A synergetic cocatalyst for conversion of carbon dioxide, sunlight, and water into methanol.

The conversion of CO2 into liquid fuels, using only sunlight and water, offers a promising path to carbon neutrality. An outstanding challenge is to achieve high efficiency and product selectivity. Here, we introduce a wireless photocatalytic architecture for conversion of CO2 and water into methanol and oxygen. The catalytic material consists of semiconducting nanowires decorated with core-shell nanoparticles, with a copper-rhodium core and a chromium oxide shell. The Rh/CrOOH interface provides a unidirectional channel for proton reduction, enabling hydrogen spillover at the core-shell interface. The vectorial transfer of protons, electrons, and hydrogen atoms allows for switching the mechanism of CO2 reduction from a proton-coupled electron transfer pathway in aqueous solution to hydrogenation of CO2 with a solar-to-methanol efficiency of 0.22%. The reported findings demonstrate a highly efficient, stable, and scalable wireless system for synthesis of methanol from CO2 that could provide a viable path toward carbon neutrality and environmental sustainability.

A deep learning-based combination method of spatio-temporal prediction for regional mining surface subsidence.

In coal mining areas, surface subsidence poses significant risks to human life and property. Fortunately, surface subsidence caused by coal mining can be monitored and predicted by using various methods, e.g., probability integral method and deep learning (DL) methods. Although DL methods show promise in predicting subsidence, they often lack accuracy due to insufficient consideration of spatial correlation and temporal nonlinearity. Considering this issue, we propose a novel DL-based approach for predicting mining surface subsidence. Our method employs K-means clustering to partition spatial data, allowing the application of a gate recurrent unit (GRU) model to capture nonlinear relationships in subsidence time series within each partition. Optimization using snake optimization (SO) further enhances model accuracy globally. Validation shows our method outperforms traditional Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and GRU models, achieving 99.1% of sample pixels with less than 8 mm absolute error.

Construction of a novel prognostic scoring model for HBV-ACLF liver failure based on dynamic data.

Early prognostic assessment of patients with hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF) is important for guiding clinical management and reducing mortality. The aim of this study was to dynamically monitor the clinical characteristics of HBV-ACLF patients, thereby allowing the construction of a novel prognostic scoring model to predict the outcome of HBV-ACLF patients. Clinical data was prospectively collected for 518 patients with HBV-ACLF and randomly divided into training and validation sets. We constructed day-1, day-2, and day-(1 + 3) prognostic score models based on dynamic time points. The prognostic risk score constructed for day-3 was found to have the best predictive ability. The factors included in this scoring system, referred to as DSM-ACLF-D3, were age, hepatic encephalopathy, alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin, triglycerides, very low-density lipoprotein, blood glucose, neutrophil count, fibrin, and INR. ROC analysis revealed the area under the curve predicted by DSM-ACLF-D3 for 28-day and 90-day mortality (0.901 and 0.889, respectively) was significantly better than those of five other scoring systems: COSSH-ACLF IIs (0.882 and 0.836), COSSH-ACLFs (0.863 and 0.832), CLIF-C ACLF (0.838 and 0.766), MELD (0.782 and 0.762) and MELD-Na (0.756 and 0.731). Dynamic monitoring of the changes in clinical factors can therefore significantly improve the accuracy of scoring models. Evaluation of the probability density function and risk stratification by DSM-ACLF-D3 also resulted in the best predictive values for mortality. The novel DSM-ACLF-D3 prognostic scoring model based on dynamic data can improve early warning, prediction and clinical management of HBV-ACLF patients.

Concentrated Solar Light Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting for Stable and High-Yield Hydrogen Production.

