Search Results (3,407)

The oxidative stability of animal fat is crucial for maintaining nutritional quality and food safety. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of four phenolic antioxidants (i.e., tert-butylhydroquinone, TBHQ; propyl gallate, PG; butylated hydroxytoluene, BHT; vitamin E, VE) on the stability of lard. The inhibitory effects of different antioxidant concentrations were comprehensively assessed using chemical index analyses, free radical scavenging assays, and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). The results showed that three synthetic antioxidants performed significantly better than VE, with TBHQ and PG exhibiting the best overall antioxidant performance. Specifically, TBHQ (0.2 g/kg) most effectively suppressed the increase in the peroxide value and was ranked first in the principal component analysis. PG significantly reduced the anisidine value (4.01) and demonstrated the best DPPH scavenging capacity (55.59 μmol TE/100 g). Notably, TBHQ presents certain toxicological concerns, whereas PG exhibits comparatively lower toxicity. Consequently, for practical industrial applications, PG should be prioritized as the antioxidant of choice for lard. Based on the EPR radical-scavenging results and known antioxidant chemistry, it was inferred that the antioxidants quenched superoxide anion radicals via hydrogen-atom and single-electron transfer mechanisms, thereby interrupting the oxidative chain reaction. This study provides a theoretical basis for the scientific selection of antioxidants in lard and offers guidance for ensuring food safety and nutritional quality. Full article

The agro-industrial valorization of unripe plantain peels through flour production represents a sustainable strategy for waste reduction and nutrient recovery. This study investigated the process intensification of plantain peel drying by evaluating the combined effects of UV-C-assisted hot-air drying with ultrasound and oxalic acid pretreatments. A 2³ full factorial design was employed to evaluate the effects of UV-C lamp distance, ultrasound time and oxalic acid concentration on drying kinetics, effective moisture diffusivity, and the retention of bioactive compounds. The combination of the most intense levels of the pretreatments with a 9 cm distance between the radiation source and the sample achieved a 40.68% reduction in drying time compared to the control (without pretreatments). Among the mathematical models tested, the Logarithmic model provided the most accurate fit (R² > 0.99), effectively describing the falling-rate period and mass transfer phenomena. Scanning electron microscopy revealed structural modifications, including microchannels and surface pores, consistent with enhanced moisture transport and increased effective moisture diffusivity. The accelerated drying kinetics also led to higher contents of bioactive compounds, including total phenolics, ascorbic acid, and carotenoids, while maintaining adequate water activity and color stability. These findings demonstrate the combined potential of UV-C radiation, ultrasound, and oxalic acid to intensify drying efficiency while improving the functional quality of unripe plantain peel flour. Full article

Nigeria’s digital economy has expanded rapidly, underpinned by growth in digital payments. This study investigates the influences of digital payment infrastructure growth on the liquidity reliability of cross-border banking systems within the West Africa region. Existing literature predominantly examines the effects of digital payment on liquidity in Nigerian banks; however, there is a paucity of knowledge regarding the influence of digital payment channels on liquidity resilience within multinational banks operating in varying regulatory environments in the West African region. This study takes advantage of monthly time-series data from 2011 to 2021 and employs an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) framework to assess the short-run and long-run dynamics of digital payment infrastructure and the liquidity behavior of Nigerian cross-border banks. The results indicate that digital channels have different effects. In the long run, modern digital payment channels, especially electronic fund transfers, make liquidity more stable. Traditional channels, on the other hand, have weaker or short-term effects. The findings have significant implications for policymakers and regional regulatory harmonization within West African economics. Full article

