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Developing a feasible and efficient separation membrane for the purification of emulsified oily wastewater is challenging due to the critical limitations of serious fouling during membrane preparation. Herein, underwater superoleophobic paper-based materials with high wet strength were prepared by low cost and green papermaking technology. The fibrillation of cellulose fibers was achieved by beating to optimize the pore structure of paper sheets. Simple modification of paper sheets with 1,2,3,4-butanetetracarboxylic acid significantly improves the surface hydrophilicity and the wet strength through the crosslinking reaction between fibers. The maximum underwater oil contact angle and wet strength of the modified paper sheets are high up to 167.8°and 36.5 N·m/g, respectively. The water flux can be adjusted in the range of 25.8 L m−2 h−1–4920 L m−2 h−1 by controlling the average pore size from 6.64 μm to 18.9 μm. Lower pore size and higher carboxyl content of the paper-based materials are beneficial to improve the oil rejection, which can reach more than 99.3% even for submicron emulsified oils. Most of the paper sheets achieve efficient oil–water separation although the average pore size is remarkably larger than the emulsified oil droplet. The reason can be attributed to the zigzag pore structure of paper sheets, which is favorable to form liquid bridge on the surface as well as collision demulsification in the Z-direction channel, thereby promoting the mechanical interception effects. The low-cost, eco-friendly, easily-manufactured and highly efficient paper-based separation materials possess wide applications in oily wastewater treatment.

All-cellulose paper-based composites with underwater superoleophobicity and high-wet-strength were developed by casting a barrier layer of bacterial cellulose (BC) on a filter paper substrate. To optimize the pore structure of barrier layer, slow gel process of BC dispersion was conducted via acidification and solvent exchange. 1,2,3,4-butanetetracarboxylic acid was used to improve the wet strength and surface hydrophilicity through the crosslinking reaction between fibers. The underwater oil contact angles are higher than 150° in neutral environment, and slightly decrease under acid and alkali conditions. Combined with the micron-sized pore structure of BC barrier layer, the composite papers show good separation performance of oil-in-water emulsion. A denser BC layer can significantly improve the separation efficiency, but also lead to the reduction of flux. During the gelation of BC barrier layer, the increase in the ethanol/water ratio of the dispersion medium is able to increase the flux without obvious negative impact on the separation efficiency. When the ethanol/water ratio is 80%, the separation efficiency and water flux reach 99.2% and 1320 L m−2 h−1·bar−1 for the emulsified soybean oil with the average size of 13 μm, respectively. This type of all-cellulose composite papers provides a new idea for the fabrication of membrane materials for oil–water separation.

Highlights A smart all-cellulose Janus fabric was designed for personal moisture/thermal management. The fabric can dynamically and continuously control the liquid transportation time in response to the temperature. The fabric can accelerate the heat dissipation rate at high temperatures, while slow it down at low temperatures. The Janus fabrics designed for personal moisture/thermal regulation have garnered significant attention for their potential to enhance human comfort. However, the development of smart and dynamic fabrics capable of managing personal moisture/thermal comfort in response to changing external environments remains a challenge. Herein, a smart cellulose-based Janus fabric was designed to dynamically manage personal moisture/heat. The cotton fabric was grafted with N-isopropylacrylamide to construct a temperature-stimulated transport channel. Subsequently, hydrophobic ethyl cellulose and hydrophilic cellulose nanofiber were sprayed on the bottom and top sides of the fabric to obtain wettability gradient. The fabric exhibits anti-gravity directional liquid transportation from hydrophobic side to hydrophilic side, and can dynamically and continuously control the transportation time in a wide range of 3–66 s as the temperature increases from 10 to 40 °C. This smart fabric can quickly dissipate heat at high temperatures, while at low temperatures, it can slow down the heat dissipation rate and prevent the human from becoming too cold. In addition, the fabric has UV shielding and photodynamic antibacterial properties through depositing graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets on the hydrophilic side. This smart fabric offers an innovative approach to maximizing personal comfort in environments with significant temperature variations.

