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Objective: To investigate the association between total sleep duration variability and stroke in the middle-aged and elderly population in China. Methods: Data were collected from the 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2018 surveys of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). A total of 3485 participants, who had not experienced a stroke until 2015 and completed the follow-up in 2018, were enrolled to analyze the relationship between total sleep duration variability and new stroke. Total sleep duration was calculated by summing self-reported nocturnal sleep duration and daytime napping. The variability was determined by calculating the standard deviation (SD) of total sleep duration across the first three waves. A binary logistic regression model was utilized to analyze this association. Results: Of the 3485 participants, 183 (5.25%) sustained a stroke event. A dose-response relationship was observed, indicating an increased stroke risk of 0.2 per unit (hours) increase in total sleep duration variability [OR (95% CI): 1.20 (1.01–1.42)]. Upon stratification by sex groups, this increased risk was significant only in men [OR (95% CI): 1.44 (1.12–1.83)]. Conclusion: Increased total sleep duration variability was associated with an increased risk of stroke in the middle-aged and elderly, independent of factors such as age, nocturnal sleep duration, napping habits, region of residence, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, BMI, smoking, drinking habits, and marital status. However, a more notable correlation was observed in males. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single metal atoms decorated on earth‐abundant transition‐metal‐based supports have attracted intensive attention toward oxygen evolution reaction (OER) due to their decent activity and low cost. However, further optimizing the catalytic performance is severely plagued by the limited active sites. Conventional optimization relies primarily on increasing the metal loading but is extremely difficult. Thus, it is imperative to go beyond the current design paradigms. Herein, it is reported that the anchored highly active single metal atoms can reinforce the electrochemical reconstruction of the supports and thus yield more substrate active sites. Consequently, increased amount of active sites and enhanced intrinsic activity can be readily realized simultaneously. Taking Ni2P4O12 decorated with single Ir atoms as a typical example, an extraordinary activity of η10 = 186 mV and η100 = 238 mV and robust stability up to 108 h are achieved. Mechanistic study uncovers that the reinforced reconstruction of Ni2P4O12 originates from the promoted PO43− leaching by single Ir atoms, which is an intrinsic feature of the supports to achieve such reinforcement. The proposed concept, decorating single metal atoms on supports featured by facile anion leaching, opens a new avenue to the design of practical electrocatalysts for efficient OER. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial photosynthesis in carbon dioxide (CO2) conversion into value-added chemicals attracts considerable attention but suffers from the low activity induced by sluggish separation of photogenerated carriers and the kinetic bottleneck-induced unsatisfied selectivity. Herein, we prepare a new-style Bi/TiO2 catalyst formed by pinning bismuth clusters on TiO2 nanowires through being confined by pores, which exhibits high activity and selectivity towards photocatalytic production of CH4 from CO2. Boosted charge transfer from TiO2 through Bi to the reactants is revealed via in situ X-ray photon spectroscopy and time-resolved photoluminescence (PL). Further, in situ Fourier transform infrared results confirm that Bi/TiO2 not only overcomes the multi-electron kinetics challenge of CO2 to CH4 via boosting charge transfer, but also facilitates proton production and transfer as well as the intermediates ⋆CHO and ⋆CH3O generation, ultimately achieving the tandem catalysis towards methanation. Theoretical calculation also underlies that the more favorable reaction step from ⋆CO to ⋆CHO on Bi/TiO2 results in CH4 production with higher selectivity. Our work brings new insights into rational design of photocatalysts with high performance and the formation mechanism of CO2 to CH4 for solar energy storage in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intrinsic flexoelectric effect observed in oxide materials often falls below the desired threshold for practical applications. In this work, we demonstrate proton doping in insulating rutile TiO2 crystal as an effective approach to significantly increase flexoelectricity by more than two orders of magnitude. We attribute the noteworthy enhancement of flexoelectricity