Miniaturized electrochemical sensors and their point-of-care applications

Most of the current analytical methods depend largely on laboratory-based analytical techniques that require expensive and bullky equipment,potentially incur costly testing,and involve lengthy detection processes.With increasing requirements for point-of-care testing(POCT),more attention has been paid to miniaturized analytical devices.Miniaturized electrochemical(MEC)sensors,including different material-based MEC sensors(such as DNA-,paper-,and screen electrode-based),have been in strong demand in analytical science due to their easy operation,portability,high sensitivity,as well as their short analysis time.They have been applied for the detection of trace amounts of target through measuring changes in electrochemical signal,such as current,voltage,potential,or impedance,due to the oxidation/reduction of chemical/biological molecules with the help of electrodes and electrochemical units.MEC sensors present great potential for the detection of targets including small organic molecules,metal ions,and biomolecules.In recent years,MEC sensors have been broadly applied to POCT in various fields,including health care,food safety,and environmental monitoring,owing to the excellent advantages of electrochemical(EC)technologies.This review summarized the state-of-the-art advancements on various types of MEC sensors and their applications in POCT.Furthermore,the future perspectives,opportunities,and challenges in this field are also discussed.     

Machine Learning towards Screening Solid-state Lithium Ion Conductors

Machine learning is an emerging method to discover new materials with specific characteristics.An unsupervised machine learning research is highlighted to discover new potential lithium ionic conductors by screening and clustering lithium compounds,providing inspirations for the development of solid-state electrolytes and practical batteries.     

Surface defect-rich ceria quantum dots anchored on sulfur-doped carbon nitride nanotubes with enhanced charge separation for solar hydrogen production

Designing defect-engineered semiconductor heterojunctions can effectively promote the charge carrier separation.Herein,novel ceria(CeO2) quantum dots(QDs) decorated sulfur-doped carbon nitride nanotubes(SCN NTs) were synthesized via a thermal polycondensation coupled in situ depositionprecipitation method without use of template or surfactant.The structure and morphology studies indicate that ultrafine CeO2 QDs are well distributed inside and outside of SCN NTs offering highly dispersed active sites and a large contact interface between two components.This leads to the promoted formation of rich Ce³⁺ ion and oxygen vacancies as confirmed by XPS.The photocatalytic performance can be facilely modulated by the content of CeO2 QDs introduced in SCN matrix while bare CeO2 does not show activity of hydrogen production.The optimal catalyst with 10% of CeO2 loading yields a hydrogen evolution rate of 2923.8 μmol h-1 g-1 under visible light,remarkably higher than that of bare SCN and their physical mixtures.Further studies reveal that the abundant surface defects and the created 0 D/1 D junctions play a critical role in improving the separation and transfer of charge carriers,leading to superior solar hydrogen production and good stability.     

Superfast and solvent-free core-shell assembly of sulfur/carbon active particles by hail-inspired nanostorm technology for high-energy-density Li-S batteries

The demand on low-carbon emission fabrication technologies for energy storage materials is increasing dramatically with the global interest on carbon neutrality.As a promising active material for metal-sulfur batteries,sulfur is of great interest due to its high-energy-density and abundance.However,there is a lack of industry-friendly and low-carbon fabrication strategies for high-performance sulfur-based active particles,which,however,is in critical need by their practical success.Herein,based on a hail-inspired sulfur nano-storm(HSN)technology developed in our lab,we report an energy-saving,solvent-free strategy for producing core-shell sulfur/carbon electrode particles(CNT@AC-S)in minutes.The fabrication of the CNT@AC-S electrode particles only involves low-cost sulfur blocks,commercial carbon nanotubes(CNT)and activated carbon(AC)micro-particles with high specific surface area.Based on the above core-shell CNT@AC-S particles,sulfur cathode with a high sulfur-loading of 9.2 mg cm^-2 delivers a stable area capacity of 6.6 mAh cm^-2 over 100 cycles.Furthermore,even for sulfur cathode with a super-high sulfur content(72 wt%over the whole electrode),it still delivers a high area capacity of 9 mAh cm^-2 over50 cycles in a quasi-lean electrolyte condition.In a nutshell,this study brings a green and industryfriendly fabrication strategy for cost-effective production of rationally designed S-rich electrode particles.     

