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Rational design of heterostructures opens up new opportunities as an ideal catalyst system for lithium polysulfides conversion in lithium-sulfur battery. However, its traditional fabrication process is complex, which makes it difficult to reasonably control the content and distribution of each component. In this work, to rationally design the heterostructure, the atomic layer deposition is utilized to hybridize the TiO 2 -TiN heterostructure with the three-dimensional carbon nanotube sponge. Through optimizing the deposited thickness of TiO 2 and TiN layers and adopting the annealing post-treatment, the derived coaxial sponge with uniform TiN-TiO 2 heterostructure exhibits the best catalytic ability. The corresponding lithium-sulfur battery shows enhanced electrochemical performance with high specific capacity of 1289 mAh g −1 at 1 C and capacity retention of 85% after 500 cycles at 2 C. Furthermore, benefiting from the highly porous structure and interconnected conductive pathways from the sponge, its areal capacity reaches up to 21.5 mAh cm −2 . It is challenging to optimize catalytic heterostructures for lithium sulfur (Li-S) batteries. Here, authors prepare nanometer-scale TiN-TiO 2 heterostructures via atomic layer deposition on carbon nanotube sponge to realize stable Li-S batteries with high areal capacity and improved rate capability.

HighlightsHigh-quality large-area SnO2 films are fabricated by chemical bath deposition with the addition of KMnO4.The presence of K and Mn ions can improve both the crystallinity and the phase stability of perovskites and reduce hysteresis of devices simultaneously.Perovskite solar modules (22.4 and 91.8 cm2) are demonstrated with active area efficiencies of 17.26% and 13.72%, respectively, and the 22.4 cm2 perovskite solar module exhibits a T80 operation lifetime exceeding 1000 h in ambient condition.Tin dioxide (SnO2) has been demonstrated as one of the promising electron transport layers for high-efficiency perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, scalable fabrication of SnO2 films with uniform coverage, desirable thickness and a low defect density in perovskite solar modules (PSMs) is still challenging. Here, we report preparation of high-quality large-area SnO2 films by chemical bath deposition (CBD) with the addition of KMnO4. The strong oxidizing nature of KMnO4 promotes the conversion from Sn(II) to Sn(VI), leading to reduced trap defects and a higher carrier mobility of SnO2. In addition, K ions diffuse into the perovskite film resulting in larger grain sizes, passivated grain boundaries, and reduced hysteresis of PSCs. Furthermore, Mn ion doping improves both the crystallinity and the phase stability of the perovskite film. Such a multifunctional interface engineering strategy enabled us to achieve a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 21.70% with less hysteresis for lab-scale PSCs. Using this method, we also fabricated 5 × 5 and 10 × 10 cm2 PSMs, which showed PCEs of 15.62% and 11.80% (active area PCEs are 17.26% and 13.72%), respectively. For the encapsulated 5 × 5 cm2 PSM, we obtained a T80 operation lifetime (the lifespan during which the solar module PCE drops to 80% of its initial value) exceeding 1000 h in ambient condition.

Solar energy is one of the most popular clean energy sources and is a promising alternative to fulfill the increasing energy demands of modem society. Solar cells have long been under intensive research attention for harvesting energy from sunlight with a high power-conversion efficiency and low cost. However, the power outputs of photovoltaic devices suffer from fluctuations due to the intermittent instinct of the solar radiation. Integrating solar cells and energy- storage devices as self-powering systems may solve this problem through the simultaneous storage of the electricity and manipulation of the energy output. This review the research progress in the integration of new-generation solar cells with supercapacitors, with emphasis on the structures, materials, performance, and new design features. The current challenges and future prospects are discussed with the aim of expanding research and development in this field.

Brown planthopper (BPH) is one of the most destructive insects affecting rice (Oryza sativa L.) production. Phenylalanine ammonialyase (PAL) is a key enzyme involved in plant defense against pathogens, but the role of PAL in insect resistance is still poorly understood. Here we show that expression of the majority of PALs in rice is significantly induced by BPH feeding. Knockdown of OsPALs significantly reduces BPH resistance, whereas overexpression of OsPAL8 in a susceptible rice cultivar significantly enhances its BPH resistance. We found that OsPALs mediate resistance to BPH by regulating the biosynthesis and accumulation of salicylic acid and lignin. Furthermore, we show that expression of OsPAL6 and OsPAL8 in response to BPH attack is directly up-regulated by OsMYB30, an R2R3 MYB transcription factor. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the phenylpropanoid pathway plays an important role in BPH resistance response, and provide valuable targets for genetic improvement of BPH resistance in rice.

