Metagenomic and transcriptomic analysis revealing the impact of oxytetracycline and ciprofloxacin on gut microbiota and gene expression in the Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus).

Excessive antibiotic use has led to the spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), impacting gut microbiota and host health. However, the effects of antibiotics on amphibian populations remain unclear. We investigated the impact of oxytetracycline (OTC) and ciprofloxacin (CIP) on Chinese giant salamanders (Andrias davidianus), focusing on gut microbiota, ARGs, and gene expression by performing metagenome and transcriptome sequencing. A. davidianus were given OTC (20 or 40 mg/kg) or CIP (50 or 100 mg/kg) orally for 7 days. The results revealed that oral administration of OTC and CIP led to distinct changes in microbial composition and functional potential, with CIP treatment having a greater impact than OTC. Antibiotic treatment also influenced the abundance of ARGs, with an increase in fluoroquinolone and multi-drug resistance genes observed post-treatment. The construction of metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) accurately validated that CIP intervention enriched fish-associated potential pathogens Aeromonas hydrophila carrying an increased number of ARGs. Additionally, mobile genetic elements (MGEs), such as phages and plasmids, were implicated in the dissemination of ARGs. Transcriptomic analysis of the gut revealed significant alterations in gene expression, particularly in immune-related pathways, with differential effects observed between OTC and CIP treatments. Integration of metagenomic and transcriptomic data highlighted potential correlations between gut gene expression and microbial composition, suggesting complex interactions between the host gut and its gut microbiota in response to antibiotic exposure. These findings underscore the importance of understanding the impact of antibiotic intervention on the gut microbiome and host health in amphibians, particularly in the context of antibiotic resistance and immune function.

Dynamical interplay between superconductivity and pseudogap in cuprates as revealed by terahertz third-harmonic generation spectroscopy.

We report on nonlinear terahertz third-harmonic generation (THG) measurements on YBa2Cu3O6+x thin films. Different from conventional superconductors, the THG signal starts to appear in the normal state, which is consistent with the crossover temperature T* of pseudogap over broad doping levels. Upon lowering the temperature, the THG signal shows an anomaly just below Tc in the optimally doped sample. Notably, we observe a beat pattern directly in the measured real-time waveform of the THG signal. We elaborate that the Higgs mode, which develops below Tc, couples to the mode already developed below T*, resulting in an energy level splitting. However, this coupling effect is not evident in underdoped samples. We explore different potential explanations for the observed phenomena. Our research offers valuable insight into the interplay between superconductivity and pseudogap.

A 3D smart wood membrane with high flux and efficiency for separation of stabilized oil/water emulsions.

Oily sewage discharged from indiscriminate industrial and frequent oil spills have become a serious global problem. There is an urgent need to separate stable oil/water emulsions by efficient and environmentally friendly methods. Membrane separation technology has the advantages of low energy consumption and low cost, thus is an effective solution to the problems of oily wastewater. However, the manufacture of multifunctional membranes with high efficiency, high flux and self-cleaning using renewable materials remains a challenge. Herein, three-dimensional (3D) smart membranes with switchable superhydrophobic-hydrophilic surfaces were prepared by grafting photo-responsive poly-spiropyran (PSP) on wood-based substrates via surface atom transfer radical polymerization. This novel membrane can efficiently separate stabilized water-in-oil and oil-in-water emulsions due to reversible hydrophilic-hydrophobic transition by switching UV and visible light irradiation. Remarkably, after immobilization, the PSP grafted on the wood substrate exhibited a faster photo response effect than the free spiropyran (SP). More importantly, the prepared 3D smart membranes showed exceptional high flux (4392 L•m-2•h-1) and efficiency (above 99.99 %), good cycle stability (99.99 % after 12 times) and durability (available for at least 60 days) for the separation of surfactant-stabilized water-in-oil emulsions. This work opens a new avenue for the design of functional biomass-derived membranes for efficient and sustainable oily wastewater treatment with high flux, easy scale-up, and green regeneration.

Comparative mitogenome analysis reveals mitochondrial genome characteristics in eight strains of Beauveria.

