Shot noise sets the limit of quantification in electrochemical measurements

Detection of single molecules, particles, and rapid redox events is a challenge of electrochemical investigations and requires either an amplification strategy or significant averaging for the electrochemical current to exceed the noise level. We consider the minimum number of electrons required to reach the limit of quantification in these electrochemical measurements. A survey of the literature indicates that the state-of-the-art limit in current detection for different types of measurements (e.g. voltammetry, single-molecule redox cycling, ion channel recordings of single molecules, metal nanoparticle collision, and phase nucleation) is independent of the nature of the measurement and increases linearly with reciprocal response time, Δt^?1, over ～5 orders of magnitude (from ～10 to ～10⁶ s^?1). We demonstrate that the practical limit of quantification requires cumulative measurement of ～2100 electrons during Δt and is determined by statistics of counting electrons, that is, the shot noise in the current.     

Improving Catalytic Activity of “Janus” MoSSe Based on Surface Interface Regulation

The monolayer Janus MoSSe is considered to be a promising catalytic material due to its unique asymmetric structure. In order to improve its catalytic performance for hydrogen evolution reactions (HERs) and oxygen evolution reactions (OERs), many attempts have been made. In this work, a series of transition metal (TM) atoms were anchored on the Janus MoSSe surface to screen effective TM single-atom catalysts for HERs and OERs through density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Fe@MoSSe presents excellent HERs performance and Ni@MoSSe presents excellent catalytic performance for OERs with extremely low over-potential of 0.32 V. The enhanced activity is attributed to the modest energy level of the d band center of the transition metal atom, and the transition metal atom improves the conductivity of the original MoSSe and offers unoccupied states near the Fermi level. At the same time, the anchoring of transition metal atoms redistributes the charge in the MoSSe system, which effectively regulates the electronic structure of the material itself. The strain calculation shows that the activity of the catalyst can be improved by reasonably adjusting the value of the applied strain.     

Electrodeposition of nanostructured catalysts for electrochemical energy conversion: Current trends and innovative strategies

This review discusses the latest advances in electrodeposition of nanostructured catalysts for electrochemical energy conversion: fuel cells, water splitting, and carbon dioxide electroreduction. The method excels at preparing efficient and durable nanostructured materials, such as nanoparticles, single atom clusters, hierarchical bifunctional combinations of hydroxides, selenides, phosphides, and so on. Yet, in most cases, chemical composition cannot be decoupled from catalyst morphology. This compromises the rational design of electrodeposition procedures because performance indicators depend on both morphology and surface chemistry. We expect electrodeposition will keep unraveling its potential as the preferred method for electrocatalyst synthesis once a deeper understanding of the electrochemical growth process is combined with complex chemistries to have control of the morphology and the surface composition of complex (bifunctional) electrocatalysts.     

Tunable and Specific Formation of C@NiCoP Peapods with Enhanced HER Activity and Lithium Storage Performance

The superior properties of nanomaterials with a special structure can provide prospects for highly efficient water splitting and lithium storage. Herein, we fabricated a series of peapodlike C@Ni_2?xCo_xP (x≤1) nanocomposites by an anion‐exchange pathway. The experimental results indicated that the HER activity of C@Ni_2?xCo_xP catalyst is strongly related to the Co/Ni ratio, and the C@NiCoP got the highest HER activity with low onset potential of ～45 mV, small Tafel slope of ～43 mV dec^?1, large exchange current density of 0.21 mA cm^?2, and high long‐term durability (60 h) in 0.5 m H₂SO₄ solutions. Equally importantly, as an anode electrode for lithium batteries, this peapodlike C@NiCoP nanocomposite gives excellent charge–discharge properties (e.g., specific capacity of 670 mAh g^?1 at 0.2 A g^?1 after 350 cycles, and a reversible capacity of 405 mAh g^?1 at a high current rate of 10 A g^?1). The outstanding performance of C@NiCoP in HER and LIBs could be attributed to the synergistic effect of the rational design of peapodlike nanostructures and the introduction of Co element.     

Pharmacophore modelling,molecular docking and virtual screening for EGFR (HER 1) tyrosine kinase inhibitors

A pharmacophore model has been developed using diverse classes of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase (TK) inhibitors useful in the treatment of human tumours. Among the top 10 generated hypotheses, the second hypothesis, with one hydrogen bond acceptor, one ring aromatic and three hydrophobic features, was found to be the best on the basis of Cat Scramble validation as well as test set prediction (r _training?=?0.89, r _test?=?0.82). The model also maps well to the external test set molecules as well as clinically active molecules and corroborates the docking studies. Finally, 10 hits were identified as potential leads after virtual screening of ZINC database for EGFR TK inhibition. The study may facilitate the designing and discovery of novel EGFR TK inhibitors.     

