Rational Design and First Principles Studies Toward the Discovery of a Small and Versatile Proton Sponge

2006 ◽  
Vol 118 (11) ◽  
pp. 1751-1753 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernesto Estrada ◽  
Yamil Simón-Manso
Author(s):  
Iyyappa Rajan Panneerselvam ◽  
Pranay Chakraborty ◽  
qiong nian ◽  
Yongfeng Lu ◽  
Yiliang Liao ◽  
...  

Abstract The rational design of the electronic band structures and the associated properties (e.g., optical) of advanced materials has remained challenging for crucial applications in optoelectronics, solar desalination, advanced manufacturing technologies, etc. In this work, using first-principles calculations, we studied the prospects of tuning the absorption spectra of graphene via defect engineering, i.e., chemical doping and oxidation. Our computational analysis shows that graphene functionalization with single hydroxyl and carboxylic acid fails to open a band gap in graphene. While single epoxide functionalization successfully opens a bandgap in graphene and increases absorptivity, however, other optical properties such as reflection, transmission, and dielectric constants are significantly altered. Boron and nitrogen dopants lead to p- and n-type doping, respectively, while fluorine dopants or a single-carbon atomic vacancy cannot create a significant bandgap in graphene. By rigorously considering the spin-polarization effect, we find that titanium, zirconium, and hafnium dopants can create a bandgap in graphene via an induced flat band around the Fermi level as well as the collapse of the Dirac cone. In addition, silicon, germanium, and tin dopants are also effective in improving the optical characteristics. Our work is important for future experimental work on graphene for laser and optical processing applications.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lili Xi ◽  
Jiong Yang ◽  
Lihua Wu ◽  
Jihui Yang ◽  
Wenqing Zhang

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Benoît Lalanne ◽  
Gene-Wei Li

AbstractEnzymatic pathways have evolved uniquely preferred protein expression stoichiometry in living cells, but our ability to predict the optimal abundances from basic properties remains underdeveloped. Here we report a biophysical, first-principles model of growth optimization for core mRNA translation, a multi-enzyme system that involves proteins with a broadly conserved stoichiometry spanning two orders of magnitude. We show that a parsimonious flux model constrained by proteome allocation is sufficient to predict the conserved ratios of translation factors through maximization of ribosome usage The analytical solutions, without free parameters, provide an interpretable framework for the observed hierarchy of expression levels based on simple biophysical properties, such as diffusion constants and protein sizes. Our results provide an intuitive and quantitative understanding for the construction of a central process of life, as well as a path toward rational design of pathway-specific enzyme expression stoichiometry.


Author(s):  
Ya-Ping Wang ◽  
B. P. Hou ◽  
Xin-Rui Cao ◽  
Shunqing Wu ◽  
Zi-Zhong Zhu

Abstract Prussian blue analogs (Na2FeFe(CN)6) have been regarded as potential cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) due to their low-cost iron resources and open framework. Herein, the detailed first-principles calculations have been performed to investigate the electrochemical properties of NaxFeFe(CN)6 during Na ion extraction. The material undergoes a phase transition from a dense rhombohedral to open cubic structure upon half-desodiation, which is resulted from competition of the Na−N Coulomb attraction and d−π covalent bonding of Fe−N. The analyses on the density of states, magnetic moments and Bader charges of NaxFeFe(CN)6 reveal that there involve in the successive redox reactions of high-spin Fe2+/Fe3+ and low-spin Fe2+/Fe3+ couples during desodiation. Moreover, the facile three-dimensional diffusion channels for Na+ ions exhibit low diffusion barriers of 0.4 eV ~ 0.44 eV, which ensures a rapid Na+ transport in the NaxFeFe(CN)6 framework, contributing to high rate performance of the battery. This study gives a deeper understanding of the electrochemical mechanisms of NaxFeFe(CN)6 during Na+ extraction, which is beneficial for the rational design of superior PBA cathodes for SIBs.


eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Benoît Lalanne ◽  
Gene-Wei Li

Enzymatic pathways have evolved uniquely preferred protein expression stoichiometry in living cells, but our ability to predict the optimal abundances from basic properties remains underdeveloped. Here we report a biophysical, first-principles model of growth optimization for core mRNA translation, a multi-enzyme system that involves proteins with a broadly conserved stoichiometry spanning two orders of magnitude. We show that predictions from maximization of ribosome usage in a parsimonious flux model constrained by proteome allocation agree with the conserved ratios of translation factors. The analytical solutions, without free parameters, provide an interpretable framework for the observed hierarchy of expression levels based on simple biophysical properties, such as diffusion constants and protein sizes. Our results provide an intuitive and quantitative understanding for the construction of a central process of life, as well as a path toward rational design of pathway-specific enzyme expression stoichiometry.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 3097-3108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dongxiao Kan ◽  
Dashuai Wang ◽  
Xilin Zhang ◽  
Ruqian Lian ◽  
Jing Xu ◽  
...  

Nb2CF2–VF–Pt is confirmed to be the best bifunctional catalyst toward ORR and OER, with relative low theoretical overpotentials (0.40 V for ORR and 0.37 V for OER).


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