ACS Omega Monthly Update - March 2021
What's New

Open Access Energy Virtual Issue
Open Access Energy Virtual Issue Published
We are pleased to announce that the Open Access Energy Virtual Issue, produced in collaboration with ACS Applied Energy Materials, ACS Energy Letters and Energy & Fuels, is now available online. Along with an excellent collection of energy-focused open-access articles, letters, reviews and perspectives published in the respective journals, this Virtual Issue also features an Editorial in which energy research at ACS in the age of open access is discussed. 
Prof. Luisa Torsi
Prof. Luisa Torsi Awarded Wilhelm Exner Medal
We are excited to announce that our Associate Editor, Prof. Luisa Torsi, will be awarded the Wilhelm Exner Medal 2021 as recognition of her pioneering role in organic bioelectronics. Many congratulations, Luisa!
Read more here
ACS Omega - In The News

Scientists have developed vaccines for COVID-19 with record speed. The first two vaccines widely distributed in the U.S. are mRNA-based and require ultracold storage (-70°C for one and -20°C for another). Now, researchers reporting in ACS Omega have developed a tamper-proof temperature indicator that can alert health care workers when a vial of vaccine reaches an unsafe temperature for a certain period, which could help ensure and maintain distribution of effective mRNA vaccines.
Read more at Phys.org

Sung Yeon Hwang*, Dongyeop X. Oh*, Jeyoung Park* et al, Tamper-Proof Time-Temperature Indicator for Inspecting Ultracold Supply Chain, ACS Omega (2021). DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.1c00404
Anyone who’s experienced a sharp swab up the nose and a tense, isolated wait for results will surely be interested in a pain-free COVID test with a speedy result delivered in minutes, not days. A new study led by University of Canterbury researchers at the Biomolecular Interaction Center, along with Callaghan Innovation’s Protein Science and Engineering team and MacDiarmid Institute researchers from Massey University, has shown it may be possible to detect COVID-19 in as little as five minutes thanks to a simple breath test. Read more at Phys.org

Tamsyn Stanborough*, Fiona Given*, Barbara Koch*, Campbell Sheen*, Andre Stowers-Hull*, Mark Waterland* and Deborah Crittenden*, Optical Detection of CoV-SARS-2 Viral Proteins to Sub-Picomolar Concentrations, ACS Omega (2021). DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.1c00008
An international Team of researchers has found that three commonly used antiviral and antimalarial drugs are effective in vitro at preventing replication of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The work also underscores the necessity of testing compounds against multiple cell lines to rule out false negative results. The team, which included researchers from North Carolina State University and Collaborations Pharmaceuticals, looked at three antiviral drugs proven to be effective against Ebola and the Marburg virus: tilorone, quinacrine and pyronaridine.
Read more at MedicalXPress.com

Water containing suspended nanobubbles is utilized in many biological and medical applications. Notable examples include the increase in the efficiency of drug or gene delivery in the presence of nanobubbles, in wastewater treatment, to promote the growth of animals and plants and as a cure for diseases caused by anaerobic bacteria. The observed timeline of suspended nanobubbles is up to several weeks, although the classical theory of bubble stability suggests that a nanosized bubble should dissolve within microseconds. This controversy between experiments and theory is known as the “Nanobubble Paradox”. Now, researchers from VTT Technical Research Center of Finland have solved this paradox. According to their thermodynamic analysis, nanoscale bubbles indeed dissolve rapidly, but when the bubble is sufficiently small already upon its formation, the dissolving process does not begin. This is because the energy required to create the supersaturation necessary to transfer gas from the bubble boundary to liquid is more than the corresponding reduction in surface energy of the bubble. Read more at Phys.org.

Vehmas et al, Metastable Nanobubbles, ACS Omega (2021).
Key Journal Metrics
  • The journal published 365 articles in March, for a total of 871 YTD.
  • Articles published by ACS Omega were downloaded 608,211 times in March, a new all-time monthly record for the journal.
Published Issues
Mar 2, 2021
Vol. 6, Issue 8

Mar 9, 2021
Vol. 6, Issue 9
Mar 16, 2021
Vol. 6, Issue 10
Mar 23, 2021
Vol. 6, Issue 11
Featured Articles

Gérard Liger-Belair* et al. How Many CO2 Bubbles in a Glass of Beer, ACS Omega (ASAP) DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.1c00256

Liger-Belair and co-workers at Université de Reims present the application of experimental and theoretical developments regarding the thermodynamic equilibrium of dissolved and gas-phase CO2 to the conditioning of a standard commercial lager beer. The total number of CO2 bubbles likely to form in a single glass of beer, along with the entire natural degassing process, was theoretically approached as a function of the various key parameters at play under tasting conditions and the results compared to previous data sets measured with commercial Champagne.

Kang and co-workers summarize current knowledge and underlying physicochemical processes of virus transmission, in particular via fomites, and common disinfection approaches. Gaps and areas of in need of further research are also identified. Focusing on SARS-CoV-2, the aim is to provide a broad survey of the issues involved in fomite transmission and intervention to a wide range of readers to better enable them to take on the open research challenges.

Engelmann, Szunerits and co-workers at Université de Lille attempt to provide answers over how strongly preanalytical issues affect RT-PCR results by reviewing the utility of different transport buffer media and virus inactivation procedures and drawing a comparison between the literature data with their own findings. It is hoped that this perspective will serve as a reference point for other researchers and practicing medics interested in COVID diagnostics and as a first step towards harmonization between clinical laboratories on correlation between Ct values and viral infectivity.

In this Mini-Review, Yeo and co-workers at Georgia Institute of Technology provide an overview of the various constraints regarding the design of screen-print inks and a recent attempt to overcome them. The team explain the fluid dynamics that govern screen printing, deduce optimal rheological properties and then describe how the various agents are combined to produce high-performance inks. Finally, a range of applications and future opportunities are discussed.
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