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Severe volume expansion and inherently poor lithium ion transmission are two major problems of silicon anodes. To address these issues, we proposed a pomegranate-type Si/C composite anode with highly dispersed tiny silicon particles as the core assisted by small amount of SiC. Skillfully exploiting the high heat from magnesiothermic reduction, SiC can assist the good dispersion of silicon and provide good interface compatibility and chemical stability. The silicon anchored to the carbon shell provides multipoint contact mode, that together with the carbon shell frame, significantly promoting the transfer of dual charge. Besides, the pomegranate-type microcluster structure also improves the tap density of the electrode, reduces the direct contact area between active material and electrolyte, and enhances the electrochemical performance.

To improve the stability of molybdenum carbide catalysts in dimethyl ether steam reforming (DSR), the inactivation mechanism and the performance of Pt modified catalyst has been investigated. The Mo2C oxidation induced by H2O is verified to be the main reason of catalytic deactivation. After modified with Pt, the H2 production rate and selectivity are greatly enhanced, reaches 1605 μmol min−1·gcat−1 at 350 °C, in comparison to that of the Mo2C/Al2O3 catalyst. Moreover, the 2%Pt–Mo2C/Al2O3 catalyst is more stable with only 20% activity loss after 50 h on stream compares to the 73% activity loss in 12 h with Mo2C/Al2O3 catalyst. By means of in-situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS), the enhancement brought by Pt is ascribed to the consumption acceleration of intermediate oxygen species on catalyst surface and the decline of onset temperature of DSR reaction. It is expected that these findings can lead us to more practical molybdenum carbide catalysts in DSR.

In this work, well-ordered platinum (Pt) nanocubes (NCs), with precise control on the size and the spatial arrangement, are synthesized from a microemulsion overgrowth in a block copolymer (BC) nanotemplate. The nanovials on this self-assembled BC template serve as microreactors for the reduction of the HCl/H

Oxide nano-springs have attracted many research interests because of their anti-corrosion, high-temperature tolerance, oxidation resistance, and enhanced-mechanic-response from unique helix structures, enabling various nano-manipulators, nano-motors, nano-switches, sensors, and energy harvesters. However, preparing oxide nano-springs is a challenge for their intrinsic nature of lacking elasticity. Here, we developed an approach for preparing self-assembled, epitaxial, ferroelectric nano-springs with built-in strain due to the lattice mismatch in freestanding La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/BaTiO3 (LSMO/BTO) bilayer heterostructures. We find that these LSMO/BTO nano-springs can be extensively pulled or pushed up to their geometry limits back and forth without breaking, exhibiting super-scalability with full recovery capability. The phase-field simulations reveal that the excellent scalability originates from the continuous ferroelastic domain structures, resulting from twisting under co-existing axial and shear strains. In addition, the oxide hetero-structural springs exhibit strong resilience due to the limited plastic deformation nature and the built-in strain between the bilayers. This discovery provides an alternative way for preparing and operating functional oxide nano-springs that can be applied to various technologies.

Doping multielectronic elements into carbon materials is an effective method to improve their electrochemical performance, as it can not only improve the electrical conductivity of the material, but also capture more lithium ions when they are involved in Li-ion battery. Here, using flour as biomass carbon source, the chlorine/phosphorus dual-elements doped porous carbon materials are obtained by pyrolysis at 800 °C and hydrochloric acid treatment. The introduction of chlorine can significantly increase the capacity of carbon materials. Importantly, the hydrogen in mixed gas during heat treatment process can increase the degree of ordered carbon, which led to the improvement of material conductivity and the ability of lithium ions intercalation, further improving the cycling performance and rate performance. Under the current density of 0.2 A g−1, it can remain 535.2 mAh g−1 after 200 cycles. And after two months resting, the capacity only decline by 5.9%, and can still keep the stable cycling performance to 500 cycles. The simple and low cost design of carbon is a creative and promising candidate for anode materials of high performance Li-ion batteries.

