A Lotus Seedpods-Inspired Interfacial Solar Steam Generator with Outstanding Salt Tolerance and Mechanical Properties for Efficient and Stable Seawater Desalination.

Interfacial solar steam generators (ISSGs) can capture solar energy and concentrate the heat at the gas-liquid interface, resulting in efficient water evaporation. However, traditional ISSGs have limitations in long-term seawater desalination processes, such as limited light absorption area, slow water transport speed, severe surface salt accumulation, and weak mechanical performance. Inspired by lotus seedpods, a novel ISSG (rGO-SA-PSF) is developed by treating a 3D warp-knitted spacer fabric with plasma (PSF) and combining it with sodium alginate (SA) and reduces graphene oxide (rGO). The rGO-SA-PSF utilizes a core-suction effect to achieve rapid water pumping and employs aerogel to encapsulate the plasma-treated spacer yarns to create the lotus seedpod-inspired hydrophilic stems, innovatively constructing multiple directional water transport channels. Simultaneously, the large holes of rGO-SA-PSF on the upper layer form lotus seedpod-inspired head concave holes, enabling efficient light capture. Under 1 kW m-2 illumination, rGO-SA-PSF exhibits a rapid evaporation rate of 1.85 kg m-2  h-1 , with an efficiency of 96.4%. Additionally, it shows superior salt tolerance (with no salt accumulation during continuous evaporation for 10 h in 10% brine) and self-desalination performance during long-term seawater desalination processes. This biomimetic ISSG offers a promising solution for efficient and stable seawater desalination and wastewater purification.

An efficient interfacial solar evaporator featuring a hierarchical porous structure entirely derived from waste cotton.

Interfacial solar evaporators are widely used to purify water. However, photothermal materials commonly constituting most interfacial solar evaporators remain expensive; additionally, the inherent structure of the evaporators limits their performance. Furthermore, the large amount of waste cotton produced by the textile industry is an environmental threat. To address these issues, we propose an interfacial solar evaporator, H-CA-CS, with a hierarchical porous structure. This evaporator is made entirely of waste cotton and uses carbon microspheres (CMS) and cellulose aerogel (CA) as photothermal and substrate materials, respectively. Additionally, its photothermal layer (CS layer) has large pores and a high porosity, which promote light absorption and timely vapor escape. In contrast, the water transport layer (CA layer) has small pores, providing a robust capillary effect for water transport. Combined with the outstanding light absorption properties of CMS, H-CA-CS exhibited superior overall performance. We found that H-CA-CS has an excellent evaporation rate (1.68 kg m-2 h-1) and an efficiency of 90.6 % under one solar illumination (1 kW m-2), which are superior to those of many waste-based solar evaporators. Moreover, H-CA-CS maintained a mean evaporation rate of 1.61 kg m-2 h-1, ensuring sustainable evaporation performance under long-term scenarios. Additionally, H-CA-CS can be used to purify seawater and various types of wastewater with removal efficiencies exceeding 99 %. In conclusion, this study proposes a method for efficiently using waste cotton to purify water and provides novel ideas for the high-value use of other waste fibers to further mitigate ongoing environmental degradation.

Three-Dimensional Modeling of Spun-Bonded Nonwoven Meso-Structures.

As a type of fiber system, nonwoven fabric is ideal for solid-liquid separation and air filtration. With the wide application of nonwoven filter materials, it is crucial to explore the complex relationship between its meso structure and filtration performance. In this paper, we proposed a novel method for constructing the real meso-structure of spun-bonded nonwoven fabric using computer image processing technology based on the idea of a "point-line-body". Furthermore, the finite element method was adopted to predict filtration efficiencies based on the built 3D model. To verify the effectiveness of the constructed meso-structure and simulation model, filtration experiments were carried out on the fabric samples under different pollution particle sizes and inlet velocities. The experimental results show that the trends observed in the simulation results are consistent with those of the experimental results, with a relative error smaller than 10% for any individual datum.

A Self-Pumping Dressing with Multiple Liquid Transport Channels for Wound Microclimate Management.

