The two-electron cytoplasmic reductase NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 is expressed in many tissues. NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 is well-known for being highly expressed in most cancers. Therefore, it could be a target for cancer therapy. Because it is a quinone reductase, many bioimaging probes based on quinone structures target NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 to diagnose tumours. Its expression is higher in tumours than in normal tissues, and using target drugs such as β-lapachone to reduce side effects in normal tissues can help. However, the physicochemical properties of β-lapachone limit its application. The problem can be solved by using nanosystems to deliver β-lapachone. This mini-review summarizes quinone-based fluorescent, near-infrared and two-photon fluorescent probes, as well as nanosystems for delivering the NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1-activating drug β-lapachone. This review provides valuable information for the future development of probes and nano-delivery systems that target NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1.

Porous carbon-encapsulated Ni and Ni–Sn intermetallic compound catalysts were prepared by the one-pot extended Stöber method followed by carbonization and tested for in-situ hydrothermal deoxygenation of methyl palmitate with methanol as the hydrogen donor. During the catalyst preparation, Sn doping reduces the size of carbon spheres, and the formation of Ni–Sn intermetallic compounds restrain the graphitization, contributing to larger pore volume and pore diameter. Consequently, a more facile mass transfer occurs in carbon-encapsulated Ni–Sn intermetallic compound catalysts than in carbon-encapsulated Ni catalysts. During the in-situ hydrothermal deoxygenation, the synergism between Ni and Sn favors palmitic acid hydrogenation to a highly reactive hexadecanal that easily either decarbonylate to n-pentadecane or is hydrogenated to hexadecanol. At high reaction temperature, hexadecanol undergoes dehydrogenation–decarbonylation, generating n-pentadecane. Also, the C–C bond hydrolysis and methanation are suppressed on Ni–Sn intermetallic compounds, favorable for increasing the carbon yield and reducing the H₂ consumption. The n-pentadecane and n-hexadecane yields reached 88.1% and 92.8% on carbon-encapsulated Ni₃Sn₂ intermetallic compound at 330 °C. After washing and H₂ reduction, the carbon-encapsulated Ni₃Sn₂ intermetallic compound remains stable during three recycling cycles. This is ascribed to the carbon confinement that effectively suppresses the sintering and loss of metal particles under harsh hydrothermal conditions.

To ensure the production of food crops, a series of cryptolepine derivatives were synthesised, after which their antibacterial activities and mechanism of action against three plant pathogens were investigated. Our bioassay results indicated that most of the target compounds displayed potent inhibitory effects against Xanthomonas oryzae (X. oryzae) and Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri (X. axonopodis pv. c.). Remarkably, compound 9 exhibited the best in vitro antibacterial activity against X. oryzae, with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of 0.78 μg·mL^–1. Compound 2 exhibited the best in vitro antibacterial activity against X. axonopodis pv. c., with an MIC value of 0.39 μg·mL^–1. These activities were superior to those of copper quinolate (MIC = 6.25, 25 μg·mL^–1) and thiodiazole copper (MIC = 100, 200 μg·mL^–1) against X. oryzae and X. axonopodis pv. c. In vivo experiments demonstrated the promising applicability of compound 9 for the control of rice bacterial infections. Furthermore, compound 9 was selected as a candidate to conduct preliminary analyses of the antibacterial mechanisms of cryptolepine derivatives. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy observations, extracellular polysaccharide production, biofilm formation, transcriptomic, quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analyses, and molecular docking assays were performed. Collectively, our findings demonstrated that compound 9 might act via multifarious mechanisms to down-regulate virulence factors and cause cell death.

In this study, two novel environmental benign double antibiotic norfloxacin or ciprofloxacin scaffolds included branched molecules were prepared by multi-step routes and purified by simple performance, which were used as the target compounds (TCs). Meanwhile, a single norfloxacin or ciprofloxacin skeleton based molecules were synthesized as the reference compounds (RCs). The molecular geometry optimization and material simulation computation revealed that TCs presented smaller HOMO-LUMO energy gaps and larger binding energy levels on mild steel surface than RCs. The chemical adsorption of TCs on steel surface was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, which could be processed by TCs chelation with iron ions. It was shown that TCs could be self-adsorbed on steel surface, which was demonstrated by atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The anticorrosion of the studied compounds for mild steel in HCl solution was investigated by electrochemistry analysis. The results suggested that the anticorrosion efficiency could reach 95.86% (TC1) and 97.05% (TC2) at 0.050 mmol·L⁻¹ based on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, which were much better than RCs (RC1, 69.23%; RC2, 74.16%). The adsorption isotherms of TCs on steel were further fitted, and a deep insight on adsorption was discussed.

Methanol to aromatics produces multiple products, resulting in a limited selectivity of xylene. Aromatics upgrading is an effective way to produce more valuable xylene product, and different feed ratios generate discrepant product distributions. This work integrates the aromatics separation with toluene disproportionation, transalkylation of toluene and trimethylbenzene, and isomerization of xylene and trimethylbenzene. Exergy and exergoeconomic analyses are conducted to give insights in the splitting ratios of benzene, toluene and heavy aromatics for aromatics upgrading. First, a detailed simulation model is developed in Aspen HYSYS. Then, 300 splitting ratio sets of benzene and toluene for conversion are studied to investigate the process performances. The results indicate that there are different preferences for the splitting ratios of benzene and toluene in terms of exergy and exergoeconomic performances. The process generates lower total exergy destruction when the splitting ratio of toluene varies between 0.07 and 0.18, and that of benzene fluctuates between 0.55 and 0.6. Nevertheless, the process presents lower total product unit cost with the splitting ratio of toluene less than 0.18 and that of benzene fluctuating between 0.44 and 0.89. Besides, it is found that distillation is the biggest contributor to the total exergy destruction, accounting for 94.97%.

