Miniaturized electrochemical sensors and their point-of-care applications

Most of the current analytical methods depend largely on laboratory-based analytical techniques that require expensive and bullky equipment,potentially incur costly testing,and involve lengthy detection processes.With increasing requirements for point-of-care testing(POCT),more attention has been paid to miniaturized analytical devices.Miniaturized electrochemical(MEC)sensors,including different material-based MEC sensors(such as DNA-,paper-,and screen electrode-based),have been in strong demand in analytical science due to their easy operation,portability,high sensitivity,as well as their short analysis time.They have been applied for the detection of trace amounts of target through measuring changes in electrochemical signal,such as current,voltage,potential,or impedance,due to the oxidation/reduction of chemical/biological molecules with the help of electrodes and electrochemical units.MEC sensors present great potential for the detection of targets including small organic molecules,metal ions,and biomolecules.In recent years,MEC sensors have been broadly applied to POCT in various fields,including health care,food safety,and environmental monitoring,owing to the excellent advantages of electrochemical(EC)technologies.This review summarized the state-of-the-art advancements on various types of MEC sensors and their applications in POCT.Furthermore,the future perspectives,opportunities,and challenges in this field are also discussed.     

Machine Learning towards Screening Solid-state Lithium Ion Conductors

Machine learning is an emerging method to discover new materials with specific characteristics.An unsupervised machine learning research is highlighted to discover new potential lithium ionic conductors by screening and clustering lithium compounds,providing inspirations for the development of solid-state electrolytes and practical batteries.     

Surface defect-rich ceria quantum dots anchored on sulfur-doped carbon nitride nanotubes with enhanced charge separation for solar hydrogen production

Designing defect-engineered semiconductor heterojunctions can effectively promote the charge carrier separation.Herein,novel ceria(CeO2) quantum dots(QDs) decorated sulfur-doped carbon nitride nanotubes(SCN NTs) were synthesized via a thermal polycondensation coupled in situ depositionprecipitation method without use of template or surfactant.The structure and morphology studies indicate that ultrafine CeO2 QDs are well distributed inside and outside of SCN NTs offering highly dispersed active sites and a large contact interface between two components.This leads to the promoted formation of rich Ce³⁺ ion and oxygen vacancies as confirmed by XPS.The photocatalytic performance can be facilely modulated by the content of CeO2 QDs introduced in SCN matrix while bare CeO2 does not show activity of hydrogen production.The optimal catalyst with 10% of CeO2 loading yields a hydrogen evolution rate of 2923.8 μmol h-1 g-1 under visible light,remarkably higher than that of bare SCN and their physical mixtures.Further studies reveal that the abundant surface defects and the created 0 D/1 D junctions play a critical role in improving the separation and transfer of charge carriers,leading to superior solar hydrogen production and good stability.     

Superfast and solvent-free core-shell assembly of sulfur/carbon active particles by hail-inspired nanostorm technology for high-energy-density Li-S batteries

The demand on low-carbon emission fabrication technologies for energy storage materials is increasing dramatically with the global interest on carbon neutrality.As a promising active material for metal-sulfur batteries,sulfur is of great interest due to its high-energy-density and abundance.However,there is a lack of industry-friendly and low-carbon fabrication strategies for high-performance sulfur-based active particles,which,however,is in critical need by their practical success.Herein,based on a hail-inspired sulfur nano-storm(HSN)technology developed in our lab,we report an energy-saving,solvent-free strategy for producing core-shell sulfur/carbon electrode particles(CNT@AC-S)in minutes.The fabrication of the CNT@AC-S electrode particles only involves low-cost sulfur blocks,commercial carbon nanotubes(CNT)and activated carbon(AC)micro-particles with high specific surface area.Based on the above core-shell CNT@AC-S particles,sulfur cathode with a high sulfur-loading of 9.2 mg cm^-2 delivers a stable area capacity of 6.6 mAh cm^-2 over 100 cycles.Furthermore,even for sulfur cathode with a super-high sulfur content(72 wt%over the whole electrode),it still delivers a high area capacity of 9 mAh cm^-2 over50 cycles in a quasi-lean electrolyte condition.In a nutshell,this study brings a green and industryfriendly fabrication strategy for cost-effective production of rationally designed S-rich electrode particles.     

