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Solar-driven flat-panel H2O-to-H2 conversion is an important technology for value-added solar fuel production. However, most frequently used particulate photocatalysts are hard to achieve stable photocatalysis in flat-panel reaction module due to the influence of mechanical shear force. Herein, a highly active CdS@SiO2-Pt composite with rapid CdS-to-Pt electron transfer and restrained photoexciton recombination was prepared to process into an organic-inorganic membrane by compounding with polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). This PVDF networked organic-inorganic membrane displays high photostability and excellent operability, achieving improved simulated sunlight-driven alkaline H2O-to-H2 conversion activity (213.48 mmol m−2 h−1) following a 0.68% of solar-to-hydrogen efficiency. No obvious variation in its appearance and micromorphology was observed even being recycled for 50-times, which considerably outperforms the existing membrane photocatalysts. Subsequently, a homemade panel H2O-to-H2 conversion system was fabricated to obtain a 0.05% of solar-to-hydrogen efficiency. In this study, we opens up a prospect for practical application of photocatalysis technology. Solar-driven flat-panel H2O-to-H2 conversion is an important technology for value-added solar fuel production. Here, an organic-inorganic interface membrane catalyst displays high photostability and operability with 0.68% solar-to-hydrogen efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilizing plasmonic effects to assist electrochemical reactions exhibits a huge potential in tuning the reaction activities and product selectivity, which is most appealing especially in chemical reactions with multiple products, such as CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR). However, a comprehensive review of the development and the underlying mechanisms in plasmon-assisted electrocatalytic CO2RR remains few and far between. Herein, the fundamentals of localized surface plasmonic resonance (LSPR) excitation and the properties of typical plasmonic metals (including Au, Ag, and Cu) are retrospected. Subsequently, the potential mechanisms of plasmonic effects (such as hot carrier effects and photothermal effects) on the reaction performance in the field of plasmon-assisted electrocatalytic CO2RR are summarized, which provides directions for the future development of this field. It is concluded that plasmonic catalysts exhibit potential capabilities in enhancing CO2RR while more in situ techniques are essential to further clarify the inner mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Elucidating the genetic variation underlying phenotypic diversity will facilitate improving production performance in livestock species. The Tibetan sheep breed in China holds significant historical importance, serving as a fundamental pillar of Qinghai's animal husbandry sector. The Plateau-type Tibetan sheep, comprising 90% of the province's population, are characterized by their tall stature and serve as the primary breed among Tibetan sheep. In contrast, Zhashijia sheep exhibit larger size and superior meat quality. These two species provide an excellent model for elucidating the genetic basis of body size variation. Therefore, this study aims to conduct a comprehensive genome-wide association study on these two Tibetan sheep breeds to identify single nucleotide polymorphism loci and regulatory genes that influence body size traits in Tibetan sheep. Result: In this study, the phenotypic traits of body weight, body length, body height, chest circumference, chest depth, chest width, waist angle width, and pipe circumference were evaluated in two Tibetan sheep breeds: Plateau-type sheep and Zhashijia Tibetan sheep. Whole genome sequencing generated 48,215,130 high-quality SNPs for genome-wide association study. Four methods were applied and identified 623 SNPs significantly associated with body size traits. The significantly associated single nucleotide polymorphisms identified in this study are located near or within 111 candidate genes. These genes exhibit enrichment in the cAMP and Rap1 signaling pathways, significantly affecting animal growth, and body size. Specifically, the following genes were associated: ASAP1, CDK6, FRYL, NAV2, PTPRM, GPC6, PTPRG, KANK1, NTRK2 and ADCY8. Conclusion: By genome-wide association study, we identified 16 SNPs and 10 candidate genes associated with body size traits in Tibetan sheep, which hold potential for application in genomic selection breeding programs in sheep. Identifying these candidate genes will establish a solid foundation for applying molecular marker-assisted selection in sheep breeding and improve our understanding of body size control in farmed animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Tibetan sheep are integral to the ecosystems and livelihoods of the Tibetan Plateau; however, their breeding practices limit their production and growth. Candidate genes myostatin (MSTN)and Callipyge have been recognized as important for improving growth traits in livestock. This research examined the polymorphic loci of these genes in Tibetan sheep and their association with growth traits. The results indicated that SNP loci of MSTN could potentially be utilized as a molecular indicator for early growth traits in Tibetan sheep. Tibetan sheep are vital