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Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is known as a typical 3d-orbital transition metal oxide exhibiting the metal-to-insulator-transition (MIT) property near room temperature. However, their electronic applications have been challenged by the quality and uniformity of VO2 thin films. In this work, we demonstrate the high sensitivity in the valence charge of vanadium and the MIT properties of the VO2 thin films to the deposition temperature. This observation indicates the necessity to eliminate the inhomogeneity in the temperature distribution of substrate during the vacuum-deposition process of VO2. In addition, a high thermoelectric power factor (PF, e.g., exceeding 1 μWcm−1K−2) was achieved in the metallic phase of the VO2 thin films and this value is comparable to typical organic or oxide thermoelectric materials. We believe this high PF enriches the potential functionality in thermoelectric energy conversions beyond the existing electronic applications of the current vacuum-grown VO2 thin films.

High resolution and wide color gamut are two key requirements for novel display technologies. Owing to the distinguishing advantages over conventional displays, such as intrinsic wide color gamut and the possibility to achieve high resolution, quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLED) have drawn considerable attention in recent years. On the other hand, indium phosphide quantum dots (InP QDs) have shown a great potential as a replacement for cadmium selenide (CdSe) QDs in display applications due to the inherent toxicity of cadmium-based QDs. In this study, we investigate a top-emission InP-based green QLED with optimized angular distribution. By adjusting the electrical and optical architecture, the device exhibits improved properties with a maximum current efficiency of 30.1 cd/A and a narrowed full width at half maxima (FWHM)of 31 nm, which are the best results ever reported to our knowledge.

Although the thermistor and metal to insulator transition bi-functionalities were discovered for rare-earth nickelates (RENiO3), the electronic stability in their correlated transports under impulse voltage or magnetic field remain as open questions. Herein, we demonstrate the thermistor transportations of the electron correlated rare-earth nickelates under impulse direct current voltage and in magnetic environment. The insulating phase of RENiO3 shows zero crossing linear I-V characters, indicating their stable electronic resistance is independent of the imparted voltage up to 10 V and pulse width down to 1 μs, in spite of their sensitive electronic structures to polarizations. In addition, the high electronic stability associated with the thermistor transportation of RENiO3 is also demonstrated in magnetic fields up to 9 T (i.e., MR

Inland freshwater lakes have been widely considered as significant sources of CO2 to the atmosphere. However, long-term measurements of CO2 dynamics in lakes are still lacking, but are necessary due to their large temporal variations. Herein, we present the long-term dynamics of water parameters in Lake Donghu from 2002 to 2016, and further calculate the partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) based on the measurements of pH, water temperature, and alkalinity from 2008 to 2016. The results revealed that a significantly high pCO2 occurred during the winter in Lake Donghu (p < 0.01), whereas no significant spatial difference was observed (p = 0.37). Statistical analysis indicated that the pCO2 in the lake was only positively correlated with the total phosphorus (TP) concentration (p < 0.05). A multilinear regression model provided the best predictors for the pCO2; however, it only explained 16% of the observed pCO2 variability. This indicates the complex factors that influenced the pCO2 in Lake Donghu between 2008 and 2016. Our estimated CO2 flux revealed that Lake Donghu acted as a small CO2 source to the atmosphere during this period, with a mean CO2 flux of 10.8 ± 37.4 mg m−2 day−1 corresponding to a mean CO2 emission of 0.13 ± 0.43 Gg year−1. The CO2 emission fluxes in Lake Donghu were much lower than the mean CO2 fluxes reported for other lakes in China and globally. Furthermore, the long-term evolution of the CO2 flux indicated that Lake Donghu has shifted between acting as a CO2 source and sink, which highlights the need for long-term monitoring to accurately evaluate CO2 emissions from lakes.

Inland lakes are important ecosystems for the carbon cycle at both regional and global scales. However, a knowledge gap still exists about the correlations between the partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) and nutrient dynamics in lakes. In this study, we analysed the long-term dynamics of nutrient and pCO2 in Taihu Lake. Strong spatial heterogeneity was observed with highest nutrient concentrations occurring in the River mouth and significant lower concentrations (p