Unraveling the stabilization mechanism of solid electrolyte interface on ZnSe by rGO in sodium ion battery

Transition metal selenides have been widely studied as anode materials of sodium ion batteries(SIBs),however,the investigation of solid-electrolyte-interface(SEI)on these materials,which is critical to the electrochemical performance of SIBs,remains at its infancy.Here in this paper,ZnSe@C nanoparticles were prepared from ZIF-8 and the SEI layers on these electrodes with and without reduced graphene oxide(rGO)layers were examined in details by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies at varied charged/discharged states.It is observed that fast and complicated electrolyte decomposition reactions on ZnSe@C leads to quite thick SEI film and intercalation of solvated sodium ions through such thick SEI film results in slow ion diffusion kinetics and unstable electrode structure.However,the presence of rGO could efficiently suppress the decomposition of electrolyte,thus thin and stable SEI film was formed.ZnSe@C electrodes wrapped by rGO demonstrates enhanced interfacial charge transfer kinetics and high electrochemical performance,a capacity retention of 96.4%,after 1000 cycles at 5 A/g.This study might offer a simple avenue for the designing high performance anode materials through manipulation of SEI film.     

CXN天然沸石的研究2: 吸附性质

采用N~2,NH~3,CO~2,乙烯,丙烯,水,甲醇,乙醇,丙醇等作为吸附剂,研究了由我国CXN天然沸石改性制得的H-STI和Na-STI沸石的吸附性质,H-STI和Na-STI沸石的BET表面积及微孔孔体积约为420m^2/g和0.20m^3/g。根据NH~3和CO~2在H-STI沸石上的吸附等温线计算得到它们的吸附热分别为44.8和26.5kJ/mol。乙烯,丙烯,甲醇,乙醇,丙醇等在Na-STI沸石上的吸附等温线表明该沸石对有机分子的吸附具有链长选择性。在低分压下水相对于甲醇的吸附量表明沸石具有一定的疏水性质。     

常温常湿条件下Au/MeO~x催化剂上CO氧化性能

利用共沉淀法制备了Au/MeO~x催化剂(Me=Al,Co,Cr,Cu,Fe,Mn,Ni,Zn)。在常温常湿条件下,考察了不同氧化物负载的金基催化剂的CO氧化性能。结果表明,氧化物种类对催化剂的活性和稳定性均有较大的影响。Cu,Mn,Cr等氧化物负载的金基催化剂的活性较差,而Zn,Fe,Co,Ni,Al等金属氧化物负载的金基催化剂可将CO完全氧化,又具有一定的稳定性,在相同反应条件下,CO完全转化时的稳定性顺序为Au/ZnO>Au/α-Fe~2O~3>Au/Co~3O~4>Au/γ-Al~2O~3≈Au/NiO。还发现水对Au/MnO~x催化剂的活性和稳定性有负作用,而对180℃焙烧制备的Au/ZnO-180催化剂的活性和稳定性均有明显的湿度增强作用。     

Boost oxygen reduction reaction performance by tuning the active sites in Fe-N-P-C catalysts

Cost-effective atomically dispersed Fe-N-P-C complex catalysts are promising to catalyze the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)and replace Pt catalysts in fuel cells and metal-air batteries.However,it remains a challenge to increase the number of atomically dispersed active sites on these catalysts.Here we report a highly efficient impregnation-pyrolysis method to prepare effective ORR electrocatalysts with large amount of atomically dispersed Fe active sites from biomass.Two types of active catalyst centers were identified,namely atomically dispersed Fe sites and Fe_xP particles.The ORR rate of the atomically dispersed Fe sites is three orders of magnitude higher than it of Fe_xP particles.A linear correlation between the amount of the atomically dispersed Fe and the ORR activity was obtained,revealing the major contribution of the atomically dispersed Fe to the ORR activity.The number of atomically dispersed Fe increases as the Fe loading increased and reaching the maximum at 1.86 wt%Fe,resulting in the maximum ORR rate.Optimized Fe-N-P-C complex catalyst was used as the cathode catalyst in a homemade Zn-air battery and good performance of an energy density of 771 Wh kgZn^-1,a power density of 92.9 m W cm^-2 at 137 m A cm^-2 and an excellent durability were exhibited.     

