In Situ Hybridization Strategy Constructs Heterogeneous Interfaces to Form Electronically Modulated MoS2/FeS2 as the Anode for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Storage.

The interfacial effect is important for anodes of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) to achieve superior lithium-ion storage performance. In this paper, a MoS2/FeS2 heterojunction is synthesized by a simple hydrothermal reaction to construct the interface effect, and the heterostructure introduces an inherent electric field that accelerates the de-embedding process of lithium ions, improves the electron transfer capability, and effectively mitigates volume expansion. XPS analysis confirms evident chemical interaction between MoS2 and FeS2 via an interfacial covalent bond (Mo-S-Fe). This MoS2/FeS2 anode shows a distinct interfacial effect for efficient interatomic electron migration. The electrochemical performance demonstrated that the discharge capacity can reach up to 1217.8 mA h g-1 at 0.1 A g-1 after 200 cycles, with a capacity retention rate of 72.9%. After 2000 cycles, the capacity retention is about 61.6% at 1.0 A g-1, and the discharge capacity can still reach 638.9 mA h g-1. Electrochemical kinetic analysis indicated an enhanced pseudocapacitance contribution and that the MoS2/FeS2 had sufficient adsorption of lithium ions. This paper therefore argues that this interfacial engineering is an effective solution for designing sulfide-based anodes with good electrochemical properties.

Robotic-assisted organ-preserving or parenchymal-sparing pancreatectomy in pancreatic benign or low-grade malignant tumors: a single institute's experience.

AIM: Robotic-assisted pancreatectomy has been widely used. Organ-preserving pancreatectomy (OPP) and parenchymal-sparing pancreatectomy (PSP) has been gradually adopted for pancreatic benign or low-grade malignant tumors. This study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of robotic-assisted OPP/PSP in our institute. METHODS: Patients undergoing robotic-assisted OPS/PSP at First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University between July 2015 and October 2021 were included in this study. The short-term and long-term outcomes of patients were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: Seventy-two patients were enrolled, including spleen-preserving distal pancreatectomy, central pancreatectomy, duodenum-preserving pancreatic head resection, and enucleation. Patients included were more likely to be young female (female: 46/72, median age: 47 years old). The median intraoperative blood loss and operation time was 50 ml and 255 min, respectively. Clinically relevant postoperative pancreatic fistula was 20.8% (grade B: 15/72, 20.8%; no grade C). The overall complication rate was 22.2% with the median postoperative length-of-stay of 8 days. At a median follow-up time of 28.5 months, the 5-year overall survival and recurrence-free survival rate were 100.0% and 100.0%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The short-term and long-term outcomes of patients receiving robotic-assisted OPP/PSP were acceptable. Robotic-assisted OPP/PSP was a feasible and safe technique for pancreatic benign or low-grade malignant lesions.

Renin-angiotensin system inhibitors improve the survival of cholangiocarcinoma: a propensity score-matched cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a risk factor for cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). The effect of anti-hypertensive drugs on the prognosis of CCA is not clear. METHODS: This is a retrospective study of 102 patients (56.9% males, median age 66 years) diagnosed with CCA and hypertension concurrently and received radical surgery (R0), with a median follow-up of 36.7 months. Kaplan-Meier analysis, Cox regressions, and propensity score (PS) matching were applied for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Results of multivariable cox analysis showed that renin-angiotensin system inhibitors (RASis) usage was a protective factor for progression-free survival (PFS) (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.55, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 0.32-0.96) and overall survival (OS) (HR = 0.40, 95% CI: 0.20-0.79), respectively. Calcium channel blockers, diuretics, and ß-blockers didn't show significant associations. The association of RASis usage and PFS and OS was derived by PS matching, with a cohort of 28 RASis users and 56 RASis non-users. The median PFS and OS of RASis users (PFS, 17.6 months (9.2-34.4); OS, 24.8 months (16.5-42.3)) were longer than RASis non-users (PFS, 10.5 months (4.1-24.1); OS, 14.6 months (10.6-28.4)). The 1 year, 2 years, and 3 years' survival rates of RASis users (89.1%, 77.0%, and 65.5%) were higher than RASis non-users (70.9%, 54.0%, and 40.0%). CONCLUSIONS: RASis usage improves the survival of patients with CCA and hypertension concurrently.

