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Reducing the lateral scale of two-dimensional (2D) materials to one-dimensional (1D) has attracted substantial research interest not only to achieve competitive electronic applications but also for the exploration of fundamental physical properties. Controllable synthesis of high-quality 1D nanoribbons (NRs) is thus highly desirable and essential for further study. Here, we report the implementation of supervised machine learning (ML) for the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) synthesis of high-quality quasi-1D few-layered WTe2 NRs. Feature importance analysis indicates that H2 gas flow rate has a profound influence on the formation of WTe2, and the source ratio governs the sample morphology. Notably, the growth mechanism of 1T' few-layered WTe2 NRs is further proposed, which provides new insights for the growth of intriguing 2D and 1D tellurides and may inspire the growth strategies for other 1D nanostructures. Our findings suggest the effectiveness and capability of ML in guiding the synthesis of 1D nanostructures, opening up new opportunities for intelligent materials development.

Increasing oily wastewater and frequent oil leakage accidents have become a serious global environmental problem. To improve the adsorption capacity and simplify the recovery process of crude oil, it is a great significance to develop various advanced oil adsorbents and oil-collecting devices. In this work, a lightweight and compressible three-dimensional (3D) g-C3N4/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) nanosheet-based aerogel was successfully fabricated. The resulting 3D g-C3N4/PVA nanosheet-based aerogel has the advantages of high porosity and good hydrophobicity, making it a suitable material for use as an adsorbent. The 3D g-C3N4/PVA nanosheet-based aerogel can absorb various oils and organic solvents as high as 228-695 times its weight. Moreover, aerogel regeneration and recovery of oil can be achieved by cyclic distillation, squeezing, or combustion. After 40 cycles, the structure of 3D g-C3N4/PVA nanosheet-based aerogels are well kept and the adsorption capacity still retained 95, 93, and 95% by distillation, squeezing, and combustion, respectively. 3D g-C3N4/PVA nanosheet-based aerogel as an adsorbent has great potential in the application of oil/water separation for the removal of pollutants. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51902222) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21606113).

The effect of surface tensile strain on the photocatalysis is an open question. In this work, strain engineering has been demonstrated to promote the performance of photocatalysis by curved 2D mate...

A carbon microtube aerogel (CMA) with hydrophobicity, strong adsorption capacity, and superb recyclability was obtained by a feasible approach with economical raw material, such as kapok fiber. The CMA possesses a great adsorption capacity of 78-348 times its weight. Attributed to its outstanding thermal stability and excellent mechanical properties, the CMA can be used for many cycles of distillation, squeezing, and combustion without degradation, which suggests a potential practical application in oil-water separation. In addition, the adsorption capacity still retained 98% by distillation, 97% by squeezing, and 90% by combustion after 10 cycles. Therefore, the obtained CMA has a broad prospect as an economical, efficient, and environmentally friendly adsorbent. National Research Foundation (NRF) This work was financially supported by Singapore National Research Foundation under NRF RF Award No. MOE2016- T2-1-131, Tier 1 2017-T1-001-075.

Surface defects in semiconductors have a significant role to tune the photocatalytic reactions. However, the dominant studied defect type is oxygen vacancy, and metal cation vacancies are seldom ex...

Ionic liquid-based aqueous two-phase systems (IL-ATPSs) have been studied comprehensively as a potential alternative method for protein purification. One of the distinct features of IL-ATPS is that the polarity of the IL can be adjusted by different combinations of cation and anion, providing flexibility in governing the partition of proteins between phases. However, the conventional IL-ATPS usually has poor environmental footprint and low recyclability, thereby hampering the systems for practical use in protein separation. To address these shortcomings, here we explored the distillable CO2-based alkyl carbamate ILs as phase-forming components. N,N-dimethylammonium N′,N′-dimethylcarbamate (DIMCARB) was able to form ATPS with polypropylene glycol (PPG). The liquid–liquid equilibrium data of ATPSs composed of PPG with different molecular mass and DIMCARB were determined. As both phase-forming components are thermosensitive, the effect of temperature on the phase diagram of the PPG 400 + DIMCARB system was a...

Cholinium-based ionic liquids made of aminoate anions ([Ch][AA] ILs) have been proven to have low toxicity and to be readily biodegradable. This class of ILs has great potential as a novel phase-forming component for aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) used in protein separation. In this study, environmentally benign ATPSs were prepared by using a series of [Ch][AA] ILs (where [AA] = lysinate, β-alaninate, glycinate, serinate) with a thermo-separable polypropylene glycol 400 (PPG 400). These [AA] anion components differ in both hydrophobicity and acid/base behavior, allowing a tunable response to the pH of the ATPS. By using the effective excluded volume theory, the phase-separation abilities of the different [Ch][AA]-based ATPSs were determined, and the trends showed good agreement with the [AA] anion hydration capacities. The partition behavior of a model protein, i.e., bovine serum albumin (BSA), was investigated by measuring the IL-rich (bottom) phase extraction efficiency and partition coefficient. The r...