Unraveling the stabilization mechanism of solid electrolyte interface on ZnSe by rGO in sodium ion battery

Transition metal selenides have been widely studied as anode materials of sodium ion batteries(SIBs),however,the investigation of solid-electrolyte-interface(SEI)on these materials,which is critical to the electrochemical performance of SIBs,remains at its infancy.Here in this paper,ZnSe@C nanoparticles were prepared from ZIF-8 and the SEI layers on these electrodes with and without reduced graphene oxide(rGO)layers were examined in details by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies at varied charged/discharged states.It is observed that fast and complicated electrolyte decomposition reactions on ZnSe@C leads to quite thick SEI film and intercalation of solvated sodium ions through such thick SEI film results in slow ion diffusion kinetics and unstable electrode structure.However,the presence of rGO could efficiently suppress the decomposition of electrolyte,thus thin and stable SEI film was formed.ZnSe@C electrodes wrapped by rGO demonstrates enhanced interfacial charge transfer kinetics and high electrochemical performance,a capacity retention of 96.4%,after 1000 cycles at 5 A/g.This study might offer a simple avenue for the designing high performance anode materials through manipulation of SEI film.     

CXN天然沸石的研究2: 吸附性质

采用N~2,NH~3,CO~2,乙烯,丙烯,水,甲醇,乙醇,丙醇等作为吸附剂,研究了由我国CXN天然沸石改性制得的H-STI和Na-STI沸石的吸附性质,H-STI和Na-STI沸石的BET表面积及微孔孔体积约为420m^2/g和0.20m^3/g。根据NH~3和CO~2在H-STI沸石上的吸附等温线计算得到它们的吸附热分别为44.8和26.5kJ/mol。乙烯,丙烯,甲醇,乙醇,丙醇等在Na-STI沸石上的吸附等温线表明该沸石对有机分子的吸附具有链长选择性。在低分压下水相对于甲醇的吸附量表明沸石具有一定的疏水性质。     

常温常湿条件下Au/MeO~x催化剂上CO氧化性能

利用共沉淀法制备了Au/MeO~x催化剂(Me=Al,Co,Cr,Cu,Fe,Mn,Ni,Zn)。在常温常湿条件下,考察了不同氧化物负载的金基催化剂的CO氧化性能。结果表明,氧化物种类对催化剂的活性和稳定性均有较大的影响。Cu,Mn,Cr等氧化物负载的金基催化剂的活性较差,而Zn,Fe,Co,Ni,Al等金属氧化物负载的金基催化剂可将CO完全氧化,又具有一定的稳定性,在相同反应条件下,CO完全转化时的稳定性顺序为Au/ZnO>Au/α-Fe~2O~3>Au/Co~3O~4>Au/γ-Al~2O~3≈Au/NiO。还发现水对Au/MnO~x催化剂的活性和稳定性有负作用,而对180℃焙烧制备的Au/ZnO-180催化剂的活性和稳定性均有明显的湿度增强作用。     

Regulation of carbon distribution to construct high-sulfur-content cathode in lithium-sulfur batteries

Lithium-sulfur(Li-S)battery is regarded as one of the most promising next-generation energy storage systems due to the ultra-high theoretical energy density of 2600 Wh kg^-1.To address the insulation nature of sulfur,nanocarbon composition is essential to afford acceptable cycling capacity but inevitably sacrifices the actual energy density under working conditions.Therefore,rational structural design of the carbon/sulfur composite cathode is of great significance to realize satisfactory electrochemical performances with limited carbon content.Herein,the cathode carbon distribution is rationally regulated to construct high-sulfur-content and high-performance Li-S batteries.Concretely,a double-layer carbon(DLC)cathode is prepared by fabricating a surface carbon layer on the carbon/sulfur composite.The surface carbon layer not only provides more electrochemically active surfaces,but also blocks the polysulfide shuttle.Consequently,the DLC configuration with an increased sulfur content by nearly 10 wt%renders an initial areal capacity of 3.40 mAh cm^-2 and capacity retention of 83.8%during 50 cycles,which is about two times than that of the low-sulfur-content cathode.The strategy of carbon distribution regulation affords an effective pathway to construct advanced high-sulfur-content cathodes for practical high-energy-density Li-S batteries.     