Perovskite ferroelectric oxides are usually considered to be brittle materials; however, recent work [Dong et al., Science 366, 475 (2019)] demonstrated the super-elasticity in the freestanding BaTiO3 thin films. This property may originate from the ferroelectric domain evolution during the bending, which is difficult to observe in experiments. Therefore, understanding the relation among the bending deformation, thickness of the films, and domain dynamics is critical for their potential applications in flexible ferroelectric devices. Here, we reported the dynamics of ferroelectric polarization in the freestanding BaTiO3 ultrathin films in the presence of large bending deformation up to 40° using phase-field simulation. The ferroelectric domain evolution reveals the transition from the flux-closure to a/c domains with “vortex-like” structures, which is caused by the increase in out-of-plane ferroelectric polarization. Additionally, by varying the film thickness in the identical bending situation, we found that the a/c phase with a vortex-like structure emerges only as the film thickness reached 12 nm or higher. The results from our investigations provide instructive information for the microstructure evolution of bending ferroelectric perovskite oxide films, which could serve as a guide for the future application of ferroelectric films on flexible electronic devices.

A new hydrazone derivative LL3 based on carbazole and coumarin was prepared by the condensation of 7-diethylaminocoumarin-3-carbohydrazide with 3-aldehyde-N-butyl carbazole and its structure was characterized using FT-IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, MS and elemental analysis techniques. LL3 could be used as a dual-functional fluorescent probe to identify Cu2+ and ClO−. Probe LL3 could recognize Cu2+ and formed a 2:1 complex. Under a 365 nm UV lamp, the color changed from yellowish to blue-green which could be readily distinguished by the naked eye. Meanwhile, under the catalysis of ClO−, the imine bond of probe LL3 was hydrolyzed to obtain carbazolealdehyde, resulting in specific UV-Vis and fluorescence phenomena, so as to realize the detection of ClO−. The recognition mechanism was proved by spectrometric titrations, Job’s plots, FT-IR, 1H NMR, mass spectroscopy (MS) and density functional theory (DFT) calculation analysis. The results of live cell imaging showed that LL3 could be used as a fluorescent probe to detect Cu2+ and ClO− in Hela cells. In addition, the probe LL3 could also be made into a test strip for the detection of Cu2+ in actual water samples.

A series of Cu-X/?-Al2O3 (X = Fe, Co, Ni) catalysts were synthesized by a rapid intermittent microwave irradiation method for hydrogen generation from dimethyl ether steam reforming. Different parameters, such as the promoters of X (X = Fe, Co, Ni), microwave irradiation procedure and the ratio of metal to ?-Al2O3, were investigated. The results show that 2Cu-Fe/72?-Al2O3 has the best performance, for which the agglomeration is prevented, CuO is well dispersed and the catalytic activity is improved. Promoter iron oxide in 2Cu-Fe/9?-Al2O3 facilitates the watergas shift reaction, which lead to an increase in the conversion of CO to CO2 and hydrogen yield. Particularly, the 2Cu-Fe/72?-Al2O3 catalyst, with the best molar ratio of metal to ?-Al2O3, shows a dimethyl ether conversion of >99% and a hydrogen yield of >98% and produces the lowest CO content of 1.4%, indicating that the synergism between dimethyl ether hydrolysis and methanol reforming requires an appropriate balance between the metallic Cu-Fe and the acid ?-Al2O3. The intermittent microwave irradiation technique provides a simple but effective method of the Cu-Fe/?-Al2O3 synthesis with a good catalyst performance for the dimethyl ether steam reforming.

The interactions of formaldehyde (HCHO) molecule with TiO2 (001) surface were studied using density functional theory calculations. HCHO molecules are dissociated by the cleavage of C H bonds after adsorption on TiO2 surface. The strong interactions between HCHO melecules and TiO2 surface are largely attributed to the bonding of hydrogen of HCHO and oxygen of TiO2 surface, which is mainly from the hybridization of the H 1s, O 2p and O 2s. The newly formed H O bonds cause the structure changes of TiO2 surface, and lead to the cleavage of O Ti bond of TiO2 surface. The C O bond that the dissociated remains of HCHO and newly formed H O bond can be oxidized to form carbon dioxide and water in subsequent action by oxygen from the atomosphere. The charges transfer from HCHO to TiO2 surface, and the sum amount of the charges transferred from four HCHO molecules to TiO2 surface is bigger than that from one HCHO molecule to TiO2 surface due to the combined interaction of four HCHO molecules with TiO2 surface.

