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Through regulating the reaction solvent and temperature, two Tb-based metal-organic frameworks, ((CH3)2NH2)2[Tb9(μ3-OH)8(μ2-OH)3(PTB)6]·(DMF)14·(H2O)19 (1) and ((CH3)2NH2)3{[Tb9(μ3-O)2(μ3-OH)12(H2O)6][Tb3(μ3-O)(HCO2)3 (PTB)6]}·(DMF)12·(H2O)7 (2) (H3PTB = pyridine-2,4,6-tribenzoic acid), have been synthesized. Structural analysis showed that the cluster node of 1 is a Tb9 cluster, while 2 contains two different nodes of a Tb3 cluster and a Tb9 cluster, which leads to their different pore structures and may potentially separate C2H2/CO2. Gas adsorption demonstrates that both MOFs can separate C2H2 and CO2, but 2 has a more optimized pore environment than 1 and can exhibit better selective separation of C2H2/CO2.

The separation of ethane and ethylene is an important segment in the purification of chemical raw materials in industrial production. However, due to their similar physical and chemical properties, the separation of C

The design of hollow porous microstructure and the selection of reasonable dielectric composition are effective ways to obtain microwave absorbing (MWA) materials with outstanding performance. In this paper, polypyrrole decorated ZnO hollow porous composites (ZnO@PPy HPC) with improved MWA performance were successfully prepared by an in situ polymerization method. The results showed that PPy was uniformly loaded on the surface of ZnO hollow porous microspheres (ZnO HPM) to build a hierarchically core–shell hollow structure. The addition and proportion regulation of PPy can effectively improve the dielectric properties, generate interfacial polarization effect and achieve good impedance matching, leading to enhanced MWA characteristics of composite materials. ZnO@PPy HPC exhibited promising broadband microwave absorption properties. The minimum reflection loss (RL min) reached −48.5 dB at 14.5 GHz with broad effective bandwidth (less than −10 dB) of 6.2 GHz when the matching thickness was 2.2 mm. This study provides guidance for the development on a new type of microwave absorbing materials composed of hollow porous structure and conductive polymer.

Through regulating the reaction solvent and temperature, two Tb-based metal-organic frameworks, ((CH

The role of long noncoding RNAs- (lncRNAs-) associated competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) in the field of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) biology is well established, but the involvement of lncRNAs competing interactions in the progression of liver cirrhosis to HCC is still unclear. We aimed to explore the differential expression profiles of lncRNAs, microRNAs (miRNA), and messenger RNAs (mRNAs) to construct a functional ceRNA network in cirrhotic HCC. The lncRNA, miRNA, and mRNA expression datasets were obtained from Gene Expression Omnibus and The Cancer Genome Atlas. Based on miRanda and TargetScan, the HCC-specific ceRNA network was constructed to illustrate the coexpression regulatory relationship of lncRNAs, miRNAs, and mRNAs. The potential prognostic indicators in the network were confirmed by survival analysis and validated by qRT-PCR. A total of 74 lncRNAs, 36 intersection miRNAs, and 949 mRNAs were differentially expressed in cirrhotic HCC samples compared with cirrhosis samples. We constructed a ceRNA network, including 47 lncRNAs, 35 miRNAs, and 168 mRNAs. Survival analysis demonstrated that 2 lncRNAs (EGOT and SERHL), 4 miRNAs, and 40 mRNAs were significantly associated with the overall survival of HCC patients. Two novel regulatory pathways, EGOT-miR-32-5p-XYLT2 axis and SERHL-miR-1269a/miR-193b-3p-BCL2L1/SYK/ARNT/CHST3/LPCAT1 axis, were built up and contribute to the underlying mechanism of HCC pathogenesis. The higher-expressed SERHL was associated with a higher risk of all-cause death. The expressions of SERHL-miR-1269a-BCL2L1 were significantly different using qRT-PCR in vitro studies. lncRNAs EGOT and SERHL might serve as effective prognostic biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets in cirrhotic HCC treatment.

This paper demonstrates how two-dimensional (2D) planar films transform into three-dimensional (3D) multi-stable structures with 3D surface wrinkling patterns by means of magnetron sputtering. The wrinkling patterns on metal films deposited on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastic substrates is studied. Surface wrinkling of the Al film results from compressive thermal stresses. The effects of film thickness on the wrinkling patterns regularities are investigated. It is found that 3D labyrinth hierarchical wrinkling patterns for large sputtering flux span scale wavelengths (e.g., from nanometer to micrometer). Moreover, the hydrophobicity of the wrinkled surface has a good improvement with the contact angle. Furthermore, when bottom constraints are removed, bilayer thin films also spontaneously curl, evolving into 3D multi-stable structures with large deformations and surface patterns for releasing inner stress, which present neutrally stable configurations with no stiffness. Square multi-stable structures eventually remain stable along the diagonal as the width decreases. Simultaneously, the surface of multi-stable structures is found only labyrinth wrinkling pattern with nanoscale wavelength due to unrestraint. In addition, the finite element method was performed to simulate experimental deformation. Deformable 3D structures with multiple scales hold considerable promise for practical applications in engineering.

Increasing environmental problems caused by the emission of crude oil, petroleum products, and toxic organic solvents have threatened ecosystems and human health. Renewable and eco-friendly natural materials are considered as the most promising absorbents for removing oils and organic solvents from water. In this work, a hydrophobic plant fiber sponge (PFS) is successfully prepared via a simple vapor treatment strategy with hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) (defined as PFS@HMDS). The as-prepared PFS@HMDS with high porosity, high mechanical durability, and excellent hydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 145° exhibits high oil absorptive capacity (15–40 g/g) and selectivity. It also shows the excellent structural stability, durability, and high reusability in the repeated absorption/desorption cyclic testing. More importantly, it can achieve continuous oil/water separation with the assistance of a miniature diaphragm pump. Owing to these favorable advantages, the PFS@HMDS demonstrates its potential application in oil/water separation and organic solvents removal.