Electrochemistry in Carbon‐based Quantum Dots

Electrochemistry belongs to an important branch of chemistry that deals with the chemical changes produced by electricity and the production of electricity by chemical changes. Therefore, it can not only act a powerful tool for materials synthesis, but also offer an effective platform for sensing and catalysis. As extraordinary zero‐dimensional materials, carbon‐based quantum dots (CQDs) have been attracting tremendous attention due to their excellent properties such as good chemical stability, environmental friendliness, nontoxicity and abundant resources. Compared with the traditional methods for the preparation of CQDs, electrochemical (EC) methods offer advantages of simple instrumentation, mild reaction conditions, low cost and mass production. In return, CQDs could provide cost‐effective, environmentally friendly, biocompatible, stable and easily‐functionalizable probes, modifiers and catalysts for EC sensing. However, no specific review has been presented to systematically summarize both aspects until now. In this review, the EC preparation methods of CQDs are critically discussed focusing on CQDs. We further emphasize the applications of CQDs in EC sensors, electrocatalysis, biofuel cells and EC flexible devices. This review will further the experimental and theoretical understanding of the challenges and future prospective in this field, open new directions on exploring new advanced CQDs in EC to meet the high demands in diverse applications.     

Prediction of interaction between small molecule and enzyme using AdaBoost

The knowledge of whether one enzyme can interact with a small molecule is essential for understanding the molecular and cellular functions of organisms. In this paper, we introduce a classifier to predict the small molecule– enzyme interaction, i.e., whether they can interact with each other. Small molecules are represented by their chemical functional groups, and enzymes are represented by their biochemical and physicochemical properties, resulting in a total of 160 features. These features are input into the AdaBoost classifier, which is known to have good generalization ability to predict interaction. As a result, the overall prediction accuracy, tested by tenfold cross-validation and independent sets, is 81.76% and 83.35%, respectively, suggesting that this strategy is effective. In this research, we typically choose interactions between small molecules and enzymes involved in metabolism to ultimately improve further understanding of metabolic pathways. An online predictor developed by this research is available at . Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Mechanical strength lowering in submicron Cu thin films by moderate DC current

This letter reports an experimental investigation into the direct current (DC) induced reduction in the yield strength of 60∼700-nm-thick Cu films. Results show that the larger the current density and the thinner the film, the greater the reduction when the film thickness is below about 340 nm. This reduction could be described on the basis of dislocation buckling, which, caused by the electron wind of the current flow, induces an increase in the dislocation length and a decrease in the critical stress for multiplying the dislocation.     

Enhanced Peroxidase‐Like Properties of Graphene–Hemin‐Composite Decorated with Au Nanoflowers as Electrochemical Aptamer Biosensor for the Detection of K562 Leukemia Cancer Cells

Graphene composites with hemin and gold nanoparticles show a better performance for hydrogen peroxide decomposition compared to that of the three components alone or duplex/hybrid complexes. Our previous studies showed that the morphology of the Au nanoparticles may greatly influence the catalytic activity of graphene‐family peroxidase mimics. Recently, we found that Au nanoflowers could grow in situ and form on the surface of hemin/RGO (reduced graphene oxide). The prickly morphology of this Au nanoflower brought a higher catalytic ability with enhanced kinetic parameters than traditional Au nanoparticles that showed a smooth surface. Therefore, based on this discovery, a smart electrochemical aptamer biosensor for K562 leukemia cancer cells was further presented with good performance in selectivity and sensitivity attributed to the excellent mimetic peroxidase catalytic activity of this newly synthesized Au nanoflower decorated graphene–hemin composite (H‐RGO‐Au NFs).     

An AIE-Active probe for detection and bioimaging of pH values based on lactone hydrolysis reaction

Cellular pH homeostasis is essential for many physiological and pathological processes. pH monitoring is helpful for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disorders and diseases. Herein, we developed a ratiometric fluorescent pH probe (TCC) based on a coumarin derivative containing a highly active lactone ring. TCC exhibited a typical AIE effect and emitted blue fluorescence under weak acidic condition. When under weak basic condition, the active lactone moiety underwent a hydrolysis reaction to afford a water-soluble product, which gave red-shifted emission. The emission color change from blue through cyan and then to yellow within pH 6.5–9.0 which is approximate to the biological pH range. And the fluorescence color change along with pH value is reversible. Furthermore, TCC was successfully utilized in the detection of the intracellular pH change of live HeLa cells, which indicated that TCC had practical potential in biomedical research.

     

DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS IN INCOMPRESSIBLE HYPERELASTIC CYLINDRICAL MEMBRANES

In this paper, the dynamic characteristics are examined for a cylindrical membrane composed of a transversely isotropic incompressible hyperelastic material under an applied uniform radial constant pressure at its inner surface. A second-order nonlinear ordinary differential equation that approximately describes the radial oscillation of the inner surface of the membrane with respect to time is obtained. Some interesting conclusions are proposed for different materials, such as the neo-Hookean material, the Mooney-Rivlin material and the Rivlin-Saunders material. Firstly, the bifurcation conditions depending on the material parameters and the pressure loads are determined. Secondly, the conditions of periodic motion are presented in detail for membranes composed of different materials. Meanwhile, numerical simulations are also provided.     

Study on the optical limiting properties of the mixed liquid of carbon black suspensions and green tea solution by multi-pulse laser

The optical limiting properties of the mixed liquid of carbon black suspensions (CBS) and green tea solution were studied by using an 8 ns laser pulse at 532\,nm. The optical limiting effects of the CBS and mixed liquid have been compared between 5 and 10\,Hz repetition frequencies with nanosecond laser pulse. The experimental results indicate that the optical limiting threshold of the sample with the incidence laser at 10\,Hz repetition frequency is lower than at 5\,Hz repetition frequency. The possible reasons for the influence of the repetition frequency on the samples are discussed. And by observing the optical radiant distributions when the laser pulse passing through different samples, a possible mechanism for the observed effects is suggested. At the same time, the result shows that the optical limiting of CBS is the dominant factor to optical limiting of the mixed liquid.     

Binary hydrogel nanowires of invertible core/shell phases prepared in porous alumina membranes

Poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide)/poly(acrylic ammonium) binary hydrogel nanowires with invertible core/shell phases were made by templated synthesis in porous alumina membranes with controlled pore wall hydrophilicity.