Photoelectrochemical water splitting is a promising technique for converting solar energy into low-cost and eco-friendly H2 fuel. However, the production rate of H2 is limited by the insufficient number of photogenerated charge carriers in the conventional photoelectrodes under 1 sun (100 mW cm-2) light. Concentrated solar light irradiation can overcome the issue of low yield, but it leads to a new challenge of stability because the accelerated reaction alters the surface chemical composition of photoelectrodes. Here, it is demonstrated that loading Pt nanoparticles (NPs) on single crystalline GaN nanowires (NWs) grown on n+-p Si photoelectrode operates efficiently and stably under concentrated solar light. Although a large number of Pt NPs detach during the initial reaction due to H2 gas bubbling, some Pt NPs which have an epitaxial relation with GaN NWs remain stably anchored. In addition, the stability of the photoelectrode further improves by redepositing Pt NPs on the reacted Pt/GaN surface, which results in maintaining onset potential >0.5 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode and photocurrent density >60 mA cm-2 for over 1500 h. The heterointerface between Pt cocatalysts and single crystalline GaN nanostructures shows great potential in designing an efficient and stable photoelectrode for high-yield solar to H2 conversion.

Water-promoted selective photocatalytic methane oxidation for methanol production.

Converting relatively inert methane into active chemical fuels such as methanol with high selectivity through an energy-saving strategy has remained a grand challenge. Photocatalytic technology consuming solar energy is an appealing alternative for methane reforming. However, the low efficiency and the undesirable formation of low-value products, such as carbon dioxide and ethane, limit the commercial application of photocatalytic technology. Herein, we find a facile and practical water-promoted pathway for photocatalytic methane reforming into methanol, enabling methanol production from methane and oxygen with a high selectivity (>93%) and production rate (21.4 µmol cm-2 h-1 or 45.5 mmol g-1 h-1) on metallic Ag nanoparticle-loaded InGaN nanowires (Ag/InGaN). The experimental XPS and theoretical PDOS analyses reveal that water molecules adsorbed on Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) can promote the electron transfer from InGaN to AgNPs, which enables the formation of partial Ag species with a lower oxidation state in AgNPs. Through the in situ IR spectrum and the reaction pathway simulation studies, these newly formed Ag species induced by water adsorption were demonstrated to be responsible for the highly selective methanol production due to the effective formation of a C-O bond and the optimal desorption of the formed methanol from the surface indium site of the InGaN photocatalyst. This unique water promotion effect leads to a 55-fold higher catalytic rate and 9-fold higher selectivity for methanol production compared to photocatalytic methane reforming without water addition. This finding offers a new pathway for achieving clean solar fuels by photocatalysis-based methane reforming.

Achieving atomically ordered GaN/AlN quantum heterostructures: The role of surface polarity.

Interface engineering in heterostructures at the atomic scale has been a central research focus of nanoscale and quantum material science. Despite its paramount importance, the achievement of atomically ordered heterointerfaces has been severely limited by the strong diffusive feature of interfacial atoms in heterostructures. In this work, we first report a strong dependence of interfacial diffusion on the surface polarity. Near-perfect quantum interfaces can be readily synthesized on the semipolar plane instead of the conventional c-plane of GaN/AlN heterostructures. The chemical bonding configurations on the semipolar plane can significantly suppress the cation substitution process as evidenced by first-principles calculations, which leads to an atomically sharp interface. Moreover, the surface polarity of GaN/AlN can be readily controlled by varying the strain relaxation process in core-shell nanostructures. The obtained extremely confined, interdiffusion-free ultrathin GaN quantum wells exhibit a high internal quantum efficiency of ~75%. Deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes are fabricated utilizing a scalable and robust method and the electroluminescence emission is nearly free of the quantum-confined Stark effect, which is significant for ultrastable device operation. The presented work shows a vital path for achieving atomically ordered quantum heterostructures for III-nitrides as well as other polar materials such as III-arsenides, perovskites, etc.

Oxynitrides enabled photoelectrochemical water splitting with over 3,000 hrs stable operation in practical two-electrode configuration.