Regulation of carbon distribution to construct high-sulfur-content cathode in lithium-sulfur batteries

Lithium-sulfur(Li-S)battery is regarded as one of the most promising next-generation energy storage systems due to the ultra-high theoretical energy density of 2600 Wh kg^-1.To address the insulation nature of sulfur,nanocarbon composition is essential to afford acceptable cycling capacity but inevitably sacrifices the actual energy density under working conditions.Therefore,rational structural design of the carbon/sulfur composite cathode is of great significance to realize satisfactory electrochemical performances with limited carbon content.Herein,the cathode carbon distribution is rationally regulated to construct high-sulfur-content and high-performance Li-S batteries.Concretely,a double-layer carbon(DLC)cathode is prepared by fabricating a surface carbon layer on the carbon/sulfur composite.The surface carbon layer not only provides more electrochemically active surfaces,but also blocks the polysulfide shuttle.Consequently,the DLC configuration with an increased sulfur content by nearly 10 wt%renders an initial areal capacity of 3.40 mAh cm^-2 and capacity retention of 83.8%during 50 cycles,which is about two times than that of the low-sulfur-content cathode.The strategy of carbon distribution regulation affords an effective pathway to construct advanced high-sulfur-content cathodes for practical high-energy-density Li-S batteries.     

Confined Ni-In intermetallic alloy nanocatalyst with excellent coking resistance for methane dry reforming

Carbon dioxide and methane are two main greenhouse gases which are contributed to serious global warming.Fortunately,dry reforming of methane(DRM),a very important reaction developed decades ago,can convert these two major greenhouse gases into value-added syngas or hydrogen.The main problem retarding its industrialization is the seriously coking formation upon the nickel-based catalysts.Herein,a series of confined indium-nickel(In-Ni)intermetallic alloy nanocatalysts(In_xNi@SiO₂)have been prepared and displayed superior coking resistance for DRM reaction.The sample containing 0.5 wt.%of In loading(In_0.5Ni@SiO₂)shows the best balance of carbon deposition resistance and DRM reactivity even after 430 h long term stability test.The boosted carbon resistance can be ascribed to the confinement of core–shell structure and to the transfer of electrons from Indium to Nickel in In-Ni intermetallic alloys due to the smaller electronegativity of In.Both the silica shell and the increase of electron cloud density on metallic Ni can weaken the ability of Ni to activate C–H bond and decrease the deep cracking process of methane.The reaction over the confined InNi intermetallic alloy nanocatalyst was conformed to the Langmuir-Hinshelwood(L-H)mechanism revealed by in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy(in-situ DRIFTS).This work provides a guidance to design high performance coking resistance catalysts for methane dry reforming to efficiently utilize these two main greenhouse gases.     

酰胺基团对Gemini表面活性剂表面活性和聚集行为的影响

本文合成了含酰胺基团和不含酰胺基团的两类Gemini阳离子表面活性剂,测定了其表面活性参数,研究了酰胺基团对表面活性剂的表面活性和聚集行为的影响。结果表明,酰胺基团提高了Gemini阳离子表面活性剂的临界胶团浓度,降低了胶团聚集数,增强了胶团微极性,增大了表面活性剂的饱和吸附量。     