Electrochemical interfaces on chalcogenides: Some structural perspectives and synergistic effects of single-surface active sites

The use of single-atom metals (SAM) as catalysts of energy conversion reactions is a recent topic, which has gained popularity in the last two decades. Transition metal dichalcogenides emerged as important electrocatalysts since it was discovered that their chalcogenide edge sites are active towards the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and could also serve as supports for other metals within the same applications. Currently, several groups have reported a novel metal?chalcogenide arrangement, with the possibility of isolating metals at specific sites on chalcogenides to enhance their properties resulting in a synergistic effect in which both chalcogenide and single-atom metal features are exploited, either as promoters or active sites. Theoretical studies have been the basis of these reports.     

Novel benzimidazole derivatives as anti-cervical cancer agents of potential multi-targeting kinase inhibitory activity

Multi-target EGFR, HER2, VEGFR-2 and PDGFR is an improved strategy for the treatment of solid tumors. This work deals with synthesis of an array of new 6-benzoyl benzimidazole derivatives utlizing1-(6-benzoyl-2-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-1H benzo[d] imidazol-1-yl)propan-2-one (1) as a starting compound. The new compounds were screened as cytotoxic agents against cervical cancer cells (Hela) and Doxorubicin served as a reference drug. Most of the tested compounds showed promising anticancer activity in addition to their safety towards the normal cell line. The most potent candidates were evaluated as EGFR, HER2, PDGFR-β and VEGFR2 inhibitors in comparison to Erlotinib. Compounds 9 and 13 exhibited promising suppression effects. Also, the latter compounds exhibited their ability to induce cellular apoptosis alongside cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase and accumulation of cells in pre-G1 phase. Molecular docking analysis suggested that compounds 2c, 3f, 9, 12 and 13 tightly interacts with the amino acid residues in the active binding site of HER2 kinase.     

Enhancing hydrogen evolution of MoS2 basal planes by combining single-boron catalyst and compressive strain

MoS₂ is a promising candidate for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), while its active sites are mainly distributed on the edge sites rather than the basal plane sites. Herein, a strategy to overcome the inertness of the MoS₂ basal surface and achieve high HER activity by combining single-boron catalyst and compressive strain was reported through density functional theory (DFT) computations. The ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulation on B@MoS₂ suggests high thermodynamic and kinetic stability. We found that the rather strong adsorption of hydrogen by B@MoS₂ can be alleviated by stress engineering. The optimal stress of −7% can achieve a nearly zero value of ΔG_H (~ −0.084 eV), which is close to that of the ideal Pt–SACs for HER. The novel HER activity is attributed to (i) the B– doping brings the active site to the basal plane of MoS₂ and reduces the band-gap, thereby increasing the conductivity; (ii) the compressive stress regulates the number of charge transfer between (H)–(B)–(MoS₂), weakening the adsorption energy of hydrogen on B@MoS₂. Moreover, we constructed a SiN/B@MoS₂ heterojunction, which introduces an 8.6% compressive stress for B@MoS₂ and yields an ideal ΔGH. This work provides an effective means to achieve high intrinsic HER activity for MoS₂.     

Enhancing the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Activity of Platinum Electrodes in Alkaline Media Using Nickel–Iron Clusters

Herein, we demonstrate an easy way to improve the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity of Pt electrodes in alkaline media by introducing Ni–Fe clusters. As a result, the overpotential needed to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm^?2 in H₂‐saturated 0.1 m KOH is reduced for the model single‐crystal electrodes down to about 70 mV. To our knowledge, these modified electrodes outperform any other reported electrocatalysts tested under similar conditions. Moreover, the influence of 1) Ni to Fe ratio, 2) cluster coverage, and 3) the nature of the alkali‐metal cations present in the electrolyte on the HER activity has been investigated. The observed catalytic performance likely originates from both the improved water dissociation at the Ni–Fe clusters and the subsequent optimal hydrogen adsorption and recombination at Pt atoms present at the Ni–Fe/Pt boundary.     

Development of a competitive ELISA for the quantification of F5 conjugate in HER2-targeted STEALTH immunoliposome doxorubicin in plasma samples

HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, erbB2, or neu) is overexpressed by a large number of tumor types and has been identified as an important target for cancer therapy. F5 is a single-chain human antibody fragment that recognizes HER2 receptor and is covalently conjugated to PEGylated lipid to form F5 conjugate (F5CG) in the product HER2 targeted STEALTH immunoliposome doxorubicin. Here we described the method development of a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the determination of total concentration of F5 conjugate in plasma samples. The method involved the biotinylation of F5CG, detergent treatment of plasma sample to solubilize F5CG into monomeric form, and competitive ELISA for solubilized F5CG competitively binding to anti-F5CG antibody with biotinylated F5CG for the determination of total F5CG in plasma. The detection range of this method was from 0.2 ng/mL to 125 ng/mL for F5CG in plasma. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 0.2 ng/mL. This method was established and used for the measurement of F5CG concentration to provide information about F5CG circulation after the administration of immunoliposome in preclinical studies.