Pharmaceutical compounds, emerging medicinal residues, and personal care products (PPCPs) are ubiquitous in aquatic environments and are causing a serious global environmental problem because of their persistence, bioaccumulation, and harmful effects on the environment and human health. Conventional wastewater treatment technologies are sometimes not capable of removing them completely, causing persistent releases of biologically active micropollutants to surface water, groundwater, and drinking water systems. In this context, biomass-derived catalysts are a promising class of advanced materials for environmental remediation because of their sustainable and cost-efficient nature. The catalysts are composed of bio-residues, such as agricultural residues, forestry wastes, and other bioresources, that have tunable surface chemistry, high porosity, and can be activated and functionalized to increase their catalytic activity. This review summarizes recent advances in biomass-derived catalysts for the removal of pharmaceuticals and PPCPs from water. Special attention is given to synthesis methods, such as pyrolysis, hydrothermal carbonization, chemical activation, heteroatom doping, and metal or metal-oxide hybridization. The catalytic mechanisms of pollutant degradation, including adsorption, radical-based advanced oxidation processes, and non-radical electron-transfer mechanisms, are critically discussed. Moreover, the effect of key operating parameters, catalyst stability, and real wastewater test performance are studied. Sustainability aspects such as green synthesis routes, integration of circular bioeconomy, and life-cycle aspects are also emphasized. Finally, current issues like catalyst deactivation, scaling-up, and the lack of a full mechanistic understanding are identified, and future research avenues are suggested to enable the implementation of efficient, durable, and environmentally friendly catalytic systems for large-scale wastewater treatment applications. Full article

Alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) is a promising technology for sustainable hydrogen production, although its performance is limited by electrode overpotential, interfacial charge-transfer resistance, and limited electrochemically accessible surface area. In this study, a monolayer ternary carbon nanomaterial (CNM) composite comprising reduced graphene oxide (rGO), carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and Vulcan XC-72 was fabricated on stainless steel (SS) using a hybrid polyvinyl alcohol–polytetrafluoroethylene (PVA–PTFE) binder. Thermal treatment generated a porous conductive network that enhanced electrolyte accessibility and electron transport. Electrochemical characterization in 0.12 M NaOH showed that the CNM-modified electrode exhibited substantially higher current response and CV-derived double-layer capacitance (C_dl) of 62.61–78.51 mF/cm², compared with 3.43–3.74 mF/cm² for bare SS. Electrochemical fitting further showed markedly higher exchange-current density (i₀) parameters for the modified electrode, along with a reduced solution resistance (Rs) of ~2.1–2.2 Ω·cm² and a lower Rct. The oxyhydrogen (HHO) production rate reached 0.304 mL/min at 3.8 V, compared with 0.262 mL/min for bare SS at 4.0 V. Repeated HHO measurements showed ~2% variation (n = 3), indicating good reproducibility of the gas-production response. These results demonstrate that the rGO/CNT/XC-72 composite provides an effective and reproducible surface-engineering approach for enhancing electrochemical performance and HHO production in alkaline electrolysis systems. Full article

Organic waste causes severe pollution, while agriculture lacks quality fertilizers. Solid-state fermentation solves both issues. Nevertheless, traditional methods are slow and lead to nitrogen loss. They also emit greenhouse gases and yield uneven products. This fails to reach modern low-carbon standards. We urgently need efficient solid-state fermentation systems. Therefore, this review summarizes recent advances in parameter optimization and cutting-edge innovations. Firstly, key solid-state fermentation operational parameters, such as carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, aeration frequency, temperature, humidity and pH, are analyzed. The optimization of these parameters facilitates nitrogen retention and mitigates pollutant emissions. Secondly, emerging enhancement strategies are discussed. Elaboration on the electron-shuttle effect of modified biochar and advances in synthetic microbial consortia is provided. For process coupling, the mechanisms of hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) combined with solid-state fermentation are explored. Bioelectrochemically assisted solid-state fermentation (MCFT/BFC) based on Direct Inter-Species Electron Transfer (DIET) is also examined. Furthermore, feasible mitigation approaches for pollutants including greenhouse gases and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are summarized. Subsequently, the applications of mathematical models, the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence in solid-state fermentation are introduced. Finally, current challenges in large-scale application and risk management are analyzed. Future prospects involving multi-omics, life cycle assessment (LCA), and functional customization are discussed. Low-carbon solutions for high-value waste utilization are provided in this review. Full article

