RSC Advances

Sattayarut, Vichuda; Chanthad, Chalathorn; Khemthong, Pongtanawat; Kuboon, Sanchai; Wanchaem, Thanthamrong; Phonyiem, Mayuree; Obata, Michiko; Fujishige, Masatsugu; Takeuchi, Kenji; Wongwiriyapan, Winadda; Khanchaitit, Paisan; Endo, Morinobu

doi: 10.1039/c9ra01090dpmid: 35520914

In this study, nitrogen-enriched activated carbon from silkworm pupae waste (P-AC) was successfully prepared and its electrochemical performances in aqueous and organic electrolytes were investigated. Silkworm pupae waste is beneficial because it is a nitrogen-enriched, inexpensive, and locally available material. The preparation process includes hydrothermal treatment of the silkworm pupae waste at 200 °C, and chemical activation using zinc chloride at activation temperatures of 700, 800 and 900 °C (P700, P800, and P900, respectively). The nitrogen content in the P-ACs was approximately 3.8–6.4 at%, decreasing with activation temperature, while the surface area was approximately 1062–1267 m2 g−1, increasing with activation temperature. Compared to a commercial AC, the P-ACs show higher nitrogen content but lower surface area. Furthermore, the P800 exhibited superior specific capacitance (154.6 and 91.6 F g−1 in aqueous and organic electrolytes) compared to a commercial AC despite possessing smaller surface area. The high nitrogen content enhanced the pseudocapacitance and improved the electrical conductivity of the P-ACs. These properties were confirmed by relatively low series and charge transfer resistances, a capacity retention higher than 88% at a current density of 0.5 A g−1 and excellent cycling stability demonstrated by maintaining 97.6% of its capacitance after 3000 cycles. These results demonstrate that silkworm pupae waste is a viable source of nitrogen-enriched AC for application in supercapacitors.

Sun, MingNa; Tong, Zhou; Dong, Xu; Chu, Yue; Wang, Mei; Gao, TongChun; Duan, JinSheng

doi: 10.1039/c8ra10455gpmid: 35520941

Penflufen is a highly efficient, broad-spectrum succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor. Owing to the increasing pesticide resistance in recent years, the use of a new fungicide, penflufen, has become increasingly widespread. However, residues that remain in the environment after the use of penflufen have an impact on human health. It is worth noting that penflufen is a chiral pesticide. The differences of residue behaviors between two enantiomers in living organisms need to be systematically studied. In this paper, reversed-phase liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was used to separate the enantiomers of penflufen, and the absolute configuration of the enantiomer was analyzed. The LC-MS/MS methods for the analysis of penflufen enantiomers on wheat plants, spinach, and Chinese cabbage were established. The results of the recovery experiments showed that the average recovery of the two enantiomers was 78.5–99.8% and RSD was 0.4–7.3%, suggesting that the accuracy and precision of the method meet the requirements of pesticide residue analysis. The results of stereoselective degradation of penflufen in the three matrices showed that there was little difference in the degradation of the two enantiomers in wheat and cabbage, while R-(+)-penflufen was degraded preferentially in spinach. This study provides data supporting the scientific use and safety evaluation of penflufen.

Liu, Qingju; Han, Ping; Wang, Hui; Gong, Wenwen; Feng, Xiaoyuan

doi: 10.1039/c9ra00291jpmid: 35520916

Currently known rapid determination of fungicides usually relies on antibody-based immunoassay. This paper reports a simple antibody-free colorimetric assay for chlorothalonil via the inhibition of an enzyme-triggered reaction. The enzymatic activity of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase was significantly inhibited by chlorothalonil, and the color change of NBT-PMS system induced from NADH formation was suppressed, which could be used indirectly to assay chlorothalonil. The limit of detection (LOD) was 0.05 μM with a linear range from 0.5 to 10 μM, and the detection of 1 μM chlorothalonil in solution was achieved with a naked-eye readout. In addition, the colorimetric measurement results of the cucumber samples showed a good recovery rate, although the sensitivity was less effective than the instrumental method. Nevertheless, the results demonstrates that the chlorometric method provides potential opportunities for reliable, cost-effective quantitative detection for chlorothalonil residues in vegetables.

