Nickel hydroxide has received increased attention especially due to its electrochemical properties and potential applications in rechargeable Ni-base alkaline batteries, e.g., Ni/Cd, Ni/Zn, and Ni/MH. Ni(OH)2 has a hexagonal layered structure with two polymorphs, α- and β-Ni(OH)2. α-Ni(OH)2 shows superior electrochemical properties compared to those of the β-form. Nanosized flowerlike α-nickel hydroxide materials with an interlayer spacing of 7.0 Å have been prepared by a microwave-assisted hydrothermal method. The experimental results from XRD and FT-IR showed that the Ni(OH)2 sample prepared by this method had the typical α-phase. FE-SEM images showed many uniform flowerlike architectures with diameters of 700 nm−1µm which consisted of the aggregated flakes. TEM results showed the flakes were built up from many nanocrystals with 2–3 nm diameters. TGA and TPD were employed to investigate thermal stability and gas evolution during the heating process. α-Nickel hydroxide was transferred to NiO with a cubic crystalline structure after being calcined at 450 °C; the NiO still kept the morphology of α-Ni(OH)2. Cyclic voltammetry was used to determine the electrochemical properties of the Ni(OH)2 electrode in 1 M KOH. α-Ni(OH)2 prepared by MW-HT had the best electrochemical activity for the electrochemical reduction of O2 compared with α-Ni(OH)2 synthesized by conventional HT methods and β-Ni(OH)2. The effects of nickel sources and precipitators on the phase and morphology of the products were studied. Conventional hydrothermal methods were used to study the role of microwave irradiation. The possible growth mechanism is discussed here. The CV experiments showed that H2O2 can be reduced to OH− on the α-Ni(OH)2 electrode. The Levich equation was used to calculate the number of electrons transferred during the O2 redox reaction.

Although high-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) has greatly advanced small non-coding RNA (sncRNA) discovery, the currently widely used complementary DNA library construction protocol generates biased sequencing results. This is partially due to RNA modifications that interfere with adapter ligation and reverse transcription processes, which prevent the detection of sncRNAs bearing these modifications. Here, we present PANDORA-seq (panoramic RNA display by overcoming RNA modification aborted sequencing), employing a combinatorial enzymatic treatment to remove key RNA modifications that block adapter ligation and reverse transcription. PANDORA-seq identified abundant modified sncRNAs-mostly transfer RNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNAs) and ribosomal RNA-derived small RNAs (rsRNAs)-that were previously undetected, exhibiting tissue-specific expression across mouse brain, liver, spleen and sperm, as well as cell-specific expression across embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and HeLa cells. Using PANDORA-seq, we revealed unprecedented landscapes of microRNA, tsRNA and rsRNA dynamics during the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells. Importantly, tsRNAs and rsRNAs that are downregulated during somatic cell reprogramming impact cellular translation in ESCs, suggesting a role in lineage differentiation.RNA modifications, warrant future extensive investigations in different systems.

Cytochrome (cyt) P450s comprise the enzyme superfamily responsible for human oxidative metabolism of a majority of drugs and xenobiotics. Electronic delivery of electrons to cyt P450s could be used to drive the natural catalytic cycle for fundamental investigations, stereo-and regioselective synthesis, and biosensors. We describe herein nm-thick films on electrodes featuring excess human cyt P450s and cyt P450 reductase (CPR) microsomes that efficiently mimic the natural catalytic pathway for the first time. Redox potentials, electron-transfer rates, CO-binding, and substrate conversion rates confirmed that electrons are delivered from the electrode to CPR, which transfers them to cyt P450. The film system enabled electrochemical probing of the interaction between cyt P450 and CPR for the first time. Agreement of film voltammetry data with theoretical simulations support a pathway featuring a key equilibrium redox reaction in the natural catalytic pathway between reduced CPR and cyt P450 occurring within a CPR-cyt P450 complex uniquely poised for substrate conversion.

Several different preparation and morphologies of α-manganese oxide catalysts were synthesized, and their physical properties were characterized. These catalysts were also characterized by electrochemical means (RDV and CV) for oxygen reduction in both aqueous and organic electrolytes. The solvent-free preparation yielded catalysts with ideal physical properties: low average oxidation state (3.73) of manganese, small crystallite size (8.1 nm), small particle size (d = 10 nm, l = 30–100 nm), high surface area (144 m2 g–1), and pore volume (0.470 cm3/g). This catalyst displayed the highest activity in both aqueous (i L = 3.66 ± 0.12 mA cm–2, i 0 = 1.0 × 10–5 mA cm–2) and organic electrolytes (i L = 2.25 ± 0.15 mA cm–2, αn = 0.51). Doping the solvent-free preparation with Ni2+ slightly improved its oxygen reduction capabilities in aqueous (i L = 3.78 ± 0.15 mA cm–2, i 0 = 2.3 × 10–5 mA cm–2) and organic electrolytes (i L = 2.43 ± 0.17 mA cm–2, αn = 0.47). A large increase in the ability of the catalysts to decompose hydrogen peroxide was observed (2.7 ± 0.26 vs 0.53 ± 0.03 s–1 g–1), which is a good indicator of enhanced bifunctionality for application in secondary lithium air batteries. Stability tests in the presence of Li2O2 at elevated temperatures (100 °C) indicate a decrease in catalyst crystallinity as exposure time is increased.