In response to the current ecological crisis and oil depletion crisis, the use of macroalgae to produce biodegradable bioplastics that can replace petrochemical materials has attracted widespread attention. Herein, a multiscale interfacial engineering strategy for "in situ regeneration" of lignin is proposed to prepare a Bioplastic using Enteromorpha prolifera biomass components featuring hydrogen-bonding-mediated self-assembly of micro/nano lignin and cellulose micro-/nanofibers into a multistage composite dense layer structure. The prepared bioplastics exhibit good mechanical strength (12.80 MPa), superior to most films prepared from algae and even comparable to some common petrochemical plastics. They have a high water contact angle (94.04°) and do not deform or disintegrate when immersed in water for 60 d, demonstrating excellent hydrophobicity and water stability. Bioplastics can block the entire spectrum of UVB (275–320 nm) and UVC (200–275 nm), as well as most of the UVA spectrum (320–400 nm), providing good UV resistance. Importantly, they are biodegradable, compostable, and recyclable, exhibiting unique closed-loop cycle properties. Finally, the environmental impacts were assessed in terms of global warming potential, ecotoxicity, ozone depletion, and other perspectives through life-cycle assessment, emphasizing the environmental benefits of using macroalgae for bioplastic production. This environmentally friendly Bioplastic can be regarded as a substitute for petrochemical plastics and holds great promise in areas such as packaging materials.
Nanoporous gold freestanding films (NPG FSFs) have been fabricated via overgrowth of gold onto self-assembled monolayers of gold nanocrystals at planar fluid–fluid interfaces. The resulting NPG FSFs are ligand-free on their surfaces and their sizes can be as large as several cm2. The NPG FSFs are fairly mechanically robust; their effective Young's moduli are of the order of about 10 GPa. The NPG FSFs exhibit efficient electrocatalytic activity for methanol oxidation with an excellent electrochemical endurance, which is attributed to the presence of high-index facets on the curved surfaces of gold ligaments in the NPG FSFs. It is found that the catalytic performance of as-prepared NPG FSFs is related to the curved-to-flat surface area ratios of gold ligaments in NPG FSFs. The highly curved surface areas in the NPG FSFs can be increased via optimizing the concentration of HAuCl4 and the citrate to HAuCl4 molar ratio in the electroless plating solution.
Monodisperse, quasi-spherical silver nanocrystals (Ag NCs) have been produced directly in water via adding the aqueous solution of a mixture of AgNO3, sodium citrate, and KI into the boiling aqueous solutions of ascorbic acid (AA). The AA is used to significantly accelerate reduction of AgNO3 in order to promote a very fast nucleation, and the KI is used to tailor the growth of the Ag NCs into a quasi-spherical shape via its preferential adsorption on the NC {111} facets. The major role of citrate is to stabilize the newly formed NCs, whereas it has a minor contribution to reduction of AgNO3. The synergy of the effects of AA, citrate, and KI can significantly narrow the size distributions of the Ag NCs obtained so and transform the NC shapes to be truly quasi-spherical.
PRRSV is an infectious illness causing lung injury and abortion in sows. Cells apoptosis in the interface between the endometrium and fetal placenta is a crucial factor causing abortion. Previous study confirmed PRRSV could cause apoptosis of macrophages but rarely produced an obvious change in porcine endometrial epithelial cells (PECs). Recently, PRRSV-induced abortion was attributed to fetal placental and endometrium epithelial cells (Sn+ and CD163+) apoptosis. However, the mechanism of abortion is still unrevealed because of the limit of porcine endometrium epithelial cells (PEC). The aim of this study was to establish a stable immortalized PECs lines and use it to reveal the abortion mechanism. In this study, highly purified primary PECs were harvested through differential digestion, and their characteristics were confirmed by CK18, ERɑ and PR staining. Cells were then immortalized by transfecting a lentiviral vector that expressed SV40 large T antigen. PECs lines were obtained after puromycin screening. Proliferation of cell line was evaluated by cell growth curve and cell cycle assays. Cell lines exhibited faster proliferation capacity than primary cells. Biological characteristics of cell line were assessed by Western blot, karyotype analysis and staining, which confirmed that the cell line retained the endometrium characteristics. Finally, PRRSV sensitivity was assessed; expression of Sn and CD163 indicated that primary PECs and cell lines were all potentially sensitive to PRRSV. PRRSV infection tests showed an obvious increase in apoptotic rate in the infected PEC cell line, which suggested its susceptibility. The newly constructed cell line is a useful tool for studying the mechanism of abortion caused by PRRSV.
We present a rapid, simple, and efficient strategy for high yield synthesis of monodisperse, quasi-spherical Au nanocrystals (Au NCs) via a one-step seeded method at room temperature. Au NCs ranging from 17 nm to 325 nm can be synthesized by adjusting the amount of the Au seeds at a fixed amount of HAuCl4. It is found that the stabilizing agent, Tris-base (TB), not only suppressed the secondary nucleation during the reaction, but also influenced the morphology of Au NCs, showing a significant effect on the synthesis of Au NCs. Furthermore, high quality Au NCs can also be yielded on a large scale by expanding the amount of the precursors with the same proportion as the previous reaction solution. Moreover, Au NCs show size-dependent surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) properties.
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