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Gaseous pollutants at the ground level seriously threaten the urban air quality environment and public health. There are few estimates of gaseous pollutants that are spatially and temporally resolved and continuous across China. This study takes advantage of big data and artificial-intelligence technologies to generate seamless daily maps of three major ambient pollutant gases, i.e., NO2, SO2, and CO, across China from 2013 to 2020 at a uniform spatial resolution of 10 km. Cross-validation between our estimates and ground observations illustrated a high data quality on a daily basis for surface NO2, SO2, and CO concentrations, with mean coefficients of determination (root-mean-square errors) of 0.84 (7.99 µg m−3), 0.84 (10.7 µg m−3), and 0.80 (0.29 mg m−3), respectively. We found that the COVID-19 lockdown had sustained impacts on gaseous pollutants, where surface CO recovered to its normal level in China on around the 34th day after the Lunar New Year, while surface SO2 and NO2 rebounded more than 2 times slower due to more CO emissions from residents' increased indoor cooking and atmospheric oxidation capacity. Surface NO2, SO2, and CO reached their peak annual concentrations of 21.3 ± 8.8 µg m−3, 23.1 ± 13.3 µg m−3, and 1.01 ± 0.29 mg m−3 in 2013, then continuously declined over time by 12 %, 55 %, and 17 %, respectively, until 2020. The declining rates were more prominent from 2013 to 2017 due to the sharper reductions in anthropogenic emissions but have slowed down in recent years. Nevertheless, people still suffer from high-frequency risk exposure to surface NO2 in eastern China, while surface SO2 and CO have almost reached the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended short-term air quality guidelines (AQG) level since 2018, benefiting from the implemented stricter “ultra-low” emission standards. This reconstructed dataset of surface gaseous pollutants will benefit future (especially short-term) air pollution and environmental health-related studies.

Fatty acid oxidation (FAO) dysfunction is one of the important mechanisms of renal fibrosis. Sirtuin 3 (Sirt3) has been confirmed to alleviate acute kidney injury (AKI) by improving mitochondrial function and participate in the regulation of FAO in other disease models. However, it is not clear whether Sirt3 is involved in regulating FAO to improve the prognosis of AKI induced by cisplatin. Here, using a murine model of cisplatin‐induced AKI, we revealed that there were significantly FAO dysfunction and extensive lipid deposition in the mice with AKI. Metabolomics analysis suggested reprogrammed energy metabolism and decreased ATP production. In addition, fatty acid deposition can increase reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and induce apoptosis. Our data suggested that Sirt3 deletion aggravated FAO dysfunction, resulting in increased apoptosis of kidney tissues and aggravated renal injury. The activation of Sirt3 by honokiol could improve FAO and renal function and reduced fatty acid deposition in wide‐type mice, but not Sirt3‐defective mice. We concluded that Sirt3 may regulate FAO by deacetylating liver kinase B1 and activating AMP‐activated protein kinase. Also, the activation of Sirt3 by honokiol increased ATP production as well as reduced ROS and lipid peroxidation through improving mitochondrial function. Collectively, these results provide new evidence that Sirt3 is protective against AKI. Enhancing Sirt3 to improve FAO may be a potential strategy to prevent kidney injury in the future.

Flexible perovskite solar cells (FPSCs) with high stability in moist air are required for their practical applications. However, the poor mechanical stability under high humidity air remains a critical challenge for flexible perovskite devices. Herein, inspired by the exceptional wet adhesion of mussels via dopamine groups, we propose a multidentate-cross-linking strategy, which combine multibranched structure and adequate dopamine anchor sites in three-dimensional hyperbranched polymer to directly chelate perovskite materials in multiple directions, therefore construct a vertical scaffold across the bulk of perovskite films from the bottom to the top interfaces, intimately bind to the perovskite grains and substrates with a strong adhesion ability, and enhance mechanical durability under high humidity. Consequently, the modified rigid PSCs achieve superior PCE up to 25.92%, while flexible PSCs exhibit a PCE of 24.43% and maintain 94.1% of initial PCE after 10,000 bending cycles with a bending radius of 3 mm under exposed to 65% humidity. Poor mechanical stability under high humidity remains a critical challenge for flexible perovskite solar cells. Here, the authors develop a bioinspired dopamine containing polymer to enhance adhesion in humid environments, achieving an efficiency of nearly 26%.

