Hydrogen production via water electrocatalysis is limited by the sluggish anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) that requires a high overpotential. In response, a urea‐assisted energy‐saving ...alkaline hydrogen‐production system has been investigated by replacing OER with a more oxidizable urea oxidation reaction (UOR). A bimetal heterostructure CoMn/CoMn2O4 as a bifunctional catalyst is constructed in an alkaline system for both urea oxidation and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Based on the Schottky heterojunction structure, CoMn/CoMn2O4 induces self‐driven charge transfer at the interface, which facilitates the absorption of reactant molecules and the fracture of chemical bonds, therefore triggering the decomposition of water and urea. As a result, the heterostructured electrode exhibits ultralow potentials of −0.069 and 1.32 V (vs reversible hydrogen electrode) to reach 10 mA cm−2 for HER and UOR, respectively, in alkaline solution, and the full urea electrolysis driven by CoMn/CoMn2O4 delivers 10 mA cm−2 at a relatively low potential of 1.51 V and performs stably for more than 15 h. This represents a novel strategy of Mott–Schottky hybrids in electrocatalysts and should inspire the development of sustainable energy conversion by combining hydrogen production and sewage treatment.
A Schottky catalyst is constructed from a CoMn/CoMn2O4 heterostructure for energy‐saving hydrogen production from alkaline solution via urea electrocatalysis. Benefiting from the interface electron redistribution, CoMn/CoMn2O4 can synergistically facilitate the adsorption and fracture of the chemical groups in urea and water molecules and thus promote urea electrocatalysis.
Internal short-circuit is the most dangerous abusive condition for Li-ion batteries and has been the root cause for several catastrophic accidents involving Li-ion batteries in recent years. ...Large-format Li-ion batteries are particularly vulnerable to internal short-circuits because of high energy content. Nail penetration test is commonly used to study the internal short-circuits, but the test results usually have poor reproducibility and offer limited insight. In this work, a 3 D multiscale electrochemical-thermal coupled model is used to investigate the nail penetration process in a large-format Li-ion cell. A parametric study is carried out and the results reveal strong coupling of the cell thermal response and electrochemical behaviour, which is influenced substantially by key parameters including shorting resistance, nail diameter, nail thermal conductivity, and cell capacity. The present study provides some insight that will help design more reliable experimental internal short-circuit testing protocols and improve the abuse tolerance of Li-ion cells.
Cheng et al explore various functional nanomaterials used in phototherapies of cancer. They focus on topics such as photothermal therapy using nanoagents and phytodynamic therapy based on ...nanomaterials.
We report herein the discovery of highly potent PROTAC degraders of androgen receptor (AR), as exemplified by compound 34 (ARD-69). ARD-69 induces degradation of AR protein in AR-positive prostate ...cancer cell lines in a dose- and time-dependent manner. ARD-69 achieves DC50 values of 0.86, 0.76, and 10.4 nM in LNCaP, VCaP, and 22Rv1 AR+ prostate cancer cell lines, respectively. ARD-69 is capable of reducing the AR protein level by >95% in these prostate cancer cell lines and effectively suppressing AR-regulated gene expression. ARD-69 potently inhibits cell growth in these AR-positive prostate cancer cell lines and is >100 times more potent than AR antagonists. A single dose of ARD-69 effectively reduces the level of AR protein in xenograft tumor tissue in mice. Further optimization of ARD-69 may ultimately lead to a new therapy for AR+, castration-resistant prostate cancer.
•Detection methods for the POC diagnostics of infectious diseases were summarized.•POC devices for the diagnostics of infectious diseases were systematically reviewed.•Challenges and future ...directions for the development of POC diagnostics were presented.
Point-of-care diagnostics for infectious diseases. Display omitted
The current widespread of COVID-19 all over the world, which is caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus, has again emphasized the importance of development of point-of-care (POC) diagnostics for timely prevention and control of the pandemic. Compared with labor- and time-consuming traditional diagnostic methods, POC diagnostics exhibit several advantages such as faster diagnostic speed, better sensitivity and specificity, lower cost, higher efficiency and ability of on-site detection. To achieve POC diagnostics, developing POC detection methods and correlated POC devices is the key and should be given top priority. The fast development of microfluidics, micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology, nanotechnology and materials science, have benefited the production of a series of portable, miniaturized, low cost and highly integrated POC devices for POC diagnostics of various infectious diseases. In this review, various POC detection methods for the diagnosis of infectious diseases, including electrochemical biosensors, fluorescence biosensors, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based biosensors, colorimetric biosensors, chemiluminiscence biosensors, surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based biosensors, and magnetic biosensors, were first summarized. Then, recent progresses in the development of POC devices including lab-on-a-chip (LOC) devices, lab-on-a-disc (LOAD) devices, microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (μPADs), lateral flow devices, miniaturized PCR devices, and isothermal nucleic acid amplification (INAA) devices, were systematically discussed. Finally, the challenges and future perspectives for the design and development of POC detection methods and correlated devices were presented. The ultimate goal of this review is to provide new insights and directions for the future development of POC diagnostics for the management of infectious diseases and contribute to the prevention and control of infectious pandemics like COVID-19.
