Deep insight on Li interlayer migration in O3-type NaLi1/3Mn2/3O2 as a cathode material for Na-ion batteries.

Layered manganese transition metal oxides, such as NaMnO2, have attracted great interest due to the low cost and high capacity. However, complex phase transitions in NaMnO2 lead to poor cycling stability. The introduction of Li doping has been confirmed to improve the performance of NaMnO2. O3-type NaLi1/3Mn2/3O2 (NLMO), synthesized in 2021, has demonstrated excellent electrochemical performance. Notably, irreversible Li interlayer migration (Li migrates from the transition metal layer to the alkali metal layer) has been observed during cycling, which is related to the electrochemical performance. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the mechanism underlying Li interlayer migration in O3-NLMO. However, the environment of Li interlayer migration on cycling is complex and involves interlayer spacing, Na-ion concentration, the degree of O-ion oxidation, and phase transition. Here, in this work, we utilized the first-principles method to decouple the coupling factors influencing the Li interlayer migration. Through analyzing the impact of the single-factor on Li interlayer migration, we aim to identify the crucial factors affecting this process. Our results show that a decrease in Na-ion concentration and an increase in O-ion oxidation degree promote the Li interlayer migration, while the O-P phase transition suppresses the Li interlayer migration. Interlayer spacing was found to play a less influential role in Li interlayer migration. Our investigations provide effective strategies for the subsequent regulation of Li interlayer migration.

Clinical characteristics and lateralization of the horizontal semicircular canal light cupula.

Introduction: Positional vertigo and nystagmus are the main symptoms and signs of dizziness, respectively. Despite the clinical utility of the supine roll test (SRT) and null point (NP) in diagnosing light cupula, a type of positional vertigo, there exists a notable gap in the literature concerning the comprehensive evaluation of lateralization values based on various nystagmus characteristics and the intensity of direction-changing positional nystagmus (DCPN) in the SRT, particularly in comparison to the NP. Additionally, limited data on abnormal canal paresis (CP) in light cupula patients underscores the need for further research with a larger patient population to elucidate this mechanism. This study aims to investigate the characteristics of positional nystagmus and lateralization of the horizontal semicircular canal (HSCC) light cupula, which is a type of positional vertigo and nystagmus that is poorly understood. Methods: Eighty-five patients (17 males, 68 females; mean age, 60.9 years) with light cupula were reviewed. We summarized the characteristics of spontaneous nystagmus and positional nystagmus, including supine positioning nystagmus, bow nystagmus, and lean nystagmus. Then, the side of the NP was identified as the affected side, and the values of the fast phase direction of the spontaneous nystagmus, supine positioning nystagmus, bow nystagmus, and lean nystagmus, as well as the intensity of the DCPN in the SRT, were used to diagnose the affected sides. Caloric testing was also performed for some patients. Results: Light cupula was observed in 5.7% of the patients with positional nystagmus. The frequencies of supine positioning nystagmus (88.2%), bow nystagmus (90.6%), and lean nystagmus (83.5%) were higher than spontaneous nystagmus (61.2%) (p < 0.001). The second NP (NP2) (92.9%) and third NP (NP3) (83.5%) were readily detected, affecting the left and right sides in 38 and 47 patients, respectively. Lateralization through the fast phase directions of bow nystagmus and lean nystagmus did not significantly differ from that of NP (all p > 0.05). However, the accuracy rate of lateralization through the sides with more vigorous DCPN in the SRT was 63.5%, significantly lower than through NP (p < 0.001). Particularly in patients with supine positioning nystagmus (n = 75), the rate was only 58.7% (p < 0.001). However, the rate was 100% in patients without supine positioning nystagmus (n = 10). Among the 70 patients who underwent caloric testing, 37 had abnormal CP, and the sides of the reduced caloric reaction were ipsilateral to the affected sides of the light cupula in 83.8% of the patients. Conclusion: Besides utilizing the NP to determine the affected side, the fast phase direction of the bow nystagmus or lean nystagmus can also aid in identification. However, a simple comparison of the intensity of DCPN in SRT cannot provide accurate lateralization, especially in patients with supine positioning nystagmus. There is a high incidence of CP on the affected side of the light cupula.

