Integrated assessment of the natural purification capacity of tidal flat for persistent toxic substances and heavy metals in contaminated sediments.

Natural purification of pollutants is highly recognized as regulating ecosystem services; however, the purification capacity of tidal flats remains largely unknown and/or unquantified. A 60-day mesocosm transplant experiment was conducted in situ to assess the purification capacity of natural tidal flats. We adopted the advanced sediment quality triad approach, monitoring 10 endpoints, including chemical reduction, toxicity changes, and community recoveries. The results indicated that contaminated sediments rapidly recovered over time, particularly > 50% within a day, then slowly recovered up to âˆ¼ 70% in a given period (60 days). A significant early reduction of parent pollutants was evidenced across all treatments, primarily due to active bacterial decomposition. Notably, the presence of benthic fauna and vegetated halophytes in the treatments significantly enhanced the purification of pollutants in both efficacy and efficiency. A forecast linear modeling further suggested additive effects of biota on the natural purification of tidal flats, reducing a full recovery time from 500 to 300 days. Overall, the triad approach with machine learning practices successfully demonstrated quantitative insight into the integrated assessment of natural purification.

Metal to semiconductor switching in the AgTe monolayer via decoration with alkali metal and alkaline earth metal atoms: a first-principles perspective.

In this work, employing first-principles calculations, we systematically investigate the atomic structure and electronic and optical properties of the AgTe monolayer, as well as the impact of alkali metal (Li, Na, K) and alkaline earth metal (Be, Mg, Ca) atoms decoration. The AgTe monolayer exhibits metallic characteristics. When Li, Na, K, and Mg atoms are decorated on the AgTe monolayer, the decorated AgTe monolayers are dynamically stable. In contrast, with Be and Ca atoms, the decorated structures are found to be dynamically unstable. Interestingly, the decoration of Li, Na, and K atoms into the AgTe monolayer can open the band gaps in the decorated Li-, Na- and K-AgTe monolayers around the Fermi level, leading to the actualization of metal-to-semiconductor transitions. In contrast, the decorated Mg-AgTe monolayer maintains its metallic characteristic. The highest electron and hole mobilities are achieved in the Na-AgTe monolayer among the decorated structures, suggesting the applicability of this structure in photovoltaic applications. The optical study shows that Li-, Na- and K-decorated AgTe monolayers have improved light absorption in the visible light region. Consequently, our findings shed light on the decoration of these 2D material monolayers and can potentially enhance and motivate studies in producing these monolayers for current nanodevices and future applications.

Best available technique for the recovery of marine benthic communities in a gravel shore after the oil spill: A mesocosm-based sediment triad assessment.

Ecotoxicological effects of spilled oils are well documented, but study of recovery of marine benthic communities is limited. Long-term recovery of hard bottom communities during physical and biological remediations after a spill was monitored. A 60-day experiment was conducted using a mesocosm with monitoring of eight endpoints by use of the sediment quality triad (SQT). First, physical treatment of hot water + high pressure flushing maximally removed residual oils (max=93%), showing the greatest recovery among SQT variables (mean=72%). Physical cleanup generally involved adverse effects such as depression of the microphytobenthic community during the initial period. Next, biological treatments, such as fertilizer, emulsifier, enzyme and augmentation of the microbes, all facilitated removal of oil (max=66%) enhancing ecological recovery. Analysis of the microbiome confirmed that oil-degrading bacteria, such as Dietzia sp. and Rosevarius sp. were present. A mixed bioremediation, including fertilizer + multi-enzyme + microbes (FMeM) maximized efficacy of remediation as indicated by SQT parameters (mean=47%). Natural attenuation with "no treatment" showed comparable recovery to other remediations. Considering economic availability, environmental performance, and technical applicability, of currently available techniques, combined treatments of physical removal via hand wiping followed by FMeM could be most effective for recovery of the rocky shore benthic community.

Influence of ligand's directional configuration, chrysenes as model compounds, on the binding activity with aryl hydrocarbon receptor.