Fault Diagnosis Method of Roadheader Bearing Based on VMD and Domain Adaptive Transfer Learning.

The roadheader is a core piece of equipment for underground mining. The roadheader bearing, as its key component, often works under complex working conditions and bears large radial and axial forces. Its health is critical to efficient and safe underground operation. The early failure of a roadheader bearing has weak impact characteristics and is often submerged in complex and strong background noise. Therefore, a fault diagnosis strategy that combines variational mode decomposition and a domain adaptive convolutional neural network is proposed in this paper. To start with, VMD is utilized to decompose the collected vibration signals to obtain the sub-component IMF. Then, the kurtosis index of IMF is calculated, with the maximum index value chosen as the input of the neural network. A deep transfer learning strategy is introduced to solve the problem of the different distributions of vibration data for roadheader bearings under variable working conditions. This method was implemented in the actual bearing fault diagnosis of a roadheader. The experimental results indicate that the method is superior in terms of diagnostic accuracy and has practical engineering application value.

Semi-automated 3D fluorescence speckle analyzer (3D-Speckler) for microscope calibration and nanoscale measurement.

The widespread use of fluorescence microscopy has prompted the ongoing development of tools aiming to improve resolution and quantification accuracy for study of biological questions. Current calibration and quantification tools for fluorescence images face issues with usability/user experience, lack of automation, and comprehensive multidimensional measurement/correction capabilities. Here, we developed 3D-Speckler, a versatile, and high-throughput image analysis software that can provide fluorescent puncta quantification measurements such as 2D/3D particle size, spatial location/orientation, and intensities through semi-automation in a single, user-friendly interface. Integrated analysis options such as 2D/3D local background correction, chromatic aberration correction, and particle matching/filtering are also encompassed for improved precision and accuracy. We demonstrate 3D-Speckler microscope calibration capabilities by determining the chromatic aberrations, field illumination uniformity, and response to nanometer-scale emitters above and below the diffraction limit of our imaging system using multispectral beads. Furthermore, we demonstrated 3D-Speckler quantitative capabilities for offering insight into protein architectures and composition in cells.

Fabrication and properties of multi-functional polydopamine coated Cu/F-codoped hydroxyapatite hollow microspheres as drug carriers.

Due to its excellent bone conductivity and drug adsorption as well as pH-responsive drug release property, hydroxyapatite (HAp) is widely used as a drug carrier in bone repair field. Here, we report for the first time a novel multi-functional polydopamine (PDA) coated Cu/F-codoped HAp (Cu/F-HAp-PDA) hollow microspheres. Both Cu2+ and F- were successfully doped into the lattice of HAp and uniformly distributed in the shell of hollow microspheres through a one-step hydrothermal synthesis. Then PDA was coated homogeneously on the outer layer of Cu/F-HAp hollow microspheres. Both Cu/F-HAp and Cu/F-HAp-PDA samples displayed high drug loading efficiency and pH responsive drug release behavior. Moreover, the obtained Cu/F-HAp-PDA hollow microspheres exhibited excellent photothermal conversion efficiency and photothermal stability. The molecular dynamics simulations showed that PDA and HAp can form mutual binding mainly through Ca-O bonding, while doxorubicin (DOX) is mainly bound to PDA molecules through hydrogen bonding and π-π stacking interaction.

Angiogenic property of cobalt and calcium-phosphorus doped coating on titanium surfaces in vitro / 口腔疾病防治

Objective@# To investigate the effect of cobalt (Co) and calcium-phosphate (Ca/P) doped coating on titanium surfaces and their angiogenic effect.@*Methods @# Microarc oxidation (MAO) was used to prepare Co-Ca/P-doped and Co-doped coatings. Titanium (Ti) sheet without MAO treatment was used as control. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to observe the surface micromorphology of the coatings. Energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) was also applied to detect the doped chemicals and their contents. Standard soaking solutions of these coatings were prepared using an endothelial cell medium (ECM) solution for subsequent angiogenesis experiments. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were cultured on Matrigel with ECM soaking solutions for 4 h and 8 h. The microvessels were observed under a microscope, and the number of microtubules and their interconnecting nodes were analyzed with Image J software. @*Results@# Co doped and Co-Ca/P-doped coatings were successfully prepared by MAO, which was demonstrated by both SEM observation and EDS analysis. SEM observation showed that irregular crystals of the above chemicals were present on both Co and Co-Ca/P-doped coatings, commonly with a diameter <2 μm. However, more crystals were observed on the Co-Ca/P coatings than on the Co coating, and the distribution of the crystals was more homogenous on the Co-Ca/P coatings. However, only polishing scratches were observed on the Ti sample surface. EDS analysis indicated that in contrast to only Co in the Co coating, Co, Ca and P were doped within the Co-Ca/P coating, and none of the three elements were observed on the Ti plate surface. The number of vascular rings and nodes formed by HUVECs in the extract of the Co-Ca/P group was significantly higher than that of the Co group (P<0.05), and the angiogenic effect of these two components was significantly better than that of the Ti group (P<0.05). @*Conclusion@#The Co-Ca/P coating exhibits good angiogenic properties in vitro and is valuable for the development of new titanium implants with high surface bioactivity.

In silico assessment of electrophysiological neuronal recordings mediated by magnetoelectric nanoparticles.

Magnetoelectric materials hold untapped potential to revolutionize biomedical technologies. Sensing of biophysical processes in the brain is a particularly attractive application, with the prospect of using magnetoelectric nanoparticles (MENPs) as injectable agents for rapid brain-wide modulation and recording. Recent studies have demonstrated wireless brain stimulation in vivo using MENPs synthesized from cobalt ferrite (CFO) cores coated with piezoelectric barium titanate (BTO) shells. CFO-BTO core-shell MENPs have a relatively high magnetoelectric coefficient and have been proposed for direct magnetic particle imaging (MPI) of brain electrophysiology. However, the feasibility of acquiring such readouts has not been demonstrated or methodically quantified. Here we present the results of implementing a strain-based finite element magnetoelectric model of CFO-BTO core-shell MENPs and apply the model to quantify magnetization in response to neural electric fields. We use the model to determine optimal MENPs-mediated electrophysiological readouts both at the single neuron level and for MENPs diffusing in bulk neural tissue for in vivo scenarios. Our results lay the groundwork for MENP recording of electrophysiological signals and provide a broad analytical infrastructure to validate MENPs for biomedical applications.

Risk factors predicting the occurrence of metachronous ovarian metastasis of gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND: Ovarian metastasis following radical gastrectomy, also known as metachronous ovarian metastasis (MOM), pose a significant threat to the long-term survival of female gastric cancer (GC) patients. However, a mechanism to identify and characterize operated patients at high risk of developing MOM remains unknown. This retrospective study aimed to identify risk factors for the occurrence of MOM based on the profiling of clinicopathological parameters and expression of sex hormone receptors (SHR) of operated GC patients with and without ovarian relapse. METHODS: The clinicopathological data of 1,055 female GC patients from two medical centers who underwent surgery between January 2011 and December 2015 were reviewed. A total of 378 patients with and without the occurrence of MOM met the eligibility criteria, including the availability of medical records, adequacy of lymph node dissection, completeness of clinicopathological data, sufficient follow-up time, and no administration of neoadjuvant chemotherapy were selected for further analysis. Expressions of estrogen receptor alpha (ERα), estrogen receptor beta (ERß), and progesterone receptor (PR) were detected by immunohistochemical staining on the surgical specimens of patients, and retrospective statistical analyses identified independent risk factors for the occurrence of MOM. A risk prediction model in the format of a polygenic hazard score (PHS) for the occurrence of MOM was established by introducing and modifying the previously validated polygenic risk score (PRS)/PHS. RESULTS: A Cox regression-based multivariate analysis identified premenopausal with an HR of 3.15 (95% CI, 1.66-5.98), more advanced pathological T stage with an HR of 3.79 (95% CI, 2.14-6.69), more advanced pathological N stage with an HR of 1.85 (95% CI, 1.35-2.54), and negative expression of ERß with an HR of 0.33 (95% CI, 0.15-0.7) as independent risk factors for the occurrence of MOM (P<0.01). Accordingly, a PHS for the occurrence of MOM was established, with 1-, 2-, and 3-year ovarian relapse rates for the high-risk group estimated at 17.8%, 33.7%, and 46.2%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Premenopausal status, depth of tumor invasion, number of positive lymph nodes, and negative expression of ERß were independent factors for the occurrence of MOM. More frequent follow-up examinations are recommended to provide timely diagnosis and medical intervention.