Commercial carbon-based electrodes such as graphite felt and carbon felt in all-vanadium redox flow batteries suffer from inherent drawbacks, including slow vanadium ion redox kinetics, insufficient intrinsic catalytic activity, fiber corrosion, and functional group loss under strong acidic oxidative conditions, significantly limiting battery energy efficiency and long-term operational reliability. Rare-earth elements, with their unique 4f electron shell structure, tunable electronic levels, abundant surface oxygen vacancy defects, and strong coordination ability, offer a dual pathway—electronic and microstructural modulation—to optimize the interfacial electrocatalytic behavior of carbon electrodes, providing a novel materials system to overcome electrode performance bottlenecks in vanadium batteries. This review systematically summarizes recent advances in rare-earth-functionalized carbon electrodes and electrocatalysts for vanadium redox flow batteries, elaborating on core modification strategies, performance enhancement trends, and synergistic catalytic mechanisms. It also presents quantitative experimental results from the literature to clearly demonstrate the benefits: CeO₂-modified graphite felt at 0.2 wt% shows a 10.8% increase in energy efficiency compared to pristine graphite felt at a current density of 200 mA·cm⁻², while multi-rare-earth co-doped carbon electrodes achieve a 65% reduction in charge transfer resistance relative to unmodified electrodes. The review systematically categorizes two dominant modification routes—surface nano-decoration with rare-earth oxides and lattice bulk doping with rare-earth elements—and summarizes design principles and enhancement mechanisms of diverse composite catalytic systems, including rare-earth–carbon nanocomposites, rare-earth-based heterojunctions, and porous rare-earth catalysts. It further analyzes critical challenges in current research, such as unclear long-term stability mechanisms, high costs of high-purity rare-earth raw materials, immature large-scale fabrication processes, and limited in situ dynamic characterization techniques. Compared with existing reviews, this work clearly distinguishes between surface loading and lattice doping as two distinct rare-earth modification approaches, clarifying their differences in active site formation, electronic regulation logic, and cycling stability. It establishes a comprehensive theoretical framework for the coupled electronic–geometric effects in rare-earth-modified carbon electrodes, linking the intrinsic physicochemical properties of rare earths, material microstructure design, and battery electrochemical performance. Moreover, it innovatively proposes a pathway toward full-lifecycle recycling and reuse of rare-earth-based catalytic electrodes for industrial implementation. This review provides a complete theoretical foundation for developing high-performance, long-cycle, low-cost vanadium redox flow battery electrode materials and supports their engineering scale-up, contributing to the development of large-scale, long-duration energy storage technologies. Full article

Nanostructured carbon materials are low-dimensional systems relevant to oncology biosensing, with their utility arising from an electronic structure coupled to defect and edge states, a charge-transfer behavior and optical response that report molecular binding, an interfacial chemistry governing contact with the analyte, and, in selected cases, magnetic properties enabling manipulation and readout. In functional terms, these behaviors trace to specific quantum-relevant features—quantum confinement, edge and defect states, and the resulting size-dependent optical and charge-transfer responses—rather than to a generic quantum-material designation. This critical review treats nanocarbons as engineered biointerfaces whose performance is set by how the carbon surface behaves in biological fluid, how recognition chemistry is anchored, and how the binding event is transduced, with magnetic responsiveness, stability, reproducibility, and fabrication control as decisive constraints. The analysis separates three material classes—non-magnetic nanocarbon sensors, hybrid carbon–magnetic systems, and defect-associated or potentially metal-free magnetic carbons—while grading evidence as direct, adjacent, comparator-derived, or prospective. Directly, graphene, carbon nanotubes, carbon dots, graphene quantum dots, and magnetic carbon hybrids serve in electrochemical, optical and fluorescent, field-effect, and magnetic-assisted formats. Clinical translation, however, remains constrained by biofouling, protein-corona formation, matrix interference, unstable functionalization, batch variability, incomplete standardization, and scarce validation in real samples and patient cohorts. Metal-free or defect-associated magnetic carbons therefore warrant caution, remaining prospective platforms until the preservation of magnetic response, reproducible functionalization, matrix compatibility, safety, and measurable analytical advantage are directly demonstrated. Full article

