基于扩散强化的Pickering界面生物催化系统构建及CO2矿化过程研究

CO₂的有效利用有助于解决环境和生态问题.碳酸酐酶(CA)等酶分子可精准活化CO₂分子以降低反应能垒,为CO₂的高效和高选择性转化提供了一种有前景的途径.然而,酶离开生物体后易失活,且难以重复利用.目前,包埋型固定化酶是常用且有效的提高酶稳定性与回用率的方法之一,但载体的存在会造成反应物CO₂内扩散阻力增加,降低反应活性.此外,CO₂酶促转化是一个气-液-固三相反应过程,反应体系中CO₂的外扩散性能也需要加强.金属有机骨架(MOFs),特别是咪唑酯骨架(ZIFs),常被用作酶固定化的载体.ZIFs的拓扑结构可被设计成不同形貌,进而通过ZIFs的结构工程来加强分子向其中的内扩散.Pickering乳液是指以固体颗粒代替常规表面活性剂而稳定的乳液.当固体颗粒具有催化活性时,催化剂颗粒会扩大液-液-固或气-液-固三相接触面积,从而有效协调反应物在不同相中的扩散时间.如果酶被用作这些颗粒的活性中心,所制备的Pickering乳液也可能具备类似的特性,可加强底物分子向酶的外扩散.本文选择两种具有不同结构的ZIFs(ZIF-L和ZIF-8),原位包埋CA后形成CA@ZIFs颗粒以稳定Pickeirng乳液.ZIF-L和CA@ZIF-L颗粒显示出独特的二维层状堆叠结构.ZIF-8和CA@ZIF-8颗粒呈棱角清晰的十二面体结构.与CA@ZIF-8颗粒相比,CA@ZIF-L颗粒显示出更大的孔径和更宽的孔径分布,这有助于CO₂从CA@ZIF-L颗粒表面扩散至酶活性中心.利用酶活测试来研究内扩散是否通过结构工程得到了加强,发现CA@ZIF-L颗粒的活性比CA@ZIF-8颗粒高22.3%,推测这是由于CA@ZIF-L颗粒特殊的十字花状结构会缩短CO₂从颗粒表面扩散至酶活性中心的距离.同时,十字花状结构可暴露更多的酶活性位点(CA@ZIF-L颗粒的暴露面积是CA@ZIF-8颗粒的~8倍),从而提升了反应物浓度并显示出更高的催化活性.本文还设计了吸附实验来进一步验证上述假设,发现BSA@ZIF-L颗粒对香豆素的吸附率远高于BSA@ZIF-8颗粒,说明与ZIF-8相比,酶包埋于ZIF-L具有更强的捕获小分子的能力,表明CO₂分子向CA@ZIF-L的扩散速度更快,即CA@ZIF-L的十字花状结构可强化系统的内扩散过程.进一步比较了PIBS和游离多酶体系的催化活性,将CO₂通入每个系统,在反应前20 min,PIBS的pH值下降速度比游离体系快得多,说明PIBS通过在气相和液相间构建更大的界面,缩短了CO₂向CA的扩散距离,从而提高了催化效率,促进了CO₂转化.上述假设也通过扩散动力学的计算得到了验证.为进一步研究PIBS的CO₂矿化能力,本文开展了CaCO₃矿化反应,发现PIBS的CaCO₃产量远高于游离多酶体系,表明构建的PIBS在强化内外扩散方面具有显著优势.最后,评估了PIBS在工业应用中的性能,由CA@ZIF-L和CA@ZIF-8颗粒构建的PIBS显示出较好的可回收性,在第8个循环后,PIBS仍可保持8.9 mg/5 min的CaCO₃产量.综上,PIBS可为CO₂的酶促转化和框架提供一个新方法和新平台.     