Systematic toxicity and drug resistance significantly limited FDA-approved platinum drugs for further clinical applications. In order to reverse the resistance (MDR) and enhance their anticancer efficiency, four Pt(IV) complexes (12–15) conjugating with P-glycoprotein (P-gp) inhibitors were designed and synthesized. Among them, complex 14 (IC50 = 3.37 μM) efficiently reversed cisplatin resistance in SGC-7901/CDDP cell line and increased selectivity index (6.9) against normal HL-7702 cell line. Detailed mechanisms in SGC-7901/CDDP cells assays revealed that complex 14 efficiently induced apoptosis via down-regulating expression of P-gp for enhanced intracellular uptake of platinum, arrested cells at G2/M phase, induced DNA damage and initiated mitochondrial apoptosis pathway. Further in vivo studies demonstrated that the enhanced accumulation of complex 14 contributed to tumor inhibition of 75.6% in SGC-7901/CDDP xenografts, which was much higher than cisplatin (25.9%) and oxaliplatin (43%). Moreover, the low systematic toxicity made 14 a potential novel P-gp-mediated MDR modulator.

This work offers an effective size-controlled synthesis of platinum nanoparticle (Pt NP) arrays for electrocatalyst through self-assembled nanopatterns of block copolymers on titanium (Ti) wafers. Size, spacing and uniformity of Pt NP with loading of Pt to a minimum were investigated to be controlled and adjusted in order to improve the electrochemically active surface area (ECSA) and ECSA stability, and Pt concentration in copolymer/chloroplatinic acid (H2PtCl6) solution was verified to be one of the most important factors to control the arrays’ structure. In our case, the Pt NPs with predictable size of 5–16.5 nm could be obtained when the Pt concentration is larger than 0.05 mg ml−1, which the dominant diameter is proved to be proportional to one-third power of the Pt concentration according to the linear relation of templates’ Pt/N mass ratio versus Pt concentration, and the Pt NPs remain highly ordered arrays with predictable spacing when the Pt concentration is larger than 0.125 mg ml−1. Decrease in Pt concentration from 2 to 0.125 mg ml−1 is an effective method to improve the ECSA and durability simultaneously. The Pt NP arrays exhibit not only a remarkable initial ECSA value of 106.2 m2 g−1, but also a pseudo-zero particle aggregation possibility during 3000-cycle voltammetry, which is attributed to the high Pt NP dispersion and the ordered arrays that improve the Pt utilization and lower the possibility of aggregation.

Ni/CeO 2 -ZrO 2 was encapsulated by SiO 2 layer with expectation to obtain a high active catalyst for steam reforming of toluene. The coating structure was validated by X-ray diffraction experiments and electron microscope analysis. XPS data suggests the formation of a new Ni-O-Si configuration in core-shell catalysts. The presence of Ni-O-Si configuration shift electron from Ni to silica and thereby facilitates the intrinsic properties of catalysts. Compared to Ni/CeO 2 -ZrO 2 , turnover rate of Ni increased substantially in core-shell structures, Ni/CeO 2 -ZrO 2 @SiO 2 with shell-to-core mass ratio as 1.0 showed about 5.5 times higher than the Ni/CeO 2 -ZrO 2 catalyst.

Sorption enhanced steam reforming of acetic acid over sorbent assisted catalyst of Ni-CaO-La2O3 were investigated for high-purity H2 production. Ni-CaO-La2O3 with 8, 16 and 20 wt% Ni were developed by sol-gel combustion synthesis and were characterized by TG, TPR, BET, SEM, XRD and XPS. The catalytic activities and stability of the catalysts were tested in a fixed reactor. H2 yield and H2 concentration through Ni-CaO-La2O3 with 20 wt% Ni reaches 86.02% and 92.24% during pre-breakthrough period, respectively, which is attributed to sufficient Ni active sites on the surface and good Ni dispersion. Catalytic activities of Ni-CaO-La2O3 with 20 wt% Ni maintain stable during sorption-enhanced steam reforming reaction, but CO2 sorption capacity slightly decreases due to blockage of pores and size increase of CaO particles within nine sorption/desorption cycles.

