Hebei University of Technology

Comprehensive databases of microRNA–disease associations are continuously demanded in biomedical researches. The recently launched version 3.0 of Human MicroRNA Disease Database (HMDD v3.0) manually collects a significant number of miRNA–disease association entries from literature. Comparing to HMDD v2.0, this new version contains 2-fold more entries. Besides, the associations have been more accurately classified based on literature-derived evidence code, which results in six generalized categories (genetics, epigenetics, target, circulation, tissue and other) covering 20 types of detailed evidence code. Furthermore, we added new functionalities like network visualization on the web interface. To exemplify the utility of the database, we compared the disease spectrum width of miRNAs (DSW) and the miRNA spectrum width of human diseases (MSW) between version 3.0 and 2.0 of HMDD. HMDD is freely accessible at http://www.cuilab.cn/hmdd. With accumulating evidence of miRNA–disease associations, HMDD database will keep on growing in the future.

In the search of alternative resources to make commodity chemicals and transportation fuels for a low carbon future, lignocellulosic biomass with over 180-billion-ton annual production rate has been identified as a promising feedstock. This review focuses on the state-of-the-art catalytic transformation of lignocellulosic biomass into value-added chemicals and fuels. Following a brief introduction on the structure, major resources and pretreatment methods of lignocellulosic biomass, the catalytic conversion of three main components, i.e., cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, into various compounds are comprehensively discussed. Either in separate steps or in one-pot, cellulose and hemicellulose are hydrolyzed into sugars and upgraded into oxygen-containing chemicals such as 5-HMF, furfural, polyols, and organic acids, or even nitrogen-containing chemicals such as amino acids. On the other hand, lignin is first depolymerized into phenols, catechols, guaiacols, aldehydes and ketones, and then further transformed into hydrocarbon fuels, bioplastic precursors and bioactive compounds. The review then introduces the transformations of whole biomass via catalytic gasification, catalytic pyrolysis, as well as emerging strategies. Finally, opportunities, challenges and prospective of woody biomass valorization are highlighted.

Water splitting for the production of hydrogen and oxygen is an appealing solution to advance many sustainable and renewable energy conversion and storage systems, while the key fact depends on the innovative exploration regarding the design of efficient electrocatalysts. Reported herein is the growth of CoP mesoporous nanorod arrays on conductive Ni foam through an electrodeposition strategy. The resulting material of well‐defined mesoporosity and a high specific surface area (148 m 2 g −1 ) can be directly employed as a bifunctional and flexible working electrode for both hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions, showing superior activities as compared with noble metal benchmarks and state‐of‐the‐art transition‐metal‐based catalysts. This is intimately related to the unique nanorod array electrode configuration, leading to excellent electric interconnection and improved mass transport. A further step is taken toward an alkaline electrolyzer that can achieve a current density of 10 mA cm −2 at a voltage around 1.62 V over a long‐term operation, better than the combination of Pt and IrO 2 . This development is suggested to be readily extended to obtain other electrocatalysis systems for scale‐up water‐splitting technology.

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has been deemed a promising heterogeneous metal-free catalyst for a wide range of applications, such as solar energy utilization toward water splitting, and its photocatalytic performance is reasonably adjustable through tailoring its texture and its electronic and optical properties. Here phosphorus-doped graphitic carbon nitride nanostructured flowers of in-plane mesopores are synthesized by a co-condensation method in the absence of any templates. The interesting structures, together with the phosphorus doping, can promote light trapping, mass transfer, and charge separation, enabling it to perform as a more impressive catalyst than its pristine carbon nitride counterpart for catalytic hydrogen evolution under visible light irradiation. The catalyst has low cost, is environmentally friendly, and represents a potential candidate in photoelectrochemistry.

