Regulating oxygen vacancies in Co3O4 by combining solution reduction and Ni2+ impregnation for oxygen evolution reaction

Oxygen vacancies are considered to be an important factor to influence the electronic structure and charge transport of electrocatalysts in the field of energy chemistry. Various strategies focused on oxygen vacancy engineering are proved to be efficient for further improving the electrocatalytic performance of Co3O4. Herein, an optimal Co3O4 with rich oxygen vacancies have been synthesized via a two-step process combining solution reduction and Ni2+ impregnation. The as-prepared electrocatalyst exhibits an enhanced oxygen evolution performance with the overpotential of 330 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm−2 in alkaline condition, which is 84 mV lower than that of pristine one. With the increasing of oxygen vacancies , the charge transfer efficency and surface active area are relatively enhanced reflected by the Tafel slope and double-layer capacitance measurement. These results indicate that combining solution reduction and heteroatom doping can be a valid way for efficient metal oxides-based electrocatalyst development by constructing higher concentration of oxygen vacancy.

Tiliroside: Anti-liver cancer effects and investigation of aldose ‎reductase inhibition properties with molecular modeling studies

IntroductionBiotechnology is the field to yield modern systems, tools, and materials by taking control at the atomic and molecular levels using the features that appear on those surfaces. Applications for biotechnology in medical diagnostics, food, medicine, environment, energy, chemistry, physics, etc, introduce this technology as an interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral context. Tiliroside (kaempferol 3-O-(600-O-p-coumaroyl)-b-D glucopyranoside) is a glycosidic flavonoid found in several medicinal and dietary sources, such as linden, rose hips and strawberries. In recent years, plant extracts have been identified as a new way to discover new anti-diabetic drugs. Due to the unwanted side effects associated with current drugs, an increasing number of patients are demanding to use natural products with anti-diabetic activity.Material and methodsThe biological activities of tiliroside against human aldose reductase were investigated using a molecular docking study. In the oncological part of the recent study, the treated cells with tiliroside were assessed by MTT ‎assay for 48h about the cytotoxicity and anti-liver cancer ‎ properties on normal (HUVEC) and ‎liver cancer ‎ cell lines, i.e. SNU-387, LMH/2A, McA-RH7777, and N1-S1 Fudr.‎ResultsThe results of these calculations revealed the high affinity of this compound to the enzyme. This binding affinity could be considered as a reason for the low IC50 of tiliroside against the aldose reductase.ConclusionsTiliroside can be utilized as an efficient drug in the treatment of cancer in humans.

Future directions of material chemistry and energy chemistry

Energy is an important substantial foundation for the survival and development of humans. However, the over-consumption of resources and environmental pollution have become more prominent. The key factors for solving energy problems are to increase energy utilization efficiency and optimize energy structure. The development of new materials is the research emphasis in the field of material chemistry all the time. For instance, developing new light-capture materials and catalysts to improve the efficiency of existing photovoltaic cells is one of the most effective approaches to increasing solar power capacity radically. The design of high-performance catalytic materials to make better use of energy from fossil fuels and biomass. In addition, it is an important research direction of material chemistry and energy chemistry to deeply understand the reaction mechanism of energy conversion.

Metal-based systems allowing the use of scrap to prepare aluminum alloys

The amount of scrapped structures and components made of aluminum alloys is constantly growing along with the increase in the demand for the use of aluminum alloys in various industrial sectors. Uzbekistan has been showing a trend of developing industrial production at a pace typically observed in highly developed countries. In Uzbekistan, the aluminum alloys are used for widespread applications in construction, engineering, energy, chemistry and chemical technology, etc. Due to lack of primary aluminium production facilities in the country, there is a need for the collection and deep processing of the scrapped parts that have fulfilled their useful life. This practice is well implemented and working well for the collection of parts from Al – Si based alloys, also called silumins. The composition, structure and properties of many secondary silumins, which have found application in mechanical engineering, have been developed and improved. For alloys of the Al – Si system, most of research activities focused on property improvement through microalloying as well as improvements in the casting technology and heat treatments. However, it is too early to talk about a systematic approach to improving the operational properties of silumins. This also fully applies to alloys of other systems based on aluminum, for example, Al – Mg alloys, also called magnalias. For Uzbekistan, this is very important, since, as analysis shows, the aluminum alloys of 6XXX family are predominantly used for the construction and building structures. After the development of the first secondary wrought alloy of aluminum with the main alloying element with magnesium, many works were published with the results on improving the composition, structure, properties, processing technologies of secondary magnesia. The published works are notable for the inconsistency of the authors’ positions on microalloying systems and the thermal treatment of secondary magnalias. Regarding silumins, all the results are experimental, there is no systematic approach to the development of new and improvement of the properties of existing alloys from scrapped parts. Based on the experimental results, the article proposes an attempt of a systematic approach to the choice of alloy composition, microalloying systems, optimization of the composition of aluminum alloys for industry.