to the dual impact of proton doping in oxide materials. First, proton doping serves to induce the presence of charge carriers, resulting in the generation of flexoelectric currents. Second, proton doping induces expansion and distortion of the lattice structure, leading to an amplified flexoelectric field when the crystal experiences a strain gradient. The formation of O–H bonding in TiO2 crystal provides another route to break centrosymmetry according to lattice distortion of the TiO2 lattice, resulting in a larger flexoelectric field. In addition, the introduction of proton doping in TiO2 single crystals leads to a substantial increase in photocurrent by effectively flattening the interfacial Schottky junction. This phenomenon results in a three-order of magnitude enhancement of the photocurrent. Our work broadens the horizon of study on dielectric materials through proton doping and may also provide an approach that enables the utilization of dielectric materials in energy conversion applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the bismuth‐rich strategy via increasing the bismuth content has been becoming one of the most appealing approaches to improve the photocatalytic performance of bismuth oxyhalides. However, insights into the mechanism behind the encouraging experiments are missing. Herein, we report the results of the theory‐led comprehensive picture of bismuth‐rich strategy in bismuth oxyhalide photocatalysts, selecting Bi5O7X (X = F, Cl, Br, I) as a prototype. First‐principle calculations revealed that the strategy enables good n‐type conductivity, large intrinsic internal electric field, high photoreduction ability and outstanding harvest of visible light, and particularly ranked the intrinsic activity of this family: Bi5O7F > Bi5O7I > Bi5O7Br > Bi5O7Cl. Designed experiments confirmed the theoretical predictions, and together, these results are expected to aid future development of advanced photocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Piezo-electrocatalysis based on the non-centrosymmetric materials opens an avenue for mechano-to-H2 production through harvesting mechanical energy, being undergoing significant growth. Direct comparison of the performance of various piezo-electrocatalysts is necessary to obtain the optimal candidates for satisfying the demands of practical application but remains a grand challenge because the acquiescently added sacrificial agents vary considerably in the literature. Herein, we systematically investigate the effect of four commonly used types containing totally 15 sacrificial agents on the piezo-electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution by choosing the typical BaTiO3 catalyst as the demo. It is found that the pH, length of the carbon chain, adsorption strength between catalysts and sacrificial agent, and combination of sacrificial agents would impact on the piezo-electrocatalytic H2 evolution performance. Moreover, the self-decomposition effect is found in the sacrificial agent-water mixtures under ultrasonic vibration, implying that H2 can be generated without piezo-electrocatalysts, which was usually ignored. Thus, in this work, a concept of net H2 yield is suggested to standardize the evaluation of piezo-electrocatalysts in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrasound-stimulated piezo-electrocatalysis has been studied for a period; however, the mechanism is still unclear mainly due to the coexistence with other multiple effects like sonocatalysis, which was usually ignored. In this work, with the non-piezoelectric H2Ti3O7 nanowires following the same experimental process in piezo-electrocatalysis, the sonocatalytic reduction performance of CO2 is investigated. By applying vibration under the excitation of ultrasound with various frequencies and powers, it is found that CO is the ultimate product with a selectivity of 100%, and the optimal CO yield of 8.3 μmol g−1 h−1 is achieved with the addition of sacrificial agents. The H2Ti3O7 catalysts are also found to present a good recycling utilization ability. This work indicates that the sonocatalysis effect may exist in the piezo-electrocatalytic process using the ultrasonic excitation, which is suggested to be taken into consideration when exploring the mechanism of piezo-electrocatalysis in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With rising CO2 emissions caused by the massive consumption of fossil fuels, it is highly desirable to develop strategies that adopt renewable energy to convert CO2 into value‐added chemical feedstocks. Over the past decades, photocatalytic reduction of CO2 using light energy has attracted considerable attention. However, the advanced photocatalysis techniques cannot exert their action where light is unavailable. Here, a method for CO2 reduction