To improve the inherently low electronic and ionic conductivity of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode materials, the synergistic modification of Al doping and carbon coating has been proven to be an effective strategy. However, the doping effects of different aluminum (Al) sources have not been systematically compared, and the mechanism of the synergistic effect between the characteristics of the Al source and the synthesis process remains poorly understood. To address this, the present study systematically investigated the effects of three Al sources on the structure and electrochemical performance of LFP/C composites under two sintering processes: static and dynamic. Phase and microstructure characterizations confirmed the successful doping of Al³⁺ and the formation of an effective carbon coating. Electrochemical tests indicated that the choice of Al source and sintering process was strongly coupled: in the dynamic fluidized-bed process, which is highly characterized by efficient mass and heat transfer, Al(OH)₃, due to its lower thermal decomposition temperature and the release of active H₂O, promoted uniform Al³⁺ doping and optimized the quality of the carbon coating, thereby achieving the best overall performance. By contrast, under the sluggish reaction kinetics of static sintering, the chemically stable Al₂O₃ achieved ordered doping through slow solid-state diffusion, demonstrating the best cycling stability. In both processes, the overly stable AlPO₄ failed to release Al³⁺ effectively, resulting in limited performance improvement. This work reveals the key principle that the intrinsic reactivity of the Al source must be matched with the kinetics of the sintering process, deepens mechanistic understanding of the doping modification, and provides clear experimental evidence for the selection of the optimal Al source under different synthesis processes. Full article

CYB5R3 (NADH–cytochrome b5 reductase 3) and mARC1, the product of MTARC1, draw on the same cytochrome-b5 electron relay, so they are usually treated as two ends of one redox axis. Whether they behave as a unit across the continuum from metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not been established. In TCGA-LIHC, higher CYB5R3 expression was associated with shorter overall survival in a continuous multivariable Cox model adjusted for age, sex, and stage (n = 339, 114 deaths; HR 1.23 per SD, 95% CI 1.01–1.48, p = 0.035), although it added essentially nothing to a clinical model containing age, sex, and stage (change in Harrell C-index 0.005, 95% CI −0.015 to +0.037). The direction was reproduced in the only independent cohort examined, GSE14520 (n = 242, 96 deaths; unadjusted HR 1.42 per SD, 95% CI 1.14–1.76, p = 0.0015), in which higher MTARC1 was associated with longer survival (unadjusted HR 0.73 per SD, 95% CI 0.60–0.89, p = 0.0017); both single-gene estimates fall below conventional significance after adjustment for age, sex, and TNM stage (HR 1.24, 95% CI 0.99–1.56, p = 0.058 and HR 0.89, 95% CI 0.72–1.10, p = 0.29; n = 225, 86 deaths), although CYB5R3 remains nominally significant in an adjusted model containing both genes (HR 1.27, 95% CI 1.01–1.59, p = 0.039), so that cohort replicates direction rather than independent prognostic value. Across the primary tumors of the analysis set, no correlation between the two transcripts was detectable (Spearman r_s = −0.03, 95% CI −0.13 to +0.08, p = 0.62; n = 339), so the axis is not demonstrably a unit at the expression level. In three human liver-biopsy cohorts spanning the MASLD histological spectrum (393 biopsies with fibrosis staging), CYB5R3 gave estimates that differed in sign between cohorts and were uninformative when pooled (fibrosis stage, random-effects r_s = +0.01, 95% CI −0.24 to +0.26, q = 0.95, I² = 83%). MTARC1 behaved differently, falling with fibrosis stage in all three cohorts (pooled r_s = −0.22, 95% CI −0.32 to −0.13, q = 3 × 10⁻⁵, I² = 0%), as did PARP16 (−0.17, I² = 0%), while SCD rose in all three (+0.13, I² = 0%). This is consistent with the inconsistency being specific to CYB5R3 rather than a property of the cohorts, although the fibrogenic positive controls were themselves heterogeneous (I² = 53–62%), I² is estimated from only three cohorts, and the difference between the CYB5R3 and MTARC1 coefficients was not formally tested. These observations are associative and hypothesis-generating. They provide no support for the widely assumed corollary that hepatic CYB5R3 becomes deficient as steatotic liver disease advances, so a therapeutic strategy predicated on that corollary currently rests on mouse gain-of-function data alone, without corroboration from human tissue. What they do support is narrower: within a single physically coupled electron-transfer axis, the two members behave differently before malignancy—MTARC1 tracks fibrosis stage reproducibly while CYB5R3 shows no reproducible relationship—and carry opposite prognostic directions after malignancy, significant for MTARC1 only before covariate adjustment. Full article

