Switching Electric Double Layer Potential by Phase Structure Control for Advanced Oxygen Reduction Reaction of Cobalt@Nitrogen Doped Carbon Core-Shell.

The key to design an advanced oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst is a well-balance between the adsorption and desorption of oxygen intermediates. This study systematically evaluated the ORR activity of HCP and FCC cobalt core-shell cobalt/N-doped carbon (Cobalt@NC) catalyst via theoretical and experimental studies. The electronic structure calculations using density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that the ORR activity of carbon layer can be improved by 1) switching the electrostatic potential in the electrical double layer due to the polarization induced at the carbon-cobalt interface and 2) modulating the electron population in the bonding orbital in the C-O bonds in an ORR. The results revealed that an O atom is bounded stronger to the outer NC shell with FCC Cobalt than HCP Cobalt, which hindered the desorption steps of OH*. Experimentally, plasma-engineered HCP Cobalt@NC also showed remarkably advanced performance toward ORR compared to that FCC Cobalt@NC. The kinetic current density of HCP Cobalt@NC at 0.85 V versus RHE is calculated as 6.24 mA cm-2, which is six folds higher than FCC Cobalt@NC and even outperform 20 wt.% Pt/C. In a practical Aluminium-air battery, HCP Cobalt@NC also exhibited slightly higher peak power density (110.57 mW cm-2) compared to 20 wt.% Pt/C.

XIAO is involved in the control of organ size by contributing to the regulation of signaling and homeostasis of brassinosteroids and cell cycling in rice.

Organ size is determined by cell number and size, and involves two fundamental processes: cell proliferation and cell expansion. Although several plant hormones are known to play critical roles in shaping organ size by regulating the cell cycle, it is not known whether brassinosteroids (BRs) are also involved in regulating cell division. Here we identified a rice T-DNA insertion mutant for organ size, referred to as xiao, that displays dwarfism and erect leaves, typical BR-related phenotypes, together with reduced seed setting. XIAO is predicted to encode an LRR kinase. The small stature of the xiao mutant resulted from reduced organ sizes due to decreased cell numbers resulting from reduced cell division rate, as supported by the observed co-expression of XIAO with a number of genes involved in cell cycling. The xiao mutant displayed a tissue-specific enhanced BR response and greatly reduced BR contents at the whole-plant level. These results indicated that XIAO is a regulator of BR signaling and cell division. Thus, XIAO may provide a possible connection between BRs and cell-cycle regulation in controlling organ growth.