Understanding what and how physico-chemical factors of a ligand configure conditions for ligand-receptor binding is a key to accurate assessment of toxic potencies of environmental pollutants. We investigated influences of the dipole-driven orientation and resulting directional configuration of ligands on receptor binding activities. Using physico-chemical properties calculated by ab initio density functional theory, directional reactivity factors (DRF) were devised as main indicators of toxic potencies, linking molecular ligand-receptor binding to in vitro responses. The directional reactive model was applied to predict variation of aryl hydrocarbon receptor-mediated toxic potencies among homologues of chrysene with structural modifications such as the numbers of constituent benzene rings, methylation and hydroxylation. Results of predictive models were consistent with empirical potencies determined by use of the H4IIE-luc transactivation bioassay. The experiment-free approach based on first principles provides an analytical framework for estimating molecular bioactivity in silico and complements conventional empirical approaches to studying molecular initiating events in adverse outcome pathways.

Natural purification capacity of tidal flats for organic matters and nutrients: A mesocosm study.

The regulating services by natural tidal flats to purify organic pollutants are increasingly recognized, but a quantitative assessment is very limited. We developed a mesocosm system to determine removal efficiency of organic matters and nutrients by simulating a natural tidal condition. The tidal flat sediments significantly removed waterborne organic pollutants to background levels in ~2 and 6-7 days for COD and TP, respectively. This rapid removal of organic matters by natural sediments could be attributed to the microbe community degrading the corresponding pollutants. Temporal trend and degree of removal rates for COD and TP were similar between the bare tidal flat and the salt marsh. Meantime, the salt marsh environment removed waterborne DIP much quickly and also efficiently, implying a high affinity of halophytes on dissolved organic matters. Of note, sedimentary organic sink prevailed in defaunated condition under the smaller bioturbation effect. A mini-review on the purification capacity of natural and/or constructed coastal wetlands generally supported a high efficiency of vegetation to remove various sources of organic matters.

Photon management properties of rare-earth (Nd,Yb,Sm)-doped CeO2 films prepared by pulsed laser deposition.

CeO2 is a promising material for applications in optoelectronics and photovoltaics due to its large band gap and values of the refractive index and lattice parameters, which are suitable for silicon-based devices. In this study, we show that trivalent Sm, Nd and Yb ions can be successfully inserted and optically activated in CeO2 films grown at a relatively low deposition temperature (400 °C), which is compatible with inorganic photovoltaics. CeO2 thin films can therefore be efficiently functionalized with photon-management properties by doping with trivalent rare earth (RE) ions. Structural and optical analyses provide details of the electronic level structure of the films and of their energy transfer mechanisms. In particular, we give evidence of the existence of an absorption band centered at 350 nm from which energy transfer to rare earth ions occurs. The transfer mechanisms can be completely explained only by considering the spontaneous migration of Ce(3+) ions in CeO2 at a short distance from the RE(3+) ions. The strong absorption cross section of the f-d transitions in Ce(3+) ions efficiently intercepts the UV photons of the solar spectrum and therefore strongly increases the potential of these layers as downshifters and downconverters.

Selective Area Band Engineering of Graphene using Cobalt-Mediated Oxidation.

This study reports a scalable and economical method to open a band gap in single layer graphene by deposition of cobalt metal on its surface using physical vapor deposition in high vacuum. At low cobalt thickness, clusters form at impurity sites on the graphene without etching or damaging the graphene. When exposed to oxygen at room temperature, oxygen functional groups form in proportion to the cobalt thickness that modify the graphene band structure. Cobalt/Graphene resulting from this treatment can support a band gap of 0.30 eV, while remaining largely undamaged to preserve its structural and electrical properties. A mechanism of cobalt-mediated band opening is proposed as a two-step process starting with charge transfer from metal to graphene, followed by formation of oxides where cobalt has been deposited. Contributions from the formation of both CoO and oxygen functional groups on graphene affect the electronic structure to open a band gap. This study demonstrates that cobalt-mediated oxidation is a viable method to introduce a band gap into graphene at room temperature that could be applicable in electronics applications.