to the ecosystem and livelihood of the Tibetan Plateau; however, traditional breeding methods limit their production and growth. Modern molecular breeding techniques are required to improve these traits. This study identified a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in myostatin (MSTN) and Callipyge in Tibetan sheep. The findings indicated notable associations between MSTN genotypes and growth traits including birth weight (BW), body length (BL), chest width (ChW), and chest circumference (ChC), as well as a particularly strong association with cannon circumference (CaC) at 2 months of age. Conversely, Callipyge polymorphisms did not have a significant impact on Tibetan sheep. Moreover, the analyses revealed a significant association between sex and BW or hip width (HW) at 2 months of age and ChW, ChC, and CaC at 4 months of age. Furthermore, the study's results suggested that the genotype of MSTN as a GA was associated with a notable sex effect on BW, while the genotype of Callipyge (CC) showed a significant impact of sex on CaC at 2 months of age. These results indicated that the SNP of MSTN could potentially serve as a molecular marker for early growth traits in Tibetan sheep. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct solar-to-hydrogen conversion from pure water using all-organic heterogeneous catalysts remains elusive. The challenges are twofold: (i) full-band low-frequent photons in the solar spectrum cannot be harnessed into a unified S1 excited state for water-splitting based on the common Kasha-allowed S0 → S1 excitation; (ii) the H+ → H2 evolution suffers the high overpotential on pristine organic surfaces. Here, we report an organic molecular crystal nanobelt through the self-assembly of spin-one open-shell perylene diimide diradical anions (:PDI2-) and their tautomeric spin-zero closed-shell quinoid isomers (PDI2-). The self-assembled :PDI2-/PDI2- crystal nanobelt alters the spin-dependent excitation evolution, leading to spin-allowed S0S1 → 1(TT) → T1 + T1 singlet fission under visible-light (420 nm~700 nm) and a spin-forbidden S0 → T1 transition under near-infrared (700 nm~1100 nm) within spin-hybrid chromophores. With a triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion, a newly formed S1 excited state on the diradical-quinoid hybrid induces the H+ reduction through a favorable hydrophilic diradical-mediated electron transfer, which enables simultaneous H2 and O2 production from pure water with an average apparent quantum yield over 1.5% under the visible to near-infrared solar spectrum. Achieving direct solar-to-hydrogen conversion from pure water using solely organic heterogeneous catalysts is still challenging. Here the authors report an all-organic semiconductor catalyst system for overall water splitting under visible to near-infrared light via triplet-triplet annihilation up conversion based on spin coupling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrochemical reduction of CO2 and nitrate offers a promising avenue to produce valuable chemicals through the using of greenhouse gas and nitrogen‐containing wastewater. However, the generally proposed reaction pathway of concurrent CO2 and nitrate reduction for urea synthesis requires the catalysts to be both efficient in both CO2 and nitrate reduction, thus narrowing the selection range of suitable catalysts. Herein, we demonstrate a distinct mechanism in urea synthesis, a tandem NO3− and CO2 reduction, in which the surface amino species generated by nitrate reduction play the role to capture free CO2 and subsequent initiate its activation. When using the TiO2 electrocatalyst derived from MIL‐125‐NH2, it intrinsically exhibits low activity in aqueous CO2 reduction, however, in the presence of both nitrate and CO2, this catalyst achieves an excellent urea yield rate of 43.37 mmol ⋅ g−1 ⋅ h−1 and a Faradaic efficiency of 48.88 % at −0.9 V vs. RHE in a flow cell. Even at a low CO2 level of 15 %, the Faradaic efficiency of urea synthesis remains robust at 42.33 %. The tandem reduction procedure was further confirmed by in situ spectroscopies and theoretical calculations. This research provides new insights into the selection and design of electrocatalysts for urea synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooperation of transition metal catalysis with photocatalysis is an emerging powerful approach to achieve coupling reactions for the synthesis of important chemicals. Owing to their facilely modulated structures and properties via reticular chemistry, photoactive covalent organic frameworks (COFs) arise quickly in building metallaphotocatalytic platforms targeting more efficient and sustainable protocol. In this Minireview, we summarize the recent advances in COFs‐based (integrated) platforms to forge carbon‐carbon/heteroatom (C, B, N, O, P, and S, etc.) bonds via a variety of cross‐coupling reactions driven by light, with focuses on the engineering of COFs' backbone, as well as the organization mode of COFs and metal site promoted catalytic performance. We also highlight the essential role of the underlying electron/energy processes in metallated COFs platforms (M@COFs). Aiming to guide catalysts' design to achieve more efficient performance or currently challenging transformations, we give our perspectives in this under‐developed yet promising field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]