Diaz-Galvez, Kevin R.; Teran-Saavedra, Nayelli G.; Burgara-Estrella, Alexel J.; Fernandez-Quiroz, Daniel; Silva-Campa, Erika; Acosta-Elias, Monica; Sarabia-Sainz, Hector M.; Pedroza-Montero, Martín R.; Sarabia-Sainz, Jose A.

doi: 10.1039/c8ra09732apmid: 35520911

In this work, we report the evaluation of lactosylated graphene oxide (GO-AL) as a potential drug carrier targeted at an asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGPR) from hepatic cancer cells. Structural-modification, safety evaluation, and functional analysis of GO-AL were performed. The structure and morphology of the composite were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), while Raman and FTIR spectroscopy were used to track the chemical modification. For the safe application of GO-AL, an evaluation of the cytotoxic effect, hemolytic properties, and specific interactions of the glycoconjugate were also studied. SEM and AFM analysis of the GO showed graphene sheets with a layer size of 2–3 nm, though a few of them reached 4 nm. The Raman spectra presented characteristic peaks of graphene oxide at 1608 cm−1 and 1350 cm−1, corresponding to G and D bands, respectively. Besides, Si–O peaks for the APTES conjugates of GO were identified by FTIR spectroscopy. No cytotoxic or hemolytic effects were observed for GO samples, thus proving their biocompatibility. The interaction of Ricinus communis lectin confirmed that GO-AL has a biorecognition capability and an exposed galactose structure. This biorecognition capability was accompanied by the determination of the specific absorption of lactosylated GO by HepG2 cells mediated through the asialoglycoprotein receptor. The successful conjugation, hemolytic safety, and specific recognition described here for lactosylated GO indicate its promise as an efficient drug-delivery vehicle to hepatic tissue.

El-Eskandarany, Mohamed Sherif

doi: 10.1039/c9ra00287apmid: 35520942

Hydrogen energy holds tremendous promise as a new clean energy option. It is a convenient, safe, versatile fuel source that can be easily converted to the desired form of energy without releasing harmful emissions. Hydrogen storage, which spans both hydrogen production and hydrogen applications, plays a critical role in initiating a hydrogen economy. Apart from the traditional methods used for hydrogen storage, Mg metal has been considered to be the most suitable candidate for application as a safe hydrogen storage material. However, Mg still has several technical problems that must be solved before such an attractive light metal can be considered for use in real applications. This review article aims to present and discuss the most recent research activities (2010–2018) that have been undertaken at the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) to develop and implement new categories of MgH2-based nanocomposites. Comparisons between different catalytic agents used to enhance MgH2 properties are presented and discussed in terms of structure, morphology, thermal stability, and kinetics.

Hu, Lei; He, Rujie; Lu, Zhang; Zhang, Keqiang; Bai, Xuejian

doi: 10.1039/c9ra01328hpmid: 35520908

In this paper, a novel step-freeze-drying method was used to prepare carbon aerogels. The effects of step-freeze-drying on the density, linear shrinkage, specific surface area, pore size distribution, microstructure and compressive strength of carbon aerogels were investigated, and compared to traditional freeze-drying methods. It was found that the step-freeze-drying method reduced the density, linear shrinkage and pore size of carbon aerogels compared to traditional freeze-drying. And it also improved the specific surface area, the microstructural homogenization and the compressive strength of carbon aerogels compared to traditional freeze-drying. It is therefore believed that step-freeze-drying is an efficient method to obtain carbon aerogels with fine microstructure and high mechanical property.

