What contributes more to BRI economic growth, renewable or non-renewable energy consumption: A third generation panel data analysis.

Given the increasing investment by Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) participants in the renewable energy industry, it is imperative to ascertain how much this investment contributes to economic growth. The objective of this study is to ascertain the extent to which renewable energy contributes to economic growth within the Belt and Road Initiative compared to non-renewable energy sources. Prior studies have yet to incorporate oil prices as a variable in the production function, among other output aspects. This study integrates the inclusion of real oil prices as a variable within the production function alongside capital, labor, renewable energy consumption, and non-renewable energy consumption. A cohort including 49 Belt and Road Initiative participants was formed, encompassing data from 1990 to 2019. The data has undergone an initial examination to assess cross-sectional dependence, slope heterogeneity, and structural break(s), and are verified. Hence, third-generation panel data analysis has been utilized. The continuously updated fully modified estimator and continuously updated biased corrected estimator provide evidence supporting the notion that renewable energy plays a substantial role in fostering economic growth within nations participating in the Belt and Road Initiative. Furthermore, this contribution is found to be more pronounced when compared to the impact of non-renewable energy sources. The study's findings inform policy recommendations at both the BRI and national level.

A Terphenyllin Derivative CHNQD-00824 from the Marine Compound Library Induced DNA Damage as a Potential Anticancer Agent.

With the emergence of drug resistance and the consequential high morbidity and mortality rates, there is an urgent need to screen and identify new agents for the effective treatment of cancer. Terphenyls-a group of aromatic hydrocarbons consisting of a linear 1,4-diaryl-substituted benzene core-has exhibited a wide range of biological activities. In this study, we discovered a terphenyllin derivative-CHNQD-00824-derived from the marine compound library as a potential anticancer agent. The cytotoxic activities of the CHNQD-00824 compound were evaluated against 13 different cell lines with IC50 values from 0.16 to 7.64 µM. Further study showed that CHNQD-00824 inhibited the proliferation and migration of cancer cells, possibly by inducing DNA damage. Acridine orange staining demonstrated that CHNQD-00824 promoted apoptosis in zebrafish embryos. Notably, the anti-cancer effectiveness was verified in a doxycin hydrochloride (DOX)-induced liver-specific enlargement model in zebrafish. With Solafinib as a positive control, CHNQD-00824 markedly suppressed tumor growth at concentrations of 2.5 and 5 µM, further highlighting its potential as an effective anticancer agent.

Structural Engineering and Coupling of Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Compounds for Micro-Supercapacitor Electrodes.

The development of portable, wearable, and miniaturized integrated electronics has significantly promoted the immense desire for planar micro-supercapacitors (MSCs) among the extremely competitive energy storage devices. However, their energy density is still insufficient owing to the low electrochemical performance of conventional electrode materials. Compared with their bulk counterparts, the large specific surface area and fast ion transport with efficient intercalation of two-dimensional (2D) transition metal compounds have spurred the research platforms for their exploitation in the creation of high-performance MSCs. This Outlook presents a systematic summary of cutting-edge research on atomically thin, layered structures of transition metal dichalcogenides, MXenes, and transition metal oxides/hydroxides. Special emphasis is given to the rapid and durable storage of ions, benefiting from the low ion diffusion barriers of host interlayer spaces. Moreover, various strategies have been described to circumvent the structural damage due to the volume change and simultaneously evincing remarkable electronic properties.

Sorbicillinoid Derivatives From Sponge-Derived Fungus Trichoderma reesei (HN-2016-018).

Six new sorbicillinoids, trichoreeseione A (1) and B (2), trichodermolide B (3), 13-hydroxy-trichodermolide (4), 24-hydroxy-trichodimerol (5), 15-hydroxy-bisvertinol (7), together with three known analogs, trichodimerol (6), 24-hydroxy-bisvertinol (8), and bisvertinol (9), were isolated from the sponge-derived fungus Trichoderma reesei (HN-2016-018). Their structures including absolute configurations were elucidated by analysis of NMR, MS data, and calculated ECD spectra. Compounds 1 and 2 with a characteristic naphthalene-trione ring were firstly reported in sorbicillinoid family. Compounds 3 and 4 were two rare sorbicillinoids containing a unique bicycle [3.2.1] lactone skeleton, while 3 with a propan-2-one moiety was also recorded first time in this family. Compound 5 displayed cytotoxic activity against A549, MCF-7, and HCT116 cell lines with the IC50 values of 5.1, 9.5, and 13.7 µM, respectively.

Structure-Activity Relationships and Potent Cytotoxic Activities of Terphenyllin Derivatives from a Small Compound Library.

