Boosting oxygen evolution reaction activity with Mo incorporated NiFe-LDH electrocatalyst for efficient water electrolysis.

This work demonstrates a simple and scalable methodology for the binder-free direct growth of Mo-doped NiFe-layered double hydroxides on a nickel substrate via an electrodeposition route at room temperature. A three-dimensional (3D) nanosheet array morphology of the electrocatalyst provides immense electrochemical surface area as well as abundant catalytically active sites. Mo incorporation in the NiFe-LDH plays a crucial role in regulating the catalytic activity of oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The prepared electrocatalyst exhibited low overpotential (i.e., 230 mV) at 30 mA cm-2 for OER in an alkaline electrolyte (i.e., 1 M KOH). Furthermore, the optimized Mo-doped NiFe-LDH electrode was used as an anode in a laboratory-scale in situ single cell test system for alkaline water electrolysis at 80 °C with a continuous flow of 30 wt% KOH, and it shows the efficient electrochemical performance with a lower cell voltage of 1.80 V at a current density of 400 mA cm-2. In addition, an admirable long-term cell durability is also demonstrated by the cell for 24 h. This work encourages new designs and further development of electrode material for alkaline water electrolysis on a commercial scale.

High Gain and Broadband Absorption Graphene Photodetector Decorated with Bi2Te3 Nanowires.

A graphene photodetector decorated with Bi2Te3 nanowires (NWs) with a high gain of up to 3 × 104 and wide bandwidth window (400-2200 nm) has been demonstrated. The photoconductive gain was improved by two orders of magnitude compared to the gain of a photodetector using a graphene/Bi2Te3 nanoplate junction. Additionally, the position of photocurrent generation was investigated at the graphene/Bi2Te3 NWs junction. Eventually, with low bandgap Bi2Te3 NWs and a graphene junction, the photoresponsivity improved by 200% at 2200 nm (~0.09 mA/W).

Purple corn extract (PCE) alleviates cigarette smoke (CS)-induced DNA damage in rodent blood cells by activation of AMPK/Foxo3a/MnSOD pathway.

Purple corn extract (PCE) is a nutraceutical, an activator of AMPK, and it has antioxidants and anticancer properties. Therefore, PCE could be a candidate for alleviating cigarette smoke (CS)-induced oxidative DNA damage. This study examined whether PCE can have a protective effect on blood cells in an animal model of cigarette smoke (CS)-induced DNA damage. PCE was orally administered to CS-inhaled Spraque-Dawley (SD) rats, followed by the target cells being examined for markers of DNA damage. The study also sought to elucidate the mechanism of PCE action in the PCE treated animals. SD rat inhalation of CS was for once a day for 30 min, repeated for 7 days. PCE was administered orally before CS inhalation. Pretreatment of the animals with oral PCE kept the numbers of white blood cells (WBC) as well as neutrophils (NE), lymphocytes (LY), monocytes (Mo), eosinophils (EO), abd jasophils (BA) from increasing as those were increased in the CS-inhaling SD rats. The amount of phosphorylated γ-H2AX, a DNA damage marker, was assayed in the circulating blood cells collected from the animals and western blot analysis with anti-Foxo3a, p-Foxo3a, p-AMPK, MnSOD antibodies were performed on those cells. PCE protected the circulating blood cells from CS inhalation-induced DNA damage by 44% as assayed by increases in γ-H2AX. PCE also increased the nuclear localization of Foxo3a by 52% over control cells. Mechanistically, PCE appears to efficiently protect various blood cell types from CS-induced DNA damage through removal of ROS via activation of the AMPK/Foxo3a/MnSOD pathway.

Key parameters for enhancing the thermoelectric power factor of PEDOT:PSS/PANI-CSA multilayer thin films.

Among the conducting polymers, poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) has been extensively investigated for organic thermoelectric device applications owing to its high electrical conductivity (σ), flexibility and easy processability. The thermoelectric (TE) power factor - a factor that determines the efficiency of a thermoelectric material, is very critical in developing high-efficiency thermoelectric devices. The TE power factor of PEDOT:PSS requires further enhancement in realizing efficient organic TE devices. Recently, we have reported a layer-by-layer deposition technique to deposit PEDOT:PSS and poly aniline-camphor sulfonic acid (PANI-CSA) forming a PEDOT:PSS/PANI-CSA multilayer (ML) thin film structure with an enhanced thermoelectric power factor up to 49 µW m-1 K-1. However, there exist several ambiguities regarding the parameters that control the TE power factor in (ML) thin films. In order to identify the parameters that control the TE power factor of ML thin films, PEDOT:PSS/PANI-CSA ML thin films have been deposited by varying the deposition conditions such as spin speed, the number of layers, solvent treatment, and thickness of each layer. A thermoelectric power factor up to 325 µW m-1 K-1 is achieved by properly optimizing the spin speed, number of layers, and the thickness of each layer in ML thin films. The enhanced thermoelectric power factor is the result of multiple factors such as stretching of PEDOT chains, structural conformation change from benzoid to quinoid, and excess PSS removal from the top of the PEDOT:PSS layer through solvent treatment and at the PEDOT:PSS/PANI-CSA interface. Our study provides the basis for realizing an enhanced thermoelectric power factor of organic thermoelectric multilayer structures consisting of ultra-thin polymer thin films similar to inorganic superlattices having 2D confinement.