Boost oxygen reduction reaction performance by tuning the active sites in Fe-N-P-C catalysts

Cost-effective atomically dispersed Fe-N-P-C complex catalysts are promising to catalyze the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)and replace Pt catalysts in fuel cells and metal-air batteries.However,it remains a challenge to increase the number of atomically dispersed active sites on these catalysts.Here we report a highly efficient impregnation-pyrolysis method to prepare effective ORR electrocatalysts with large amount of atomically dispersed Fe active sites from biomass.Two types of active catalyst centers were identified,namely atomically dispersed Fe sites and Fe_xP particles.The ORR rate of the atomically dispersed Fe sites is three orders of magnitude higher than it of Fe_xP particles.A linear correlation between the amount of the atomically dispersed Fe and the ORR activity was obtained,revealing the major contribution of the atomically dispersed Fe to the ORR activity.The number of atomically dispersed Fe increases as the Fe loading increased and reaching the maximum at 1.86 wt%Fe,resulting in the maximum ORR rate.Optimized Fe-N-P-C complex catalyst was used as the cathode catalyst in a homemade Zn-air battery and good performance of an energy density of 771 Wh kgZn^-1,a power density of 92.9 m W cm^-2 at 137 m A cm^-2 and an excellent durability were exhibited.     

The pseudocapacitance mechanism of graphene/CoAl LDH and its derivatives:Are all the modifications beneficial?

Cobalt-Aluminum layered double hydroxide(CoAl LDH) is a hopeful electrode material due to the advantage of easy modifiability for preparing LDH-based derivatives.However,there is short of modification methods to prepare the Co-based derivatives from CoAl LDH and also short of an intuitive perspective to analyze the pseudocapacitance mechanism of CoAl LDH and its derivatives.Herein,Graphene/CoAl LDH and its derivatives including Graphene/CoS,Graphene/CoS-1,Graphene/CoOOH,Graphene/CoP were prepared by reasonably using alkali etching treatment,sulfofication and phosphorization.The specific capacitance of Graphene/CoAl LDH,Graphene/CoS,Graphene/CoS-1,Graphene/CoOOH,Graphene/CoP at1 A g^-1 are 260.7,371.3,440.8,61.4 and 122.2 F g^-1,especially.The pseudocapacitance mechanism of Graphene/CoAl LDH and its derivatives was analyzed.Due to the positive effect of sulfofication on the electrical conductivity of GO and cobalt sulfide,the Graphene/CoS and Graphene/CoS-1 exhibit the optimal electrochemical performance and superior rate capability.In addition,due to the repulsion effect between Graphene and OH-,the Graphene/CoAl LDH exhibits optimal cycling stability of 224.1% capacitance retention after 20000 cycles.Besides,the reason of terrible specific capacitance of Graphene/CoOOH is that the presence of H bond in interlayer of CoOOH inhibits the interaction between Co3+ and OHspecies.Hence,not all modifications will increase the specific capacitance of the electrode materials.Overall,this work provides us with a detailed analysis of the electrochemical mechanism and correlation of CoAl LDH and its derivatives from the perspective of crystal structure and composition.     

Structural studies on organotin(IV) complexes formed with ligands containing {S,N,O} donor atoms

A number of complexes of ligands containing {O,N,S} donor atoms (2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-b-D-thioglucopyranoside, 1-thio-b-D-glucose, 2-aminomercaptopurine, 4-amino-2-mercaptopyrimidine and 2-amino-6-mercaptopurine-9-D-riboside) with di-n-butyltin(IV) oxide, diphenyltin(IV) oxide, tribenzyltin(IV) chloride, and trimethyltin(IV) chloride were prepared in the solid state. It was found that the complexes contain the organotin(IV) moiety and the ligand in a ratio of 1:1 or 2:1. The FTIR and Raman spectra clearly demonstrated that the organotin(IV) moieties react with the {S} atom of the ligands, while di-n-butyltin(IV) oxide is coordinated to the deprotonated hydroxy group. In several cases, the basic part of the ligands also participates in complex formation. Comparison of the experimental Mössbauer D values with those calculated on the basis of the pqs concept revealed that the organotin(IV) moiety has trigonal-bipyramidal geometry, and in certain cases tetrahedral geometry too. Some of the complexes contain the organotin(IV) cation in two different surroundings.     

Synthesis, spectroscopic characterization, and in vitro fungicidal activity of some organotin(IV) complexes

Triphenyl-and tribenzyltin(IV) complexes of the ligand (sodium 5,5-diethyl barbital) have been synthesized and characterized by various spectroscopic methods. Trigonal bipyramidal geometry is assigned to all the complexes on the basis of results obtained by ¹H, ¹³C, and ¹¹⁹Sn NMR spectroscopy, IR, and ¹¹⁹mSn Mössbauer studies. Fungicidal activity of the complexes was studied using various plant pathogens via the hanging drop method. The triphenyltin(IV) complex of this ligand exhibited promising activity against all the plant pathogens at all concentrations used, while the tribenzyltin(IV) complex also showed significant fungicidal activity.     