A small library of 120 compounds was established with seventy new alkylated derivatives of the natural product terphenyllin, together with 45 previous reported derivatives and four natural p-terphenyl analogs. The 70 new derivatives were semi-synthesized and evaluated for cytotoxic activities against four cancer cell lines. Interestingly, 2',4''-diethoxyterphenyllin, 2',4,4''-triisopropoxyterphenyllin, and 2',4''-bis(cyclopentyloxy)terphenyllin showed potent activities with IC50 values in a range from 0.13 to 5.51 µM, which were similar to those of the positive control, adriamycin. The preliminary structure-activity relationships indicated that the introduction of alkyl substituents including ethyl, allyl, propargyl, isopropyl, bromopropyl, isopentenyl, cyclopropylmethyl, and cyclopentylmethyl are important for improving the cytotoxicity.

Bilayered microelectrodes based on electrochemically deposited MnO2/polypyrrole towards fast charge transport kinetics for micro-supercapacitors.

Micro-supercapacitors (MSCs) are promising power solution facilities for miniaturized portable electronic devices. Microfabrication of on-chip MSC with high specific capacitance and high energy density is still a great challenge. Herein, we report a high-performance MnO2/polypyrrole (PPy) microelectrode based MSC (MnO2/PPy-MSC) by modern micromachining technology. Interdigital Au micro current collectors were obtained by photolithography, physical vapor deposition and lift off. A layer of PPy was electrochemically deposited on Au current collectors followed by deposition of urchin-like MnO2 micro/nanostructures. The electrochemical performance of MnO2/PPy-MSC was explored employing LiClO4/PVA gel electrolyte. The assembled MSC demonstrated a high areal capacitance of 13 mF cm-2, an energy density of 1.07 × 10-3 mW h cm-2 and a power density of 0.53 mW cm-2. In addition, the MnO2/PPy-MSC showed an improved cycling stability, retaining 84% of the initial capacitance after 5000 CV cycles at a scan rate of 500 mV s-1. Our proposed strategy provides a versatile and promising method for the fabrication of high-performance MSCs with large-scale applications.

Surface Engineering of Carbon-Based Microelectrodes for High-Performance Microsupercapacitors.

In this research, the enhancement in electrochemical performance of pyrolyzed carbon microelectrodes by surface modification is investigated. For the proposed microfabrication process, pyrolyzed carbon microelectrodes with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on their surface are obtained by developing GM-1060 photoresist in mixture of propylene glycol methyl ether acetate (PGMEA) and CNTs, and following pyrolysis of a micropatterned photoresist. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/H2SO4 electrolyte (1 M) was applied to assemble this carbon/CNT microelectrode-based all-solid-state microsupercapacitor (carbon/CNT-MSC). The carbon/CNT-MSC shows a higher electrochemical performance compared with that of pyrolyzed carbon microelectrode-based MSC (carbon-MSC). The specific areal and volumetric capacitances of carbon/CNT-MSC (4.80 mF/cm2 and 32.0 F/cm3) are higher than those of carbon-MSC (3.52 mF/cm2 and 23.4 F/cm3) at the scan rate of 10 mV/s. In addition, higher energy density and power density of carbon/CNT-MSC (2.85 mWh/cm3 and 1.98 W/cm3) than those of carbon-MSC (2.08 mWh/cm3 and 1.41 W/cm3) were also achieved. This facile surface modification and optimization are potentially promising, being highly compatible with modern microfabrication technologies and allowing integration of highly electrically conductive CNTs into pyrolyzed carbon to assemble MSCs with improved electrochemical performance. Moreover, this method can be potentially applied to other high-performance micro/nanostructures and microdevices/systems.

Co-Electrodeposited porous PEDOT-CNT microelectrodes for integrated micro-supercapacitors with high energy density, high rate capability, and long cycling life.

Recently, conducting polymers (CPs) have gained significant attention for their potential applications in micro-supercapacitors (MSCs). Prior to actualizing this potential, however, several critical issues should be resolved, notably their low cycling stability and comparatively low capacitance and energy density. Concurrently, challenges remain in improving the performance of CPs for use in MSCs in terms of their electrical conductivity, energy density, and cycling stability. For this investigation, we fabricated a high-performance MSC based on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT)-coated multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) nanoporous network microelectrodes by photolithography combined with electrochemical co-deposition on micro-current collectors. We then sought to confirm the proposed higher electrochemical performance of this hybrid MSC with the synergetic effect of PEDOT as a pseudo-capacitive material and MWCNTs as electric double-layer capacitive material. As reported herein, the hybrid MSC delivers a maximum specific capacitance of 20.6 mF cm-2 (82.4 F cm-3) and, consequently, a comparatively high areal energy density of 2.82 µW h cm-2 (11.4 mW h cm-3) in a wide voltage window of 1.0 V at a current density of 0.1 mA cm-2, and a maximum power density of 18.55 W cm-3 at an energy density of 8.1 mW h cm-3. Furthermore, the MSC displays remarkable long-term cycling stability, retaining 99.9% of its initial capacitance after 20 000 CV and GCD cycles with a coulombic efficiency of 100%. Additionally, two PEDOT-CNT MSCs are coupled in series to power a red light emitting diode. The results provided herein confirm that the PEDOT-CNT MSCs exhibit improved performance over other CP based MSCs.