手性赖氨酸基Gemini表面活性剂的表面性能

用表面张力法、电导法和稳态荧光法研究了手性Gemini表面活性剂[C₁₂-m-C₁₂] Na₂（m=2,4,6）和[C₁₂-T-C₁₂] Na₂的表面性能及临界胶束聚集数,并计算胶束形成的热力学参数,用圆二色谱法考察了[C₁₂-2-C₁₂] Na₂在不同浓度下的立体构型. 结果表明,手性Gemini表面活性剂的临界胶束浓度（cmc）和临界表面张力γ_cmc随着连接基链长增加或刚性增强而增大;ΔG_m⁰和ΔH_m⁰为负值,|ΔH_m⁰|比|-TΔS_m⁰|小很多,说明胶束化过程为熵驱动的自发放热过程;随着连接基链长增加或刚性增强,ΔG_m⁰和ΔH_m⁰逐渐增大,ΔS_m⁰和临界胶束聚集数逐渐减小,表明其胶束化能力随之降低;当浓度大于cmc时,手性Gemini表面活性剂可形成手性超分子聚集体.     

Gemini surfactants at the air/water interface: a fully atomistic molecular dynamics study

Gemini surfactants typically consist of two single-chain surfactants chemically linked by a spacer molecule. We report herein the results of fully atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of a series of Gemini surfactants: CsH2s-alpha,omega-bis(C12H25N+(CH3)2Cl-), at the air/water interface with s = 3, 4, 6, 12, 14, and 16, at values of the initial surface area per surfactant AS = 70 A2, 77 A2, 95 A2, 151 A2, 133 A2, and 103 A2, respectively. The AS values employed were obtained from surface tension and neutron reflection experiments at the respective cmc of each surfactant. The Gemini surfactant corresponding to s = 3 was also simulated at AS = 105 A2, which is the experimentally derived value of surface area per surfactant at 1/10th of cmc. Only the surfactants with s = 12 and 14 and the surfactant with s = 3 at AS = 105 A2 gave a stable monolayer at the air/water interface. In other cases, we observe movement of some surfactant molecules from the air/water interface into the aqueous phase, resulting in a stable primary monolayer of surfactants at the air/water interface and a small concentration of surfactant molecules below it. The latter form aggregates, with their hydrophobic chains in the core. The density profiles along the normal to the interface are compared with the ones obtained from neutron reflection experiments. The MD simulations confirm the bending of the spacer toward the hydrophobic chains as the spacer length is increased and the spacer becomes more hydrophobic. The simulations have helped to shed light on the low-resolution picture which emerges from experimental analyses.     

支链化阳离子和甜菜碱表面活性剂对聚四氟乙烯表面润湿性的影响

利用座滴法研究了支链化阳离子表面活性剂十六烷基羟丙基氯化铵(C₁₆GPC)和两性离子表面活性剂十六烷基羧酸甜菜碱(C₁₆GPB)在聚四氟乙烯(PTFE)表面上的吸附机制和润湿性质, 考察了表面活性剂浓度对表面张力、接触角、粘附张力、固液界面张力和粘附功的影响趋势. 研究发现, 低浓度条件下, 表面活性剂疏水支链的多个亚甲基基团与PTFE表面发生相互作用, 分子以平躺的方式吸附到固体界面; 支链化表面活性剂形成胶束的阻碍较大, 浓度大于临界胶束浓度(cmc)时, C₁₆GPC和C₁₆GPB分子在固液界面上继续吸附, 与PTFE作用的亚甲基基团减少, 分子逐渐直立, 固液界面自由能(γ_sl)明显降低. 对于支链化的阳离子和甜菜碱分子, 接触角均在浓度高于cmc后大幅度降低.     

