Novel nanoparticles composed of chitosan and β-cyclodextrin derivatives as potential insoluble drug carrier

This research was aim to develop novel cyclodextrin/chitosan(CD/CS) nanocarriers for insoluble drug delivery through the mild ionic gelation method previously developed by our lab. A series of different bcyclodextrin(β-CD) derivatives were incorporated into CS nanoparticles including hydroxypropyl-bcyclodextrin(HP-β-CD), sulphobutylether-β-cyclodextrin(SB-β-CD), and 2,6-di-O-methy-β-cyclodextrin(DM-β-CD). Various process parameters for nanoparticle preparation and their effects on physicochemical properties of CD/CS nanoparticles were investigated, such as the type of CD derivatives,CD and CS concentrations, the mass ratio of CS to TPP(CS/TPP), and p H values. In the optimal condition,CD/CS nanoparticles were obtained in the size range of 215–276 nm and with the zeta potential from30.22 m V to 35.79 m V. Moreover, the stability study showed that the incorporation of CD rendered the CD/CS nanocarriers more stable than CS nanoparticles in PBS buffer at p H 6.8. For their easy preparation and adjustable parameters in nanoparticle formation as well as the diversified hydrophobic core of CD derivatives, the novel CD/CS nanoparticles developed herein might represent an interesting and versatile drug delivery platform for a variety of poorly water-soluble drugs with different physicochemical properties.     

Nitrogen‐Doped Carbon Nanotube Arrays for High‐Efficiency Electrochemical Reduction of CO2: On the Understanding of Defects,Defect Density,and Selectivity

Nitrogen‐doped carbon nanotubes (NCNTs) have been considered as a promising electrocatalyst for carbon‐dioxide‐reduction reactions, but two fundamental chemistry questions remain obscure: 1) What are the active centers with respect to various defect species and 2) what is the role of defect density on the selectivity of NCNTs? The aim of this work is to address these questions. The catalytic activity of NCNTs depends on the structural nature of nitrogen in CNTs and defect density. Comparing with pristine CNTs, the presence of graphitic and pyridinic nitrogen significantly decreases the overpotential (ca. ?0.18 V) and increases the selectivity (ca. 80 %) towards the formation of CO. The experimental results are in congruent with DFT calculations, which show that pyridinic defects retain a lone pair of electrons that are capable of binding CO₂. However, for graphitic‐like nitrogen, electrons are located in the π* antibonding orbital, making them less accessible for CO₂ binding.     

Ultrathin MoS2 Nanosheets Supported on N‐doped Carbon Nanoboxes with Enhanced Lithium Storage and Electrocatalytic Properties

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) has received considerable interest for electrochemical energy storage and conversion. In this work, we have designed and synthesized a unique hybrid hollow structure by growing ultrathin MoS₂ nanosheets on N‐doped carbon shells (denoted as C@MoS₂ nanoboxes). The N‐doped carbon shells can greatly improve the conductivity of the hybrid structure and effectively prevent the aggregation of MoS₂ nanosheets. The ultrathin MoS₂ nanosheets could provide more active sites for electrochemical reactions. When evaluated as an anode material for lithium‐ion batteries, these C@MoS₂ nanoboxes show high specific capacity of around 1000 mAh g^?1, excellent cycling stability up to 200 cycles, and superior rate performance. Moreover, they also show enhanced electrocatalytic activity for the electrochemical hydrogen evolution.     

An extended functional transformation method and its application in some evolution equations

In this paper, an extended functional transformation is given to solve some nonlinear evolution equations. This function, in fact,is a solution of the famous KdV equation, so this transformation gives a transformation between KdV equation and other soliton equations. Then many new exact solutions can be given by virtue of the solutions of KdV equation.     