Solar photoelectrochemical reactions have been considered one of the most promising paths for sustainable energy production. To date, however, there has been no demonstration of semiconductor photoelectrodes with long-term stable operation in a two-electrode configuration, which is required for any practical application. Herein, we demonstrate the stable operation of a photocathode comprising Si and GaN, the two most produced semiconductors in the world, for 3,000 hrs without any performance degradation in two-electrode configurations. Measurements in both three- and two-electrode configurations suggest that surfaces of the GaN nanowires on Si photocathode transform in situ into Ga-O-N that drastically enhances hydrogen evolution and remains stable for 3,000 hrs. First principles calculations further revealed that the in-situ Ga-O-N species exhibit atomic-scale surface metallization. This study overcomes the conventional dilemma between efficiency and stability imposed by extrinsic cocatalysts, offering a path for practical application of photoelectrochemical devices and systems for clean energy.

Combined analysis of chromatin accessibility and gene expression profiles provide insight into Fucoxanthin biosynthesis in Isochrysis galbana under green light.

Isochrysis galbana, as a potential accumulator of fucoxanthin, has become a valuable material to develop functional foods for humans. Our previous research revealed that green light effectively promotes the accumulation of fucoxanthin in I. galbana, but there is little research on chromatin accessibility in the process of transcriptional regulation. This study was conducted to reveal the mechanism of fucoxanthin biosynthesis in I. galbana under green light by analyzing promoter accessibility and gene expression profiles. Differentially accessible chromatin regions (DARs)-associated genes were enriched in carotenoid biosynthesis and photosynthesis-antenna protein formation, including IgLHCA1, IgLHCA4, IgPDS, IgZ-ISO, IglcyB, IgZEP, and IgVDE. The motifs for the MYB family were also identified as candidates controlling metabolic regulation responses to green light culture of I. galbana, including IgMYB1, IgMYB2, IgMYB33, IgMYB42, IgMYB98, IgMYB118, and IgMYB119. The results of differential expression analysis and WGCNA showed that several genes or transcription factors (TFs) related to carotenoid metabolism and photosynthesis exhibited a higher expression level and were significantly upregulated in A-G5d compared with A-0d and A-W5d, including IgMYB98, IgLHCA1, IgLHCX2, IgLHCB4, and IgLHCB5. This suggests that upregulation of these genes by green light may be the key factor leading to fucoxanthin accumulation by regulating the photosynthesis-antenna protein pathway. An integrated analysis of ATAC-seq and RNA-seq showed that 3 (IgphoA, IgPKN1, IgOTC) of 34 DARs-associated genes displayed obvious changes in their chromatin regions in ATAC-seq data, suggesting that these genes specific for green light may play a key role in fucoxanthin biosynthesis in I. galbana through a complex regulatory network of multiple metabolic pathways interacting with each other. These findings will facilitate in-depth understanding the molecular regulation mechanisms of fucoxanthin in I. galbana and its role in response to green light regulation, providing technical support for the construction of high fucoxanthin content strains.

An Ultrahigh Efficiency Excitonic Micro-LED.

High efficiency micro-LEDs, with lateral dimensions as small as one micrometer, are desired for next-generation displays, virtual/augmented reality, and ultrahigh-speed optical interconnects. The efficiency of quantum well LEDs, however, is reduced to negligibly small values when scaled to such small dimensions. Here, we show such a fundamental challenge can be overcome by developing nanowire excitonic LEDs. Harnessing the large exciton oscillator strength of quantum-confined nanostructures, we demonstrate a submicron scale green-emitting LED having an external quantum efficiency and wall-plug efficiency of 25.2% and 20.7%, respectively, the highest values reported for any LEDs of this size to our knowledge. We established critical factors for achieving excitonic micro-LEDs, including the epitaxy of nanostructures to achieve strain relaxation, the utilization of semipolar planes to minimize polarization effects, and the formation of nanoscale quantum-confinement to enhance electron-hole wave function overlap. This work provides a viable path to break the efficiency bottleneck of nanoscale optoelectronics.

Solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of more than 9% in photocatalytic water splitting.

Production of hydrogen fuel from sunlight and water, two of the most abundant natural resources on Earth, offers one of the most promising pathways for carbon neutrality1-3. Some solar hydrogen production approaches, for example, photoelectrochemical water splitting, often require corrosive electrolyte, limiting their performance stability and environmental sustainability1,3. Alternatively, clean hydrogen can be produced directly from sunlight and water by photocatalytic water splitting2,4,5. The solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency of photocatalytic water splitting, however, has remained very low. Here we have developed a strategy to achieve a high STH efficiency of 9.2 per cent using pure water, concentrated solar light and an indium gallium nitride photocatalyst. The success of this strategy originates from the synergistic effects of promoting forward hydrogen-oxygen evolution and inhibiting the reverse hydrogen-oxygen recombination by operating at an optimal reaction temperature (about 70 degrees Celsius), which can be directly achieved by harvesting the previously wasted infrared light in sunlight. Moreover, this temperature-dependent strategy also leads to an STH efficiency of about 7 per cent from widely available tap water and sea water and an STH efficiency of 6.2 per cent in a large-scale photocatalytic water-splitting system with a natural solar light capacity of 257 watts. Our study offers a practical approach to produce hydrogen fuel efficiently from natural solar light and water, overcoming the efficiency bottleneck of solar hydrogen production.

Pt nanoclusters on GaN nanowires for solar-asssisted seawater hydrogen evolution.

Seawater electrolysis provides a viable method to produce clean hydrogen fuel. To date, however, the realization of high performance photocathodes for seawater hydrogen evolution reaction has remained challenging. Here, we introduce n+-p Si photocathodes with dramatically improved activity and stability for hydrogen evolution reaction in seawater, modified by Pt nanoclusters anchored on GaN nanowires. We find that Pt-Ga sites at the Pt/GaN interface promote the dissociation of water molecules and spilling H* over to neighboring Pt atoms for efficient H2 production. Pt/GaN/Si photocathodes achieve a current density of -10 mA/cm2 at 0.15 and 0.39 V vs. RHE and high applied bias photon-to-current efficiency of 1.7% and 7.9% in seawater (pH = 8.2) and phosphate-buffered seawater (pH = 7.4), respectively. We further demonstrate a record-high photocurrent density of ~169 mA/cm2 under concentrated solar light (9 suns). Moreover, Pt/GaN/Si can continuously produce H2 even under dark conditions by simply switching the electrical contact. This work provides valuable guidelines to design an efficient, stable, and energy-saving electrode for H2 generation by seawater splitting.

Regulating carbon and water balance as a strategy to cope with warming and drought climate in Cunninghamia lanceolata in southern China.

Human activities have increased the possibility of simultaneous warming and drought, which will lead to different carbon (C) allocation and water use strategies in plants. However, there is no conclusive information from previous studies. To explore C and water balance strategies of plants in response to warming and drought, we designed a 4-year experiment that included control (CT), warming (W, with a 5°C increase in temperature), drought (D, with a 50% decrease in precipitation), and warming and drought conditions (WD) to investigate the non-structural carbohydrate (NSC), C and nitrogen (N) stoichiometry, and intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE) of leaves, roots, and litter of Cunninghamia lanceolata, a major tree species in southern China. We found that W significantly increased NSC and starch in the leaves, and increased NSC and soluble sugar is one of the components of NSC in the roots. D significantly increased leaves' NSC and starch, and increased litter soluble sugar. The NSC of the WD did not change significantly, but the soluble sugar was significantly reduced. The iWUE of leaves increased under D, and surprisingly, W and D significantly increased the iWUE of litter. The iWUE was positively correlated with NSC and soluble sugar. In addition, D significantly increased N at the roots and litter, resulting in a significant decrease in the C/N ratio. The principal component analysis showed that NSC, iWUE, N, and C/N ratio can be used as identifying indicators for C. lanceolata in both warming and drought periods. This study stated that under warming or drought, C. lanceolata would decline in growth to maintain high NSC levels and reduce water loss. Leaves would store starch to improve the resiliency of the aboveground parts, and the roots would increase soluble sugar and N accumulation to conserve water and to help C sequestration in the underground part. At the same time, defoliation was potentially beneficial for maintaining C and water balance. However, when combined with warming and drought, C. lanceolata growth will be limited by C, resulting in decreased NSC. This study provides a new insight into the coping strategies of plants in adapting to warming and drought environments.

