RSC Advances Blog

In my recent blog post, I discussed the benefits of online conferences for inclusion and wide participation. Access to science without barriers like money and travel is always appreciated and fosters greater interest and collaboration within communities.

As a PhD student at the University of Kent in the UK, I am privileged because my institution has subscriptions to most of the journals needed to progress with my research and understanding. This level of access is quite normal in the UK and therefore it can be easy to forget that not everyone has this luxury. But it is important for this imbalance to be recognized and over the last few years it has been pleasant to see the increased use of open access publishing. I was pleased to publish my first paper as open access because I believe that the dissemination of research will be increasingly important as the world faces new problems.

Scientific innovation can take huge leaps forward when working to overcome challenges. We have seen evidence of this with COVID-19 and the incredible response from scientists all over the world. However, COVID-19 is not the only issue that the world faces. Each country has its own characteristics such as climate, agriculture and infrastructure which results in specific and unique challenges that may light the spark for scientific innovation. However, lack of access to key research can result in missed opportunities and ideas that would benefit the entire world. Issues such as climate change and antimicrobial resistance, pose serious threats to our way of life, with consequences worse than we have seen with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has shocked the world. Therefore, it is increasingly important that the global scientific community can work collaboratively and with fewer barriers through open access so that we can be better prepared for what the future holds.

It is also important to recognise that misinformation and misunderstanding surrounding science is becoming increasingly common, resulting in a disconnect with the public. With the adoption of open access, factual and reliable scientific information will be much easier to find by anyone if they so wish.

Unfortunately, publishing open access does not come without issues. It can be expensive, and the existence of predatory journals can result in published science that has not been through the same rigorous peer-review process that is used by reputable journals. But choosing to publish open access in trusted journals, providing funds are available, will help to advance the progress and inclusivity of science, which is important now more than ever.

About the Web Writer:

Lee Birchall has recently started his PhD under the supervision of Dr. Helena Shepherd at the University of Kent, where he also completed his MSc under the supervision of Dr. Stefano Biagini. He obtained a first class BSc at University College London. He enjoys music, languages and windsurfing and you can find him on Twitter at @LTBIRCH.

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Among different types of malignant diseases, breast cancer is the most prevalent one among women throughout the world. Breast cancer patients often face bone metastasis at middle and late stages of malignancies, causing various skeletal diseases (e.g. bone loss, extreme pain, hypercalcaemia, pathological fracture etc) as well as mortality. The conventional therapies for breast cancer metastasis to bone include surgery and chemotherapy, which involve several limitations. For instance, surgery is not suitable for eliminating poorly defined and small metastases. Then again, chemotherapy is associated with adverse toxicity, side effects, drug resistance, tumour recurrence, tumour targeting issue etc. Therefore, it is urgently required to develop some alternative approaches for the treatment of breast cancer and associated bone metastasis by solving the aforementioned limitations. In this context, nanomedicine might play a pivotal role, considering its potent biomedical applications in drug delivery, radiotherapy, gene therapy and photothermal therapy (PTT) to treat different types of cancers. Of late, near-infrared (NIR) laser light-based PTT involving biocompatible nanomaterials has been immense popular, due to the minimized invasiveness approach with enhanced safeguarding of adjacent tissues and potent anti-cancer efficiency, by producing high temperature in tumour tissues locally upon absorbance of light, ultimately leading to cancer cell death in a targeted manner. Even though, PTT has been widely studied for the treatment of superficial tumours, there is scarcity of reports related to its application for the therapy of deep tumors including bone metastasis of breast cancer.

In this scenario, Wang and co-workers have recently developed an NIR-triggered nanoplatform based on IR780 (NIR absorber)-encapsulated biocompatible poly-lactide-co-glycolide (PLGA) nanoparticles (IR780@PLGA NPs) and investigated its PTT potential for the treatment of bone metastasis of breast cancer. The researchers established a bone metastasis model of tumours in BALB/c mice by inoculating 4T1 cells (mice breast cancer cells) into right tibia of mice through intraosseous infusion. The intra-tumoural administration of IR780@PLGA NPs to the tumor containing mice in presence of NIR light exhibited better tumor growth inhibition than the PBS control group and IR780@PLGA NPs group without NIR radiation, suggesting that the nanoplatform could effectively suppress the breast cancer cell metastasis to bone through PTT. Additionally, histopathology study revealed that tumor containing legs administered with IR780@PLGA NPs and NIR light illustrated less damage of bone and more number of healthy tissues around it as compared to the control groups. Overall, the study provides the basis for potent clinical application of IR780@PLGA NPs-based PTT for the treatment of bone metastasis of breast cancer in near future.