Cadonilimab Combined with Chemotherapy with or without Bevacizumab as First-Line Treatment in Recurrent or Metastatic Cervical Cancer (COMPASSION-13): A Phase 2 Study.

PURPOSE: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have been a potential treatment option for patients with cervical cancer in several clinical studies. We investigated the safety and efficacy of cadonilimab, a bispecific antibody targeting PD-1 and CTLA-4, plus standard therapy for the first-line treatment of R/M CC (recurrent and/or metastatic cervical cancer). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eligible patients were assigned to 3 cohorts: cohort A-15 (cadonilimab 15 mg/kg every 3 weeks (Q3W) plus chemotherapy), cohort A-10 (cadonilimb 10 mg/kg Q3W plus chemotherapy), and cohort B-10 (cadonilimab 10 mg/kg Q3W plus chemotherapy and bevacizumab). They received the corresponding treatments until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, withdrawal of consent, or investigator decision. The primary objective was safety; the secondary endpoints included objective overall response (ORR), duration of response, disease control rate, progression-free survival, and overall survival. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04868708). RESULTS: As of February 13, 2023, treatment-related adverse events (TRAE) occurred in 45 (100.0%) patients. Grade ≥3 TRAEs were reported in 33 (73.3%) patients. Immune-related adverse events (irAE) occurred in 29 (64.4%) patients and grade ≥3 irAEs were observed in 9 (20.0%) patients. Seven (15.6%) of 45 patients permanently discontinued cadonilimab treatment due to TRAEs. One death due to hemorrhagic shock occurred in cohort B-10. Among 44 patients who underwent at least one post-baseline tumor assessment, the ORR was 66.7% in cohort A-15, 68.8% in cohort A-10, 92.3% in cohort B-10, and 79.3% in cohorts A-10 and B-10 combined. CONCLUSIONS: Cadonilimab combined with standard therapy was acceptable, with encouraging antitumor activity in patients with R/M CC.

Molecularly Imprinted Electrochemical Sensors Based on Ti3C2Tx-MXene and Graphene Composite Modifications for Ultrasensitive Cortisol Detection.

The increasing pressure and unhealthy lifestyle are gradually eroding the physical and mental health of modern people. As a key hormone responsible for maintaining the normal functioning of human systems, cortisol plays a vital role in regulating physiological activities. Moreover, cortisol can serve as a marker for monitoring psychological stress. The development of cortisol detection sensors carries immense potential, as they not only facilitate timely adjustments and treatments by detecting abnormal physiological indicators but also provide comprehensive data for conducting research on the correlation between cortisol and several potential diseases. Here, we report a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) electrochemical biosensor that utilizes a porous composite (MXG) modified electrode. MXG composite is prepared by combining Ti3C2Tx-MXene sheets and graphene (Gr). MXG composite material with high conductive properties and large electroactive surface area promotes the charge transfer capability of the electrode surface, expands the effective surface area of the sensor, and increases the content of cortisol-imprinted cavities on the electrode, thereby improving the sensing ability of the sensor. By optimizing the preparation process, the prepared sensor has an ultralow lower limit of detection of 0.4 fM, a wide detection range of 1 fM-10 µM, and good specificity for steroid hormones and interfering substances with similar cortisol structure. The ability of the sensor to detect cortisol in saliva was also confirmed experimentally. This highly sensitive and selective cortisol sensor is expected to be widely used in the fields of physiological and psychological care.

Salinity changes the nitrification activity and community composition of comammox Nitrospira in intertidal sediments of Yangtze River estuary.

