Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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A ribbon-like ultramicroporous conjugated polycarbazole network for gas storage and separation
No full textA new ultramicroporous conjugated network, P-TCzTAT, enriched with propeller-like carbazole building blocks was designed and synthesized by FeCl3 oxidative coupling polymerization at room temperature. The adsorption isotherm of N-2 reveals that the polymer features a high Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) specific surface area of 1028 m(2) g(-1) and a predominantly narrow pore width of 0.54 nm. The ultramicroporous polymer has strong affinity for CO2, with high sorption abilities of 18.15% at 273 K and 1.1 bar and 10.69% at 273 K/1.1 bar and 298 K/1.1 bar, which can be ascribed to not only its optimal fraction of ultramicropores but also its high nitrogen content derived from the carbazole components. P-TCzTAT also exhibited potential application in gas storage and in CO2/CH4 and CO2/N-2 gas separation
Identification and expression analysis of four light harvesting-like (Lhc) genes associated with light and desiccation stress in Ulva linza
No full textThe marine alga Ulva linza inhabits the intertidal zone, where it is strongly influenced by different kinds of physical stress, such as high light and desiccation. To cope with these stress conditions, U. linza has evolved stress tolerance strategies to protect against high light-induced photodamage. In the present work, we identified four light harvesting complex (Lhc)-like genes (ElipL1, ElipL2, Cbrx and OHP), which encode proteins that are relatives of light-harvesting complex proteins in U. linza. The mRNA levels of the four genes increased and reached maximum within 3 h under high light, and then rapidly returned to a low level. By contrast, these four genes displayed their highest expression levels at 6 h under desiccation stress. Up-regulation of Cbrx was more significant than the other three genes under both conditions. When compared with the mRNA expression data, the protein levels were not consistent, showing a slight delay under both conditions. These results suggested putative photoprotection functions for ElipL1, ElipL2, Cbrx and OHP in U. linza under both high light and desiccation stresses. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Selective upgrading of ethanol with methanol in water for the production of improved biofuel-isobutanol
No full textSustainable production of liquid transportation fuels and chemicals remains essential both commercially and scientifically. Isobutanol has gained great attention as an improved "drop-in" biofuel and important commodity chemical with broad applications. Ethanol could be upgraded with methanol in water for the production of isobutanol through cross condensation. High isobutanol selectivity is obtained (>90%) due to precise control on the reactivity of methanol and ethanol feedstock over Ir catalysts immobilized on N functionalized carbon materials. Only under a narrow range of preparation conditions could the catalysts distinguish the reactivity of methanol and ethanol nicely. The experimental results evidenced that the properties of Ir, especially the particle size and oxidation state, were particularly important for the desired activity. Control experiments also indicated that the effect of Ir catalysts on the intermediate aldol C-C formation step, rather than the dehydrogenation step, was critical in determining the product selectivity. Furthermore, the Ir catalysts could tolerate some typical biogenic impurities, which enables catalytic upgrading of bio-ethanol broth after centrifugation and decolourization. All these results indicate the promising application of the developed Ir catalysts in producing biofuels as well as useful chemicals from ethanol upgrading
Pechini synthesis of high ionic conductivity Li1.3Al0.3Ti1.7 (PO4)(3) solid electrolytes: The effect of dispersant
No full textA NASICON-type structure lithium ion conducting solid electrolyte with the composition of Li1.3Al0.3-Ti-1.7(PO4)(3) (LATP) has been successfully synthesized via a modified pechini process with ethylene glycol or glucose as dispersant. The influences of dispersant, calcination temperature for the precursor powders, sintering temperature and holding period for the electrolyte pellets on electrical properties of the LATP electrolytes were investigated. The produced LATP sample using glucose as dispersant has a higher electrical conductivity than those samples with ethylene glycol as dispersant or no dispersant. The highest total conductivity of 6.0 x 10(-4) S/cm at 303 K and the lowest activation energy of 0.31 eV were obtained for the LATP electrolyte sample sintered in 900 degrees C for 3 h and prepared using the precursor powders calcined at 850 degrees C for 5 h in air. Additionally, this electrolyte sample has a negligible electronic conductivity. These results imply that the LATP electrolytes obtained in this work can be considered as candidates for solid state electrolytes applied in Lithium ion batteries. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Immunomodulatory Activity of Polysaccharide-Protein Complex from the Mushroom Sclerotia of Polyporus rhinocerus in Murine Macrophages