Porous silica coated Ni/CeO 2 ZrO 2 catalysts were synthesized for steam reforming of acetic acid. The silica coated Ni/CeO 2 ZrO 2 catalyst showed a significantly enhanced activity (95% acetic acid conversion) than the Ni/CeO 2 ZrO 2 catalysts (62% acetic acid conversion) at a low temperature (550 °C). Interaction between Ni/CeO 2 ZrO 2 and silica layer was proved to be a crucial role on enhancing of catalytic activities. Further characterization (XPS, H 2 -TPR) indicates this interaction facilitates the steam reforming reaction and raises the selectivity of CO by modifying the surface Ni electronic structure. In addition, the coated catalyst also exhibited a good stability and no obvious deactivation was detected at 550 °C and 600 °C within 30 h.

A multistep synthesis method is introduced to fabricate high performance IrOx/W-TiO2 catalyst for noble metal reduction in PEM water electrolyzers. The performances of the IrOx/W-TiO2 catalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are measured in half-cells and single-cells and compared with unsupported IrOx and commercial IrO2. In half-cell tests, IrOx/W-TiO2 displays an improved Ir mass activity compared with the unsupported IrOx, demonstrating a positive effect of the support material. In single-cell tests, the performance of IrOx/W-TiO2 also exceeds both the unsupported and commercial IrO2. The cell voltage reaches 1.602V at 1 A cm−2 (Nafion 212) with total noble metal loading less than 0.2 mg cm−2, suggesting that significant Ir reductions are possible by using IrOx/W-TiO2 without sacrificing the cell performance. It also shows improved durability than other unsupported catalysts at reduced Ir loading. In-situ electrochemical test reveals that the performance is associated with the enhanced conductivity of the catalyst layer.

Hydrogen production from steam reforming of acetic acid was investigated over Ni/La2O3-ZrO2 catalyst. A series of Ni/La2O3-ZrO2 catalysts were synthesized by sol-gel method coupled with wet impregnation, which was characterized by XRD, BET, TEM, EDS, TG, SEM and TPR. Catalytic activity of Ni/La2O3-ZrO2 was evaluated by steam reforming of acetic acid at the temperature range of 550-750 °C. The tetragonal phase La0.1Zr0.9O1.95 is formed through the doping of La2O3 into the ZrO2 lattice and nickel species are highly dispersed on the support with high specific surface area. H2 yield and CO2 yield of Ni/La2O3-ZrO2 catalyst with 15%wt Ni reaches 89.27% and 80.41% at 600 °C, respectively, which is attributed to high BET surface area and sufficient Ni active sites in strong interaction with the support. 15%wt Ni supported on La2O3-ZrO2 catalyst maintains relatively stable catalytic activities for a period of 20 h.

Experimental and computational (DFT) approaches were carried out to investigate oxygen vacancies on cerium dioxide. Computational result indicates oxygen vacancies can shorten the band gap of CeO2 and enhance the absorption for visible light because Ce (III) created by generation of oxygen vacancies is easier for excitation than Ce (IV) under same irradiation. The order of calculated band gap for Ce16O31, (111)

This work contributes to a new protocol of patterning gold nanoparticles (NPs) via secondary phase-separation of micelle template of PS- b -P2VP- b -PEO block copolymer. The immiscibility between hydrophobic PS and hydrophilic P2VP and PEO leads to a bulk phase-separation in large compound micelles (LCMs) when heated at the temperature of 130 °C. The bulk-separated template then constitutes an ideal precursor for Au NPs loading by an immersion in an aqueous solution bath of chloroauric acid such that the primed P2VP domains would coordinate to the charged [AuCl 4 ] − through electrostatic interactions. With the following treatment of air plasma, pseudo-hexagonal nanopatterns are created with Au NPs on P2VP matrix.