A microclimate with ventilation and proper wettability near the wound is vital for wound healing. In the case of pressure or absorption of large amounts of wound exudate, maintaining air circulation around the wound is currently a challenge for wound dressings. In this study, a novel self-pumping dressing (FAED) with multiple liquid transport channels is designed by combining a 3D spacer fabric, sodium alginate aerogel, and electrospun membrane. This unique structural design allows FAED to unidirectionally rapidly remove excess biofluid from the wound and transfer it through a special liquid transport channel to a liquid storage layer with a high absorption ratio. Importantly, the air circulation layer of FAED composed of liquid transport channels and spacer yarns provides excellent air permeability in both the horizontal (12.3 L min-1 ) and vertical (272.02 mm s-1 ) directions. Additionally, a lower compression modulus (0.14 MPa) and higher compression strength (0.15 MPa) enable the novel dressing to adapt to body contours and provide good supporting performance, as compared to foam dressings. Combined with its high biocompatibility, this unique dressing has significant potential for wound treatment and intensive care.

Estimating Lost Gas Content for Shales Considering Real Boundary Conditions during the Core Recovery Process.

Shale gas has become an important natural gas resource in recent years as the conventional oil and gas resources are depleting. Shale gas content is one of the most important parameters for reserve calculation and sweet-spot prediction. The traditional core recovery method is widely used to determine gas content. However, the estimation of lost gas content is the main factor of error and difficulty. Large errors and uncertainties occur when using the widely used methods, such as the United States Bureau of Mines (USBM) method. Hence, a more accurate method is required. In this work, a full-process model is developed in COMSOL Multiphysics to describe the lost gas with time during the core recovery process as well as the desorption stage after the core is covered. In this method, by setting the initial gas pressure and flow parameters and matching the desorbed gas volume and considering variable diffusivity with respect to temperature, the initial gas content and the gas lost with respect to time are calculated. Overall, 10 field data are tested using this full-process model, and the USBM method is also applied to compare the results. It is found that if the ratio of lost gas volume estimated using the USBM method to the desorbed gas volume of the field data is lower than 2.0, the USBM method underestimates the lost gas compared to the full-process method; if the ratio is about 2.0, the results from the USBM and the full-process methods are comparable; and if the ratio is close to 3.0, the USBM method tends to overestimate the lost gas. The modeling results indicate that this proposed full-process method is more theoretically sound than the USBM method, which has high uncertainties depending on the number of desorbed gas data points used. Nevertheless, this proposed method requires a large number of parameters, leading to the difficulty in finding true parameters. Therefore, an optimization algorithm is required. In summary, this study provides theoretical support and a mathematical model for the inversion calculation of lost gas during shale core recovery. It is helpful to evaluate the resource potential and development economics of shale gas more accurately.

Superior Unidirectional Water Transport and Mechanically Stable 3D Orthogonal Woven Fabric for Human Body Moisture and Thermal Management.

Unidirectional water transport performance is vital for maintaining human thermal and wet comfort in the field of garment materials. In this work, a 3D orthogonal woven fabric (3DOWF) with excellent one-way transport capacity and mechanical properties is developed via 3D weaving and plasma treatment. The 3DOWF consists of polyester yarns (first layer), cotton yarns (second layer), and viscose yarns (third layer) with successively enhanced water absorption capacity. This allows droplets to penetrate spontaneously from the hydrophobic layer to the hydrophilic layer but not vice versa. Moreover, the Coolmax yarn with the core suction effect in the Z-direction and the plasma-treated polyester of the 3DOWF are shown to efficiently speed up the water transport process. In particular, the water penetration rate of the 3DOWF reaches 25 µl s-1 . In turn, the surface temperature after water absorption is increased by 2.6 °C compared with the cotton fabric, while the tensile strengths in the weft and warp directions of the 3DOWF are 49.62 and 18 MPa, respectively. These values represent the best insulation and mechanical characteristics thus far reported among unidirectional water transport fabrics. Therefore, the 3DOWF has great potential for use in watchbands, backpack belts, insoles, and other functional textiles.

Warp-Knitted Spacer Fabric Reinforced Syntactic Foam: A Compression Modulus Meso-Mechanics Theoretical Model and Experimental Verification.

In this study, a new type ternary composite, called warp-knitted spacer fabric reinforced syntactic foam (WKSF-SF), with the advantages of high mechanical properties and a lower density, was proposed. Then, a meso-mechanics theoretical model based on the Eshelby-Mori-Tanaka equivalent inclusion method, average stress method and composite hybrid theory was established to predict the compression modulus of WKSF-SF. In order to verify the validity of this model, compression modulus values of theoretical simulations were compared with the quasi-static compression experiment results. The results showed that the addition of suitable WKSF produces at least 15% improvement in the compressive modulus of WKSF-SF compared with neat syntactic foam (NSF). Meanwhile, the theoretical model can effectively simulate the values and variation tendency of the compression modulus for different WKSF-SF samples, and is especially suitable for the samples with smaller wall thickness or a moderate volume fraction of microballoons (the deviations is less than 5%). The study of the meso-mechanical properties of WKSF-SF will help to increase understanding of the compression properties of this new type composite deeply. It is expected that WKSF-SF can be used in aerospace, marine, transportation, construction, and other fields.

