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Nickel oxide (NiO) is considered one of the most promising positive anode materials for electrochromic supercapacitors. Nevertheless, a detailed mechanism of the electrochromic and energy storage process has yet to be unraveled. In this research, the charge storage mechanism of a NiO electrochromic electrode was investigated by combining the in-depth experimental and theoretical analyses. Experimentally, a kinetic analysis of the Li-ion behavior based on the cyclic voltammetry curves reveals the major contribution of surface capacitance versus total capacity, providing fast reaction kinetics and a highly reversible electrochromic performance. Theoretically, our model uncovers that Li ions prefer to adsorb at fcc sites on the NiO(1 1 1) surface, then diffuse horizontally over the plane, and finally migrate in the bulk. More significantly, the calculated theoretical surface capacity (106 mA h g −1 ) accounts for about 77.4% of the total experimental capacity (137 mA h g −1 ), indicating that the surface storage process dominates the whole charge storage, which is in accordance with the experimental results. This work provides a fundamental understanding of transition-metal oxides for application in electrochromic supercapacitors and can also promote the exploration of novel electrode materials for high-performance electrochromic supercapacitors.

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Here we reported a residue-free green nanotechnology which synergistically enhance the pesticides efficiency and successively eliminate its residue. We built up a composite antifungal system by a simple pre-treating and assembling procedure for investigating synergy. Investigations showed 0.25 g/L ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) with 0.01 g/L thiram could inhibit the fungal growth in a synergistic mode. More importantly, the 0.25 g/L ZnO NPs completely degraded 0.01 g/L thiram under simulated sunlight irradiation within 6 hours. It was demonstrated that the formation of ZnO-thiram antifungal system, electrostatic adsorption of ZnO NPs to fungi cells and the cellular internalization of ZnO-thiram composites played important roles in synergy. Oxidative stress test indicated ZnO-induced oxidative damage was enhanced by thiram that finally result in synergistic antifungal effect. By reducing the pesticides usage, this nanotechnology could control the plant disease economically, more significantly, the following photocatalytic degradation of pesticide greatly benefit the human social by avoiding negative influence of pesticide residue on public health and environment.

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In this work, we have fabricated a new dual-emission quantum dot (QD) nanohybrid for fluorescence ratiometric determination of cadmium ions (Cd) in water samples, where the "turn-on" model and "ion-imprinting" technique were incorporated simultaneously. The nanohybrid probe was composed of green-emitting CdSe QDs covalently linked onto the surface of silica nanoparticles embedded with red-emitting CdTe QDs. The chemical etching of ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) at the surface produced specific Cd recognition sites and quenched the green fluorescence of outer CdSe QDs. Upon exposure to different amounts of Cd, the green fluorescence was gradually restored, whereas the inner red fluorescence remained constant. As a consequence, an obviously distinguishable fluorescence color variation (from red to green) of the probe solution was observed. Under the optimized conditions, the developed ratiometric sensor displayed a linear response range from 0.1 to 9 μM with a detection limit of 25 nM (S/N = 3) for Cd, which could offer an alternative sensing approach for the highly sensitive and selective detection of heavy metal ions.

Background and objectives The present work evaluated how the incorporation of passion fruit epicarp flour (PFEF), as a source of dietary fiber and polyphenols, influenced the quality, in vitro starch digestibility, and antioxidant activity of cookies. Findings Wheat flour was replaced by PFEF at different levels ranging from 3% to 9%. The cookies containing 6% produced a darken color and a harder texture. The cookies’ consumer acceptance did not substantially change when PFEF addition is 3% and 6%, but when the addition becomes 9%, consumer acceptance significantly deteriorated. As PFEF was added, the acrylamide content of the cookies considerably increased, which might raise health risks for consumers. In vitro starch digestibility suggested that the hydrolysis of starch was inhibited when PFEF level in the cookies increased. More importantly, the addition of PFEF significantly increased antioxidant properties of cookies. Conclusion Compared with corresponding common products, our findings were the first to demonstrate that it was feasible to produce PFEF‐enriched cookies with nutritional superiority. Significance and novelty PFEF, as a by‐product from the passion fruit processing industry, could be utilized for cookie preparation and other food products with improved nutritional and functional properties.

An immunoassay based on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy was developed to detect muramidase released protein (MRP) antibody against Streptococcus suis II (SS2) utilizing thorny gold nanoparticles (tAuNPs) as SERS substrates. Initially, tAuNPs with multi-branches were prepared by the seed-mediated growth method in the absence of templates and surfactants, facilitating p-mercaptobenzoic acid (pMBA) conjugation covalently onto the tAuNPs through S-Au bonds. The obtained immuno-SERS tag affording strong Raman signals made it possible to establish an application of indirect detection of the MRP antibody against SS2 with a sandwich assay at a highly sensitive level. The Raman intensity at 1588 cm(-1) was proportional to the logarithm of the concentration of MRP antibody in the range of 10 pg mL(-1) to 0.1 μg mL(-1). The detection sensitivity was significantly improved to 0.1 pg mL(-1) by using the immuno-SERS tags. Furthermore, the proposed SERS approach was applied to detect MRP antibody in pig serum samples, and the results agreed well with those of ELISA, indicating great potential for clinical application in diagnostic immunoassays.