Preparation and characterization of silicon monoxide/graphite/carbon nanotubes composite as anode for lithium-ion batteries

Silicon monoxide/graphite/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (SiO/G/CNTs) material was prepared by ball milling followed by chemical vapor deposition method and characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), galvanostatic charge–discharge, and AC impedance spectroscopy, respectively. The results revealed that SiO/G/CNTs exhibited an initial specific discharge capacity of 790 mAh g⁻¹ with a columbic efficiency of 65%. After 100 cycles, a high reversible capacity of 495 mAh g⁻¹ is still retained. The improved electrochemical properties were due to beneficial SEI by the SEM and EIS results.     

Lithium-ion batteries based on vertically-aligned carbon nanotube electrodes and ionic liquid electrolytes

In conjunction with environmentally benign ionic liquid electrolytes, vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes (VA-CNTs) sheathed with and without a coaxial layer of vanadium oxide (V(2)O(5)) were used as both cathode and anode, respectively, to develop high-performance and high-safety lithium-ion batteries. The VA-CNT anode and V(2)O(5)-VA-CNT cathode showed a high capacity (600 mAh g(-1) and 368 mAh g(-1), respectively) with a high rate capability. This led to potential to achieve a high energy density (297 Wh kg(-1)) and power density (12 kW kg(-1)) for the prototype batteries to significantly outperform the current state-of-the-art Li-ion batteries.     

Phosphatase of regenerating liver-3 directly interacts with integrin β1 and regulates its phosphorylation at tyrosine 783

Background

Phosphatase of regenerating liver-3 (PRL-3 or PTP4A3) has been implicated in controlling cancer cell proliferation, motility, metastasis, and angiogenesis. Deregulated expression of PRL-3 is highly correlated with cancer progression and predicts poor survival. Although PRL-3 was categorized as a tyrosine phosphatase, its cellular substrates remain largely unknown.

Results

We demonstrated that PRL-3 interacts with integrin β1 in cancer cells. Recombinant PRL-3 associates with the intracellular domain of integrin β1 in vitro. Silencing of integrin α1 enhances PRL-3-integrin β1 interaction. Furthermore, PRL-3 diminishes tyrosine phosphorylation of integrin β1 in vitro and in vivo. With site-specific anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies against residues in the intracellular domain of integrin β1, tyrosine-783, but not tyrosine-795, is shown to be dephosphorylated by PRL-3 in a catalytic activity-dependant manner. Phosphorylation of Y783 is potentiated by ablation of PRL-3 or by treatment with a chemical inhibitor of PRL-3. Conversely, depletion of integrin α1 decreases the phosphorylation of this site.

Conclusions

Our results revealed a direct interaction between PRL-3 and integrin β1 and characterized Y783 of integrin β1 as a bona fide substrate of PRL-3, which is negatively regulated by integrin α1.

     

A label-free thrombin binding aptamer as a probe for highly sensitive and selective detection of lead(II) ions by a resonance Rayleigh scattering method

The binding of lead(II) ions with unusually high affinity to a thrombin binding aptamer resulted in an enhancement of resonance Rayleigh scattering (RRS). A simple, sensitive, and selective assay for the direct determination of trace amounts of Pb(2+) on the basis of RRS has been proposed.     

Synthesis of selective inhibitors against V. cholerae sialidase and human cytosolic sialidase NEU2

Sialidases or neuraminidases catalyze the hydrolysis of terminal sialic acid residues from sialyl oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates. Despite successes in developing potent inhibitors specifically against influenza virus neuraminidases, the progress in designing and synthesizing selective inhibitors against bacterial and human sialidases has been slow. Guided by sialidase substrate specificity studies and sialidase crystal structural analysis, a number of 2-deoxy-2,3-dehydro-N-acetylneuraminic acid (DANA or Neu5Ac2en) analogues with modifications at C9 or at both C5 and C9 were synthesized. Inhibition studies of various bacterial sialidases and human cytosolic sialidase NEU2 revealed that Neu5Gc9N(3)2en and Neu5AcN(3)9N(3)2en are selective inhibitors against V. cholerae sialidase and human NEU2, respectively.     

