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Separation membranes with homogeneous charge channels are the mainstream to reject charged mass by forming electrical double layer (EDL). However, the EDL often compresses effective solvent transport space and weakens channel‐ion interaction. Here, built‐in electric fields (BIEFs) are constructed in lamellar membranes by assembling the heterostructured nanosheets, which contain alternate positively‐charged nanodomains and negatively‐charged nanodomains. We demonstrate that the BIEFs are perpendicular to horizontal channel and the direction switches alternately, significantly weakening the EDL effect and forces ions to repeatedly collide with channel walls. Thus, highly efficient rejection for charged mass (salts, dyes, and organic acids/bases) and ultrafast water transport are achieved. Moreover, for desalination on four‐stage filtration option, salt rejection reaches 99.9 % and water permeance reaches 19.2 L m−2 h−1 bar−1. Such mass transport behavior is quite different from that in homogeneous charge channels. Furthermore, the ion transport behavior in nanochannels is elucidated by validating horizontal projectile motion model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrolytes that can work over a wide temperature range are crucial forsustainable advanced energy systems. Here, a kind of lamellar ionic liquid composite electrolyte (L‐ILCE) is explored through confining ionic liquids (ILs) in ordered interlayer nanochannels of 2D vermiculite framework. It is demonstrated that, within nanochannels, the finely tuned microstructure can induce the rearrangement and crystallinity of ILs, affording L‐ILCE the combined superiorities of liquid electrolyte and solid‐state electrolyte. L‐ILCE exhibits high ionic conductivities (0.09–1.35 × 10−3 S cm−1 at −40 to 100 °C), whereas polymer and inorganic electrolytes usually lose ionic conduction ability below 0 °C. Additionally, L‐ILCE exhibits high transference number (0.89, comparable with single‐ion conductors) and wide electrochemical window (0–5.3 V). LiFePO4||Li and high‐voltage LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.1O2||Li cells assembled from L‐ILCEs exhibit highly stable electrochemical performance in −20 to 60 °C. Furthermore, pouch cells (0.1 Ah) exhibit high capacity of 93.8 and 45.0 mAh after 50 cycles along with capacity retention of 97% and 98% at 60 and −20 °C, respectively, as well as excellent flexibility and safety. This study offers promise in the rational design of advanced ion conductors for lithium‐based batteries with wider operating temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbial metabolic products play a vital role in maintaining ecosystem multifunctionality, such as soil physical structure and soil organic carbon (SOC) preservation. Afforestation is an effective strategy to restore degraded land. Glomalin‐related soil proteins (GRSP) and amino sugars are regarded as stable microbial‐derived C, and their distribution within soil aggregates affects soil structure stability and SOC sequestration. However, the information about how afforestation affects the microbial contribution to SOC pools within aggregates is poorly understood. We assessed the accumulation and contribution of GRSP and amino sugars within soil aggregates along a restoration chronosequence (Bare land, Eucalyptus exserta plantation, native species mixed forest, and native forest) in tropical coastal terraces. Amino sugars and GRSP concentrations increased, whereas their contributions to the SOC pool decreased along the restoration chronosequence. Although microaggregates harbored greater microbial abundances, amino sugars and GRSP concentrations were not significantly affected by aggregate sizes. Interestingly, the contributions of amino sugars and GRSP to SOC pools decreased with decreasing aggregate size which might be associated with increased accumulation of plant‐derived C. However, the relative change rate of GRSP was consistently greater in all restoration chronosequences than that of amino sugars. The accumulation of GRSP and amino sugars in SOC pools was closely associated with the dynamics of soil fertility and the microbial community. Our findings suggest that GRSP accumulates faster and contributes more to SOC pools during restoration than amino sugars did which was greatly affected by aggregate sizes. Afforestation substantially enhanced soil quality with native forest comprising species sequestering more SOC than the monoculture plantation did. Such information is invaluable for improving our mechanistic understanding of microbial control over SOC preservation during