Abstract Nanodiamonds exhibit great potential as green catalysts for remediation of organic contaminants. However, the specific active site and corresponding oxidative mechanism are unclear, which retard further developments of high‐performance catalysts. Here, an annealing strategy is developed to accurately regulate the content of ketonic carbonyl groups on nanodiamonds; meanwhile other structural characteristics of nanodiamonds remain almost unchanged. The well‐defined nanodiamonds with well‐controlled ketonic carbonyl groups exhibit excellent catalytic activity in activation of peroxymonosulfate for oxidation of organic pollutants. Based on the semi‐quantitative and quantitative correlations of ketonic carbonyl groups and the reaction rate constants, it is conclusively determined that ketonic carbonyl groups are the catalytically active sites. Different from conventional oxidative systems, reactive oxygen species in nanodiamonds@peroxymonosulfate system are revealed to be singlet oxygen with high selectivity, which can effectively oxidize and mineralize the target contaminants. Impressively, the singlet‐oxygen‐mediated oxidation system significantly outperforms the classical radicals‐based oxidation system in remediation of actual wastewater. This work not only provides a valuable insight for the design of new nanocarbon catalysts with abundant active sites but also establishes a very promising catalytic oxidation system for the green remediation of actual contaminated water.

The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a half-cell reaction in water electrolysis for producing hydrogen gas. In industrial water electrolysis, the HER is often conducted in alkaline media to achieve higher stability of the electrode materials. However, the kinetics of the HER in alkaline medium is slow relative to that in acid because of the low concentration of protons in the former. Under the latter conditions, the entire HER process will require additional effort to obtain protons by water dissociation near or on the catalyst surface. Heterostructured catalysts, with fascinating synergistic effects derived from their heterogeneous interfaces, can provide multiple functional sites for the overall reaction process. At present, the activity of the most active known heterostructured catalysts surpasses (platinum-based heterostructures) or approaches (noble-metal-free heterostructures) that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst under alkaline conditions, demonstrating an infusive potential to break through the bottlenecks. This review summarizes the most representative and recent heterostructured HER catalysts for alkaline medium. The basics and principles of the HER under alkaline conditions are first introduced, followed by a discussion of the latest advances in heterostructured catalysts with/without noble-metal-based heterostructures. Special focus is placed on approaches for enhancing the reaction rate by accelerating the Volmer step. This review aims to provide an overview of the current developments in alkaline HER catalysts, as well as the design principles for the future development of heterostructured nano- or micro-sized electrocatalysts.

Abstract Single‐atom CoN 4 active sites have demonstrated excellent efficiency in peroxymonosulfate activation. However, the identification of CoN 4 active sites and the detailed singlet oxygen generation mechanism in peroxymonosulfate activation remains ambiguous. We demonstrate a strategy to regulate the generation of reactive oxygen species by atomically dispersed cobalt anchored on nitrogen‐doped carbon. As indicated by experiment and DFT calculations, CoN 2+2 was the active site and singlet oxygen was the predominant reactive oxygen species with a proportion of 98.89 %. Spontaneous dissociation of adsorbed peroxymonosulfate on the CoN 2+2 active sites was energetically unfavorable because of the weakly positive Co atoms and CoN 2+2 coordination, which directed PMS oxidation by a non‐radical pathway and with simultaneous singlet oxygen generation. The generated singlet oxygen degraded several organic pollutants with high efficiency across a broad pH range.

Nanocarbon-based persulfate oxidation emerges as a promising technology for the elimination of organic micropollutants (OMPs). However, the nature of the active site and its working mechanism remain elusive, impeding developments of high-performance oxidative technology for water treatment practice. Here, we report that defect-rich carbon nanotubes (CNTs) exhibit a superior activity in the activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for OMP oxidation. Quantitative structure-activity relationship studies combined with theoretical calculations unveil that the double-vacancy defect on CNTs may be the intrinsic active site, which works as a conductive bridge to facilitate the potential difference-dominated electron transfer from the highest occupied molecular orbital of OMPs to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of PMS. Based on this unique mechanism, the established CNTs@PMS oxidative system achieves outstanding selectivity and realizes the target-oriented elimination of specific OMPs in a complicated aquatic environment. This work sheds new light on the mechanism of carbocatalysis for selective oxidation and develops an innovative technology toward remediation of practical wastewater.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) represent a big category of noncoding RNA molecules, and increasing studies have shown that they play important roles in various critical biological processes. They show a diversity of functions through diverse mechanisms, among which regulating RNA molecules is one of the most popular ones. Given the big number of lncRNAs, it becomes urgent and important to predict the RNA targets of lncRNAs in a large scale for the comprehensive understanding of lncRNA functions and action mechanisms. Although several methods have been developed to predict RNA-RNA interactions, none of them can be used to predict the RNA targets of lncRNAs in a large scale. Here we presented a tool, LncTar, which shows the ability to efficiently predict the RNA targets of lncRNAs in a large scale. To test the accuracy of LncTar, we applied it to 10 experimentally supported lncRNA-mRNA interactions. As a result, LncTar successfully predicted 8 (80%) of the 10 lncRNA-mRNA pairs, suggesting that LncTar has a reliable accuracy. Finally, we believe that LncTar could be an efficient tool for the fast identification of the RNA targets of lncRNAs. LncTar is freely available at http://www.cuilab.cn/lnctar.