The shuttle effect of soluble polysulfides is a serious problem impeding the development of lithium−sulfur batteries. Herein, continuous amino-functionalized University of Oslo 66 membranes supported on carbon nanotube films are proposed as ion-permselective interlayers that overcome these issues and show outstanding suppression of the polysulfide shuttle effect. The proposed membrane material has appropriately sized pores, and can act as ionic sieves and serve as barriers to polysulfides transport while allowing the passage of lithium ions during electrochemical cycles, thereby validly preventing the shuttling of polysulfides. Moreover, a fast catalytic conversion of polysulfides is also achieved with the as-developed interlayer. Therefore, lithium−sulfur batteries with this interlayer show a desirable initial capacity of 999.21 mAh·g^–1 at 1 C and a durable cyclic stability with a decay rate of only 0.04% per cycle over 300 cycles. Moreover, a high area capacity of 4.82 mAh·cm^–2 is also obtained even under increased sulfur loading (5.12 mg·cm^–2) and a lean-electrolyte condition (E/S = 4.8 μL·mg^–1).

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) is an important organic electrode for solution-processed low-cost electronic devices. However, it requires doping and post-solvent treatment to improve its conductivity, and the chemicals used for such treatments may affect the device fabrication process. In this study, we developed a novel route for exploiting ultrafast lasers (femtosecond and picosecond laser) to simultaneously enhance the conductivity and transparency of PEDOT:PSS films and fabricate patterned solution-processed electrodes for electronic devices. The conductivity of the PEDOT:PSS film was improved by three orders of magnitude (from 3.1 to 1024 S·cm^–1), and high transparency of up to 88.5% (average visible transmittance, AVT) was achieved. Raman and depth-profiling X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that the oxidation level of PEDOT was enhanced, thereby increasing the carrier concentration. The surface PSS content also decreased, which is beneficial to the carrier mobility, resulting in significantly enhanced electrical conductivity. Further, we fabricated semitransparent perovskite solar cells using the as-made PEDOT:PSS as the transparent top electrodes, and a power conversion efficiency of 7.39% was achieved with 22.63% AVT. Thus, the proposed route for synthesizing conductive and transparent electrodes is promising for vacuum and doping-free electronics.

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries are attracting considerable attention because of their high safety compared with conventional lithium-ion batteries. Manganese-based materials have been widely developed for zinc-ion batteries cathode owning to their low cost, high security and simple preparation. However, the severe volume expansion and poor stability during charging and discharging limit the further development of manganese-based cathodes. Herein, superior α-MnO₂@g-C₃N₄ was successfully prepared for stable zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) cathode by introducing g-C₃N₄ nanosheets. Compared with pure α-MnO₂, α-MnO₂@g-C₃N₄ has a specific capacity of 298 mAh·g^–1 at 0.1 A·g^–1. Even at 1 A·g^–1, the α-MnO₂@g-C₃N₄ still retains 100 mAh·g^–1 (83.4% retention after 5000 cycles), implying its excellent cycling stability. The α-MnO₂@g-C₃N₄-based cathode has the highest energy density (563 Wh·kg^–1) and power energy density (2170 W·kg^–1). This work provides new avenues for the development of a wider range of cathode materials for ZIBs.

Prussian blue and its analogs are extensively investigated as a cathode for ammonium-ion batteries. However, they often suffer from poor electronic conductivity. Here, we report a Ni₂Fe(CN)₆/multiwalled carbon nanotube composite electrode material, which is prepared using a simple coprecipitation approach. The obtained material consists of nanoparticles with sizes 30–50 nm and the multiwalled carbon nanotube embedded in it. The existence of multiwalled carbon nanotube ensures that the Ni₂Fe(CN)₆/multiwalled carbon nanotube composite shows excellent electrochemical performance, achieving a discharge capacity of 55.1 mAh·g^–1 at 1 C and 43.2 mAh·g^–1 even at 15 C. An increase in the ammonium-ion diffusion coefficient and ionic/electron conductivity based on kinetic investigations accounts for their high performance. Furthermore, detailed ex situ characterizations demonstrate that Ni₂Fe(CN)₆/multiwalled carbon nanotube composite offers three advantages: negligible lattice expansion during cycling, stable structure, and the reversible redox couple. Therefore, the Ni₂Fe(CN)₆/multiwalled carbon nanotube composite presents a long cycling life and high rate capacity. Finally, our study reports a desirable material for ammonium-ion batteries and provides a practical approach for improving the electrochemical performance of Prussian blue and its analogs.

Novel CaCO₃-enhanced Mn–Fe mixed metal oxides (CMFC) were successfully prepared for the first time by a simple-green hydrothermal strategy without any surfactant or template combined with calcination process. These oxides were then employed as an adsorbent for adsorptive removal of excess fluoride ions. The adsorbent was characterized by SEM, XPS, XRD, FTIR, and BET analysis techniques. The adsorption property of CMFC toward fluoride ion was analyzed by batch experiments. In fact, CMFC exhibited adsorption capacity of 227.3 mg∙g^‒1 toward fluoride ion. Results showed that ion exchange, electrostatic attraction and chemical adsorption were the main mechanism for the adhesion of large amount of fluoride ion on the CMFC surface, and the high adsorption capacity responded to the low pH of the adsorption system. When the fluoride ion concentration was increased from 20 to 200 mg∙L^‒1, Langmuir model was more in line with experimental results. The change of fluoride ion adsorption with respect to time was accurately described by pseudo-second-order kinetics. After five cycles of use, the adsorbent still maintains a performance of 70.6% of efficiency, compared to the fresh adsorbent. Therefore, this material may act as a potential candidate for adsorbent with broad range of application prospects.