The newly discovered complete ammonia-oxidizing (comammox) Nitrospira has been identified in different environments, including coastal environments, where salinity is one of the most important factors for the abundance and activity of nitrifiers. Here, we demonstrate the effect of salinity on comammox Nitrospira, canonical ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), and ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) in the intertidal sediments of the Yangtze River estuary based on microcosm experiments, DNA stable-isotope probing (DNA-SIP), and potential ammonium-oxidation rate (PAR) tests for different groups of ammonia oxidizers with selective inhibitors. During microcosm incubations, the abundance of comammox Nitrospira was more sensitive to increased salinity than that of other ammonia oxidizers. The results obtained with DNA-SIP heavy fractions showed that the dominant phylotype in clade A.2 (containing genes involved in the adaptation to haloalkaline environments) had high proportions in comammox Nitrospira community under both freshwater (0.06% salinity) and highly saline water (3% salinity) conditions. In contrast, another phylotype of clade A.2 (which lacks these genes) was dominant only under freshwater conditions. The PARs confirmed that comammox Nitrospira presented greater contributions to nitrification under freshwater conditions with a PAR of 4.37 ± 0.53 mg N·day-1·kg soil-1 (54%) than under saline water conditions with a PAR of 0.60 ± 0.94 mg N·day-1·kg soil-1 (18%). Moreover, AOA were specific to saline water conditions, whereas AOB were common under both freshwater and saline water conditions (44% and 52%, respectively). The present study provided evidence that salinity markedly affects the activity of comammox Nitrospira, and that the salt sensitivity of different phylotypes varies. IMPORTANCE Complete ammonia oxidation (comammox) is a newly discovered type of nitrification through which ammonia is oxidized to nitrate in an organism. Comammox Nitrospira were abundantly found in coastal ecosystems and demonstrated high community diversity. Changes in salinity are considered one of the most important factors to comammox Nitrospira in coastal ecosystems; however, reports on the correlation between them remain inconsistent. Therefore, it is critical to experimentally determine the influence of salinity on comammox Nitrospira in the coastal ecosystem. This study demonstrated a clear effect of salinity on the abundance, activity, and relative contribution of different ammonia oxidizers, especially for comammox Nitrospira. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating comammox Nitrospira activity at seawater salinities, implying the existence of a salt-tolerant type comammox Nitrospira, despite its activity being much lower than in freshwater conditions. The indicated correlation between the activity of specific comammox Nitrospira and salinity is anticipated to provide insights into the distribution of comammox Nitrospira and their potential contributions in estuaries and coastal ecosystems.

Structural, mechanical, and electronic properties of Ni-Co-based layered transition metal oxide LiNixCo1-xO2 for Li-ion batteries from first principles.

The structural, mechanical, and electronic properties of Ni-Co-based layered transition oxide LiNixCo1-xO2 (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, and 0.9) (LNCO) have been investigated using the first-principles method. The results show that the effect of Ni/Co mixing on the structural property is slight. For the case of the mechanical property, the elastic constant, elastic modulus, such as Young's modulus (Y), Poisson's ratio (v), Pugh's ratio (B/G), and Cauchy pressure (C') of LNCO have been carefully analyzed based on the strain-energy method. The results demonstrate that the mechanical strength of LNCO materials is weaker than that of pure LiCoO2 (LCO) and LiNiO2 (LNO). However, the B/G ratio and Poisson's ratio of LNCO are greater than that of the pure LCO and LNO, which means that Ni/Co mixing can improve the ductility of pure LCO and LNO. In addition, Cauchy pressure and anisotropy are also discussed, and as cathode materials, LNCO still exhibits good electrical conductivity. Our results provide a feasible way to realize mechanical property modulation by Ni-Co-based layered transition metal oxides LCO. Furthermore, our study is also helpful to reveal the formation mechanism of intra-lattice microcracks in electrode materials.

Positive feedback between peanut and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi with the application of hairy vetch in Ultisol.

Multiple agricultural practices are being applied to increase crop yield in order to overcome the food shortage. Green manure has emerged as an appropriate practice to improve soil fertility and crop yield. However, the potential functions of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in the below-ground ecosystems following the application of green manure in Ultisols remain largely unexplored. In this study, qPCR and high-throughput sequencing were used to investigate the response of AMF abundance and communities in different treatment groups, i.e., control (without fertilization), mineral fertilization (NPK), mineral fertilization with returning peanut straw (NPKS), and with green manure (hairy vetch; NPKG). The NPKG treatment significantly increased soil fertility compared to other treatment groups. Compared with control, the NPK, NPKS, and NPKG treatments increased peanut yield by 12.3, 13.1, and 25.4%, respectively. NPKS and NPKG treatments significantly altered the AMF community composition decreased the AMF diversity and increased AMF abundance compared to the control. The AMF network of the NPKG treatment group showed the highest complexity and stability compared to other treatment groups. The structural equation modeling revealed that the application of hairy vetch improved soil nutrients and peanut yield by increasing the soil AMF abundance and network stability. Overall, the results suggested that the application of hairy vetch might trigger positive feedback between the peanut and AMF community, contributing to fertility and yield improvement in the dryland of Ultisol.

