Surface solitons at the interface between semi-infinite linear and thermal nonlinear optical media

We investigate numerically surface-wave solitons occurring at the interface between semi-infinite linear and thermal nonlinear optical media, with the refractive index of the linear medium being greater than that of the nonlinear medium (in the absence of light). We find that the threshold energy flows of the existence of the surface solitons depend on the linear refractive index difference of the two media. Their fitting empirical formula has been obtained. Furthermore, we elucidate that the optical beams propagating in thermal nonlinear optical media, either as a single surface soliton or as a dipole surface soliton, can be attracted to the surface, even when launched from far away.     

Stress-Induced Alteration of Chlorophyll Fluorescence Polarization and Spectrum in Leaves of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Alocasia macrorrhiza</Emphasis> L. Schott

The value of intrinsic chlorophyll fluorescence polarization, and the intensity in emission spectrum were investigated in leaf segments of Alocasia macrorrhiza under several stress conditions including different temperatures (25–50°C), various concentrations of NaCl (0–250 mM), methyl viologen (MV, 0–25 μM), SDS (0–1.0%) and NaHSO₃ (0–80 μM). Fluorescence emission spectrum of leaves at wavelength regions of 500–800 nm was monitored by excitation at 436 nm. The value of fluorescence polarization (P value), as result of energy transfer and mutual orientation between chlorophyll molecules, was determined by excitation at 436 nm and emission at 685 nm. The results showed that elevated temperature and concentrations of salt (NaCl), photooxidant (MV), surfactant (SDS) and simulated SO₂ (NaHSO₃) treatments all induced a reduction of fluorescence polarization to various degrees. However, alteration of the fluorescence spectrum and emission intensity of F₆₈₅ and F₇₃₁ depended on the individual treatment. Increase in temperature and concentration of NaHSO₃ enhanced fluorescence intensity mainly at F₆₈₅, while an increase in MV concentration led to a decrease at both F₆₈₅ and F₇₃₁. On the contrary, NaCl and SDS did not cause remarkable change in fluorescence spectrum. Among different treatments, the negative correlation between polarization and fluorescence intensity was found with NaHSO₃ treatments only. We concluded that P value being measured with intrinsic chlorophyll fluorescence as probe in leaves is a susceptible indicator responding to changes in environmental conditions. The alteration of P value and fluorescence intensity might not always be shown a functional relation pattern. The possible reasons of differed response to various treatments were discussed.     

Hierarchical Hollow-Nanocube Ni−Co Skeleton@MoO3/MoS2 Hybrids for Improved-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries

Improving the performance of anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is a hotly debated topic. Herein, hollow Ni−Co skeleton@MoS₂/MoO₃ nanocubes (NCM-NCs), with an average size of about 193 nm, have been synthesized through a facile hydrothermal reaction. Specifically, MoO₃/MoS₂ composites are grown on Ni−Co skeletons derived from nickel–cobalt Prussian blue analogue nanocubes (Ni−Co PBAs). The Ni−Co PBAs were synthesized through a precipitation method and utilized as self-templates that provided a larger specific surface area for the adhesion of MoO₃/MoS₂ composites. According to Raman spectroscopy results, as-obtained defect-rich MoS₂ is confirmed to be a metallic 1T-phase MoS₂. Furthermore, the average particle size of Ni−Co PBAs (≈43 nm) is only about one-tenth of the previously reported particle size (≈400 nm). If assessed as anodes of LIBs, the hollow NCM-NC hybrids deliver an excellent rate performance and superior cycling performance (with an initial discharge capacity of 1526.3 mAh g⁻¹ and up to 1720.6 mAh g⁻¹ after 317 cycles under a current density of 0.2 A g⁻¹). Meanwhile, ultralong cycling life is retained, even at high current densities (776.6 mAh g⁻¹ at 2 A g⁻¹ after 700 cycles and 584.8 mAh g⁻¹ at 5 A g⁻¹ after 800 cycles). Moreover, at a rate of 1 A g⁻¹, the average specific capacity is maintained at 661 mAh g⁻¹. Thus, the hierarchical hollow NCM-NC hybrids with excellent electrochemical performance are a promising anode material for LIBs.     

Temperature-assisted ionic liquid dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction combined with high performance liquid chromatography for the determination of PCBs and PBDEs in water and urine samples

We report on silver–gold core-shell nanostructures that contain Methylene Blue (MB) at the gold–silver interface. They can be used as reporter molecules in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) labels. The labels are stable and have strong SERS activity. TEM imaging revealed that these nanoparticles display bright and dark stripe structures. In addition, these labels can act as probes that can be detected and imaged through the specific Raman signatures of the reporters. We show that such SERS probes can identify cellular structures due to enhanced Raman spectra of intrinsic cellular molecules measured in the local optical fields of the core-shell nanostructures. They also provide structural information on the cellular environment as demonstrated for these nanoparticles as new SERS-active and biocompatible substrates for imaging of live cells.

