Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) represents a very powerful tool for the identification of molecular species, but unfortunately it has been essentially restricted to noble metal supports (Au, Ag and Cu). While the application of semiconductor materials as SERS substrate would enormously widen the range of uses for this technique, the detection sensitivity has been much inferior and the achievable SERS enhancement was rather limited, thereby greatly limiting the practical applications. Here we report the employment of non-stoichiometric tungsten oxide nanostructure, sea urchin-like W18O49 nanowire, as the substrate material, to magnify the substrate–analyte molecule interaction, leading to significant magnifications in Raman spectroscopic signature. The enrichment of surface oxygen vacancy could bring additional enhancements. The detection limit concentration was as low as 10−7 M and the maximum enhancement factor was 3.4 × 105, in the rank of the highest sensitivity, to our best knowledge, among semiconducting materials, even comparable to noble metals without ‘hot spots'.

Abstract2D nanostructures with high surface area and flexibility are regarded as a promising building platform for flexible supercapacitors that are attracting tremendous attention due to their potential applications in various wearable technologies. Notably, although pseudocapacitive metal oxides are widely accepted as a very important class of electrochemically active materials, the utilization of 2D metal oxide sheets in the preparation of flexible supercapacitors is very rare. The scarcity of a suitable filler with the integrated properties of both high conductivity and excellent hydrophilicity is probably to blame. In this work, by introducing a recently discovered intriguing material, Ti3C2 sheets, a novel MnO2/Ti3C2 hybrid with a molecularly stacked structure is developed using a simple and scalable mixing and filtration method. Their individual advantages are combined in the hybrid, thus delivering excellent electrochemical performances. A highly flexible and symmetric supercapacitor based on the novel hybrid electrode manifests top‐class electrochemical performance with maximum energy and power densities of 8.3 W h kg−1 (at 221.33 W kg−1) and 2376 W kg−1 (at 3.3 W h kg−1), respectively, regardless of the various bending states, suggesting enormous possibilities for applications in future flexible and portable micropower systems.

A three-dimensional (3D) macroscopic network of manganese oxide (MnO) sheets was synthesized by an easily scalable solution approach, grafting the negatively charged surfaces of the MnO sheets with an aniline monomer by electrostatic interactions followed by a quick chemical oxidizing polymerization reaction. The obtained structure possessed MnO sheets interconnected with polyaniline chains, producing a 3D monolith rich in mesopores. The MnO sheets had almost all their reactive centers exposed on the electrode surface, and combined with the electron transport highways provided by polyaniline and the shortened diffusion paths provided by the porous structure, the deliberately designed electrode achieved an excellent capacitance of 762 F g at a current of 1 A g and cycling performance with a capacity retention of 90% over 8000 cycles. Furthermore, a flexible asymmetric supercapacitor based on the constructed electrode and activated carbon serving as the positive and negative electrodes, respectively, was successfully fabricated, delivering a maximum energy density of 40.2 Wh kg (0.113 Wh cm) and power density of 6227.0 W kg (17.44 W cm) in a potential window of 0-1.7 V in a PVA/NaSO gel electrolyte.

Abstract:In this study, we report the antibacterial activities of six polyphenols (i.e., luteolin, quercetin, scutellarin, apigenin, chlorogenic acid, and resveratrol) against 29 clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and in vitro antibacterial activities of two-drug combinations. All of the MRSA strains evaluated were clinical isolates from patients with MRSA bacteremia. The antibacterial activities were determined by agar dilution method, and the two-drug antibacterial activities were determined by the checkerboard agar dilution method. It was found that luteolin, quercetin and resveratrol show obvious antibacterial activities against MRSA, and the results of two-drug antibacterial activity show either synergy or additivity, without evidences of antagonistic effects.