Despite the significant progress that has been made in the genome sequencing of Beauveria species, mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) used to examine genetic diversity within fungal populations. Complete mitogenomes of Beauveria species can be easily sequenced and assembled using various sequencing techniques. However, since mitogenome annotations are mainly derived from similar species comparison and software prediction, and are not supported by RNA-seq transcripts data, it leads to problems with the accuracy of mitochondrial annotations and the inability to understand RNA processing. In this study, we assembled and annotated the mitogenome of eight Beauveria strains using Illumina DNA and RNA sequencing data. The circular mitogenome of eight Beauveria strains ranged from 26,850 bp (B. caledonica strain ATCC 64970) to 35,999 bp (B. brongniartii strain GYU-BMZ03), with the intronic insertions accounting for most of the size variation, thus contributing to a total mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) size of 7.01% and 28.95%, respectively. Intron number variations were not directly related to the evolutionary relationship distance. Besides ribosomal protein S3 (rps3), most introns are lost too quickly and lack the stability of protein-coding genes. The short RNA-seq reads from next-generation sequencing can improve the mitochondrial annotation accuracy and help study polycistronic transcripts and RNA processing. The transcription initiation sites may be located in the control region. Most introns do not serve as taxonomic markers and also lack open reading frames (ORFs). We assumed that the poly A tail was added to the polycistronic transcript before splicing and one polycistronic transcript (trnM (1)-trnL (1)-trnA-trnF-trnK-trnL (2)-trnQ-trnH-trnM (2)-nad2-nad3-atp9-cox2-trnR (1)-nad4L-nad5-cob-trnC-cox1-trnR (2)-nad1-nad4-atp8-atp6-rns-trnY-trnD-trnS-trnN-cox3-trnG-nad6-trnV-trnI-trnS-trnW-trnP-rnl(rps3)-trnT-trnE-trnM (3)) was first processed from the mitogenome and was subsequently processed into smaller mono-, di-, or tricistronic RNAs.

Magnetic Instabilities in the Quasi-One-Dimensional K2Cr3As3 Material with Twisted Triangular Tubes.

The magnetic response of a frustrated K2Cr3As3 sample having triangular arrays of twisted tubes has been studied by means of dc magnetization measurements as a function of the magnetic field (H) at different temperatures ranging from 5 K up to 300 K. Looking at the magnetic hysteresis loops m(H), a diamagnetic behavior of the sample was inferred at temperatures higher than 60 K, whereas at lower temperatures the sample showed a hysteresis loop compatible with the presence of ferrimagnetism. Moreover, spike-like magnetization jumps, both positive and negative, were observed in a narrow range of the magnetic field around 800 Oe, regardless of the temperature considered and they were compared with the theoretical predictions on frustrated systems. The field position of the magnetization jumps was studied at different temperatures, and their distribution can be described by a Lorentzian curve. The analogies between the expected features and the experimental observations suggest that the jumps could be attributed to the magnetic frustration arising from the twisted triangular tubes present in the crystal lattice of this compound.

Dimensionality of the Superconductivity in the Transition Metal Pnictide WP.

We report theoretical and experimental results on the transition metal pnictide WP. The theoretical outcomes based on tight-binding calculations and density functional theory indicate that WP is a three-dimensional superconductor with an anisotropic electronic structure and nonsymmorphic symmetries. On the other hand, magnetoresistance experimental data and the analysis of superconducting fluctuations of the conductivity in external magnetic field indicate a weakly anisotropic three-dimensional superconducting phase.

Persistence of Monoclinic Crystal Structure in 3D Second-Order Topological Insulator Candidate 1T'-MoTe2 Thin Flake Without Structural Phase Transition.

A van der Waals material, MoTe2 with a monoclinic 1T' crystal structure is a candidate for 3D second-order topological insulators (SOTIs) hosting gapless hinge states and insulating surface states. However, due to the temperature-induced structural phase transition, the monoclinic 1T' structure of MoTe2 is transformed into the orthorhombic Td structure as the temperature is lowered, which hinders the experimental verification and electronic applications of the predicted SOTI state at low temperatures. Here, systematic Raman spectroscopy studies of the exfoliated MoTe2 thin flakes with variable thicknesses at different temperatures, are presented. As a spectroscopic signature of the orthorhombic Td structure of MoTe2 , the out-of-plane vibration mode D at ≈ 125 cm-1 is always visible below a certain temperature in the multilayer flakes thicker than ≈ 27.7 nm, but vanishes in the temperature range from 80 to 320 K when the flake thickness becomes lower than ≈ 19.5 nm. The absence of the out-of-plane vibration mode D in the Raman spectra here demonstrates not only the disappearance of the monoclinic-to-orthorhombic phase transition but also the persistence of the monoclinic 1T' structure in the MoTe2 thin flakes thinner than ≈ 19.5 nm at low temperatures down to 80 K, which may be caused by the high enough density of the holes introduced during the gold-enhanced exfoliation process and exposure to air. The MoTe2 thin flakes with the low-temperature monoclinic 1T' structure provide a material platform for realizing SOTI states in van der Waals materials at low temperatures, which paves the way for developing a new generation of electronic devices based on SOTIs.