固态氧化物电解池中碳-分子电化学转化为可再生燃料

近年来,随着社会环保意识的迅速提高以及对可再生能源利用能力的大幅增强,以燃料电池和电解池为代表的电化学技术已经逐渐在能源的存储、转化和利用方面发挥着不可或缺的独特作用.其中,固态氧化物电解池经过多年的发展,在装置成本和工作效率上取得了长足的进步,在储能转化方面具有重要的潜力.与此同时,伴随着《巴黎协定》签订以来各国的“碳中和”路线图逐渐出台,利用相对廉价易得的可再生电能,将二氧化碳(CO₂)和甲烷(CH₄)等碳-(C1)分子电解转化为高附加值的可再生燃料(如水煤气、乙烯等),对于碳中和目标的实现具有重要的意义.因此,C1分子电化学转化的研究成为了当下重点关注的研究领域,许多重要的研究成果和技术进步在过去几年中不断涌现.固态氧化物电解池作为一种代表性的C1分子电解和转化平台,也日渐引起相关领域研究人员的关注和兴趣.与传统的C1分子催化转化方法相比,基于固态氧化物电解池的电解转化技术具有两个重要优点:高能量转换效率与体系抗中毒能力.这两个特性作为体系稳健性的基石,保障了C1分子转化为可再生燃料的反应过程的长期可持续性.本文首先简要回顾了固态氧化物电解池的前沿技术与发展,并从电解池系统分类、反应体系的特征和反应体系发展的前景与挑战这三个方面,简要介绍了近年来基于固态氧化物电解池体系的C1分子电化学转化的代表性工作.CO₂与CH₄作为廉价易得的C1分子的代表,其转化因其反应分子惰性及反应过程不可控性而广受研究者关注,本文重点关注了在固态氧化物电解池中CO₂,CO₂/H₂O和CH₄三个体系的电化学反应过程和近期研究进展,希望可为相关研究人员未来设计更合适的催化剂和构建更优的电解池结构提供有益的参考.本文还针对目前固态氧化物电解池体系在C1分子转化领域所面临的挑战,提出了未来的一些可能的研究方向,以期助力研究者在不远的将来实现C1分子电解生产可再生燃料的实用化.     

太阳能光催化分解水制氢※

利用太阳能光催化分解水制氢是解决能源环境问题并实现太阳能有效转化和储存最有前途的技术之一, 这一“圣杯”式反应经过几十年不懈努力取得了诸多重要研究进展. 本文将综述光催化分解水制氢体系的基本概念、活性测试方法与注意事项、光催化材料种类等; 并从光催化分解水制氢的光吸收、光生电荷分离和表面催化反应等基本过程和关键科学问题的角度总结其重要研究进展, 最后对于太阳能光催化分解水制氢的挑战和潜在的发展方向进行分析和展望. 希望通过本综述的简要介绍能让刚从事光催化分解水制氢研究的青年科技人员清晰地了解掌握该领域的一些基本概念、操作规范、研究总体进展和现状等.     

Reversible Photoinduced Conversion of Unprecedented Norbornadiene-Based Photoswitches with Redox-Active Naphthalene Diimide Functionalities

An unprecedented compound class of functional organic hybrids consisting of a photoswitchable norbornadiene building block and a redoxactive chromophore, namely naphthalene diimide, were designed and synthesized. Within these structures the capability of rylene chromophores to function as a redox active catalyst upon their photoexcitation was utilized to initiate the oxidative back-conversion of the in situ formed quadricyclane unit to its norbornadiene analogue. In this way successive photoexcitation at two different wavelengths enabled a controlled photoswitching between the two isomerical states of the hybrids. Beyond this prove of concept, the dependency of the reaction rate to the intramolecular distance of the two functional molecular building blocks as well as the concentration of the photoexcited sample was monitored. The experimental findings and interpretations were furthermore supported by quantum chemical investigations.     

Optimizing the Photovoltaic Performance of Organic Solar Cells for Indoor Light Harvesting

Organic solar cells (OSCs) harvesting indoor light are highly promising for emerging technologies, such as internet of things. Herein, the photovoltaic performance of PTB7-Th:PC₇₁BM solar cells constructed using “optimized (with 1,8-diiodooctane (DIO))” and “non-optimized (without DIO)” processing conditions are compared for indoor and outdoor applications. We find that in comparison to the “optimized” solar cell, the “non-optimized” solar cell is less efficient under simulated solar light illumination (100 mW cm⁻², spectral range 350–1100 nm), owing to significant bimolecular charge carrier recombination losses. However, under simulated indoor illumination (3.28 mW cm⁻², spectral range 400–700 nm), bimolecular recombination losses are effective suppressed, thus the power conversion efficiency of the solar cell without DIO was increased to 14.7 %, higher than that of the solar cell with DIO (14.2 %). These results suggest that the common strategy used to optimize the OSCs could be undesired for indoor OSCs. We demonstrate that the efforts for realizing the desired “morphology” of the active layer for the outdoor OSCs may be unnecessary for indoor OSCs, allowing us to realize high-efficiency indoor OSCs using a non-halogenated solvent.     

CuS nanodots-loaded biohybrid magnetic helical microrobots with enhanced photothermal performance

Magnetic helical microrobots swimming at low Reynolds numbers have attracted much interest because of their great potentials for biomedical applications. However, to endow them with sophisticated function integration toward targeted disease treatment still remains a major challenge. Here, we proposed a novel strategy of using Spirulina scaffolds to fabricate biohybrid magnetic helical microrobot (BMHM) with enhanced photothermal performance to fight against cancer cells and pathogenic bacteria. For the first time, CuS nanodots were densely and uniformly loaded intracellularly inside Spirulina cells after permeabilization, and Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles were subsequently deposited on the cell walls for magnetization. The BMHMs could be actuated forward at a high velocity and flexibly steered under rotating magnetic fields. Rapid and great photothermal temperature raise with robust cycling stability was achieved under 808 nm near-infrared laser irradiation. The BMHMs showed good biocompatibility with minor toxicity to HeLa cancer cells and Escherichia coli bacteria. Moreover, significant photothermal performance was further verified via a series of experiments for anticancer therapy and bacteria killing. Because of the remarkable features and facile cost-effective fabrication, the BMHMs demonstrated great potentials as an integrated microrobot platform for future anticancer and antibacteria applications.     