碳量子点阳离子表面活性剂的多功能性

碳量子点以其多彩的荧光及廉价而丰富的制备原料引起人们的广泛兴趣。至今,已有大量关于碳量子点制备及其荧光性能直接利用的文献报道。若采用恰当的方法对碳量子点进行化学修饰,则可以将其转化为实用的精细化学品,从而拓展碳量子点的应用领域。本文报道了一种碳量子点阳离子表面活性剂的制备方法。首先,乙二胺四乙酸、二乙胺及双氧水的混合水溶液经水热处理,获得碳量子点(以OX-CQDs表示),再以氯代正构十二烷对其进行季铵化修饰,获得新型碳量子点阳离子表面活性剂(以OX-CQDs-C₁₂H₂₅表示)。OX-CQDs-C₁₂H₂₅具有良好的降低水的表面张力和减小水接触角的能力,水的界面张力能降低至26.7 mN∙m⁻¹,其性能超过了一些新型的Gemini型阳离子表面活性剂;季铵化的修饰也大大提高了OX-CQDs对大肠杆菌的抑菌能力,低至0.41 mg∙mL⁻¹的OX-CQDs-C₁₂H₂₅溶液其抑菌率接近100%。表面活性剂,抑菌性和荧光性能赋予了OX-CQDs-C₁₂H₂₅的多种功能性。     

含酯基Gemini表面活性剂在有机醇-水体系中的胶束热力学及聚集行为

采用电导法研究了不同温度下含酯基Gemini表面活性剂在纯水和在质量分数为10%的甲醇-水(MAWR),乙二醇-水(EG-WR),丙三醇-水(GL-WR)四种体系中的集聚行为和胶束热力学;聚集行为参数包括临界胶束浓度(cmc)和抗衡离子的解离程度(α)以及胶束的热力学参数,包括标准吉布斯自由能(ΔG_m~o)、吉布斯迁移自由能(ΔG_(trans)~o)、吉布斯烷基链胶束化自由能(ΔG_(tail)~o)、标准焓变(ΔH_m~o)和标准熵变(ΔS_m~o),均被计算和讨论。研究表明在所有的研究体系中,cmc值随着疏水链的增加而减小,随着加入的醇结构中羟基数目的增加而增大,随温度的升高先变小,后变大呈U字形;胶束化过程都是自发进行的,并且在293.15 K下,胶束化过程是吸热的,在293.15 K上,胶束化过程是放热的;通过稳态荧光光谱法研究了表面活性剂在纯水、有机醇-水混合溶液中的微极性,结果表明,在相同溶剂中,随着烷基链长度的增加,溶液微环境的疏水性越强;对于相同的Gemini表面活性剂,随着加入含羟基数目越多的醇,其微环境的疏水性越强。并研究了Gemini表面活性剂在混合体系中形成胶束过程的焓-熵补偿曲线。     

Surface activity and thermodynamic of micellization and adsorption for isooctylphenol ethoxylates, phosphate esters and their mixtures with N-diethoxylated perfluorooctanamide

Three nonionic surfactants; p-isooctylphenol ethoxylates p-[i-OPE10], p-[i-OPE15], and p-[i-OPE20], were phosphorylated to produce three anionic phosphate ester surfactants. In addition, N-diethoxylated perfluorooctanamide (N-DEFOA) was also prepared. The surface and thermodynamic properties of the three types of surfactants and mixtures of the fluorocarbon surfactant (FC) with the hydrocarbon surfactants (HC) have been investigated. Surface tension as a function of concentration of the surfactant in aqueous solution was measured at 30, 40, 50 and 60°C, using the spinning drop technique. From these measurements the critical micelle concentration (CMC), the surface tension at the CMC (γ_CMC), the maximum surface excess concentration (Γ_max), the minimum area per molecule at the aqueous solution/air interface (A_min), and the effectiveness of surface tension reduction (π_CMC), were calculated. The thermodynamic parameters of micellization (ΔG_mic, ΔH_mic, ΔS_mic) and of adsorption (ΔG_ad, ΔH_ad, ΔS_ad) for these surfactants and their mixtures were also calculated. Structural effects on micellization, adsorption and effectiveness of surface tension reduction are discussed in terms of these parameters. The results show that the FC surfactant and its mixtures with HC surfactants enhance the efficiency in surface tension reduction and adsorption in the mixed monolayer at the aqueous solution/air interface, and also, reduce γ_CMC and the tendency towards micellization.     