degraded ecosystem restoration. Our findings also show that plantations using arbuscular mycorrhizal plants can be an effective practice to sequester more soil carbon during restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing laminar composite solid electrolyte with ultrathin thickness and continuous conduction channels in vertical direction holds great promise for all‐solid‐state lithium batteries. Herein, a thin, laminar solid electrolyte is synthesized by filtrating –NH2 functionalized metal‐organic framework nanosheets and then being threaded with poly(ethylene oxide) chains induced by the hydrogen‐bonding interaction from –NH2 groups. It is demonstrated that the threaded poly(ethylene oxide) chains lock the adjacent metal‐organic framework nanosheets, giving highly enhanced structural stability (Young's modulus, 1.3 GPa) to 7.5‐μm‐thick laminar composite solid electrolyte. Importantly, these poly(ethylene oxide) chains with stretching structure serve as continuous conduction pathways along the chains in pores. It makes the non‐conduction laminar metal‐organic framework electrolyte highly conductive: 3.97 × 10−5 S cm−1 at 25 °C, which is even over 25 times higher than that of pure poly(ethylene oxide) electrolyte. The assembled lithium cell, thus, acquires superior cycling stability, initial discharge capacity (148 mAh g−1 at 0.5 C and 60 °C), and retention (94% after 150 cycles). Besides, the pore size of nanosheet is tailored (24.5–40.9 Å) to evaluate the mechanisms of chain conformation and ion transport in confined space. It shows that the confined pore only with proper size could facilitate the stretching of poly(ethylene oxide) chains, and meanwhile inhibit their disorder degree. Specifically, the pore size of 33.8 Å shows optimized confinement effect with trans‐poly(ethylene oxide) and cis‐poly(ethylene oxide) conformation, which offers great significance in ion conduction. Our design of poly(ethylene oxide)‐threaded architecture provides a platform and paves a way to the rational design of next‐generation high‐performance porous electrolytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two‐dimensional lamellar membranes are promising for efficient molecule transfer, while the underlying transfer mechanism is rarely elucidated. Herein, heterostructured nanosheets are prepared by self‐assembling small‐sized hydrophilic cyanuric acid melamine and hydrophobic g‐C3N4 nanosheets. Resultant lamellar membranes show comparable affinity to polar and nonpolar solvents, allowing them to dissolve on membrane surface and diffuse through membrane channels. Results demonstrate that for lamellar membranes with distinct wettability, the permeance difference for polar solvents is originated from dissolution and diffusion processes, while that for nonpolar solvents is stemmed from dissolution process. Accordingly, corresponding equations which are suitable for heterostructured lamellar membranes are established. Importantly, polar solvents are induced to form ordered arrangement in hydrophilic nanodomains and then maintain the ordered state in hydrophobic nanodomains, affording a low‐resistance transfer and high acetonitrile permeance of 1025 L m−2 h−1 bar−1. In contrast, nonpolar solvents with disordered arrangement exhibit lower permeance than that of polar ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inorganic superionic conductor holds great promise for high‐performance all‐solid‐state lithium batteries. However, the ionic conductivity of traditional inorganic solid electrolytes (ISEs) is always unsatisfactory owing to the grain boundary resistance and large thickness. Here, a 13 μm‐thick laminar framework with ≈1.3 nm interlayer channels is fabricated by self‐assembling rigid, hydrophilic vermiculite (Vr) nanosheets. Then, Li0.33La0.557TiO3 (LLTO) precursors are impregnated in interlayer channels and afterwards in situ sintered to large‐size, oriented, and defect‐free LLTO crystal. We demonstrate that the confinement effect permits ordered arrangement of LLTO crystal along the c‐axis (the fastest Li+ transfer direction), permitting the resultant 15 μm‐thick Vr‐LLTO electrolyte an ionic conductivity of 8.22×10−5 S cm−1 and conductance of 87.2 mS at 30 °C. These values are several times' higher than that of traditional LLTO‐based electrolytes. Moreover, Vr‐LLTO electrolyte has a compressive modulus of 1.24 GPa. Excellent cycling performance is demonstrated with all‐solid‐state Li/LiFePO4 battery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Afforestation is an effective method to restore degraded land. Afforestation methods vary in their effects on ecosystem multifunctionality, but