Miniaturized electrochemical sensors and their point-of-care applications

Most of the current analytical methods depend largely on laboratory-based analytical techniques that require expensive and bullky equipment,potentially incur costly testing,and involve lengthy detection processes.With increasing requirements for point-of-care testing(POCT),more attention has been paid to miniaturized analytical devices.Miniaturized electrochemical(MEC)sensors,including different material-based MEC sensors(such as DNA-,paper-,and screen electrode-based),have been in strong demand in analytical science due to their easy operation,portability,high sensitivity,as well as their short analysis time.They have been applied for the detection of trace amounts of target through measuring changes in electrochemical signal,such as current,voltage,potential,or impedance,due to the oxidation/reduction of chemical/biological molecules with the help of electrodes and electrochemical units.MEC sensors present great potential for the detection of targets including small organic molecules,metal ions,and biomolecules.In recent years,MEC sensors have been broadly applied to POCT in various fields,including health care,food safety,and environmental monitoring,owing to the excellent advantages of electrochemical(EC)technologies.This review summarized the state-of-the-art advancements on various types of MEC sensors and their applications in POCT.Furthermore,the future perspectives,opportunities,and challenges in this field are also discussed.     

Machine Learning towards Screening Solid-state Lithium Ion Conductors

Machine learning is an emerging method to discover new materials with specific characteristics.An unsupervised machine learning research is highlighted to discover new potential lithium ionic conductors by screening and clustering lithium compounds,providing inspirations for the development of solid-state electrolytes and practical batteries.     

Surface defect-rich ceria quantum dots anchored on sulfur-doped carbon nitride nanotubes with enhanced charge separation for solar hydrogen production

Designing defect-engineered semiconductor heterojunctions can effectively promote the charge carrier separation.Herein,novel ceria(CeO2) quantum dots(QDs) decorated sulfur-doped carbon nitride nanotubes(SCN NTs) were synthesized via a thermal polycondensation coupled in situ depositionprecipitation method without use of template or surfactant.The structure and morphology studies indicate that ultrafine CeO2 QDs are well distributed inside and outside of SCN NTs offering highly dispersed active sites and a large contact interface between two components.This leads to the promoted formation of rich Ce³⁺ ion and oxygen vacancies as confirmed by XPS.The photocatalytic performance can be facilely modulated by the content of CeO2 QDs introduced in SCN matrix while bare CeO2 does not show activity of hydrogen production.The optimal catalyst with 10% of CeO2 loading yields a hydrogen evolution rate of 2923.8 μmol h-1 g-1 under visible light,remarkably higher than that of bare SCN and their physical mixtures.Further studies reveal that the abundant surface defects and the created 0 D/1 D junctions play a critical role in improving the separation and transfer of charge carriers,leading to superior solar hydrogen production and good stability.     

Superfast and solvent-free core-shell assembly of sulfur/carbon active particles by hail-inspired nanostorm technology for high-energy-density Li-S batteries

The demand on low-carbon emission fabrication technologies for energy storage materials is increasing dramatically with the global interest on carbon neutrality.As a promising active material for metal-sulfur batteries,sulfur is of great interest due to its high-energy-density and abundance.However,there is a lack of industry-friendly and low-carbon fabrication strategies for high-performance sulfur-based active particles,which,however,is in critical need by their practical success.Herein,based on a hail-inspired sulfur nano-storm(HSN)technology developed in our lab,we report an energy-saving,solvent-free strategy for producing core-shell sulfur/carbon electrode particles(CNT@AC-S)in minutes.The fabrication of the CNT@AC-S electrode particles only involves low-cost sulfur blocks,commercial carbon nanotubes(CNT)and activated carbon(AC)micro-particles with high specific surface area.Based on the above core-shell CNT@AC-S particles,sulfur cathode with a high sulfur-loading of 9.2 mg cm^-2 delivers a stable area capacity of 6.6 mAh cm^-2 over 100 cycles.Furthermore,even for sulfur cathode with a super-high sulfur content(72 wt%over the whole electrode),it still delivers a high area capacity of 9 mAh cm^-2 over50 cycles in a quasi-lean electrolyte condition.In a nutshell,this study brings a green and industryfriendly fabrication strategy for cost-effective production of rationally designed S-rich electrode particles.     