Discovery of segmented Fermi surface induced by Cooper pair momentum.

A sufficiently large supercurrent can close the energy gap in a superconductor and create gapless quasiparticles through the Doppler shift of quasiparticle energy caused by finite Cooper pair momentum. In this gapless superconducting state, zero-energy quasiparticles reside on a segment of the normal-state Fermi surface, whereas the remaining Fermi surface is still gapped. We use quasiparticle interference to image the field-controlled Fermi surface of bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) thin films under proximity effect from the superconductor niobium diselenide (NbSe2). A small applied in-plane magnetic field induces a screening supercurrent, which leads to finite-momentum pairing on the topological surface states of Bi2Te3. We identify distinct interference patterns that indicate a gapless superconducting state with a segmented Fermi surface. Our results reveal the strong impact of finite Cooper pair momentum on the quasiparticle spectrum.

Full-length transcriptome assembly of andrias davidianus (amphibia: caudata) skin via hybrid sequencing.

The Chinese giant salamander, Andrias davidianus, is the largest amphibian species in the world; it is thus an economically and ecologically important species. The skin of A. davidianus exhibits complex adaptive structural and functional adaptations to facilitate survival in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we report the first full-length amphibian transcriptome from the dorsal skin of A. davidianus, which was assembled using hybrid sequencing and the PacBio and Illumina platforms. A total of 153,038 transcripts were hybrid assembled (mean length of 2039 bp and N50 of 2172 bp), and 133,794 were annotated in at least one database (nr, Swiss-Prot, KEGG, KOGs, GO, and nt). A total of 58,732, 68,742, and 115,876 transcripts were classified into 24 KOG categories, 1903 GO term categories, and 46 KEGG pathways (level 2), respectively. A total of 207,627 protein-coding regions, 785 transcription factors, 27,237 potential long non-coding RNAs, and 8299 simple sequence repeats were also identified. The hybrid-assembled transcriptome recovered more full-length transcripts, had a higher N50 contig length, and a higher annotation rate of unique genes compared with that assembled in previous studies using next-generation sequencing. The high-quality full-length reference gene set generated in this study will help elucidate the genetic characteristics of A. davidianus skin and aid the identification of functional skin proteins.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Pachytriton granulosus (Chang, 1933) (Amphibia: Caudata: Salamandridae).

Complete mitochondrial genome (GenBank accession number MN073499) for Pachytriton granulosus (Amphibia: Caudata: Salamandridae) was obtained with Sanger sequencing and assembled manually. The mitogenome consists of a circular DNA molecule of 16,288 bp, with 68.51% AT content. It comprises 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, and 2 rRNA genes. The protein-coding genes have typical ATN (Met) start codons, except cox1 (GTG as start codon), and are terminated by typical TAN stop codons, except nad6 (AGA as start codon).

Complete mitochondrial genome of Promethis valgipes valgipes (Marseul) (Insecta: Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae).

Promethis valgipes valgipes (Marseul) is one of the important fungus-eating beetle distributed in central China, Korea, and Japan. Beetles were obtained from Pizhou City and the species' mitochondrial genome was characterized (GenBank accession number MW201671). The mitogenome consists of a circular DNA molecule of 15,801 bp, with 68.51% AT content. It comprises 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 tRNA genes, and two rRNA genes. The PCGs have typical ATN (Met) start codons, except nad1 (TTG as start codon), and are terminated by typical TAN stop codons.

Electronic correlations and flattened band in magnetic Weyl semimetal candidate Co3Sn2S2.