Nanocomposites, multiphase solid materials with at least one nanoscaled component, have been attracting ever-increasing attention because of their unique properties. Graphene is an ideal filler for high-performance multifunctional nanocomposites in light of its superior mechanical, electrical, thermal, and optical properties. However, the 2D nature of graphene usually gives rise to highly anisotropic features, which brings new opportunities to tailor nanocomposites by making full use of its excellent in-plane properties. Here, recent progress on graphene/polymer nanocomposites is summarized with emphasis on strengthening/toughening, electrical conduction, thermal transportation, and photothermal energy conversion. The influence of the graphene configuration, including layer number, defects, and lateral size, on its intrinsic properties and the properties of graphene/polymer nanocomposites is systematically analyzed. Meanwhile, the role of the interfacial interaction between graphene and polymer in affecting the properties of nanocomposites is also explored. The correlation between the graphene distribution in the matrix and the properties of the nanocomposite is discussed in detail. The key challenges and possible solutions are also addressed. This review may provide a constructive guidance for preparing high-performance graphene/polymer nanocomposite in the future.

The influence of defects on the photoactivity of ZnO has been revealed. The defects can be formed via ball-milling treatment, and part of the defects can be repaired via annealing treatment. The photocatalytic activity of the ZnO sharply decreased as the ball-milling speed and milling time increased. After the annealing treatment, the photocatalytic activity recovered partly but could not return to the activity of the pristine ZnO. The bulk defects such as oxygen vacancies (VO), zinc vacancies (VZn) and a lot of nonradiative defects were formed after the milling treatment. The annealing treatment can only repair part of the bulk defects and nonradiative defects. Thus, only part of the photoactivity was recovered. The species trapping experiments showed that the introduction of the bulk defects did not change the photocatalytic mechanism. The main oxidative species for the pristine ZnO, the milled ZnO, and the annealed ZnO are photogenerated holes and hydroxyl radicals.

TiO(2) nanotube arrays formed on Ti substrate by electrochemical anodization have been converted into TiO(2)-SrTiO(3) heterostructures by controlled substitution of Sr under hydrothermal conditions. The growth of SrTiO(3) crystallites on the nanotube array electrode was probed by electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. As the degree of Sr substitution increases with the duration of hydrothermal treatment, an increase in the size of SrTiO(3) crystallites was observed. Consequently, with increasing SrTiO(3) fraction in the TiO(2)-SrTiO(3) nanotube arrays, we observed a shift in the flat band potential to more negative potentials, thus confirming the influence of SrTiO(3) in the modification of the photoelectrochemical properties. The TiO(2)-SrTiO(3) composite heterostructures obtained with 1 h or less hydrothermal treatment exhibit the best photoelectrochemical performance with nearly 100% increase in external quantum efficiency at 360 nm. The results presented here provide a convenient way to tailor the photoelectrochemical properties of TiO(2)-SrTiO(3) nanotube array electrodes and employ them for dye- or quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells and/or photocatalytic hydrogen production.

