GO-enhanced Gel Polymer Electrolyte for Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries.

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) assembled with gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) have gained great popularity due to their low cost and safety. Nevertheless, the extensive utilization of GPE based AZIBs is hindered by various challenges, such as inadequate conductivity, limited mechanical strength, and unstable electrochemical properties. Herein, through the multiple cross-linking reaction of sodium alginate (SA), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and graphene oxide (GO), a hydrated GPE with high conductivity and excellent mechanical property was prepared. GO formed strong hydrogen-bonding interaction with polymers to build a three-dimensional network structure for ion migration and improved the mechanical property of GPE. The prepared GPE showed high ionic conductivity of 2.89×10-3  S cm-1 and excellent tensile strength of 900 kPa. In addition, the assembled Zn-Li hybrid battery provided a discharge specific capacity retention rate of 67.6 % and a Coulombic efficiency (CE) of approximate 100 % after 1000 cycles at 1 C.

pH-responsive gelatin polymer-coated silica-based mesoporous composites for the sustained-release of indomethacin.

This paper prepared drug-loaded mesoporous silica composites with a pH-responsive type. These composites were prepared by using three-dimensional caged silica (SBA-16) as the carrier, 3-aminopropyl trimethoxysilane (APTMS) as the silane coupling agent, and indomethacin (IMC) as the loaded drug, respectively. The drug-loaded precursor NH2-SBA-16@IMC was prepared by solution diffusion adsorption. Finally, the pH-responsive drug-loaded composites NH2-SBA-16@IMC@GA were synthesized by wrapping the NH2-SBA-16@IMC with a condensation polymer of gelatin and glutaraldehyde. The composition and structure of the drug-loaded composites were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, TG, SEM, TEM, and N2 adsorption-desorption. The in vitro simulated release performance of the drug-loaded composites was investigated at 37 °C under three pH conditions. The results show that the NH2-SBA-16@IMC@GA can be released in response to specific pH environment, which can effectively control the release speed of the indomethacin.

Improving the catalytic and mechanical performance of alginate catalyst through functionalization by aminopolycarboxylic acids.

Biomass-based aerogel catalysts have attracted extensive attention due to their high surface aera, continuous porous and environmental friendliness. However, their catalytic activity and mechanical strength are not satisfied for industrial applications. In this work, to solve the above two issues, a new kind of graphene oxide enhancediminodiacetic acid-functionalized Cu-cross-linked alginate (GO-Cu-SA-IDA) aerogel composites were prepared. The physicochemical property of the prepared alginate aerogel composites was characterized systematically, and their catalytic activities were studied in the hydroxylation of phenol. Results illustrated that compared with Cu-SA aerogels (∼16 %), the amount of loaded copper ion which played as the active sites in GO-Cu-SA-IDA aerogel composite was increased by 2 times (32.2 %). In addition, the mechanical strength of GO-Cu-SA-IDA was increased by 10 times. After functionalization, both the catalytic activity and mechanical strength of prepared alginate aerogel composites were enhanced successfully. In addition, the catalyst had been recycled five times with only 5.8 % loss of its catalytic activity, which provided a desirable material for next generation of catalysts.

Treatment of wastewater containing methyl orange dye by fluidized three dimensional electrochemical oxidation process integrated with chemical oxidation and adsorption.

The integrated high-efficiency treatment technology for dye industry wastewater is one of the current research hot topic in industrial wastewater treatment area. This article reports a new fluidized three-dimensional electrochemical treatment process integrating activated carbon adsorption, direct electro-oxidation and ·OH oxidation. In the process, activated carbon is polarized in a fluidized bed electrochemical reactor to enhance the direct electro-oxidation and ·OH oxidation, and there is a synergistic effect of effective adsorption and electrochemical oxidation to strengthen the treatment efficiency. When 200 mg/L methyl orange is processed, its removal rate reaches 99.9% in 30min, and the synergistic efficiency is 57.3%. After 8 cycles of activated carbon reusage in the process, the removal rate of methyl orange still kept at 89.2%. It is also founded that the activated carbon maintains 64.5% of its original adsorption capacity during the cycle. These results shows its interesting application potential in the fields of high-efficiency, low-cost and green treatment of various industrial organic wastewaters. Further improvements should focus on the development of continuous operation model and the improvement of the activated carbon electro-catalytic performance and the practical regeneration ways of the activated carbon particle electrodes.

Sodium Alginate Binders for Bivalency Aqueous Batteries.

