Cell metabolism pathways involved in the pathophysiological changes of diabetic peripheral neuropathy

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy is a common complication of diabetes mellitus.Elucidating the pathophysiological metabolic mechanism impels the generation of ideal therapies.However,existing limited treatments for diabetic peripheral neuropathy expose the urgent need for cell metabolism research.Given the lack of comprehensive understanding of energy metabolism changes and related signaling pathways in diabetic peripheral neuropathy,it is essential to explore energy changes and metabolic changes in diabetic peripheral neuropathy to develop suitable treatment methods.This review summarizes the pathophysiological mechanism of diabetic peripheral neuropathy from the perspective of cellular metabolism and the specific interventions for different metabolic pathways to develop effective treatment methods.Various metabolic mechanisms(e.g.,polyol,hexosamine,protein kinase C pathway)are associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy,and researchers are looking for more effective treatments through these pathways.

Insight into demand-driven preparation of single-atomic mediators for lithium–sulfur batteries

Lithium-sulfur(Li-S) batteries have attracted considerable attention as one of the most appealing energy storage systems.Strenuous efforts have been devoted to tackling the tremendous challenges,mainly pertaining to the severe shuttle effect,sluggish redox kinetics and lithium dendritic growth.Single-atomic mediators as promising candidates exhibit impressive performance in addressing these intractable issues.Related research often utilizes a trial-and-error approach,proposing solutions to fabricate single-atomic materials with diversified features.However,comprehensive review articles especially targeting demand-driven preparation are still in a nascent stage.Inspired by these considerations,this review summarizes the design of single-atomic mediators based on the application case-studies in LiS batteries and other metal-sulfur systems.Emerging preparation routes represented by chemical vapor deposition technology are introduced in a demand-oriented classification.Finally,future research directions are proposed to foster the advancement of single-atomic mediators in Li-S realm.

Pairing nitroxyl radical and phenazine with electron-withdrawing/-donating substituents in “water-in-ionic liquid” for high-voltage aqueous redox flow batteries

Aqueous redox-active organic materials-base electrolytes are sustainable alternatives to vanadium-based electrolyte for redoxflow batteries(RFBs)due to the advantages of high ionic conductivity,environmentally benign,safety and low cost.However,the underexplored redox properties of organic materials and the narrow thermodynamic electrolysis window of water(1.23 V)hinder their wide applications.Therefore,seeking suitable organic redox couples and aqueous electrolytes with a high output voltage is highly suggested for advancing the aqueous organic RFBs.In this work,the functionalized phenazine and nitroxyl radical with electron-donating and electron-withdrawing group exhibit redox potential of-0.88 V and 0.78 V vs.Ag,respectively,in“water-in-ionic liquid”supporting electrolytes.Raman spectra reveal that the activity of water is largely suppressed in“water-in-ionic liquid”due to the enhanced hydrogen bond interactions between ionic liquid and water,enabling an electrochemical stability window above 3 V.“Water-in-ionic liquid”supporting electrolytes help to shift redox potential of nitroxyl radical and enable the redox activity of functionalized phenazine.The assembled aqueous RFB allows a theoretical cell voltage of 1.66 V and shows a practical discharge voltage of 1.5 V in the“water-in-ionic liquid”electrolytes.Meanwhile,capacity retention of 99.91%per cycle is achieved over 500 charge/discharge cycles.A power density of 112 mW cm^(-2) is obtained at a current density of 30 mA cm^(-2).This work highlights the importance of rationally combining supporting electrolytes and organic molecules to achieve high-voltage aqueous RFBs.