Enhanced performance of p-type SnOxthin film transistors through defect compensation.

Due to the unique outermost orbitals of Sn, hole carriers in tin monoxide (SnO) possess small effective mass and high mobility among oxide semiconductors, making it a promising p-channel material for thin film field-effect transistors (TFTs). However, the Sn vacancy induced field-effect mobility deterioration and threshold voltage (Vth) shift in experiments greatly limit its application in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) transistors. In this study, the internal mechanism of vacancy defect compensation by aluminum (Al) doping in SnOxfilm is studied combining experiments with the density functional theory (DFT). The doping is achieved by an argon (Ar) plasma treatment of Al2O3deposited onto the SnOxfilm, in which the Al2O3provides both the surface passivation and Al doping source. Experimental results show a wideVthmodulation range (6.08 to -19.77 V) and notable mobility enhancement (11.56 cm2V-1s-1) in the SnOxTFTs after the Al doping by Ar plasma. DFT results reveal that the most possible positions of Al in SnO and SnO2segments are the compensation to Sn vacancy and interstitial. The compensation will create an n-type doping effect and improve the hole carrier transport by reducing the hole effective mass (mh*), which is responsible for the device performance variation, while the interstitial in the SnO2segment can hardly affect the valence transport of the film. The defect compensation is suitable for the electronic property modulation of SnO towards the high-performance CMOS application.

The moderate substitution of Astragalus sinicus returning for chemical fertilizer improves the N cycle function of key ecological bacterial clusters in soil.

Astragalus sinicus (Chinese milk vetch) is a well-established resource of organic fertilizer widely used in paddy soil to partially replace chemical fertilizers. However, the influence of returning A. sinicus to fields on the soil bacterial community remains poorly understood. Here, we used different amounts of A. sinicus partially replacing chemical fertilizers and investigated the changes in soil physicochemical factors and the soil bacterial community structure responses. Returning A. sinicus to the field significantly increased the soil total nitrogen and available phosphorus content (p < 0.05). Weighted gene correlation network analysis (WGCNA) was applied to detect significant associations between the soil microbiome data and physicochemical factors. Two key ecological bacterial clusters (MEturquoise and MEgreen), mainly containing Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria, and Chloroflexi, were significantly correlated with soil nitrogen (N) levels. A. sinicus partially replacing chemical fertilizers reduced the normalized stochasticity ratio (NST) of rare amplicon sequence variants (ASVs), abundant ASVs, MEturquoise, and MEgreen (p < 0.05). Our results further indicated that a moderate amount of A. sinicus returned to the soil effectively mitigated the trend of reduced relative abundance of N fixation function of key ecological clusters caused by chemical fertilizer. However, a large amount of A. sinicus led to a significant increase in relative abundance of denitrification function and a significant decrease in relative abundance of N fixation function of key ecological clusters. This implies that the moderate substitution of A. sinicus returning for chemical fertilizer improves the N cycling function of key ecological bacterial clusters in soil. From the perspective of the bacterial community in paddy soil, this study provides new insight and a reference on how to find a good balance between the amount of A. sinicus returned to the soil and ecological safety.

Genome-wide identification and functional analysis of long non-coding RNAs in Chilo suppressalis reveal their potential roles in chlorantraniliprole resistance.