While combinatorial deposition techniques have accelerated the screening and understanding of materials, the creation of multi-material integration and gradient libraries is limited by mixing and distribution challenges. Here we show arbitrarily formable 3D-printable precursor materials, which are precisely formulated with their compositions by high-throughput techniques to achieve multiple degrees of freedom, efficiently realizing multi-scale, multi-component, and high-throughput printing. Meanwhile, a highly adaptive self-propagating-energy deposition technique based on a redox reaction between the precursors has been established, reducing the dependence on specific equipment and processes. We have realized printing strategies for multiple copper-based composites and multicomponent gradient materials, making possible multiple metallic and nonmetallic compounds as well as multigradient materials with multiple compositions and structures with simultaneous gradient properties. Multi-gradient materials are able to be printed synchronously during the printing process, avoiding structural defects such as thermal accumulation and cracks through thermal stacking between gradients, which cannot be obtained by conventional manufacturing methods. Through the additive deposition of self-propagating energy/materials multi-gradient materials can be co-deposited during the 3D printing process, avoiding structural defects such as thermal accumulation and interface cracks common in gradient structures.

Runs of homozygosity (ROH) are continuous homozygous segments from the common ancestor of parents. Evaluating ROH pattern can help to understand inbreeding level and genetic basis of important traits. In this study, three representative cattle populations including Leiqiong cattle (LQC), Lufeng cattle (LFC) and Hainan cattle (HNC) were genotyped using the Illumina BovineHD SNPs array (770K) to assess ROH pattern at genome wide level. Totally, we identified 26,537 ROH with an average of 153 ROH per individual. The sizes of ROH ranged from 0.5 to 53.26Mb, and the average length was 1.03Mb. The average of F ROH ranged from 0.10 (LQC) to 0.15 (HNC). Moreover, we identified 34 ROH islands (with frequency > 0.5) across genome. Based on these regions, we observed several breed-specific candidate genes related to adaptive traits. Several common genes related to immunity (TMEM173 , MZB1 and SIL1 ), and heat stress ( DNAJC18 ) were identified in all three populations. Three genes related to immunity ( UGP2 ), development ( PURA ) and reproduction ( VPS54 ) were detected in both HNC and LQC. Notably, we identified several breed-specific genes related to sperm development ( BRDT and SPAG6 ) and heat stress ( TAF7 ) in HNC, and immunity ( CDC23 and NME5 ) and development ( WNT87 ) in LFC. Our findings provided valuable insights into understanding the genomic homozygosity pattern and promoting the conservation of genetic resources of Chinese indigenous cattle.

Porous graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) was prepared by dicyandiamide and urea via the pyrolysis method, which possessed enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic performance. Its surface area was increased from 17.12 to 48.00 m2/g. The porous structure not only enhanced the light capture capacity, but also accelerated the mass transfer ability. The Di (Dicyandiamide)/Ur (Urea) composite possessed better photocatalytic activity for Rhodamine B in visible light than that of g-C3N4. Moreover, the Di/Ur-4:5 composite showed the best photoactivity, which was almost 5.8 times that of g-C3N4. The enhanced photocatalytic activity showed that holes and superoxide radical played a key role in the process of photodegradation, which was ascribed to the enhanced separation of photogenerated carriers. The efficient separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs may be owing to the higher surface area, O dopant, and pore volumes, which can not only improve the trapping opportunities of charge carriers but also the retarded charge carrier recombination. Therefore, it is expected that the composite would be a promising candidate material for organic pollutant degradation.

Organic solar cells (OSCs) have gained a rapid development in the past two decades and the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of single-junction OSC has recently approached 20%. The novel materials and device engineering are two key factors of this evolution. In this review, the device engineering, including morphology characterization and optimization, device physics, flexible and large-area OSCs, and stability of OSCs are systematically summarized. In addition, the current challenges, problems and future developments are also discussed.

BackgroundThe mechanism by which proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) alter gut microbiota remains to be elucidated. We aimed to learn whether PPI induced gut microbiota alterations by promoting oral microbial translocation.MethodsHealthy adult volunteers were randomly assigned: PP group (n=8, 40 mg esomeprazole daily for seven days) and PM group (n=8, 40 mg esomeprazole along with chlorhexidine mouthwash after each meal for seven days). Fecal and saliva samples were analysed using 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing. Mouse models were introduced to confirm the findings in vivo, while the effect of pH on oral bacteria proliferation activity was investigated in vitro.ResultsTaxon-based analysis indicated that PPI administration increased Streptococcus abundance in gut microbiota (P<0.001), and the increased species of Streptococcus were found to be from the oral site or oral/nasal sites, in which Streptococcus anginosus was identified as the significantly changed species (P<0.004). Microbial source tracker revealed that PPI significantly increased the contribution of oral bacteria to gut microbiota (P=0.026), and no significant difference was found in PM group (P=0.467). Compared to the baseline, there was a 42-fold increase in gut abundance of Streptococcus anginosus in PP group (P=0.002), and the times decreased to 16-fold in PM group (P=0.029). Mouse models showed that combination of PPI and Streptococcus anginosus significantly increased the gut abundance of Streptococcus anginosus compared with using PPI or Streptococcus anginosus only. Furthermore, Streptococcus anginosus cannot survive in vitro at a pH lower than 5.ConclusionsPPIs altered gut microbiota by promoting oral-originated Streptococcus translocation into gut.