Drug adulteration analysis based on complexation with cyclodextrin and metal ions using ion mobility spectrometry

Drug adulteration and contamination are serious threats to human health therefore,their accurate monitoring is very important.Allopurinol(Alp)and theophylline(Thp)are commonly used drugs for the treatment of gout and bronchitis,while their isomers hypoxanthine(Hyt)and theobromine(Thm)have no effect and affect the efficacy of the drug.In this work,the drug isomers of Alp/Hyt and Thp/Thm are simply mixed withα-,β-,γ-cyclodextrin(CD)and metal ions and separated using trapped ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry(TIMS-MS).TIMS-MS results showed that Alp/Hyt and Thp/Thm isomers could interact with CD and metal ions and form corresponding binary or ternary complexes to achieve their TIMS separation.Different metal ions and CDs showed different separation effect for the isomers,among which Alp and Hyt could be successfully distinguished from the complexes of[Alp/Hyt+γ-CD+Cu–H]^(+)with separation resolution(RP–P)of 1.51;whereas Thp and Thm could be baseline separated by[Thp/Thm+γ-CD+Ca–H]^(+)with RP–P of 1.96.Besides,chemical calculations revealed that the complexes were in the inclusion forms,and microscopic interactions were somewhat different,making their mobility separation.Moreover,relative and absolute quantification was investigated with an internal standard to determine the precise isomers content,and good linearity(R^(2)>0.99)was obtained.Finally,the method was applied for the adulteration detection where different drugs and urine were analyzed.In addition,due to the advantages of fast speed,simple operation,high sensitivity,and no chromatographic separation required,the proposed method provides an effective strategy for the drug adulteration detection of isomers.

Surface nanobubbles on the hydrophobic surface and their implication to flotation

Nanobubbles play a potential role in the application of the flotation of fine particles.In this work,the identification of nanoentities was performed with a contact mode atomic force microscope(AFM).Moreover,the influences of setpoint ratio and amplitude of the cantilever and the responses of the formed surface nanobubbles to the fluctuation of pH,salt concentration,and surfactant concentration in the slurry were respectively studied.Nanobubbles were reported on the highly oriented pyrolytic graphite(HOPG)surface as the HOPG was immersed in de-ionized water under ambient temperature.The coalescence of nanobubbles occurred under contact mode,which provides strong evidence of the gaseous nature of these nanostructures on HOPG.The measuring height of the surface nanobubbles decreased with the setpoint ratio.The changes in the pH and concentration of methyl isobutyl carbinol(MIBC)show a negligible influence on the lateral size and height of the preex-isting surface nanobubbles.The addition of LiCl results in a negligible change of the lateral size;however,an obvious change is noticed in the height of surface nanobubbles.The results are expected to provide a valuable reference in understanding the properties of surface nanobubbles and in the design of nanobubble-assisted flotation processes.

Preparation and Characterization of Nanocrystalline Cellulose/Poly(lactic acid) Composite Membranes

Nanocrystalline cellulose(NCC)/poly(lactic acid)(PLLA) composite membranes were prepared by the solution casting method.Physical and chemical modifications were performed to improve the compatibility of NCC and PLLA.The results indicated that the NCC dispersibility of the composite membranes with chemical modification were superior to that of the composite membranes with physical modification.Moreover,the chemical modification NCC not only had a large effect on the nucleation and growth of the crystals,but also affected the crystal forms of PLLA.This was because chemical reactions took place between the silicone of silane coupling agent(KH-570) and the hydroxyl groups of NCC during blending.The chemical modification NCC could be dispersed stably in the PLLA matrix,and it played the role of a nucleating agent.

