Electro-synthesis of tungsten carbide containing catalysts in molten salt for efficiently electrolytic hydrogen generation assisted by urea oxidation

Energy-efficient production of hydrogen through urea electrolysis is still challenging due to the lack of satisfactory catalysts for urea oxidation reaction (UOR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in urea containing solution. In this study, Ni–W_xC/C (x = 1,2) composite with high activity for urea electrocatalysis was prepared by direct electro-reduction of affordable feedstock of NiO–CaWO₄–C in molten CaCl₂–NaCl at 873–973 K. The addition of graphite in precursor decreases the particle size of Ni. Introducing W_xC into Ni particles can reduce the overpotential for UOR. As a result, the obtained Ni-W_xC/graphite composite exhibits high current density for urea oxidation, which is about 11-folds and 52-folds higher than that of Ni/graphite and Ni (@1.53 V vs. RHE), respectively. After changing the carbon source from graphite to CNTs, the anodic current density was further increased by 43%, reaching 50.31 mA cm^?2. Moreover, the cathodic catalyst W_xC/CNTs obtained by the same preparation process exhibits high performance towards HER, with a low onset potential of 131.5 mV and a Tafel slope of 69.5 mV dec^?1. Assembling an electrolyzer using Ni-W_xC/CNTs as anode and W_xC/CNTs as cathode can yield a current density of 10 mA cm^?2 at merely 1.65 V in 1 M KOH/0.33 M urea aqueous solution, with excellent long-term electrochemical durability. The environmental-friendly production process uses affordable feedstocks for the synthesis of efficient catalysts toward urea electrolysis, promising an energy-saving hydrogen production as well as waste treatment.     

A novel hot aerosol extinguishing agent with high efficiency for Class B fires

A novel hot aerosol extinguishing agent (HAEA), which is the combination of pyrotechnics and flame retardant technology, was found to have great efficiency in extinguishing Class B fires. A mixture of P and P₃N₅, referred to as P90x, was chosen as the reductant, and phase stabilized ammonium nitrate was chosen as the oxidant. This paper describes a study of the effectiveness of this agent in extinguishing n‐heptane fires (ie, Class B fires). We determined that the best efficiency was 15 g/m³ for extinguishing n‐heptane fires, four times more efficient than a traditional agent. The efficiency increases as the mass fraction of P90x rises. We also identified the key difference between the novel extinguishing agent and the traditional agent. The former consists of an inorganic phosphorus compound, while the latter is mainly comprised of KOH. Consequently, their extinguishing mechanisms are different. The phosphorus oxide of the novel HAEAs is the leading component to extinguish fire, which is more effective than alkali salts.     

融合约束学习的图像字幕生成方法

目的 图像字幕生成是一个涉及计算机视觉和自然语言处理的热门研究领域，其目的是生成可以准确表达图片内容的句子。在已经提出的方法中，生成的句子存在描述不准确、缺乏连贯性的问题。为此，提出一种基于编码器-解码器框架和生成式对抗网络的融合训练新方法。通过对生成字幕整体和局部分别进行优化，提高生成句子的准确性和连贯性。方法 使用卷积神经网络作为编码器提取图像特征，并将得到的特征和图像对应的真实描述共同作为解码器的输入。使用长短时记忆网络作为解码器进行图像字幕生成。在字幕生成的每个时刻，分别使用真实描述和前一时刻生成的字幕作为下一时刻的输入，同时生成两组字幕。计算使用真实描述生成的字幕和真实描述本身之间的相似性，以及使用前一时刻的输出生成的字幕通过判别器得到的分数。将二者组合成一个新的融合优化函数指导生成器的训练。结果 在CUB-200数据集上，与未使用约束器的方法相比，本文方法在BLEU-4、BLEU-3、BLEI-2、BLEU-1、ROUGE-L和METEOR等6个评价指标上的得分分别提升了0.8%、1.2%、1.6%、0.9%、1.8%和1.0%。在Oxford-102数据集上，与未使用约束器的方法相比，本文方法在CIDEr、BLEU-4、BLEU-3、BLEU-2、BLEU-1、ROUGE-L和METEOR等7个评价指标上的得分分别提升了3.8%、1.5%、1.7%、1.4%、1.5%、0.5%和0.1%。在MSCOCO数据集上，本文方法在BLEU-2和BLEU-3两项评价指标上取得了最优值，分别为50.4%和36.8%。结论 本文方法将图像字幕中单词前后的使用关系纳入考虑范围，并使用约束器对字幕局部信息进行优化，有效解决了之前方法生成的字幕准确度和连贯度不高的问题，可以很好地用于图像理解和图像字幕生成。     

A Multifunctional Pro‐Healing Zwitterionic Hydrogel for Simultaneous Optical Monitoring of pH and Glucose in Diabetic Wound Treatment

Diabetic ulcer is the most common kind of chronic wound worldwide. Though great efforts have been devoted, diabetic ulcer still remains as a challenge that requires constant monitoring and management. In this work, a multifunctional zwitterionic hydrogel is developed to simultaneously detect two fluctuant wound parameters, pH and glucose level, to monitor the diabetic wound status. A pH indicator dye (phenol red) and two glucose sensing enzymes, glucose oxidase (GOx) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP), are encapsulated in the anti‐biofouling and biocompatible zwitterionic poly‐carboxybetaine (PCB) hydrogel matrix. The visible images are collected by a smartphone and transformed into RGB signals to quantify the wound parameters. Results show that the activity and stability of both two enzymes are improved within PCB hydrogel, and the K_cat/K_m value of PCB‐HRP is ≈5.5 fold of free HRP in artificial wound exudate. This novel wound dressing can successfully monitor the pH range of 4–8 and glucose level of 0.1–10 × 10^?3 m . Meanwhile, it also provides a moist healing environment that can promote diabetic wound healing. This multifunctional wound dressing may open vistas in chronic wound management and guide the diabetes treatment in clinical applications.     