Displays play an extremely important role in modern information society, which creates a never-ending demand for the new and better products and technologies. The latest requirements for novel display technologies focus on high resolution and high color gamut. Among emerging technologies that include organic light-emitting diode (OLED), micro light-emitting diode (micro-LED), quantum dot light-emitting diode (QLED), laser display, holographic display and others, QLED is promising owing to its intrinsic high color gamut and the possibility to achieve high resolution with photolithography approach. However, previously demonstrated photolithography techniques suffer from reduced device performance and color impurities in subpixels from the process. In this study, we demonstrated a sacrificial layer assisted patterning (SLAP) approach, which can be applied in conjunction with photolithography to fabricate high-resolution, full-color quantum dot (QD) patterns. In this approach, the negative photoresist (PR) and sacrificial layer (SL) were utilized to determine the pixels for QD deposition, while at the same time the SL helps protect the QD layer and keep it intact (named PR-SL approach). To prove this method’s viability for QLED display manufacture, a 500-ppi, full-color passive matrix (PM)-QLED prototype was fabricated via this process. Results show that there were no color impurities in the subpixels, and the PM-QLED has a high color gamut of 114% National Television Standards Committee (NTSC). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first full-color QLED prototype with such a high resolution. We anticipate that this innovative patterning technique will open a new horizon for future display technologies and may lead to a disruptive and innovative change in display industry.

SO2 and NO2 observations from the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) sensor are used for the first time in conjunction with the GEOS-Chem adjoint model to optimize both SO2 and NOx emission estimates over China for October 2013. Separate and joint (simultaneous) optimizations of SO2 and NO2 emissions are both conducted and compared. Posterior emissions, compared to the prior, yield improvements in simulating columnar SO2 and NO2 , in comparison to measurements from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and OMPS. The posterior SO2 and NOx emissions from separate inversions are 748 Gg S and 672 Gg N, which are 36 % and 6 % smaller than prior MIX emissions (valid for 2010), respectively. In spite of the large reduction of SO2 emissions over the North China Plain, the simulated sulfate–nitrate–ammonium aerosol optical depth (AOD) only decrease slightly, which can be attributed to (a) nitrate rather than sulfate as the dominant contributor to AOD and (b) replacement of ammonium sulfate with ammonium nitrate as SO2 emissions are reduced. For joint inversions, both data quality control and the weight given to SO2 relative to NO2 observations can affect the spatial distributions of the posterior emissions. When the latter is properly balanced, the posterior emissions from assimilating OMPS SO2 and NO2 jointly yield a difference of −3 % to 15 % with respect to the separate assimilations for total anthropogenic SO2 emissions and ± 2 % for total anthropogenic NOx emissions; but the differences can be up to 100 % for SO2 and 40 % for NO2 in some grid cells. Improvements on SO2 and NO2 simulations from the joint inversions are overall consistent with those from separate inversions. Moreover, the joint assimilations save ∼ 50 % of the computational time compared to assimilating SO2 and NO2 separately in a sequential manner of computation. The sensitivity analysis shows that a perturbation of NH3 to 50 % (20 %) of the prior emission inventory can (a) have a negligible impact on the separate SO2 inversion but can lead to a decrease in posterior SO2 emissions over China by −2.4 % ( −7.0 %) in total and up to −9.0 % ( −27.7 %) in some grid cells in the joint inversion with NO2 and (b) yield posterior NOx emission decreases over China by −0.7 % ( −2.8 %) for the separate NO2 inversion and by −2.7 % ( −5.3 %) in total and up to −15.2 % ( −29.4 %) in some grid cells for the joint inversion. The large reduction of SO2 between 2010 and 2013, however, only leads to ∼ 10 % decrease in AOD regionally; reducing surface aerosol concentration requires the reduction of emissions of NH3 as well.

Quantum dots (QDs) are attracting significant attention for the development of sensitive detection methods because of their unique optical properties. Biosynthetic QDs using organisms is a promisin...

Although improved magnetic and piezoelectric performances were discovered in BiFeO3 rhombohedral-tetragonal mixed-phase, the associated electronic conduction mechanisms are less investigated. In the present work, we systematically investigated the leakage current and dielectric response as a function of temperature, frequency and bias field for pure rhombohedral and rhombohedral-tetragonal mixed-phase BiFeO3 films grown by pulse laser deposition. The multiferroic properties are demonstrated from their polarization and magnetization hysteresis. Both current-voltage and dielectric relaxation measurements indicate a lower activation energy observed for the mixed-phase BiFeO3 as compared to the rhombohedral-phase one. The present work for the first time indicates the distinguished transport properties as governed by different electronic conduction mechanisms for BiFeO3 at various phases, and improves the understandings associated to the strain engineering related electrical properties.