Reference

Near-infrared-induced IR780-loaded PLGA nanoparticles for photothermal therapy to treat breast cancer metastasis in bones, Li et al., RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 35976-35983

About the Web Writer:

Dr. Ayan Kumar Barui received his Ph.D. degree from CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT), India in 2017. Then he worked as a postdoctoral research associate in Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), South Korea for more than two years. Currently, he is associated with an R&D institute based in India. His research focuses on the development of nano/bio-materials for pro- and anti-angiogenic therapy, targeted drug delivery, cancer therapy, vascular disease therapy, wound healing, and bio-imaging. He possesses 37 peer-reviewed international publications and several international conference awards. He is recognized as a member (MRSC) of the prestigious Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), UK. He also serves as an invited reviewer for various international journals including Nanoscale, Biomaterials Science, Journal of Materials Chemistry B, Materials Science and Engineering C, RSC Advances, Food & Function etc.

You can find him on Twitter @AYANBARUI

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The continuous depletion of limited reserved fossil fuels and corresponding environmental concerns due to their combustion strictly demands the exploration of alternative energy resources for sustainability. Although solar and wind energies are harvested, the seasonal intermittence restricts their broad application. In this regard, the scientific community has developed the fuel cell using gaseous fuels like oxygen (at the cathode half-cell) and hydrogen (at the anode half-cell) that can produce electricity with better specific energies without compromising efficiency. The scalable production of these gaseous fuels (i.e. H₂ and O₂) has become a great challenge for energy researchers. Among the many processes and technologies developed, a green process for the production of these molecular fuels is the electrochemical splitting of water in an electrolyzer. The smooth running of the electrolyzer depends on both the cathodic and anodic half reactions. Whereas the cathodic half reaction (hydrogen evolution reaction; HER) is very straight forward, the multiproton-coupled electron transfer steps cause OER to face sluggish reaction kinetics demanding additional potential (overpotential) to overcome the reaction barrier. Hence, the HER is greatly hampered and thereby the overall electrolysis process. Since the efficiency of the half-cell strictly adheres on the catalytic efficacy of the electrocatalyst, researchers are focusing on the design of new catalyst materials. Among them, the transition metal based dichalcogenides (TMDs) and phosphides (TMPs) are the recent topics of study. Although these electrocatalysts catalyze OER efficiently, phase and composition changes during the course of reaction raises questions about the catalytically active centers of the electrocatalysts.

The in-depth characterization of post catalytic sample as well as in situ sample analysis clearly demonstrates the surface transformation of the TMDs and TMPs. In a particular study by Dutta and Samantara et al. have demonstrated the OER performances of Co₂P nano needles in alkaline electrolytic conditions (1). As per the report, a significant broad peroxidation peak was observed in the linear sweep voltammetry signifying the surface oxidation of Co₂P to corresponding oxides (CoO_x). The interface of Co₂P-CoO_x facilitate carrier transportation from the core Co₂P to oxides on the surface, thereby improving the electrocatalytic performances. Likewise, the core-shell Au@Co₂P nanostructures derived via the wet chemical synthesis method were found to act as precursor catalysts for OER. However, the surface oxidized forms, i.e. Co-phosphates and Co-oxides/hydroxides, act as the real active centers of the electrocatalysts in alkaline conditions. The surface transformations were monitored by the X-ray photoelectron study of the post OER sample (2).

P 2p of Au@Co2P after OER tests in comparison with those before OER tests.

Similar surface transformations have been noticed also in case of TMDs. During the course of the OER, the surfaces of metal sulphides and selenides transform to their corresponding oxides and oxy-hydroxides and perform as active electrocatalysts to catalyze the water oxidation. Moreover, these surface transformed oxidized functionalities are more catalytically active than the parent TMDs, TMPs and the respective oxides alone. It is therefore imperative to characterize and define the real active centers of the catalysts used for water oxidation, particularly in alkaline electrolytic conditions.

References

1. Anirban Dutta, Aneeya K. Samantara, Sumit K. Dutta, Bikash Kumar Jena, and Narayan Pradhan, ACS Energy Lett., 2016, 1, 1, 169–174.
2. Xiaofang Zhang, Aixian Shan, Sibin Duan, Haofei Zhao, Rongming Wang and Woon-Ming Lau, RSC Adv., 2019,9, 40811-40818.

