Bioinspired Solar-Driven Osmosis for Stable High Flux Desalination.

The growing global water crisis necessitates sustainable desalination solutions. Conventional desalination technologies predominantly confront environmental issues such as high emissions from fossil-fuel-driven processes and challenges in managing brine disposal during the operational stages, emphasizing the need for renewable and environmentally friendly alternatives. This study introduces and assesses a bioinspired, solar-driven osmosis desalination device emulating the natural processes of mangroves with effective contaminant rejection and notable productivity. The bioinspired solar-driven osmosis (BISO) device, integrating osmosis membranes, microporous absorbent paper, and nanoporous ceramic membranes, was evaluated under different conditions. We conducted experiments in both controlled and outdoor settings, simulating seawater with a 3.5 wt % NaCl solution. With a water yield of 1.51 kg m-2 h-1 under standard solar conditions (one sun), the BISO system maintained excellent salt removal and accumulation resistance after up to 8 h of experiments and demonstrated great cavitation resistance even at 58.14 °C. The outdoor test recorded a peak rate of 1.22 kg m-2 h-1 and collected 16.5 mL in 8 h, showing its practical application potential. These results highlight the BISO device's capability to address water scarcity using a sustainable approach, combining bioinspired design with solar power, presenting a viable pathway in renewable-energy-driven desalination technology.

Accelerating water evaporation from salty droplets on polar substrate: a molecular dynamics study.

Evaporation of seawater containing various ions is the largest source of rainfall, affecting the global climate. In industrial areas, water evaporation finds applications in the desalination of seawater to get fresh water for arid coastal regions. Understanding how ions and substrates influence the evaporation of sessile salty droplets on a substrate is essential to modulate the evaporation rate. In the present study, we investigate the effect of ions (Mg2+, Na+, Cl-) on the evaporation of water molecules from sessile droplets on the solid surface using molecular dynamics simulations. The electrostatic interactions between water molecules and ions suppress water evaporation. However, the interactions between molecules and atoms in the substrates accelerate the evaporation. We increase the evaporation of salty droplets by 21.6% by placing the droplet on the polar substrate.

Orbital Dependence in Single-Atom Electrocatalytic Reactions.

Transition metal single-atom catalysts supported on N-doped graphene (TM-N-C) could serve as an ideal model for studying orbital dependence in electrocatalytic reactions because the atom on the catalytic active site has discrete single-atom-like orbitals. In this work, the catalytic efficiency of Fe-N-C for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) under a small structural perturbation has been comprehensively investigated with density functional theory calculations. The results suggest that the subtle local environment of a single atom can significantly modulate the catalytic reactivity. Further analysis demonstrates that the energy level of the TM dz2 orbital center, rather than the d-band center, is responsible for the OER catalytic efficiency as the dz2 orbital participates mainly in the reactions. Essentially, the d-band theory can be extended to the sub-d orbital level, and a small perturbation of the crystal field, induced by lattice strain or z-direction displacement of the TM atom, can prominently change the sub-d orbital associated with the reaction and in turn affect the catalytic activity.

High-Throughput Screening of Element-Doped Carbon Nanotubes Toward an Optimal One-Dimensional Superconductor.

In order to search for optimal one-dimensional (1D) superconductors with a high transition temperature (Tc), we performed high-throughput computation on the phonon dispersion, electron-phonon coupling (EPC), and superconducting properties of (5,0), (3,3), and element-doped (3,3) carbon nanotubes (CNTs) based on first-principles calculations. We find that the CNT (5,0) is superconductive with Tc of 7.9 K, while the (3,3) CNT has no superconductivity. However, by high-throughput screening of about 50 elements in the periodic table, we identified that 14 elemental dopants can make the (3,3) CNT dynamically stable and superconducting. The high Tc ≈ 28 K suggests that the Si-doped (3,3) CNT is an excellent one-dimensional (1D) superconductor. In addition, the Al-, In-, and La-doped (3,3) CNTs are also great 1D superconductor candidates with a Tc of about 18, 17, and 29 K, respectively. These results may inspire the synthesis and discovery of optimal high-Tc 1D superconductors experimentally.

Threshold-varying integrate-and-fire model reproduces distributions of spontaneous blink intervals.

Spontaneous blinking is one of the most frequent human behaviours. While attentionally guided blinking may benefit human survival, the function of spontaneous frequent blinking in cognitive processes is poorly understood. To model human spontaneous blinking, we proposed a leaky integrate-and-fire model with a variable threshold which is assumed to represent physiological fluctuations during cognitive tasks. The proposed model is capable of reproducing bimodal, normal, and widespread peak-less distributions of inter-blink intervals as well as the more common popular positively skewed distributions. For bimodal distributions, the temporal positions of the two peaks depend on the baseline and the amplitude of the fluctuating threshold function. Parameters that reproduce experimentally derived bimodal distributions suggest that relatively slow oscillations (0.11-0.25 Hz) govern blink elicitations. The results also suggest that changes in blink rates would reflect fluctuations of threshold regulated by human internal states.

Interactions among Collective Spectators Facilitate Eyeblink Synchronization.

Whereas the entrainment of movements and aspirations among audience members has been known as a basis of collective excitement in the theater, the role of the entrainment of cognitive processes among audience members is still unclear. In the current study, temporal patterns of the audience's attention were observed using eyeblink responses. To determine the effect of interactions among audience members on cognitive entrainment, as well as its direction (attractive or repulsive), the eyeblink synchronization of the following two groups were compared: (1) the experimental condition, where the audience members (seven frequent viewers and seven first-time viewers) viewed live performances in situ, and (2) the control condition, where the audience members (15 frequent viewers and 15 first-time viewers) viewed videotaped performances in individual experimental settings (results reported in previous study.) The results of this study demonstrated that the mean values of a measure of asynchrony (i.e., D interval) were much lower for the experimental condition than for the control condition. Frequent viewers had a moderate attractive effect that increased as the story progressed, while a strong attractive effect was observed throughout the story for first-time viewers. The attractive effect of interactions among a group of spectators was discussed from the viewpoint of cognitive and somatic entrainment in live performances.

Emotionally excited eyeblink-rate variability predicts an experience of transportation into the narrative world.

Collective spectator communications such as oral presentations, movies, and storytelling performances are ubiquitous in human culture. This study investigated the effects of past viewing experiences and differences in expressive performance on an audience's transportive experience into a created world of a storytelling performance. In the experiment, 60 participants (mean age = 34.12 years, SD = 13.18 years, range 18-63 years) were assigned to watch one of two videotaped performances that were played (1) in an orthodox way for frequent viewers and (2) in a modified way aimed at easier comprehension for first-time viewers. Eyeblink synchronization among participants was quantified by employing distance-based measurements of spike trains, D (spike) and D (interval) (Victor and Purpura, 1997). The results indicated that even non-familiar participants' eyeblinks were synchronized as the story progressed and that the effect of the viewing experience on transportation was weak. Rather, the results of a multiple regression analysis demonstrated that the degrees of transportation could be predicted by a retrospectively reported humor experience and higher real-time variability (i.e., logarithmic transformed SD) of inter blink intervals during a performance viewing. The results are discussed from the viewpoint in which the extent of eyeblink synchronization and eyeblink-rate variability acts as an index of the inner experience of audience members.