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1. Potential dependent degradation of spinel LiMn ₂ O ₄ (LMO) and related structures assessed via manganese- and oxygen-sensitive scanning electrochemical microscopy

   https://doi.org/10.1039/D4TA08967G  

   Kim, Dong Ok; Mishra, Abhiroop; Zorigt, Michelle; Li, Yichen; Haasch, Richard T; Rodríguez-López, Joaquín (April 2025, Journal of Materials Chemistry A)

   Small electrodes capable of detecting Mn dissolution and oxygen evolution are placed near operating Mn-based lithium-ion battery cathodes to track their degradation, informing on mechanism and revealing how additives might help decrease degradation. 

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2. Ti3C2Tx MXene-Based Hybrid Photocatalysts in Organic Dye Degradation: A Review

   https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules30071463  

   Seling, Tank R; Songsart-Power, Mackenzie; Shringi, Amit Kumar; Paudyal, Janak; Yan, Fei; Limbu, Tej B (April 2025, Molecules)

   This review provides an overview of the fabrication methods for Ti3C2Tx MXene-based hybrid photocatalysts and evaluates their role in degrading organic dye pollutants. Ti3C2Tx MXene has emerged as a promising material for hybrid photocatalysts due to its high metallic conductivity, excellent hydrophilicity, strong molecular adsorption, and efficient charge transfer. These properties facilitate faster charge separation and minimize electron–hole recombination, leading to exceptional photodegradation performance, long-term stability, and significant attention in dye degradation applications. Ti3C2Tx MXene-based hybrid photocatalysts significantly improve dye degradation efficiency, as evidenced by higher percentage degradation and reduced degradation time compared to conventional semiconducting materials. This review also highlights computational techniques employed to assess and enhance the performance of Ti3C2Tx MXene-based hybrid photocatalysts for dye degradation. It identifies the challenges associated with Ti3C2Tx MXene-based hybrid photocatalyst research and proposes potential solutions, outlining future research directions to address these obstacles effectively. 

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3. Catalytic Degradation of Organic Dyes Indicates Anti-Proliferative Effects of Magnetoelectric Nanoparticles

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-025-11843-5  

   Shotbolt, Max; Zhu, Emily; Andre, Victoria; Zhang, Elric; Duran, Isabelle; Bryant, John; El-Rifai, Wael; Liang, Ping; Khizroev, Sakhrat (July 2025, Journal of Electronic Materials)

   Abstract Over the past decade, magnetoelectric nanoparticles (MENPs) have proven effective in generating local electric fields in response to stimulation with a magnetic field. The applications of such nanoparticles are many and varied, with examples of prior research including use for on-demand drug release, wireless modulation and recording of neural activity, and organic dye degradation. This study investigates the potential for organic dye degradation to be used as a rapid and efficient screening tool to detect the magnetoelectric effect of MENPs, and how the results of such a test mirror the antiproliferative effect of said nanoparticles. Trypan blue was selected as an azo dye to test for dye degradation. Vials of the dye were treated with CoFe2O4@BaTiO3 core-shell MENPs of varying characteristics, both with and without concurrent 1-kHz 250-Oe magnetic stimulation. Dye degradation was measured using ultraviolet (UV)-vis spectroscopy. Dye degradation efficacy varied with varying nanoparticle synthesis parameters. As controls, nanoparticles of the same composition, but with an insignificant magnetoelectric effect, were used. SKOV-3 ovarian cancer cells were then treated with the same nanoparticles, and viability was measured with an adenosine triphosphate (ATP) assay. These measurements show a decrease in cell viability up to 60.3% of control (p = 0.0052), which mirrored the efficacy of dye degradation of up to 69.8% (p = 0.0037) in each of the particle variants, demonstrating the value of azo dye degradation as a simple screening test for MENPs, and showing the potential of MENPs used as wirelessly controlled nanodevices to allow targeted electric field-based treatments. 

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4. Analyzing the inelastic response of wind-excited steel tall buildings through a reduced-order model incorporating strength and stiffness degradation along with P-Delta effects

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2024.119268  

   Huang, Jinghui; Chen, Xinzhong (January 2025, Engineering Structures)

   When wind-excited tall buildings undergo vibrations beyond their linear elastic range, it becomes imperative to account for both strength and stiffness degradation and P-Delta effects. This study investigates the influence of the degradation and P-Delta effects on the inelastic response of wind-excited tall buildings through a reduced-order building model, wherein the alongwind and crosswind building responses are presumed to be contributed by the fundamental modes. The backbone curves of the hysteretic relationships between the generalized restoring forces and displacements are developed through monotonic static modal pushover analysis utilizing a high-fidelity finite element building model with consideration of P-Delta effect. A cyclic modal pushover analysis is performed to ascertain the degradation of generalized building stiffness and strength in both translation directions, stemming from the deterioration of steel material in stiffness and strength. Subsequently, a biaxial hysteretic force model is employed to depict the hysteretic relationships between generalized forces and displacements, factoring in degradation and P-Delta effects. The inelastic response of a 60-story steel building subjected to both alongwind and crosswind load excitations is quantified through response history analysis to assess the accuracy of the reduced-order building model and to evaluate the influence of degradation of material strength and pre-yield stiffness and P-Delta effects on various responses. 

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5. A meta‐analysis exploring associations between habitat degradation and Neotropical bat virus prevalence and seroprevalence

   https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.07041  

   Heckley, Alexis M; Lock, Lauren R; Becker, Daniel J (December 2023, Ecography)

   Habitat degradation can increase zoonotic disease risks by altering infection dynamics in wildlife and increasing wildlife–human interactions. Bats are an important taxonomic group to consider these effects, because they harbour many relevant zoonotic viruses and have species‐ and context‐dependent responses to degradation that could affect zoonotic virus dynamics. Yet our understanding of the associations between habitat degradation and bat virus prevalence and seroprevalence are limited to a small number of studies, which often differ in the bats or viruses sampled, the study region, and methodology. To develop a broad understanding of the associations between bat viruses and habitat degradation, we conducted an initial phylogenetic meta‐analysis that combines published prevalence and seroprevalence (‘(sero)prevalence') with remote‐sensing habitat degradation data. Our dataset includes 588 unique records of (sero)prevalence across 16 studies, 64 bat species, and five virus families. We quantified the overall strength and direction of the relationship between habitat degradation and bat virus outcomes and tested how this relationship is moderated by the time between habitat degradation and bat sampling and by ecological traits of bat hosts while controlling for phylogenetic non‐independence among bat species. We found no effect of degradation on prevalence overall, although a weak effect may exist when forest loss occurs the year prior to bat sampling. In contrast, we detected a negative but weak association between degradation and seroprevalence overall that was strengthened when forest loss occurred the year prior to bat sampling. No bat traits that we investigated interacted with habitat degradation to impact virus outcomes, suggesting observed trends are independent of these traits. Biases in our initial dataset highlight opportunities for future work; prevalence was highly zero‐inflated, and seroprevalence was dominated byDesmodus rotundusand rabies virus. These findings and subsequent analyses will improve our understanding of how global change affects host–pathogen dynamics. 

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