Nano-Au-decorated hierarchical porous cobalt sulfide derived from ZIF-67 toward optimized oxygen evolution catalysis:Important roles of microstructures and electronic modulation

Enhancing both the number of active sites available and the intrinsic activity of Co-based electrocatalysts simultaneously is a desirable goal.Herein,a ZIF-67-derived hierarchical porous cobalt sulfide decorated by Au nanoparticles(NPs)(denoted as HP-Au@CoxSy@ZIF-67)hybrid is synthesized by low-temperature sulfuration treatment.The well-defined macroporous-mesoporous-microporous structure is obtained based on the combination of polystyrene spheres,as-formed CoxSy nanosheets,and ZIF-67 frameworks.This novel three-dimensional hierarchical structure significantly enlarges the three-phase interfaces,accelerating the mass transfer and exposing the active centers for oxygen evolution reaction.The electronic structure of Co is modulated by Au through charge transfer,and a series of experiments,together with theoretical analysis,is performed to ascertain the electronic modulation of Co by Au.Meanwhile,HP-Au@CoxSy@ZIF-67 catalysts with different amounts of Au were synthesized,wherein Au and NaBH4 reductant result in an interesting“competition effect”to regulate the relative ratio of Co^(2+)/Co^(3+),and moderate Au assists the electrochemical performance to reach the highest value.Consequently,the optimized HP-Au@CoxSy@ZIF-67 exhibits a low overpotential of 340 mV at 10 mA cm^(-2)and a Tafel slope of 42 mV dec-1 for OER in 0.1 M aqueous KOH,enabling efficient water splitting and Zn-air battery performance.The work here highlights the pivotal roles of both microstructural and electronic modulation in enhancing electrocatalytic activity and presents a feasible strategy for designing and optimizing advanced electrocatalysts.

The Role of the Size Effect on the Drying of Refractory Castables—How Its Under-standing Could Narrow the Gap between Laboratory Studies and Industrial Reality

Refractories have unique capabilities such as sustaining their shape and properties at extreme conditions such as the combination of high temperatures and thermal shock,contact with molten metals and slags and in some circumstances resistance to erosion from abrasive particles.Given the large processing output of the heavy industries such as the cement and steel ones which both require high temperature processes,the refractories structures span various meters and weight of several tons.As the water removal stage of hydraulic bonded castables in industrial sites takes hours(10-60 h)due to the risk of explosive spalling,efforts to mitigate it are commonly studied.This has provided theoretical understanding of the general aspects of drying and important tools,such as the thermogravimetry analysis(TGA),for the design of refractory compositions with higher explosive spalling resistance.However,the optimization of this process is still far from the industrial reality especially because the actual linings that require the drying are orders of magnitude larger than the samples considered in the laboratory tests.Therefore,this study proposed the analysis of the sample volume effect on the water removal dynamics through TGA of high alumina castables with calcium aluminate cement.Conventionalφ5 cm×5 cm cylindrical samples were assessed in a laboratory scale equipment whereas macro TGA were carried out considering 20 cm×20 cm×20 cm and 30 cm×30 cm×30 cm cubic samples.Additionally,the effect of polymeric fibers was also considered.It was found out that the different thermal gradients within the macro TGA samples resulted in an inflection on the sample’s heating rate and that the mass loss was affected by the volume considered,especially for the composition without additives.These findings highlight the requirement of carefully taking into consideration the different dimensional sizes and thermal gradients in the samples when analyzing and interpreting the laboratory studies,and especially when trying to extrapolate such results to the industrial reality.

预测典型变形高温合金均匀化动力学的新模型

提出一种基于扩散距离概念的变形高温合金均匀化动力学新预测模型。通过定量电子探针(EPMA)分析,系统研究典型镍基变形高温合金(GH4141)的微观偏析和均匀化动力学。研究发现,基于残余偏析指数模型预测的均匀化动力学与实际测量结果之间存在一定差异。实验和理论分析均表明,考虑了过去通常被忽略的扩散方向因子的一维扩散距离模型可以合理地预测均化动力学。新模型在只需知道原始枝晶臂间距和扩散系数前提下即可完成预测计算,这为变形高温合金均匀化动力学预测提供了一种新的选择。

Textured Asymmetric Membrane Electrode Assemblies of Piezoelectric Phosphorene and Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x)MXene Heterostructures for Enhanced Electrochemical Stability and Kinetics in LIBs