their effects on soil biodiversity have been largely overlooked. Here, we mapped the biodiversity and functioning of multiple soil organism groups resulting from diverse afforestation methods in tropical coastal terraces. Sixty years after afforestation from bare land (BL), plant species richness and the abundance of plant litter (398 ± 85 g m−2) and plant biomass (179 ± 3.7 t ha−1) in native tree species mixtures (MF) were restored to the level of native forests (NF; 287 ± 21 g m−2 and 243.0 ± 33 t ha−1, respectively), while Eucalyptus monoculture (EP) only successfully restored the litter mass (388 ± 43 g m−2) to the level of NF. Soil fertility in EP and MF was increased but remained lower than in NF. For example, soil nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in MF (1.2 ± 0.2 g kg−1 and 408 ± 49 mg kg−1, respectively; p < 0.05) were lower than in NF (1.8 ± 0.2 g kg−1 and 523 ± 24 mg kg−1, respectively; p < 0.05). Soil biodiversity, abundance (except for nematodes), and community composition in MF were similar or greater than those in NF. In contrast, restoration with EP only enhanced the diversity of microbes and mites to the level of NF, but not for other soil biota. Together, afforestation with native species mixtures can end up restoring vegetation and most aspects of the taxonomic and functional biodiversity in soil whereas monoculture using fast‐growing non‐native species cannot. Native species mixtures show a greater potential to reach completely similar levels of soil biodiversity in local natural forests if they are received some more decades of afforestation. Multifunctionality of soil biotic community should be considered to accelerate such processes in future restoration practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Dual‐hop 60 GHz wireless networks which support relay‐assisted dual‐hop transmission have been widely adopted in the recent years, aiming to prolong communication distance and bypass obstacles in 60 GHz band. However, it is very challenging to perform link scheduling in such dual‐hop architecture while considering several factors, i.e., reducing network power consumption, avoiding overloaded APs/relays and adapting to network dynamics. To this end, we investigate the problem of energy‐efficient link scheduling with load constraints (ELL), and propose solutions to deal with network dynamics. First, we present a fine‐grained energy model for dual‐hop 60 GHz networks, and formulate the ELL problem as an integer linear programming model that aims to minimize the network power consumption, while satisfying AP/relay load constraints. Then, we propose a polynomial‐time global scheduling algorithm that obtains a near‐optimal link scheduling solution via iterative relaxation, and the load constraint at each AP/relay can only be violated by at most an additive constant of two. Moreover, we present a local adjustment algorithm to adjust link‐scheduling solutions efficiently, such as client arrival/departure and link blockage, and design a hybrid algorithm that combines global scheduling and local adjustment. Finally, we conduct simulation experiments that validate our algorithms' effectiveness and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precursors and catalysts play vital roles in chemical reactions. Considerable efforts have been devoted to the investigation of catalysts for graphene growth by chemical vapor deposition in recent years. However, there has been little research on precursors because of a lack of innovation in term of creating a controllable feeding method. Herein, we present a novel sustained and controlled release approach, and develop a convenient, safe, and potentially scalable feeding system with the assistance of matrix materials and a simple portable feeder. As a result, a highly volatile liquid precursor can be fed accurately to grow large‐area, uniform graphene films with optimal properties. This feeding approach will further benefit the synthesis of other two‐dimensional materials from various precursors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lamellar membranes with well‐defined 2D nanochannels show fast, selective permeation, but the underlying molecular transport mechanism is unexplored. Now, regular robust MXene Ti3C2Tx lamellar membranes are prepared, and the size and wettability of nanochannels are manipulated by chemically grafted hydrophilic (−NH2) or hydrophobic (−C6H5, −C12H25) groups. These nanochannels have a sharp difference in mass transfer behavior. Hydrophilic nanochannels, in which polar molecules form orderly aligned aggregates along channel walls, impart ultrahigh permeance (>3000 L m−2 h−1 bar−1), which