Preparation and electrochemical properties of Ag-modified TiO2 nanotube anode material for lithium–ion battery

TiO₂ nanotubes prepared by using a hydrothermal process were firstly coated with silver nanoparticles as the anode materials for lithium–ion batteries by the traditional silver mirror reaction. The physical properties of the as-synthesized samples were investigated by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopic. The as-prepared samples were used as negative materials for lithium–ion battery, whose charge–discharge properties, cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cycle performance were examined in detail. The results showed that the Ag additive decreased the polarization of anode, and marvelously improved the high-rate discharge capacity and cycling stability of TiO₂ nanotubes.     

Chemical analysis and cellular imaging with quantum dots

Quantum dots are tiny light-emitting particles on the nanometer scale. They are emerging as a new class of biological labels with properties and applications that are not available with traditional organic dyes and fluorescent proteins. Their novel properties such as improved brightness, resistance against photobleaching, and multicolor light emission, have opened new possibilities for ultrasensitive chemical analysis and cellular imaging. In this Research Highlight article , we discuss the unique optical properties of semiconductor quantum dots, surface chemistry and bioconjugation, current applications in bioanalytical chemistry and cell biology, and future research directions.     

Quantum-dots based electrochemical immunoassay of interleukin-1α

We describe a quantum-dot (QD, CdSe@ZnS) based electrochemical immunoassay to detect a protein biomarker, interleukin-1α (IL-1α). QD conjugated with anti-IL-1α antibody was used as a label in an immunorecognition event. After a complete sandwich immunoreaction among the primary IL-1α antibody (immobilized on the avidin-modified magnetic beads), IL-1α, and the QD-labeled secondary antibody, QD labels were attached to the magnetic-bead surface through the antibody-antigen immunocomplex. Electrochemical stripping analysis of the captured QDs was used to quantify the concentration of IL-1α after an acid-dissolution step. The streptavidin-modified magnetic beads and the magnetic separation platform were used to integrate a facile antibody immobilization (through a biotin/streptavidin interaction) with immunoreactions and the isolation of immunocomplexes from reaction solutions in the assay. The voltammetric response is highly linear over the range of 0.5–50 ng ml⁻¹ IL-1α, and the limit of detection is estimated to be 0.3 ng ml⁻¹ (18 pM). This QD-based electrochemical immunoassay shows great promise for rapid, simple, and cost-effective analysis of protein biomarkers.     

Emission spectroscopic monitoring of particle composition,size and transport in laser ablation inductively coupled plasma spectrometry

The spectroscopic line emissions of copper and zinc from atomized particles generated by orthogonal pre-pulse laser ablation of brass and transported from the ablation cell through tubes into an ICP have been simultaneously measured end-on with fast photomultipliers. It was shown that simultaneous line monitoring of major elements provides not only information on the aerosol transport in laser ablation ICP-spectrometry, but also on the ratios of small to single larger particles and their respective elemental compositions and, therefore, on possible elemental fractionation problems. Furthermore, the spectroscopic information can be easily exploited for proper adjustment of the laser fluence in order to minimize the production of large particles, to improve the transport efficiency and to reduce the noise of analytical signals in laser ablation ICP-spectrometry. The present particular experiment on orthogonal pre-pulse laser ablation of brass confirms the recent finding that such kind of double-pulse arrangement produces predominantly ultra-fine particles. Individual brass particles with diameters ≳ 250 nm could be analyzed. They showed large Zn depletions as expected. Finally, strong accumulations of aerosol particles were found in the ablation cell used even at low laser pulse frequencies.     

THPep: A machine learning-based approach for predicting tumor homing peptides

In the present era, a major drawback of current anti-cancer drugs is the lack of satisfactory specificity towards tumor cells. Despite the presence of several therapies against cancer, tumor homing peptides are gaining importance as therapeutic agents. In this regard, the huge number of therapeutic peptides generated in recent years, demands the need to develop an effective and interpretable computational model for rapidly, effectively and automatically predicting tumor homing peptides. Therefore, a sequence-based approach referred herein as THPep has been developed to predict and analyze tumor homing peptides by using an interpretable random forest classifier in concomitant with amino acid composition, dipeptide composition and pseudo amino acid composition. An overall accuracy and Matthews correlation coefficient of 90.13% and 0.76, respectively, were achieved from the independent test set on an objective benchmark dataset. Upon comparison, it was found that THPep was superior to the existing method and holds high potential as a useful tool for predicting tumor homing peptides. For the convenience of experimental scientists, a web server for this proposed method is provided publicly at http://codes.bio/thpep/.     