Black phosphorus with a superior theoretical capacity(2596 mAh g^(-1))and high conductivity is regarded as one of the powerful candidates for lithium-ion battery(LIB)anode materials,whereas the severe volume expansion and sluggish kinetics still impede its applications in LIBs.By contrast,the exfoliated two-dimensional phosphorene owns negligible volume variation,and its intrinsic piezoelectricity is considered to be beneficial to the Li-ion transfer kinetics,while its positive influence has not been discussed yet.Herein,a phosphorene/MXene heterostructure-textured nanopiezocomposite is proposed with even phosphorene distribution and enhanced piezo-electrochemical coupling as an applicable free-standing asymmetric membrane electrode beyond the skin effect for enhanced Li-ion storage.The experimental and simulation analysis reveals that the embedded phosphorene nanosheets not only provide abundant active sites for Li-ions,but also endow the nanocomposite with favorable piezoelectricity,thus promoting the Li-ion transfer kinetics by generating the piezoelectric field serving as an extra accelerator.By waltzing with the MXene framework,the optimized electrode exhibits enhanced kinetics and stability,achieving stable cycling performances for 1,000 cycles at 2 A g^(-1),and delivering a high reversible capacity of 524 m Ah g^(-1)at-20℃,indicating the positive influence of the structural merits of self-assembled nanopiezocomposites on promoting stability and kinetics.

An Eight Component Integrable Hamiltonian Hierarchy from a Reduced Seventh-Order Matrix Spectral Problem

We present an eight component integrable Hamiltonian hierarchy, based on a reduced seventh order matrix spectral problem, with the aim of aiding the study and classification of multicomponent integrable models and their underlying mathematical structures. The zero-curvature formulation is the tool to construct a recursion operator from the spatial matrix problem. The second and third set of integrable equations present integrable nonlinear Schrödinger and modified Korteweg-de Vries type equations, respectively. The trace identity is used to construct Hamiltonian structures, and the first three Hamiltonian functionals so generated are computed.

Materials databases for the computational materials scientist

Until recently, many computational materials scientists have shown little interest in materials databases. This is now changing be-cause the amount of computational data is rapidly increasing and the potential for data mining provides unique opportunities for discovery and optimization. Here, a few examples of such opportunities are discussed relating to structural analysis and classification, discovery of correlations between materials properties, and discovery of unsuspected compounds.

Machine learning in materials design:Algorithm and application

Traditional materials discovery is in ‘trial-and-error’ mode, leading to the issues of low-efficiency, high-cost, and unsustainability in materials design. Meanwhile, numerous experimental and computational trials accumulate enormous quantities of data with multi-dimensionality and complexity, which might bury critical ‘structure–properties’ rules yet unfortunately not well explored. Machine learning(ML), as a burgeoning approach in materials science, may dig out the hidden structure–properties relationship from materials bigdata, therefore, has recently garnered much attention in materials science. In this review, we try to shortly summarize recent research progress in this field, following the ML paradigm:(i) data acquisition →(ii) feature engineering →(iii) algorithm →(iv) ML model →(v) model evaluation →(vi) application. In section of application, we summarize recent work by following the ‘material science tetrahedron’:(i) structure and composition →(ii) property →(iii) synthesis →(iv) characterization, in order to reveal the quantitative structure–property relationship and provide inverse design countermeasures. In addition, the concurrent challenges encompassing data quality and quantity, model interpretability and generalizability, have also been discussed. This review intends to provide a preliminary overview of ML from basic algorithms to applications.