on basis of vibration‐driven piezoelectricity to yield a piezo‐electrocatalysis effect which requires mechanical vibration rather than light, is proposed. Under mild vibration and sacrificial agent‐free conditions, the piezoelectric BaTiO3 catalyst provides a suitable piezo‐potential to overcome the redox potential of CO2 and convert it into CO with a maximum yield of 63.3 µmol g−1, achieving a reactivity comparable to those of photocatalysts. The piezo‐electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction adds a new avenue in addition to the existing photocatalytic techniques by expanding the scope of energy utilization to promote carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most reported risk factors for developmental speech delay (DSD) remain controversial, and studies on paternal influencing factors are rare. This study investigated family environmental risk factors for DSD in northern China. The medical records of 276 patients diagnosed with DSD at four centres between October 2018 and October 2019 were retrospectively analysed. A questionnaire was designed that contained items such as maternal age at the child's birth, child sex, child age, birth order, family type and parental personality. Patients whose medical records lacked complete information for this investigation were contacted by e-mail or phone. Additionally, 339 families whose children received routine physical examinations at the four involved centres completed the survey. Data were collected, and potential risk factors were analysed using the t test or chi-square test; the obtained outcomes were subjected to multivariable logistic regression for further analysis. The multivariable regression showed that older maternal age at the child's birth (OR = 1.312 (1.192–1.444), P < 0.001), introverted paternal personality (OR = 0.023 (0.011–0.048), P < 0.001), low average parental education level (OR = 2.771 (1.226–6.263), P = 0.014), low monthly family income (OR = 4.447 (1.934–10.222), P < 0.001), and rare parent–child communication (OR = 6.445 (3.441–12.072), P < 0.001) were independent risk factors for DSD in children in North China. The study results may provide useful data for broadening and deepening the understanding of family risk factors for DSD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly efficient photocathode with onset potential beyond 0.6 V is very desirable in order to construct photoelectrochemical (PEC) device for stand‐alone overall water splitting. In this work, it is reported a nonfullerene PBDB‐T:ITIC bulk heterojunction (BHJ) based photocathode delivering unprecedented positive onset potential of 0.8 V and optimal photocurrent density of −11.7 mA cm−2 at 0 V in pH 1 solution. The yielded high ideal ratiometric power‐saved efficiency (Φsaved,ideal) of 4.1% is a record among the previous organic photocathodes. When the electrolyte pH moves to neutral, the Φsaved,ideal is still to be 3.2%, yet being twice more than the currently reported highest value. Pairing with TiOx, the hole transport layer of CuOx with more efficient charge carrier transportation and hole extraction ability excels MoO3 and NiOx, contributing to the highly efficient solar hydrogen production in both acidic and neutral solutions. Premixing the BHJ blend precursor with an anti‐oxidative agent is proved to be a beneficial strategy to improve the PEC stability by suppressing the photo‐oxidation degradation of organic polymer materials. Subsequently a conceptual PEC cell comprising of tandem CuOx/BHJ/TiOx/Pt photocathode and BiVO4/NiFeOx photoanode with a high solar‐to‐hydrogen efficiency up to 1.1% is fabricated in neutral solution without assistance of extra bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visible light-responsive ZnFeO photocatalyst with a spinel structure was synthesized via a sol-gel method. The visible light photocatalysis of ZnFeO was investigated by decomposing Rhodamine B (RhB) solution. Under ∼30 min of visible light irradiation, the decomposition ratio of RhB is up to ∼97.4%. The excellent photocatalytic performance of ZnFeO photocatalyst is attributed to the high effective oxidation-reduction reaction caused by light irradiation excitation. With the increase of decomposition time, the wavelength of the maximum absorption peak of RhB solutions shifts from 557 nm to 498 nm ('blue shift'), which is because of the N-deethylation and cleavage of the conjugated chromophore structure of RhB. ZnFeO photocatalyst also exhibits a weak ferromagnetism performance. The decomposition ratio of RhB for the magnetically recycled ZnFeO is ∼94.6%. Strong visible light photocatalysis and convenience of magnetic recycling make ZnFeO promising for photocatalytic applications in dye wastewater treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]