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Bi-doped La1.5-xBixSr0.5Ni0.5Mn0.5O4+δ (LBSNM-x, x = 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15) was investigated as a potential air electrode for solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC). The effect of Bi doping on the structure, electrical conductivity, chemical compatibility with GDC electrolyte, electrochemical performance and thermal expansion coefficients (TECs) were investigated. XRD characterization results show that the solid solution content of Bi is less than or equal to 0.1. XPS characterization results indicate that Bi doping increases the oxygen vacancy content of LBSNM-x air electrode and thus greatly benefits its oxygen evolution reaction. Among the Bi-doped samples, LBSNM-0.1 electrode has the best electrochemical performance with its lowest Rp (polarization resistance) of 0.28 Ω cm2 at 800 °C based on LBSNM-0.1/GDC half-cell. LBSNM-0.1 single cell with 70%CO2 + 30%CO fuel gas feed on the fuel electrode has achieved current density of 811 mA cm−2 at 800 °C and 1.4 V, a 62.2% increase relative to that of LSNM single cell. In addition, LBSNM-0.1 single cell exhibits excellent stability at 800 °C and 1.3 V with 70%CO2 + 30%CO feed gas on the fuel electrode. These results prove that Bi-doped LBSNM-0.1 is an efficient air electrode for SOEC.

Exploiting various nanocarbons for supercapacitors with excellent energy retention under ultrahigh power output in high-voltage ionic liquid electrolytes possesses enormous potential for next-generation supercapacitor applications. To address the poor rate capability of the carbon electrodes in ionic liquid electrolytes, we develop an efficient strategy toward porous nanocarbons with controllable microstructure that fully solves this bottleneck to gain an outstanding capacitive performance. We found the introduction of laser-induced graphene and Mg as the additives can serve multiple roles not only as the morphology modifier agents but also as the template for the developing rich mesopores. In particular, a curved nanosheet network-like porous carbons constructed by nanocages with ultrahigh specific surface area and considerable amount of mesopores can be rationally obtained. When served as an electrode for ionic liquid-based supercapacitor, it can display an impressive specific capacitance of 201.1 F/g at 1 A/g, superb rate performance (71% capacitance retained at 100 A/g) and encouraging energy density up to 60.76 Wh/kg at a recording power density of 87.5 kW/kg, which is comparable with the best results reported for carbon-based supercapacitors in ionic liquid electrolyte reported so far.

Understanding the active sites of heteroatoms in carbon matrix is highly desired to design advanced Zn-ion hybrid capacitors (ZICs) with high charge storage capability. Herein, N, B dual doped carbon nanosheet covering network (BN-SCN) superstructures were successfully prepared by simply pyrolysis of volatile ethanolamine in the presence of boric acid. The intermediated product formed between ethanolamine and boric acid can prevent the ethanolamine from evaporating during the pyrolysis process. Benefiting from the N and B enriched reactants, the resulting samples have a high level of heteroatoms (6.04 at % B and 9.73 at % N), which afford sufficient pseudo-capacitance to boost the specific capacity. Consequently, the as-assembled aqueous ZIC device yielded a high capacity of 133.8 mAh g−1 at 0.1 A g−1, high specific energy of 107 W h kg−1, and an outstanding power output of 16 kW kg−1. The ex situ XPS analysis results confirm a reversible transformation of the configuration of oxygen functional groups, which can offer additional pseudo-capacitance. Except for nitrogen functional groups, the presence of abundant B containing functional groups can further enhance the chemical absorption/desorption of Zn2+ ions.

The restriction of Yin Yang 1 (YY1) at BRCA2 and CDKN1A/p21-interacting protein (BCCIP) transcriptional start site (TSS) proximal region in several human cancer cell lines was found by analyzation of ChIP-Seq database from UCSC Genome Browser (http://genome.ucsc.edu). However, whether the stabilization of YY1 by BCCIP impacts its recruitment in the BCCIP promoter region is unclear. Here, we present evidence that transcriptional regulation of YY1 on BCCIP is closely related to YY1 stability in HCT116 human colon cancer cells. YY1 stabilization was in turn regulated by BCCIP, suggesting the existence of a BCCIP-YY1 feedback loop in regulating BCCIP transcription by the YY1. Overexpression of BCCIP stabilized YY1 while knockdown of BCCIP reduced YY1 protein level. In addition, direct interaction between YY1 and BCCIP was confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation approach. Also, the N-terminus region of BCCIP, including the internal conserved domain (ICD), was responsible for binding with the amino acid 146-270 of YY1. More importantly, YY1 stability was related to the BCCIP/ICD domain-mediated YY1 ubiquitination pathway. Moreover, a limited BCCIP promoter region containing YY1 binding site (CCGCCATC) was tightly associated with the pGL4-BCCIP-Luc luciferase activity. In ChIP assays, shBCCIP lentiviral-mediated YY1 instability decreased recruitment of the YY1 at BCCIP TSS proximal region, which could not be restored by YY1 overexpression. Furthermore, knockdown of YY1 inhibited the binding of BCCIP itself at BCCIP promoter region proximal to TSS, demonstrating that transcriptional regulation of the YY1 on BCCIP can be modulated by BCCIP itself in a YY1-dependent fashion.