InGaN micro-light-emitting diodes monolithically grown on Si: achieving ultra-stable operation through polarization and strain engineering.

Micro or submicron scale light-emitting diodes (µLEDs) have been extensively studied recently as the next-generation display technology. It is desired that µLEDs exhibit high stability and efficiency, submicron pixel size, and potential monolithic integration with Si-based complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) electronics. Achieving such µLEDs, however, has remained a daunting challenge. The polar nature of III-nitrides causes severe wavelength/color instability with varying carrier concentrations in the active region. The etching-induced surface damages and poor material quality of high indium composition InGaN quantum wells (QWs) severely deteriorate the performance of µLEDs, particularly those emitting in the green/red wavelength. Here we report, for the first time, µLEDs grown directly on Si with submicron lateral dimensions. The µLEDs feature ultra-stable, bright green emission with negligible quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE). Detailed elemental mapping and numerical calculations show that the QCSE is screened by introducing polarization doping in the active region, which consists of InGaN/AlGaN QWs surrounded by an AlGaN/GaN shell with a negative Al composition gradient along the c-axis. In comparison with conventional GaN barriers, AlGaN barriers are shown to effectively compensate for the tensile strain within the active region, which significantly reduces the strain distribution and results in enhanced indium incorporation without compromising the material quality. This study provides new insights and a viable path for the design, fabrication, and integration of high-performance µLEDs on Si for a broad range of applications in on-chip optical communication and emerging augmented reality/mixed reality devices, and so on.

Metal-Support Interaction-Promoted Photothermal Catalytic Methane Reforming into Liquid Fuels.

Clean and renewable photocatalytic technology for methane reforming into high-value liquid fuels, such as methanol, is a promising strategy for commercial industrial applications. However, poor charge separation, sluggish methane activation, and excessive oxidation collectively inhibit the production of methanol from photocatalytic methane reforming. Herein, we have developed enhanced metal-support interactions between a GaN nanowire photocatalyst and a Cu nanoparticle (CuNP) cocatalyst via p-doping in GaN. CuNP-loaded p-type GaN (Cu/p-GaN) with enhanced metal-support interaction has 3.5-fold higher activity (12.8 mmol g-1 h-1, higher than previous reports) for methanol production in photothermal catalytic methane reforming with oxygen as an oxidant and sunlight as the sole energy source than CuNP-loaded intrinsic GaN (Cu/i-GaN) or n-type GaN (Cu/n-GaN). In-situ IR measurements indicate that enhanced metal-support interaction significantly promotes activation of methane and formation of methanol. Combining with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), density functional theory (DFT) simulations demonstrate that this enhanced metal-support interaction in Cu/p-GaN greatly improves electron transfer from p-GaN photocatalysts to the 3d states of CuNP cocatalysts through the interface between them. Catalytic pathway simulations further reveal that the enhanced metal-support interaction in Cu/p-GaN also desirably decreases the reaction energy of rate-determining methanol desorption, which decreases the excessive oxidation of the produced methanol and accelerates the regeneration of surface catalytic sites. These studies and findings offer critical insights into the design and development of metal nanoparticle-loaded photocatalysts for photocatalysis-based methane reforming into methanol.

Crystallographic Effects of GaN Nanostructures in Photoelectrochemical Reaction.