Since oily wastewater has serious harm to the environment and human health, a green paper-based material with underwater superoleophobicity, high wet strength and high flux was developed for the efficient oil–water emulsion separation. A series of key steps, including fiber beating, citric acid (CA) crosslinking, and dielectric barrier discharges (DBD) plasma treatment, were successfully adopted to control the pore size in micron scale, enhance the wet strength, and improve the underwater superoleophobicity, respectively. Moreover, DBD plasma treatment led to a significant increase in the porosity while maintaining the pore size, which is beneficial to improve the flux with high separation efficiency. The maximum porosity and flux can reach 59.7% and 106 L/m2∙h, respectively. The separation efficiency of emulsified oil is high up to 99.60% even when the average droplet size is as low as 0.98 µm. This high-efficiency, low-cost, environmentally-friendly, and recyclable paper-based separation material possesses potential applications in oily wastewater treatment.

COG5, a subunit of the conserved oligomeric Golgi (COG) complex, plays a critical role in retrograde trafficking within the Golgi apparatus. Dysfunction of COG5 is associated with various human disorders, yet the underlying pathogenic mechanisms remain poorly understood. To investigate the mechanisms, we conducted proteomic analyses using COG5-deficient and rescue cell models, which revealed a potential link between COG5 dysfunction and mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) deficiency. Using COG5-deficient cell models and patient-derived cells harboring COG5 variants, we biochemically validated the involvement of COG5 in mitochondrial OXPHOS, particularly in the regulation of complex I content. These models also exhibited elevated cellular copper levels. Notably, the significant reduction in OXPHOS complexes could be rescued by either restoring COG5 expression or administering a copper chelator. We further demonstrated that excessive cellular copper disrupts the function of mitochondrial iron-sulfur clusters, potentially leading to complex I assembly defects. Additionally, we identified a patient with biallelic COG5 variants presenting with a distinct subtype of mitochondrial disease (Leigh syndrome), a phenotype not previously associated with COG5-related disorders. These findings provide novel mechanistic insights into the role of COG5, extending beyond its established function in Golgi-mediated glycosylation modifications. Our results underscore the importance of COG5 in mitochondrial function through a copper-dependent pathway, offering new perspectives on its contribution to cellular homeostasis and disease pathogenesis.

Straw return has been widely recognized as an important carbon (C) enhancement measure in agroecosystems, but the C-phosphorus (P) interactions and their effects on plants in saline soils are still unclear. In this study, we investigated the effects of straw return and three P application levels, no P fertilizer (Non-P), a conventional application rate of P fertilizer (CP), and a high application rate of P fertilizer (HP), on maize growth and soil C and P fractions through a pot experiment. The results revealed that the dry matter weight of maize plant was no difference between the two straw return levels and was 15.36% higher under HP treatments than under Non-P treatments. Plant nutrient accumulations were enhanced by straw addition and increased with increasing P application rate. Straw application reduced the activities of peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, and the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in maize plants by 31.69%, 38.99%, 45.96% and 27.04%, respectively. P application decreased SOD, POD activities and MDA content in the absence of straw. The contents of easily oxidized organic carbon (EOC), particulate organic carbon (POC) and the ratio of POC/SOC in straw-added soils were 10.23%, 17.00% and 7.27% higher, respectively, than those in straw-absent soils. Compared with Non-P treatments, HP treatments led to an increase of 12.05%, 23.04% in EOC, POC contents respectively, while a decrease of 18.12% in the contribution of MAOC to the SOC pool. Straw return improved the P status of the saline soil by increasing soil available P (14.80%), organic P (35.91%) and Ca -P contents (4.68%). The structural equation model showed that straw and P applications could promote maize growth (indicated by dry matter weight, P accumulation, antioxidant enzyme activity and MDA content) through improving soil C and P availabilities. This study provides evidence that straw return together with adequate P supply in saline soil can promote crop nutrient accumulation, attenuate the oxidation damage on crop growth, and be beneficial for SOC turnover and soil P activation.