Moringa oleifera leaves contains antimicrobial protein, which is absent of optimized extraction and systematic analysis. The aim of this work is to provide a systematic research of its protein isolate hydrolysate on the optimized extraction via the response surface method and the functional properties. The isolated protein was obtained by alkali extraction and acid precipitation, which purity was 81.12%±0.03%. Through the response surface method, the result of the optimization obtained the enzymatic hydrolysis of antimicrobial protein was as follows, the substrate concentration of 5.09%, the Bromelain enzyme dosage of 3883.42 U/g, pH 7.0 and temperature of 55 °C for 3.64 h . And the protein hydrolysate was indicated that the purity was 88.59%±0.13%. Moreover, the ash, the crude fat and moisture were declined significantly compared with the protein isolate. This subject could provide basic theoretical basis for the application of M. oleifera leaves protein.

Yolk–shell structure is considered to be a well-designed structure of silicon-based anode. However, there is only one point (point-to-point contact) in the contact region between the silicon core and the shell in this structure, which severely limits the ion transport ability of the electrode. In order to solve this problem, it is important that the core and shell of the core–shell structure are closely linked (face-to-face contact), which ensures good ion diffusion ability. Herein, a double core–shell nanostructure (Si@C@SiO2) was designed for the first time to improve the cycling performance of the electrode by utilising the unique advantages of the SiO2 layer and the closely contacted carbon layer. The improved cycling performance was evidenced by comparing the cycling properties of similar yolk–shell structures (Si@void@SiO2) with equal size of the intermediate shell. Based on the comparison and analysis of the experimental data, Si@C@SiO2 had more stable cycling performance and exceeded that of Si@void@SiO2 after the 276th cycle. More interestingly, the electron/ion transport ability of electrode was further improved by combination of Si@C@SiO2 with reduced graphene oxide (RGO). Clearly, at a current density of 500 mA g−1, the reversible capacity was 753.8 mA h g−1 after 500 cycles, which was 91% of the specific capacity of the first cycle at this current density.

Efficient elimination of tar is a challenge to the development of biomass gasification as a viable clean energy technology. Catalytic reforming is effective in reducing biomass-derived tars. However, commercial metal-based catalysts are expensive and prone to deactivation. Developing economically viable and environmentally benign catalysts from renewable materials is therefore very attractive. This study focuses on the development of an effective tar elimination process utilizing alternative catalysts derived from bauxite residue, a solid waste material from the alumina production. In this work, the catalytic performance of reduced and activated bauxite residue in facilitating naphthalene (a model biomass tar compound) decomposition was studied in a fixed-bed reactor under cracking and reforming environments. Bauxite residue catalyst in reduced form was found to be active for naphthalene reforming, mainly due to its high metallic iron content. However, under wet syngas environments, bauxite residue catalyst was easily deactivated by steam. To address the steam deactivation of bauxite residue catalyst, biochar as a reducing agent, as well as a co-catalyst and adsorptive-support, was proposed to mix with bauxite residue. In this study, biochar from biomass gasification has been successfully employed as a reducing agent to reduce iron oxides in bauxite residue to metallic iron in an inert environment. Results from catalyst activity testing showed that the bauxite residue-biochar mixed catalyst led to highly effective and sustained naphthalene conversion in a reforming environment, since the iron content in bauxite residue was maintained in its reduced form in the presence of biochar.