Highly efficient three-dimensional solar evaporator for zero liquid discharge desalination of high-salinity brine

Solar-driven interfacial evaporation is a promising technology for freshwater production from seawater,but salt accumulation on the evaporator surface hinders its performance and sustainability.In this study,we report a simple and green strategy to fabricate a three-dimensional porous graphene spiral roll(3GSR)that enables highly efficient solar evaporation,salt collection,and water production from near-saturated brine with zero liquid discharge(ZLD).The 3GSR design facilitates energy recovery,radial brine transport,and directional salt crystallization,thereby resulting in an ultrahigh evaporation rate of 9.05 kg m^(-2) h^(-1) in 25 wt%brine under 1-sun illumina-tion for 48 h continuously.Remarkably,the directional salt crystallization on its outer surface not only enlarges the evaporation area but also achieves an ultrahigh salt collection rate of 2.92 kg m^(-2) h^(-1),thus enabling ZLD desalination.Additionally,3GSR exhibits a record-high water production rate of 3.14 kg m^(-2) h^(-1) in an outdoor test.This innovative solution offers a highly efficient and continuous solar desalination method for water production and ZLD brine treatment,which has great implications for addressing global water scarcity and environmental issues arising from brine disposal.

Multifunctional high-performance pressure/proximity/temperature sensors enabled by hybrid resistive-supercapacitive response

The issue of sensitivity attenuation in high-pressure region has been a persistent concern for pressure-sensitive electronic skins.In order to tackle such trade-off between sensitivity and linear range,herein,a hybrid piezoresistive-supercapacitive(HRSC)strategy is proposed via introducing a piezoresistive porous aerogel layer between the charge collecting electrodes and iontronic films of the pressure sensors.Surprisingly,the HRSC-induced impedance regulation and supercapacitive behavior contribute to significant mitigation in sensitivity attenuation,achieving high sensitivity across wide linear range(44.58 kPa^(−1)from 0 to 3 kPa and 23.6 kPa^(−1)from 3 to 12 kPa).The HRSC pressure sensor exhibits a low detection limit of 1 Pa,fast responsiveness(~130 ms),and excellent cycling stability,allowing to detect tiny pressure of air flow,finger bending,and human respiration.Meanwhile,the HRSC sensor exhibits exceptional perception capabilities for proximity and temperature,broadening its application scenarios in prosthetic perception and electronic skin.The proposed HRSC strategy may boost the ongoing research on structural design of high-performance and multimodal electronic sensors.

VO2·0.2H2O nanocuboids anchored onto graphene sheets as the cathode material for ultrahigh capacity aqueous zinc ion batteries

Aqueous Zinc-ion batteries(ZIBs),using zinc negative electrode and aqueous electrolyte,have attracted great attention in energy storage field due to the reliable safety and low-cost.A composite material comprised of VO2·0.2H2O nanocuboids anchored on graphene sheets(VOG)is synthesized through a facile and efficient microwave-assisted solvothermal strategy and is used as aqueous ZIBs cathode material.Owing to the synergistic effects between the high conductivity of graphene sheets and the desirable structural features of VO2·0.2H2O nanocuboids,the VOG electrode has excellent electronic and ionic transport ability,resulting in superior Zn ions storage performance.The Zn/VOG system delivers ultrahigh specific capacity of 423 mAh·g^−1 at 0.25 A·g^−1 and exhibits good cycling stability of up to 1,000 cycles at 8 A·g^−1 with 87%capacity retention.Systematical structural and elemental characterizations confirm that the interlayer space of VO2·0.2H2O nanocuboids can adapt to the reversible Zn ions insertion/extraction.The as-prepared VOG composite is a promising cathode material with remarkable electrochemical performance for low-cost and safe aqueous rechargeable ZIBs.

Integrating human single-cell data from multiple sources

Single-cell RNA sequencing(scRNA-seq)has been a powerful tool for biomedical research and the number of scRNA-seq datasets has been growing rapidly thanks to the continuous advancement of library preparation technologies.In addition to the increasing number of cells being profiled,there is a trend of conducting crosstissue analyses which build on the initial efforts that studied one tissue at a time.The Human Cell Atlas[1]and Human BioMolecular Atlas Program[2]aim to systematically characterize the expression profiles of various human organs and cell types,and to form comprehensive references for single-cell transcriptome data.However,due to the different data sources,how to effectively and consistently integrate these single-cell transcriptome datasets have remained as a great challenge.Specifically,there are three issues that need to be addressed.First,traditional relational databases cannot meet the requirements of efficient storage and retrieval of scRNA-seq dataset.Second,novel indexing methods are required so that each single cell could be traced with multiple attributes.Finally,standardized controlled vocabulary is required to annotate cell types in a unified manner.