Rapid acquisition of high-volume microscopic images using predicted focal plane.

For an automated microscopic imaging system, the image acquisition speed is one of the most critical performance features because many applications require to analyse high-volume images. This paper illustrates a novel approach for rapid acquisition of high-volume microscopic images used to count blood cells automatically. This approach firstly forms a panoramic image of the sample slide by stitching sequential images captured at a low magnification, selects a few basic points (x, y) indicating the target areas from the panoramic image, and then refocuses the slide at each of the basic points at the regular magnification to record the depth position (z). The focusing coordinates (x, y, z) at these basic points are used to calculate a predicted focal plane that defines the relationship between the focus position (z) and the stage position (x, y). Via the predicted focal plane, the system can directly focus the objective lens at any local view, and can tremendously save image-acquisition time by avoiding the autofocusing function. The experiments showed how to determine the optimal number of the basic points at a given imaging condition, and proved that there is no significant difference between the images captured using the autofocusing function or the predicted focal plane.

Design and synthesis of orally bioavailable aminopyrrolidinone histone deacetylase 6 inhibitors.

Histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) removes the acetyl group from lysine residues in a number of non-histone substrates and plays important roles in microtubule dynamics and chaperone activities. There is growing interest in identifying HDAC6-selective inhibitors as chemical biology tools and ultimately as new therapeutic agents. Herein we report the design, synthesis, and phenotypic screening of a novel class of 3-aminopyrrolidinone-based hydroxamic acids as HDAC6 inhibitors. In particular, the α-methyl-substituted enantiomer 33 (3-S) showed significant in-cell tubulin acetylation (Tub-Ac) with an EC50 of 0.30 µM but limited impact on p21 levels at various concentrations. In enzyme inhibition assays, 33 demonstrated high selectivity for HDAC6 with an IC50 of 0.017 µM and selectivity indexes of 10 against HDAC8 and over 4000 against HDAC1-3 isoforms. Moreover, 33 has suitable drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics properties compared with other hydroxamic acid-based HDAC inhibitors, warranting further biological studies and development as a selective HDAC6 inhibitor.

Generation of hyper-entanglement in polarization/energy-time and discrete-frequency/energy-time in optical fibers.

In this paper, a generation scheme for telecom band hyper-entanglement is proposed and demonstrated based on the vector spontaneous four wave mixing (SFWM) processes in optical fibers. Two kinds of two-photon states are generated, one is hyper-entangled in the degree of freedoms (DOFs) of energy-time and polarization, the other is hyper-entangled in DOFs of energy-time and discrete-frequency. Experiments of Franson-type interference, two-photon interference under non-orthogonal polarization bases and spatial quantum beating are realized to demonstrate the entanglement in energy-time, polarization and frequency, respectively. This scheme provides a simple way to realize telecom band hyper-entanglement, which has potential for large geographic-scale applications of quantum communication and quantum information over optical fibers.

Identification of a novel aminotetralin class of HDAC6 and HDAC8 selective inhibitors.

Herein we report the identification of a novel class of HDAC6 and HDAC8 selective inhibitors through a unique chemistry and phenotypic screening strategy. Tetrahydroisoquinoline 12 was identified as a potent HDAC6 and HDAC8 dual inhibitor from a focused library through cellular tubulin acetylation and p21 induction screening assays. Scaffold hopping from 12 led to the discovery of an aminotetralin class of HDAC inhibitors. In particular, the 3-R stereoisomer 32 showed highly potent inhibition against HDAC6 and HDAC8 with IC50 values of 50 and 80 nM, respectively. Treatment of neuroblastoma BE(2)C cells with 32 resulted in elevated levels of acetylated tubulin, TrkA, and neurite outgrowth with only marginal effects on p21 induction and histone H3 acetylation. Consistent with its weak enzymatic inhibition of HDAC1, 32 showed significantly less cytotoxicity than SAHA and moderately inhibited the growth of myeloma NCI-H929 and OPM-2 cells.