Zhang, Runwei; Wang, Xu; Huang, Jacob C.; Li, Fei; Zhang, Zhichao; Wu, Ming

doi: 10.1039/c9ra01742apmid: 35520898

Nanoporous silver (NPS) with an extreme coarsened 3-dimensional bi-continuous ligament and nanopore structure could be prepared by chemical dealloying with high-intensity ultrasonic irradiation (UI). The formation mechanism of NPS dealloying with UI was different from NPS obtained through free corrosion. It evolved into NPS with a new lump forming-disintegrating mechanism. Ultrasonic irradiation had strong effects on the dealloying process of NPS. The stirring effect produced by ultrasonic vibration could promote the corrosion of Cu and facilitate the diffusion of Ag atoms. Therefore, the coarsening rate of the ligament was increased significantly. Dealloying assisted by UI could generate an extremely coarsened microstructure of which ligament and pore sizes were much larger than those obtained from free corrosion dealloying.

Shi, Shengwei; Li, Jing; Bu, Tongle; Yang, Shili; Xiao, Junyan; Peng, Yong; Li, Wei; Zhong, Jie; Ku, Zhiliang; Cheng, Yi-Bing; Huang, Fuzhi

doi: 10.1039/c8ra10603gpmid: 35520928

Tin oxide (SnO2) is widely used as electron transport layer (ETL) material in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Numerous synthesis methods for SnO2 have been reported, but they all require a proper thermal treatment for the SnO2 ETLs. Herein we present a simple method to synthesize SnO2 nanoparticles (NPs) at room temperature. By using butyl acetate as a precipitator and a proper UV–Ozone treatment to remove Cl residuals, excellent SnO2 ETLs were obtained without any thermal annealing. The highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the prepared PSCs was 19.22% for reverse scan (RS) and 18.79% for forward scan (FS). Furthermore, flexible PSCs were fabricated with high PCEs of 15.27%/14.74% (RS/FS). The low energy consuming SnO2 ETLs therefore show great promise for the flexible PSCs' commercialization.

Fang, Guoyun; Huang, Yao; Yuan, Wei; Yang, Yang; Tang, Yong; Ju, Weida; Chu, Fujian; Zhao, Zepeng

doi: 10.1039/c8ra10433fpmid: 35520901

A novel battery thermal management system (BTMS) based on water evaporation (WE) and air-cooling (AC) for a tube–shell Li-ion battery (LIB) pack is designed. A sodium alginate (SA) film with a higher water content above 99% is fortified by adding polyethylene (PE) fibers. The air flow and PE-fiber composite sodium alginate (PECSA) film are both used to control the temperature of the battery pack. Results show that the maximum temperature of the battery pack can be controlled below 32 °C, when WE coupled with AC is used at a discharge rate of 1.8C within a discharge time of 1000 s. This method yields the highest performance of thermal management. The experimental results validate the numerical data, confirming that the design of WE combined with AC helps prevent overheating of a battery pack. This work also provides an automatic refilling system to solve the dehydration problem of the PECSA film.

Hu, Yiwen; Song, Xiuduo; Zheng, Qilong; Wang, Jiangning; Pei, Jiangfei

doi: 10.1039/c9ra00874hpmid: 35520913

Zeolitic imidazolate framework-67 (ZIF-67), a new kind of metal–organic framework, has large surface area as well as outstanding thermal and chemical stability. In this paper, micro-sized ZIF-67 crystals were prepared and further employed as the reinforcing material to design novel paraffin-based composite phase change materials (PCMs) with a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) shell. The composite PCMs were fabricated by using a ZIF-67 crystal-stabilized oil-in-water (O/W) Pickering emulsion as a template. Morphologies and thermal properties of the prepared composite PCMs with different contents of ZIF-67 crystals were determined by SEM, DSC and TGA. Results showed that the ZIF-67 concentration in the emulsion system has a significant effect on the microstructure, phase change behavior and thermal stability of the resultant composite PCMs. When adding 1.5 g of ZIF-67 crystals, the resultant composite PCMs achieved a stable sphere-like structure and had about 106.06 J g−1 of latent heat. The prepared composite PCMs also exhibited a good thermal stability. Compared with pure paraffin, the thermostability of the shape-stabilized paraffin was significantly enhanced at a low content of ZIF-67 crystals.