About the Web Writer:

Dr. Aneeya K. Samantara is Doctor in Chemical Sciences and currently has a Postdoctoral position (NPDF) in the School of Chemical Sciences, National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. Recently he joined as Community Board Member of the “Materials Horizon” of Royal Society of Chemistry, London. He pursued his PhD at the CSIR-Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology, Odisha, India. Before joining the PhD program, he completed his master of philosophy in chemistry at Utkal University and master in science in advanced organic chemistry at Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Odisha, India. Dr. Samantara’s research interests include the synthesis of transition metal based electrocatalysts and graphene composites for energy storage and conversion applications. You can find him on Twitter at @cmrjitu.

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

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One needs to seek nature in order to get the idea of sustainability either in daily life or in the chemistry lab. We have been learning since our childhood about plants survival via photosynthesis and humans survival by oxygen. The sun has been the ultimate powerhouse for all the beings on earth.

Photosynthesis is the apotheosis of sustainable chemical reactivity and the sun is one of the main pinnacles towards the target of green chemistry. In the context of sustainable synthetic approaches, photoredox chemistry has emerged as a scientific toolbox for organic transformations due to the tremendous ability to generate reactive intermediates under mild reaction conditions.

Photoredox catalysis depends upon the photoexcitation with visible light to facilitate single electron transfer (SET) and the generation of other intermediates. Sunlight energy could be the essential source for this cause owing to its free, non-toxic and environmentally benign nature. These benefits make photoredox catalysis valuable when designing new catalytic systems with sustainable approaches. However, there are other sources for the photoexcitation although they pose limitations due to high energy requirements and formation of side products. Even though photoredox catalysis has provided powerful methods in synthesis, the cost of photocatalysts and cost of light sources and environmental aspects on the synthesis are yet to be considered.

With the help of a broad range of molecules synthesized in our lab, modeling and utilization, we have been able to understand the potential of molecules for their photoredox catalytic activity. Considering this situation, my recent research focuses on the synthesis of molecules with strong visible range absorption and utilization of sunlight for photoexcitation to carry out various organic transformations via photoredox chemistry. By smartly incorporating the donor and acceptor groups, we are able to synthesize molecules with absorption in the visible region (Fig. 1).

My focus is on understanding the potential of the molecules to catalyze reactions with low energy radiations i.e. solar-driven. The synthesized molecules have been subjected to various experiments and found to be active towards aggregation-induced emission enhancement (AIEE) and solvatochromism phenomenon, reactive oxygen species generation as well as displayed catalytic activity towards reactions such as (i) oxidative homocoupling of benzyl amines (ii) additive free oxidative amidation of aldehydes and (iii) hydroxylation of boronic acids under the presence of sunlight. All you need to get a good transformation is chemicals, a stirrer and the sun. Our group continue to address challenges in this field, exploring more solar-driven chemical transformations.

To find out more, please read:
AIEE Active Nanoassemblies of Pyrazine Based Organic Photosensitizers as Efficient Metal-Free Supramolecular Photoredox Catalytic Systems
Scientific. Reports,2019, 9:1114.

About the Web Writer:

Shruti Dadwal is a Ph.D. candidate in organic chemistry under the supervision of Dr. Vandana Bhalla at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, India; where she also completed her B.Sc and first class M.Sc in Hons. School Chemistry. Her research focuses on developing new and better donor-acceptor based molecules for sensing, photocatalysis and nanocatalysis. She enjoys music, writing and travelling. You can find her on Twitter @DadwalShrutii.

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

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From gunpowder to modern energetic materials, the so-called science of explosive research has renovated the potential capability to discover a wide range of novel energetic materials exclusively used in both military and civilian sectors. However, the controversial drama between the properties of energetic materials, namely, the power-safety contradiction, constitutes a great challenge in the design of new energetic materials. The desired energetic materials need to be balanced between these two inherently contradicting properties, which restricts their usage in practical applications, even though many energetic materials are synthesized every year.

Structure-properties-performance inter-relationship of BTO-based energetic materials

In order to obtain a fine balance between the properties of energetic materials, we have studied how the microstructures and intermolecular interactions influence the macroscopic behaviour of explosives. With the help of large-scale clusters, a broad range of theory, modelling and simulations, we have been able to understand the potential capabilities of energetic materials for possible real time applications.

Most of the energetic solids that I have studied are molecular crystals held together by inter-molecular interactions. By smartly incorporating the energetic groups as proton acceptors, we could form the strong hydrogen bonding networks crucial for the construction of high energy density materials. As improved intra- and intermolecular interactions tightly pack the crystal and thereby reduces its volume, the density and stability of the energetic materials is enhanced. This is therefore a highly efficient strategy to improve the performance and stability of explosives. The main objective of our studies is to understand the fundamental physical and chemical properties and the thermodynamic equation of the state of energetic crystals.

