Mallinckrodt (Japan)

Abstract The urea oxidation reaction (UOR) has emerged as a pivotal research frontier in the interdisciplinary field of energy and environment, offering a dual benefit for energy‐efficient hydrogen (H 2 ) production and urea‐rich wastewater purification. However, the practical implementation of UOR faces fundamental challenges stemming from its intrinsically sluggish six‐electron transfer kinetics, necessitating advanced electrocatalysts design. Due to the dynamic reconstruction behavior, tunable electronic configuration and cost‐effectiveness advantages, Ni‐based materials have garnered significant attention as the most promising UOR electrocatalysts. This comprehensive review systematically examines recent mechanistic and material advances in UOR, with particular emphasis on rational design strategies for enhancing UOR performance of Ni‐based electrocatalysts. The reaction pathways and emerging in situ characterization technologies for UOR are also discussed. Furthermore, aiming at the electrochemical energy and environmental applications about UOR, this work introduces the urea‐assisted electrolytic cell, direct urea fuel cell (DUFC), and electrochemical wastewater purification systems. The review concludes by identifying persistent scientific challenges and future research priorities, ultimately framing UOR as an enabling technology for synergistic advancement of sustainable H 2 economies and closed‐loop nitrogen management.

The conversion of yarn twist to the twist of coiling, and the reverse, is important for our high-performance artificial muscles and mechanical energy harvesters. We here describe the physical basis of these quite different devices, the differently needed structures for performance optimization, and some of their applications. Key issues are how we can modify the fabrication method and used material in order to optimize performance for specific application needs, as well as dual needs like a yarn that can perform as a muscle, mechanical energy harvester, and self-powered strain sensor. In many cases, there are no presently known alternative methods for achieving the performance of our yarns. For example, for harvesting mechanical energy between 2 and 120 Hz, our most recent twistron carbon nanotube harvesters have higher gravimetric peak power and average power than previously reported for any prior-art, material-based mechanical energy harvester. The last discussion will be on our recent discovery of a mandrel-free method for cheaply making high spring index muscles that provide giant muscle strokes and their application in textiles for commercialized comfort adjusting jackets.

Abstract Transition metal phosphides (TMPs) have been extensively and deeply researched as electrode materials for energy‐related applications. However, the inferior stability is still a bottleneck restricting their substantive development. Herein, a freestanding three‐dimensional hierarchical nanostructure (marked as CC@NC/NiCo‐P) is delicately designed for high‐performance supercapacitors and electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution, where the nitrogen‐doped carbon (NC) layer derived from polydopamine serves as an interface coupling bridge for anchoring electroactive nickel cobalt phosphide (NiCo‐P) nanowire arrays on flexible carbon cloth (CC) substrate. Thanks to the robust interaction between the conductive carbon support and NiCo‐P nanowires, the resultant CC@NC/NiCo‐P electrode delivers an ultrahigh capacitance (2175.5 F/g at 1 A/g) and a distinguished rate capability with a capacity retention of 85.8%. The assembled asymmetric supercapacitor can achieve a superior energy density of 28.47 Wh/kg and an ultralong lifespan of 10 000 cycles. In addition, the CC@NC/NiCo‐P electrode shows favorable electrocatalytic activity toward the hydrogen evolution reaction. These results indicate that the strong binding between the NC layer and metal species in TMPs notably improves the stability and electrochemical activity of CC@NC/NiCo‐P. It is expected that this effective strategy to design innovative electrode materials may be promising for the applications in energy‐related fields.

The dipole layer of organic cation ions forms under applied voltage and helps to switch the working regime of light-emitting solar cell from solar cell to light-emitting diode.

MR imaging is useful for the detection and/or confirmation of optic neuritis. The objective of this study was to determine whether a postprocessing algorithm selectively increases the contrast-to-noise ratio of abnormal optic nerves in optic neuritis, facilitating this diagnosis on MR imaging. In this retrospective case-control study, coronal FLAIR images and coronal contrast-enhanced T1WI from 44 patients (31 eyes with clinically confirmed optic neuritis and 28 control eyes) underwent processing using a proprietary postprocessing algorithm designed to detect and visually highlight regions of contiguous increases in signal intensity by increasing the signal intensities of regions that exceed a predetermined threshold. For quantitative evaluation of the effect on image processing, the contrast-to-noise ratio of equivalent ROIs and the contrast-to-noise ratio between optic nerves and normal-appearing white matter were measured on baseline and processed images. The effect of image-processing on diagnostic performance was evaluated by masked reviews of baseline and processed images by 6 readers with varying experience levels. In abnormal nerves, processing resulted in an increase in the median contrast-to-noise ratio from 17.8 to 85.0 (P < .001) on FLAIR and from 19.4 to 93.7 (P < .001) on contrast-enhanced images. The contrast-to-noise ratio for control optic nerves was not affected by processing (P = 0.13). Image processing had a beneficial effect on radiologists' diagnostic performance, with an improvement in sensitivities for 5/6 readers and relatively unchanged specificities. Interobserver agreement improved following processing. Processing resulted in a selective increase in the contrast-to-noise ratio for diseased nerves and corresponding improvement in the detection of optic neuritis on MR imaging by radiologists.

A facile and electrostatically driven approach has been developed to prepare bicontinuous polymer nanocomposites that is based on the polyoxometalate (POM) macroion induced phase transition of PS-b-P2VP from an initial lamellar phase to a stable bicontinuous phase. The multi-charged POMs can electrostatically cross-link P2VP blocks and give rise to bicontinuous phases in which the POM hybrid conductive domains occupy a large volume fraction of more than 50 %. Furthermore, the POMs can give rise to high proton conductivity and serve as nanoenhancers, endowing the bicontinuous nanocomposites with a conductivity of 0.1 mS cm-1 and a Young's modulus of 7.4 GPa at room temperature; these values are greater than those of pristine PS-b-P2VP by two orders of magnitude and a factor of 1.8, respectively. This approach can provide a new concept based on electrostatic control to design functional bicontinuous polymer materials.

Abstract We report a microfluidic approach for one‐step fabrication of polyelectrolyte microcapsules in aqueous conditions. Using two immiscible aqueous polymer solutions, we generate transient water‐in‐water‐in‐water double emulsion droplets and use them as templates to fabricate polyelectrolyte microcapsules. The capsule shell is formed by the complexation of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes at the immiscible interface. We find that attractive electrostatic interactions can significantly prolong the release of charged molecules. Moreover, we demonstrate the application of these microcapsules in encapsulation and release of proteins without impairing their biological activities. Our platform should benefit a wide range of applications that require encapsulation and sustained release of molecules in aqueous environments.