Development of renewable energy technologies has been a significant area of research amongst scientists with the aim of attaining a sustainable world society. Solar thermal fuels that can capture, ...convert, store, and release solar energy in the form of heat through reversible photoisomerization of molecular photoswitches such as azobenzene derivatives are currently in the limelight of research. Herein, we provide a state-of-the-art account on the recent advancements in solar thermal fuels based on azobenzene photoswitches. We begin with an overview on the importance of azobenzene-based solar thermal fuels and their fundamentals. Then, we highlight the recent advances in diverse azobenzene materials for solar thermal fuels such as pure azobenzene derivatives, nanocarbon-templated azobenzene, and polymer-templated azobenzene. The basic design concepts of these advanced solar energy storage materials are discussed, and their promising applications are highlighted. We then introduce the recent endeavors in the molecular design of azobenzene derivatives toward efficient solar thermal fuels, and conclude with new perspectives on the future scope, opportunities and challenges. It is expected that continuous pioneering research involving scientists and engineers from diverse technological backgrounds could trigger the rapid advancement of this important interdisciplinary field, which embraces chemistry, physics, engineering, nanoscience, nanotechnology, materials science, polymer science,
etc.
This review provides a state-of-the-art account on azobenzene-based solar thermal fuels from their fundamentals to advanced photoactive storage materials and new perspectives on the future scope, opportunities and challenges.
Nanocellulose is currently in the limelight of extensive research from fundamental science to technological applications owing to its renewable and carbon‐neutral nature, superior biocompatibility, ...tailorable surface chemistry, and unprecedented optical and mechanical properties. Herein, an up‐to‐date account of the recent advancements in nanocellulose‐derived functional materials and their emerging applications in areas of chiral photonics, soft actuators, energy storage, and biomedical science is provided. The fundamental design and synthesis strategies for nanocellulose‐based functional materials are discussed. Their unique properties, underlying mechanisms, and potential applications are highlighted. Finally, this review provides a brief conclusion and elucidates both the challenges and opportunities of the intriguing nanocellulose‐based technologies rooted in materials and chemistry science. This review is expected to provide new insights for nanocellulose‐based chiral photonics, soft robotics, advanced energy, and novel biomedical technologies, and promote the rapid development of these highly interdisciplinary fields, including nanotechnology, nanoscience, biology, physics, synthetic chemistry, materials science, and device engineering.
Nanocellulose is one of the most promising sustainable and carbon‐neutral biopolymers. This review summarizes the recent advances of nanocellulose‐based functional materials and their emerging applications in areas of chiral photonics, soft actuators, energy storage, and biomedical systems. The existing challenges and future perspectives are also provided.
Carbon-based functional nanomaterials have attracted remarkable attention from the scientific community for their unique combinations of advantageous chemical and physical properties, such as superb ...electrical conductivity, excellent heat conductivity, chemical stability, advanced optical properties, and high mechanical strength. Our research group has been very actively involved in the study and further development of carbon-based functional nanomaterials and their potential applications for many years. In this feature article, we introduce our recent endeavors in the development of carbon-based nanomaterials with superior functionalities for potential application in diverse fields including solar thermal fuels, advanced thermal management, and electrochemical energy storage. The key design concepts of these advanced functional nanomaterials are highlighted, specific synthesis strategies are discussed, their potential usage in devices and applications is emphasized, and background information is succinctly furnished wherever warranted. We begin with an overview on the chemistry of carbon nanomaterials, in which the synthesis and chemical functionalization of carbon nanotubes and graphene are introduced, respectively. We then showcase the design, fabrication and properties of different functional carbon nanomaterials for diverse applications, including photoactive azobenzene/carbon nanomaterials for solar thermal fuels and light-driven carbon-based actuators, advanced carbon nanomaterials with directional thermal conductivity, and carbon-based electrodes for electrochemical energy storage. Finally, we conclude by briefly summarizing the advantages of the application of functional carbon-based nanomaterials in various fields, and list challenges that remain to be solved and potential that remains to be tapped.
