2023 NEWS AND ANNOUCEMENTS
February 26, 2023
We would like to congratulate Dr. Prechiel Barredo, now at Mindanao State University - Main Campus, Marawi City, Philippines, for publishing an invited article entitled "Recent advances in molecular dynamics simulations of tau fibrils and oligomers" at Membranes (MDPI) as part of the special issue Molecular Dynamics Simulations in Biological Membranes. In this review paper, current MD simulation studies of tau oligomers and fibrils such as tau-NPK, tau-PHF, tau-K18 and tau-R3-R4 monomers and dimers interacting in solution, lipid bilayers or lipid membrane systems are discussed for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Pick's disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy and other tauopathies. Also discussed is the dissociation of tau fibrils, which has been studied using steered MD.
To read the full article, click this link.
February 13, 2023
We welcome Najeeb S. Abdulla II, a visiting Ph.D. student from Mindanao State University - Iligan Institute of Technology, who will be conducting his experimental work in the fmc² laboratory under the supervision of Dr. Mannix. Najeeb is also a member of the Department of Chemistry, Western Mindanao State University. We would also like to acknowledge the financial support from the Department of Science and Technology - Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD) under their Human Resource Development Program.
February 3, 2023
We are thrilled to announce another publication from our research group. We would like to congratulate Dr. Bakhytzhan Baptayev and Dr. Yerbolat Tashenov for publishing an article in Surfaces and Interfaces (Elsevier) entitled "Facile fabrication of ZnCo2S4@MWCNT as Pt-free counter electrode for high performance dye-sensitized solar cells". In this work, we presented a facile synthesis of ZnCo2S4@MWCNT using a two-step process: first with a spray coating on an FTO glass with MWCNT, followed by the solvothermal synthesis of the ZnCo2S4 on the MWCNT-coated FTO glass. The as-prepared film was used as a counter electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells. Under 100 mW/cm2 conditions, the ZnCo2S4@MWCNT-based composite solar cell showed an efficiency of 8.55%, which is higher than the PCE of the Pt-based DSSC control (8.19%). This remarkable result can be attributed to the low charge transfer resistance and excellent electrocatalytic activity of ZnCo2S4@MWCNT in triiodide reduction. The novel ZnCo2S4@MWCNT composite material could replace Pt in the development of low- cost and high-efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells.
To read the full article, click this link.
February 2, 2023
We would like to congratulate Enoch Adotey for publishing an article in Sensors (MDPI) entitled "N,Zn-doped fluorescent sensor based on carbon dots for the subnanomolar detection of soluble Cr(VI) ions." In this article, we report the synthesis of novel mixed-ligand luminescent carbon dots (N,Zn-CDs) using a microwave-assisted method under relatively low conditions (200°C, 30 min). The N,Zn-CDs showed their sensing ability toward Cr(VI) ions by effectively quenching the fluorescence intensity. The mechanism of Cr (VI) detection was attributed to the inner filter effect (IFE), in which there was an overlap between the absorption bands of Cr (VI) and the emission and excitation peaks of the N,Zn CDs. The XPS analyzes before and after the addition of Cr (VI) showed that the disappearance of O-H bonds from the deconvoluted oxygen peaks (O1s) led to free O2-/H+ species in the aqueous solutions, so that increased N-O appeared in the deconvoluted N1s peaks. More importantly, this free O2-/H+ species in the solution matrix led to the formation of (ZnH)+ groups (1023.5 eV). Thus, the zinc metal present in this nanomaterial played a crucial role by creating a coordination site for the H+ ions that were displaced into the matrix after the addition of Cr(VI) into the system. Overall, the chemoselective fluorescent probe showed a detection limit of 0.45 nM for Cr(VI) ions.
To read the full article, click this link.