The interplay between electronic correlations and topological protection may offer a rich avenue for discovering emergent quantum phenomena in condensed matter. However, electronic correlations have so far been little investigated in Weyl semimetals (WSMs) by experiments. Here, we report a combined optical spectroscopy and theoretical calculation study on the strength and effect of electronic correlations in a magnet Co3Sn2S2. The electronic kinetic energy estimated from our optical data is about half of that obtained from single-particle ab initio calculations in the ferromagnetic ground state, which indicates intermediate-strength electronic correlations in this system. Furthermore, comparing the energy and side-slope ratios between the interband-transition peaks at high energies in the experimental and single-particle-calculation-derived optical conductivity spectra with the bandwidth-renormalization factors obtained by many-body calculations enables us to estimate the Coulomb-interaction strength (U âˆ¼ 4 eV) in Co3Sn2S2. Besides, a sharp experimental optical conductivity peak at low energy, which is absent in the single-particle-calculation-derived spectrum but is consistent with the optical conductivity peaks obtained by many-body calculations with U âˆ¼ 4 eV, indicates that an electronic band connecting the two Weyl cones is flattened by electronic correlations and emerges near the Fermi energy in Co3Sn2S2. Our work paves the way for exploring flat-band-generated quantum phenomena in WSMs.

Fabrication and Piezoresistive/Piezoelectric Sensing Characteristics of Carbon Nanotube/PVA/Nano-ZnO Flexible Composite.

Flexible sensors with a high sensitivity and wide-frequency response are essential for structural health monitoring (SHM) while they are attached. Here, carbon nanotube (CNT) films doped with various PVA fractions (CNT/PVA) and ZnO nanowires (nano-ZnO) on zinc sheets were first fabricated by functionalized self-assembly and hydrothermal synthesis processes. A CNT/PVA/nano-ZnO flexible composite (CNT/PVA/ZnO) sandwiched with a zinc wafer was then prepared by the spin-coating method. The piezoresistive and/or piezoelectric capabilities of the CNT/PVA/ZnO composite were comprehensively investigated under cyclic bending and impact loading after it was firmly adhered to a substrate (polypropylene sheet or mortar plate). The results show that the piezoresistive sensitivity and linear stability of the CNT/PVA films doped with 20%, 50%, and 100% PVA during bending are 5.47%/mm, 11.082%/mm, and 11.95%/mm and 2.3%, 3.42%, and 4.78%, respectively. The piezoelectric sensitivity, linear stability, and response accuracy of the CNT/PVA/ZnO composite under impulse loading are 4.87 mV/lbf, 3.42%, and 1.496 ms, respectively. These merits support the use of CNT/PVA/ZnO as a piezoresistive and/or piezoelectric compound sensor to monitor the static/dynamic loads on concrete structures while it is attached.

Structural characterization and in vitro immunogenicity evaluation of amphibian-derived collagen type II from the cartilage of Chinese Giant Salamander (Andrias davidianus).

Collagen type II (CT-II) has unique biological activities and functions, yet the knowledge on amphibian-derived CT-II is rare. Herein, acid-soluble collagen (ASC) and pepsin-soluble collagen (PSC) were successfully isolated and characterized from the cartilage of Chinese Giant Salamander (CGS). The in vitro immunogenicity of collagen was then evaluated and compared with that of the standard bovine CT-II (SCT-II) by T-lymphocyte cell proliferation activity. Results demonstrated that ASC and PSC were predominantly CT-II along with minor collagen type I and maintained intact triple-helical structure of nature collagen. Compared with SCT-II, higher glycine content (337.80 and 339.93 residues/1000 residues) and lower degree of proline hydroxylation (51.81% and 52.52%) were observed in ASC and PSC. Additionally, PSC showed comparable Td (63 °C) and higher Tm (109 °C) than SCT-II (64 °C and 103 °C, respectively), indicating its high thermal and structural stability. SEM revealed that the lyophilized ASC and PSC had interconnected porous network structures of collagen-based materials. Moreover, different from SCT-II, both ASC and PSC presented no immunogenicity because they did not cause obvious proliferation of murine T-lymphocyte regardless of the induced concentration of collagen increased from 8 to 417 µg/mL. These data suggested that the amphibian-derived CGS cartilage collagens avoid the immunogenic risk of terrestrial animal collagen, and show high thermal stability and potential advantage in biomedical application.

Superconductivity in chromium nitrides Pr3Cr10-xN11 with strong electron correlations.