一维链状3-吡啶甲酸三苄基锡的合成和晶体结构

利用三苄基氯化锡和3-吡啶甲酸在三乙胺存在下以1:1摩尔比反应,合成了一维链状的有机锡配合物3-吡啶甲酸三苄基锡{(C7H7)3Sn(PyCO2H)2Sn(C7H7)3}。通过元素分析、红外光谱、核磁共振氢谱和X-射线单晶衍射对其结构进行了表征。测试结果表明:该配合物(C27H25- NO2Sn, Mr = 514.17)为单斜晶系,空间群P21/c, a = 10.618(6), b = 14.683(8), c = 16.050(9) ?β= 106.488(9)? Z = 4, V = 2399(2) ?, Dc = 1.423 g/cm3, ?= 1.087 mm-1, F(000) = 1040, R = 0.0266, wR = 0.0629。通过3-吡啶甲酸配体的氮原子桥联, 形成五配位三角双锥构型的链状结构。     

取代基对1-甲基尿嘧啶与N-甲基乙酰胺氢键复合物中氢键强度的影响

使用密度泛函理论B3LYP方法和二阶微扰理论MP2方法对由1-甲基尿嘧啶与N-甲基乙酰胺所形成的氢键复合物中的氢键强度进行了理论研究, 探讨了不同取代基取代氢键受体分子1-甲基尿嘧啶中的氢原子对氢键强度的影响和氢键的协同性. 研究表明: 供电子取代基使N－H…O＝C氢键键长r(H…O)缩短, 氢键强度增强; 吸电子取代基使N－H…O＝C氢键键长r(H…O)伸长, 氢键强度减弱. 自然键轨道(NBO)分析表明: 供电子基团使参与形成氢键的氢原子的正电荷增加, 使氧原子的负电荷增加, 使质子供体和受体分子间的电荷转移量增多; 吸电子基团则相反. 供电子基团使N－H…O＝C氢键中氧原子的孤对电子轨道n(O)对N－H的反键轨道σ^*(N－H)的二阶相互作用稳定化能增强, 吸电子基团使这种二阶相互作用稳定化能减弱. 取代基对与其相近的N－H…O＝C氢键影响更大.     

Spectral and thermal studies with anti-fungal aspects of some organotin(IV) complexes with nitrogen and sulphur donor ligands derived from 2-phenylethylamine

Some complexes of 2-phenylethyl dithiocarbamate, thiohydrazides and thiodiamines with dibenzyltin(IV) chloride, tribenzyltin(IV) chloride and di(para-chlorobenzyl)tin(IV) dichloride have been synthesized and investigated in 1:2 and 1:1 molar ratio. The dithiocarbamate ligand act as monoanionic bidentate and thiohydrazide, thiodiamines act as neutral bidentate ligand. The synthesized complexes have been characterized by elemental analysis and molecular weight determination studies and their bonding pattern suggested on the basis of electronic, infrared, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. Using thermogravimetric (TG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) various thermodynamic and kinetic parameters viz. reaction order (n), apparent activation energy (Ea), apparent activation entropy (S#) and heat of reaction (DeltaH) have been calculated and correlated with the structural aspects for solid-state decomposition of complexes. The ligands and their tin complexes have also been screened for their fungitoxicity activity against Rhizoctonia solanii and Sclerotium rolfsii and their ED50 values calculated.     

A theoretical investigation on the N–N bond cleavage in Ta(IV) hydrazidium and Ta(V) hydrazido complexes

The reaction mechanism of the N–N bond cleavage in Ta(IV) hydrazido and hydrazidium complexes is studied using density functional theory. The N–N bond cleavage in Ta(IV) hydrazidium generates formal Ta(IV) nitridyl. The N–N bond cleavage in Ta(V) hydrazido gives terminal Ta(V) nitrido species. In the tetrahydrofuran solvent, terminal Ta(V) nitrido dimerizes through a one-step direct pathway leading to the [Ta(V),Ta(V)] bis(μ-nitrido) product. Two Ta–N bonds form simultaneously between the Ta center of one molecule and the terminal N atom of another. In the toluene solvent, there are two pathways of H atom abstraction and protonation producing mononuclear Ta(V) parent imide. The former consists of three steps originated from formal Ta(IV) nitridyl. The latter is unfavorable with terminal Ta(V) nitrido as the precursor.     

