Energy Storage Compounds Research Articles

Enhanced potential of a Selenastrum capricornutum mutant for CO2 fixation and biofuels production

AbstractThere is an urgent need to screen candidates for CO2 fixation and biofuels production from more taxonomic species. A Selenastrum capricornutum mutant, whose wild types were not considered as candidates for CO2 fixation and biofuels production, with genetic stability under high‐level CO2, here, was screened by 96‐well microplates‐UV mutagenesis and named as SDEC‐2M. To evaluate the potential for CO2 fixation and biofuels production, SDEC‐2M was cultivated under air and 15% CO2 (v/v), and its wild type (WT) as control. SDEC‐2M got better growth performance under high‐level CO2. It implies that SDEC‐2M had high tolerance under high‐level CO2. Under high‐level CO2, not only that, SDEC‐2M tended to synthesize energy storage compounds than its wild type, with a total carbohydrate content of up to 37.45%. Meanwhile, the highest overall biomass productivities were obtained in SDEC‐2M under 15% CO2. Benefiting from these results, the highest productivities of carbohydrate, lipid and protein were obtained, among which carbohydrate productivity of 11.22 mg L−1 d−1 was highest. Based on higher light conversion efficiency (14.81%) and maximal PSII quantum yields (70.14%), the highest photosynthetic efficiency of SDEC‐2M was also evaluated under 15% CO2. Compared with Selenastrum wild types, the mutant SDEC‐2M with excellent CO2 tolerance and photosynthetic efficiency is better. The results provided a new idea for further enriching the energy microalgal pool.

Data-driven discovery of small electroactive molecules for energy storage in aqueous redox flow batteries

A high-throughput virtual screening (HTVS)-guided experimental study is applied for the large-scale exploration of quinone-like anolytes for aqueous redox flow batteries (ARFBs). This includes the design of a focused virtual chemical library inspired by stable molecules, quantum chemical prediction of redox properties, machine learning prediction of aqueous solubility, automated search for commercial availability on vendor databases, and electrochemical characterization of the promising compounds. Screening in a chemical space of 3257 redox pairs led to 205 predicted candidates with higher solubility and lower redox potential than that of anthraquinone-2,7-disulfonic acid (AQDS) anolyte used in ARFBs. Through electrochemical studies on commercially available compounds, the molecules that show good performance in a practical ARFB setup are identified. Among them, indigo trisulfonate [Indigo-3(SO3H)] showed higher solubility, capacity retention, and coulombic efficiency than AQDS and its predecessors. The data-driven material design approach is therefore highly effective for the future explorations of electrochemical energy storage compounds.

Barium 5-(tert-butyl)-2,3-dihydroxybenzenesulfonate

Catechols and their derivatives attract great scientific interest due to the broad spectrum of their functional properties, including complexation, redox behavior, association ability and antioxidant activity. Because of the low molecular mass and two-electron redox process, they are considered to be a promising energy storage compound in different types of electrochemical power sources, such as metal-ion batteries or redox flow batteries. Herein, we report a preparation of the sterically hindered sulfonated catechol, namely the barium salt of 5-(tert-butyl)-2,3-dihydroxybenzenesulfonic acid, by the direct sulfonation of 4-tert-butylcatechol, by concentrated sulfuric acid. The proposed procedure is green and atom-economic, providing the desired product in high yield after simple purification. The solvent-free procedure is inexpensive and highly scalable, which enables direct industrial production of the title product. The resulting product was characterized by the 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and ESI-high resolution mass spectrometry (ESI-HRMS).

Discovery of aza-aromatic anolytes for aqueous redox flow batteries via high-throughput screening

Data-driven discovery workflow of aza-aromatic class of electroactive compounds for efficient energy storage in aqueous redox flow batteries.

Advances of entropy-stabilized homologous compounds for electrochemical energy storage

Recently, high-entropy materials (HEMs) have gained increasing interest in the field of energy storage technology on account of their unique structural characteristics and possibilities for tailoring functional properties. Herein, the development of this class of materials for electrochemical energy storage have been reviewed, especially the fundamental understanding of entropy-dominated phase-stabilization effects and prospective applications are presented. Subsequently, critical comments of HEMs on the different aspects of battery and supercapacitor are summarized with the underlying principles for the observed properties. In addition, we also summarize their potential advantages and remaining challenges, which will ideally provide some general guidelines and principles for researchers to study and develop advanced HEMs. The diversity of material design contributed by the entropy-mediated concept provides the researchers numerous ideas of new candidates for practical applications and ensures further research in the emerging field of energy storage.