Unraveling the stabilization mechanism of solid electrolyte interface on ZnSe by rGO in sodium ion battery

Transition metal selenides have been widely studied as anode materials of sodium ion batteries(SIBs),however,the investigation of solid-electrolyte-interface(SEI)on these materials,which is critical to the electrochemical performance of SIBs,remains at its infancy.Here in this paper,ZnSe@C nanoparticles were prepared from ZIF-8 and the SEI layers on these electrodes with and without reduced graphene oxide(rGO)layers were examined in details by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies at varied charged/discharged states.It is observed that fast and complicated electrolyte decomposition reactions on ZnSe@C leads to quite thick SEI film and intercalation of solvated sodium ions through such thick SEI film results in slow ion diffusion kinetics and unstable electrode structure.However,the presence of rGO could efficiently suppress the decomposition of electrolyte,thus thin and stable SEI film was formed.ZnSe@C electrodes wrapped by rGO demonstrates enhanced interfacial charge transfer kinetics and high electrochemical performance,a capacity retention of 96.4%,after 1000 cycles at 5 A/g.This study might offer a simple avenue for the designing high performance anode materials through manipulation of SEI film.     

CXN天然沸石的研究2: 吸附性质

采用N~2,NH~3,CO~2,乙烯,丙烯,水,甲醇,乙醇,丙醇等作为吸附剂,研究了由我国CXN天然沸石改性制得的H-STI和Na-STI沸石的吸附性质,H-STI和Na-STI沸石的BET表面积及微孔孔体积约为420m^2/g和0.20m^3/g。根据NH~3和CO~2在H-STI沸石上的吸附等温线计算得到它们的吸附热分别为44.8和26.5kJ/mol。乙烯,丙烯,甲醇,乙醇,丙醇等在Na-STI沸石上的吸附等温线表明该沸石对有机分子的吸附具有链长选择性。在低分压下水相对于甲醇的吸附量表明沸石具有一定的疏水性质。     

常温常湿条件下Au/MeO~x催化剂上CO氧化性能

利用共沉淀法制备了Au/MeO~x催化剂(Me=Al,Co,Cr,Cu,Fe,Mn,Ni,Zn)。在常温常湿条件下,考察了不同氧化物负载的金基催化剂的CO氧化性能。结果表明,氧化物种类对催化剂的活性和稳定性均有较大的影响。Cu,Mn,Cr等氧化物负载的金基催化剂的活性较差,而Zn,Fe,Co,Ni,Al等金属氧化物负载的金基催化剂可将CO完全氧化,又具有一定的稳定性,在相同反应条件下,CO完全转化时的稳定性顺序为Au/ZnO>Au/α-Fe~2O~3>Au/Co~3O~4>Au/γ-Al~2O~3≈Au/NiO。还发现水对Au/MnO~x催化剂的活性和稳定性有负作用,而对180℃焙烧制备的Au/ZnO-180催化剂的活性和稳定性均有明显的湿度增强作用。     

Boost oxygen reduction reaction performance by tuning the active sites in Fe-N-P-C catalysts

Cost-effective atomically dispersed Fe-N-P-C complex catalysts are promising to catalyze the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)and replace Pt catalysts in fuel cells and metal-air batteries.However,it remains a challenge to increase the number of atomically dispersed active sites on these catalysts.Here we report a highly efficient impregnation-pyrolysis method to prepare effective ORR electrocatalysts with large amount of atomically dispersed Fe active sites from biomass.Two types of active catalyst centers were identified,namely atomically dispersed Fe sites and Fe_xP particles.The ORR rate of the atomically dispersed Fe sites is three orders of magnitude higher than it of Fe_xP particles.A linear correlation between the amount of the atomically dispersed Fe and the ORR activity was obtained,revealing the major contribution of the atomically dispersed Fe to the ORR activity.The number of atomically dispersed Fe increases as the Fe loading increased and reaching the maximum at 1.86 wt%Fe,resulting in the maximum ORR rate.Optimized Fe-N-P-C complex catalyst was used as the cathode catalyst in a homemade Zn-air battery and good performance of an energy density of 771 Wh kgZn^-1,a power density of 92.9 m W cm^-2 at 137 m A cm^-2 and an excellent durability were exhibited.     

