Search Results (102)

Silicon/carbon (Si/C) composites combine the high theoretical specific capacity of silicon with the electronic conductivity, structural stability, and volume-buffering capability of carbon, making them promising anode candidates for next-generation high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries. However, the substantial volume variation of silicon during repeated charge/discharge processes continuously perturbs the electrode/electrolyte interface, and the resulting interfacial instability remains a major barrier to practical application. Porous carbon host design and Si/C interface regulation have become key routes for improving structural robustness and electrochemical performance. Most existing reviews focus on the failure mechanisms of silicon-based anodes or the structural classification of Si/C composites, whereas the structural regulation role of porous carbon hosts has not been systematically summarized. This review places porous carbon hosts at the center of analysis and summarizes the main preparation strategies, including the hard-templating method, soft-templating method, combined hard- and soft-templating method, template-free synthesis, and etching strategies, with emphasis on their pore-forming mechanisms, structural regulation features, and industrialization potential. Building on this host-centered framework, silicon incorporation and carbon coating strategies are further discussed in terms of their effects on silicon distribution, Si/C interfacial stability, electronic transport, and volume-expansion accommodation. This review further evaluates recent advances in Si/C anodes for lithium-ion batteries from the perspectives of initial Coulombic efficiency, cycling stability, and practical electrode performance. Finally, key challenges related to scalable preparation, structural consistency, electrode-processing compatibility, and industrial adaptation are identified, and future directions for porous-carbon-host-based Si/C anodes are proposed. Full article

CeO₂ hollow nanospheres were fabricated through a hard template-assisted route, with the shell thickness precisely tuned by varying the usage amount of Ce(NO₃)₃·6H₂O. Ni was subsequently deposited onto the xCeO₂-H (x = 6, 8, 10) supports via an incipient wetness impregnation method, affording Ni/6CeO₂-H, Ni/8CeO₂-H, and Ni/10CeO₂-H catalysts, which were evaluated for catalytic dry reforming of methane (DRM). Notably, the Ni/6CeO₂-H catalyst delivered stable CH₄ and CO₂ conversions of 70% and 76%, respectively, with an H₂/CO molar ratio of 0.81 over a reaction period of 50 h at 750 °C, demonstrating exceptional catalytic stability. Comprehensive characterization revealed that the Ni/6CeO₂-H catalyst featured stronger metal–support interaction (MSI) and abundant basic sites, which synergistically enhanced CO₂ adsorption and activation, thereby endowing the catalyst with superior coke resistance. In situ infrared spectroscopy further elucidated the DRM reaction mechanism, revealing that surface –OH groups played a pivotal role in suppressing coke formation and sustaining high reaction efficiency by reacting with carbon precursor species (CH_x*). Full article

The direct synthesis of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) from methanol and CO₂ requires the use of a dehydrating agent such as 2-cyanopyridine (2-CP) to overcome thermodynamic limitations, alongside controlled catalyst surfaces to limit competing side reactions. In this study, mesostructured CeO₂ catalysts were synthesized via a nanocasting approach using SBA-15 as a hard template. The specific impact of the precursor infiltration method and the final thermal treatment on catalytic performance were evaluated. While a one-step precursor infiltration route yielded the most ordered mesostructure after template removal, the final calcination step emerged as the dominant variable governing catalyst activity and selectivity. Textural analysis confirmed that calcination preserved the interconnected nanorod morphology with only a minor decrease in specific surface area. Temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) revealed that the thermal treatment induced a redistribution of surface acid-base sites, specifically increasing the ratio of medium-strength basic to acidic sites. In situ DRIFTS demonstrated that this tailored surface chemistry facilitated CO₂ activation, promoted the formation of bidentate carbonates, and favored the monomethyl carbonate (MMC) intermediate formation. Consequently, the calcined CeO₂-OS catalyst achieved 74% methanol conversion and 91% DMC yield at 120 °C and 5 MPa, outperforming its uncalcined counterpart by suppressing 2-CP-related secondary reactions. Full article