Characterization of heat-treated CN films fabricated by dual-facing-target sputtering for soft X-ray multilayer mirrors

The structural characterization of heat-treated CN films fabricated by dual-facing-target sputtering for soft X-ray multilayer mirrors was performed by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy (RS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The XRD analyses indicate a graphization process in the CN films during thermal annealing. The Raman analyses imply that the primary bonding in the CN films is sp². In other words, the formation of the sp³ bonding in the CN films can be suppressed effectively by doping with N atoms, and thus the thickness expansion resulting from the changes in the density of CN films during annealing can be decreased considerably. This result is also clarified by the increased conductivity measured. The XPS results give the information of the existence of the strong covalent bonding between N and C atoms, which can slow down the tendency of the structural relaxation during annealing. These results suggest that CN films suitable for soft X-ray multilayers used at high-temperature environments can be obtained by reactive dual-facing-target sputtering. With the low-angle X-ray diffraction measurements, we do observe the enhanced thermal stability of CoN/CN multilayers. Received: 2 October 1998 / Accepted: 21 April 1999 / Published online: 23 September 1999     

On a Nonlinear Discretized LKR System: Reductions and Underlying Virasoro Symmetry Algebras

A differential-difference version of the Loewner–Konopelchenko–Rogers (LKR) system is constructed by discretization of the spatial variables in the continuous LKR system. The differential-difference LKR system admits a diversity of significant reductions. The symmetry algebras of the discrete LKR system and its reductions are shown to possess underlying Kac–Moody–Virasoro type structure. A discrete dromion-like solution of the LKR system is constructed via finite symmetry group transformation.     

Does movement toward better environments always benefit a population?

We study the effects of advection along environmental gradients on logistic reaction-diffusion models for population growth. The local population growth rate is assumed to be spatially inhomogeneous, and the advection is taken to be a multiple of the gradient of the local population growth rate. It is also assumed that the boundary acts as a reflecting barrier to the population. We show that the effects of such advection depend crucially on the shape of the habitat of the population: if the habitat is convex, the movement in the direction of the gradient of the growth rate is always beneficial to the population, while such advection could be harmful for certain non-convex habitats.     

飞秒泵浦-探测质谱方法研究苯内转换动力学

以飞秒 40 0及 2 66nm激光脉冲结合泵浦 探测飞行时间质谱方法研究了苯S2 态内转换动力学 .40 0nm双光子过程将苯分子激发到S2 电子态 ,布居在S2 电子态的分子由于能级耦合无辐射弛豫到S1电子态 .通过测定C6 H6 +讯号强度随泵浦 探测延迟时间的改变 ,获得苯S2 及S1电子态的衰减寿命分别为 ( 48± 1)fs及 ( 6.5± 0 .2 )ps ,S2 态及S1电子态的消激发机理被认为是相应势能面间的锥形交叉引起的内转换     

Demonstration of an 8×10-Gb/s OTDM system

An 8×10 Gb/s optical time-division-multiplexing (OTDM) system was demonstrated with an electroabsorption modulator (EAM) based short pulse generator followed by a two-stage nonlinear compression scheme which generated stable 10-GHz, 2-ps full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) pulse train, an optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) that extracted 10-GHz clock with a timing jitter of 300 fs from 80-Gb/s OTDM signal and a self cascaded EAM which produced a switching window of about 10 ps. A back-to-back error free demultiplexing experiment with a power penalty of 3.25 dB was carried out to verify the system performance.     

Spatial distribution of SiCln （n=O-2） in SICl4 plasma measured by mass spectroscopy

For a better understanding of the deposition mechanism of thin films in SiCl4 source gas, we have measured the spatial distributions of SiCln （n=0-2） radicals in SICl4 radio frequency glow discharge plasma utilizing a mass spectrometer equipped with a movable gas sampling apparatus. The experimental results demonstrate that the relative densities of SiCln （n=0-2） radicals have peak values at the position of 10 mm above the powered electrode along the axial direction; the relative densities of the Si and SiCIn （n=1, 2） radicals have peak values at the positions of 27mm and 7 mm away from the axis along the radial direction, respectively. Generally speaking, in the whole SICl4 plasma bulk region, the relative density of Si is one order of magnitude higher than that of SICl, and the relative density of SiCl is several times higher than that of SICl2. This reveals that Si and SiCl may be the primary growth precursors in forming thin films.