Redox targeting of energy materials

The redox-mediated electrochemical–chemical process, when it involves the redox-targeting reaction with energy materials, has shown intriguing potential for various energy-related applications. This review starts with a brief discussion on the evolution of redox-targeting reactions for high-energy redox-flow batteries and the critical future studies for large-scale energy storage. Then, with spatially decoupled water electrolysis as an example, the merits of redox-targeting reaction by liberating the catalyst from electrode surface are highlighted, followed by an introduction of redox targeting–based thermal-to-electrical conversion. We have also featured various redox-targeting processes in other fields of study, such as electrochromic window, redox catalysis, and spent battery material recycling. Overall, this review attempts to demonstrate the incredible versatility and prospects of redox-targeting process for energy-related applications.     

Understanding the Effect of Solvent Environment on the Interaction of Hydronium Ion with Biomass Derived Species: A Molecular Dynamics and Metadynamics Investigation

The addition of aprotic solvents results in higher reactivities and selectivities in many key aqueous phase biomass reactions, including the acid-catalyzed conversion of fructose to 5-hydroxyl methyl furfural (HMF). The addition of certain co-solvents inhibits the formation of humins via preferential solvation of key functional groups and can alter reaction kinetics. An important factor in this context is the relative stability of the hydronium ion (the catalyst) in the vicinity of the biomass moiety as compared to that in bulk, as it could determine its efficacy in the protonation step. Hence, in the present work, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of HMF (the model product) and fructose (the model reactant) in acidic water and water-DMSO mixtures are performed to analyze their interaction with the hydronium ions. We show that the presence of DMSO favors the interaction of the hydronium ion with fructose, whereas it has a detrimental effect on the interaction of hydronium ion with HMF. Well-tempered metadynamics (WT-MTD) simulations are performed to determine the relative stability of the hydronium ion in the immediate vicinity of fructose and HMF, as compared to that in the bulk solvent phase, as a function of solvent composition. We find that DMSO improves the stabilization of the hydronium ions in the first solvation shell of fructose compared to that in the bulk solvent. On the other hand, hydronium ions become less stable in the immediate vicinity of HMF, as the concentration of DMSO increases.     

Light-conversion phosphor nanoarchitectonics for improved light harvesting in sensitized solar cells

Photovoltaic technology provides a promising approach for solar energy conversion. One significant factor limiting the efficiency is the poor light harvesting of solar energy, which is related to the mismatch between the energy distribution of photons and the absorption of semiconductor materials or dye. Light-conversion phosphors have been explored as spectral converters to improve the light-harvesting ability in sensitized solar cells. Many progressive studies have been conducted to expand the family of light-conversion phosphors and exploit their application in sensitized solar cells, bringing emerging opportunities to develop commercial sensitized solar cells. In this review, we survey the development of light-conversion phosphors in sensitized solar cells. First, the application and conversion mechanism of light-conversion phosphors, including up-conversion phosphors, down-conversion phosphors, up/down conversion phosphors, and long-lasting phosphors, are summarized in detail. After that, the challenging problems and possible solutions of applying light-conversion phosphors to sensitized solar cells are discussed. The review also highlights some new ideas in the development of sensitized solar cells and the application of light-conversion phosphors in other solar technology.     

Successive approximation-like 4-bit full-optical analog-to-digital converter based on Kerr-like nonlinear photonic crystal ring resonators

Implementing of photonic sampling and quantizing analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) enable us to extract a single binary word from optical signals without need for extra electronic assisting parts. This would enormously increase the sampling and quantizing time as well as decreasing the consumed power. To this end, based on the concept of successive approximation method, a 4-bit full-optical ADC that operates using the intensity-dependent Kerr-like nonlinearity in a two dimensional photonic crystal (2DPhC) platform is proposed. The Silicon (Si) nanocrystal is chosen because of the suitable nonlinear material characteristic. An optical limiter is used for the clamping and quantization of each successive levels that represent the ADC bits. In the proposal, an energy efficient optical ADC circuit is implemented by controlling the system parameters such as ring-to-waveguide coupling coefficients, the ring’s nonlinear refractive index, and the ring’s length. The performance of the ADC structure is verified by the simulation using finite difference time domain (FDTD) method.