The CuZnAl/HZSM-5, CuZnAlCr/HZSM-5, CuZnAlZr/HZSM-5, CuZnAlCo/HZSM-5, and CuZnAlCe/HZSM-5 catalysts that were prepared by a co-precipitation method was used for hydrogen production from steam reforming of dimethyl ether (SRD) in a metal foam micro-reactor. These catalysts were characterized by means of XRD, TPR, SEM and BET surface areas. The results showed that promoter Cr can reduce the average pore diameter and reduction temperature of catalyst. The conversion of dimethyl ether and hydrogen yield reaches 99% and 95% respectively over CuZnAlCr/HZSM-5 catalyst under a relatively lower reaction temperature. The obtained hydrogen-riched gas is easy to purify and meet the need of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. The effects of reaction temperature, space velocity and steam to DME ratio on SRD were investigated in a metal foam micro-reactor. At the conditions of T = 250 °C, the space velocity of 3884 ml/(g h), steam to DME = 5, DME conversion of >97% were obtained over the CuZnAlCr/HZSM-5 catalyst without obvious deactivation during 50 h.

To enhance the heat and mass transfer during dimethyl ether (DME) steam reforming, a micro-reactor with catalyst coated on nickel foam support was designed and fabricated. A two-dimensional numerical model with SIMPLE algorithm and finite volume method was used to investigate 1) the fluid flow, 2) the heat transfer and 3) chemical reactions consist of DME hydrolysis, methanol steam reforming, methanol decomposition and water gas shift reactions. Both the numerical and the experimental results showed that the DME conversion in the micro-reactor is higher than that in the fixed bed reactor. The numerical study also showed that the velocity and the temperature distribution were more uniform in the micro-reactor. Wall temperature, porosity and steam/DME ratio have been investigated in order to optimize the process in the micro-reactor. The wall temperature of 270 °C and the steam/DME feed ratio of 5 were recommended. Meanwhile the results indicate that a larger porosity will give a higher DME conversion and CO concentration.

Preferential oxidation of CO (CO-PrOx) is an important step to meet the need of the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell without the Pt anion poison. A glycine-nitrate approach was used for the synthesis of Co/CeO2 nanoparticle for preferential oxidation of CO, which a precursor solution was prepared by mixing glycine with an aqueous solution of blended nitrate in stoichiometric ratio. Then the glycine-mixed precursor solution was heated in a beaker for producing nanosized porous powders. Catalytic properties of the powders were investigated and results illustrate that the Co-loading of 30 wt.% catalysts exhibits excellent catalytic properties. Various characterization techniques like X-ray diffraction, SEM, BET, Raman and TPR were used to analyze the relationship between catalyst nature and catalytic performance. The X-ray diffraction patterns and SEM micrographs indicate that catalysts prepared by glycine-nitrate combustion own mesopore structure. The BET, Raman and TPR results showed that the high activity of the 30 wt.% Co-loading of Co/CeO2 catalysts is related to the high BET surface and the strongly interaction between fine-dispersed Co species and CeO2 support.

A bi-function catalyst containing CuZnAlCr and HZSM-5 was used to generate hydrogen by stream reforming of dimethyl ether (SRD) in a metal foam micro-reactor and a fix-bed reactor. Dimethyl ether conversion of 99% and hydrogen yield of >95% was reached with HZSM-5/CuZnAlCr (mass ratio of 1:1) in the micro-reactor. A suitable balance between the dimethyl ether hydrolysis and methanol reforming steps requires the proper acidity and the metal sites. The CuZnAlCr/HZSM-5 properties, effect of CuZnAlCr to HZSM-5 mass ratio were investigated in the metal foam micro-reactor. Moreover, CO was removed from hydrogen-rich gas by preferential oxidation reaction (CO-PrOx) with PtFe/γ-Al 2 O 3 catalyst in a similar metal foam micro-reactor follows the SRD stage. With the optimized O 2 /CO ratio and reaction temperature, the CO concentration dropped to

Hydrogen production from catalytic steam reforming of model compound acetic acid of bio-oil was investigated under atmospheric pressure in a bench-scale fixed-bed reactor and a series of Ni catalysts supported on ceria–zirconia were prepared via co-precipitation with varying contents of Ni and Ce loading. Simultaneously, effects of reaction temperature, and molar ratio of steam to carbon fed, liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV) were also explored. The results indicated that the 12Ni/7.5Ce-Zr-O catalyst was superior to other catalysts with different Ni and Ce loading. At T = 650 °C, S / C = 3, LHSV = 2.8 h −1 , the reaction over Ni catalyst supported on ceria–zirconia turns out that the highest activity and the maximum hydrogen selectivity of 83.4% and the minimum methane selectivity of 0.39% are attained. Besides, Ni catalyst supported on ceria–zirconia shows good stability during 25 h continuous reaction without any deactivation.

