Grafting of glucosamine hydrochloride moieties to tetraphenylethylene (TPE) motif furnished a novel cationic water-soluble tetraphenylethylene derivative (GH-TPE). With aggregation-induced emission properties, GH-TPE was used for fluorometric detection to alkaline phosphatase through enzyme-triggered de-aggregation of the ensemble of GH-TPE and substrate.
A novel type esterified cellulose nanofiber (E-CNF) gas diffusion layer (GDL) was prepared from corncob cellulose and fabricated for air-cathode (AC) of microbial fuel cell (MFC). Remarkably, the E-CNF based AC (AC E-CNF ) achieved higher current density and lower resistance than PTFE based AC (AC PTFE ). Moreover, the output voltage and maximum output power density were 7.5% and 30.1% higher than those of AC PTFE . E-CNF based GDLs could be a new category of MFC cathode material.
The exploration of highly active and cost-effective catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction is vitally important to facilitate the improvement of metal-air batteries and fuel cells. Herein, super-active catalysts made from an interesting metal-polymer network (MPN) that consist of Fe-N-C, B-N and FeO/FeC alloys were prepared via facile one-pot carbonization. The achieved catalysts possessed an amazing porous structure that was derived from the MPN with the assistance of a "bubble-template". Remarkably, the content of highly active Fe-N-C can be regulated by introducing graphene, and the ORR activity of the catalyst was enhanced dramatically with an increase in the FeO/FeC alloy content. The most active BNFe-C-G2 catalyst exhibited superior ORR activity/stability, and was then employed as an air cathode electrocatalyst in a microbial fuel cell. The results showed that the output voltage and power density of BNFe-C-G2 were significantly improved to 575 ± 11 mV and 1046.2 ± 35 mW m, respectively. These values are 4.5% and 44.44% higher than those of commercial Pt/C. Thus, due to the synergistic electrocatalysis of the Fe-N-C, B-N and FeO/FeC alloys, the super-active and low-cost BNFe-C-G2 material should be a promising ORR catalyst for application in biofuel cells, and in many other energy conversion and storage devices.
Photoinhibition lithography (PIL) is a nanoscale fabrication technique that uses multicolor visible light to enable the printing of arbitrary 3D structures beyond the diffraction limit. Photoinhibition allows the control and confinement of the exposed region for photoinitiation during the photolithographic process, thus improving the resolution of existing lithographic techniques, such as direct laser writing. Because PIL enables super-resolution 3D printing, it has a multitude of applications. In this review, practical applications of PIL in the areas of photonics, data storage, and biotechnology are highlighted; in addition, its unique features are revealed. The theory and recent advances in PIL for sub-diffraction printing and high-throughput fabrication are also discussed. Besides, challenges and tentative solutions are discussed with the hope of providing a preliminary roadmap for technological breakthroughs in PIL to enable developments of resolution and throughput.
A “spontaneous bubble-template” assisted metal–polymeric framework derived porous N/Co–C and Fe3O4 nanohybrid was employed as an efficient ORR electrocatalyst in MFCs.
Advances in direct laser writing to attain super-resolution are required to improve fabrication performance and develop potential applications for nanophotonics. In this study, a novel technique using single-color peripheral photoinhibition lithography was developed to improve the resolution of direct laser writing while preventing the chromatic aberration characteristics of conventional multicolor photoinhibition lithography, thus offering a robust tool for fabricating 2D and 3D nanophotonic structures. A minimal feature size of 36 nm and a resolution of 140 nm were achieved with a writing speed that was at least 10 times faster than existing photoinhibition lithography. Super-resolution and fast scanning enable the fabrication of spin-decoupled metasurfaces in the visible range within a printing duration of a few minutes. Finally, a subwavelength photonic crystal with a near-ultraviolet structural color was fabricated to demonstrate the potential of 3D printing. This technique is a flexible and reliable tool for fabricating ultracompact optical devices.
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