. Exploring a desired carrier medium is crucial to support impressive electron transportation in Z‐scheme photocatalytic nanocomposites. Here, the role that the Sn2+/Sn4+ redox couple plays in the photocatalytic process is systematically studied by taking the flower‐like SnO2/layered g‐C3N4 with deficient Sn2+ reactive sites as an example, where the defect‐engineering can be introduced by heat treatment. The experimental results and computational simulations demonstrate that the deficient Sn2+ reactive sites can facilitate small molecule adsorption and boost the interfacial carrier separation and transfer in the photocatalytic procedure by bringing in the Sn2+/Sn4+ redox couple. This work provides a more in‐depth exploration of Z‐scheme photocatalytic‐system construction and is helpful to the development of defect‐engineering approaches with high photocatalysis performance.
Theoretical and experimental studies reveal that defective Sn2+ active sites can boost small organic molecules adsorption and facilitate the interfacial charge separation/transfer in a Z‐scheme flower‐like SnO2−x/g‐C3N4 photocatalytic system by introducing a Sn2+/Sn4+ redox couple. This work provides a more in‐depth exploration of Z‐scheme photocatalytic‐system construction and is beneficial to the development of defect‐engineering approaches with designed photocatalysis performance.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
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