Effects of nitric oxide on the alleviation of postharvest disease induced by Penicillium italicum in navel orange fruits

The present study evaluated the effects of 15 μL L^-1 nitric oxide (NO) on the fruit defence response of ‘Newhall’ navel orange. The decay rate of NO-treated navel orange fruits was significantly lower than that of control fruits during storage at 20 °C storage (P < 0.05). Treatment with NO suppressed the increase in disease incidence and lesion area in orange fruits inoculated with Penicillium italicum (P. italicum); significantly increased the activities of phenolic metabolism-associated enzymes and pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins, including polyphenoloxidase (PPO), phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), β-1,3-glucanase (GLU) and chitinase (CHT); and enhanced the activities of key enzymes, including 4-coumarate: CoA ligase (4CL), cinnamate-4-hydroxylase (C4H) and chalcone isomerase (CHI) in the phenylpropanoid pathway. The contents of total phenolics, flavonoids and lignin were also higher in NO-treated fruits than in control fruits. The findings suggest that exogenous NO could induce disease resistance against P. italicum in navel orange fruits.     

Extraction of cerium(III) with N,N′-dimethyl-N,N′-dioctyl-diglycolamide in [Bmim][PF6] compared in 40% octanol/kerosene

The extraction of Ce(III) nitrate has been investigated by using N, N′-dimethyl-N, N′-dioctyl-diglycolamide (DMDODGA = L) as extractant with 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([Bmim][PF₆]) as diluent in comparison with 40% octanol/kerosene. DMDODGA in two different diluents shows good extraction ability for Ce(III), but the trends are quite different depending on the concentrations of the ligand in solvent phase and nitric acid in aqueous phase. The slope analysis method is used to obtain the stoichiometric ratio of the extracted complexes. 1:3 complex of Ce(III) to DMDODGA may be formed in both systems, while 1:2 complex may be also formed in DMDODGA-40% octanol/kerosene system. The extraction of Ce(III) is by the cation exchange mechanism in DMDODGA-[Bmim][PF₆] system. Unlike the expected positively charged 1:3 complex of Ce(III) formed in the DMDODGA-40% octanol/kerosene system, the 1:2 complex is assumed to be a neutral complex with two DMDODGA molecules bonding to Ce(III). In addition, the stronger interaction between the C = O groups of L and Ce(III) in the DMDODGA-[Bmim][PF₆] system than in the DMDODGA-40% octanol/kerosene system is confirmed by IR spectroscopy.     

Influence of the weight ratio of polydimethylsiloxane modified gelatin to silicone rubber on the potential performance of asymmetric bilayer membranes as wound dressings

Asymmetric bilayer membranes have been regarded as ideal wound dressings for skin regeneration. Our previous work reported the potential advantages of polydimethylsiloxane modified gelatin/silicone rubber (PGE/SR) asymmetric bilayer membrane as a wound dressing. However, it is still unknown whether the proportion of the two components of the bilayer membrane has a prominent influence on its relevant performance. Herein, various PGE/SR membranes with different PGE:SR weight ratios (100:25, 100:50 and 100:100) were fabricated through a self‐stratification method driven by surface tension gradients. Subsequently, the effects of the PGE:SR ratios on the relevant performance (i.e. porous structure, mechanical properties, degradability and biocompatibility) of PGE/SR membranes were systematically investigated. The current results demonstrate that the separating force between the PGE and SR components was reduced significantly on increasing the content of SR, and in particular the PGE/SR1 membrane (100:25) exhibited a well‐defined asymmetric bilayer structure with high porosity, appropriate toughness, water uptake, swelling ratio and water permeability. Concomitantly, the maximum weight loss for the PGE/SR1 membrane was ca 70.65% after 9 days of enzymatic degradation, which met the typical healing period of a normal skin wound. In addition, both the original and degraded PGE/SR1 membrane possessed favorable cytocompatibility in vitro, suggesting its potential application as a wound dressing. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry     

Carbon resistance of xNi/HTASAO5 catalyst for the production of H2 via CO2 reforming of methane

xNi/HTASAO5 catalysts (x = 2.5, 3.3, 4.4, 5.8, 8.2) were prepared for CO₂ reforming of methane. No crystalline nickel species formed on the catalysts with lower nickel content (≤4.4%), and large Ni⁰ crystallite formed on 5.8% (10 nm) and 8.2 wt%Ni/HTASAO5 (17 nm), whereas the surface concentration of Ce³⁺ decreased with Ni loading. The initial conversion of CH₄ increased from 29.5% to 46.9% with Ni loading. The xNi/HTASAO5 (x ≤ 4.4%) performed stably in the reaction due to the presence of dispersed Ni species and high surface Ce³⁺ content without coke formation, however, 5.8% and 8.2 wt%Ni/HTASAO5 exhibited decreased activity with time on stream, because of the formation of large Ni particles with lower surface Ce³⁺, leading to carbon accumulation. Thus, CH₄ conversion stabilized at about 43% and no carbon formed on 4.4 wt%Ni/HTASAO5 with optimum Ni loading.