A Four-Gene-Based Prognostic Model Predicts Overall Survival in Patients With Cutaneous Melanoma.

BACKGROUND: Cutaneous melanoma (CM) is one of the most aggressive cancers with highly metastatic ability. To make things worse, there are limited effective therapies to treat advanced CM. Our study aimed to investigate new biomarkers for CM prognosis and establish a novel risk score system in CM. METHODS: Gene expression data of CM from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets were downloaded and analyzed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The overlapped DEGs were then verified for prognosis analysis by univariate and multivariate COX regression in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) datasets. Based on the gene signature of multiple survival associated DEGs, a risk score model was established, and its prognostic and predictive role was estimated through Kaplan-Meier (K-M) analysis and log-rank test. Furthermore, the correlations between prognosis related genes expression and immune infiltrates were analyzed via Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER) site. RESULTS: A total of 103 DEGs were obtained based on GEO cohorts, and four genes were verified in TCGA datasets. Subsequently, four genes (ADAMDEC1, GNLY, HSPA13, and TRIM29) model was developed by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses. The K-M plots showed that the high-risk group was associated with shortened survival than that in the low-risk group (P < 0.0001). Multivariate analysis suggested that the model was an independent prognostic factor (high-risk vs. low-risk, HR= 2.06, P < 0.001). Meanwhile, the high-risk group was prone to have larger breslow depth (P< 0.001) and ulceration (P< 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The four-gene risk score model functions well in predicting the prognosis and treatment response in CM and will be useful for guiding therapeutic strategies for CM patients. Additional clinical trials are needed to verify our findings.

Novel functional variants in the Notch pathway and survival of Chinese colorectal cancer.

Notch signaling pathway plays crucial roles in progression of colorectal cancer (CRC), likely affecting overall survival (OS). In a two-stage survival analysis of 1116 CRC patients in East China, we found that one locus at MINAR1 out of 133 genes in the Notch signaling pathway was significantly associated with OS (P < 1 × 10-6 , false discovery rate < 0.01). This locus containing seven single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in high linkage disequilibrium (R2 = 1) is located on chromosome 15, of which the MINAR1 rs72430409 G allele was associated with a greater death risk (HR = 1.98, 95% CI = 1.55-2.54, P = 6.8 × 10-8 ). Further analysis of ChIP-sequencing data from the encyclopedia of DNA Elements showed that rs72430409 and rs72630408 were potential cis-regulatory elements for the MINAR1 promoter. Additional expression quantitative trait loci analysis revealed that rs72430409 G>A and rs72630408 A>G were correlated with increased MINAR1 expression levels in both blood cells and colon tissues. Dual luciferase assays revealed that the rs72430409 A allele increased MINAR1 promoter activity. The Cancer Genome Atlas data showed that expression levels of MINAR1 in CRC samples were significantly higher than that in normal colorectal tissue and that high expression of MINAR1 was associated with a shortened OS, likely via activating the epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) pathway as shown in the gene-set enrichment analysis. In vitro, RNAi-mediated silencing of MINAR1 led to decreased migration and proliferation in CRC cancer cells, and MINAR1 silencing could downregulate the expression of key effector genes in EMT and glycolysis. Larger cohort studies and further experiments are needed to validate our findings.

Functional variation of SLC52A3 rs13042395 predicts survival of Chinese gastric cancer patients.