With electric vehicles (EVs) being widely accepted as a clean technology to solve carbon emissions in modern transportation, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have emerged as the dominant energy storage medium in EVs due to their superior properties, like high energy density, long lifespan, and low self-discharge. Performing real-time condition monitoring of LIBs, especially accurately estimating the state of charge (SOC) and state of health (SOH), is crucial to keep the LIBs work under safe state and maximize their performance. However, due to the non-linear dynamics caused by the electrochemical characteristics in LIBs, the accurate estimations of SOC and SOH are still challenging and many technologies have been developed to solve this challenge. This paper reviews and discusses the state-of-the-art online SOC and SOH evaluation technologies published within the recent five years in view of their advantages and limitations. As SOC and SOH are strongly correlated, the joint estimation methods are specifically reviewed and discussed. Based on the investigation, this study eventually summarizes the key issues and suggests future work in the real-time battery management technology. It is believed that this review will provide valuable support for future academic research and commercial applications.

With the continuous increase in fossil fuels consumption and the rapid growth of atmospheric CO2 concentration, the harmonious state between human and nature faces severe challenges. Exploring green and sustainable energy resources and devising efficient methods for CO2 capture, sequestration and utilization are urgently required. Converting CO2 into fuels/chemicals/materials as an indispensable element for CO2 capture, sequestration and utilization may offer a win-win strategy to both decrease the CO2 concentration and achieve the efficient exploitation of carbon resources. Among the current major methods (including chemical, photochemical, electrochemical and enzymatic methods), the enzymatic method, which is inspired by the CO2 metabolic process in cells, offers a green and potent alternative for efficient CO2 conversion due to its superior stereo-specificity and region/chemo-selectivity. Thus, in this tutorial review, we firstly provide a brief background about enzymatic conversion for CO2 capture, sequestration and utilization. Next, we depict six major routes of the CO2 metabolic process in cells, which are taken as the inspiration source for the construction of enzymatic systems in vitro. Next, we focus on the state-of-the-art routes for the catalytic conversion of CO2 by a single enzyme system and by a multienzyme system. Some emerging approaches and materials utilized for constructing single-enzyme/multienzyme systems to enhance the catalytic activity/stability will be highlighted. Finally, a summary about the current advances and the future perspectives of the enzymatic conversion of CO2 will be presented.

Abstract The oxygen evolution reaction is known to be a kinetic bottleneck for water splitting. Triggering the lattice oxygen oxidation mechanism (LOM) can break the theoretical limit of the conventional adsorbate evolution mechanism and enhance the oxygen evolution reaction kinetics, yet the unsatisfied stability remains a grand challenge. Here, we report a high-entropy MnFeCoNiCu layered double hydroxide decorated with Au single atoms and O vacancies (Au SA -MnFeCoNiCu LDH), which not only displays a low overpotential of 213 mV at 10 mA cm −2 and high mass activity of 732.925 A g −1 at 250 mV overpotential in 1.0 M KOH, but also delivers good stability with 700 h of continuous operation at ~100 mA cm −2 . Combining the advanced spectroscopic techniques and density functional theory calculations, it is demonstrated that the synergistic interaction between the incorporated Au single atoms and O vacancies leads to an upshift in the O 2 p band and weakens the metal-O bond, thus triggering the LOM, reducing the energy barrier, and boosting the intrinsic activity.

3D Mxene based gas sensors demonstrated a highly sensitive detection for VOCs in an ultra-wide sensing range at room temperature.

Biodegradable thermoplastic starch (TPS)/clay hybrids were prepared by melt intercalation. Three organically modified montmorillonite (MMT) with different ammonium cations and one unmodified Na+ MMT (Cloisite Na+) were used. Cloisite Na+ showed the best dispersion in the TPS matrix. It was observed that the TPS/Cloisite Na+ hybrid showed an intercalation of TPS in the silicate layer due to the matching of the surface polarity and interactions of the Cloisite Na+ and the TPS, which gives higher tensile strength and better barrier properties to water vapor as compared to the other TPS/organoclay hybrids as well as the pristine TPS. It was found that the dynamic mechanical properties of the TPS/clay hybrids were also affected by the polar interactions.