The recent years have witnessed the blooming of cancer immunotherapy, as well as their combinational use together with other existing cancer treatment techniques including radiotherapy. However, ...hypoxia is one of several causes of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). Herein, we develop an innovative strategy to relieve tumor hypoxia by delivering exogenous H2O2 into tumors and the subsequent catalase-triggered H2O2 decomposition. In our experiment, H2O2 and catalase are separately loaded within stealthy liposomes. After intravenous (iv) preinjection of CAT@liposome, another dose of H2O2@liposome is injected 4 h later. The sustainably released H2O2 could be decomposed by CAT@liposome, resulting in a long lasting effect in tumor oxygenation enhancement. As the result, the combination treatment by CAT@liposome plus H2O2@liposome offers remarkably enhanced therapeutic effects in cancer radiotherapy as observed in a mouse tumor model as well as a more clinically relevant patient-derived xenograft tumor model. Moreover, the relieved tumor hypoxia would reverse the immunosuppressive TME to favor antitumor immunities, further enhancing the combined radio-immunotherapy with cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA4) blockade. This work presents a simple yet effective strategy to promote tumor oxygenation via sequential delivering catalase and exogenous H2O2 into tumors using well-established liposomal carriers, showing great potential for clinical translation in radio-immunotherapy of cancer.
Nano-networks are composed of interconnected nano-nodes and can enable unprecedented applications in various fields. Due to the peculiarities of nano-networks, such as high density, extremely limited ...energy and computational resources, traditional carrier-sensing based Media Access Control (MAC) protocols are not suitable for nano-networks. In this paper, a Slot Self-Allocation based MAC protocol (SSA-MAC) is proposed for energy harvesting nano-networks. Two transmission schemes for centralized and distributed nano-networks are designed, respectively. In centralized nano-networks, nano-nodes can only send packets to the nano-controller in their Self-Allocation Slots (SASs), while, in distributed nano-networks, nano-nodes can only receive packets from surrounding nano-nodes in their SASs. Extensive simulations were conducted to compare the proposed SSA-MAC with PHysical LAyer aware MAC (PHLAME), Receiver-Initiated Harvesting-aware MAC (RIH-MAC) and Energy Efficient Wireless NanoSensor Network MAC (EEWNSN). From the results, it can be concluded that the proposed SSA-MAC achieves better performance and can reduce the collision probability, while improving the energy efficiency of nano-networks.
Northern China harbored the world's earliest complex societies based on millet farming, in two major centers in the Yellow (YR) and West Liao (WLR) River basins. Until now, their genetic histories ...have remained largely unknown. Here we present 55 ancient genomes dating to 7500-1700 BP from the YR, WLR, and Amur River (AR) regions. Contrary to the genetic stability in the AR, the YR and WLR genetic profiles substantially changed over time. The YR populations show a monotonic increase over time in their genetic affinity with present-day southern Chinese and Southeast Asians. In the WLR, intensification of farming in the Late Neolithic is correlated with increased YR affinity while the inclusion of a pastoral economy in the Bronze Age was correlated with increased AR affinity. Our results suggest a link between changes in subsistence strategy and human migration, and fuel the debate about archaeolinguistic signatures of past human migration.
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•We present vibrational partition function for the improved Manning-Rosen potential.•Analytical expressions of four thermodynamic functions are given.•Behaviors of the thermodynamic ...functions for the Na2 molecule are discussed.
We present a closed-form expression of the classical vibrational partition function for the improved Rosen-Morse potential energy model. We give explicit expressions for the vibrational mean energy, vibrational specific heat, vibrational free energy, and vibrational entropy for diatomic molecule systems. The properties of these thermodynamic functions for the Na2 dimer are discussed in detail. We find that the improved Rosen-Morse potential model is superior to the harmonic oscillator in calculating the heat capacity for the Na2 molecules.
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