Dual Fluorometric Detection of Fe3+ and Hg2+ Ions in an Aqueous Medium Using Carbon Quantum Dots as a “Turn-off” Fluorescence Sensor

The present study aimed to develop a carbon dots-based fluorescence (FL) sensor that can detect more than one pollutant simultaneously in the same aqueous solution. The carbon dots-based FL sensor has been prepared by employing a facile hydrothermal method using citric acid and ethylenediamine as precursors. The as-synthesized CDs displayed excellent hydrophilicity, good photostability and blue fluorescence under UV light. They have been used as an efficient “turn-off” FL sensor for dual sensing of Fe³⁺ and Hg²⁺ ions in an aqueous medium with high sensitivity and selectivity through a static quenching mechanism. The lowest limit of detection (LOD) for Fe³⁺ and Hg²⁺ ions was found to be 0.406 µM and 0.934 µM, respectively over the concentration range of 0-50 µM. Therefore, the present work provides an effective strategy to monitor the concentration of Fe³⁺ and Hg²⁺ ions simultaneously in an aqueous medium using environment-friendly CDs.

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Versatile Near-Infrared Super-Resolution Imaging of Amyloid Fibrils with the Fluorogenic Probe CRANAD-2

CRANAD-2 is a fluorogenic curcumin derivative used for near-infrared detection and imaging in vivo of amyloid aggregates, which are involved in neurodegenerative diseases. We explore the performance of CRANAD-2 in two super-resolution imaging techniques, namely stimulated emission depletion (STED) and single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM), with markedly different fluorophore requirements. By conveniently adapting the concentration of CRANAD-2, which transiently binds to amyloid fibrils, we show that it performs well in both techniques, achieving a resolution in the range of 45–55 nm. Correlation of SMLM with atomic force microscopy (AFM) validates the resolution of fine features in the reconstructed super-resolved image. The good performance and versatility of CRANAD-2 provides a powerful tool for near-infrared nanoscopic imaging of amyloids in vitro and in vivo.     

Automorphism subgroups for designs with $$\lambda =1$$ λ = 1

Designs, Codes and Cryptography - Given an integer $$k\ge 3$$ and a group G of odd order,  if there exists a 2-(v, k, 1)-design and if v is sufficiently large then there...     

Effect of Plasmon Resonance of Silver Nanoparticles on the Fluorescent Properties of Doxycycline

Journal of Analytical Chemistry - Silver nanoparticles modified with Eu3+ ions increase the intensity of the fluorescence signal by a factor of 125 in an analytical system containing doxycycline as...     

A piecewise conservative method for unconstrained convex optimization

Computational Optimization and Applications - We consider a continuous-time optimization method based on a dynamical system, where a massive particle starting at rest moves in the conservative...     

Optimization of Transducer Location for Novel Non-Intrusive Methodologies of Diagnosis in Diesel Engines

The health monitoring has been studied to ensure integrity of design of engine structure by detection, quantification, and prediction of damages. Early detection of faults may allow the downtime of maintenance to be rescheduled, thus preventing sudden shutdown of machines. In cylinder pressure developed, vibrations and noise emissions data provide a rich source of information about condition of engines. Monitoring of vibrations and noise emissions are novel non-intrusive methodologies for which positioning of various transducers are important issue. The presented work shows applicability of these diagnosis methodologies adopted in case of diesel engines. The effects of changing various fuel injection parameters was analyzed. Scope of using non-intrusive technique has been analyzed by changing locations of microphone. Novelty of this worklies in exploring signal processing methods for various locations around the engine test set up. Various frequency ranges of contributing noise and vibration sources were identified. Time-Frequency analysis showed the onset of various cyclic. Based on the identification of various frequency bands, it is possible to device suitable filters in order to extract more information.     

Alkaline oxygen evolution: exploring synergy between fcc and hcp cobalt nanoparticles entrapped in N-doped graphene

Herein, we report a Mott-Schottky catalyst by entrapping cobalt nanoparticles inside the N-doped graphene shell (Co@NC). The Co@NC delivered excellent oxygen evolution activity with an overpotential of merely 248 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm^–2 with promising long-term stability. The importance of Co encapsulated in NC has further been demonstrated by synthesizing Co nanoparticles without NC shell. The synergy between the hexagonal close-packed (hcp) and face-centered cubic (fcc) Co plays a major role to improve the OER activity, whereas the NC shell optimizes the electronic structure, improves the electron conductivity, and offers a large number of active sites in Co@NC. The density functional theory calculations have revealed that the hcp Co has a dominant role in the surface reaction of electrocatalytic oxygen evolution, whereas the fcc phase induces the built-in electric field at the interfaces with N-doped graphene to accelerate the H⁺ ion transport.     

Comparative Study of LiInSe2 Single Crystals for Thermal-Neutron Detection

Crystallography Reports - Two LiInSe2 single crystals, grown under different conditions, have been studied. Characteristics of these crystals for neutron detection have been compared using...     

A study for the selection of NPE-free cocktails for LSC routine measurements

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - In this paper a study for the selection of an NPE (nonylphenol ethoxylates)—free cocktail is discussed in order to be used for our routine...