In-situ monitoring of dynamic behavior of catalyst materials and reaction intermediates in semiconductor catalytic processes

Semiconductor photocatalysis, as a key part of solar energy utilization, has far-reaching implications for industrial, agricultural, and commercial development. Lack of understanding of the catalyst evolution and the reaction mechanism is a critical obstacle for designing efficient and stable photocatalysts. This review summarizes the recent progress of in-situ exploring the dynamic behavior of catalyst materials and reaction intermediates. Semiconductor photocatalytic processes and two major classes of in-situ techniques that include microscopic imaging and spectroscopic characterization are presented. Finally, problems and challenges in in-situ characterization are proposed, geared toward developing more advanced in-situ techniques and monitoring more accurate and realistic reaction processes, to guide designing advanced photocatalysts.

Photo-rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors:Critical roles of carbon-based functional materials

As a clean and renewable energy source,solar energy is a competitive alternative to replace conventional fossil fuels.Nevertheless,its serious fluctuating nature usually leads to a poor alignment with the actual energy demand.To solve this problem,the direct solar-to-electrochemical energy conversion and storage have been regarded as a feasible strategy.In this context,the development of high-performance integrated devices based on solar energy conversion parts(i.e.,solar cells or photoelectrodes)and electrochemical energy storage units(i.e.,rechargeable batteries or supercapacitors[SCs])has become increasingly necessary and urgent,in which carbon and carbon-based functional materials play a fundamental role in determining their energy conversion/storage performances.Herein,we summarize the latest progress on these integrated devices for solar electricity energy conversion and storage,with special emphasis on the critical role of carbon-based functional materials.First,principles of integrated devices are introduced,especially roles of carbon-based materials in these hybrid energy devices.Then,two major types of important integrated devices,including photovoltaic and photoelectrochemicalrechargeable batteries or SCs,are discussed in detail.Finally,key challenges and opportunities in the future development are also discussed.By this review,we hope to pave an avenue toward the development of stable and efficient devices for solar energy conversion and storage.

Designing solar-cell absorber materials through computational high-throughput screening

Although the efficiency of CH3 NH3 PI3 has been refreshed to 25.2%,stability and toxicity remain the main challenges for its applications.The search for novel solar-cell absorbers that are highly stable,non-toxic,inexpensive,and highly efficient is now a viable research focus.In this review,we summarize our recent research into the high-throughput screening and materials design of solar-cell absorbers,including single perovskites,double perovskites,and materials beyond Perovskites.BazrS3(single perovskite),Ba2 BiNbS6(double perovskite),HgAl2 Se4(spinel),and IrSb3(skutterudite)were discovered to be potential candidates in terms of their high stabilities,appropriate bandgaps,small carrier effective masses,and strong optical absorption.

MXene terminating groups=O,–F or–OH,–F or=O,–OH,–F,or=O,–OH,–Cl?

MXenes are a novel family of two-dimensional(2D)materials that are fast gaining popularity due to their versatile characteristics.The surfaces of these materials are often functionalized by negatively charged terminal groups,such as=O,OH,and F during their synthesis,and it has been hypothesized that regulating the surface terminators enables to control the material characteristics.However,there is still a large gap between computational and experimental investigations regarding comprehending the surface functional groups.Surfaces with mixed terminations are consistently synthesized in experiments,although pure terminated surfaces are predicted by computational research.Here we summarized the nature of chemical bonding in transition metal carbide materials(MXenes)by1H and19F nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR),Raman,X-ray absorption near edge structure(XANES),extended X-ray absorption fine structure(EXAFS),ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy(UPS),X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS)/scanning transmission electron microscopy(STEM),and thermogravimetric analysis-mass spectrometry(TGA-MS)characterizations.Previous literature reveals that=O,–OH,–F,and–Cl are typical MXene surface terminators.However,recent comparative investigations on the valence band intensity distribution in MXenes reveal that the–OH cannot be considered an intrinsic termination species in MXenes.The surface terminals(=O,–OH,–F,and–Cl)of several MXenes,particularly V2CTxand Ti3C2Tx,will be identified and quantified here.We have also discussed different etching approaches for the synthesis of MXene,the dependence of MXene conductivity on MXene terminating groups,and the emission of various gaseous products that evolved during its chemical transformations.This paper provides significance,especially in the field of energy conversion and storage materials,where the intercalation process is crucial.