A rare carved lacquer (tixi) plate recovered from the Southern Song Dynasty Nanhai No. 1 shipwreck was examined to reconstruct its coating stratigraphy, raw materials, and manufacturing sequence. Detached fragments collected before conservation treatment were investigated by cross-sectional optical microscopy, micro-Raman spectroscopy, thermally assisted hydrolysis–methylation pyrolysis–gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (THM-Py-GC/MS), scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), and wood-anatomical microscopy. The polished cross-section contains nine lacquer layers with a combined thickness of 387.3 μm above a heterogeneous ground, yielding ten visually distinguishable strata. Alternating dark, red, and yellow layers establish the technological basis for the carved polychrome effect. Raman bands identify cinnabar (HgS) in the red layer and orpiment (As₂S₃) in the yellow layer. THM-Py-GC/MS detected homologous alkenes, alkanes, and alkylbenzenes diagnostic of Chinese lacquer derived from Toxicodendron vernicifluum. Monocarboxylic acids were present, whereas no clear dicarboxylic-acid markers of a drying oil were observed; because the object was waterlogged and degraded, this absence is treated as a lack of positive evidence rather than proof that oil was never used. The ground is enriched in Ca and P and is therefore consistent with a bone-ash-based filler, although phase-specific confirmation remains necessary. Wood anatomy identifies the substrate as Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata, Cupressaceae). Together, the results document an organic–inorganic multilayer coating system and provide material evidence for Southern Song carved-lacquer technology, while defining conservation risks associated with a waterlogged wooden core and light-sensitive pigments. The marine archaeological context and the support-to-surface, layer-resolved design distinguish this case from most previous studies of Song-dynasty lacquerware. Beyond technological reconstruction, the findings identify conservation priorities for waterlogged wood, the wood–ground–lacquer interface, and light-sensitive pigmented layers, and provide a transferable evidence framework for comparative research on archaeological lacquer. Full article

Carboxylate-ligand-based coordination polymers and metal complexes form structurally adaptable crystalline systems, spanning discrete complexes, one-dimensional chains, two-dimensional layers, three-dimensional frameworks, and MOF-like architectures. This adaptability arises from diverse carboxylate binding modes and metal coordination preferences; auxiliary N/O donors are included only when carboxylate coordination remains central. However, the increasing availability of structural and electronic descriptors has not always been matched by equally rigorous validation of structure–function relationships. Hirshfeld surface analysis, energy-framework analysis, density functional theory, adsorption simulation, molecular docking, and machine learning are descriptor-generating methods; neither a method nor its output alone establishes descriptor-guided design. This review critically examines carboxylate-based coordination systems from the perspective of descriptor-guided function-oriented design. We discuss ligand-level regulation, metal-center effects, dimensional evolution, and what supramolecular, electronic, adsorption-related, and biological descriptors can and cannot prove. Functional studies covering luminescence and sensing; catalysis, adsorption, and small-molecule transformations; and bioactivity are evaluated by evidence strength. A claim-centered Descriptor-to-Function Evidence Ladder distinguishes structure reporting, descriptive descriptor use, post hoc association, controlled comparative trends, mechanism-supported validation, and prospective experimental confirmation. It evaluates a specific descriptor–function relationship rather than overall paper quality. Future progress should rely on standardized reporting, comparative structural series, function-specific validation, and transferable descriptor–function relationships. Full article