Regulation of carbon distribution to construct high-sulfur-content cathode in lithium-sulfur batteries

Lithium-sulfur(Li-S)battery is regarded as one of the most promising next-generation energy storage systems due to the ultra-high theoretical energy density of 2600 Wh kg^-1.To address the insulation nature of sulfur,nanocarbon composition is essential to afford acceptable cycling capacity but inevitably sacrifices the actual energy density under working conditions.Therefore,rational structural design of the carbon/sulfur composite cathode is of great significance to realize satisfactory electrochemical performances with limited carbon content.Herein,the cathode carbon distribution is rationally regulated to construct high-sulfur-content and high-performance Li-S batteries.Concretely,a double-layer carbon(DLC)cathode is prepared by fabricating a surface carbon layer on the carbon/sulfur composite.The surface carbon layer not only provides more electrochemically active surfaces,but also blocks the polysulfide shuttle.Consequently,the DLC configuration with an increased sulfur content by nearly 10 wt%renders an initial areal capacity of 3.40 mAh cm^-2 and capacity retention of 83.8%during 50 cycles,which is about two times than that of the low-sulfur-content cathode.The strategy of carbon distribution regulation affords an effective pathway to construct advanced high-sulfur-content cathodes for practical high-energy-density Li-S batteries.     

Confined Ni-In intermetallic alloy nanocatalyst with excellent coking resistance for methane dry reforming

Carbon dioxide and methane are two main greenhouse gases which are contributed to serious global warming.Fortunately,dry reforming of methane(DRM),a very important reaction developed decades ago,can convert these two major greenhouse gases into value-added syngas or hydrogen.The main problem retarding its industrialization is the seriously coking formation upon the nickel-based catalysts.Herein,a series of confined indium-nickel(In-Ni)intermetallic alloy nanocatalysts(In_xNi@SiO₂)have been prepared and displayed superior coking resistance for DRM reaction.The sample containing 0.5 wt.%of In loading(In_0.5Ni@SiO₂)shows the best balance of carbon deposition resistance and DRM reactivity even after 430 h long term stability test.The boosted carbon resistance can be ascribed to the confinement of core–shell structure and to the transfer of electrons from Indium to Nickel in In-Ni intermetallic alloys due to the smaller electronegativity of In.Both the silica shell and the increase of electron cloud density on metallic Ni can weaken the ability of Ni to activate C–H bond and decrease the deep cracking process of methane.The reaction over the confined InNi intermetallic alloy nanocatalyst was conformed to the Langmuir-Hinshelwood(L-H)mechanism revealed by in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy(in-situ DRIFTS).This work provides a guidance to design high performance coking resistance catalysts for methane dry reforming to efficiently utilize these two main greenhouse gases.     

Kinetics and selectivity of the copper-catalysed oxidative coupling of 4-(2′,6′-dimethylphenoxy)-2,6-dimethylphenol

The kinetics of the copper/N-methylimidazole catalysed oxidative coupling reaction with the C–O coupled dimer of 2,6-dimethylphenol (DMP or monomer), viz. 4-(2′,6′-dimethylphenoxy)-2,6-dimethylphenol (dimer), as the substrate have been studied. The reaction was found to obey Michaelis–Menten kinetics. The dimer is more easily oxidised than the monomer, but the formation of a copper–substrate complex is more difficult. The reaction rates are higher than in the case of the monomer, and the amounts of diphenoquinone (DPQ) formed are much lower. With the dimer as the substrate, the order of the reaction in copper is 2, confirming that the formation of a dinuclear copper complex is an important step in the reaction mechanism. The amount of DPQ formed is proportional to the initial amount of the dimer. A slight, but clear preference for the dimer over the monomer as the substrate has been observed from experiments with mixtures of monomer and dimer. The amount of DPQ formed decreases exponentially with an increase in the fraction of dimer in the mixture, which can be ascribed mainly to a statistical effect.     