The solute carrier family 52 member 3 (SLC52A3) gene encodes riboflavin transporter protein which is essential to maintain mitochondrial function in cells. In our research, we found that SLC52A3 rs13042395 C > T variation was significantly associated with poor survival in a 926 Chinese gastric cancer (GCa) patients cohort (CC/CT genotype versus TT genotype, HR = 0.57, 95%CI (0.40-0.82), log-rank P = 0.015). The SLC52A3 rs13042395 C > T change led to its increased mRNA expression according to expression quantitative trait loci analysis (P = 0.0029). In vitro, it was revealed that rs13042395 C allele had higher binding affinity to inhibitory transcription factor Meis homeobox 1 (MEIS1) compared with T allele, knock-down of MEIS1 could up-regulate SLC52A3, and overexpression of SLC52A3 contributed to the increased ability of proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion in GCa cells. Subsequently, the bioinformatics analysis combined with experiments in vitro suggested that Gap junction protein alpha 1 (GJA1) was the downstream effector of SLC52A3, SLC52A3 may promote the GCa cells aggressiveness by down-regulating the GJA1 expression. Overall, SLC52A3 genetic variant rs13042395 C > T change was associated with poorer survival in Chinese GCa patients and increased SLC52A3 expression by interaction with MEIS1. SLC52A3 promoted the GCa cells aggressiveness by down-regulating the GJA1 expression.

Predictive model for risk of gastric cancer using genetic variants from genome-wide association studies and high-evidence meta-analysis.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified some single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with the risk of gastric cancer (GCa). However, currently, there is no published predictive model to assess the risk of GCa. In the present study, risk-associated SNPs derived from GWAS and large meta-analyses were selected to construct a predictive model to assess the risk of GCa. A total of 1115 GCa cases and 1172 controls from the eastern Chinese population were included. Logistic regression models were used to identify SNPs that correlated with the risk of GCa. A predictive model to assess the risk of GCa was established by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) and classification and regression tree (CART) were applied to calculate the effect of high-order gene-environment interactions on risk of the cancer. A total of 42 SNPs were selected for further analysis. The results revealed that ASH1L rs80142782, PKLR rs3762272, PRKAA1 rs13361707, MUC1 rs4072037, PSCA rs2294008, and PLCE1 rs2274223 polymorphisms were associated with a risk of GCa. The area under curve considering both genetic factors and BMI was 3.10% higher than that of BMI alone. MDR analysis revealed that rs13361707 and rs4072307 variants and BMI had interaction effects on susceptibility to GCa, with the highest predictive accuracy (61.23%) and cross-validation consistency (100/100). CART analysis also supported this interaction model that non-overweight status and a six SNP panel could synergistically increase the susceptibility to GCa. The six SNP panel for predicting the risk of GCa may provide new tools for prevention of the cancer based on GWAS and large meta-analyses derived genetic variants.

TP53 somatic mutations are associated with poor survival in non-small cell lung cancer patients who undergo immunotherapy.

In this study, we investigated the association between TP53 somatic mutations and immunotherapeutic outcomes in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis of the MSK-IMPACT cohort of 350 NSCLC patients shows that overall survival (OS) is significantly lower for patients with truncating TP53 mutations than those with wild-type TP53 (OS: 9 months vs. 14 months; P=0.019). Multivariate analysis shows that truncating TP53 mutations are an independent predictor of immunotherapeutic outcomes. Moreover, among NSCLC patients with lower tumor mutation burden (TMB), those with TP53 truncating mutations showed significantly lower OS than those with wild-type TP53 [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.40, confidence interval (CI) = 1.13-1.73; P = 0.002]. TP53 mutations correlate with higher infiltration of CD8+ T cells, neutrophils and dendritic cells in lung adenocarcinoma tissues. A prognostic model with TP53 mutational status shows better survival prediction than the model without TP53 mutational status 1-year [area under curve (AUC): 64.9% vs. 60.2%; P = 0.052] and 2-years (AUC: 70.9% vs. 66.1%; P = 0.098) post-immunotherapy. These findings demonstrate that truncating TP53 mutations correlate with poor immunotherapy outcomes in NSCLC patients with low TMB. TP53 mutation status also improves the prognostic prediction in NSCLC patients that underwent immunotherapy.