Increasing power densities in electronic systems require efficient passive thermal-management solutions. This study numerically compares five DMLS-compatible AlSi10Mg heat-sink architectures: perforated planar-fin, curved radial-fin, Schwarz P, BCC diamond and gyroid designs. Conjugate heat-transfer simulations incorporating conduction, natural convection and surface radiation were performed under an identical 18 W thermal load. Performance was evaluated using surface temperature, thermal resistance, temperature uniformity and convective–radiative heat dissipation. The gyroid achieved the lowest average surface temperature (82.02 °C) and combined thermal resistance (3.30 °C W⁻¹), whereas the BCC diamond provided the greatest temperature uniformity (UI = 0.035). Radiation contributed 46–73% of total heat dissipation and was highest for the gyroid architecture. The results demonstrate that increased surface area alone does not ensure improved passive cooling; thermal performance depends on the coupled effects of topology, airflow accessibility and radiative heat exchange. Gyroid TPMS architectures therefore provide a promising DMLS-compatible approach for passive thermal management. Full article

The simultaneous and accurate detection of multiple pesticide residues remains a critical challenge in electrochemical sensing. Herein, a strategy is proposed for the in situ growth of interconnected Zn₃(OH)₂V₂O₇·2H₂O (ZVO) nanosheets on carbon cloth (CC), forming ZVO/CC electrodes for the simultaneous detection of thiophanate-methyl and diuron. A negative-potential pre-reduction treatment is employed to regulate the interfacial electronic structure and activate sensing sites of ZVO/CC electrodes. During pre-reduction, partial V⁵⁺ is reduced to V⁴⁺, accompanied by the formation of oxygen vacancies, which reconstruct local electronic states and decrease charge-transfer resistance. Meanwhile, the chemically integrated Zn–O–V framework exhibits a performance synergy, resulting in significantly enhanced and well-distinguished electrochemical responses toward the target pesticides. The ZVO/CC electrode achieves linear detection ranges of 0.1–25 μM for thiophanate-methyl and 0.1–40 μM for diuron, with low detection limits of 12.4 nM and 28.5 nM, respectively. Furthermore, machine learning algorithms are introduced to resolve partial overlapping signals, enabling simultaneous pesticide classification and concentration prediction. The integration of interfacial engineering with machine learning provides an effective strategy for achieving simultaneous multi-pesticide detection at the nanomolar level. Full article

This work systematically investigates how different electron-donating groups modulate the photophysical properties and singlet-oxygen quantum yields of donor–acceptor (D–A) distyryl boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) photosensitizers, with the donors attached at the para positions of both styryl arms. The study focuses on three compounds that have been previously reported in the literature (M1 with a dimethylacridine donor, M2 with a phenoxazine donor, and M3 with a phenothiazine donor), yet only experimental characterizations are available for them. Using computational chemistry methods, we comprehensively analyzed their geometric configurations, spectral features, spin–orbit coupling (SOC) effects, and electron–hole orbital distributions. The calculated results reveal that M2 possesses the lowest oxidation potential and thus the strongest electron-donating ability among the three donors. Compared with M1 and M3, M2 exhibits larger SOC values, a smaller energy gap between the excited singlet and triplet states, and the highest intersystem crossing (ISC) rate constant. Notably, the energy gaps ΔE (T₁ → S₀) for all three molecules exceed 0.98 eV, which is thermodynamically favorable for sensitizing triplet oxygen to singlet oxygen. Moreover, each of M1–M3 can form dual charge-transfer singlet states, affording two distinct singlet charge-transfer (¹CT) → triplet locally excited (³LE) ISC pathways. This theoretical work demonstrates that dual-donor modification can generate dual charge-transfer states and donor strength serves as an important regulating factor for the intersystem-crossing performance of the three investigated distyryl-BODIPY derivatives. The presence of such dual ISC channels offers a new strategic avenue for the rational design of highly efficient photosensitizers from a theoretical perspective, although further experimental validation in biological systems is required to confirm their therapeutic applicability. Full article