Olefin-linked cationic covalent organic frameworks for efficient extraction of ReO4-/99TcO4. J Hazard Mater 2023;446:130603. [PMID: 36580784 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.130603]

Efficient extraction of radioactive ⁹⁹TcO₄^- from strong acid/base solutions by porous adsorbents is extremely desirable but remains a great challenge. To overcome the challenge, here we report the first example of an olefin-linked cationic covalent organic framework (COF) named BDBI-TMT with excellent acid, base and radiation stability is synthesized by integrating robust imidazolium salt-based linkers with triazine building blocks. BDBI-TMT shows an ultra-fast adsorption kinetics (equilibrium is reached within 1 min) and an excellent ReO₄^- (a non-radioactive surrogate of ⁹⁹TcO₄^-) capture capacity of 726 mg g^-1, which can be attributed to the abundance of precisely tailored imidazolium salt-based units on the highly accessible pore walls of the ordered pore channels. Furthermore, the formation of the highly conjugated bulky alkyl skeleton enhances the hydrophobicity of BDBI-TMT, which significantly improves not only the affinity toward ReO₄^-/⁹⁹TcO₄^- but also the chemical stability, allowing selective and reversible extraction of ReO₄^-/⁹⁹TcO₄^- even under extreme conditions. This work demonstrates the great potential of olefin-linked cationic COFs for ReO₄^-/⁹⁹TcO₄^- extraction, providing a new avenue to construct high-performance porous adsorbents for radionuclide remediation.

Constructing an ultrastable imidazole covalent organic framework for concurrent uranium detection and recovery

Uranium is one of the most important strategic resources for the development of the nuclear industry, but its unintended release has created potential environmental and health risks. It is highly desired to explore new methods that enable concurrent uranium monitoring and recovery for environmental protection and sustainable development of the nuclear industry. Here, for the first time, an imidazole fluorescent covalent organic framework (named PyTT-Tp) with ultrastable skeleton and open nanopore channel is synthesized by condensing ammonium acetate, 1,3,5-triformylphloroglucinol and pyrene-4,5,9,10-tetrone. By precisely tailoring complexing ligands, PyTT-Tp shows an excellent uranium recovery capacity of 941.27 mg g^-1 and reached equilibrium within 60 min, which can be attributed to dense selective uranium binding sites on the highly accessible open skeleton. In addition, due to the signal amplification of the pyrene-imidazole skeleton, it has an ultra-low detection limit of 4.92 nM UO₂²⁺ and an ultra-fast response time (2 s) suitable for on-site monitoring the uranium content of the extracted water. By modulating target complexing ligands, this approach can be extended to the monitoring and recovery of other strategic nuclides.

20-MHz phased array ultrasound transducer for in vivo ultrasound imaging of small animals

In vivo ultrasound imaging with phased array transducers is of great importance for both clinical application and biomedical research. In this work, relaxor ferroelectric PMN-0.28PT single crystal with very high piezoelectric constant d₃₃ ≥ 2000 pC/N and electromechanical coupling coefficient k₃₃ ∼ 0.92 is used to fabricate high-frequency phased array transducers. A 128-element 20-MHz phased array transducer is successfully fabricated, and the optimized performance of -6 dB average bandwidth of ∼ 84 % and insertion loss of -43 dB are achieved. The axial and lateral imaging resolutions of the transducer are determined to be 81 µm and 243 µm, respectively. With Verasonics image platform, in vivo fisheye images are acquired, demonstrating the potential application of our developed high-frequency phased array transducer for biomedical research on small animals.

Mo-Doped FeP Nanospheres for Artificial Nitrogen Fixation

Electrochemical conversion of N₂ to NH₃ under ambient conditions is a promising and environmentally friendly route compared with the CO₂-emitting and energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process. Nevertheless, due to ultrahigh stability of N₂, it is urgent to explore efficient catalysts to weaken and activate the N≡N bond. Here, we report the Mo-doped iron phosphide (Mo-FeP) nanosphere as a valid transition-metal-based catalyst for electrochemical N₂-to-NH₃ fixation under ambient conditions. This catalyst exhibits excellent catalytic performance with a NH₄⁺ yield rate (13.1 μg h^-1 mg^-1) and Faradaic efficiency (7.49%) at -0.3 and -0.2 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), respectively. However, the FeP catalyst without doped Mo species displays weak catalytic performance. We found that the better catalytic performance of Mo-FeP might be due to the doping of Mo species, which is favorable for the polarization of adsorbed N₂ molecules, making the N≡N bond more viable to dissociate.

B4C nanosheets decorated with in situ-derived boron-doped graphene quantum dots for high-efficiency ambient N2 fixation

In situ-derived boron-doped graphene quantum dots can significantly improve the activity of boron carbide nanosheets for artificial N₂ fixation.

