Bidou Wang

High capacity silicon/carbon composite anode materials for lithium ion batteries

Abstract Silicon/carbon composite materials are prepared by pyrolysis of pitch embedded with graphite and silicon powders. As anode for lithium ion batteries, its initial reversible capacity is 800–900 mAh/g at 0.25 mA/cm 2 in a voltage range of 0.02/1.5 V vs. Li. The material modification by adding a small amount of CaCO 3 into precursor improves the initial reversibility ( η 1 =84%) and suppresses the capacity fade upon cycling. A little higher insertion voltage of the composites than commercial CMS anode material improves the cell safety in the high rate charging process.

Ultrasensitive Detection of MicroRNA through Rolling Circle Amplification on a DNA Tetrahedron Decorated Electrode

MicroRNAs are a class of evolutionally conserved, small noncoding RNAs involved in the regulation of gene expression and affect a variety of biological processes including cellular differentiation, immunological response, tumor development, and so on. Recently, microRNAs have been identified as promising disease biomarkers. In this work, we have fabricated a novel electrochemical method for ultrasensitive detection of microRNA. Generally, a DNA tetrahedron decorated gold electrode is employed as the recognition interface. Then, hybridizations between DNA tetrahedron, microRNA, and primer probe initiate rolling circle amplification (RCA) on the electrode surface. Silver nanoparticles attached to the RCA products provide significant electrochemical signals and a limit of detection as low as 50 aM is achieved. Moreover, homology microRNA family members with only one or two mismatches can be successfully distinguished. Therefore, this proposed method reveals great advancements toward improved disease diagnosis and prognosis.

Facile synthesis of carbon nanodots from ethanol and their application in ferric(III) ion assay

Carbon nanodots are facilely prepared by an electrochemical synthesis approach, which is simple and eco-friendly. The products emit strong fluorescence without doping any heteroatoms. Moreover, the synthesized materials are successfully applied for the design of a Fe3+ assay method by detecting the ion induced fluorescence quenching effect. The experimental results verify a large detection range, high sensitivity and selectivity and fine practical utility. This proposed method shows a low limit of detection (0.04 μM) and the detection duration is very short. The practicality of the method for the analysis of real water samples is validated with satisfactory results, which demonstrates its great potential use in environmental monitoring and biological analysis.

Melamine Functionalized Silver Nanoparticles as the Probe for Electrochemical Sensing of Clenbuterol

Clenbuterol, a member of β-agonist family, has now been a serious threat to human health due to its illegal usage in the livestock feeding. Herein, we describe the application of melamine functionalized silver nanoparticles (M-AgNPs) as the electrochemical probe for simple, fast, highly sensitive and selective detection of clenbuterol. Generally, AgNPs are prepared and functionalized by melamine. After interacting with melamine modified gold electrode in the presence of clenbuterol, M-AgNPs can be immobilized on the surface of the electrode via the hydrogen-bonding interactions between clenbuterol and melamine. This sandwich structure permits sensitive and selective detection of clenbuterol. Since M-AgNPs can provide a couple of well-defined sharp silver stripping peaks, which stands for a highly characteristic solid-state Ag/AgCl reaction, a rather low detection limit of 10 pM can be achieved. The detection range is from 10 pM to 100 nM, which is quite wide. This developed biosensor can potentially be used for clenbuterol detection in biological fluids in the presence of various interferences.

Tetrahedral DNA nanostructure-based microRNA biosensor coupled with catalytic recycling of the analyte.

MicroRNAs are not only important regulators of a wide range of cellular processes but are also identified as promising disease biomarkers. Due to the low contents in serum, microRNAs are always difficult to detect accurately . In this study, an electrochemical biosensor for ultrasensitive detection of microRNA based on tetrahedral DNA nanostructure is developed. Four DNA single strands are engineered to form a tetrahedral nanostructure with a pendant stem-loop and modified on a gold electrode surface, which largely enhances the molecular recognition efficiency. Moreover, taking advantage of strand displacement polymerization, catalytic recycling of microRNA, and silver nanoparticle-based solid-state Ag/AgCl reaction, the proposed biosensor exhibits high sensitivity with the limit of detection down to 0.4 fM. This biosensor shows great clinical value and may have practical utility in early diagnosis and prognosis of certain diseases.

Near-Infrared Ag2S Quantum Dots-Based DNA Logic Gate Platform for miRNA Diagnostics

Dysregulation of miRNA expression is correlated with the development and progression of many diseases. These miRNAs are regarded as promising biomarkers. However, it is challenging to measure these low abundant molecules without employing time-consuming radioactive labeling or complex amplification strategies. Here, we present a DNA logic gate platform for miRNA diagnostics with fluorescence outputs from near-infrared (NIR) Ag2S quantum dots (QDs). Carefully designed toehold exchange-mediated strand displacements with different miRNA inputs occur on a solid-state interface, which control QDs release from solid-state interface to solution, responding to multiplex information on initial miRNAs. Excellent fluorescence emission properties of NIR Ag2S QDs certify the great prospect for amplification-free and sensitive miRNA assay. We demonstrate the potential of this platform by achieving femtomolar level miRNA analysis and the versatility of a series of logic circuits computation.

Electrochemical detection of aqueous Ag+ based on Ag+-assisted ligation reaction

In this work, a novel strategy to fabricate a highly sensitive and selective biosensor for the detection of Ag+ is proposed. Two DNA probes are designed and modified on a gold electrode surface by gold-sulfur chemistry and hybridization. In the presence of Ag+, cytosine-Ag+-cytosine composite forms and facilitates the ligation event on the electrode surface, which can block the release of electrochemical signals labeled on one of the two DNA probes during denaturation process. Ag+ can be sensitively detected with the detection limit of 0.1 nM, which is much lower than the toxicity level defined by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This biosensor can easily distinguish Ag+ from other interfering ions and the performances in real water samples are also satisfactory. Moreover, the two DNA probes are designed to contain the recognition sequences of a nicking endonuclease, and the ligated DNA can thus be cleaved at the original site. Therefore, the electrode can be regenerated, which allows the biosensor to be reused for additional tests.