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Pancreatic cancer is likely to become one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in many countries within the next decade. Surgery is the potentially curative treatment for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), although only 10%–20% of patients have a resectable disease after diagnosis. Despite recent advances in curative surgery the current prognosis ranges from 6% to 10% globally. One of the main issues at the pre-clinical level is the lacking of model which simultaneously reflects the tumour microenvironment (TME) at both structural and cellular levels. Here we describe an innovative tissue engineering approach applied to PDAC starting from decellularized human biopsies in order to generate an organotypic 3D in vitro model. This in vitro 3D system recapitulates the ultrastructural environment of native tissue as demonstrated by histology, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, mechanical analysis, and scanning electron microscopy. Mass spectrometry confirmed a different extracellular matrix (ECM) composition between decellularized healthy pancreas and PDAC by identifying a total of 110 non-redundant differently expressed proteins. Immunofluorescence analyses after 7 days of scaffold recellularization with PANC-1 and AsPC-1 pancreatic cell lines, were performed to assess the biocompatibility of 3D matrices to sustain engraftment, localization and infiltration. Finally, both PANC-1 and AsPC-1 cells cultured in 3D matrices showed a reduced response to treatment with FOLFIRINOX if compared to conventional bi-dimensional culture. Our 3D culture system with patient-derived tissue-specific decellularized ECM better recapitulates the pancreatic cancer microenvironment compared to conventional 2D culture conditions and represents a relevant approach for the study of pancreatic cancer response to chemotherapy agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cell-resolved model that simulates the dynamic thermal behavior of a Vanadium Redox Flow Battery during charge and discharge is presented. It takes into account, at a cell level, the reversible entropic heat of the electrochemical reactions, irreversible heat due to overpotentials, self-discharge reactions due to ion crossover, and shunt current losses. The model accounts for the heat transfer between cells and toward the environment, the pump hydraulic losses and the heat transfer of piping and tanks. It provides the electrolyte temperature in each cell, at the stack inlet and outlet, along the piping and in the tanks. Validation has been carried out against the charge/discharge measurements from a 9kW/27 kWh VRFB test facility. The model has been applied to study a VRFB with the same stack but a much larger capacity, operating at ±400 A for 8 h, in order to identify critical thermal conditions which may occur in next-generation industrial VRFB stacks capable to operating at high current density. The most critical condition has been found at the end of a long discharge, when temperatures above 50 °C appeared, possibly resulting in V O 2 + precipitation and battery faults. These results call for heat exchangers tailored to assist high-power VRFB systems. Image 1 • A cell-resolved dynamic thermal model of a VRFB system is presented. • Reversible entropic heat of main electrochemical reactions is taken into account. • Losses due to overpotentials, shunt currents, and species crossover are considered. • Model successfully validated on a 9 kW experimental VRFB stack. • Insights are given on the thermal behavior of next-generation compact stacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrochemical sensors are growing in number and importance. Surface modifications could enhance charge transfer properties occurring at the interfaces and carbon nanoassemblies is one of the most used strategy to improve sensitivity to measurements. However, well defined protocols of surface modification are needed in order to fabricate electrochemically effective nanostructured sensors. Therefore, we aim at investigating the electrochemical properties of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) forests as a function of height and nanotube surface density. Height of the forests is accurately controlled tuning the oxidation temperatures in the range of 293–313K of SWCNTs. The surface density of carbon nanotubes was adjusted developing cysteamine/2-mercaptoethanol (CYS/ME) self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on gold surfaces at different ratios (1:0, 1:3, 1:10, 1:100, 0:1). Apparent electron transfer rate was analyzed with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and experimental data show that transfer rate constant, k app , increases from 1×10−4 cm/s to 6×10−4 cm/s rising oxidation temperatures (i.e. lowering forest height); therefore forests with reduced height show higher electron transfer rate without significant difference in electrodic reversibility. On the other hand, tuning SWCNT surface density, forests obtained with no ME show optimal Δ peak value of 0.087±0.015V and highest k app value of 9.15×10−3 cm/s. Surprisingly, electrochemical surface area analysis shows that samples with lower amount of cysteamine have an active surface area three times bigger than samples with 1:3 CYS/ME ratio. Low electrochemical efficiency associated with high active surface may be related to unwanted SWCNT bundles adsorbed on the surface for 1:10 and 1:100 CYS/ME ratio samples as confirmed by AFM morphological characterization. Further investigation shows that a transition from a semi-infinite planar diffusion mechanism to a radial diffusion one takes place when SAMs with low chemical affinity to nanotubes are used. Wettability analysis confirms the robustness of the surface chemical modification during the forest development. Altogether these results show that optimal electrochemical properties of carbon modified electrodes require an accurate control of forest fabrication in terms of carbon nanotube structural assembling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new model for studying the thermal standby behavior of a VRFB stack is presented. • Losses from species crossover and shunt currents are duly taken into account. • The dynamic cell temperature distribution in the stack is computed. • Successful validation against data from a 9 kW experimental stack is described. • Simulations show that shunt currents can have pivotal effects in high-power stacks. This paper presents an original model capable of simulating the thermal behavior of a vanadium redox flow battery stack in standby condition, i.e. without power and reactant flow, where the temperature distribution in the cells evolves because of ions crossover through the membrane, Joule losses due to shunt currents and inherent self-discharge effects. For the first time, a model is presented that is capable of simulating the cell temperature distribution in the stack and its time evolution considering all above effects. The model is applied to a 9 kW/40-cell stack and validated against measurements from a thermal imager. Numerical results show that shunt currents affect the temperature in the stack and can be responsible for local increases of cell temperatures up to 10 °C if the solutions are initially at high state of charge. This effect can be critical if standby occurs after a period of operation, with the electrolyte stack temperature markedly higher than air temperature. In addition, results show that shunt currents can play a major role in the thermal behavior of compact stacks, based on new materials capable of high power density and low ion crossover. The model presented here can constitute the basis for advanced cooling strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Removal of gallic acid from aqueous solutions of different concentrations has been performed by electroprecipitation using a sacrificial iron anode, by indirect electrochemical oxidation carried out via electro- and photoelectro-Fenton processes using an oxygen-diffusion cathode, and by a combination of the first two methods (peroxicoagulation process). In all cases, chromatographic analyses have shown a very quick disappearance of gallic acid and its aromatic by-products within 30–90min of electrolysis, depending on the method. A pseudo first-order kinetic decay of gallic acid was always observed under galvanostatic conditions. A decay of TOC and COD close to 90 and 95% is observed with electroprecipitation and peroxicoagulation processes, respectively, after electrolysis time lower than 2h. The specific charge utilised in these two processes was about half of that theoretically required for the complete direct oxidation process (mineralisation). During electrolyses some carboxylic acids have been detected as main intermediates, which completely disappear at the end of the process, except oxalic acid in the case of electro-Fenton method. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]