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Enhancing heavy oil recovery is crucial to ensuring stable crude oil production. The development of stimulus-responsive Janus Pickering emulsifiers tailored for a reservoir environment has garnered significant attention in the field of reservoir production, emerging as a promising alternative to traditional surfactants. In this study, silica-based Janus nanosheets with temperature-responsive properties (OH-SiO2–PSBMA JNs) are synthesized using sol–gel process and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) method. Experimental observations reveal that OH-SiO2–PSBMA JNs (0.1 wt %) can effectively reduce the interfacial tension (IFT) between heavy oil and water to 23.24 mN/m. Additionally, these nanosheets exhibited excellent emulsifying ability, forming stable emulsions with an average particle size of only 35 μm at a mass fraction of 1 wt % and demonstrating good salt tolerance (Salinity value: 1.51 × 104mg/L). Furthermore, OH-SiO2–PSBMA JNs exhibited a temperature response that is well-suited for the reservoir environment, effectively stabilizing heavy oil emulsion at a high temperature (65 °C) and facilitating oil–water separation at a lower temperature (25 °C). These excellent properties of nanosheets contributed to obtaining an additional 13.2% recovery rate at low concentration (0.03 wt %). These results indicated that OH-SiO2–PSBMA JNs had the potential for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) application.

Spin-LEDs have been a central topic in semiconductor spintronics research and represent a promising avenue for advanced optoelectronic devices and applications. The future advancements of spin-LEDs will undoubtedly hinge on the generation and manipulation of spin-polarized population at room temperature. In this research, we elucidate the development of room-temperature spin-LEDs using quasi-2D perovskites, based on the chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect. During the carrier transfer from the chiral n2 phase to the randomly oriented high-nphase caused by the bandgap gradient distribution, CISS works to generate non-equilibrium spin population, leading to room-temperature spin-polarized fluorescence. A spin-polarization of ∼93% is observed for the films. Finally, we realize spin-LEDs at room temperature, exhibiting a gCP-EL value of 0.05 and an EQE of 3.8%. This work highlights the potential of integrating dual ligands to optimize the phase distribution and crystalline orientation in quasi-2D films to achieve efficient CISS for spin-LED applications.

By carefully choosing the reaction conditions, we have developed the controllable FeCl3- or CuCl2-mediated dehydrazinative hydrogenation or chlorination of 3,3-difluoroallyl hydrazines to access α-CF2H or α-CF2Cl styrenes. The current reaction provides for the first time a facile method for the direct and selective synthesis of α-CF2H and α-CF2Cl styrenes starting from the same precursors, which is easy to scale up and displays a broad substrate scope and good functional group tolerance. Moreover, product derivatization experiments demonstrated that the resulting α-CF2Cl styrenes are practical and versatile building blocks for the diversified synthesis of fluorinated molecules.

Enhancing the recovery efficiency of heavy oil reservoirs remains one of the foremost challenges confronting the petroleum industry. Nanoparticles have garnered considerable attention as potential oil displacement agents, drawing numerous researchers to the field. In this study, temperature-responsive SiO2Janus nanoparticles (JNs) were successfully prepared through the Pickering emulsion template method and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) reactions. Experiments on the interfacial tension (IFT) of oil-water systems indicate that JNs exhibit good dynamic interfacial activity. Furthermore, the JNs exhibit remarkable emulsification capabilities for heavy oil, facilitating the formation of stable emulsions. Notably, the modified nanoparticles exhibit a degree of salt resistance, even up to a mineralization of 1.55 × 104 mg/L. Additionally, their temperature-responsive properties enable their utilization for high-temperature emulsification and low-temperature demulsification, making them well-suited for oilfield field operations. To visualize and simulate the underground oil displacement process, a microscopic displacement visualization experimental apparatus was employed. Notably, the addition of just 0.03 wt% of Janus nanoparticles resulted in a significant enhancement of the recovery rate by 16.49%. The research findings suggest that the JNs developed in this study exhibit promising application prospects and commercial value in terms of enhancing oil recovery efficiency.