Species- and tissue-specific bioaccumulation of arsenicals in various aquatic organisms from a highly industrialized area in the Pohang City, Korea.

Contamination of water and sediment with arsenic (As) in a highly industrialized area of Pohang City, Korea was investigated, with emphasis on in situ bioaccumulation of arsenicals by various aquatic organisms. Species- and tissue-specific concentrations of arsenicals were determined by use of HPLC-ICP/MS and µ-X-ray absorption near-edge structure (µ-XANES). Concentrations of arsenic in aquatic organisms were strongly associated with corresponding water concentrations, which indicates point sources associated with land use and activities. Arsenobetaine was the most dominant form of arsenic found in fishes, bivalves, crabs, and shrimps, while As(III) was predominant in freshwater snails. The µ-XANES analysis provided additional information about the unidentified arsenicals such as As-thiol. Arsenicals were mainly localized in intestine of mullet and marsh clam. Distribution and bioaccumulation of arsenic were strongly correlated with salinity, which indicates that natural processes controlling biogeochemistry of arsenic would be important in estuarine lotic system.

Self-ordering properties of functionalized acenes for annealing-free organic thin film transistors.

Presented here is a study of the molecular self-ordering properties of four bis(phenylethynyl) anthracene based organic semiconductors related to their electronic structure employing X-ray spectroscopy techniques and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The local molecular order through polarization dependence of C 1s → π* transitions revealed ordered π-stacking nearly perpendicular to the substrate due to van der Waals interactions between alkyl groups. DFT calculations were used to deconvolute the measured electronic structure and examine effects of small changes in molecular geometry in relation to measured charge carrier mobility in top contact field effect transistors. The highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) are found to be conjugated from the anthracene core across the bridging ethynyl groups to the thiophene and phenyl end groups. The inclusion of ethynyl bridges connecting the thiophenes has a twofold effect of both reducing the rotational freedom of this functional group and increasing HOMO/LUMO conjugation across the molecules. These features help create a more rigid upright structure for HB-ant-THT with better molecular orbital conjugation and subsequent higher mobility. With this understanding of how different functional groups interact with an acene core, future synthesis of new materials may be directed toward annealing-free organic semiconducting materials.

Universal temperature crossover behavior of electrical conductance in a single oligothiophene molecular wire.

We have observed and analyzed a universal temperature crossover behavior of electrical conductance in a single oligothiophene molecular wire. The crossover between the Arrhenius-type temperature dependence at high temperature and the temperature-invariant behavior at low temperature is found at a critical molecular wire length of 5.6 nm, where we found a change from the exponential length dependence to the length-invariant behavior. We have derived a scaling function analysis for the origin of the crossover behavior. After assuring that the analysis fits the explanation of the Keldysh Green's function calculation for the temperature dependence, we have applied it to our experimental results and found successfully that our scaling function gives a universal description of the temperature dependence for all over the temperature range.

Unipolar-to-ambipolar conversion of organic thin-film transistors by organosilane self-assembled monolayer.

Simplification of the design and manufacture of electronic and optoelectronic devices, such as field-effect transistors and light emitting diodes, can be achieved with the use of organic semiconductor materials. Organic thin-film field-effect transistors (TFFETs) can be used to complement current metal-oxide semiconductor technology, provided that organic ambipolar transistors can be configured to operate in both p-channel and n-channel configurations. The development of organic ambipolar TFFETs has been hindered by the lack of n-type conduction in most of the common organic TFFETs. Here, we show that we can achieve high ambipolar carrier mobility in TFFETs based on rubrene and pentacene molecules through the inclusion of an organosilane self-assembled monolayer (SAM) on the gate dielectric surface. A similar device that lacks the aforementioned SAM exhibits only p-type characteristics, confirming that the enhancement of the n-type conductivity is due to the passivation of the dielectric surface that results from the inclusion of organosilane monolayer.