Molecularly imprinted polymer coated on stainless steel fiber for solid-phase microextraction of chloroacetanilide herbicides in soybean and corn

A molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) with metolachlor as template was firstly coated on stainless steel fiber through chemical bonding strategy to solve the fragility problem of silica fiber substrate for solid-phase microextraction. The surface pretreatment of stainless steel fiber and the polymerization conditions were investigated systematically to enhance the preparation feasibility and MIP coating performance, and then a porous and highly cross-linked MIP coating with 14.8-μm thickness was obtained with over 200 times re-usability which was supported by non-fragile stainless steel fiber adoption. The MIP coating possessed specific selectivities to metolachlor, its metabolites and other chloroacetanilide herbicides with the factors of 1.1–4.6. Good extraction capacities of metolachlor, propisochlor and butachlor were found with MIP coating under quick adsorption and desorption kinetics, and the detection limits of 3.0, 9.6 and 38 μg L⁻¹ were achieved, respectively. Moreover, the MIP-coated stainless steel fiber was evaluated for trace metolachlor, propisochlor and butachlor extraction in the spiked soybean and corn samples, and the enrichment factors of 54–60, 27–31 and 15–20 were obtained, respectively.     

A Novel Octahedral Hexasilver(I) Cluster: Ag_6[SSCN(n-C_4H_9)_2]_6

ＣｏｍｐｏｕｎｄｓｆｏｒｍｅｄｆｒｏｍＣｕ ,ＡｇａｎｄＡｕｗｉｔｈｄｉｔｈｉｏ ｌａｔｅｌｉｇａｎｄｓ ,ｓｕｃｈａｓｔｈｅｄｉａｌｋｙｌｄｉｔｈｉｏｃａｒｂａｍａｔｅ (ＤＴＣ) ,ｍｅｒｃａｐｔｏｔｈｉａｚｏｌｉｎｅ (ＨＭＴ)ａｎｄｄｉａｌｋｙｌｄｉｔｈｉｏｐｈｏｓｐｈａｔｅｓ(ＤＤＰ) ,ｈａｖｅｐｌａｙｅｄａｎｉｍｐｏｒｔａｎｔｒｏｌｅｉｎｔｅｃｈｎｏｌｏｇｙ .1Ｃｕ(Ｉ) Ｓｃｌｕｓｔｅｒｓａｌｓｏｈａｖｅｂｅｅｎｉｍｐｌｉｃａｔｅｄｉｎｂｉｏｌｏｇｙａｓａｎ ｔｉ ｏｘｉｄａｎｔｓ .2Ｔｈｅｃｕｂａｎ…     

Transient Absorption Spectral Characterization of Electron Transfer between Fullerenes (C_(60)/C_(70)) and N,N,N′,N′-Tetra(p-methylphenyl)-4,4′-diamino-1,1′-diphenyl Sulphide (TPDAS)

Ｏｎｅｏｆｔｈｅｍｏｓｔｉｍｐｏｒｔａｎｔａｉｍｓｏｆｐｈｏｔｏｃｈｅｍｉｓｔｒｙｉｓｔｈｅｄｅｓｉｇｎａｎｄｃｏｎｓｔｒｕｃｔｉｏｎｏｆｍｏｌｅｃｕｌａｒｄｅｖｉｃｅｓｆｏｒｅｎｅｒ ｇｙｃｏｎｖｅｒｓｉｏｎａｎｄｉｎｆｏｒｍａｔｉｏｎｐｒｏｃｅｓｓｉｎｇ .Ｔｈｅｐｈｏｔｏａｃｔｉｖｅｍｏｌｅｃｕｌａｒｄｅｖｉｃｅｓａｒｅｂａｓｅｄｏｎｔｈｅｐｈｏｔｏｉｎｄｕｃｅｄｅｌｅｃｔｒｏｎｔｒａｎｓｆｅｒｂｅｔｗｅｅｎｄｏｎｏｒ ａｃｃｅｐｔｏｒｔｙｐｅｏｒｇａｎｉｃｃｏｍｐｏｕｎｄｓａｎｄａｃｃｅｐｔ…     

α-Actinin involvement in Z-disk assembly during skeletal muscle C2C12 cells in vitro differentiation

α-Actinin is involved in the assembly and maintenance of muscle fibers. α-Actinin is required to cross-link actin filaments and to connect the actin cytoskeleton to the cell membrane and it is necessary for the attachment of actin filaments to Z-disks in skeletal muscle fibers and to dense bodies in smooth muscle ones. In addition to its mechanical role, sarcomeric α-actinin interacts with proteins involved in a variety of signaling and metabolic pathways.The aim of this work is to monitor Z-disk formation, in order to clear up the role of sarcomeric α-actinin in undifferentiated stage, after 4 days of differentiation (intermediate differentiation stage) and after 7 days of differentiation (fully differentiated stage). For this purpose, C2C12 murine skeletal muscle cells, grown in vitro, were analyzed at three time points of differentiation.Confocal laser scanner microscopy and transmission electron microscopy have been utilized for α-actinin immunolocalization.Both techniques reveal that in undifferentiated cells labeling appears uniformly distributed in the cytoplasm with punctate α-actinin Z-bodies. Moreover, we found that when differentiation is induced, α-actinin links at first membrane-associated proteins, then it aligns longitudinally across the cytoplasm and finally binds actin, giving rise to Z-disks. These findings evidence α-actinin involvement in sarcomeric development, suggesting for this protein an important role in stabilizing the muscle contractile apparatus.