Direct transformation of small molecular organic solvents (SMOSs) into functional carbon materials have received paramount interests in recent years, although it remains a huge challenge. Herein, we demonstrate an efficient zinc acetate-assisted pyrolysis strategy to direct transformation of glycerol into mesopore‐enriched hierarchically carbon nanosheets (MEHCs). We found that the initial formed glycerin zinc would be one of the major ways in immobilization of glycerol from volatilization as well as determining the morphology of the resulting carbons. By optimizing the amount of zinc acetate, MEHCs with large specific surface area (1666.8 m2 g−1), ultra-high mesopore content (Smeso = 1488.7 m2 g−1) and total pore volume (2.42 cm3 g−1) were obtained. Benefiting from the unique structure features, the as-assembled aqueous zinc ion hybrid supercapacitors with the as-prepared MEHCs as the cathodes can deliver a specific capacity of 132.9 mAh g−1, and rate capability up to 49.1% at 50 Ag−1, which is one of the largest values in comparison with the previously reported values. Such promising results indicate that the newly developed strategy would offer a valuable avenue for the production of functional nanocarbon materials from SMOSs for electrochemical energy storage applications.

Capsaicin (CAP) is the major pungent component of chili pepper and is being evaluated for use against numerous types of tumors. Although CAP is indicated to target multiple signaling pathways, exact mechanisms of how it disturb cancer cell metablism remain obscure. Recent studies revealed Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) serves as a potential target of CAP in cancer cells, indicating a direct regulation of cancer cell histone acetylation by capsaicin. The present study evaluated the effect of CAP on gastric cancer (GC) cell lines to understand the mechanism of cell growth inhibition. The results showed that CAP could significantly suppress cell growth, while altering histone acetylation in GC cell lines. Further studies found that hMOF, a major histone acetyltranferase for H4K16, is central to CAP-induced epigenetic changes. Reduced hMOF activity was detected in GC tissues, which could be restored by CAP both in vivo and in vitro. These findings revealed an important role of hMOF-mediated histone acetylation in CAP-directed anti-cancer processes, and suggested CAP as a potential drug for use in gastric cancer prevention and therapy.

Aqueous Zn-ion hybrid supercapacitors (ZHSCs) have been regarded as an attractive candidate for energy storage devices on account of their combination features of both rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors. However, the slow ions diffusion dynamics and unsatisfied cycling stability is still a challenge. Herein, porous carbon nanosheets (PCNs) cathodes have been obtained through an effective one-step KNO3 assisted KOH activation strategy, whereas KOH acts as the activating reagent and KNO3 as the morphology adjusting engineer. Based on this experiment, the resulting ZHSCs exhibits the largest specific capacity of 149 mAh/g at 0.2 A/g, and it still delivers a capacity of 75 mAh/g at a large current density of 20.0 A/g with a good capacity retention of 50.3%. Moreover, it also displays excellent cycle performance (~91% specific capacity retained after 10,000 cycles at 10 A/g) and high energy-power densities characteristic (60 Wh/kg at a high power density of 15.976 kW/kg). These merits make the as-prepared PCNs cathodes hold potential for high-performance electrochemical energy storage devices.

The exploration of next-generation energy storage devices with long cycle life, superior stability, large specific capacity, ultrahigh power and energy density have attracted increased interests in recent years. However, it still remains a tremendous challenge for conventional energy storage devices to achieve the merits of both batteries and supercapacitors. Herein, we present a convenient but effective approach to synthesize porous carbon nanoflakes (PCNFs) that process high specific surface area and tunable pore size distributions. We found the amount of activating reagent has a profound influence on the morphology and textural structure of the resulting products, and a chemical etching process to transform nanocages into nanoflakes has been proposed. Importantly, Zn-ion hybrid supercapacitor with PCNFs as cathode and Zn foil as anode can overcome the disadvantages of poor rate capability and low energy density for the conventional batteries and supercapacitors. The optimized PCNFs based Zn-ion hybrid supercapacitor can deliver an ultrahigh specific capacitance, excellent rate performance, outstanding cycling stability, and impressive energy density. The facile synthetic procedure combined with its excellent electrochemical performances endow the present devices a huge possibility to be used in future electrochemical energy storage systems.

Controllable synthesis of various nanostructured carbons with different textural parameters to achieve excellent electrochemical performance has attracted tremendous attention in recent years. Herein, a facile one-step Zn involved self-sacrificing template combined with KOH activation strategy has been developed for the producing porous carbon frameworks (PCFs) from sustainable biomass. The resulting PCFs display an interconnected 3D structure with large specific surface area and abundant mesoporous, which is beneficial to capacitive energy storage. Specifically, PCF-1 prepared with 1 g of Zn power presents a large specific capacitance of 285 F/g at 1 A/g and still remain a large value of 220 F/g at 50 A/g in 6 M KOH aqueous electrolyte. Moreover, it also displays an outstanding capacitive performance in 1 M Li2SO4 electrolyte within 0–1.6 V. The basic principle behind this good performance are closely associated with the interconnected 3D structure architecture and abundant mesoporous resulting from Zn involved self-sacrificing template and KOH activation, which is in favour of rapid ionic mass transport. Concerning the facile and efficient process, this Zn involved self-sacrificing template combined with KOH activation strategy is a promising strategy towards functional carbons for electrochemical capacitive storage.

With the progress of electronics technology, the development of civilian UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) applications becomes possible. Also, smartphones have rapidly gained popularity and become very important due to the simple operability and mobility. Hence, there is a need to have an easy and flexible way to control a UAV by using such technology. In this paper, a remote control and monitoring system is developed for a quadrotor to enable an operator to remotely control it and monitor its surroundings using an iOS device. Basic handlers for obtaining compass information, controlling a gimbal, autopilot function for return, photo and video preview, photo shoot and movie video recording are developed and implemented. The functionalities of the developed programs are evaluated and confirmed through experiments using a quadrotor and an iOS device.