Fabrication of core–shell nanocomposites with enhanced photocatalytic efficacy

The current study establishes the unprecedented involvement in the evolution and production of novel core–shell nanocomposites composed of nanosized titanium dioxide and aniline‐o‐phenylenediamine copolymer. TiO₂@copoly(aniline and o‐phenylenediamine) (TiO₂@PANI‐o‐PDA) core–shell nanocomposites were chemically synthesized in a molar ratio of 5:1 of the particular monomers and several weights of nano‐TiO₂ via oxidative copolymerization. The construction of the TiO₂@PANI‐o‐PDA core–shell nanocomposites was ascertained from Fourier transform IR spectroscopy, UV–visible spectroscopy and XRD. A reasonable thermal behavior for the original copolymer and the TiO₂@PANI‐o‐PDA core–shell nanocomposites was investigated. The bare PANI‐o‐PDA copolymer was thermally less stable than the TiO₂@PANI‐o‐PDA nanocomposites. The core–shell feature of the nanocomposites was found to have core and shell sizes of 17 nm and 19–26 nm, respectively. In addition, it was found that the addition of a high ratio of TiO₂ nanoparticles increases the electrical conductivity and consequently lowers the electrical resistivity of the TiO₂@PANI‐o‐PDA core–shell nanocomposites. The hybrid photocatalysts exhibit a dramatic photocatalytic efficacy of methylene blue degradation under solar light irradiation. A plausible interpretation of the photocatalytic degradation results of methylene blue is also demonstrated. Our setup introduces a facile, inexpensive, unique and efficient technique for developing new core–shell nanomaterials with various required functionalities and colloidal stabilities. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry     

Supramolecular Assembly of Aminoethylene‐Lipopeptide PMO Conjugates into RNA Splice‐Switching Nanomicelles

Phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PMOs) are oligonucleotide analogs that can be used for therapeutic modulation of pre‐mRNA splicing. Similar to other classes of nucleic acid‐based therapeutics, PMOs require delivery systems for efficient transport to the intracellular target sites. Here, artificial peptides based on the oligo(ethylenamino) acid succinyl‐tetraethylenpentamine (Stp), hydrophobic modifications, and an azide group are presented, which are used for strain‐promoted azide‐alkyne cycloaddition conjugation with splice‐switching PMOs. By systematically varying the lead structure and formulation, it is determined that the type of contained fatty acid and supramolecular assembly have a critical impact on the delivery efficacy. A compound containing linolenic acid with three cis double bonds exhibits the highest splice‐switching activity and significantly increases functional protein expression in pLuc/705 reporter cells in vitro and after local administration in vivo. Structural and mechanistic studies reveal that the lipopeptide PMO conjugates form nanoparticles, which accelerate cellular uptake and that the content of unsaturated fatty acids enhances endosomal escape. In an in vitro Duchenne muscular dystrophy exon skipping model using H2K‐mdx52 dystrophic skeletal myotubes, the highly potent PMO conjugates mediate significant splice‐switching at very low nanomolar concentrations. The presented aminoethylene‐lipopeptides are thus a promising platform for the generation of PMO‐therapeutics with a favorable activity/toxicity profile.     

Technical and economic analysis of solvent-based lithium-ion electrode drying with water and NMP

Processing lithium-ion battery (LIB) electrode dispersions with water as the solvent during primary drying offers many advantages over N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP). An in-depth analysis of the comparative drying costs of LIB electrodes is discussed for both NMP- and water-based dispersion processing in terms of battery pack $/kWh. Electrode coating manufacturing and capital equipment cost savings are compared for water vs. conventional NMP organic solvent processing. A major finding of this work is that the total electrode manufacturing costs, whether water- or NMP-based, contribute about 8–9% of the total pack cost. However, it was found that up to a 2?×?reduction in electrode processing (drying and solvent recovery) cost can be expected along with a $3–6?M savings in associated plant capital equipment (for a plant producing 100,000 10-kWh Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) batteries) using water as the electrode solvent. This paper shows a different perspective in that the most important benefits of aqueous electrode processing actually revolve around capital equipment savings and environmental stewardship and not processing cost savings.     

Effect of ZnO layer thickness upon optoelectrical properties of NiO/ ZnO heterojunction prepared at room temperature

In this work, p-NiO/n-ZnO heterostructures were successfully prepared at room temperature using RF sputtering technique. The influence of ZnO layer thickness on the performance of the heterojunction was investigated. The deposited ZnO layers have a hexagonal Wurtzite structure with preferable growth orientations along (002) and (103) for thinner films. Increasing the thickness results in more crystallographic orientation randomness. The current–voltage measurements of the realized heterojunctions showed a clear rectifying behavior. The measured ideality factor varies from 2.5 to 1.6 according to the thickness of ZnO layer. The series resistance of the device is enlarged with increasing ZnO thickness. The deduced parameters from the I–V characteristics suggest that 200 nm is the optimal thickness of the ZnO layer according to our experimental conditions. We attribute the relatively better performance of this thickness to achieving reasonable compensation between serial resistance and ideality factor. The best heterojunction was tested and successfully used as a UV detector.     

Antimicrobial residues survey by LC-MS in food-producing animals in Lebanon

ABSTRACT

The treatment of animals with antimicrobial products may lead to the contamination of edible tissues by their residues, which may represent a risk to human health. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the level of antimicrobial residues in food-producing animals (chicken, beef, and milk) in Lebanon. A total of 310 samples were collected and analysed using an LC-MS/MS for the determination of 48 compounds belonging to different families in order to map their compliance according to the European Commission decision 2002/657/EC. Results show that 60% of the analysed samples were not contaminated by any residue, while 12% presented a concentration higher than the MRLs for tetracyclines, sulphonamides, quinolones, and macrolides. Results revealed that chicken were the most contaminated by antimicrobial residues, when compared to beef and milk. The obtained results demonstrate the uncontrolled use of antimicrobials in some Lebanese farms and claim for better management of livestock.     

Synthesis and characterization of conducting copolymers from aniline and o‐anisidine in HCl solutions

Conducting poly(aniline‐co‐o‐anisidine) (PAS) films with different ratios of aniline units in the polymer chain were prepared by oxidative polymerization of different molar ratios of aniline and o‐anisidine in 1 M HCl using cyclic voltammetry. Due to the much higher reactivity of o‐anisidine, the structure and properties of PASs were found to be dominated by the o‐anisidine units. The polymerization of poly‐o‐anisidine and PASs followed zero‐order kinetics with respect to formation of the polymer (film thickness) and the autocatalytic polymerization of aniline was completely inhibited. In contrast to polyaniline, a decrease in the polymerization temperature was found to increase the amount of copolymer formed and its redox charge. The presence of aniline units in PASs led to a pronounced increase in the molecular weight and conductivity, and a decrease in the solubility in organic solvents. Repetitive charging/discharging cycles showed that PASs resist degradation more than polyaniline. Copyright © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry