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Generalized transverse momentum dependent parton distributions (GTMDs), as mother funtions of transverse momentum dependent parton distributions (TMDs) and generalized parton distributions (GPDs), encode the most general parton structure of hadrons. We calculate four twist-two time reversal odd GTMDs of pion in a scalar spectator model. We study the dependence of GTMDs on the longitudinal momentum fraction x carried by the active quark and the transverse momentum | k → T | for different values of skewness ξ defined as the longitudinal momentum transferred to the pion as well as the total momentum | Δ → T | transferred to the pion. In addition, the quasi-TMDs and quasi-GPDs of pion have also been investigated in this paper.

Topological insulators and semimetals are necessary to realize quantum computing and spintronics. We use first-principles calculations to investigate the atomic structure, electronic band structure, and Z2 invariants of four sets of pure and functionalized buckled hexagonal monolayers that are promising candidates for topological nature: BiAs, AsP, SbAs, BiSb, and functionalized monolayers BiAsX2, AsPX2, SbAsX2, and BiSbX2 (X = H, O, S). Our results show that BiAsO2, BiAsS2, AsPO2, SbAsO2, SbAsS2, BiSbH2, BiSbO2, and BiSbS2 are topological insulators with small SOC-induced band gaps ranging from 0.05 to 0.37 eV. Further, we propose AsPS2 to be a topological semiconductor. Topological insulators stand on the boundary of induction and conductance and are crucial in realizing quantum computers. The room-temperature topological insulators predicted here will have promising impacts in quantum computing, nanoelectronics, and spintronics.

While the anomalous Hall effect can manifest even without an external magnetic field, time reversal symmetry is nonetheless still broken by the internal magnetization of the sample. Recently, it has been shown that certain materials without an inversion center allow for a nonlinear type of anomalous Hall effect whilst retaining time reversal symmetry. The effect may arise from either Berry curvature or through various asymmetric scattering mechanisms. Here, we report the observation of an extremely large c -axis nonlinear anomalous Hall effect in the non-centrosymmetric T d phase of MoTe 2 and WTe 2 without intrinsic magnetic order. We find that the effect is dominated by skew-scattering at higher temperatures combined with another scattering process active at low temperatures. Application of higher bias yields an extremely large Hall ratio of E ⊥ / E ||  = 2.47 and corresponding anomalous Hall conductivity of order 8 × 10 7  S/m. Certain materials without inversion symmetry may allow for a nonlinear anomalous Hall effect with conserved time reversal symmetry. Here, the authors report an extremely large c -axis nonlinear anomalous Hall effect in the non-centrosymmetric T d phase of MoTe 2 and WTe 2 without intrinsic magnetic order that is dominated by extrinsic scattering.

AZ31 Mg alloy was processed by accumulative roll-bonding (ARB) and hot rolling (HR), respectively, followed by annealing. Layered bimodal structures characterized by an alternative distribution of fine-grained layers and coarse-grained layers were obtained in the ARB samples, while mixed bimodal structures were achieved in the HR samples. The ARB samples have superior combinations of high strength and good elongation compared to the HR samples, indicating a clear effect of layered bimodal structures on mechanical properties of the alloy. The strength of the ARB samples is related to the grain size; while the ductility is attributed to the activity of non-basal slip and the strong backstress.

Background The digital economy based on the internet and IT is developing rapidly in China, which makes a profound impact on urban environmental quality and residents’ health activities. Thus, this study introduces environmental pollution as a mediating variable based on Grossman’s health production function to explore the impact of digital economic development on the health of the population and its influence path. Methods Based on the panel data of 279 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2017, this paper investigates the acting mechanism of digital economic development on residents’ health by employing a combination of mediating effects model and spatial Durbin model. Results The development of digital economy makes direct improvement on residents’ health condition, which is also obtained indirectly by means of environmental pollution mitigation. Besides, from the perspective of spatial spillover effect, the development of digital economy also has a significant promoting effect on the health of adjacent urban residents, and further analysis reveals that the promoting effect in the central and western regions of China is more pronounced than that in the eastern region. Conclusions Digital economy can have a direct promoting effect on the health of residents, and environmental pollution has an intermediary effect between digital economy and residents’ health; At the same time, there is also a regional heterogeneity among the three relationships. Therefore, this paper believes that the government should continue to formulate and implement scientific digital economy development policies at the macro and micro levels to narrow the regional digital divide, improve environmental quality and enhance the health level of residents.

Uncontrollable zinc (Zn) plating and hydrogen evolution greatly undermine Zn anode reversibility. Previous electrolyte designs focus on suppressing H 2 O reactivity, however, the accumulation of alkaline byproducts during battery calendar aging and cycling still deteriorates the battery performance. Here, we present a direct strategy to tackle such problems using a strong Brønsted acid, bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (HTFSI), as the electrolyte additive. This approach reformulates battery interfacial chemistry on both electrodes, suppresses continuous corrosion reactions and promotes uniform Zn deposition. The enrichment of hydrophobic TFSI – anions at the Zn|electrolyte interface creates an H 2 O-deficient micro-environment, thus inhibiting Zn corrosion reactions and inducing a ZnS-rich interphase. This highly acidic electrolyte demonstrates high Zn plating/stripping Coulombic efficiency up to 99.7% at 1 mA cm –2 ( > 99.8% under higher current density and areal capacity). Additionally, Zn | |ZnV 6 O 9 full cells exhibit a high capacity retention of 76.8% after 2000 cycles. Trace amounts of strong acid can suppress Zn corrosion and promote uniform Zn deposition. Here, the authors use HTFSI to create a hydrophobic micro-environment at the Zn-electrolyte interface, enabling high efficiency and cycling stability.

Constructing an efficient photoelectron transfer channel to promote the charge carrier separation is a great challenge for enhancing photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from water. In this work, an ultrathin 2D/2D Ti3C2Tx/ZnIn2S4 heterostructure is rationally designed by coupling the ultrathin ZnIn2S4 with few‐layered Ti3C2Tx via the electrostatic self‐assembly strategy. The 2D/2D Ti3C2Tx/ZnIn2S4 heterostructure possesses larger contact area and strong electronic interaction to promote the charge carrier transfer at the interface, and the sulfur vacancy on the ZnIn2S4 acting as the electron trap further enhances the separation of the photoinduced electrons and holes. As a consequence, the optimal 2D/2D Ti3C2Tx/ZnIn2S4 composite exhibits a high photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate of 148.4 µmol h−1, which is 3.6 times and 9.2 times higher than that of ZnIn2S4 nanosheet and flower‐like ZnIn2S4, respectively. Moreover, the stability of the ZnIn2S4 is significantly improved after coupling with the few‐layered Ti3C2Tx. The characterizations and density functional theory calculation demonstrate that the synergistic effect of the sulfur vacancy and Ti3C2Tx cocatalyst can greatly promote the electrons transfer from ZnIn2S4 to Ti3C2Tx and the separation of photogenerated charge carriers, thus enhancing the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from water. 2D/2D Ti3C2Tx/ZnIn2S4 heterojunction is constructed to achieve high‐efficiency photocatalytic hydrogen evolution under visible light. The synergistic effect of sulfur vacancies and Ti3C2Tx cocatalyst promotes the efficient transfer of photogenerated electrons at the 2D/2D interface, thus greatly enhances the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance of 2D/2D Ti3C2Tx/ZnIn2S4 composites.

Although the single-impurity Kondo physics has already been well understood, the understanding of the Kondo lattice where a dense array of local moments couples to the conduction electrons is still far from complete. The ability of creating and tuning the Kondo lattice in non- f -electron systems will be great helpful for further understanding the Kondo lattice behavior. Here we show that the Pb intercalation in the charge-density-wave-driven narrow-electronic-band system 1 T -TaS 2 induces a transition from the insulating gap to a sharp Kondo resonance in the scanning tunneling microscopy measurements. It results from the Kondo screening of the localized moments in the 13-site Star-of-David clusters of 1 T -TaS 2 . As increasing the Pb concentration, the narrow electronic band derived from the localized electrons shifts away from the Fermi level and the Kondo resonance peak is gradually suppressed. Our results pave the way for creating and tuning many-body electronic states in layered narrow-electronic-band materials. Non f -electron systems containing narrow electronic band and localized moments are a useful platform to study the Kondo lattice problem. Here, by using scanning tunneling microscopy, the authors show a transition from the insulating gap to a tuneable Kondo resonance in 1 T -TaS 2 by Pb intercalation.