A facile synthesis is reported of two-dimensional (2D) bimetallic (Fe/Co=1:2) metal-organic frameworks (MOF, ca. 2.2 nm thick) via simple stirring of the reaction mixture of Fe/Co salts and 1,4-benzene dicarboxylic acid (1,4-BDC) in the presence of triethylamine and water at room temperature. The mechanism of the 2D, rather than bulk, MOF was revealed by studying the role of each component in the reaction mixture. It was found that these 2D MOF-Fe/Co(1:2) exhibited excellent electrocatalytic activity for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) under basic conditions. The electrocatalytic mechanism was disclosed via both experimental results and density functional theory (DFT) calculation. The 2D morphology and co-doping of Fe/Co contributed to the superior OER performance of the 2D MOF-Fe/Co(1:2). The simple and efficient synthetic method is suitable for the mass production and future commercialization of functional 2D MOF with low cost and high yield.

The peroxymonosulfate (PMS)-triggered radical and nonradical active species can synergistically guarantee selectively removing micropollutants in complex wastewater; however, realizing this on heterogeneous metal-based catalysts with single active sites remains challenging due to insufficient electron cycle. Herein, we design asymmetric Co–O–Bi triple-atom sites in Co-doped Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 to facilitate PMS oxidation and reduction simultaneously by enhancing the electron transfer between the active sites. We propose that the asymmetric Co–O–Bi sites result in an electron density increase in the Bi sites and decrease in the Co sites, thereby PMS undergoes a reduction reaction to generate SO 4 •- and •OH at the Bi site and an oxidation reaction to generate 1 O 2 at the Co site. We suggest that the synergistic effect of SO 4 •- , •OH, and 1 O 2 enables efficient removal and mineralization of micropollutants without interference from organic and inorganic compounds under the environmental background. As a result, the Co-doped Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 achieves almost 99.3% sulfamethoxazole degradation in 3 min with a k-value as high as 82.95 min −1 M −1 , which is superior to the existing catalysts reported so far. This work provides a structural regulation of the active sites approach to control the catalytic function, which will guide the rational design of Fenton-like catalysts.

We study the electronic structures and magnetic properties of ${\mathrm{Mn}}_{2}\mathrm{Co}Z$ $(Z=\mathrm{Al},\mathrm{Ga},\mathrm{In},\mathrm{Si},\mathrm{Ge},\mathrm{Sn},\mathrm{Sb})$ compounds with ${\mathrm{Hg}}_{2}\mathrm{Cu}\mathrm{Ti}$-type structure using first-principles full-potential linearized-augmented plane-wave calculations. It is found that the compounds with $Z=\mathrm{Al}$, Si, Ge, Sn, and Sb are half-metallic ferrimagnet. Experimentally, we successfully synthesized the ${\mathrm{Mn}}_{2}\mathrm{Co}Z$ $(Z=\mathrm{Al},\mathrm{Ga},\mathrm{In},\mathrm{Ge},\mathrm{Sn},\mathrm{Sb})$ compounds. Using the x-ray diffraction method and Rietveld refinement, we confirm that these compounds form ${\mathrm{Hg}}_{2}\mathrm{Cu}\mathrm{Ti}$-type structure instead of the conventional $L{2}_{1}$ structure. Based on the analysis on the electronic structures, we find that there are two mechanisms to induce the minority-spin band gap near the Fermi level, but only the $d\text{\ensuremath{-}}d$ band gap determines the final width of the band gap. The magnetic interaction is quite complex in these alloys. It is the hybridization between the $\mathrm{Mn}(C)$ and Co atom that dominates the magnitude of magnetic moment of the Co atom and the sign of the $\mathrm{Mn}(B)\text{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{Co}$ exchange interaction. The ${\mathrm{Mn}}_{2}\mathrm{Co}Z$ alloys follow the Slater-Pauling rule ${M}_{H}={N}_{V}\ensuremath{-}24$ with varying $Z$ atom. It was further elucidated that the molecular magnetic moment ${M}_{H}$ increases with increasing valence concentration only by decreasing the antiparallel magnetic moment of $\mathrm{Mn}(C)$, while the magnetic moments of $\mathrm{Mn}(B)$ and Co are unaffected.