Background: The evolution of digital dentistry has enabled the development of more predictable and less invasive protocols for bone augmentation and prosthetic rehabilitation. This case report introduces an integrated digital workflow combining the Digital CarroTrack technique with the “One-Step Crown” concept to optimize clinical outcomes and efficiency. Case Description: A patient requiring alveolar ridge reconstruction and implant therapy was treated using the Digital CarroTrack technique. This approach utilized precise digital planning to simultaneously harvest an autogenous bone cylinder from the surgical site and reposition it for augmentation, eliminating the need for a secondary donor site. Following implant placement, a “one-step crown” protocol was implemented. A provisional restoration served as a template for soft tissue contouring, and its emergence profile was directly replicated in a pre-designed definitive crown. The bone cylinder fixation screw was retrieved during the final prosthetic delivery, ensuring a streamlined workflow. Results: In this case, the integrated digital approach facilitated accurate bone cylinder placement and implant positioning. At the 2-year follow-up, clinical and radiographic examinations confirmed excellent stability of both hard and soft tissues, with no marginal bone loss or soft tissue recession. The procedure reduced the number of clinical stages, treatment time, and patient morbidity compared to traditional methods. Conclusions: This case report suggests that the combination of the Digital CarroTrack Technique and the One-Step Crown concept may represent a promising, minimally invasive, and time-efficient approach for complex implant-prosthetic cases. Digital planning appeared to support procedural accuracy while reducing surgical invasiveness and the number of clinical stages. Further prospective studies with larger patient groups, objective volumetric measurements, longer follow-up, and dedicated cost-effectiveness analyses are needed to confirm the predictability, clinical effectiveness, and potential economic benefits of this approach. Full article

SiO_x anodes are highly promising for next-generation lithium-ion batteries due to their superior theoretical capacity. However, issues such as drastic volume expansion and low initial Coulombic efficiency (ICE) impede their practical use. While macroporous architectures can mitigate these challenges, traditional fabrication often depends on tedious hard templating methods and significant organic solvent consumption. In this work, we report a sustainable, emulsion-self-templated and organic solvent-free strategy to synthesize a carbon-coated 3D macroporous SiO_x/C composite (3DM-SiO_x/C@C). Our approach uniquely integrates radical polymerization with a water-in-oil emulsion and sol–gel process, followed by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The 3D macroporous framework is generated via in-situ emulsion droplets acting as self-templates, effectively eliminating the need for external sacrificial templates and toxic etchants. Notably, this organic solvent-free process achieves an exceptional precursor to (precursor + organic solvent) mass ratio of 1.0, contrasting sharply with conventional methods (0.0044–0.17). The resulting hierarchical structure, characterized by interconnected macropores and a uniform carbon coating, significantly enhances structural integrity and electronic conductivity. Electrochemical evaluations reveal that 3DM-SiO_x/C@C exhibits an improved ICE of 74.32% and long-term cycling stability even at a high current density of 1.0 A g⁻¹ compared to non-porous and uncoated counterparts. This integrated synthesis offers a green and scalable pathway for developing high-performance silicon-based anodes for large-scale energy storage. Full article

Carbon materials are regarded as cost-effective adsorbents due to their ability to remove heavy metals and organic pollutants from contaminated water. In this study, a novel phenol–formaldehyde resin-derived carbon microsphere (HCM_2.5) was designed and synthesized via a hard-template method combined with KOH activation. The prepared HCM_2.5 exhibits high selectivity and removal efficiency toward heavy metal ions and delivers an ultrahigh specific surface area of 2165 m²/g. A Cr(VI) removal efficiency exceeding 99.6% could be achieved in 50 ppm acidic solution, with excellent performance at pH 2–5. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) nitrogen adsorption–desorption analysis, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to confirm its porous structure with a high specific surface area. The results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) reveal that the efficient heavy metal removal performance of HCM_2.5 is mainly attributed to its high specific surface area, as well as coordination and redox reactions between oxygen-containing functional groups and heavy metal ions. Furthermore, benefiting from its outstanding specific surface area and well-developed pore structure, a physical–chemical synergistic adsorption mechanism was proposed and systematically elucidated. Full article

