A Surface-Oxide-Rich Activation Layer (SOAL) on Ni2Mo3N for a Rapid and Durable Oxygen Evolution Reaction

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is key to renewable energy technologies such as water electrolysis and metal–air batteries. However, the multiple steps associated with proton-coupled electron transfer result in sluggish OER kinetics and catalysts are required. Here we demonstrate that a novel nitride, Ni₂Mo₃N, is a highly active OER catalyst that outperforms the benchmark material RuO₂. Ni₂Mo₃N exhibits a current density of 10 mA cm⁻² at a nominal overpotential of 270 mV in 0.1 m KOH with outstanding catalytic cyclability and durability. Structural characterization and computational studies reveal that the excellent activity stems from the formation of a surface-oxide-rich activation layer (SOAL). Secondary Mo atoms on the surface act as electron pumps that stabilize oxygen-containing species and facilitate the continuity of the reactions. This discovery will stimulate the further development of ternary nitrides with oxide surface layers as efficient OER catalysts for electrochemical energy devices.     

Magnetic property and structural study of nickel supported on reduced graphene oxide prepared by chemical vapor deposition

Nickel supported on reduced graphene oxide was synthesized by chemical vapor deposition technique. The crystal structure and magnetic properties of the prepared sample were studied by means of Raman spectrometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). The result of Raman spectroscopy revealed the structure of few-layer graphene as the support for Ni nanoparticles. XP spectrum confirmed the presence of metallic Ni on the a few-layer graphene surface. TE micrograph showed that the nickel nanoparticles were sphere shaped and the mean particle size is about 20 nm deposited on the reduced graphene oxide. The magnetic study showed the ferromagnetic behavior of 3.2 wt% nickel over reduced graphene oxide at room temperature.     

Synthesis, characterization and crystal structures of palladium(II) complexes containing neutral, one and twofold deprotonated 1,2,4-triazine species

The synthesis and characterization of three new palladium(II) complexes of 4-amino-6-ethyl-1,2,4-triazine-3-thion-5-one (AETTO, H₃L), [PdCl₂(H₃L)]·H₂O (1), [Pd₂Cl₂(H₂L)(PPh₃)₃]NO₃·2CH₃CN (2) and [Pd(HL)(PPh₃)₂] (3), are reported. All the synthesized compounds are air-stable and were characterized by elemental analyses, IR, NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. In addition, the molecular structures of the complexes have been determined by X-ray single crystal diffraction. On the basis of the crystallographic data, the neutral ligand in 1 and the deprotonated ligands in 2 and 3 act as bidentate NS donors. The singly deprotonated ligand in 2 acts as a bridging agent between two metal centers in the binuclear Pd^II-complex.     

Binding Studies of Isoxsuprine Hydrochloride to Calf Thymus DNA Using Multispectroscopic and Molecular Docking Techniques

In the present work, the interaction of Isoxsuprine (ISX) with Calf thymus DNA (ct-DNA) under physiological conditions (Tris–HCl buffer of pH 7.4) was investigated by using electronic absorption, circular dichroism, viscosity, electrochemical studies, fluorescence techniques, salt effect studies and computational studies. Competitive fluorimetric studies with Hoechst 33258 have shown that ISX exhibit the ability to displace the DNA-bound Hoechst 33258, indicating that it binds to ct-DNA in strong competition with Hoechst 33258 for the minor groove binding. Furthermore, the resulting data showed that ISX cannot displace methylene blue or acridine orange, which are the common intercalator molecules. The viscosity of ct-DNA solution was almost unchanged on addition of ISX and circular dichroism (CD) spectra of ct-DNA showed small changes in the presence of ISX which is in agreement with groove binding mode of interaction. Thus all above studies showed that the ISX drug binds to ct-DNA in a groove binding mode.The salt-effect studies showed the non-electrostatic nature of binding of ISX to ct-DNA. Moreover, molecular docking results support the above experimental data and suggest that ISX prefers to bind on the minor groove of ct-DNA.     

Laser Spectroscopic Characterization for the Rapid Detection of Nutrients along with CN Molecular Emission Band in Plant-Biochar

We report a quantitative analysis of various plant-biochar samples (S1, S2 and S3) by utilizing a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technique. For LIBS analysis, laser-induced microplasma was generated on the target surface by using a focused beam through a high-power Nd: YAG laser and optical emission spectra were recorded using a charged coupled device (CCD) array spectrometer, with wavelength ranges from 200 nm to 720 nm. The spectroscopical analysis showed the existence of various ingredients, including H, Li, Ca, Na, Al, Zn, Mg, Sr, Si, and Fe, along with a CN molecular emission band due to B²Σ⁺ − X²Σ⁺ electronic transition. By assuming conditions of the plasma is optically thin and in LTE, calibration-free laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (CF-LIBS) was utilized for the compositional analysis of the ingredients present in the three plant-biochar samples. To lower the uncertainties, we used an average composition (%) of the three plant-biochar samples. The quantitative study of the plant-biochar samples was also achieved using the energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) technique, showing good agreement with the CF-LIBS technique. In addition, statistical analysis, such as principal component analysis (PCA), was performed for the clustering and classification of the three plant-biochar samples. The first three PCs explained an overall ~91% of the variation in LIBS spectral data, including PC1 (58.71%), PC2 (20.9%), and PC3 (11.4%). These findings suggest that LIBS is a robust tool for rapid measurement of heavy as well as light elements, such as H, Li, and nutritional metals in plant-biochar samples.