伯胺在电催化媒介ABNO作用下的自氧化偶联反应

以9-氮杂双环[3.3.1]壬烷-N-氧基自由基(ABNO)为电催化媒介, 在NaClO₄-MeCN溶液中伯胺通过自氧化偶联反应生成对应的亚胺. 采用循环伏安法研究了ABNO对伯胺的电催化性能. 在相同条件下, 与2,2,6,6-四甲基哌啶氮氧自由基相比, ABNO在伯胺的自氧化偶联反应中表现出更好的电催化反应活性. 采用电化学原位红外光谱技术分析其中间产物为Ph—CH＝NH. 在优化的反应条件下, 一系列芳香伯胺可在ABNO电催化作用下自氧化偶联生成对应的亚胺, 产率较高.     

Spectrophotometric determination of aromatic primary amines and nitrite by flow injection analysis

Aromatic primary amines are determined by injection into dilute hydrochloric acid carrier which merges sequentially with 4-N-methylaminophenol and dichromate. The purple-red color formed by oxidative coupling of amines with 4-N-methylaminophenol is measured at 530 nm. In contrast to the manual procedure, the flow-injection procedure avoided errors arising from the instability of the coupling intermediate, oxidation of the amine, and too great an excess of the oxidant. The method improves the selectivity for certain amines in the presence of those which are sterically hindered or have an electron-deficient aromatic nucleus. Nitrite is determined by diazotization of sulfanilamide and quantifying the residual sulfanilamide by oxidative coupling. The sample thourghout for the assay of amines (0.05–20 μg ml^?1 NH₂-N) and nitrite (1–10 μg ml^?1 NO₂^--N) was 120 h^?1. A system for the consecutive determination of aromatic primary amines and nitrite is decribed.     

Palladium-assisted multicomponent cyclization of aromatic aldehydes, arylamines and terminal olefins under molecular oxygen: an assembly of 1,4-dihydropyridines

The palladium-assisted one-pot three-component reactions of aldehydes, amines and olefins proceeded smoothly to give 2,6-unsubstituted 1,4-dihydropyridines (1,4-DHPs) using molecular oxygen as a sole oxidant. It also provides efficient Pd-catalyzed aerobic oxidation access to the anti-Markovnikov oxidative amination products of olefins from primary aromatic amines and alkenes. The method is atom-efficient, using cheap and easily available starting materials and an environmentally benign oxidant.     

Mechanistic studies of the oxidative coupling polymerization of phenols. VI. Comparison of reactivities of DMP,PPO-dimer,and -trimer in the copper-catalyzed oxidative coupling polymerization