Long non-coding RNAs, referred to as lncRNAs, perform essential functions in some biological processes, including reproduction, metamorphosis, and other critical life functions. Yet, lncRNAs are poorly understood in pesticide resistance, and no reports to date have characterized which lncRNAs are associated with chlorantraniliprole resistance in Chilo suppressalis. Here, RNA-seq was performed on two strains of C. suppressalis exposed to chlorantraniliprole: one is a susceptible strain (S), and the other is a resistant strain (R). In total, 3,470 lncRNAs were identified from 40,573 merged transcripts in six libraries, including 1,879 lincRNAs, 245 intronic lncRNAs, 853 sense lncRNAs, and 493 antisense lncRNAs. Moreover, differential expression analysis revealed 297 and 335 lncRNAs upregulated in S and R strains, respectively. Differentially expressed (DE) lncRNAs are usually assumed to be involved in the chlorantraniliprole resistance in C. suppressalis. As potential targets, adjacent protein-coding genes (within <1000 kb range upstream or downstream of DE lncRNAs), especially detoxification enzyme genes (cytochrome P450s, carboxyl/cholinesterases/esterases, and ATP-binding cassette transporter), were analyzed. Furthermore, the strand-specific RT-PCR was conducted to confirm the transcript orientation of randomly selected 20 DE lincRNAs, and qRT-PCR was carried out to verify the expression status of 8 out of them. MSTRG.25315.3, MSTRG.25315.6, and MSTRG.7482.1 were upregulated in the R strain. Lastly, RNA interference and bioassay analyses indicated overexpressed lincRNA MSTRG.7482.1 was involved in chlorantraniliprole resistance. In conclusion, we represent, for the first time, the genome-wide identification of chlorantraniliprole-resistance-related lncRNAs in C. suppressalis. It elaborates the views underlying the mechanism conferring chlorantraniliprole resistance in lncRNAs.

Interactions between gastric microbiota and metabolites in gastric cancer.

The development and progression of gastric cancer (GC) is greatly influenced by gastric microbiota and their metabolites. Here, we characterized the gastric microbiome and metabolome profiles of 37 GC tumor tissues and matched non-tumor tissues using 16s rRNA gene sequencing and ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, respectively. Microbial diversity and richness were higher in GC tumor tissues than in non-tumor tissues. The abundance of Helicobacter was increased in non-tumor tissues, while the abundance of Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Bacteroides, Prevotella, and 6 additional genera was increased in the tumor tissues. The untargeted metabolome analysis revealed 150 discriminative metabolites, among which the relative abundance of the amino acids, carbohydrates and carbohydrate conjugates, glycerophospholipids, and nucleosides was higher in tumor tissues compared to non-tumor tissues. The targeted metabolome analysis further demonstrated that the combination of 1-methylnicotinamide and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine-6-phosphate could serve as a robust biomarker for distinction between GC tumors and non-tumor tissues. Correlation analysis revealed that Helicobacter and Lactobacillus were negatively and positively correlated with the majority of differential metabolites in the classes of amino acids, carbohydrates, nucleosides, nucleotides, and glycerophospholipids, respectively, suggesting that Helicobacter and Lactobacillus might play a role in degradation and synthesis of the majority of differential metabolites in these classes, respectively. Acinetobacter, Comamonas, Faecalibacterium, Sphingomonas, and Streptococcus were also significantly correlated with many differential amino acids, carbohydrates, nucleosides, nucleotides, and glycerophospholipids. In conclusion, the differences in metabolome profiles between GC tumor and matched non-tumor tissues may be partly due to the collective activities of Helicobacter, Lactobacillus, and other bacteria, which eventually affects GC carcinogenesis and progression.

Two-photon fluorogenic probe for visualizing PGP-1 activity in inflammatory tissues and serum from patients.

A PGP-1-specific one/two-photon fluorogenic probe (BH1), capable of high sensitivity, super selectivity, and visual imaging of endogenous PGP-1 activity from live mammalian cells and serum/skin tissues from patients by using one/two-photon fluorescence microscopy (O/TPFM).

Room-Temperature Phosphorescent Co-Crystal Showing Direct White Light and Photo-Electric Conversion.