Owing to their synergistic interactions, dual-atom catalysts (DACs) with well-defined active sites are attracting increasing attention. However, more experimental research and theoretical investigations are needed to further construct explicit dual-atom sites and understand the synergy that facilitates multistep catalytic reactions. Herein, we precisely design a series of asymmetric selenium-based dual-atom catalysts that comprise heteronuclear SeN 2 –MN 2 (M = Fe, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Mo, etc.) active sites for the efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Spectroscopic characterisation and theoretical calculations revealed that heteronuclear selenium atoms can efficiently polarise the charge distribution of other metal atoms through short-range regulation. In addition, compared with the Se or Fe single-atom sites, the SeFe dual-atom sites facilitate a reduction in the conversion energy barrier from *O to *OH via the coadsorption of *O intermediates. Among these designed selenium-based dual-atom catalysts, selenium-iron dual-atom catalysts achieves superior alkaline ORR performance, with a half-wave potential of 0.926 V vs. a reversible hydrogen electrode. In addition, the SeN 2 –FeN 2 -based Zn–air battery has a high specific capacity (764.8 mAh g −1 ) and a maximum power density (287.2 mW cm −2 ). This work may provide a good perspective for designing heteronuclear DACs to improve ORR efficiency. Dual-atom catalysts with precise active sites are gaining attention, but further studies are needed to optimise their construction and understand their catalytic synergy. Here the authors report a series of asymmetric selenium-based dual- atom catalysts that comprise heteronuclear SeN2–MN2 (M = Fe, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Mo, etc.) active sites for the efficient oxygen reduction reaction.

Diabetic encephalopathy, a severe complication of diabetes mellitus, is characterized by neuroinflammation and aberrant synaptogenesis in the hippocampus leading to cognitive decline. Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is associated with cognition impairment. Nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) is a transcription factor of proinflammatory cytokines. Although mTOR has been ever implicated in processes occurring in neuroinflammation, the role of this enzyme on NF-κB signaling pathway remains unclear in diabetic encephalopathy. In the present study, we investigated whether mTOR regulates the NF-κB signaling pathway to modulate inflammatory cytokines and synaptic plasticity in hippocampal neurons. In vitro model was constructed in mouse HT-22 hippocampal neuronal cells exposed to high glucose. With the inhibition of mTOR or NF-κB by either chemical inhibitor or short-hairpin RNA (shRNA)-expressing lentivirus-vector, we examined the effects of mTOR/NF-κB signaling on proinflammatory cytokines and synaptic proteins. The diabetic mouse model induced by a high-fat diet combined with streptozotocin injection was administrated with rapamycin (mTOR inhibitor) and PDTC (NF-κB inhibitor), respectively. High glucose significantly increased mTOR phosphorylation in HT-22 cells. While inhibiting mTOR by rapamycin or shmTOR significantly suppressed high glucose-induced activation of NF-κB and its regulators IKKβ and IκBα, suggesting mTOR is the upstream regulator of NF-κB. Furthermore, inhibiting NF-κB by PDTC and shNF-κB decreased proinflammatory cytokines expression (IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α) and increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and synaptic proteins (synaptophysin and PSD-95) in HT-22 cells under high glucose conditions. Besides, the mTOR and NF-κB inhibitors improved cognitive decline in diabetic mice. The inhibition of mTOR and NF-κB suppressed mTOR/NF-κB signaling pathway, increased synaptic proteins, and improved ultrastructural synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus of diabetic mice. Activating mTOR/NF-κB signaling pathway regulates the pathogenesis of diabetic encephalopathy, such as neuroinflammation, synaptic proteins loss, and synaptic ultrastructure impairment. The findings provide the implication that mTOR/NF-κB is potential new drug targets to treat diabetic encephalopathy. Graphical abstract