Direct fluorescence detection of microRNA based on enzymatically engineered primer extension poly-thymine (EPEPT) reaction using copper nanoparticles as nano-dye

A new strategy based on enzymatically engineered primer extension poly-thymine (EPEPT) and nanomaterials in situ generation technology is reported for direct detection of microRNA (miRNA) in a fluorescence turn-on format using the sequential and complementary reactions catalyzed by Klenow Fragment exo^- (KFexo^-) and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdTase). The short miRNA can be efficiently converted into long poly-thymine (polyT) sequences, which function as template for in situ formation of fluorescence copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) as nano-dye for detecting miRNA. The polyT-CuNPs can effectively form and emit intense red fluorescence under the 340nm excitation. For the proof of concept, microRNA-21 (miR-21) was selected as the model target to testify this strategy as a versatile assay platform. By directly using miR-21 as the primer, the simple, rapid and sensitive miRNA detection was successfully achieved with a good linearity between 1pM and 1nM and a detection limit of 100fM. Thus, the EPEPT strategy holds great potential in biochemical sensing research as an efficient and universal platform.

Anodic aluminum oxide-epoxy composite acoustic matching layers for ultrasonic transducer application

The goal of this work is to demonstrate the application of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template as matching layer of ultrasonic transducer. Quarter-wavelength acoustic matching layer is known as a vital component in medical ultrasonic transducers to compensate the acoustic impedance mismatch between piezoelectric element and human body. The AAO matching layer is made of anodic aluminum oxide template filled with epoxy resin, i.e. AAO-epoxy 1-3 composite. Using this composite as the first matching layer, a ∼12MHz ultrasonic transducer based on soft lead zirconate titanate piezoelectric ceramic is fabricated, and pulse-echo measurements show that the transducer exhibits very good performance with broad bandwidth of 68% (-6dB) and two-way insertion loss of -22.7dB. Wire phantom ultrasonic image is also used to evaluate the transducer's performance, and the results confirm the process feasibility and merit of AAO-epoxy composite as a new matching material for ultrasonic transducer application. This matching scheme provides a solution to address the problems existing in the conventional 0-3 composite matching layer and suggests another useful application of AAO template.

Lanthanide Coordination Polymer Nanoparticles as an Excellent Artificial Peroxidase for Hydrogen Peroxide Detection

Lanthanide coordination polymer nanoparticles (Ln-CPNs) have been recently demonstrated as excellent platforms for biomolecule detection. In this work, we synthesized novel cerium coordination polymer nanoparticles ATP-Ce-Tris CPNs in a simple and quick way using ATP molecules as the biocompatible ligands to Ce(3+) ions in tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane hydrochloric (Tris-HCl) solution. In view of the excellent free radical scavenging property of cerium compounds, which is ascribed to the mixed valence state (Ce(3+), Ce(4+)) and the reversible switch from Ce(3+) to Ce(4+), the synthesized ATP-Ce-Tris CPNs was used as artificial peroxidase to selectively and sensitively detect H2O2. The sensing mechanism depends on the oxidation of the fluorescent ATP-Ce(III)-Tris CPNs to nonfluorescent ATP-Ce(IV)-Tris CPNs by H2O2. Compared with those inorganic cerium oxide sensors, this kind of fluoresence ATP-Ce-Tris CPNs sensor needs no additional organic redox dye, such as ABTS (2,20-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid), TMB (3,3,5,5-tetramethylbenzidine), or fluorescein as signal molecules. Moreover, such ATP-Ce-Tris CPNs sensor exhibited a more sensitive response to H2O2 with a detection limit down to 0.6 nM, which is 2 orders of magnitude lower than those of cerium oxide sensors. This sensing platform was further extended to the detection of glucose in combination with the specific catalytic effect of glucose oxidase (GOx) for the oxidation of glucose and formation of H2O2.

Focused intravascular ultrasonic probe using dimpled transducer elements

High-frequency focused intravascular ultrasonic probes were fabricated in this study using dimple technique based on PMN-PT single crystal and lead-free KNN-KBT-Mn ceramic. The center frequency, bandwidth, and insertion loss of the PMN-PT transducer were 34 MHz, 75%, and 22.9 dB, respectively. For the lead-free probe, the center frequency, bandwidth, and insertion loss were found to be 40 MHz, 72%, and 28.8 dB, respectively. The ultrasonic images of wire phantom and vessels with good resolution were obtained to evaluate the transducer performance. The -6 dB axial and lateral resolutions of the PMN-PT probe were determined to be 58 μm and 131 μm, respectively. For the lead-free probe, the axial and lateral resolutions were found to be 44 μm and 125 μm, respectively. These results suggest that the mechanical dimpling technique has good potential in preparing focused transducers for intravascular ultrasound applications.