Regulating Intercalation of Layered Compounds for Electrochemical Energy Storage and Electrocatalysis

AbstractLayered materials have received extensive attention for widespread applications such as energy storage and conversion, catalysis, and ion transport owing to their fast ion diffusion, exfoliative feature, superior mechanical flexibility, tunable bandgap structure, etc. The presence of large interlayer space between each layer enhances intercalation of the guest ion or molecule, which is beneficial for fast ion diffusion and charge transport along the channels. This intercalation reaction of layered compounds with guest species results in material with improved mechanical and electronic properties for efficient energy storage and conversion, catalysis, ion transport, and other applications. This review extensively discusses the intercalation of guest ionic or molecular species into layered materials used for various types of applications. It assesses the intercalation strategies, mechanism of ionic or molecular intercalation reactions, and highlights recent advancements. The electrochemical performances of several typical intercalated materials in batteries, supercapacitors, and electrocatalytic systems have been thoroughly discussed. Moreover, the challenges in the design and intercalation of layered materials, as well as prospects of future development are highlighted.

Pathogens and Elicitors Induce Local and Systemic Changes in Triacylglycerol Metabolism in Roots and in Leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana.

Simple SummaryAbiotic and biotic stress conditions result in profound changes in plant lipid metabolism. Vegetable oil consists of triacylglycerols, which are important energy and carbon storage compounds in seeds of various plant species. These compounds are also present in vegetative tissue, and levels have been reported to increase with different abiotic stresses in leaves. This work shows that triacylglycerols accumulate in roots and in distal, non-treated leaves upon treatment with a fungal pathogen or lipopolysaccharide (a common bacterial-derived elicitor in animals and plants). Treatment of leaves with a bacterial pathogen or a bacterial effector molecule results in triacylglycerol accumulation in leaves, but not systemically in roots. These results suggest that elicitor molecules are sufficient to induce an increase in triacylglycerol levels, and that unidirectional long-distance signaling from roots to leaves is involved in pathogen and elicitor-induced triacylglycerol accumulation.Interaction of plants with the environment affects lipid metabolism. Changes in the pattern of phospholipids have been reported in response to abiotic stress, particularly accumulation of triacylglycerols, but less is known about the alteration of lipid metabolism in response to biotic stress and leaves have been more intensively studied than roots. This work investigates the levels of lipids in roots as well as leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana in response to pathogens and elicitor molecules by UPLC-TOF-MS. Triacylglycerol levels increased in roots and systemically in leaves upon treatment of roots with the fungus Verticillium longisporum. Upon spray infection of leaves with the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae, triacylglycerols accumulated locally in leaves but not in roots. Treatment of roots with a bacterial lipopolysaccharide elicitor induced a strong triacylglycerol accumulation in roots and leaves. Induction of the expression of the bacterial effector AVRRPM1 resulted in a dramatic increase of triacylglycerol levels in leaves, indicating that elicitor molecules are sufficient to induce accumulation of triacylglycerols. These results give insight into local and systemic changes to lipid metabolism in roots and leaves in response to biotic stresses.

High thermal conductivity and low leakage phase change materials filled with three-dimensional carbon fiber network

As one of the most effective energy storage compounds, phase change materials (PCMS) play an important role in energy conservation and storage. However, the inherent poor thermal conductivity and liquid leakage of PCMS seriously limit their practical application. Polyethylene glycol·calcium chloride (PEG·CaCl2) phase change materials filled with three-dimensional carbon fiber network were prepared by liquid phase impregnation and hot pressing molding method. The experimental results show that carbon fiber network (CF felt) and PEG·CaCl2 complex structure increase the thermal conductivity and stability. The in-plane thermal conductivity of PEG·CaCl2/CF composite (47.73% carbon content) is 0.97 W/mK, about 103% higher than that of PEG. PEG·CaCl2/CF composite does not present leakage even heating at 80 °C for 45 min (35 °C higher than the melting point of pure PEG), showing low leakage ability. High thermal conductivity, low leakage and low density of this composite suggest a promising route for thermal storage applications.

The effect of polyhydroxyalkanoates in Pseudomonas chlororaphis PA23 biofilm formation, stress endurance, and interaction with the protozoan predator Acanthamoeba castellanii.