Pickering emulsion stabilized by lignin particles has many advantages such as high flexibility, natural non-toxicity, anti-oxidation, and anti-ultraviolet. In order to promote the application of industrial lignin in the field of Pickering emulsions, this study has done comparatively systematic and basic research on Pickering emulsions stabilized by lignin particles. The emulsification effects of lignin particles on cyclohexane and n-decanol which have opposite polarity were compared firstly under different oil-water ratios. It was found that stable emulsions formed when the three-phase contact angle of oil/water/lignin was closer to 90°. The weakly polar cyclohexane could be well-emulsified by lignin particles, while the strong polar n-decanol could not. Cyclohexane was used as the oil phase to discuss the emulsification ability of lignin particles under different concentrations or with different particle sizes. The results show increasing the concentration of lignin particles or reducing the particle size can improve the emulsification performance.

Soil salinisation is a key determinant in soil fertility decline, exerting a direct negative impact on soil organic carbon. In the context of global warming, investigating the response mechanisms of soil organic carbon pools with varying salinity levels to climate change is essential for accurately assessing the carbon cycle and emission potential of degraded soils. Based on soil samples (B1–B6) collected along a coastal salinity gradient, indoor incubation experiments were conducted at 15 °C and 25 °C to characterise soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity (Q10). Double-exponential models were used to simulate soil organic carbon (SOC) mineralisation, characterising active and stable organic carbon pools. The results demonstrated that the Q10 value of the stable organic carbon pool (7–8% of SOC mineralisation) was 103% higher than that of the active organic carbon pool (the initial 1% of SOC mineralisation). The Q10 value of the stable organic carbon pool was 32.6% higher at the high-salinity sites (B1, B2) than at the low-salinity sites (B4, B5). Soil organic carbon, total nitrogen (TN), and total salt (TS) were key regulators of Q10. The Q10 of the active organic carbon pool correlated positively with SOC and TN but negatively with TS, whereas the stable pool showed the opposite trends. The stable organic carbon pool exhibits a salinity-amplified Q10, implying that predictive models must account for this mechanism to avoid substantially underestimating carbon losses from degraded saline soils.

We propose an all-dielectric magnetic reflector in the terahertz (THz) band. The element structure of all-dielectric gratings is designed by finite integral method. The element structure is optimized using the parameter sweep method, and the reflection amplitude and the reflection phase of each cell structure have been optimized. Eight grating element structures with a phase interval of 45°and an overall phase covering 2π tuning range were optimized and designed at 0.27-THz center frequency. Their reflection coefficients are all above 0.6. By arranging the eight optimized elements, a device that can generate the deflection of the reflected beam with a deflection angle of 16° was constructed. Far-field scattering was obtained, and a reflecting lens was constructed on the basis of these eight grating elements. We further optimized the phase distribution of the cell structure, and arranged these cell structures with a more refined phase in order to construct a reflective focusing lens. Based on the generalized Snell’s law, we have calculated the deflection angle of the reflected beam and found that the theoretical calculation results are basically consistent with the numerical simulation results.

Electromagnetic metasurface is a synthetic surface composed of sub-wavelength unit particles, which can freely regulate the amplitude, phase, and polarization direction of electromagnetic waves. The optical properties of the metasurface can be dynamically adjusted by the phase change material. In this paper, phase change material of Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 (GST) is utilized to dynamically change the refractive index of the unit structure. Using the amorphous phase, semi-crystalline phase, and crystalline phase of GST material, we can construct three different coding unit particles. Based on the Pancharatnam-Berry phase principle, one can obtain the phase change by rotating different angles of the anisotropic element structure under the incident condition of circularly polarized light. In order to realize the free control of the beam in mid-infrared band, the Fourier convolution principle in digital signal processing is introduced, and the Fourier convolution addition or subtraction is carried out on different coded sequences to realize the free control of beam deflection direction. In other words, we combine physical encoded particles with digital encoded particles to construct a 3-bit encoded metasurface to regulate the scattering angle of the transmitted beam. We combine two kind of GST encoded particles in the same state but with different geometric parameters to form composite structure, and the metasurface in different crystal states produces different deflection effects to achieve tunable phase change encoded metasurface. The dynamic coded metasurface designed by us has a wide application prospect in communication, radar, antenna, and other fields.