Plant secondary metabolites (SMs) are not only a useful array of natural products but also an important part of plant defense system against pathogenic attacks and environmental stresses. With ...remarkable biological activities, plant SMs are increasingly used as medicine ingredients and food additives for therapeutic, aromatic and culinary purposes. Various genetic, ontogenic, morphogenetic and environmental factors can influence the biosynthesis and accumulation of SMs. According to the literature reports, for example, SMs accumulation is strongly dependent on a variety of environmental factors such as light, temperature, soil water, soil fertility and salinity, and for most plants, a change in an individual factor may alter the content of SMs even if other factors remain constant. Here, we review with emphasis how each of single factors to affect the accumulation of plant secondary metabolites, and conduct a comparative analysis of relevant natural products in the stressed and unstressed plants. Expectantly, this documentary review will outline a general picture of environmental factors responsible for fluctuation in plant SMs, provide a practical way to obtain consistent quality and high quantity of bioactive compounds in vegetation, and present some suggestions for future research and development.
Abstract
High expression or aberrant activation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is related to tumor progression and therapy resistance across cancer types, including non-small cell lung ...cancer (NSCLC). EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are first-line therapy for NSCLC. However, patients eventually deteriorate after inevitable acquisition of EGFR TKI-resistant mutations, highlighting the need for therapeutics with alternative mechanisms of action. Here, we report that the elevated tribbles pseudokinase 3 (TRIB3) is positively associated with EGFR stability and NSCLC progression. TRIB3 interacts with EGFR and recruits PKCα to induce a Thr654 phosphorylation and WWP1-induced Lys689 ubiquitination in the EGFR juxtamembrane region, which enhances EGFR recycling, stability, downstream activity, and NSCLC stemness. Disturbing the TRIB3-EGFR interaction with a stapled peptide attenuates NSCLC progression by accelerating EGFR degradation and sensitizes NSCLC cells to chemotherapeutic agents. These findings indicate that targeting EGFR degradation is a previously unappreciated therapeutic option in EGFR-related NSCLC.
Metastasis causes the vast majority of colorectal carcinoma (CRC)-related deaths. However, little is known about the specific traits and underlying mechanisms of metastasis-initiating cells in ...primary CRC. And whether or not circular RNAs (circRNAs) take part in this particular event remain not adequately stated yet.
A screening method based on Transwell assay was first applied to build CRC subgroups with different metastatic potential. High throughput RNA sequencing was used to find out novel metastatic drivers in CRC metastasis-initiating step. A series of in vitro and in vivo assays were further applied to elucidate the functions and underlying molecular mechanisms of circRNAs in CRC metastasis.
A circRNA consisting of exon 8-11 of LONP2, termed as circLONP2, was upregulated in metastasis-initiating CRC subgroups. Aberrant higher expression of circLONP2 was observed in primary CRC tissues with established metastasis, and along the invasive margin in metastatic site. High expression of circLONP2 predicted unfavorable overall survival. Functional studies revealed that circLONP2 could enhance the invasiveness of CRC cells in vitro, and targeting circLONP2 through anti-sense oligonucleotide (ASO) dramatically reduced the penetrance of metastasis to foreign organs in vivo. Mechanically, circLONP2 directly interacted with and promoted the processing of primary microRNA-17 (pri-miR-17), through recruiting DiGeorge syndrome critical region gene 8 (DGCR8) and Drosha complex in DDX1-dependent manner. Meanwhile, upregulated mature miR-17-5p could be assembled into exosomes and internalized by neighboring cells to enhance their aggressiveness.
Our data indicate that circLONP2 acts as key metastasis-initiating molecule during CRC progression through modulating the intracellular maturation and intercellular transfer of miR-17, resulting in dissemination of metastasis-initiating ability in primary site and acceleration of metastasis formation in foreign organs. circLONP2 could serve as an effective prognostic predictor and/or novel anti-metastasis therapeutic target in CRC treatment.
Aims
The aim was to characterize indigenous micro‐organisms in oil reservoirs after polymer flooding (RAPF).
Methods
The microbial communities in the crude oil phase (Oil) and in the filter‐graded ...aqueous phases Aqu0.22 (>0.22 μm) and Aqu0.1 (0.1–0.22 μm) were investigated by 16S rRNA gene high‐throughput sequencing.