Pseudomonas chlororaphis PA23 is a biocontrol agent capable of protecting canola against the fungal pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. In addition to producing antifungal compounds, this bacterium synthesizes and accumulates polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) polymers as carbon and energy storage compounds. Because the role of PHA in PA23 physiology is currently unknown, we investigated the impact of this polymer on stress resistance, adherence to surfaces, and interaction with the protozoan predator Acanthamoeba castellanii. Three PHA biosynthesis mutants were created, PA23phaC1, PA23phaC1ZC2, and PA23phaC1ZC2D, which accumulated reduced PHA. Our phenotypic assays revealed that PA23phaC1ZC2D produced less phenazine (PHZ) compared with the wild type (WT) and the phaC1 and phaC1ZC2 mutants. All three mutants exhibited enhanced sensitivity to UV irradiation, starvation, heat stress, cold stress, and hydrogen peroxide. Moreover, motility, exopolysaccharide production, biofilm formation, and root attachment were increased in strains with reduced PHA levels. Interaction studies with the amoeba A. castellanii revealed that the WT and the phaC1 and phaC1ZC2 mutants were consumed less than the phaC1ZC2D mutant, likely due to decreased PHZ production by the latter. Collectively these findings indicate that PHA accumulation enhances PA23 resistance to a number of stresses in vitro, which could improve the environmental fitness of this bacterium in hostile environments.

Ti3C2Tx MXene compounds for electrochemical energy storage

Since their discovery in 2011, MXene compounds, and in particular the Ti3C2-based phases, have gained increasing interest from researchers leading to over 2000 scientific works in 2020. The peculiar morphological, charge transport, and surface properties make the MXenes ideal materials for energy storage applications such as active material in alkaline ion batteries and supercapacitors, as conductive or buffer agent in composite electrodes for high energy applications, and as electrocatalytic materials for oxygen evolution or redox flow batteries. Among this almost endless literature, this work focuses on 5 recent articles (2019/2020) that summarize the potential of MXenes in different energy storage applications, also resuming the most promising preparatory routes regarding industrial scalability.

Starch Production in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii through Supraoptimal Temperature in a Pilot-Scale Photobioreactor.

An increase in temperature can have a profound effect on the cell cycle and cell division in green algae, whereas growth and the synthesis of energy storage compounds are less influenced. In Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, laboratory experiments have shown that exposure to a supraoptimal temperature (39 °C) causes a complete block of nuclear and cellular division accompanied by an increased accumulation of starch. In this work we explore the potential of supraoptimal temperature as a method to promote starch production in C. reinhardtii in a pilot-scale photobioreactor. The method was successfully applied and resulted in an almost 3-fold increase in the starch content of C. reinhardtii dry matter. Moreover, a maximum starch content at the supraoptimal temperature was reached within 1–2 days, compared with 5 days for the control culture at the optimal temperature (30 °C). Therefore, supraoptimal temperature treatment promotes rapid starch accumulation and suggests a viable alternative to other starch-inducing methods, such as nutrient depletion. Nevertheless, technical challenges, such as bioreactor design and light availability within the culture, still need to be dealt with.

Combined metabolomics and histological analysis of the tissues from cuttlefish Sepia pharaonis exposed to inking stress

Inking is part of a defensive stress response in cephalopods (cuttlefish, squid, and octopus). Some individual cuttlefish (Sepia pharaonis) die after continued stress and inking; however, the physiological effects of cephalopods in response to stress and inking remain unknown. The present study investigated the metabolic profile and discussed the physiological roles of S. pharaonis tissues in response to continuous inking using the 1H NMR spectroscopy coupled with multivariate data analysis. A total of 50 metabolites, including amino acids, organic osmolytes, nucleotides, energy storage compounds, and obvious tissue-specific metabolites induced by inking stress, were identified in S. pharaonis tissues. Exposure to inking stress had different effects on the levels of the studied metabolites, for example, the levels of isoleucine, trimethylamine-N-oxide, and betaine increased, but those of arginine and ATP decreased in the liver; inosine and lactate were accumulated whereas glutamate and choline were depleted in the gill; the levels of lactate and isoleucine were elevated but those of arginine and glycogen were depleted in the muscle tissue. Furthermore, the corresponding metabolic pathways of the characteristic metabolites indicated major changes in the functions of these metabolites. Histological changes in the studied tissues revealed liver lobule damage immediately after inking, with the presence of disordered epithelial cells and partial cell necrosis in the gill. Our results demonstrated that a combination of metabolomics and histological analyses could provide molecular-level insights for elucidating the defense response of cuttlefish against predators.