Tuning the surface structure of the photoelectrode provides one of the most effective ways to address the critical challenges in artificial photosynthesis, such as efficiency, stability, and product selectivity, for which gallium nitride (GaN) nanowires have shown great promise. In the GaN wurtzite crystal structure, polar, semipolar, and nonpolar planes coexist and exhibit very different structural, electronic, and chemical properties. Here, through a comprehensive study of the photoelectrochemical performance of GaN photocathodes in the form of films and nanowires with controlled surface polarities we show that significant photoelectrochemical activity can be observed when the nonpolar surfaces are exposed in the electrolyte, whereas little or no activity is measured from the GaN polar c-plane surfaces. The atomic origin of this fundamental difference is further revealed through density functional theory calculations. This study provides guideline on crystal facet engineering of metal-nitride photo(electro)catalysts for a broad range of artificial photosynthesis chemical reactions.

Generation, characterization, and protective ability of mouse monoclonal antibodies against the HA of A (H1N1) influenza virus.

Influenza virus infections pose a continuous threat to human health. Although vaccines function as a preventive and protective tool, they may not be effective due to antigen drift or an inaccurate prediction of epidemic strains. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have attracted wide attention as a promising therapeutic method for influenza virus infections. In this study, three hemagglutinin (HA)-specific mAbs, named 2A1, 2H4, and 2G2, respectively, were derived from mice immunized with the HA protein from A/Michigan/45/2015(H1N1). The isolated mAbs all displayed hemagglutination inhibition activity and the 2G2 mAb exhibited the strongest neutralization effect. Two amino acid mutations (A198E and G173E), recognized in the process of selection of mAb-resistant mutants, were located in antigenic site Sb and Ca1, respectively. In prophylactic experiments, all three mAbs could achieve 100% protection in mice infected with a lethal dose of A/Michigan/45/2015(H1N1). A dose of 1 mg/kg for 2H4 and 2G2 was sufficient to achieve a full protective effect. Therapeutic experiments showed that all three mAbs could protect mice from death if they received the mAb administration at 6 h postinfection, and 2G2 was still protective after 24 h. Our findings indicate that these three mAbs may have potential prevention and treatment value in an H1N1 epidemic, as well as in the study of antigen epitope recognition.

Antigen-capture ELISA and immunochromatographic test strip to detect the H9N2 subtype avian influenza virus rapidly based on monoclonal antibodies.

BACKGROUND: The H9N2 subtype of avian influenza virus (AIV) has become the most widespread subtype of AIV among birds in Asia, which threatens the poultry industry and human health. Therefore, it is important to establish methods for the rapid diagnosis and continuous surveillance of H9N2 subtype AIV. METHODS: In this study, an antigen-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (AC-ELISA) and a colloidal gold immunochromatographic test (ICT) strip using monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) 3G4 and 2G7 were established to detect H9N2 subtype AIV. RESULTS: The AC-ELISA method and ICT strip can detect H9N2 subtype AIV quickly, and do not cross-react with other subtype AIVs or other viruses. The detection limit of AC-ELISA was a hemagglutinin (HA) titer of 4 for H9N2 subtype AIV per 100 µl sample, and the limit of detection of the HA protein of AIV H9N2 was 31.5 ng/ml. The ICT strip detection limit was an HA titer of 4 for H9N2 subtype AIV per 100 µl sample. Moreover, both detection methods exhibited good reproducibility and repeatability, with coefficients of variation < 5%. For detection in 200 actual poultry samples, the sensitivities and specificities of AC-ELISA were determined as 93.2% and 98.1%, respectively. The sensitivities and specificities of the ICT strips were determined as 90.9% and 97.4%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The developed AC-ELISA and ICT strips displayed high specificity, sensitivity, and stability, making them suitable for rapid diagnosis and field investigation of H9N2 subtype AIV.

