Photocatalytic and antifouling properties of TiO2-based photocatalytic membranes

Photocatalysis has been extensively studied due to its potential ability to avoid the excessive use of chemical reagents and reduce the energy consumption by employing solar energy. Moreover, to alleviate the reduction in the membrane permeation selectivity, separation efficiency, and membrane service life caused by the emerging micro-pollutants and membrane fouling, membrane technology is often coupled with microbial, electrochemical, and catalytic processes. However, although physical/chemical cleaning and membrane module replacement can overcome the inherent limitations caused by membrane fouling and other membrane separation processes, high operating costs limit their practical applications. In this review, common preparation methods for TiO₂ photocatalytic membranes are described in detail, and the main approaches to enhancing their photocatalytic performance are discussed. More importantly, the mechanism of the TiO₂ photocatalytic membrane antifouling process is elucidated, and some applications of photocatalytic membranes in other areas are described. This review systematically outlines future research directions in the field of photocatalytic membrane modification, including metal and non-metal doping, fabrication of heterojunction structures, control over reaction conditions, increase in hydrophilicity, and increase in membrane porosity.     

Antibacterial Activity of Pharmaceutical-Grade Rose Bengal: An Application of a Synthetic Dye in Antibacterial Therapies

Rose bengal has been used in the diagnosis of ophthalmic disorders and liver function, and has been studied for the treatment of solid tumor cancers. To date, the antibacterial activity of rose bengal has been sporadically reported; however, these data have been generated with a commercial grade of rose bengal, which contains major uncontrolled impurities generated by the manufacturing process (80–95% dye content). A high-purity form of rose bengal formulation (HP-RBf, >99.5% dye content) kills a battery of Gram-positive bacteria, including drug-resistant strains at low concentrations (0.01–3.13 μg/mL) under fluorescent, LED, and natural light in a few minutes. Significantly, HP-RBf effectively eradicates Gram-positive bacterial biofilms. The frequency that Gram-positive bacteria spontaneously developed resistance to HP-RB is extremely low (less than 1 × 10⁻¹³). Toxicity data obtained through our research programs indicate that HP-RB is feasible as an anti-infective drug for the treatment of skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) involving multidrug-resistant (MDR) microbial invasion of the skin, and for eradicating biofilms. This article summarizes the antibacterial activity of pharmaceutical-grade rose bengal, HP-RB, against Gram-positive bacteria, its cytotoxicity against skin cells under illumination conditions, and mechanistic insights into rose bengal’s bactericidal activity under dark conditions.     

Maximal resolvable packings and minimal resolvable coverings of triples by quadruples

Determination of maximal resolvable packing number and minimal resolvable covering number is a fundamental problem in designs theory. In this article, we investigate the existence of maximal resolvable packings of triples by quadruples of order v (MRPQS(v)) and minimal resolvable coverings of triples by quadruples of order v (MRCQS(v)). We show that an MRPQS(v) (MRCQS(v)) with the number of blocks meeting the upper (lower) bound exists if and only if v≡0 (mod 4). As a byproduct, we also show that a uniformly resolvable Steiner system URS(3, {4, 6}, {r₄, r₆}, v) with r₆≤1 exists if and only if v≡0 (mod 4). All of these results are obtained by the approach of establishing a new existence result on RH(6²ⁿ) for all n≥2. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 18: 209–223, 2010     

若丹明6G和若丹明B混合染料荧光谱特性及染料激光行为

实验发现若丹明6G和若丹明B混合溶液的荧光谱峰值波长随两种物质的混合比例不同而有规律地变化,与单一的若丹明6G和若丹明B相比,混合溶液的荧光谱线宽度明显增宽。使用混合染料,用改变混合比的方法对染料激光进行调谐,可简化调谐方法,调谐范围为557.4-588.5nm。     

Adsorption behavior of a textile dye of Reactive Blue 19 from aqueous solutions onto modified bentonite

The aim of this study is to evaluate adsorption kinetics, isotherms and thermodynamic parameters of Reactive Blue 19 (RB19) onto modified bentonite from aqueous solutions. The effects of pH, contact time, initial dye concentration and temperature were investigated in the experimentally. Natural bentonite was modified by using 1,6-diamino hexane (DAH) as a modifying agent. The characterization of modified bentonite (DAH-bentonite) was accomplished by using FTIR, TGA, BET and elemental analysis techniques. The optimum pH value for the adsorption experiments was found to be 1.5 and all the experiments were carried out at this pH value. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model agrees very well with the experimental results. Equilibrium data were also fitted well to the Langmuir isotherm model in the studied concentration range of RB19 at 20 °C. The results indicate that DAH-modified bentonite is a suitable adsorbent for the adsorption of textile dyes.     