Microsatellite Instability-Related ACVR2A Mutations Partially Account for Decreased Lymph Node Metastasis in MSI-H Gastric Cancers.

PURPOSE: Gene mutations play important roles in tumour metastasis, which significantly affect the prognosis of gastric cancer (GC) patients. This study aimed to compare lymph node (LN) metastasis of GCs with different microsatellite instability (MSI) statuses and explore the effect of ACVR2A mutations on GC LN metastasis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The association between clinicopathologic characteristics and MSI status or ACVR2A mutational status was analysed based on a GC dataset from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The association of ACVR2A mutations with MSI status was assessed. Whole-exome sequencing data of 157 GCs from Chinese patients at Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center were used to validate the association of mutated ACVR2A and MSI status. Survival plots were obtained from the KMPlot and cBioPortal databases. The roles of ACVR2A and its common mutants in GC cell migration and proliferation were assayed in vitro. RESULTS: LN metastasis was significantly decreased in MSI-H GCs compared with microsatellite instability-low or microsatellite stable (MSI-L/MSS) GCs (P=0.016). As the most frequently mutated gene in MSI-H GCs, mutated ACVR2A was significantly associated with MSI-H (P<0.001) and a higher mutation frequency (P<0.001). Additionally, a tendency toward decreased LN metastasis was observed in GCs with mutated ACVR2A, although the P value was not statistically significant (P=0.052). Higher expression of ACVR2A predicted a poor prognosis, but patients with ACVR2A mutations had slightly better disease-free survival. Two polyadenine microsatellite loci in the ACVR2A coding region were hotspot mutation sites. In vitro experiments demonstrated that wild-type ACVR2A promoted GC cell migration probably via the Snail/Slug-EMT pathway, while ACVR2A truncated mutants lost this function. CONCLUSION: MSI-H GCs had lower LN metastasis partially due to ACVR2A mutations. Mutated ACVR2A was significantly associated with MSI-H in GC, making it a potential biomarker that could be useful in choosing candidates for immunotherapy.

Differential microRNA expression profiles associated with microsatellite status reveal possible epigenetic regulation of microsatellite instability in gastric adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Although microsatellite instability (MSI) is a powerful predictive biomarker for the efficacy of immunotherapy, the mechanism of MSI in sporadic gastrointestinal cancer is not fully understood. However, epigenetics, particularly microRNAs, has been suggested as one of the main regulators that contribute to the MSI formation. METHODS: We used microRNA expression data of 386 gastric adenocarcinoma samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database to identify differential microRNA expression profiles by different MSI status. We also obtained putative common target genes of the top differential microRNAs with miRanda online tools, and we analyzed these data by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment (KEGG). RESULTS: We found that 56 and 67 gastric adenocarcinoma samples were positive for low and high MSI, respectively, and that a high MSI status was associated with age, sex and subregion (P=0.049, 0.014 and 0.007, respectively). In the 67 samples with a high MSI status, expression levels of 14 microRNAs were upregulated but five microRNAs were downregulated as assessed by the fold change (FC), compared with that of the 56 samples with a low MSI status (P<0.05, |FC| >2). Further analysis suggested that the expression of miR-210-3p, miR-582-3p, miR-30a-3p and miR-105-5p predicted a high MSI status (P=4.93×10-10, 5.63×10-10, 3.23×10-9 and 7.64×10-4, respectively). Regulation of the transcription pathways ranked the top of lists from both GO and KEGG analyses, and these microRNAs might regulate DNA damage-repair genes that were also associated with a high MSI status. CONCLUSIONS: MiR-30a-3p and miR-105-5p are potential biomarkers for the MSI-H gastric adenocarcinoma, possibly by altering expression of DNA damage-repair genes.

In-situ construction of Bi/defective Bi4NbO8Cl for non-noble metal based Mott-Schottky photocatalysts towards organic pollutants removal.

