A high activity of Ti/SnO_2-Sb electrode in the electrochemicaldegradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol in aqueous solution

Electrochemicaldegradation of2,4-dichlorophenol （2,4-DCP） in aqueous solutionwas investigated over Ti/SnO2-Sb anode. The factors influencing thedegradation rate, such as applied currentdensity （2-40 mA/cm2 ）, pH （3-11） and initial concentration （5-200 mg/L）were evaluated. Thedegradation of2,4-DCP followed apparent pseudo first-order kinetics. Thedegradation ratio on Ti/SnO2 -Sb anode attained 〉 99.9% after 20 min of electrolysis at initial 5-200 mg/L concentrations at a constant currentdensity of 30 mA/cm2 with a 10 mmol/L sodium sulphate （Na2SO4 ） supporting electrolyte solution. The results showed that 2,4-DCP （100 mg/L）degradation and total organic carbon （TOC） removal ratio achieved 99.9% and 92.8%, respectively, at the optimal conditions after 30 min electrolysis. Under this condition, thedegradation rate constant （k） and thedegradation half-life （t1/2 ）were 0.21 min1 and （2.8 ± 0.2） min, respectively. Mainly carboxylic acids （propanoic acid, maleic acid, propanedioic acid, acetic acid and oxalic acid） weredetected as intermediates. The energy efficiencies for2,4-DCPdegradation （5-200 mg/L）with Ti/SnO2-Sb anode ranged from 0.672 to 1.602 g/kWh. The Ti/SnO2-Sb anodewith a high activity to rapid organic oxidation could be employed todegrade chlorophenols, particularly2,4-DCP inwastewater.

Exciton polaritons based on planar dielectric Si asymmetric nanogratings coupled with J-aggregated dyes film

Optical cavity polaritons,originated from strong coupling between the excitons in materials and photons in the confined cavities field,have recently emerged as their applications in the high-speed lowpower polaritons devices,low-threshold lasing and so on.However,the traditional exciton polaritons based on metal plasmonic structures or Fabry-Perot cavities suffer from the disadvantages of large intrinsic losses or hard to integrate and nanofabricate.This greatly limits the applications of exciton poalritons.Thus,here we implement a compact low-loss dielectric photonic–organic nanostructure by placing a 2-nm-thick PVA doped with TDBC film on top of a planar Si asymmetric nanogratings to reveal the exciton polaritons modes.We find a distinct anti-crossing dispersion behavior appears with a 117.16 meV Rabi splitting when varying the period of Si nanogratings.Polaritons dispersion and mode anti-crossing behaviors are also observed when considering the independence of the height of Si,width of Si nanowire B,and distance between the two Si nanowires in one period.This work offers an opportunity to realize low-loss novel polaritons applications.

Neurons with Multiple Axons Have Functional Axon Initial Segments

Neurons grow multiple axons after treatment with glycogen synthase kinase-3（GSK-3） inhibitors. However,whether they are electrically active is not known. Here, we examined the role of multiple axons as electrophysiological components during neuronal firing. Combining pharmacological, immunofluorescence, and electrophysiological methods, we found that more neurons had multiple axon initial segments（AISs） after inhibition of GSK-3 activity with SB415286. The multiple AISs induced by GSK-3 inhibition were enriched with voltage-gated sodium channels. The depolarization rate of the multiple-AIS neurons was increased, but their action potential threshold and halfwidth were normal. By calculating derivatives of the actionpotential rising phase, an extra d2 V/dt2 peak from the extra AIS was distinguished; this indicated that the extra AIS fired ahead of the soma and increased the rate of depolarization.Our study demonstrates that the multiple axons induced by GSK-3 inhibition have AIS structures that are electrically active, and provides insight for axon and AIS studies.