Exploration of superconductivity in Cr-based compounds has attracted considerable interest because only a few Cr-based superconductors (CrAs, A2Cr3As3 and ACr3As3 (A = K, Rb, Cs, Na)) have been discovered so far and they show an unconventional pairing mechanism. We report the discovery of bulk superconductivity at 5.25 K in chromium nitride in Pr3Cr10-xN11 with a cubic lattice structure. A relatively large upper critical field of H c2(0) ∼ 12.6 T is determined, which is larger than the estimated Pauli-paramagnetic pair-breaking magnetic field. The material has a large electronic specific-heat coefficient of 170 mJ K-2 mol-1-about 10 times larger than that estimated by the electronic structure calculation, which suggests that correlations between 3d electrons are very strong in Pr3Cr10-xN11, and thus quantum fluctuations might be involved. Electronic structure calculations show that the density of states at the Fermi energy are contributed predominantly by Cr 3d electrons, implying that the superconductivity results mainly from the condensation of Cr 3d electrons. Pr3Cr10-xN11 represents a rare example of possible unconventional superconductivity emerging in a 3D system with strong electron correlations. Nevertheless, clarification of the specific pairing symmetry needs more investigation.

Strong and Tunable Electrical Anisotropy in Type-II Weyl Semimetal Candidate WP2 with Broken Inversion Symmetry.

A transition metal diphosphide, WP2 , is a candidate for type-II Weyl semimetals (WSMs) in which spatial inversion symmetry is broken and Lorentz invariance is violated. As one of the prerequisites for the presence of the WSM state in WP2 , spatial inversion symmetry breaking in this compound has rarely been investigated. Furthermore, the anisotropy of the WP2 electrical properties and whether its electrical anisotropy can be tuned remain elusive. Angle-resolved polarized Raman spectroscopy, electrical transport, optical spectroscopy, and first-principle studies of WP2 are reported. The energies of the observed Raman-active phonons and the angle dependences of the detected phonon intensities are consistent with results obtained by first-principle calculations and analysis of the proposed crystal symmetry without spatial inversion, showing that spatial inversion symmetry is broken in WP2 . Moreover, the measured ratio (Rc /Ra ) between the crystalline c-axis and a-axis electrical resistivities exhibits a weak dependence on temperature (T) in the temperature range from 100 to 250 K, but increases abruptly at T ≤ 100 K, and then reaches the value of ≈8.0 at T = 10 K, which is by far the strongest in-plane electrical resistivity anisotropy among the reported type-II WSM candidates with comparable carrier concentrations. Optical spectroscopy study, together with the first-principle calculations on the electronic band structure, reveals that the abrupt enhancement of the electrical resistivity anisotropy at T ≤ 100 K mainly arises from a sharp increase in the scattering rate anisotropy at low temperatures. More interestingly, the Rc /Ra of WP2 at T = 10 K can be tuned from 8.0 to 10.6 as the magnetic field increases from 0 to 9 T. The so-far-strongest and magnetic-field-tunable electrical resistivity anisotropy found in WP2 can serve as a degree of freedom for tuning the electrical properties of type-II WSMs, which paves the way for the development of novel electronic applications based on type-II WSMs.

Toughening and Enhancing Melamine-Urea-Formaldehyde Resin Properties via in situ Polymerization of Dialdehyde Starch and Microphase Separation.

The goal of this study is to employ bio-based dialdehyde starch (DAS), derived from in situ polymerization and the resultant microphase separation structure, to improve the strength of melamine-urea-formaldehyde (MUF) resin, as well as enhance the properties that affect its adhesive performance. Thus, we evaluated the effects of DAS on the chemical structure, toughness, curing behavior, thermal stability, and micromorphology of the MUF resin. Furthermore, the wet shear strength and formaldehyde emissions of a manufactured, three-layer plywood were also measured. Results indicate that DAS was chemically introduced into the MUF resin by in situ polymerization between the aldehyde group in the DAS and the amino group and hydroxymethyl group in the resin. Essentially, polymerization caused a DAS soft segment to interpenetrate into the rigid MUF resin cross-linked network, and subsequently form a microphase separation structure. By incorporating 3% DAS into the MUF resin, the elongation at break of impregnated paper increased 48.12%, and the wet shear strength of the plywood increased 23.08%. These improvements were possibly due to one or a combination of the following: (1) DAS polymerization increasing the cross-linking density of the cured system; (2) DAS modification accelerating the curing of the MUF resin; and/or (3) the microphase separation structure, induced by DAS polymerization, improving the cured resin's strength. All the results in this study suggest that the bio-based derivative from in situ polymerization and microphase separation can effectively toughen and enhance the properties that affect adhesive performance in highly cross-linked thermosetting resins.

Experimental Study on the Preparation of Recycled Admixtures by Using Construction and Demolition Waste.