利福布汀与人血清白蛋白相互作用的光谱研究

用荧光光谱法和圆二色谱法研究了利福布汀(RB)与人血清白蛋白(HSA)的相互作用. 结果表明, RB与HSA之间的相互作用主要是疏水作用, 作用机制是静态猝灭与动态猝灭的结合. 其结合常数(Ka)在106数量级, 说明RB和HSA有很强的结合. 此外, 探讨了金属离子(Cu2+, Zn2+, Mg2+ 和Ca2+)对RB与HSA结合常数的影响. 同步荧光光谱和圆二色谱数据表明, RB可导致HSA的构象改变.     

具有表面拉曼增强活性的银纳米材料的合成和表征(英文)

利用简易无模板湿化学法合成了由纳米片组装的具有三维分级结构的银纳米材料。场发射扫描电子显微镜表明柠檬酸氢二铵在这种结构形成过程中起到很重要的作用。X射线衍射和透射电子显微镜表征进一步证明了这种结构的形成。此外本文还对这种分级结构进行了紫外和拉曼表征。这种新型的银纳米结构有望作为一种高灵敏度的表面拉曼增强基底。     

Stability of dye-sensitized solar cell under reverse bias condition: Resonance Raman spectroscopy combined with spectrally resolved analysis by transmittance and efficiency mapping

In this work, resonance Raman spectroscopy (RRS) together with a spectrally resolved analysis by transmittance and efficiency mapping (SATEM) have been applied as a powerful tool to detect and to understand deeply the degradation mechanisms suffered by a series-connected dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) in a module under real working condition. When shadowing phenomena occur on the module, the shadowed cell works as a load rather than as a generator and suffers reverse bias (RB) condition that induces a progressive degradation until the complete device⬢s breakdown. The reported analysis follows the degradation processes involving both the electrolyte solution and the sensitizer during the aging time. In particular, polyiodides formation has been pointed out as crucial triiodide depletion mechanism in the electrolyte solution leading to a strong unbalance in the redox couple and to a slowdown in dye regeneration process. The final device breakdown occurs when hydrogen production within the electrolyte solution causes the breaking of the sealing and the partial electrolyte leakage from the active area. RRS demonstrated the irreversible structural changes suffered by dye molecules during this final stage by identifying the main degradation products. Finally, a spectrally resolved comparison between incident to photon current conversion efficiency (IPCE) for photo (PE) and counter electrode (CE) illumination were used, along with transmittance analysis, in order to derive detailed information about the structural modification suffered by the cell constituents. The combination between SATEM and RRS techniques exhaustively provided a deep comprehension of the DSC degradation processes by giving a route to further stabilize the devices for a feasible next commercialization.     

双波长共振散射比率法测定十二烷基苯磺酸钠的研究

基于表面活性剂SDBS与罗丹明B的结合反应发展了一种测定SDBS的双波长共振散射比率法.在BR缓冲溶液介质中,SDBS能与RB发生反应,其位于373.0nm的特征共振光散射信号大大增强.通过分别测定I373.0和Ⅰ685.0/I650.0来检测SDBS,当罗丹明B的浓度为1.0×10-4 mol/L时,以Ⅰ373.0为...     

A residual-based message passing algorithm for constraint satisfaction problems

Message passing algorithms, whose iterative nature captures complicated interactions among interconnected variables in complex systems and extracts information from the fixed point of iterated messages, provide a powerful toolkit in tackling hard computational tasks in optimization, inference, and learning problems. In the context of constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs), when a control parameter (such as constraint density) is tuned, multiple threshold phenomena emerge, signaling fundamental structural transitions in their solution space. Finding solutions around these transition points is exceedingly challenging for algorithm design, where message passing algorithms suffer from a large message fluctuation far from convergence. Here we introduce a residual-based updating step into message passing algorithms, in which messages with large variation between consecutive steps are given high priority in the updating process. For the specific example of model RB (revised B), a typical prototype of random CSPs with growing domains, we show that our algorithm improves the convergence of message updating and increases the success probability in finding solutions around the satisfiability threshold with a low computational cost. Our approach to message passing algorithms should be of value for exploring their power in developing algorithms to find ground-state solutions and understand the detailed structure of solution space of hard optimization problems.