a b s t r a c tA perfect molecular level separating unit for any kind of species to be filtered is on very high demand. In recent years, graphene oxide has emerged as an important material which can filter ions and molecules. This is an emerging field of research which has drawn extensive attention after the work by Nair et al.[1]. Following their work, various research groups started working in this area in last three years. Herein, we briefly review the recent development on graphene oxide membranes. This review is a summary of some very recent results and contributions made so far in this emerging research field. We have discussed recently developed mechanisms and models to understand the transport through GO based membranes. This review begins with a basic background on membrane technology followed by discussion related to developments of carbon materials based membrane technology. At the end we summarize advantages and disadvantages of membranes based on graphene oxide and discuss their future prospective.

Plant activators are compounds, such as analogs of the defense hormone salicylic acid (SA), that protect plants from pathogens by activating the plant immune system. Although some plant activators have been widely used in agriculture, the molecular mechanisms of immune induction are largely unknown. Using a newly established high-throughput screening procedure that screens for compounds that specifically potentiate pathogen-activated cell death in Arabidopsis thaliana cultured suspension cells, we identified five compounds that prime the immune response. These compounds enhanced disease resistance against pathogenic Pseudomonas bacteria in Arabidopsis plants. Pretreatments increased the accumulation of endogenous SA, but reduced its metabolite, SA-O-β-d-glucoside. Inducing compounds inhibited two SA glucosyltransferases (SAGTs) in vitro. Double knockout plants that lack both SAGTs consistently exhibited enhanced disease resistance. Our results demonstrate that manipulation of the active free SA pool via SA-inactivating enzymes can be a useful strategy for fortifying plant disease resistance and may identify useful crop protectants.

Graphene oxide (GO) is widely recognized as a promising material in a variety of fields, but its structure and composition has yet to be fully controlled. We have developed general strategies to control the oxidation degree of graphene-like materials via two methods: oxidation of graphite by KMnO4 in H2SO4 (oGO), and reduction of highly oxidized GO by hydrazine (rGO). Even though the oxygen content may be the same, oGO and rGO have different properties, for example the adsorption ability, oxidation ability, and electron conductivity. These differences in property arise from the difference in the underlying graphitic structure and the type of defect present. Our results can be used as a guideline for the production of tailor-made graphitic carbons. As an example, we show that rGO with 23.1 wt% oxygen showed the best performance as an electrode of an electric double-layer capacitor.

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