Source-free domain adaptation (SFDA) for cross-modality prostate MRI segmentation is challenging because source data are unavailable and pseudo-labels on target ADC images are often noisy. To address this problem, we propose Curriculum Anatomy-guided Learning Method with Population Template Priors (CALM), a source-free adaptation framework for this task. CALM constructs a population template prior from target predictions using top-k consensus aggregation and cross-round exponential moving average, then combines this prior with instance-level predictions through Soft-AND fusion. A high-confidence background constraint is further introduced to provide reliable negative supervision, and a coverage-driven curriculum is used to expand training from easy to hard cases based on pseudo-label/template agreement. This design forms an iterative process in which prior refinement and sample-reliability refinement reinforce each other during adaptation. Experiments on the PI-CAI dataset under the T2W-to-ADC setting show that CALM achieves an average Dice score of 73.63% and outperforms representative SFDA baselines in both segmentation accuracy and boundary quality. Ablation and model analyses support the contribution of each component. These results suggest that population-level anatomical priors can provide practical structural guidance for source-free cross-modality adaptation. Full article

Extracting evoked potentials (EPs) from single trials in electroencephalography (EEG) remains a major challenge due to a characteristically low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). This paper presents an enhanced denoising framework that combines multiresolution wavelet transform (MWT) with a statistical resampling technique. A key contribution is the introduction of an SNR-based preprocessing step that assesses individual trials and discards those with an SNR below 0 dB to prevent heavily corrupted data from degrading the analysis. Unlike traditional methods that rely on Gaussian noise assumptions, our approach utilizes empirical resampling to estimate optimal wavelet coefficient thresholds in a fully data-driven manner. Hard thresholding is subsequently applied to isolate transient neural events from background fluctuations. The method was validated using synthetic signals and real EEG recordings from ten subjects (aged 20–31 years) performing an Eriksen flanker task. Results from simulations demonstrated a significant mean SNR improvement of 13 dB. In real data applications, the error-monitoring components (Ne and Pe) were clearly identified at the single-trial level, with peak latencies observed at approximately 180 ms and 220 ms, respectively. This approach enables reliable single-trial EP analysis without the need for templates or multichannel recordings, offering a robust tool for brain–computer interfaces and clinical diagnostics. Full article

This work evaluated the influence of oil type (sunflower vs. fish oil) and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) concentration on the properties of oleogels obtained by the emulsion-templated method. Oil-in-water emulsions were prepared and air-dried to produce oleogels containing 2.9–5.8% (w/w) HPMC. All oleogels exhibited solid-like behaviour, with viscoelastic moduli increasing with polymer concentration, and showed a high thermal stability. At a comparable HPMC content, fish oil oleogels developed stiffer networks than those obtained with sunflower oil. Texture analysis indicated a linear increase in hardness with HPMC content across both oils, while cohesiveness and adhesiveness were more influenced by oil nature. Oil-binding capacity (OBC) increased markedly with polymer content, exceeding 90% in most systems. However, fish oil oleogels consistently showed lower retention. Colour parameters were only slightly affected by HPMC concentration and were mainly determined by the intrinsic colour of each oil. Overall, both oil type and polymer concentration were shown to be critical factors determining the structural, mechanical, and functional characteristics of HPMC-based oleogels, providing useful information for the development of structured lipid systems as potential substitutes for conventional solid fats. Full article

Wearable systems are increasingly adopted for health monitoring and wellness promotion. Among the most relevant biosignals, the electrocardiogram (ECG) plays a key role; however, in wearable settings (e.g., during physical activity), it is often corrupted by electromyogram (EMG) interference. This study presents a novel adaptive algorithm, template masking (TM), which integrates the stationary wavelet transform (SWT) with template matching for denoising the ECG from EMG. The method identifies the optimal wavelet and decomposition level to maximise detail sparsity. To mitigate EMG interference, after alignment in the SWT domain with a template, the detail coefficients are multiplied by a binary mask and smoothed. TM was compared with soft and hard thresholding on (1) simulations combining clinical ECGs (MIT-BIH database) and synthetic EMGs with different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), and (2) experimental signals including ECGs acquired with dry electrodes corrupted by EMGs (SimEMG database, also varying SNRs), as a potential wearable scenario. In both cases, TM yielded significantly lower reconstruction errors at SNRs below 5 dB ($p<0.01$) and significantly outperformed thresholding in the sensitivity of R-peaks estimation ($p<0.001$). These results demonstrate the potential of TM, highlighting the value of adaptive denoising algorithms. Full article