The use of construction and demolition waste (CDW) to prepare recycled admixtures is of great significance for the complete resource reutilization of CDW. In this paper, different kinds of CDW were prepared into recycled powder (RP) with a specific particle size (0-45 µm or 0-75 µm). The fineness, water requirement ratio (WRR), fluidity, loss on ignition (LOI), strength activity index (SAI) and compatibility of cement and superplasticizer (CCS) were examined. The above test results were analyzed by advanced analysis tools, such as laser particle size analysis, XRD, XRF, DSC-TGA, SEM, and BET. The properties of different types of RPs varied greatly, which was closely related to the microstructure, particle morphology and chemical composition of the RP. The experimental results showed that all kinds of RPs after grinding had a high fineness and good particle size distribution, and the mineral composition was dominated by SiO2 with the content exceeding 50%. The WRR of various RPs was between 105% and 112%, and the SAI was between 68% and 78%, but the LOI varied greatly. Different types of RPs had a negative impact on the CCS, but the compatibility of cement and naphthalene-based superplasticizer was less affected. The content of recycled brick powder (RBP) in a hybrid recycled powder (HRP) was an important factor. When the content of RBP in HRP exceeded 50%, the HRP could meet the basic performance requirements of fly ash.

Preparation and Physical Properties of High-Belite Sulphoaluminate Cement-Based Foam Concrete Using an Orthogonal Test.

Prefabricated building development increasingly requires foam concrete (FC) insulation panels with low dry density (ρd), low thermal conductivity coefficient (kc), and a certain compressive strength (fcu). Here, the foam properties of a composite foaming agent with different dilution ratios were studied first, high-belite sulphoaluminate cement (HBSC)-based FCs (HBFCs) with 16 groups of orthogonal mix proportions were subsequently fabricated by a pre-foaming method, and physical properties (ρd, fcu, and kc) of the cured HBFC were characterized in tandem with microstructures. The optimum mix ratios for ρd, fcu, and kc properties were obtained by the range analysis and variance analysis, and the final optimization verification and economic cost of HBFC was also carried out. Orthogonal results show that foam produced by the foaming agent at a dilution ratio of 1:30 can meet the requirements of foam properties for HBFC, with the 1 h bleeding volume, 1 h settling distance, foamability, and foam density being 65.1 ± 3.5 mL, 8.0 ± 0.4 mm, 27.9 ± 0.9 times, and 45.0 ± 1.4 kg/m³, respectively. The increase of fly ash (FA) and foam dosage can effectively reduce the kc of the cured HBFC, but also leads to the decrease of fcu due to the increase in mean pore size and the connected pore amount, and the decline of pore uniformity and pore wall strength. When the dosage of FA, water, foam, and the naphthalene-based superplasticizer of the binder is 20 wt%, 0.50, 16.5 wt%, and 0.6 wt%, the cured HBFC with ρd of 293.5 ± 4.9 kg/m³, fcu of 0.58 ± 0.02 MPa and kc of 0.09234 ± 0.00142 W/m·k is achieved. In addition, the cost of HBFC is only 39.5 $/m³, which is 5.2 $ lower than that of ordinary Portland cement (OPC)-based FC. If the surface of the optimized HBFC is further treated with water repellent, it will completely meet the requirements for a prefabricated ultra-light insulation panel.

Influence of Graphene Oxide on the Mechanical Properties, Fracture Toughness, and Microhardness of Recycled Concrete.

There is a constant drive to improve the properties of recycled concrete owing to its inferior strength and fracture toughness compared to normal concrete and recent progress in graphene oxide (GO) nanomaterials impelling nanosized reinforcements to recycled concrete. Here, GO-modified natural sand (NS)- or recycled sand (RS)-based mortars (GONMs or GORMs) with six GO fractions (wGOs) were fabricated to explore their 28 d mechanical strengths (f28t, f28c), fracture toughness (KIC, δc), and microhardness (Hv), as well as their crystal phases (using X-ray powder diffraction) and microstructures (using scanning electronic microscopy). Results reveal, greater enhancements in mechanical strengths (4.50% and 10.61% in f28t, 4.76% and 13.87% in f28c), fracture toughness (16.49% and 38.17% in KIC, 160.14% and 286.59% in δc), and microhardness (21.02% and 52.70% in Hv) of GORM with just 0.025 wt‰ and 0.05 wt‰ GO, respectively, with respect to the control are achieved when comparing with those of GONM with the same wGO. More zigzag surfaces, more irregular weak interface slips, and the relatively lower strengths of RS bring the superiority of the template and reshaping effects of GO into full play in GORM rather than in GONM. These outcomes benefit a wide range of applications of recycled concrete products.