Converting CO2 to carbon-containing fuels is an effective approach to relieving energy shortages.Carbon quantum dots(CQDs) have shown distinct properties and attracted tremendous interest in CO2 reduction.Herein,we re...Converting CO2 to carbon-containing fuels is an effective approach to relieving energy shortages.Carbon quantum dots(CQDs) have shown distinct properties and attracted tremendous interest in CO2 reduction.Herein,we report a joint experimental-computational mechanistic study of photoreduction CO2 to CO on the model catalyst 9-hydroxyphenal-1-one(HPHN) CQDs with known structure.Our theoretical calculations reveal that the rate-determining step is COOH·formation,which is closely related to the proton and electron transfer induced by hydrogen bonding in the excited state.According to the calculated volcano plot,the solution we proposed is addition Zn^(2+) ions.The active center changed from the hydroxyl oxygen atom to the Zn atom and the barrier of the COOH·formation step is noticeably decreased when Zn^(2+) ions are added.It is further confirmed by the experimental data that the activity of CO2 reduction increases 2.9 times when Zn^(2+) ions are added.展开更多
Impeding high temperature sintering is challengeable for synthesis of carbon-supported single-atom catalysts (C-SACs), which requires high-cost precursor and strictly-controlled procedures. Herein, by virtue of the ul...Impeding high temperature sintering is challengeable for synthesis of carbon-supported single-atom catalysts (C-SACs), which requires high-cost precursor and strictly-controlled procedures. Herein, by virtue of the ultrastrong polarity of salt melts, sintering of metal atoms is effectively suppressed. Meanwhile, doping with inorganic sulfur anions not only produces sufficient anchoring sites to achieve high loading of atomically dispersed Co up to 13.85 wt.%, but also enables their electronic and geometric structures to be well tuned. When served as a cathode catalyst in dye-sensitized solar cells, the C-SAC with Co-N4-S2 moieties exhibits high activity towards the iodide reduction reaction (IRR), achieving a higher power conversion efficiency than that of conventional Pt counterpart. Density function theory (DFT) calculations revealed that the superior IRR activity was ascribed to the unique structure of Co-N4-S2 moieties with lower reaction barriers and moderate binding energy of iodine on the Co center, which was beneficial to I2 dissociation.展开更多
Although a live attenuated vaccine is available for controlling mumps virus(MuV), mumps still outbreaks frequently worldwide. The attenuated MuV vaccine strain S79 is widely used in mumps vaccination in China, but sti...Although a live attenuated vaccine is available for controlling mumps virus(MuV), mumps still outbreaks frequently worldwide. The attenuated MuV vaccine strain S79 is widely used in mumps vaccination in China, but still with many shortcomings, among which the most prominent are the side effects and decreased immunity. Therefore, there is a need to further improve the safety and efficacy of the current MuV vaccine. In the present study, we further attenuated MuV S79 vaccine strain by inhibiting viral mRNA methyltransferase(MTase). We generated a panel of eight recombinant MuVs(rMuVs) carrying mutations in the MTase catalytic site or S-adenosylmethionine(SAM) binding site in the large(L) polymerase protein. These rMuVs are genetically stable and seven rMuVs are more attenuated in replication in cell culture and five r MuVs are more attenuated in replication in lungs of cotton rats compared with the parental vaccine strain S79. Importantly, cotton rats vaccinated with these seven rMuV mutants produced high levels of serum neutralizing antibodies and were completely protected against challenge with a wild-type MuV strain(genotype F). Therefore, our results demonstrate that alteration in the MTase catalytic site or SAM binding site in MuV L protein improves the safety or the immunogenicity of the MuV vaccine and thus mRNA cap MTase may be an effective target for the development of new vaccine candidates for MuV.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 21677029, 21606040)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (DUT18LK26)。
文摘Converting CO2 to carbon-containing fuels is an effective approach to relieving energy shortages.Carbon quantum dots(CQDs) have shown distinct properties and attracted tremendous interest in CO2 reduction.Herein,we report a joint experimental-computational mechanistic study of photoreduction CO2 to CO on the model catalyst 9-hydroxyphenal-1-one(HPHN) CQDs with known structure.Our theoretical calculations reveal that the rate-determining step is COOH·formation,which is closely related to the proton and electron transfer induced by hydrogen bonding in the excited state.According to the calculated volcano plot,the solution we proposed is addition Zn^(2+) ions.The active center changed from the hydroxyl oxygen atom to the Zn atom and the barrier of the COOH·formation step is noticeably decreased when Zn^(2+) ions are added.It is further confirmed by the experimental data that the activity of CO2 reduction increases 2.9 times when Zn^(2+) ions are added.
基金This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.51773025 and 21701168)the Natural Foundation of Liaoning Province(Materials Joint Foundation,No.20180510027)+1 种基金Dalian Science and Technology Innovation Fund(No.019J12GX032)We gratefully acknowledge the BL14W1 Beamline of Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility(SSRF)in Shanghai,China and the 1W1B Beamline of Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility(BSRF)in Beijing,China for providing the beam time.
文摘Impeding high temperature sintering is challengeable for synthesis of carbon-supported single-atom catalysts (C-SACs), which requires high-cost precursor and strictly-controlled procedures. Herein, by virtue of the ultrastrong polarity of salt melts, sintering of metal atoms is effectively suppressed. Meanwhile, doping with inorganic sulfur anions not only produces sufficient anchoring sites to achieve high loading of atomically dispersed Co up to 13.85 wt.%, but also enables their electronic and geometric structures to be well tuned. When served as a cathode catalyst in dye-sensitized solar cells, the C-SAC with Co-N4-S2 moieties exhibits high activity towards the iodide reduction reaction (IRR), achieving a higher power conversion efficiency than that of conventional Pt counterpart. Density function theory (DFT) calculations revealed that the superior IRR activity was ascribed to the unique structure of Co-N4-S2 moieties with lower reaction barriers and moderate binding energy of iodine on the Co center, which was beneficial to I2 dissociation.
基金supported by The National Natural Science Foundation for Young Scholars of China (81901679)The Natural Science Foundation for Young Scholars of Zhejiang Province (LQ19H100005)China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2019M662076)。
文摘Although a live attenuated vaccine is available for controlling mumps virus(MuV), mumps still outbreaks frequently worldwide. The attenuated MuV vaccine strain S79 is widely used in mumps vaccination in China, but still with many shortcomings, among which the most prominent are the side effects and decreased immunity. Therefore, there is a need to further improve the safety and efficacy of the current MuV vaccine. In the present study, we further attenuated MuV S79 vaccine strain by inhibiting viral mRNA methyltransferase(MTase). We generated a panel of eight recombinant MuVs(rMuVs) carrying mutations in the MTase catalytic site or S-adenosylmethionine(SAM) binding site in the large(L) polymerase protein. These rMuVs are genetically stable and seven rMuVs are more attenuated in replication in cell culture and five r MuVs are more attenuated in replication in lungs of cotton rats compared with the parental vaccine strain S79. Importantly, cotton rats vaccinated with these seven rMuV mutants produced high levels of serum neutralizing antibodies and were completely protected against challenge with a wild-type MuV strain(genotype F). Therefore, our results demonstrate that alteration in the MTase catalytic site or SAM binding site in MuV L protein improves the safety or the immunogenicity of the MuV vaccine and thus mRNA cap MTase may be an effective target for the development of new vaccine candidates for MuV.