is more than three times higher than that in hydrophobic nanochannels with disordered molecular configuration. In contrast, nonpolar molecules with disordered configuration in both hydrophilic and hydrophobic nanochannels have comparable permeance. Two phenomenological transport models correlate the permeance with the mass transport mechanism of molecules that display ordered and disordered configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Wheat bran was fermented at 28 °C for 7 days under 70% humidity by Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus awamori. Total phenolic content (TPC) of the unfermented sample was 1531.5 μg g−1 wheat bran. After the fermentation of Aspergillus awamori, Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus niger, TPC reached 5362.1, 7462.6 and 10 707.5 μg g−1, respectively. The antioxidant activity in the extractions of fermented wheat bran also increased significantly compared with the unfermented sample (P < 0.05). Aspergillus niger showed the greatest capacity to release bound ferulic acid (416.6 μg g−1). Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus awamori had the advantages of releasing more chlorogenic acid (84.0 μg g−1) and syringic acid (142.3 μg g−1), respectively. The destructive effect of Aspergillus niger on wheat bran structure was the strongest, followed by that of Aspergillus oryzae. This effect of Aspergillus niger may be due to its higher cellulase, xylanase, arabinofuranosidase and β‐xylosidase activities. Besides, Aspergillus oryzae possessed higher β‐glucosidase activity, and Aspergillus awamori had higher α‐amylase and feruloyl esterase activities. Aspergillus niger may be the best to release bound phenolic acids in the three Aspergillus species. These will provide the helpful information for understanding mechanism of the fermentation by Aspergillus species releasing bound phenolic in wheat bran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Proteins and peptides must be degraded and modified in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract prior to absorption; this process changes their physicochemical and biological properties. Mulberry leaf protein (MP) and its hydrolysates (HMP) have favourable antioxidant activities. To investigate, in vitro and separately, the effects of GI digestion and intestinal digestion on the stability of MP and HMP, we monitored the changes in secondary structures, amino acids, molecular weights and antioxidant activities. We found that MP was more hydrolysed by pepsin than by pancreatin, unlike HMP. The final digests of MP and HMP were mainly composed of polypeptides (0.5–6.5 kDa) and oligopeptides (<0.5 kDa), respectively. The GI digestion influenced MP and HMP differently; GI digestion increased the antioxidant efficiency of MP and decreased that of HMP. For the intestinal digests, the antioxidant activities of MP and HMP also differed. The 1,1‐diphenyl‐2‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′‐azinobis (3‐ethylbenzothiazoline‐6‐sulphonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) radical quenching abilities of MP and HMP at 1 mg mL−1 were comparable to or exceeded that of L‐glutathione (GSH) and 6‐hydroxy‐2,5,7,8‐tetramethychroman‐2‐carboxylic acid (trolox). Meanwhile, the erythrocyte haemolysis rates of MP, HMP and their GI products at 0.05–1.0 mg mL−1 were significantly lower than that of the 2,2′‐azobis (isobutyramidine) dihydrochloride (AAPH) control. Both MP and HMP can be used as natural antioxidants and may promote digestive health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defatted wheat germ globulin ( DWGG) was hydrolysed using the enzymes alcalase, neutrase, papain, pepsin or trypsin to improve the immunomodulatory effects of the protein. The degree of hydrolysis ( DH), molecular weight distribution, hydrophobicity, secondary structures and immunomodulatory activities were determined. The DH of hydrolysate using alcalase or neutrase was higher ( P < 0.05) than that of hydrolysate prepared by other proteases. Alcalase hydrolysate ( AH) had the strongest ( P < 0.05) immunomodulatory activity with respect to lymphocyte proliferation, phagocytosis of neutral red and secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines. The molecular weight of AH ranged between 300 and 1450 Da and was composed of α-helix and β-turns. AH also showed the highest hydrophobic value ( P < 0.05). The DH and hydrophobicity appear to be related to immunomodulatory activities. The hydrolysate prepared by the alcalase treatment on DWGG may be used as an immune supplement by the food industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]