No full textA novel water-soluble polysaccharide-protein complex (PRW1) isolated from the sclerotia of an edible mushroom Polyporus rhinocerus which was purified by membrane ultrafiltration could significantly activate murine macrophages RAW264.7 in vitro. PRW1 had a molecular weight of less than SO kDa and was found to be a highly branched heteropolysaccharide-protein complex composed of 45.7 +/- 0.97% polysaccharide and 44.2 +/- 0.41% protein. Based on the results of total acid hydrolysis, methylation analysis, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, the carbohydrate moiety of PRW1 was found to be a beta-D-mannoglucan with its backbone containing -> 1)-D-Glcp-(4 ->, -> 1)-D-Glcp-(6 ->, and -> 1)-D-Manp-(2 -> residues (molar ratio of 5:4:6) and having terminal D-Glcp as side chain (degree of branching of 0.62). In vitro studies showed that PRW1 significantly induced NO production and enhanced the release of a variety of cytokines including G-CSF, GM-CSF, IL-6, IL12p40/70, MCP-1, MCP-5, MIP-1-alpha, MIP-2, RANTES, sTNFRI, and TNF-alpha. Mechanistically, PRW1 treatment triggered ERK phosphorylation to activate macrophages within 15 min and significantly increased the expression level of inducible NOS after 6 h. In summary, this study indicates that PRW1 derived from the sclerotia of P. rhinocerus is a potential immunomodulatory agent for cancer immunotherapy
Exploring the Synergy between Cellobiose Dehydrogenase from Phanerochaete chrysosporium and Cellulase from Trichoderma reesei
No full textRecent demands for the production of lignocellulose biofuels boosted research on cellulase. Hydrolysis efficiency and production cost of cellulase are two bottlenecks in "biomass to biofuels" process. The Trichoderma cellulase mixture is one of the most commonly used enzymes for cellulosic hydrolysis. During hydrolytic process cellobiose accumulation causes feedback inhibition against most cellobiohydrolases and endoglucanases. In this study, we demonstrated the synergism effects between cellobiose dehydrogenase (CDH) and cellulase both in vitro and in vivo. The CDH from Phanerochaete chrysosporium was heterologously expressed in Pichia pastoris. Supplementation of the purified CDH in Trichoderma cellulase increased the cellulase activities. Especially beta-glucosidase activity was increased by 30-100% varying at different time points. On the other hand, the cdh gene was heterologously expressed in Trichoderma reesei to explore the synergism between CDH and cellulases in vivo. The analyses of gene expression and enzymatic profiles of filter paper activity, carboxymethylcellulase (CMCase) and beta-glucosidase show the increased cellulase activity and the enhanced cellulase production in the cdh-expressing strains. The results elucidate a possible mechanism for diminishing the cellobiose inhibition of cellulase by CDH. These findings provide a novel perspective to make more economic enzyme cocktails for commercial application or explore alternative strategies for generating cellulase-producing strains with higher efficiency
A novel method for fabricating hybrid biobased nanocomposites film with stable fluorescence containing CdTe quantum dots and montmorillonite-chitosan nanosheets
No full textA method was presented for fabricating the fluorescent nanocomposites containing CdTe quantum dots (QDs) and montmorillonite (MMT)-chitosan (CS). MMT-CS/CdTe QDs nanocomposites were prepared via a simple, versatile and robust approach combination of covalent and electrostatic assembly methods (Scheme 1). The negatively charged MMT was initially modified with positively charged CS through electrostatic assembly, followed by incorporation of CdTe-QDs into the MMT-CS nanosheets by covalent connections between the amino groups of CS and the carboxylic acid groups of thioglycollic acid (TGA). The X-ray diffraction (XRD), High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the FTIR were used to prove the QDs have intercalated into the MMT-CS matrix. The fluorescence emission spectra showed that the MMT-CS/CdTe QDs nanocomposites had the best fluorescence intensity compared with the bare CdTe QDs and CS-QDs. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Bioaugmentation of Hydrogenispora ethanolica LX-B affects hydrogen production through altering indigenous bacterial community structure