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are multilayer structures. The interface between electron transport layer and perovskite is the mechanical weakest point in flexible PSCs due to its low fracture energy. Herein, we develop a highly adhesive polyamide-amine-based hyperbranched polymers to reinforce the interface. The interface fracture energy is improved from 1.08 to 2.13 J·m −2 by the hyperbranched polymers with adhesive groups and dynamic hydrogen bond networks. The polymer functionalized perovskite solar cells achieve superior power conversion efficiencies of 25.05% and 23.86% for rigid and flexible devices, respectively. Furthermore, the hyperbranched polymer contains abundant intramolecular cavities that can capture Pb 2+ . Pb leakage after solar cell damage is effectively suppressed. Our findings provide insights on designing adhesive interface layers towards high-efficiency, mechanical-stable and environment-friendly flexible perovskite solar cells. The low adhesive fracture energy of electron transport layer/perovskite interface makes it prone to delamination under mechanical stress. Here, authors develop polyamide-amine-based hyperbranched polymer to provide strong adhesion, leading to device efficiency of over 25% for perovskite solar cells.

The CO 2 concentration at ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) is crucial to improve photosynthetic efficiency for biomass yield. However, how to concentrate and transport atmospheric CO 2 towards the Rubisco carboxylation is a big challenge. Herein, we report the self-assembly of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) on the surface of the green alga Chlorella pyrenoidosa that can greatly enhance the photosynthetic carbon fixation. The chemical CO 2 concentrating approach improves the apparent photo conversion efficiency to about 1.9 folds, which is up to 9.8% in ambient air from an intrinsic 5.1%. We find that the efficient carbon fixation lies in the conversion of the captured CO 2 to the transportable HCO 3 − species at bio-organic interface. This work demonstrates a chemical approach of concentrating atmospheric CO 2 for enhancing biomass yield of photosynthesis. Concentrating CO 2 around Rubisco is critical to improve photosynthetic efficiency for biomass yield. Here, the authors report the self-assembly of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) on the surface of green alga Chlorella pyrenoidosa to enhance the photosynthetic carbon fixation.

Atomic-level coordination engineering is an efficient strategy for tuning the catalytic performance of single-atom catalysts (SACs). However, their rational design has so far been plagued by the lack of a universal correlation between the coordination symmetry and catalytic properties. Herein, we synthesised planar-symmetry-broken CuN 3 (PSB-CuN 3 ) SACs through microwave heating for electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction. Remarkably, the as-prepared catalysts exhibited a selectivity of 94.3% towards formate at −0.73 V vs. RHE, surpassing the symmetrical CuN 4 catalyst (72.4% at −0.93 V vs. RHE). In a flow cell equipped with a PSB-CuN 3 electrode, over 90% formate selectivity was maintained at an average current density of 94.4 mA cm −2 during 100 h operation. By combining definitive structural identification with operando X-ray spectroscopy and theoretical calculations, we revealed that the intrinsic local symmetry breaking from planar D 4 h configuration induces an unconventional dsp hybridisation, and thus a strong correlation between the catalytic activity and microenvironment of metal centre (i.e., coordination number and distortion), with high preference for formate production in CuN 3 moiety. The finding opens an avenue for designing efficient SACs with specific local symmetries for selective electrocatalysis. Atomic-level coordination influences the properties of single-atom-catalysts but is difficult to precisely engineer. Here, authors study the role of local symmetry manipulation, finding planar-symmetry-broken CuN 3 catalysts outperform highly symmetrical CuN 4 for CO 2 electroreduction to formic acid.