Environmental friendly sodium alginate (SA) cannot be used as a binder in aqueous batteries due to its high solubility in water. A water-insoluble polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) binder has been widely applied for an aqueous battery, in which the toxic and expensive organic solvent of N-methy-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) is required during the coating process. Herein, we report that the water-soluble SA can be utilized as a binder in aqueous Zn batteries because SA could cross-link with the Zn2+ ion to form a water-insoluble and mechanically super strong binder for electrodes. Aqueous Zn||LiFePO4 cells are assembled to demonstrate the performance of the SA binder for LiFePO4 cathodes. Due to the high adhesion strength of cross-linked Zn-SA, LiFePO4 with the SA binder displays a high capacity retention of 93.7% with a high Coulombic efficiency of nearly 100% after 100 cycles at a 0.2 C rate, while the capacity of LiFePO4 with the PVDF binder quickly decays to 84.7% after 100 cycles at 0.2 C. In addition, the LiFePO4 cathode with the SA binder also has smaller redox polarization, faster ion diffusion rate, and more favorable electrochemical kinetics than that with the PVDF binder.

Alginate-based aerogels with double catalytic activity sites and high mechanical strength.

Aerogel nanocomposites from biomass are one of the attractive emerging materials in the field of material chemistry and catalyst industry, but their lower catalytic efficiency and mechanical performance have limited their wide range applications. In this work, alginate-based aerogels with perfect catalytic performance and great mechanical strength were prepared through incorporating graphene oxide (GO) and SiO2 via a simple one-pot reaction. GO played as the second catalytic activity sites and endowed the aerogels the perfect catalytic performance (conversion of phenol reached 90.1 % in phenol hydroxylation reaction). Meanwhile, SiO2 and GO could improve the particle compressive strength of the aerogel to 36.0 kg/cm2. This alginate-based aerogel provides a novel and environmentally friendly catalyst for next generation catalytic industry.

Preparation and catalytic performance of alginate-based Schiff Base.

As a biomass polymer, alginate-based material has drawn considerable attention and been applied in many fields. However, the research on alginate-based Schiff Base metal complex is scarce. Herein, a novel alginate-based Schiff Base Cu (II) complex was prepared via oxidation and imidization of alginate by periodate and organic amine, respectively. In additon, their catalytic performance in phenol hydroxylation reaction was investgated. Results illustrated that degree of oxidation had significant influence on metal loaded content. Compared with alginate, the alginate-based Schiff Base has more reactive groups, and can stablize more Cu cations which endowed their better catalytic activities.

Graphene oxide enhanced polyacrylamide-alginate aerogels catalysts.

Biomass aerogel is a promising catalyst and has attracted extensive attention. However, most of the biomass aerogels are fragile, which limits their practical application. Herein, we significantly enhance the mechanical property of biomass aerogel catalysts by 30 times through incorporating graphene oxide into polyacrylamide and Cu-cross-linked alginate formed supper-strong double network aerogels. In addition to enhance the mechanical property, the graphene oxide also significantly increases the catalytic activity. Graphene oxide enhancement for biomass aerogel catalyst provides a new method to develop next generation supper catalysts.

Large-Scale Identification and Characterization of Heterodera avenae Putative Effectors Suppressing or Inducing Cell Death in Nicotiana benthamiana.

Heterodera avenae is one of the most important plant pathogens and causes vast losses in cereal crops. As a sedentary endoparasitic nematode, H. avenae secretes effectors that modify plant defenses and promote its biotrophic infection of its hosts. However, the number of effectors involved in the interaction between H. avenae and host defenses remains unclear. Here, we report the identification of putative effectors in H. avenae that regulate plant defenses on a large scale. Our results showed that 78 of the 95 putative effectors suppressed programmed cell death (PCD) triggered by BAX and that 7 of the putative effectors themselves caused cell death in Nicotiana benthamiana. Among the cell-death-inducing effectors, three were found to be dependent on their specific domains to trigger cell death and to be expressed in esophageal gland cells by in situ hybridization. Ten candidate effectors that suppressed BAX-triggered PCD also suppressed PCD triggered by the elicitor PsojNIP and at least one R-protein/cognate effector pair, suggesting that they are active in suppressing both pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) and effector-triggered immunity (ETI). Notably, with the exception of isotig16060, these putative effectors could also suppress PCD triggered by cell-death-inducing effectors from H. avenae, indicating that those effectors may cooperate to promote nematode parasitism. Collectively, our results indicate that the majority of the tested effectors of H. avenae may play important roles in suppressing cell death induced by different elicitors in N. benthamiana.