界面扩张流变法研究C_(12)mimBr对Gemini12-2-12在空气/水界面聚集行为的影响

采用界面扩张流变技术研究了季铵盐偶联表面活性剂C12-(CH2)2-C12·2Br(Gemini12-2-12)及其与离子液体表面活性剂溴化1-十二烷基-3-甲基咪唑(C12mim Br)复配体系的动态界面张力、扩张流变性质和界面弛豫过程等,探讨了C12mim Br对C12mim Br/Gemini12-2-12混合体系界面性质的影响及C12mim Br对Gemini12-2-12界面聚集行为影响的机制.结果表明,随着离子液体表面活性剂的不断引入,体系界面吸附达到平衡所需的时间逐渐缩短,扩张模量和相角明显降低,界面吸附膜由粘弹性膜转变为近似纯弹性膜;同时,界面及其附近的弛豫过程也发生显著变化,慢弛豫过程消失,快弛豫过程占主导地位,且离子液体浓度越高,快弛豫的贡献越大.这些界面性质的变化主要归因于离子液体表面活性剂C12mim Br参与界面形成及两表面活性剂在界面竞争吸附的结果.少量离子液体表面活性剂C12mim Br的加入可以填补疏松的Gemini12-2-12界面上的空位,形成混合界面吸附膜.随着C12mim Br含量的增加,嵌入界面的C12mim Br分子数不断增多,导致界面上相互缠绕的Gemini12-2-12烷基链"解缠",在体相和界面分子扩散交换的过程中"解缠"的Gemini12-2-12分子从界面上解吸回到体相,与此同时,C12mim Br分子相对较小的空间位阻及较强的疏水作用促使其优先扩散至界面进而取代Gemini12-2-12分子,最终界面几乎完全被C12mim Br分子所占据.     

Solution behaviour of a formate capped surfactant—the oxidation product of an alcohol ethoxylate

The solution behaviour has been investigated for an alcohol ethoxylate terminated with a formic acid ester. This compound has previously been reported to be an important degradation product in the auto-oxidation of alcohol ethoxylates. In this work we have investigated the solution behaviour of the formic acid ester surfactant C₁₂H₂₅(OCH₂CH₂)₄OCHO (C12E4---OCHO). The pure formate was found to be sparsely soluble in water with no clear point at 0.1%. The critical micelle concentration was found to be 129 μM at 35°C, compared to 50 μM for the parent surfactant C₁₂H₂₅(OCH₂CH₂)₅OH (C12E5). To mimic the behaviour of the oxidised surfactant, the formate was mixed in different ratios with C12E5 and the cloud point, surface tension and critical micelle concentration (cmc) of these mixtures were studied. The gradual increase of formate was found to shift the cloud point and isotropic regions to lower temperatures. The cmc of the mixture was found to be lower than for the pure surfactant. The favourable interaction was analysed according to the non-ideal model by Rubingh and the interaction parameter, β, was determined to be −4±0.53, which is unusually large for a mixture of two non-ionic surfactants. These results indicate that the reduction of cloud point observed during oxidation of non-ionic surfactants can in part be attributed to the formation of formate esters.     

光敏季铵盐Gemini表面活性剂a4-6-m在气/液界面的吸附

合成了3种不对称结构的季铵盐Gemini表面活性剂a4-6-m, 分子的一根疏水链是偶氮苯为端基的4个亚甲基链, 另一根是不同长度的脂肪链(m=12, 14, 16). 研究结果表明, 反式偶氮苯封端的a4-6-m在气/液界面上以直立方式排列, 偶氮苯端基间的π-π相互作用导致吸附分子较为紧密地排列, 但吸附层外表面含有偶氮苯成分使临界胶束浓度(cmc)时的表面张力(γcmc)较大. 紫外光激发使反式结构偶氮苯变为顺式结构, 这些极性较强的顺式偶氮苯夹杂在直立的烷烃链间, 增强的偶极-偶极相互作用促进了分子紧密排列, 使分子占据面积(Amin)略微减小. 增长脂肪链长度有助于降低临界胶团浓度和C20(使水的表面张力降低20 mN·m-1时所需的表面活性剂浓度), 但对γcmc影响不大.