Combinatorial optimization problems are prevalent in various fields, but obtaining exact solutions remains challenging due to the combinatorial explosion with increasing problem size. Special-purpose hardware such as Ising machines, particularly memristor-based analog Ising machines, have emerged as promising solutions. However, existing simulate-annealing-based implementations have not fully exploited the inherent parallelism and analog storage/processing features of memristor crossbar arrays. This work proposes a quantum-inspired parallel annealing method that enables full parallelism and improves solution quality, resulting in significant speed and energy improvement when implemented in analog memristor crossbars. We experimentally solved tasks, including unweighted and weighted Max-Cut and traveling salesman problem, using our integrated memristor chip. The quantum-inspired parallel annealing method implemented in memristor-based hardware has demonstrated significant improvements in time- and energy-efficiency compared to previously reported simulated annealing and Ising machine implemented on other technologies. This is because our approach effectively exploits the natural parallelism, analog conductance states, and all-to-all connection provided by memristor technology, promising its potential for solving complex optimization problems with greater efficiency. Combinatorial optimization problems have various important applications but are notoriously difficult to solve. Here, the authors propose a quantum inspired algorithm and apply it to classical analog memristor hardware, demonstrating an efficient solution for intricate problems.

Bismuth vanadate (BiVO 4 ) has been widely investigated as a photocatalyst or photoanode for solar water splitting, but its activity is hindered by inefficient cocatalysts and limited understanding of the underlying mechanism. Here we demonstrate significantly enhanced water oxidation on the particulate BiVO 4 photocatalyst via in situ facet-selective photodeposition of dual-cocatalysts that exist separately as metallic Ir nanoparticles and nanocomposite of FeOOH and CoOOH (denoted as FeCoO x ), as revealed by advanced techniques. The mechanism of water oxidation promoted by the dual-cocatalysts is experimentally and theoretically unraveled, and mainly ascribed to the synergistic effect of the spatially separated dual-cocatalysts (Ir, FeCoO x ) on both interface charge separation and surface catalysis. Combined with the H 2 -evolving photocatalysts, we finally construct a Z-scheme overall water splitting system using [Fe(CN) 6 ] 3−/4− as the redox mediator, whose apparent quantum efficiency at 420 nm and solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency are optimized to be 12.3% and 0.6%, respectively. Artificial photosynthesis offers an integrated means to convert light to fuel, but efficiencies are often low. Here, authors report a Z-scheme system utilizing Ir and FeCoO x co-catalysts to enhance charge separation on BiVO 4 facets that achieves high quantum efficiencies for overall water splitting.

We investigated the electron-pairing mechanism in an iron-based superconductor, iron selenide (FeSe), using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. Tunneling conductance spectra of stoichiometric FeSe crystalline films in their superconducting state revealed evidence for a gap function with nodal lines. Electron pairing with twofold symmetry was demonstrated by direct imaging of quasiparticle excitations in the vicinity of magnetic vortex cores, Fe adatoms, and Se vacancies. The twofold pairing symmetry was further supported by the observation of striped electronic nanostructures in the slightly Se-doped samples. The anisotropy can be explained in terms of the orbital-dependent reconstruction of electronic structure in FeSe.

Charge separation is crucial for increasing the activity of semiconductor-based photocatalysts, especially in water splitting reactions. Here we show, using monoclinic bismuth vanadate crystal as a model photocatalyst, that efficient charge separation can be achieved on different crystal facets, as evidenced by the reduction reaction with photogenerated electrons and oxidation reaction with photogenerated holes, which take place separately on the {010} and {110} facets under photo-irradiation. Based on this finding, the reduction and oxidation cocatalysts are selectively deposited on the {010} and {110} facets respectively, resulting in much higher activity in both photocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic water oxidation reactions, compared with the photocatalyst with randomly distributed cocatalysts. These results show that the photogenrated electrons and holes can be separated between the different facets of semiconductor crystals. This finding may be useful in semiconductor physics and chemistry to construct highly efficient solar energy conversion systems. Charge separation determines the efficiency of semiconductor-based photocatalysts. Here Li et al . show that, in BiVO4, photogenerated electrons and holes accumulate on different crystal facets and the targeted deposition of cocatalysts increases the efficiency of photocatalytic water oxidation.