A quantitative evaluation of computational methods to accelerate the study of alloxazine-derived electroactive compounds for energy storage

Alloxazines are a promising class of organic electroactive compounds for application in aqueous redox flow batteries (ARFBs), whose redox properties need to be tuned further for higher performance. High-throughput computational screening (HTCS) enables rational and time-efficient study of energy storage compounds. We compared the performance of computational chemistry methods, including the force field based molecular mechanics, semi-empirical quantum mechanics, density functional tight binding, and density functional theory, on the basis of their accuracy and computational cost in predicting the redox potentials of alloxazines. Various energy-based descriptors, including the redox reaction energies and the frontier orbital energies of the reactant and product molecules, were considered. We found that the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy of the reactant molecules is the best performing chemical descriptor for alloxazines, which is in contrast to other classes of energy storage compounds, such as quinones that we reported earlier. Notably, we present a flexible in silico approach to accelerate both the singly and the HTCS studies, therewithal considering the level of accuracy versus measured electrochemical data, which is readily applicable for the discovery of alloxazine-derived organic compounds for energy storage in ARFBs.

A Carbon Fixation Enhanced Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Strain for Achieving the Double-Win Between Growth and Biofuel Production Under Non-stressed Conditions.

The stressed cultivations are widely used in microalgae R&D for the biofuel production with the repress on growth to a certain degree, which limits the overall productivity. The balance between the growth and energy storage compounds accumulation is a target needing the combination of both strain selection or construction and culture optimization. Here, an engineered strain of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, in which the chloroplast type glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (cGAPDH) was overexpressed and named as P3-GAPDH, was cultured on the Algal Station platform. Compared with wild type (WT), C. reinhardtii CC137c, in Tris-acetate-phosphate (TAP) medium, the highest density of WT and P3-GAPDH were 1.23 ± 0.13 and 1.74 ± 0.09 g L–1 within 96 h, and the maximum biomass productivity was 24.30 ± 1.65 and 28.54 ± 1.43 mg L–1 h–1, respectively. In terms of the energy storage compounds, both carbohydrate and fatty acids content doubled in P3-GAPDH, from 0.13 ± 0.02 to 0.26 ± 0.04 g L–1 for carbohydrate and from 0.08 ± 0.01 to 0.16 ± 0.01 g L–1 for fatty acids, among which poly unsaturated fatty acids increased by 65.8%. Together with the continuous monitor of the chlorophyll fluorescence dynamics parameters Fv/Fm and Fv’/Fm’ and pH of culture, enhanced Calvin cycle by overexpressed cGAPDH promoted the carbon conversion and subsequent energy storage compounds accumulation. C. reinhardtii P3-GAPDH strain showed the potential as a good chassis with high carbon conversion ability.

Structure engineering of van der Waals layered transition metal-containing compounds for aqueous energy storage

This review summarizes the recently developed structure engineering strategies for layered transition metal-containing compounds in aqueous energy storage applications.

Design of phase-transition molecular solar thermal energy storage compounds: compact molecules with high energy densities.

A series of compact azobenzene derivatives were investigated as phase-transition molecular solar thermal energy storage compounds that exhibit maximum energy storage densities around 300 J g-1. The relative size and polarity of the functional groups on azobenzene were manifested to significantly influence the phase of isomers and their energy storage capacity.

Comparison of computational chemistry methods for the discovery of quinone-based electroactive compounds for energy storage

High-throughput computational screening (HTCS) is a powerful approach for the rational and time-efficient design of electroactive compounds. The effectiveness of HTCS is dependent on accuracy and speed at which the performance descriptors can be estimated for possibly millions of candidate compounds. Here, a systematic evaluation of computational methods, including force field (FF), semi-empirical quantum mechanics (SEQM), density functional based tight binding (DFTB), and density functional theory (DFT), is performed on the basis of their accuracy in predicting the redox potentials of redox-active organic compounds. Geometry optimizations at low-level theories followed by single point energy (SPE) DFT calculations that include an implicit solvation model are found to offer equipollent accuracy as the high-level DFT methods, albeit at significantly lower computational costs. Effects of implicit solvation on molecular geometries and SPEs, and their overall effects on the prediction accuracy of redox potentials are analyzed in view of computational cost versus prediction accuracy, which outlines the best choice of methods corresponding to a desired level of accuracy. The modular computational approach is applicable for accelerating the virtual studies on functional quinones and the respective discovery of candidate compounds for energy storage.

Optimization and Characterization of PHA (SCL-SCL) Copolymer by Indigenous Bacillus thuringiensis A102 Strain for Biomedical Applications.

