Xingya Wang

Lanthanum relieves salinity-induced oxidative stress in Saussurea involucrata

Changes in growth, physiological and biochemical characteristics under salt stress with or without La3+ treatment in Saussurea involucrata Kar. et Kir. were investigated. The results showed that La3+ relieved the plant growth inhibition, improved the leaf water potential and water content, increased the soluble protein and the proline contents and decreased malondialdehyde content under salt stress. Further, addition of La3+ significantly increased the activities of superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, catalase, and glutathione reductase, decreased the photosynthetic pigment decomposition and increased the ratio of total chlorophyll to carotenoids under salt stress.

Interfacial Nanobubbles on Atomically Flat Substrates with Different Hydrophobicities

The dependence of the morphology of interfacial nanobubbles on atomically flat substrates with different wettability ranges was investigated by using PeakForce quantitative nanomechanics. Interfacial nanobubbles were formed and imaged on silicon nitride (Si3N4), mica, and highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) substrates that were partly covered by reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The contact angles and sizes of those nanobubbles were measured under the same conditions. Nanobubbles with the same lateral width exhibited different heights on the different substrates, with the order Si3N4≈mica>rGO>HOPG, which is consistent with the trend of the hydrophobicity of the substrates.

Syringin production by Saussurea medusa cell cultures in a novel bioreactor

The culture of Saussurea medusa cell were cultured in an internal loop airlift bioreactor with sifter draft tube (ILABSDT) was investigated. Under the optimal culture conditions, which were inoculation size 1.5 g(d.m.) dm−3, aeration rate 0.3 dm3(air) dm−3(medium) min−1, and 14 mesh sifter holes, the maximum biomass, syringin content and syringin production reached 11.7 g(d.m.) dm−3, 17.7 mg g−1 and 206.6 mg dm−3, respectively. Among cell cultures in shake flask, bubble column bioreactor and ILABSDT, ILABSDT had the highest syringin productivity and reached 12.41 mg dm−3 d−1.

Inert Gas Deactivates Protein Activity by Aggregation

Biologically inert gases play important roles in the biological functionality of proteins. However, researchers lack a full understanding of the effects of these gases since they are very chemically stable only weakly absorbed by biological tissues. By combining X-ray fluorescence, particle sizing and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, this work shows that the aggregation of these inert gases near the hydrophobic active cavity of pepsin should lead to protein deactivation. Micro X-ray fluorescence spectra show that a pepsin solution can contain a high concentration of Xe or Kr after gassing, and that the gas concentrations decrease quickly with degassing time. Biological activity experiments indicate a reversible deactivation of the protein during this gassing and degassing. Meanwhile, the nanoparticle size measurements reveal a higher number of “nanoparticles” in gas-containing pepsin solution, also supporting the possible interaction between inert gases and the protein. Further, MD simulations indicate that gas molecules can aggregate into a tiny bubble shape near the hydrophobic active cavity of pepsin, suggesting a mechanism for reducing their biological function.

Formation and Stability of Bulk Nanobubbles Generated by Ethanol-Water Exchange

Bulk nanobubbles have unique properties and find potential applications in many important processes. However, their stability or long lifetime still needs to be understood and has attracted much attention from researchers. Bulk nanobubbles are generated based on ethanol-water exchange, a method that is generally used in the study of surface nanobubbles. Their formation and stability is further studied by using a new type of dynamic light scattering known as NanoSight. The results show that the concentration of the bulk nanobubbles produced by this method is about five times greater than that in the degassed group, which indicates the existence of bulk gas nanobubbles. The effects of ethanol/water ratios and temperature on the stability of the bulk nanobubbles have also been studied and their numbers reach a maximum at a ratio of about 1:10 (v/v).

The properties of surface nanobubbles formed on different substrates

The properties and stability of the reported surface nanobubbles are related to the substrate used and the generation method. Here, we design a series of experiments to study the influence of the hydrophobicity of the substrate and the production method on the formation and properties of nanobubbles. We choose three different substrates, dodecyltrichlorosilane (DTS) modified silicon, octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) modified silicon, and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) as nanobubble substrates, and two methods of ethanol–water exchange and 4-°C cold water to produce nanobubbles. It is found that using ethanol-water exchange method could produce more and larger nanobubbles than the 4-°C cold water method. The contact angle of nanobubbles produced by ethanol–water exchange depends on the hydrophobicity of substrates, and decreases with the increase of the hydrophobicity of substrates. More interestingly, nanoscopic contact angle approaches the macroscopic contact angle as the hydrophobicity of substrates increases. It is believed that these results would be very useful to understand the stability of surface nanobubbles.

Nanoscale mapping of dielectric properties based on surface adhesion force measurements

The detection of local dielectric properties is of great importance in a wide variety of scientific studies and applications. Here, we report a novel method for the characterization of local dielectric distributions based on surface adhesion mapping by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The two-dimensional (2D) materials graphene oxide (GO), and partially reduced graphene oxide (RGO), which have similar thicknesses but large differences in their dielectric properties, were studied as model systems. Through direct imaging of the samples with a biased AFM tip in PeakForce Quantitative Nano-Mechanics (PF-QNM) mode, the local dielectric properties of GO and RGO were revealed by mapping their surface adhesion forces. Thus, GO and RGO could be conveniently differentiated. This method provides a simple and general approach for the fast characterization of the local dielectric properties of graphene-based materials and will further facilitate their applications in energy generation and storage devices.

Interfacial nanobubbles produced by long-time preserved cold water*

Interfacial gaseous nanobubbles which have remarkable properties such as unexpectedly long lifetime and significant potential applications, are drawing more and more attention. However, the recent dispute about the contamination or gas inside the nanobubbles causes a large confusion due to the lack of simple and clean method to produce gas nanobubbles. Here we report a convenient and clean method to effectively produce interfacial nanobubbles based on a pure water system. By adding the cold water cooled at 4 degrees C for more than 48 h onto highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surface, we find that the average density and total volume of nanobubbles are increased to a high level and mainly dominated by the concentrations of the dissolved gases in cold water. Our findings and methods are crucial and helpful for settling the newly arisen debates on gas nanobubbles.