Platinum-modified adenines: unprecedented protonation behavior revealed by NMR spectroscopy and relativistic density-functional theory calculations

Two novel Pt(IV) complexes of aromatic cytokinins with possible antitumor properties were prepared by reaction of selected aminopurines with K(2)PtCl(6). The structures of both complexes, 9-[6-(benzylamino)purine] pentachloroplatinate (IV) and 9-[6-(furfurylamino)purine] pentachloroplatinate (IV), were characterized in detail by using two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy ((1)H, (13)C, (15)N, and (195)Pt) in solution and CP/MAS NMR techniques in the solid state. We report for the first time the X-ray structure of a nucleobase adenine derivative coordinated to Pt(IV) via the N9 atom. The protonation equilibria for the complexes in solution were characterized by using NMR spectroscopy (isotropic chemical shifts and indirect nuclear spin-spin coupling constants) and the structural conclusions drawn from the NMR analysis are supported by relativistic density-functional theory (DFT) calculations. Because of the presence of the Pt atom, hybrid GGA functionals and scalar-relativistic and spin-orbit corrections were employed for both the DFT calculations of the molecular structure and particularly for the NMR chemical shifts. In particular, the populations of the N7-protonated and neutral forms of the complexes in solution were characterized by correlating the experimental and the DFT-calculated NMR chemical shifts. In contrast to the chemical exchange process involving the N7-H group, the hydrogen atom at N3 was determined to be unexpectedly rigid, probably because of the presence of the stabilizing intramolecular interaction N3-H···Cl. The described methodology combining the NMR spectroscopy and relativistic DFT calculations can be employed for characterizing the tautomeric and protonation equilibria in a large family of transition-metal-modified purine bases.     

以单环有机锡配合物为载体的水杨酸根阴离子选择电极的研究

Two new cyclic pentacoordinative organotin(Ⅳ) complexes, 2,4-dihydroxyacetophenone tribenzyltin(HAPTBT) and 2,4-dihydroxyacetophenone triphenyltin(HAPTPT) were synthesized and used as anion ionophore for PVC membrane electrode. The new electrodes exhibit specificity selectivity for salicylate. The electrode based on HAPTBT as a neutral carrier displays a highly potentiometric response to salicylate and an anti-Hofmeister selectivity sequence in the following order: Sal^- ＞ SCN^- ＞ I^- ＞ NO₂^- ＞ Br^- ＞ Cl^- ＞ ClO₄^- ＞ NO₃^- ＞ SO₄^2-. The electrode has the advantages of fast response, stability and reproducibility, simplicity. The response mechanism is discussed in view of UV spectroscopy technique. The results show that there are close relationship between the potentiometric response characteristics and structure of organotin(Ⅳ) complexes. The electrode was applied to medicine analysis with satisfactory results.     

Syntheses,Spectral Studies and Bioanalyses of Some Triorganotin（IV） Complexes of Cephlaxine

Five novel triorganotin（IV） complexes have been synthesized by refluxing trimethyl, triethyl, tributyl, triphenyl and tribenzyltin chloride with Cephlaxine. These compounds were characterized by spectroscopic （IR, IH, 13C, 119Sn NMR） techniques and elemental analysis. The results obtained through these techniques are in full agreement with the proposed 1：1 stoichiometry. The synthesized compounds were than tested against various microorganisms and fungi. The results of new products obtained showed that the triphenyltin（IV） complex displayed promising activity against all types of bacteria and fungi used while all other compounds showed significant antibacterial and antifungal activity.     

Syntheses, Spectral Studies and Bioanalyses of Some Triorganotin(Ⅳ) Complexes of Cephlaxine

Five novel triorganotin(Ⅳ) complexes have been synthesized by refluxing trimethyl, triethyl, tributyl, triphenyl and tribenzyltin chloride with Cephlaxine.These compounds were characterized by spectroscopic (IR,1H, 13C, 119Sn NMR) techniques and elemental analysis.The results obtained through these techniques are in full agreement with the proposed 1:1 stoichiometry.The synthesized compounds were than tested against various microorganisms and fungi.The results of new products obtained showed that the triphenyltin(IV) complex displayed promising activity against all types of bacteria and fungi used while all other compounds showed significant antibacterial and antifungal activity.