My focus is on the understanding of various properties of solid energetic materials using van der Waals density functional methods, including van der Waals interactions, structural stability, pressure induced structural phase transformations and vibrational properties of green energetic materials. In our recent work on a series of 5,5′-bitetrazole-1,1′-diolate based energetic ionic salts, we were able to provide a precise correlation between intermolecular interactions and impact sensitivity of energetic materials, in combination with molecular stability that can be set as a base for molecular and crystal design. In 2018, this work was recognized as a HOT article published in PCCP (1) and more recently, our research demonstrating the importance of high pressure studies was published in RSC Advances (2). Overall, our approach may provide a fundamental knowledge in designing the next-generation explosives, propellants, and pyrotechnics prior to the actual experiments.

References:

1. Moses Abraham, Vikas D. Ghule and G. Vaitheeswaran, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 20, 29693, 2018
2. Moses Abraham, RSC Adv., 2020,10, 24867-24876

About the Web Writer:

Dr. B. Moses Abraham recently received his Ph.D from the University of Hyderabad, India. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from Noble College, Machilipatnam, which is one of the first four educational institutions opened in India by the British Government in 1843.  Moses Abraham has been inducted as an Associate Member in Royal Society of Chemistry. His recent work on BTO-based energetic salts was recognized as HOT article for the year 2018 by Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. He has received various prestigious travel grants including the Royal Society of Chemistry and Science and Engineering Research Board travel grants to present his research on international scientific platforms. You can find him on Twitter @mosesabrahamb.

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

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Conference organisers all over the world have unfortunately had to cancel or postpone their plans in response to the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. However, some conference organisers made last-minute decisions to hold their conferences online. I have managed to attend two online conferences during lockdown; CEMWOQ 6.5 (The 6.5th Crystal Engineering and Emerging Materials Workshop of Ontario and Quebec) and CEFMC2020 (Crystal Engineering: From Molecule to Crystal 2020), which were held virtually via zoom from Canada and India respectively. Both conferences were attended by participants interested in crystals and crystalline materials from all parts of the world. Overall, they were extremely welcoming, well-organised and the feedback both during the conference and afterwards on twitter has been very positive.

Twitter has been extremely useful during lockdown to keep up with literature, discover useful webinars and it is where these online conferences were mostly advertised. It also provided a platform for posters to be presented prior to CEFMC2020, allowing participants and judges to browse at their own pace. In contrast, CEMWOQ 6.5 organisers made use of breakout rooms on zoom, which allowed the presenters to discuss their posters with other interested participants.

Whilst it is easier to network at normal conferences and meeting in-person is nice, online conferences have the potential to play an important role in improving diversity and inclusivity in science. Both CEMWOQ 6.5 and CEFMC2020 were completely free to attend and anyone who wanted to participate could register until capacity was reached. This provides an opportunity for postdocs, PhD students like me and even keen undergraduates to attend conferences and become inspired by incredible talks that they may have otherwise been unable to attend for financial or personal reasons. Even speakers with poor internet connections were able to present by providing pre-recorded talks.

One of the only negatives of the online conference is the time-zone difference. Depending on where you are based, a very early start or late night may be required, but that’s a reasonable sacrifice to learn about the fantastic research being done within the community.

Online conferences may become more commonplace post-COVID-19 now that they have been tried and tested. Whilst normal (in-person) conferences shouldn’t be completely replaced, switching between the online and in-person formats will allow for wider, more inclusive participation and less air travel is always a positive to help protect our planet.

About the Web Writer:

Lee Birchall has recently started his PhD under the supervision of Dr. Helena Shepherd at the University of Kent, where he also completed his MSc under the supervision of Dr. Stefano Biagini. He obtained a first class BSc at University College London. He enjoys music, languages and windsurfing and you can find him on Twitter at @LTBIRCH.

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest HOT articles, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

I have recently started my PhD – studying spin-crossover complexes, and my synthetic approach is largely focused on the use of mechanochemistry (1). The general response to me saying that I’m busy is: ‘don’t you just grind stuff?’, and the answer is no because I have analysis to do like everyone else. As mechanochemistry is a (mostly) solid state technique, powder X-ray diffraction is a go-to technique for product analysis. Comparison to starting materials can give an indication that a reaction has taken place, and then the detailed analysis can begin.

Elucidation of the structure of novel compounds which are not compatible with NMR, is often facilitated by single crystal XRD (SCXRD). The data from SCXRD can be used to simulate powder patterns for comparison with the mechanochemically synthesized powders.