Given health concerns, oleogels are promising substitutes for saturated fats in food products. An emulsion-templated method was used, employing rapeseed oil and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) as the structuring agent, to produce oleogels. Oil-in-water emulsions (50:50 w/w) were prepared with three HPMC concentrations (1.5, 2.0, and 2.5% w/w) and dried convectively at 60, 70, 80, and 90 °C to obtain oleogels. The emulsions exhibited viscoelastic behaviour with a predominant viscous character, G″ > G′. Drying kinetics showed a constant rate period followed by a falling rate period; the latter was satisfactorily modelled using a diffusion-based approach. All oleogels displayed predominantly elastic behaviour but the characteristics depended on the temperature employed during the drying operation and the HPMC content. The mechanical moduli (G″ and G′) of the oleogels increased significantly with a drying temperature below 80 °C. Higher HPMC content enhanced structural development and thermal stability. Most oleogels exhibited high oil binding capacity (>85%), which increased with the drying temperature and the HPMC content. A correlation was established between the elastic moduli, oil retention, and the hardness of the oleogels. No significant influences of the drying temperature and the polymer concentration on lipid oxidation and colour samples were determined. These results highlight the importance of selecting appropriate drying conditions based on the desired final product properties. Full article

Bionic synthesis technology has made significant breakthroughs in porous functional materials by replicating and optimizing biological structures. For instance, biomimetic titanium dioxide-coated carbon multilayer materials, prepared via biological templating, exhibit a hierarchical structure, abundant nanopores, and synergistic effects. Bionic mineralization further enhances microcapsules by forming a secondary inorganic wall, granting them superior impermeability, high elastic modulus, and hardness. Through techniques like molecular self-assembly, electrospinning, and pressure-driven fusion, researchers have successfully fabricated centimeter-scale artificial lamellar bones without synthetic polymers. In environmental applications, electrospun membranes inspired by lotus leaves and bird bones achieve 99.94% separation efficiency for n-hexane–water mixtures, retaining nearly 99% efficiency after 20 cycles. For energy applications, an all-ceramic silica nanofiber aerogel with a bionic blind bristle structure demonstrates ultralow thermal conductivity (0.0232–0.0643 W·m⁻¹·K⁻¹) across a broad temperature range (−50 to 800 °C). This review highlights the preparation methods and recent advances in biomimetic porous materials for practical applications. Full article

Industrial trans and saturated fatty acids, which are key components of solid fats used in food products, should be replaced with unsaturated fatty acids from vegetable oils to reduce cardiovascular risk. However, unsaturated oils lack the structured networks required to replicate the technological properties of solid fats. Oleogelation, especially using polymer-based networks, offers a promising solution. This study optimized chitosan-based oleogels crosslinked with vanillin to mimic the texture of butter, partially hydrogenated fat, margarine, and palm fat while minimizing oil loss. Oleogels were prepared via the emulsion-template method and optimized through a central composite design combined with a desirability function, evaluating the effects of chitosan, vanillin, Tween^® 60 concentrations, oil type (canola or soybean), and storage temperature (4 °C or 25 °C). Optimized oleogels were characterized for their rheological and microstructural properties. Chitosan concentration primarily governed oil loss, hardness, and adhesiveness of oleogels, independent of the oil phase and storage temperature. However, storage at 4 °C reduced oil loss but increased the hardness and adhesiveness compared to storage at 25 °C. The highest desirability scores (0.72 to 0.94) were achieved in soybean oil oleogels with 0.99% chitosan, 0.24–0.32% vanillin, and 0.17–0.18% Tween^® 60, closely mimicking the texture of butter and margarine. These oleogels demonstrated stronger networks, enhanced gel strength, and elasticity, positioning them as viable alternatives to conventional solid fats. Full article

