Super broadband near‐infrared (NIR) phosphor converted light‐emitting diodes (pc‐LEDs) are future light sources in NIR spectroscopy applications such as food testing. At present, a few blue LED excitable super broadband NIR phosphors (bandwidth > 300 nm) have been developed producing the NIR output powers below 26 mW at 100 mA input current after LED packaging. Here, an efficient super broadband NIR phosphor achieved by doping Yb3+ is reported in the NIR Ca2LuZr2Al3O12:Cr3+ (CLZA:Cr3+) garnet phosphor developed previously. Benefited from the superposition of Cr3+ emission and highly efficient Yb3+ emission excited by energy transfer from Cr3+, the codoped CLZA:Cr3+,Yb3+ phosphor shows a bandwidth of 320 nm and an internal quantum efficiency of 77.2% both higher than that (150 nm and 69.1%) of singly doped CLZA:Cr3+ phosphor. The codoped phosphor converts LED produced 41.8 mW NIR output at 100 mA input current. The pc‐LED as a light source is also well applied to the NIR transmission spectra measurement of water. The results indicate the great potential of CLZA:Cr3+,Yb3+ phosphor in super broadband NIR pc‐LED applications.

In this study, we report the molecular characterization and functional analysis of OsLEA5 gene, which belongs to the atypical late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) group 5C from Oryza sativa L. The cDNA of OsLEA5 contains a 456 bp ORF encoding a polypeptide of 151 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 16.5 kDa and a theoretical pI of 5.07. The OsLEA5 polypeptide is rich in Leu (10%), Ser (8.6%), and Asp (8.6%), while Cys, Trp, and Gln residue contents are very low, which are 2, 1.3, and 1.3%, respectively. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that group 5C LEA protein subfamily contains a Pfam:LEA_2 domain architecture and is highly hydrophobic, intrinsically ordered with largely β-sheet and specific amino acid composition and distribution. Real-time PCR analysis showed that OsLEA5 was expressed in different tissue organs during different development stages of rice. The expression levels of OsLEA5 in the roots and panicles of full ripe stage were dramatically increased. The results of stress tolerance and cell viability assay demonstrated that recombinant E. coli cells producing OsLEA5 fusion protein exhibited improved resistance against diverse abiotic stresses: high salinity, osmotic, freezing, heat, and UV radiation. The OsLEA5 protein confers stabilization of the LDH under different abiotic stresses, such as heating, freeze-thawing, and drying in vitro. The combined results indicated that OsLEA5 protein was a hydrophobic atypical LEA and closely associated with resistance to multiple abiotic stresses. This research offered the valuable information for the development of crops with enhanced resistance to diverse stresses.

Fluoride containing mould fluxes may damage both the environment and casters, so the development of fluorine free mould fluxes is of great interest. The key issue for the development of fluorine free or low fluoride mould fluxes is to find a suitable crystal phase as a substitute for cuspidine. Some researchers have suggested that additions of TiO 2 to fluxes can help to form perovskite (CaTiO 3 ) as a suitable substitute for cuspidine. However, the rate of sticker breakouts was found to increase greatly after the use of the TiO 2 containing, fluorine free mould fluxes in the continuous casting of peritectic steel grades. One of the possible reasons for this phenomenon is the formation of titanium nitride and carbonitride during the melting process of mould flux. This possible explanation has been proved in this study using both thermodynamic calculation and laboratory experiments on TiO 2 containing, fluoride free mould fluxes.