The development of molecular crystalline materials with efficient room-temperature phosphorescence has been obtained much attention due to their fascinating photophysical properties and potential applications in the fields of data storage, bioimaging and photodynamic therapy. Herein, a new co-crystal complex [(DCPA) (AD)2] (DCPA = 9,10-di (4-carboxyphenyl)anthracene; AD = acridine) has been synthesized by a facile solvothermal process. Crystal structure analysis reveals that the co-crystal possesses orderly and alternant arrangement of DCPA donors and AD acceptors at molecular level. Fixed by strong hydrogen bonds, the DCPA molecule displays seriously twisty spatial conformation. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show well separation of HOMO and LUMO for this co-crystal system, suggesting the efficient triplet excitons generation. Photoluminescence measurements show intensive cyan fluorescence (58.20 ns) and direct white phosphorescence (325 µs) emission at room-temperature. The transient current density-time curve reveals a typical switching electric response under the irradiation of simulated light, reveal that the [(DCPA) (AD)2] co-crystal has a high photoelectric response performance.

Efficient Energy-Transfer-Induced High Photoelectric Conversion in a Dye-Encapsulated Ionic Pyrene-Based Metal-Organic Framework.

The relationship between the aggregation states of pyrene-based linkers and the photoluminescence/photoelectric performance was well studied by the formation of an anionic metal-organic framework, [BMI]2[Mg3(TBAPy)2(H2O)4]·2dioxane, which shows highly enhanced light-harvesting and photoelectric conversion efficiency by the encapsulation of D-π-A cation dyes.

High Transient-Thermal-Shock Resistant Nanochannel Tungsten Films.

Developing high-performance tungsten plasma-facing materials for fusion reactors is an urgent task. In this paper, novel nanochannel structural W films prepared by magnetron sputtering deposition were irradiated using a high-power pulsed electron beam or ion beam to study their edge-localized modes, such as transient thermal shock resistance. Under electron beam irradiation, a 1 µm thick nanochannel W film with 150 watt power showed a higher absorbed power density related cracking threshold (0.28-0.43 GW/m2) than the commercial bulk W (0.16-0.28 GW/m2) at room temperature. With ion beam irradiation with an energy density of 1 J/cm2 for different pulses, the bulk W displayed many large cracks with the increase of pulse number, while only micro-crack networks with a width of tens of nanometers were found in the nanochannel W film. For the mechanism of the high resistance of nanochannel W films to transient thermal shock, a residual stress analysis was made by Grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), and the results showed that the irradiated nanochannel W films had a much lower stress than that of the irradiated bulk W, which indicates that the nanochannel structure can release more stress, due to its special nanochannel structure and ability for the annihilation of irradiation induced defects.

Coexistent Integer Charge Transfer and Charge Transfer Complex in F4-TCNQ-Doped PTAA for Efficient Flexible Organic Light-Emitting Diodes.

Understanding the mechanism of interaction between organic polymers and dopants is of great significance to further enhance the performances of flexible electronics. Here, the two doping mechanisms of charge transfer complex (CTC) and integer charge transfer (ICT) are found to coexist in p-π conjugated PTAA doped with the strong acceptor F4-TCNQ, and their correlation is affected by the HJ-aggregate state of the doped polymer. The growth of the J-aggregate caused by the increase of CTC would lead to a corresponding formation of ICT. The doping efficiency was dominated by the CTC/ICT ratio. On the basis of the analysis of the optical, electrical, and morphological properties of PTAA:F4-TCNQ films, we optimized the CTC/ICT ratio to achieve the efficient hole transport layers that are used in solution-processed flexible phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes with p-i-n structure. The optimal device presents a very high current efficiency (CE) of 31.12 cd/A and a low turn-on voltage of 3.6 V.

Angle-Dependent Polarized Emission and Photoelectron Performance of Dye-Encapsulated Metal-Organic Framework.

Molecule-based crystalline materials with angle-dependent polarized emission have attracted considerable attention owing to their extensive applications in displays and anticounterfeiting. Herein, one anionic metal-organic framework (MOF) {[Zn2.5(µ3-OH)(NDC)2(HNDC)](HPIM)}n was constructed on the basis of an excellent photoactive ligand naphthalene-1,4-dicarboxylic acid (H2NDC). The protonated 2-propylimidazole (HPIM) guests residing in the nanochannels of MOF can be exchanged by a D-π-A cationic dye. The resulted host-guest system shows a rare example of ratiometric fluorescent polarizations and highly enhanced photoelectron performance in comparison with the pristine MOF.