Objective: Secretory factors, termed the secretome, in the conditioned medium (CM) from dental mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have shown anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, and tissue regenerative potential. This cell-free product could be further developed by preconditioning cells with various biochemical agents, which lead to a change in secretome and CM profiles. Among the favorable candidates for CM production, metformin as an anti-diabetic medication is currently considered a potential agent for dental hard tissue and periodontal regeneration. Here, we aimed to assess the composition of CM from periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) grown in metformin-preconditioned media (Met-CM) compared to normal PDLSC-CM and assess the ability of Met-CM to recover the function of inflamed PDLSCs. Methods: Met-CM and normal CM were collected from PDLSCs grown with or without 50 µM metformin, respectively, under healthy culture conditions. Mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) were performed to comparatively evaluate the proteomic profiles in PDLSC-CM versus Met-CM. We then treated the PDLSC cultures with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Porphyromonas gingivalis to induce inflammation and evaluated the osteogenic/cementogenic differentiation in the presence of Met-CM or normal PDLSC-CM by assessing alkaline phosphatase activity, intracellular calcium levels, and mRNA expression of osteogenic and cementogenic factors, including RUNX2, OCN, OSX, and CEMP-1. Subsequently, we performed RNA sequencing to identify transcriptomic changes in the treated cells. Results: We identified 202 differentially expressed proteins, 175 of which were significant, in Met-CM versus normal PDLSC-CM. Among the analyzed groups, the top three protein classes were protein-binding activity modulator, cytoskeletal protein, and extracellular matrix (ECM) protein. Treatment of PDLSCs with LPS significantly attenuated ALP activity, [Ca²⁺]_i, and the mRNA expression levels of RUNX2, OCN, OSX, and CEMP-1, whereas treatment with Met-CM alone markedly enhanced PDLSC differentiation activity compared with the control. Moreover, osteogenic/cementogenic differentiation of the LPS-treated PDLSCs was recovered through incubation in Met-CM. Transcriptomic analysis identified 511 and 3591 differentially expressed genes in the control versus Met-CM and LPS versus LPS + Met-CM groups, respectively. The enrichment of biological processes includes positive regulation of DNA-templated transcription and skeletal system morphogenesis in the control versus Met-CM comparison, as well as positive regulation of transcription from the RNA polymerase II promoter and negative regulation of the apoptotic process in the LPS versus LPS + Met-CM comparison. Molecular function analysis demonstrated the enrichment of protein-binding terms among the DEGs from each comparison. Conclusions: Metformin preconditioning enhanced the recovery effect of PDLSC-CM on LPS-induced inflamed PDLSCs. These findings suggest that metformin preconditioning could represent a practical formula for PDLSC-secretome, which may contribute to the development of future cell-free periodontal regenerative strategies. Full article

Four different-sized carbon microspheres, CS, obtained by a facile hydrothermal method, are applied as a hard template for the preparation of a series of macroporous LaFeO₃. The average particle size of the CS obtained is between 0.350 and 0.700 µm. The macroporous LaFeO₃ are tested in a Fenton-like activation of peroxymonosulfate, PMS, for oxidation of tetracycline hydrochloride, TCH, in model water solution under visible-light irradiation. The effect of parameters such as type of irradiation, temperature of the reaction, and type of the water matrixes was tested. The oxidation of the pollutant TCH is evaluated by total organic carbon and organic nitrogen measurements. The results showed the superior catalytic activity of macroporous LaFeO₃ in comparison to pure LaFeO₃. Rate constants between 0.036 and 0.184 min⁻¹ at 25 °C were obtained. The activation energy for the process with the most active macroporous LaFeO₃ was 33.88 kJ/mol, a value lower than for the catalytic process with PMS only, proving the positive role of the macroporous LaFeO₃ for TCH degradation. Radical scavenger measurements showed that singlet oxygen, produced during the catalytic degradation process, was responsible for the performance of macroporous LaFeO₃/PMS/visible light for TCH degradation. The catalysts proved to be efficient and recyclable. Full article