Ultrastable Surface-Dominated Pseudocapacitive Potassium Storage Enabled by Edge-Enriched N-Doped Porous Carbon Nanosheets

The development of ultrastable carbon materials for potassium storage poses key limitations caused by the huge volume variation and sluggish kinetics. Nitrogen-enriched porous carbons have recently emerged as promising candidates for this application; however, rational control over nitrogen doping is needed to further suppress the long-term capacity fading. Here we propose a strategy based on pyrolysis–etching of a pyridine-coordinated polymer for deliberate manipulation of edge-nitrogen doping and specific spatial distribution in amorphous high-surface-area carbons; the obtained material shows an edge-nitrogen content of up to 9.34 at %, richer N distribution inside the material, and high surface area of 616 m² g⁻¹ under a cost-effective low-temperature carbonization. The optimized carbon delivers unprecedented K-storage stability over 6000 cycles with negligible capacity decay (252 mA h g⁻¹ after 4 months at 1 A g⁻¹), rarely reported for potassium storage.     

Cross-Module Enoylreduction in the Azalomycin F Polyketide Synthase

The colinearity of canonical modular polyketide synthases, which creates a direct link between multienzyme structure and the chemical structure of the biosynthetic end-product, has become a cornerstone of knowledge-based genome mining. Herein, we report genetic and enzymatic evidence for the remarkable role of an enoylreductase in the polyketide synthase for azalomycin F biosynthesis. This internal enoylreductase domain, previously identified as acting only in the second of two chain extension cycles on an initial iterative module, is shown to also catalyze enoylreduction in trans within the next module. The mechanism for this rare deviation from colinearity appears to involve direct cross-modular interaction of the reductase with the longer acyl chain, rather than back transfer of the substrate into the iterative module, suggesting an additional and surprising plasticity in natural PKS assembly-line catalysis.     

Bucillamine Inhibits UVB-Induced MAPK Activation and Apoptosis in Human HaCaT Keratinocytes and SKH-1 Hairless Mouse Skin

Ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation is known as a culprit in skin carcinogenesis. We have previously reported that bucillamine (N-[2-mercapto-2-methylpropionyl]-L-cysteine), a cysteine derivative with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capacity, protects against UVB-induced p53 activation and inflammatory responses in mouse skin. Since MAPK signaling pathways regulate p53 expression and activation, here we determined bucillamine effect on UVB-mediated MAPK activation in vitro using human skin keratinocyte cell line HaCaT and in vivo using SKH-1 hairless mouse skin. A single low dose of UVB (30 mJ cm⁻²) resulted in increased JNK/MAPK phosphorylation and caspase-3 cleavage in HaCaT cells. However, JNK activation and casaspe-3 cleavage were inhibited by pretreatment of HaCaT cells with physiological doses of bucillamine (25 and 100 µm ). Consistent with these results, bucillamine pretreatment in mice (20 mg kg⁻¹) inhibited JNK/MAPK and ERK/MAPK activation in skin epidermal cells at 6–12 and 24 h, respectively, after UVB exposure. Moreover, bucillamine attenuated UVB-induced Ki-67-positive cells and cleaved caspase-3-positive cells in mouse skin. These findings demonstrate that bucillamine inhibits UVB-induced MAPK signaling, cell proliferation and apoptosis. Together with our previous report, we provide evidence that bucillamine has a photoprotective effect against UV exposure.     

Superwetting Patterned Membranes with an Anisotropy/Isotropy Transition: Towards Signal Expression and Liquid Permeation

Superwetting membranes with responsive properties have attracted heightened attention because of their fine‐tunable surface wettability. However, their functional diversity is severely limited by the “black‐or‐white” wettability transition. Herein, we describe a coating strategy to fabricate multifunctional responsive superwetting membranes with SiO₂/octadecylamine patterns. The adjustable patterns in the responsive region are the key factor for functional diversity. Specifically, the coated part of the membrane displayed a superhydrophobicity/superhydrophilicity transition at different pH values, whereas the uncoated part exhibited invariant superhydrophilicity. On the basis of this anisotropy/isotropy transition, the membranes can serve as either responsive permeable membranes or signal‐expression membranes, thus enabling the responsive separation and permeation of liquids with satisfactory separation efficiency (>99.90 %) and flux (ca. 60 L m^?2 h), as well as real‐time liquid signal expression with alterable signals.     

Effects of High-Intensity Ultrasound Pretreatment on Structure,Properties, and Enzymolysis of Walnut Protein Isolate

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the effect of high-intensity ultrasonication (HIU) pretreatment before enzymolysis on structural conformations of walnut protein isolate (WPI) and antioxidant activity of its hydrolysates. Aqueous WPI suspensions were subjected to ultrasonic processing at different power levels (600–2000 W) and times (5–30 min), and then changes in the particle size, zeta (ζ) potential, and structure of WPI were investigated, and antioxidant activity of its hydrolysates was determined. The particle size of the particles of aqueous WPI suspensions was decreased after ultrasound, indicating that sonication destroyed protein aggregates. The ζ-potential values of a protein solution significantly changed after sonication, demonstrating that the original dense structure of the protein was destroyed. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy indicated a change in the secondary structure of WPI after sonication, with a decrease in β-turn and an increase in α-helix, β-sheet, and random coil content. Two absorption peaks of WPI were generated, and the fluorescence emission intensity of the proteins decreased after ultrasonic treatment, indicating that the changes in protein tertiary structure occurred. Moreover, the degree of hydrolysis and the antioxidant activity of the WPI hydrolysates increased after sonication. These results suggest that HIU pretreatment is a potential tool for improving the functional properties of walnut proteins.     