CrI3/Y2CH2 Heterointerface-Induced Stable Half-Metallicity of Two-Dimensional CrI3 Monolayer Ferromagnets.

Two-dimensional (2D) CrI3 monolayer ferromagnets are key to the development of future miniature spintronic devices and modulating them into a half-metal will greatly expand the application scenarios of CrI3 in nanospintronics. Nevertheless, existing strategies to induce half-metallicity of a CrI3 monolayer remain experimentally challenging and have unstable issues. In this work, the introduction of a 2D electride [Y2C]2+·2e- as an auxiliary layer is shown to be an effective way to achieve the generation of stable half-metallicity in the CrI3 monolayer. When the fully hydrogenated Y2CH2 and ferromagnetic CrI3 monolayer combine to form a heterostructure, surprisingly the appropriate amount of charge injection (0.72 e) turns CrI3 into a half-metal. Hetero-interfacial half-metallicity in CrI3 is an intrinsic one and does not require any chemical functionalization or external physical modification. Therefore, it is advantageous for practical applications of CrI3 in miniature spintronic devices, such as magnetic tunnel junctions, spin valves or spin field-effect transistors. A new strategy of the stable CrI3/Y2CH2 heterostructure was successfully developed to induce the half-metallicity of 2D CrI3 ferromagnets, which is experimentally feasible and half-metallic stable enough. This work paves the way for the application of the CrI3 monolayer in half-metallic-based spintronics.

The complete genome of extracellular protease-producing Deinococcus sp. D7000 isolated from the hadal region of Mariana Trench Challenger Deep.

The general features and genomic characteristics of gram-positive Deinococcus sp. D7000 isolated from the hadal region of Mariana Trench Challenger Deep were analyzed in this study. Deinococcus sp. D7000 has a genome consisting of 4,558,742 bp, including one chromosome and nine plasmids. This strain exhibits extracellular protease activity under low temperatures. Among 4328 protein-coding sequences (CDSs), 47 encode serine peptidases. Multiple annotation analysis was used to identify two genes encoding extracellular subtilases. In addition, three types of extracellular secretion transporter systems were found upon pathway construction and analysis. Genome analysis offers insights into the putative pathway of extracellular protease and application prospect of Deinococcus sp. D7000 in enzyme development.

Sources and migration of heavy metals in a karst water system under the threats of an abandoned Pb-Zn mine, Southwest China.

Water quality is of great concern under the threats of an abandoned Pb-Zn mine within a vulnerable karst area. This study focuses on tracing the sources, migration and relevant geochemical controls of heavy metals along with surface- and groundwater flow, and assessing their hazards posed to the environment by indexes of heavy metal pollution (HPI) and ecological risks (ERI). We analyzed the concentrations of lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd) and copper (Cu) in filtered and digested surface water (SW) and groundwater (GW) samples. Whilst sulfate concentrations, δ34SSO4 isotope, and other physical-chemical parameters were measured in filtered SW and GW. Clearly elevated concentrations of Zn and Cd have been observed in the upstream of the Sidi River (max. 1540.3/1676.7, and 19.9/19.4 µg/L, for filtered/digested contents, respectively), and that of digested Pb and Cu (max. 17.8 and 114.6 µg/L, respectively) in the downstream karst groundwater. Zn and Cd are likely introduced by the Sidi River which is found mostly in the dissolved phase. While Pb and Cu are sourced from the remobilization of upper lying polluted soil which mostly existed in the particulate phase. Zn and Cd concentrations in the karst groundwater peak at the losing section while Pb and Cu in the river peaks at the gaining section as a result of metals transport with SW-GW exchange. Dilution significantly decreases total metals concentration in the non-karst area. Due to the buffer effect caused by carbonates dissolution and bacterial sulfate reduction, a steady neutral pH can reduce the concentrations of the dissolved metals in the karst area. The ERI and HPI assessments show an acceptable level for surface- and groundwater. A long-term observation on the contents of undissolved metals needs to be conducted in karst areas which are threatened by metal(s) mines.