Results
Indigenous micro‐organisms related to hydrocarbon degradation prevailed in the three phases of each well. However, obvious differences in bacterial compositions were observed amongst the three phases of the same well and amongst the same phase of different wells. The crude oil and Aqu0.22 shared many dominant bacteria. Aqu0.1 contained a unique bacterial community in each well. Most bacteria in Aqu0.1 were affiliated to culturable genera, suggesting that they may adapt to the oil reservoir environment by reduction of cell size. Contrary to the bacterial genera, archaeal genera were similar in the three phases but varied in relative abundances. The observed microbial differences may be driven by specific environmental factors in each oil well.
Conclusions
The results suggest an application potential of microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) technology in RAPF. The crude oil and Aqu0.1 contain many different functional micro‐organisms related to hydrocarbon degradation. Both should not be overlooked when investing and exploring the indigenous micro‐organisms for MEOR.
Significance and Impact of the Study
This work facilitates the understanding of microbial community structures in RAPF and provides information for microbial control in oil fields.
•Formulated the multi-microgrid (MMG) operation as a transaction commitment problem.•Designed a two-stage robust optimization based MMG coordinated operation approach.•Described discrete feature of ...energy interactive behaviour among multiple microgrids.•Mitigated the disturbances of uncertainties in renewable energy.•Reduced frequent energy exchange between the MMG and the grid.
Independent operation of single microgrids (MGs) faces problems such as low self-consumption of local renewable energy, high operation cost and frequent power exchange with the grid. Interconnecting multiple MGs as a multi-microgrid (MMG) is an effective way to improve operational and economic performance. However, ensuring the optimal collaborative operation of a MMG is a challenging problem, especially under disturbances of intermittent renewable energy. In this paper, the economic and collaborative operation of MMGs is formulated as a unit commitment problem to describe the discrete characteristics of energy transaction combinations among MGs. A two-stage adaptive robust optimization based collaborative operation approach for a residential MMG is constructed to derive the scheduling scheme which minimizes the MMG operating cost under the worst realization of uncertain PV output. Transformed by its KKT optimality conditions, the reformulated model is efficiently solved by a column-and-constraint generation (C&CG) method. Case studies verify the effectiveness of the proposed model and evaluate the benefits of energy transactions in MMGs. The results show that the developed MMG operation approach is able to minimize the daily MMG operating cost while mitigating the disturbances of uncertainty in renewable energy sources. Compared to the non-interactive model, the proposed model can not only reduce the MMG operating cost but also mitigate the frequent energy interaction between the MMG and the grid.
In recent years, the prevalence and spread of coronavirus has had a huge impact on global public health. Due to the incomplete understanding of the pathogenic mechanism of the virus, it is difficult ...for humans to fight against the virus quickly and effectively once the outbreak occurs. In early 2020, a novel coronavirus was discovered in Wuhan, China. Soon after, similar cases were found in other countries around the world, and the number of infected people increased rapidly. So far, the global cumulative number of infected people has exceeded 3 million, and more than 200,000 people have died, which has had a huge impact on global human health and economic development. Every outbreak of disease makes a deep impression on mankind. Herein, we summarize the virology, epidemiology, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of SARS-CoV-2, and hope that countries can control the outbreak as soon as possible to minimize the loss.
Halide perovskite single-crystals have recently been widely highlighted to possess high light harvesting capability and superior charge transport behaviour, which further enable their attractive ...performance in photovoltaics. However, their application in photoelectrochemical cells has not yet been reported. Here, a methylammonium lead bromide MAPbBr
single-crystal thin film is reported as a photoanode with potential application in photoelectrochemical organic synthesis, 2,5-dimethoxy-2,5-dihydrofuran. Depositing an ultrathin Al
O
layer is found to effectively passivate perovskite surface defects. Thus, the nearly 5-fold increase in photoelectrochemical performance with the saturated current being increased from 1.2 to 5.5 mA cm
is mainly attributed to suppressed trap-assisted recombination for MAPbBr
single-crystal thin film/Al
O
. In addition, Ti
-species-rich titanium deposition has been introduced not only as a protective film but also as a catalytic layer to further advance performance and stability. As an encouraging result, the photoelectrochemical performance and stability of MAPbBr
single-crystal thin film/Al
O
/Ti-based photoanode have been significantly improved for 6 h continuous dimethoxydihydrofuran evolution test with a high Faraday efficiency of 93%.
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