Tuning dual-atom mediator toward high-rate bidirectional polysulfide conversion in Li-S batteries

An emerging practice in the realm of Li-S batteries lies in the employment of single-atom catalysts(SACs)as effective mediators to promote polysulfide conversion,but monometallic SACs affording isolated geometric dispersion and sole electronic configuration limit the catalytic benefits and curtail the cell performance.Here,we propose a class of dual-atom catalytic moieties comprising hetero-or homo-atomic pairs anchored on N-doped graphene(NG)to unlock the liquid–solid redox puzzle of sulfur,readily realizing Li-S full cell under high-rate-charging conditions.As for Fe-Ni-NG,in-depth experimental and theoretical analysis reveal that the hetero-atomic orbital coupling leads to altered energy levels,unique electronic structures,and varied Fe oxidation states in comparison with homo-atomic structures(FeFe-NG or Ni-Ni-NG).This would weaken the bonding energy of polysulfide intermediates and thus enable facile electrochemical kinetics to gain rapid liquid-solid Li_(2)S_(4)?Li_(2)S conversion.Encouragingly,a Li-S battery based on the S@Fe-Ni-NG cathode demonstrates unprecedented fast-charging capability,documenting impressive rate performance(542.7 mA h g^(-1)at 10.0 C)and favorable cyclic stability(a capacity decay of 0.016%per cycle over 3000 cycles at 10.0 C).This finding offers insights to the rational design and application of dual-atom mediators for Li-S batteries.

An efficient electrocatalytic system composed of nickel oxide and nitroxyl radical for the oxidation of bio-platform molecules to dicarboxylic acids

Selective oxidation of biomass and its derivatives to dicarboxylic acids represents a promising route for biomass valorization.However,the co-presence of multiple functional groups in biomass molecules makes the selective oxidation of particular functional a challenging task.Here,we demonstrate an efficient electrocatalytic system consisting of nickel oxide(NiO)and a nitroxyl radical,i.e.,2,2,6,6-tetrame thylpiperidine-1-oxyl(TEMPO)or 4-acetamido-TEMPO(ACT),for the selective oxidation of key bioplatform molecules including glucose,xylose and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural(HMF)into corresponding dicarboxylic acids,i.e.,glucaric acid,xylaric acid,and 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid(FDCA).NiO is clarified as the active catalyst for the oxidation of aldehyde in bio-platform molecules to carboxylic acid,while TEMPO or ACT is responsible for the oxidation of primary alcohol to aldehyde.The combination of NiO and TEMPO or ACT significantly accelerated the tandem oxidation of aldehyde and hydroxyl groups in glucose,xylose and HMF,thus achieving excellent yields(83%-99%)of dicarboxylic acids.Moreover,the combination catalyst enables the selective oxidation of glucose and xylose with high concentrations(e.g.,20 wt%),which offers a promising strategy for biomass valorization.

Electrochemically-induced highly reactive PdO^(*) interface on modulated mesoporous MOF-derived Co_(3)O_(4) support for selective ethanol electro-oxidation

Herein,Pd nanoparticles loaded Co_(3)O_(4)catalysts(Pd@Co_(3)O_(4))are constructed from zeolitic imidazolate framework-67(ZIF-67)for the ethanol oxidation reaction(EOR).It is demonstrated for the first time that the electrochemical conversion of Co_(3)O_(4)support would result in the charge distribution alignment at the Pd/Co_(3)O_(4)interface and induce the formation of highly reactive Pd-O species(PdO^(*)),which can further catalyze the consequent reactions of the intermediates of the ethanol oxidation.The catalyst,Pd@Co_(3)O_(4)-450,obtained under the optimized conditions exhibits excellent EOR performance with a high mass activity of 590 mA mg-1,prominent operational stability,and extraordinary capability for the electro-oxidation of acetaldehyde intermediates.Importantly,the detailed mechanism investigation reveals that Pd@Co_(3)O_(4)-450 could be benefit to the C-C bond cleavage to promote the desirable C1 pathway for the ethanol oxidation reaction.The present strategy based on the metal-support interaction of the catalyst might provide valuable inspiration for the design of high-performing catalysts for the ethanol oxidation reaction.