In the oxidative coupling polymerization, catalyzed by copper-amine complexes, the oxidation rates of 2,6-dimethylphenol (DMP) and its C? O-coupled dimer [4-(2′,6′-dimethylphenoxy)-2,6-dimethylphenol] and trimer [4-(-4′-(2″,6″-dimethylphenoxy)-2′,6′-dimethylphenoxy))-2,6-dimethylphenol] have been determined. The DMP concentration dependence shows a Michaelis–Menten-type behavior. On the other hand, the dimer and trimer showed a first-order rate-dependence in the respective phenol concentrations. This indicates that the slow reaction step, following an equilibrium complex formation between DMP and copper complex, is relatively fast for both the dimer and the trimer. Therefore, coordination of dimer or trimer to the copper complex appears to be rate-determining. Furthermore, the dimer and trimer gave overall reaction rates approximately eight times higher than found for DMP. Following the Flory principle of equal reactivity for functional groups of oligomers in polycondensations, all PPO oligomers can be assumed to have equally high oxidation rates as the dimer and trimer. The yield of undesired DPQ side product is strongly reduced when starting with the dimer (0.18%), or trimer (0.17%), compared to 3.3% for DMP. This is not unexpected, since DPQ can only be formed from two monomeric DMP residues. In fact, using a 1/10 molar mixture of dimer/DMP already results in a DPQ yield of only 1.7%. Furthermore, when starting from DMP, it has been observed that DPQ was predominantly formed during the first 30% conversion. Starting from dimer (or trimer) DPQ was formed at an almost constant very low rate during the whole course of the reaction. From these experiments it can be concluded that the most important polymerization reaction involves oxidation of copper-coordinated DMP anion to its corresponding cations, followed by coupling with a copper coordinated PPO chain.     

一种胺氧化羰化制氨基甲酸酯新催化剂体系

异氰酸酯是重要的有机反应中间体 ,可用于合成聚异氰酯、聚氨酯、聚脲及用于高聚物的粘合剂、杀虫剂、除草剂等[1 ] .一些异氰酸酯在军事上也有重要用途 .目前 ,工业异氰酸酯的生产方法仍为光气法 :ＲＮＨ2 +ＣＯＣｌ2 ＲＮＣＯ + 2ＨＣｌ　　该法普遍存在设备腐蚀、环境污染等问题 ,因而由含氮有机物羰化制取氨基甲酸酯 ,再通过热裂解制取异氰酸酯的环境友好催化过程已受到世界各国的重视[1 ,2 ] .尽管由硝基化合物直接还原羰化制氨基甲酸酯 ,从减少反应步骤的角度考虑更为合理[3～7] ,但该反应存在条件苛刻、催化剂回收困难、多硝基化合物…     

Lanthanides Mediated Oxidative Cross Coupling of Benzylalcohol and Various Amines to Form Corresponding Imines

Herein, a new and efficient approach towards the oxidative cross‐coupling of benzylalcohol and various aromatic amines to form corresponding imines with high degree conversion (>80 %) and chemo‐selectivity using lanthanide salts as pre‐catalysts is presented. The catalyzed oxidative cross‐coupling reaction using La(NO₃)₃ · 6H₂O as pre‐catalyst displayed a broad substrate scope. The reaction afforded various substituted imines from the reaction of benzylalcohol with ample variety of amines in good yields.     

Copper catalyzed oxidative cross-coupling of aromatic amines with 2-pyrrolidinone: a facile synthesis of N-aryl-γ-amino-γ-lactams

Synthesis of N-aryl-γ-amino-γ-lactams by oxidative coupling of aromatic amines with 2-pyrrolidinone using catalytic amount of CuO nanoparticles is described. The procedure has broad substrate scope, good yields, complete regioselectivity and catalyst recyclability.     

Determination of primary aromatic amines in water food simulant using solid-phase analytical derivatization followed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry

Solid phase analytical derivatization with trifluoroacetic anhydride has been introduced as sample preparation for the determination of primary aromatic amines in water by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Water was used as a food simulant for testing migration from laminated flexible food packaging materials. The method was evaluated for 8 primary aromatic amines in 200 ml water samples, which resulted in detection limits in the 0.1-0.4 microg/l range, relative standard deviations in the 4-17% range and acceptable linearity (R2 = 0.997-1.000). Detectable levels of 2,4-diaminotoluene, 2,6-diaminotoluene and 4,4'-methylenedianiline were found in water food simulant from some of the investigated food packaging materials.     

Direct synthesis of imines by 9-azabicyclo-[3,3,1]nonan-N-oxyl/KOH-catalyzed aerobic oxidative coupling of alcohols and amines

A simple and efficient method for preparation of imines by the oxidative coupling of alcohols and amines using ABNO/KOH as the catalysts, and air as the economic and green oxidant was developed.