Molecular characterization and antigenic analysis of reassortant H9N2 subtype avian influenza viruses in Eastern China in 2016.

H9N2 avian influenza viruses (AIVs) can cause respiratory symptoms and decrease the egg production. Additionally, H9N2 AIVs can provide internal genes for reassortment with other subtypes. During the monitoring of live poultry markets in 2016, a total of 32 (32/179, 17.88%) H9N2 AIVs were isolated from poultry in Eastern China, and seven representative strains were selected based on the isolation time, isolation location and sequence homology for further characterization. Phylogenetic analysis of hemagglutinin and neuraminidase showed that these H9N2 AIVs clustered into the Y280 sublineage. And the phylogenetic trees of six internal genes showed that the source of these gene fragments was more abundant, suggesting that extensive reassortment has occurred in these H9N2 viruses. Molecular analysis showed that multiple specific amino acid mutations occurred that increased H9N2 AIVs' infectivity, transmissibility, and affinity to mammals, including Q226L and Q227M in hemagglutinin, E627K in polymerase basic protein 2 (PB2), L13P in polymerase basic protein 1 (PB1), and A70V and S409N in polymerase acidic protein (PA). Pathogenicity tests in mice showed these H9N2 AIVs could replicate in lungs and exhibited slight to moderate virulence. The continuous circulation of these H9N2 viruses suggests the necessity for persistent surveillance of the H9N2 AIVs in poultry.

Genetic analysis and biological characteristics of novel clade 2.3.4.4 reassortment H5N6 avian influenza viruses from poultry in eastern China in 2016.

OBJECTIVES: The continuous evolution of highly pathogenic H5N6 avian influenza viruses (AIVs) causes outbreaks in wildfowl and poultry, and occasional human infections. The aim of this study was to better understand the genetic relationships between these H5N6 AIVs from eastern China and other AIVs. METHODS: In 2016, 1623 cloacal swabs were sampled from poultry in 18 LPMs in eastern China, and subsequently characterized systematically using gene sequencing, phylogenetic studies, and antigenic analysis. In addition, their pathogenicity in mammals was studied in BALB/c mice, which were inoculated with viruses, with survival rate and body weight recorded daily for 14 days. RESULTS: In total, 56 H5N6 AIVs were isolated in eastern China and five representative isolates were selected for further study. In our study, the H5N6 AIVs clustered into clade 2.3.4.4, Group C, and their six internal segments were derived from H6N6 and H9N2 viruses, or both, suggesting extensive reassortant among H5N6 AIVs with other subtypes. These H5N6 viruses could replicate in the lungs without prior adaptation, and exhibited slight-to-moderate virulence in mice. CONCLUSIONS: The continuous circulation of these novel H5N6 viruses suggests the importance of persistent surveillance of H5N6 AIVs in poultry.

CuS-Decorated GaN Nanowires on Silicon Photocathodes for Converting CO2 Mixture Gas to HCOOH.

Hybrid materials consisting of semiconductors and cocatalysts have been widely used for photoelectrochemical (PEC) conversion of CO2 gas to value-added chemicals such as formic acid (HCOOH). To date, however, the rational design of catalytic architecture enabling the reduction of real CO2 gas to chemical has remained a grand challenge. Here, we report a unique photocathode consisting of CuS-decorated GaN nanowires (NWs) integrated on planar silicon (Si) for the conversion of H2S-containing CO2 mixture gas to HCOOH. It was discovered that H2S impurity in the modeled industrial CO2 gas could lead to the spontaneous transformation of Cu to CuS NPs, which resulted in significantly increased faradaic efficiency of HCOOH generation. The CuS/GaN/Si photocathode exhibited superior faradaic efficiency of HCOOH = 70.2% and partial current density = 7.07 mA/cm2 at -1.0 VRHE under AM1.5G 1 sun illumination. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that impurity mixed in the CO2 gas can enhance, rather than degrade, the performance of the PEC CO2 reduction reaction.