Optimisation of the chlorthalidone chiral separation by capillary electrochromatography using an achiral stationary phase and cyclodextrin in the mobile phase

The separation of chlorthalidone enantiomers in capillary electrochromatography on an achiral stationary phase when adding a chiral selector, hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin, to the mobile phase, was optimised. The goal was to investigate the feasibility of modelling retention times and resolution when during the optimisation procedure regular replacement of columns is required due to their fragility. Therefore, it is essential that the packing procedure delivers reproducible columns. The optimisation of an existing chlorthalidone separation was chosen as case study. The influence of two factors, chiral selector concentration and organic modifier content, on the responses was modelled. The experiments performed prior to modelling were defined by a central composite design. Results on different columns, obtained under identical experimental conditions, were found comparable and thus modelling was possible in situations where several columns were required to complete a design. A second-order polynomial model was built for both responses. Optimal separations were also predicted using Derringer’s desirability functions. The optimum was found at 33 mM cyclodextrin and 16% (v/v) acetonitrile on two types of columns (with different packing times) leading to a strong reduction in analysis time for an equally good separation compared to the initial conditions. Measured and predicted responses were found comparable, indicating that acceptable models were obtained.     

Synthesis and electronic properties of pentacene derivatives as promising n-type semiconductor candidates

Two pentacene derivatives 1 and 2 were synthesized from the Diels-Alder reactions of furan derivatives with 1,4-benzoquinone. They were characterized by the methods of ¹H — nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-NMR), matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), ultraviolet and visible spectrophotometry (UV-VIS), photoluminescence (PL) spectrometry and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The energy gaps of 1 and 2, taken directly from spectroscopic measurements, are broad as 2.72 and 2.46 eV, leading to blue and greenish blue photoluminescence, respectively. The LUMO and HOMO energy levels are −2.77 and −5.49 eV for 1, and −2.91 and −5.37 eV for 2, respectively. The low energy levels make both 1 and 2 good air-stabilities and promising n-type semiconductor candidates for use in organic electronics.     

A study of substituent effects on the enantioselective trimethylsilylcyanation of benzaldehyde catalyzed by chiral Schiff base–titanium(IV) complexes

New chiral Schiff base ligands derived from tert-butyl salicylaldehydes bearing electron withdrawing and donating groups were synthesized by reaction with various substituted chiral amino alcohols. These ligands were used with titanium tetraisopropoxide to study steric and electronic effects on the enantioselectivity of the trimethylsilylcyanation of benzaldehyde. ZINDO calculations are in agreement with the experimental results on the intermediate complexes, which indicate that the steric effects of the substituents are more important than the electronic ones.     

Alloyed semiconductor quantum dots: tuning the optical properties without changing the particle size

Alloyed semiconductor quantum dots (cadmium selenium telluride) with both homogeneous and gradient internal structures have been prepared to achieve continuous tuning of the optical properties without changing the particle size. Our results demonstrate that composition and internal structure are two important parameters that can be used to tune the optical and electronic properties of multicomponent, alloyed quantum dots. A surprising finding is a nonlinear relationship between the composition and the absorption/emission energies, leading to new properties not obtainable from the parent binary systems. With red-shifted light emission up to 850 nm and quantum yields up to 60%, this new class of alloyed quantum dots opens new possibilities in band gap engineering and in developing near-infrared fluorescent probes for in vivo molecular imaging and biomarker detection.     

Effect of evaporation temperature on the formation of particulate membranes from crystalline polymers by dry-cast process

The membrane formation of crystalline poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) (EVAL), poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF), and polyamide (Nylon-66) membranes prepared by dry-cast process was studied. Membrane morphologies from crystalline polymers were found to be strongly dependent on the evaporation temperature. At low temperatures, all the casting solution evaporated into a particulate morphology that was governed by the polymer crystallization mechanism. The rise in the evaporation temperature changed EVAL membrane structure from a particulate to a dense morphology. However, as the temperature increased PVDF and Nylon-66 membranes still exhibited particulate morphologies. The membrane structures obtained were discussed in terms of the characteristics of polymer crystallization in the casting solution theoretically. At elevated temperatures the crystallization was restricted for the EVAL membrane because the increase rate in the polymer concentration was fast relative to the time necessary for growth of nuclei. Nonetheless, the time available for PVDF and Nylon-66 with stronger crystalline properties was large enough to form the crystallization-controlled particulate structure that differed in particle size only. In addition, particles in the PVDF membrane were driven together to disappear the boundary, but those in the Nylon-66 membrane exhibited features of linear grain boundary. The difference in particle morphology was attributed to the Nylon-66 with the most strongly crystalline property. Therefore, the kinetic difference in the crystallization rate of the polymer solution play an important role in dominating the membrane structure by dry-cast process.