PHA is one of the leading commercially important bio-polyesteric compounds piled up as an intracellular lipid-based energy storage compound by numerous microorganisms. An indigenous Gram-positive bacterium isolated from fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) has known to potentially accumulate PHA. Various nutritional elements like carbon, nitrogen, phosphate and C/N ratio were optimized. The indigenous B.t.A102 strain grown in optimized RC medium yielded PHA of about 3.25g/L. The extracted polymer was characterized by NMR, GC-MS, X-ray diffraction and thermal analysis via TGA & DTA. The characterized PHA was used to prepare scaffold using the solvent casting method. The non-toxic nature of the composite material was evaluated on NIH/3T3 fibroblast cell lines using different staining (like Giemsa staining, AO/EB dual staining, neutral red staining) techniques and cell viability assay. This paper dealt with the optimization of the media components that increase PHA production and primary in vitro testing for its possible application as wound dressing materials.

Enhanced production of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) biopolymer by recombinant Bacillus megaterium in fed-batch bioreactors.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biodegradable polyesters accumulated in a wide variety of microorganisms as intracellular carbon and energy storage compounds. Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) is one of the most valuable biopolymers because of its superior mechanical properties. Here, we developed a bioprocess utilizing recombinant Bacillus megaterium strain for PHBV over-production from glucose, without any precursor addition. PHA production was performed in a controlled bioreactor by batch and fed-batch modes using wild-type B. megaterium and rec-B. megaterium cells overexpressing the native phaC gene. The effect of oxygen transfer rate on biomass formation and PHA accumulation was also investigated, under different dissolved oxygen levels. Structural and thermal properties of PHA were characterized by GC-FID, 1H-NMR, TGA and DSC analyses. Significantly, the copolymer produced from glucose as the carbon source in rec-B. megaterium was composed of 58mol% of 3-hydroxyvalerate monomers. After 66h, rec-B. megaterium cells in fed-batch fermentation with a pre-determined growth rate µ0 = 0.1h-1 produced the highest CDW (7.7g L-1) and PHA concentration (6.1g L-1). Moreover, an exponential glucose feeding profile resulted in 2.2-fold increase in PHA yield compared to batch cultivation. Overall, this study paves the way to an enhanced biopolymer production process in B. megaterium cells, where the highest product yield on cell was obtained as YP/X = 0.8gg-1.

Glycogen Metabolism Impairment via Single Gene Mutation in the glgBXCAP Operon Alters the Survival Rate of Escherichia coli Under Various Environmental Stresses.

Glycogen is a highly branched polysaccharide that is widely present in all life domains. It has been identified in many bacterial species and functions as an important energy storage compound. In addition, it plays important roles in bacterial transmission, pathogenicity, and environmental viability. There are five essential enzymes (coding genes) directly involved in bacterial glycogen metabolism, which forms a single operon glgBXCAP with a suboperonic promoter in glgC gene in Escherichia coli. Currently, there is no comparative study of how the disruptions of the five glycogen metabolism genes influence bacterial phenotypes, such as growth rate, biofilm formation, and environmental survival, etc. In this study, we systematically and comparatively studied five E. coli single-gene mutants (ΔglgC, ΔglgA, ΔglgB, ΔglgP, ΔglgX) in terms of glycogen metabolism and explored their phenotype changes with a focus on environmental stress endurance, such as nutrient deprivation, low temperature, desiccation, and oxidation, etc. Biofilm formation in wild-type and mutant strains was also compared. E. coli wild-type stores the highest glycogen content after around 20-h culture while disruption of degradation genes (glgP, glgX) leads to continuous accumulation of glycogen. However, glycogen primary structure was abnormally changed in ΔglgP and ΔglgX. Meanwhile, increased accumulation of glycogen facilitates the growth of E. coli mutants but reduces glucose consumption in liquid culture and vice versa. Glycogen metabolism disruption also significantly and consistently increases biofilm formation in all the mutants. As for environmental stress endurance, glycogen over-accumulating mutants have enhanced starvation viability and reduced desiccation viability while all mutants showed decreased survival rate at low temperature. No consistent results were found for oxidative stress resistance in terms of glycogen metabolism disruptions, though ΔglgA shows highest resistance toward oxidation with unknown mechanisms. In sum, single gene disruptions in glgBXCAP operon significantly influence bacterial growth and glucose consumption during culture. Accumulation and structure of intracellular glycogen were also significantly altered. In addition, we observed significant changes in E. coli environmental viabilities due to the deletions of certain genes in the operon. Further investigations shall be focused on the molecular mechanisms behind these phenotype changes.