The influence of ZnO seed layers on n-ZnO nanostructure/p-GaN LEDs

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) were formed by hydrothermally growing n-ZnO nanostructures on p-GaN with or without seed layers. The performance of the fabricated LEDs was studied. The seed layers not only have a great influence on the morphology and density of the ZnO nanostructures but also determine the lighting bias and emitting mechanism. The LEDs without seed layers and with sputtered seed layers exhibit light emission only under reverse bias, which is believed due to the GaN buffer layer/p-GaN p–n junction. The LEDs with sol–gel seed layers exhibit light emission under both forward and reverse biases. With the increase of the forward bias, the LEDs first demonstrate a red electroluminescence emission coming from the sol–gel seed layers and then demonstrate an orange emission coming from the ZnO nanorods. The sol–gel seed layer and the interface play a very important role in the electroluminescence.     

Bandgap tuning in armchair MoS(2) nanoribbon

We report on the first-principles calculations of bandgap modulation in armchair MoS(2) nanoribbon (AMoS(2)NR) by transverse and perpendicular electric fields respectively. In the monolayer AMoS(2)NR case, it is shown that the bandgap can be significantly reduced and be closed by transverse field, whereas the bandgap modulation is absent under perpendicular field. The critical strength of transverse field for gap closure decreases as ribbon width increases. In the multilayer AMoS(2)NR case, in contrast, it is shown that the bandgap can be effectively reduced by both transverse and perpendicular fields. Nevertheless, it seems that the two fields exhibit different modulation effects on the gap. The critical strength of perpendicular field for gap closure decreases with increasing number of layers, while the critical strength of transverse field is almost independent of it.     

棒状纳米纤维素仿生矿化及光谱分析

以棒状纳米纤维素为模板,采用仿生矿化的方法制备纳米纤维素/纳米羟基磷灰石复合材料。并利用X射线衍射(XRD)、X射线光电子能谱(XPS)、扫描电镜能谱分析(SEM-EDAX)对仿生矿化前后纳米纤维素中碳、氧、钙、磷元素的变化情况及分布状态进行了表征,并探讨了纳米羟基磷灰石的生长机理。结果表明纳米纤维素表面形成了纳米羟基磷灰石;纳米纤维素的碳氧比为1.81,仿生矿化后下降为1.54;仿生矿化后纳米纤维素的钙磷比nCa/nP=1.70;纳米羟基磷灰石成核是在纳米纤维素的羟基上,并且纳米纤维素表面羟基和纳米羟基磷灰石的钙离子之间发生了配位作用。纳米羟基磷灰石较为均一的形成在纳米纤维素的基体中。通过原子力显微镜(AFM)图片可以看出,直径为20nm左右的羟基磷灰石生长在纳米纤维素的表面。     

Design of all-optical temporal differentiator using a Moir fiber grating

We design and demonstrate an all-optical temporal differentiator based on a simple Moir fiber grating operated in reflection. The simulation results prove that a single Moir fiber grating with only one π-phase shifted point can act as the first-order temporal differentiator and that a Moir fiber grating incorporating two symmetrical π-phase shifted points can act as the second-order temporal differentiator. A practical Moir fiber grating is fabricated, thereby proving that such a grating can act as the first-order temporal differentiator. Our results verify the feasibility, flexibility, and accuracy of the proposed method.     

Electric-field control of nonvolatile magnetization in Co40Fe40B20/Pb(Mg(1/3)Nb(2/3))(0.7)Ti(0.3)O3 structure at room temperature

We report a large and nonvolatile bipolar-electric-field-controlled magnetization at room temperature in a Co(40)Fe(40)B(20)/Pb(Mg(1/3)Nb(2/3))(0.7)Ti(0.3)O(3) structure, which exhibits an electric-field-controlled looplike magnetization. Investigations on the ferroelectric domains and crystal structures with in situ electric fields reveal that the effect is related to the combined action of 109° ferroelastic domain switching and the absence of magnetocrystalline anisotropy in Co(40)Fe(40)B(20). This work provides a route to realize large and nonvolatile magnetoelectric coupling at room temperature and is significant for applications.