Preparation of raspberry-like silica microcapsules via sulfonated polystyrene template and aniline medium assembly method

Raspberry-like composite particles and microcapsules were prepared with anionic sulfonated polystyrene (PSS) particles as templates and cationic aniline monomer as assembly medium. With the help of the sulfonated microgel shells, aniline and silica particles could not only adsorbed onto template surfaces but also go inward shells and finally form microcapsules with varied silica shell thickness. The sulfonation extent of PSS particles first climbed up and then decreased with sulfonation time due to the competition of sulfonation reaction and PSS chain detachment. The silica content in composite particles and shell thickness of microcapsules followed similar trend with sulfonation extent. The choice of aniline as assembly medium was checked by comparing with methyl methacrylate and [2-(methacryloyloxy) ethyl] trimethylammonium chloride, and it was found that the cationic and water-insoluble properties of aniline are both important for the composite efficiency.     

Evanescent Wave-Guided Growth of an Organic Supramolecular Nanowire Array

The ordered assembly of molecules within a specific space of nanoscale, such as a surface, holds great promise in advanced micro-/nanostructure fabrication for various applications. Herein, we demonstrate the evanescent wave (EW)-guided organization of small molecules into a long-range ordered nanowire (NW) array. Experiment and simulation revealed that the orientation and periodicity of the NW array were feasibly regulated by altering the propagation direction and the wavelength of EW. The generality of this approach was demonstrated by using different molecule precursors. While existing studies on EW often took advantages of its near-field property for optical sensing, this work demonstrated the photochemical power of EW in the guided-assembly of small molecules for the first time. It also provides an enlightening avenue to periodic structure with fluorescence, promising for super-resolution microscopy and important devices applicable to optical and bio-related fields.     

Design Strategies for High-Performance Aqueous Zn/Organic Batteries

Organic electroactive compounds are attractive to serve as the cathode materials of aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) because of their resource renewability, environmentally friendliness and structural diversity. Up to now, various organic electrode materials have been developed and different redox mechanisms are observed in aqueous Zn/organic battery systems. In this Minireview, we present the recent developments in the energy storage mechanisms and design of the organic electrode materials of aqueous ZIBs, including carbonyl compounds, imine compounds, conductive polymers, nitronyl nitroxides, organosulfur polymers and triphenylamine derivatives. Furthermore, we highlight the design strategies to improve their electrochemical performance in the aspects of specific capacity, output voltage, cycle life and rate capability. Finally, we discuss the challenges and future perspectives of aqueous Zn/organic batteries.     

“拟双子”阴离子表面活性剂在癸烷/水界面的分子动力学模拟

采用全原子分子动力学模拟方法研究了壬基酚取代的系列烷基磺酸盐表面活性剂在癸烷/水界面的微观聚集行为,通过分析界面厚度、界面生成能和界面张力以及表面活性剂分子与水分子之间的径向分布函数和配位数,讨论了不同磺烷基链长度对壬基酚基取代烷基磺酸盐表面活性剂界面性质的影响.结果表明,磺烷基链长为12时,表面活性剂的界面张力最低,界面厚度和界面生成能最大.     

食品中7种常见的非食用色素检测研究进展

食用色素可以明显的改善食品外观,激发食欲,在食品行业有着广泛的应用,但一些不法分子为了牟取暴利向食品中添加非食用色素来代替食用色素,但是非食用色素对人体存在致癌风险。食品中常见的非食用色素有以下7种：碱性嫩黄O、碱性橙II、酸性橙II、苏丹红、罗丹明B、美术绿和孔雀石绿,而目前对这7种非食用色素的检测还未全部建立国家标准。本文综述了近3年来食品行业中针对这7种非食用色素的各种检验方法,以期为食品安全监督监督检测机构提供参考。     

基于钴离子介导信号转换的抗坏血酸比色分析

抗坏血酸是许多生化过程所必需的一种生物小分子。借助于羟基氧化钴纳米片的氧化性和钴离子与硫氰酸根离子之间强的螯合作用,本研究首次报道了一种基于钴离子信号转换的新方法用于抗坏血酸的比色分析。在抗坏血酸存在时,羟基氧化钴纳米片被还原降解产生二价钴离子,钴离子与硫氰酸根离子之间通过螯合作用生成蓝色的[Co(NCS)₄]^_2-阴离子络合物,在625 nm处产生可见吸收信号。实验首先对羟基氧化钴纳米片与抗坏血酸的反应时间、硫氰酸铵和吐温-80的加入量等实验参数进行了优化,当反应时间为5 min,硫氰酸铵(3 mol/L)和吐温-80(10%, w%)的加入体积分别为30 μL和80 μL时,检测体产生最强的吸收信号。在优化的条件下,随着抗坏血酸浓度的增加,检测体系在625 nm处的吸收值线性增强,在0.03～0.45 mmol/L浓度范围内,检测体系在625 nm处的吸收值与AA浓度呈良好的线性关系,线性方程为A₆₂₅=0.638C (mmol/L)+0.042,相关系数R=0.993,检测限(3S/N)为1.5 μmol/L。     

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.