Insights into remediation technology for malachite green wastewater treatment

Malachite green (MG) dye is a common industrial dye and organic contaminant that can be found in (waste)water. Textile and food industries make use of MG as dyeing and food coloring agents, respectively. However, MG is both genotoxic and mutagenic. Hence, the elimination of MG from MG-laden-wastewater is germane. This review summarizes up-to-date researches that have been reported in literature as regards the decontamination of toxic MG wastewater. Various removal methods (adsorption, membrane, Fenton system, and heterogenous and homogeneous photodegradation) were discussed. Of the two basic technologies that are comprehensively explored and reviewed, chemical treatment methods are not as viable as physical removal methods, such as the adsorption technology, due to the lack of secondary pollutant production, simple design, low operation costs, and resource availability. This review also presents various practical knowledge gaps needed for large-scale applications of adsorptive removal methods for MG. It concludes by recommending further research on the techniques of cheap and simple decontamination of MG to get clean water.

Wearable synthetic leather-based high-performance X-ray shielding materials enabled by the plant polyphenol-and hierarchical structure-facilitated dispersion

Effective protection against X-ray is the premise of utilizing the X-ray,thus it is critical to develop novel X-ray shielding materials with both low density and high X-ray attenuation efficiency.As the even distribution of high-Z element components is of great significance for increasing the attenuation efficiency of X-ray shielding materials,in this study,the microfiber membrane(MFM),a type of synthetic leather featuring hierarchical structure was chosen to provide large surface area for the dispersion of rare earth(RE)element.Meanwhile,plant polyphenol was utilized to achieve the stable loading and uniform dispersion of the Ce or Er into MFM.Benefiting from the assistance of polyphenol and hierarchical structure of MFM,the even dispersion of RE element was successfully realized.The resultant shielding materials displayed approximately 10%superior X-ray attenuation efficiency compared to that without polyphenol,and an averagely 9%increment in X-ray attenuation efficiency than that without hierarchical structure.Moreover,the obtained composite with a thickness of 2.8 mm displayed superior X-ray shielding performance compared to 0.25 mm lead sheet in 16-83 keV and retained an ultralow density of 1.4 g cm^(-3).Our research results would shed new light on the manufacture of high-performance X-ray shielding materials with excellent X-ray shielding performance.

Designing N-doped graphene/ReSe_(2)/Ti_(3)C_(2) MXene heterostructure frameworks as promising anodes for high-rate potassium-ion batteries

Developing high-performance anodes for potassium ion batteries(KIBs) is of paramount significance but remains challenging.In the normal sense,electrode materials are prepared by ubiquitous wet chemical routes,which otherwise might not be versatile enough to create desired heterostructures and/or form clean interfacial areas for fast transport of K-ions and electrons.Along this line,rate capability/cycling stability of resulting KIBs are greatly handicapped.Herein we present an all-chemical vapor deposition approach to harness the direct synthesis of nitrogen-doped graphene(NG)/rhenium diselenide(ReSe_2)hybrids over three-dimensional MXene supports as superior heterostructure anode material for KIBs.In such an innovative design,1 T'-ReSe2 nanoparticles are sandwiched in between the NG coatings and MXene frameworks via strong interfacial interactions,thereby affording facile K~+ diffusion,enhancing overall conductivity,boosting high-power performance and reinforcing structural stability of electrodes.Thus-constructed anode delivers an excellent rate performance of 138 mAh g^(-1) at 10.0 A g^(-1) and a high reversible capacity of 90 mAh g^(-1) at 5 A g^(-1) after 300 cycles.Furthermore,the potassium storage mechanism has been systematically probed by advanced in situlex situ characterization techniques in combination with first principles computations.