The aim of the present study was to make use of the artificially induced aging model cardiomyocytes to further investigate potential anti-aging-associated cellular diastolic dysfunction effects of EGB761 and explore underlying molecular mechanisms. Cultured rat primary cardiomyocytes were treated with either D-galactose or D-galactose combined with EGB761 for 48 h. After treatment, the percentage of cells positive for SA-β-gal, AGEs production, cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium pump (SERCA) activity, the myocardial sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium uptake, and relative protein levels were measured. Our results demonstrated that in vitro stimulation with D-galactose induced AGEs production. The addition of EGB761 significantly decreased the number of cells positive for SA-β-gal. Furthermore, decreased diastolic [Ca2+]i, curtailment of the time from the maximum concentration of Ca2+to the baseline level and increased reuptake of Ca2+stores in the SR were also observed. In addition, the level of p-Ser16-PLN protein as well as SERCA was markedly increased. The study indicated that EGb761 alleviates formation of AGEs products on SERCA2a in order to mitigate myocardial stiffness on one hand; on other hand, improve SERCA2a function through increase the amount of Ser16 sites PLN phosphorylation, which two hands finally led to ameliorate diastolic dysfunction of aging cardiomyocytes.

Boron solubility in the as-cast and solution treated martensite of Fe-Cr-B cast irons, containing approximately 1.35 wt.% of boron, 12 wt.% of chromium, as well as other alloying elements, has been investigated using conventional microanalysis. The significant microstructural variations after tempering at 750 degreesC for 0.5-4 h, compared with the original as-cast and solution treated microstructures, indicated that the matrix consisted of boron and carbon supersaturated solid solutions. The boron solubility detected by electron microprobe was between 0.185-0.515 wt.% for the as-cast martensite and 0.015-0.0589 wt.% for the solution treated martensite, much higher than the accepted value of 0.005 wt.% in pure iron. These remarkable increases are thought to be associated with some metallic alloying element addition, such as chromium, vanadium and molybdenum, which have atomic diameters larger than iron, and expand the iron lattice to sufficiently allow boron atoms to occupy the interstitial sites in iron lattice. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

A series of new two semiconductor catalysts, Co3O4/CeO2, were prepared by glycine-nitrate combustion method for photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide to produce methanol and ethanol under visible light (λ>400 nm) irradiation. The catalysts were characterized by BET, UV-vis spectra, XRD, SEM, PL, and XPS and the results indicated that the catalyst with 5 wt.% of Co3O4has the highest yield among all kinds of tests with the methanol yield of 1.52 μmol·g−1·h−1and the ethanol yield of 4.75 μmol·g−1·h−1, which are about 2.34 and 1.71 times as large as those of CeO2. However, methanol and ethanol can hardly be detected for Co3O4under the same condition because of its too narrow band gap. The improvement of the photoreduction activity of Co3O4doped CeO2was caused by the separation of electron-hole pairs of Co3O4/CeO2and charge transfer between Co3O4and CeO2, mimicking the Z-scheme in photosynthesis.

Density functional theory (DFT) is used to study the NO reduction by H 2 on Au 4 + and Au 4 clusters. The reaction mechanism is explored along two possible entrances: one involves the complexes of the clusters with H 2 and the other is related to the complexes of the clusters with NO. In all cases, it is found that the catalytic cycle involves two sequential elementary steps: the rupture of the H-H bond in H 2 and the formation of H 2 O and N 2 O molecule. The calculated results show that the reaction mediated by Au 4 + is energetically most favorable compared to that promoted by Au4, indicating that the charge state of Au clusters plays an essential role for the catalyzed NO reduction. The present theoretical study rationalizes the early experimental findings well and enriches our understanding of the catalytic NO reduction by Au-based catalysts.