No full textBioaugmentation can facilitate hydrogen production from complex organic substrates, but it still is unknown how indigenous microbial communities respond to the added bacteria. Here, using a Hydrogenispora ethanolica LX-B (named as LX-B) bioaugmentation experiments, the distribution of metabolites and the responses of indigenous bacterial communities were investigated via batch cultivation (BC) and repeated batch cultivation (RBC). In BC the LX-B/sludge ratio of 0.12 achieved substantial high hydrogen yield, which was over twice that of control. In RBC one-time bioaugmentation and repeated batch bioaugmentation of LX-B resulted in the hydrogen yield that was average 1.2-fold and 0.8-fold higher than that in control, respectively. This improved hydrogen production performance mainly benefited from a shift in composition of the indigenous bacterial community caused by LX-B bioaugmentation. The findings represented an important step in understanding the relationship between bioaugmentation, a shift in bacterial communities, and altered bioreactor performance. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Promotional effect of HZSM-5 on the catalytic oxidation of toluene over MnOx/HZSM-5 catalysts
No full textA series of HZSM-5 supported MnOx catalysts with different manganese contents were prepared by an incipient impregnation method and tested for the catalytic oxidation of toluene. The catalytic results indicate that 10% MnOx/HZSM-5 exhibits the optimum catalytic activity, excellent catalytic durability in dry conditions and high regeneration capability in humid conditions. The dispersion of MnOx species on the HZSM-5 surface significantly reduces coke formation and simultaneously efficiently accelerates the oxidative decomposition of coke deposition during toluene catalytic oxidation. An obvious cooperative action is present on the MnOx/HZSM-5 catalysts for the catalytic oxidation of toluene, which is originally attributed to the excellent toluene adsorption capacity and trapping ability of HZSM-5 as well as the superior redox ability of the MnOx species. The correlation between characterizations and the catalytic results reveals that the mesoporous structure and low-temperature reducibility of MnOx are key factors responsible for the catalytic performance of toluene oxidation. Moreover, the Bronsted acid sites of the HZSM-5 zeolite, as active promoters, play a significant role in the catalytic oxidation of toluene through a comparative analysis with SiO2 and Al2O3 supported MnOx catalysts. The existence of a cooperative action between the redox ability of the MnOx species and the acidic properties of the HZSM-5 zeolite in the MnOx/HZSM-5 catalysts results in a high catalytic activity for the reaction
(E)-1,2-Di(thiophen-2-yl)ethene based high mobility polymer for efficient photovoltaic devices without any post treatment
No full textIn order to investigate the effect of an (E)-1,2-di(thiophen-2-yl)ethene (TVT) unit on the hole mobility and photovoltaic properties of dithienyl-difluorobenzothiadiazole (DTBT) based polymers, two conjugated polymers PDT-DTBT-DT (thiophene backboned) and PTVT-DTBT-DT (TVT backboned) were synthesized. Compared to PDT-DTBT-DT, the backbone conformation of PTVT-DTBT-DT could be well modulated by the TVT unit, leading to an extended conjugation length and strengthened intermolecular interaction. Interestingly, it's found that the ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorption peaks of the PTVT-DTBT-DT film was blue-shifted compared to that of the solution. The organic field-effect transistor (OFETs) characterization showed that PTVT-DTBT-DT possessed a high hole mobility of 0.12 cm(2) V-1 s(-1), which was higher than that of the counterpart PDT-DTBT-DT (0.04 cm(2) V-1 s(-1)). Through simplified device optimization without any additives and annealing treatment, a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.86% was achieved for PTVT-DTBT-DT with a short-circuit current density (Jsc) of 16.33 mA cm(-2) and a fill factor (FF) of 68.92%, which is higher the PCE of 7.29% of PDT-DTBT-DT with a Jsc of 15.60 mA cm(-2) and a FF of 66.62%. The PCE of 7.86% is among the highest PCEs reported for devices fabricated without any additives and thermal annealing treatment. The results revealed that PTVT-DTBT-DT as an ideal conjugated polymer could provide a greater possibility for the commercial application of PSCs, especially in terms of low cost and manufacturing convenience