Colour changes during grinding can also be indicative of reaction success. Therefore, mechanochemistry can allow for rapid screening of a huge number of different reactions in the search for interesting materials. However, don’t be too quick to dismiss an unsuccessful reaction if you haven’t tried liquid-assisted grinding (LAG). Whilst mechanochemistry is typically a solid-state technique, the addition of a small quantity of appropriate solvent (< 1 equiv. in µL per mg) (2,3) can be useful to get the reaction started.

My first experience with mechanochemistry quickly taught me that retrieving powder from a mortar is not easy, no matter how much it is scraped by a spatula. In the spirit of minimizing waste, the un-scrapeable powder is dissolved in a small amount of appropriate solvent and divided up into numerous vials, where techniques such as vapour diffusion and slow evaporation are used to harvest crystals.

I am still new to the world of mechanochemistry and have a lot to improve on, but it has opened my eyes to a synthetic approach that isn’t regularly seen in undergraduate studies and even research labs. It’s a promising area with a lot of applications, where the methodology could easily be manipulated for manufacturing purposes. However, if you are interested in trying some mechanochemistry, it is important to be aware of the potential hazards associated with the neat grinding of certain compounds, especially those which may explode!

References:

1              J. H. Askew and H. J. Shepherd, Chem. Commun., 2017, 54, 180–183.
2              T. Friić, S. L. Childs, S. A. A. Rizvi and W. Jones, CrystEngComm, 2009, 11, 418–426.
3              D. Tan and F. García, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2019, 48, 2274–2292.

About the Web Writer:

Lee Birchall has recently started his PhD under the supervision of Dr. Helena Shepherd at the University of Kent, where he also completed his MSc under the supervision of Dr. Stefano Biagini. He obtained a first class BSc at University College London. He enjoys music, languages and windsurfing and you can find him on Twitter at @LTBIRCH.

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest HOT articles, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

Global energy demand grows very fast, while fossil fuel reserves decrease. For this reason, enormous efforts are focused on the production of new renewable, clean, safe and reliable forms of energy to ensure a sustainable future. At the same time, it is necessary to include energy vectors that allow storing and transporting said energy to be used when and where it is required. Lithium-based batteries are currently presented as one of the best systems to meet this need. Although its use in portable electronic devices is already established, the implementation in stationary energy accumulation and in the electric vehicle sector demands a notable increase in its energy density. That is why these new demands make a primary aspect, and which is currently a topic of study worldwide, to the development of materials with which the components for rechargeable lithium batteries are produced.

In the case of lithium-sulfur batteries, metallic lithium is used as the active material for the anode and sulfur for the cathode. After several electrochemical charge and discharge cycles, small branches form on the surface of the lithium metal electrode, called dendrites. These ramifications can cause a short circuit leading to spontaneous discharges, causing rapid heating and even fire, making them unsafe. Therefore, new investigations have found promising alternatives to avoid these drawbacks, based on the deposition of protective polymers on the surface of the metallic Li anode and the study of its effect on the degradation of the material properties. The polymers to be used are polymeric ionic liquids. Ionic liquids are molten salts whose melting temperature is less than 100°C. Considering the non-flammability and non-volatility properties of ionic liquids, they make reasonable alternatives as part of electrolytes because they offer important improvements, for example, in terms of safety. For this reason, the imim-DEHP protic ionic liquid synthesized for the first time by me and reported in the paper RSC Advances, 2017, 7, 44743 will be used, since we have observed that, with small amounts of water, imim-DEHP has the ability to form a gel, so it will be used in lithium batteries to coat the lithium anodes. Thus showing the versatility of this amphiphilic ionic liquid, since it forms organized systems in water and in non-polar organic solvents, as well as gels with a small amount of water.

Find out more:

Improvement of the amphiphilic properties of a dialkyl phosphate by creation of a protic ionic liquid-like surfactant
Cristian M. O. Lépori, Juana J. Silber, R. Darío Falcone and N. Mariano Correa
RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 44743

About the Web Writer:

Cristian M. O. Lépori is Doctor in Chemical Sciences and currently has a postdoctoral position at the “Enrique Gaviola” Institute of Physics, CONICET, National University of Córdoba (Argentina). He works in the area of nuclear magnetic resonance studying hybrid materials formed with porous matrices and ionic liquids for use in lithium batteries. He likes to plan, organize and carry out science dissemination activities. You can find him on Twitter at @cristianlepo.

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest HOT articles, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.