Perovskites with spin-polarized properties are promising for realizing spin light-emitting diodes (spin-LEDs), yet achieving devices with high dissymmetry factors at room temperature remains a significant challenge due to the difficulty in creation of a nonequilibrium spin population. Here, we demonstrate a quasi-two-dimensional (2D) perovskite with spin-polarized fluorescence and its spin-LED at room temperature based on chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS). By incorporating an achiral organic spacer in a chiral quasi- 2D film, we engineer a type II interface within the film to guarantee an effective interphase carrier transfer from the low-nchiral quantum well (QW) with a large exciton binding energy to the high-nQW. In addition, the uniformly vertically distributed chiral QW (n= 1) with random orientations in the film is favorable for interphase carrier tunneling through organic chiral spacers and hence improved CISS efficiency. Finally, we realize a spin-LED at room temperature with a |gCP-EL| of ∼0.103. Our research reveals that instead of solely concentrating on organic chiral spacers with limited choice, employing achiral spacers to adjust the film’s energy landscape, QW distribution, and arrangement is a more effective approach to achieve CISS and spin-polarized emission in a quasi-2D perovskite film.

Predicting protein–ligand binding affinity is a central issue in drug design. Various deep learning models have been published in recent years, where many of them rely on 3D protein–ligand complex structures as input and tend to focus on the single task of reproducing binding affinity. In this study, we have developed a graph neural network model called PLANET (Protein–Ligand Affinity prediction NETwork). This model takes the graph-represented 3D structure of the binding pocket on the target protein and the 2D chemical structure of the ligand molecule as input. It was trained through a multi-objective process with three related tasks, including deriving the protein–ligand binding affinity, protein–ligand contact map, and ligand distance matrix. Besides the protein–ligand complexes with known binding affinity data retrieved from the PDBbind database, a large number of non-binder decoys were also added to the training data for deriving the final model of PLANET. When tested on the CASF-2016 benchmark, PLANET exhibited a scoring power comparable to the best result yielded by other deep learning models as well as a reasonable ranking power and docking power. In virtual screening trials conducted on the DUD-E benchmark, PLANET’s performance was notably better than several deep learning and machine learning models. As on the LIT-PCBA benchmark, PLANET achieved comparable accuracy as the conventional docking program Glide, but it only spent less than 1% of Glide’s computation time to finish the same job because PLANET did not need exhaustive conformational sampling. Considering the decent accuracy and efficiency of PLANET in binding affinity prediction, it may become a useful tool for conducting large-scale virtual screening.

The processability and sustainability of proton conductors are two important indicators of their application. Here, MIL-91(Al) with an intrinsic proton conduction framework originating from protonated phosphonate groups was cross-linked with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) to obtain MIL-91(Al) aerogel through freeze-drying. This simple and inexpensive strategy not only facilitated the processing of MIL-91(Al) powder but also resulted in a molded MIL-91(Al) aerogel having a high proton conductivity of 1.02 × 10–2S cm–1at 70 °C and 100% relative humidity. Furthermore, MIL-91(Al) aerogel was recyclable and reusable, in line with the principles of environmental protection and sustainability. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example of using a metal–organic framework aerogel as a proton conductor, which may develop a new model system in this field.

Pathogenic microbial aerosols (PMAs) are significant environmental hazards in built environments, posing a major threat to human health. To combat this issue, we have developed an innovative plasma air filtration system (PAFS) that combines a corona discharge array with a metal foam. The PAFS effectively filters PMAs while simultaneously eliminating microorganisms. Its modular design allows for portability, easy cleaning, and reusability, making it a cost-effective long-term solution. The plasma air purifier (PAP), built upon the PAFS, achieves an impressive filtration efficiency of 91.5 % and successfully inactivates bacteria, fungi, and 99.32 ± 0.15 % of the H1N1 virus in diverse environments. The inactivation mechanisms involve oxidizing bacterial cell membranes and viral envelopes through gaseous plasma reactive species. Additionally, captured aerosols are rapidly evaporated by the ionic wind, leading to pathogen inactivation. The PAP's ozone and ion output adheres to environmental protection standards, making it a promising approach to improve air quality and control airborne infections in built environments.