Highly effective and chemoselective hydrodeoxygenation of aromatic alcohols

Effective hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of aromatic alcohols is very attractive in both conventional organic synthesis and upgrading of biomass-derived molecules, but the selectivity of this reaction is usually low because of the competitive hydrogenation of the unsaturated aromatic ring and the hydroxyl group. The high activity of noble metal-based catalysts often leads to undesired side reactions (e.g., saturation of the aromatic ring) and excessive hydrogen consumption. Non-noble metal-based catalysts suffer from unsatisfied activity and selectivity and often require harsh reaction conditions. Herein, for the first time, we report chemoselective HDO of various aromatic alcohols with excellent selectivity, using porous carbon–nitrogen hybrid material-supported Co catalysts. The C–OH bonds were selectively cleaved while leaving the aromatic moiety intact, and in most cases the yields of targeted compounds reached above 99% and the catalyst could be readily recycled. Nitrogen doping on the carbon skeleton of the catalyst support (C–N matrix) significantly improved the yield of the targeted product. The presence of large pores and a high surface area also improved the catalyst efficiency. This work opens the way for efficient and selective HDO reactions of aromatic alcohols using non-noble metal catalysts.

Porous carbon–nitrogen hybrid material-supported Co catalysts can effectively promote the chemoselective hydrodeoxygenation reaction of a various of aromatic alcohols in ethanol and hydrogen atmosphere, under relatively mild conditions.     

The Impact of Foaming Effect on the Physical and Mechanical Properties of Foam Glasses with Molecular-Level Insights

Foaming effect strongly impacts the physical and mechanical properties of foam glass materials, but an understanding of its mechanism especially at the molecular level is still limited. In this study, the foaming effects of dextrin, a mixture of dextrin and carbon, and different carbon allotropes are investigated with respect to surface morphology as well as physical and mechanical properties, in which 1 wt.% carbon black is identified as an optimal choice for a well-balanced material property. More importantly, the different foaming effects are elucidated by all-atomistic molecular dynamics simulations with molecular-level insights into the structure–property relationships. The results show that smaller pores and more uniform pore structure benefit the mechanical properties of the foam glass samples. The foam glass samples show excellent chemical and thermal stability with 1 wt.% carbon as the foaming agent. Furthermore, the foaming effects of CaSO₄ and Na₂HPO₄ are investigated, which both create more uniform pore structures. This work may inspire more systematic approaches to control foaming effect for customized engineering needs by establishing molecular-level structure–property–process relationships, thereby, leading to efficient production of foam glass materials with desired foaming effects.     

Spin-exchange relaxation of naturally abundant Rb in a K-Rb-~(21)Ne self-compensated atomic comagnetometer

The total effective spin-exchange relaxation of naturally abundant Rb in a K–Rb–21Ne comagnetometer is analyzed,and the results show that the coexistence of 87Rb and 85Rb isotopes in the same volume can lead to a large extra spinexchange broadening compared to pure 87Rb.This broadening mainly comes from the contribution of the equivalent reduction in the Rb spin-exchange rate.On this basis,an approximate relaxation model is proposed and experimentally demonstrated to be more accurate than that from a previous work.This study also provides a method for determining the properties of alkali-metal vapor cells.     

光锥与TDI-CCD耦合监控中测试目标的一种实现方法

为了给光锥与时间延迟积分电荷耦合器件耦合监控装置提供有效的被测运动条纹,分析了传统推扫成像实验装置的不足之处,设计了电子显示目标滚屏运动装置.采用光学相机对印刷条纹静止成像,并用TDI-CCD数字相机对监视器屏幕上的运动条纹动态成像.实验结果表明,该方案解决了高分辨率的鉴别率图样无法在监视器或投影仪上精确显示的困难.与传统的实验室模拟装置相比,该方案提高了鉴别率条纹的运动稳定性,减小了条纹运动速率与TDI-CCD扫描行频间的失配误差,不仅能够对耦合过程实施监控,而且还能用于耦合系统的像质评价.     

Selective photocatalytic aerobic oxidation of methane into carbon monoxide over Ag/AgCl@SiO2

Design of active catalysts for chemical utilization of methane under mild conditions is of great importance, but remains a challenging task. Here, we prepared a Ag/AgCl with SiO₂ coating (Ag/AgCl@SiO₂) photocatalyst for methane oxidation to carbon monoxide. High carbon monoxide production (2.3 μmol h⁻¹) and high selectivity (73%) were achieved. SiO₂ plays a key role in the superior performance by increasing the lifetime of the photogenerated charge carriers. Based on a set of semi in situ infrared spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance, and electronic property characterization studies, it is revealed that CH₄ is effectively and selectively oxidized to CO by the in situ formation of singlet ¹O₂via the key intermediate of COOH*. Further study showed that the Ag/AgCl@SiO₂ catalyst could also drive valuable conversion using real sunlight under ambient conditions. As far we know, this is the first work on the application of SiO₂ modified Ag/AgCl in the methane oxidation reaction.

The Ag/AgCl@SiO₂ catalyst exhibits excellent photocatalytic activity in selective aerobic oxidation of methane to carbon monoxide with high selectivity, and extended real light simulation feasibility shows potential in practical application.