The strategy to improve the photocatalytic performance is still a challenge for the novel Sillen-Aurivillius perovskite type Bi4NbO8Cl. Herein, heterostructured Bi/Bi4NbO8Cl was fabricated via in-situ solvothermal method, without the additional introduction of Bi-sources. Simultaneously, the amount of oxygen vacancies (OVs) were increased, as the [Bi2O2] blocks released in the solvothermal process to serve as precursors for Bi particles. Due to the large work function of Bi, a Schottky barrier formed at the Bi/Bi4NbO8Cl interface, promoting photo-induced charge separation generated in the Bi4NbO8Cl semiconductor, supplying more holes for the organic compounds decomposition, which could be widely applied in water decontamination. Furthermore, the OVs facilitate the consumption of photo-induced electrons by assisting oxygen activation to produce superoxide radicals (·O2-), leaving more holes in the valence band of Bi4NbO8Cl, and thus result in the enhancement of Rhodamine B (RhB) degradation by 1.82 times over Bi/Bi4NbO8Cl photocatalysts. Through the synergistic effect of Bi and OVs, the Bi/Bi4NbO8Cl also exhibits enhanced photocatalytic performance towards various organic water-contaminants, such as methyl orange, acid orange 7, p-nitrophenol and tetracycline hydrochloride.

Construction of ZnTiO3/Bi4NbO8Cl heterojunction with enhanced photocatalytic performance.

Constructing heterojunction is an effective strategy to enhance photocatalytic performance of photocatalysts. Herein, we fabricated ZnTiO3/Bi4NbO8Cl heterojunction with improved performance via a typical mechanical mixing method. The rhodamine (RhB) degradation rate over heterojunction is higher than that of individual ZnTiO3 or Bi4NbO8Cl under Xenon-arc lamp irradiation. Combining ZnTiO3 with Bi4NbO8Cl can inhibit the recombination of photo-excited carriers. The improved quantum efficiency was demonstrated by transient-photocurrent responses (PC), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), photoluminescence (PL) spectra, and time-resolved PL (TRPL) spectra. This research may be valuable for photocatalysts in the industrial application.

Fabrication of CdTe QDs/BiOI-Promoted TiO2 Hollow Microspheres with Superior Photocatalytic Performance Under Simulated Sunlight.

Hollow and heterostructured architectures are recognized as an effective approach to improve photocatalytic performance. In this work, ternary TiO2/CdTe/BiOI with hollow structure was constructed via a step-by-step method. In addition, the effect of TiO2 structural regulation and the energy band alignment of BiOI and CdTe quantum dots (CdTe QDs) with TiO2 in TiO2/CdTe/BiOI on photocatalytic dye removal were also studied. The results reveal that the TiO2/CdTe/BiOI heterostructures with hollow substrates exhibit much higher photocatalytic activities than pure TiO2, P25, TiO2/CdTe, and TiO2/BiOI and ternary TiO2/CdTe/BiOI with solid substrates. For TiO2(H)/CdTe/BiOI, several synergistic factors may be responsible for the remarkable visible-light photodegradation performance, such as strong visible-light absorption by BiOI and larger specific surface area.

Enhanced interaction in TiO2/BiVO4 heterostructures via MXene Ti3C2-derived 2D-carbon for highly efficient visible-light photocatalysis.

Heterostructured photocatalysts play a significant role in the removal of contaminants by decreasing the recombination of the photo-induced charges. Herein, we presented novel TiO2/C/BiVO4 ternary hybrids employing a 2D layered Ti3C2 MXene precursor, overcoming the lattice mismatching of TiO2/BiVO4 binary heterostructures simultaneously. Raman and XPS analyses proved the strong coupling effects of TiO2, carbon and BiVO4 components, and the heterostructures were identified from high-resolution transmission electron microscopy results. Moreover, the ternary TiO2/C/BiVO4 composites exhibit excellent photocatalytic performance of Rhodamine B degradation, which is about four times higher than pure BiVO4 and twice that of binary TiO2/BiVO4 heterostructures, reaching a reaction constant of 13.7 × 10-3 min-1 under visible-light irradiation (λ > 420 nm). In addition, for the possible mechanism for dye elimination it was proposed that RhB molecule be directly oxidized by photo-induced holes (h+) on the BiVO4 components and superoxide radical ([Formula: see text]) generated from conduction band electrons of the heterostructures. This work will provide possibilities for developing visible-light responsive nanomaterials for efficient solar utilization.