Phase‐Junction Electrocatalysts towards Enhanced Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in Alkaline Media

To ensure sustainable hydrogen production by water electrolysis, robust, earth‐abundant, and high‐efficient electrocatalysts are required. Constructing a hybrid system could lead to further improvement in electrocatalytic activity. Interface engineering in composite catalysts is thus critical to determine the performance, and the phase‐junction interface should improve the catalytic activity. Here, we show that nickel diphosphide phase junction (c‐NiP₂/m‐NiP₂) is an effective electrocatalyst for hydrogen production in alkaline media. The overpotential (at 10 mA cm^?2) for NiP₂‐650 (c/m) in alkaline media could be significantly reduced by 26 % and 96 % compared with c‐NiP₂ and m‐NiP₂, respectively. The enhancement of catalytic activity should be attributed to the strong water dissociation ability and the rearrangement of electrons around the phase junction, which markedly improved the Volmer step and benefited the reduction process of adsorbed protons.     

Rutin and Quercetin Decrease Cholesterol in HepG2 Cells but Not Plasma Cholesterol in Hamsters by Oral Administration

Rutin (R) and quercetin (Q) are two widespread dietary flavonoids. Previous studies regarding the plasma cholesterol-lowering activity of R and Q generated inconsistent results. The present study was therefore carried out to investigate the effects of R and Q on cholesterol metabolism in both HepG2 cells and hypercholesterolemia hamsters. Results from HepG2 cell experiments demonstrate that both R and Q decreased cholesterol at doses of 5 and 10 µM. R and Q up-regulated both the mRNA and protein expression of sterol regulatory element binding protein 2 (SREBP2), low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), and liver X receptor alpha (LXRα). The immunofluorescence study revealed that R and Q increased the LDLR expression, while only Q improved LDL-C uptake in HepG2 cells. Results from hypercholesterolemia hamsters fed diets containing R (5.5 g/kg diet) and Q (2.5 g/kg diet) for 8 weeks demonstrate that both R and Q had no effect on plasma total cholesterol. In the liver, only Q reduced cholesterol significantly. The discrepancy between the in vitro and in vivo studies was probably due to a poor bioavailability of flavonoids in the intestine. It was therefore concluded that R and Q were effective in reducing cholesterol in HepG2 cells in vitro, whereas in vivo, the oral administration of the two flavonoids had little effect on plasma cholesterol in hamsters.     

In situ synthesis of CdS/ZnS composite nanoparticles from ZIF-8 for visible light disposal of Cr(VI)

Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology - Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework (ZIF-8) micropolyhedra were employed as a raw material for the synthesis of fine cadmium sulfide/zinc sulfide (CdS/ZnS)...     

A New Lactam from Cannabis sativa

Chemistry of Natural Compounds - A new lactam, 5-hydroxy-1-[(4-hydroxyphenyl)methyl]-2-pyrrolidinone (1), was isolated from the ethyl acetate extract of Cannabis sativa L. The structure was...     

Rapid and efficient column separation of Re(VII) as a surrogate for Tc(VII) with benzimidazole-based cross-linked poly(ionic liquid)s

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - In this study, the imidazole-based poly(ionic liquid)s (PILs) synthesized by one step method has been applied for the enrichment and recovery of...     

Application of potassium titanium ferrocyanide for the removal of uranium from aqueous solution: Efficiency and mechanism

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - Uranium, as a highly toxic radioactive contaminant existing in mine wastewater and contaminated groundwater, has sparked widespread alarm in...     

Monitoring the kappa number of bleached pulps based on FT-Raman spectroscopy

Cellulose - A new strategy was proposed to determine the Kappa number of bleached Eucalyptus globulus kraft pulps based on FT-Raman spectroscopy. Before modeling, smoothing (Savitzky-Golay),...     

A dynamic photoelastic study of stress-wave propagation through an inclusion

A photoelastic study of the elastodynamic-stress fields around a circular, elastic inclusion (Solithane 113) embedded in an elastic plate (Hysol 4485) is presented. The edge of the plate was loaded by an explosive charge, which produced a plane, compressional stress wave of triangular shape. Isochromatic-fringe patterns were obtained, which give the maximum shear stresses, both inside the inclusion and in the surrounding medium. The principal stresses on the axis of symmetry were determined through the use of the oblique-incidence method. It was found that small tensile stresses are generated at the interface on the shadow side of the inclusion. The focusing effect inside the inclusion predicted by ray theory was not observed. Finally, the shape of the wavefront as the wave passes the inclusion was determined.     

Extraction-condensation method for solving large sets of equations in FE analysis

In static and dynamic analysis of a large complex structure, one may merely be interested in the stresses and displacements at some important locations. A new solution technique for structural analysis with FEM is proposed in this paper by which those important unknowns are separated from the rest. In static analysis the important unknows can be found directly. In dynamic analysis all mass and exciting forces can be condensed onto a small number of predetermined points in order to make the dynamic analysis much simplified. A large scale problem can be solved with a small capacity computer quickly.