Lofted mineral dust over data-sparse regions presents considerable challenges to satellite-based remote sensing methods and numerical weather prediction alike. The Southwest Asia domain is replete with such examples, with its diverse array of dust sources, dust mineralogy, and meteorologically-driven lofting mechanisms on multiple spatial and temporal scales. A microcosm of these challenges occurred over 3–4 August 2016 when two dust plumes, one lofted within an inland dry air mass and another embedded within a moist air mass, met over the Southern Arabian Peninsula. Whereas conventional infrared-based techniques readily detected the dry air mass dust plume, they experienced marked difficulties in detecting the moist air mass dust plume, which only became apparent when visible reflectance revealed it crossing over an adjacent dark water background. In combining information from numerical modelling, multi-satellite/multi-sensor observations of lofted dust and moisture profiles, and idealized radiative transfer simulations, we develop a better understanding of the environmental controls of this event, characterizing the sensitivity of infrared-based dust detection to column water vapor, dust vertical extent, and dust optical properties. Differences in assumptions of dust complex refractive index translate to variations in the sign and magnitude of the split-window brightness temperature difference commonly used for detecting mineral dust. A multi-sensor technique for mitigating the radiative masking effects of water vapor via modulation of the split-window dust-detection threshold, predicated on idealized simulations tied to these driving factors, is proposed and demonstrated. The new technique, indexed to independent-sensor description of the surface-to-500 mb atmospheric column moisture, reveals parts of the missing dust plume embedded in the moist air mass, with best performance over land surfaces.

Estuaries are considered hot spots for the production and emissions of nitrous oxide (N 2 O) and easily occur suspended particles (SPS), however, current understanding about the role of SPS in the N 2 O emissions from the oxic estuarine waters of lacustrine ecosystems is still limited. In this study, field investigations were performed in the estuaries of hypereutrophic Taihu Lake, and laboratory simulations were simultaneously conducted to ascertain the characteristics of N 2 O emissions with different SPS concentrations. The results showed that the N 2 O emission fluxes ranged from 9.75 to 118.38 μg m −2 h −1 , indicating a high spatial heterogeneity for the N 2 O emissions from the estuaries of Taihu Lake. Although the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations were up to 7.85 mg L −1 in the estuarine waters, from where the N 2 O emissions fluxes were approximately three times that of the lake regions. Multiple regression model selected the total nitrogen (TN), SPS, and DO concentrations as the crucial factors influencing the N 2 O emission fluxes. Particularly for SPS, the simulation results showed that the N 2 O concentrations increased gradually with the increase in the SPS concentrations of an oxic water column containing 4 mg L −1 of NO 3 − -N, indicating that a high SPS concentration can accelerate the N 2 O emissions. It was related to the change of denitrifying bacteria population in the SPS, as evidenced by its significantly positive correlation with N 2 O emissions ( p 2 O productions and emissions in eutrophic lakes, and its effect on nitrogen cycle should be considered in the future study.

Due to the inherent toxicity of cadmium selenide (CdSe)-based quantum dots (QDs), Cd-free alternatives are being widely investigated. Indium phosphide (InP) QDs have shown great potential as a replacement for CdSe QDs in display applications. However, the performance of InP-based quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) is still far behind that of the CdSe-based devices. In this study, we wanted to show the effects of different approaches to improving the performance of InP-based QLED devices. We investigated the effect of magnesium (Mg) doping in ZnO nanoparticles, which is used as an n-type electron transport layer, in balancing the charge transfer in InP-based QLED devices. We found that an increasing Mg doping level can broaden ZnO band gap, shift its energy levels, but most importantly, increase its resistivity; as a result, the electron current density is significantly reduced and the device efficiency is improved. We also investigated the effect of high-photoluminescence quantum yield emitters and different QLED architectures on the device performance. Through optimizing QD structures and devices, red InP QLEDs with the current efficiencies as high as 11.6 cd/A were fabricated.

Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is commonly used to grow thin film materials with complex stoichiometry and crystal structures, since it achieves a congruent transfer of the target cation elements to the substrate. Although the incongruent PLDs were previously observed via regulating the plasma/background interaction regimes, the incongruent PLDs were seldom investigated and applied practically for the thin film depositions. Herein, we demonstrate the incongruent pulsed laser deposition of Ca3Co4O9 thermoelectric thin films, via regulating the target compositions and the oxygen background pressures to preferential scattering the plasma cation compositions. To compare the deposition properties via incongruent and congruent thin film growth, we systematically investigate the crystal structures, surface morphologies, elemental distributions and thermoelectric transportation behaviors for Ca3Co4O9 thin films grown at various target compositions and background pressure ranges. A stoichiometric Ca3Co4O9 thin film composition is achievable via designing an incongruent PLD strategy, in which case the Ca/Co ratios in the targets are enlarged actively while the PLDs are performed at a pressure range of 100 Pa to further preferential scatter of the lighter Ca compared to Co. Nevertheless, the incongruently grown thin films exhibit lower thermoelectric performances, compared to the one at a similar composition grown via the congruent PLD strategy. This result may associate to the localized composition inhomogeneity in the Ca3Co4O9 grown incongruently, and their electronical resistivities are largely elevated by the resultant impurities that are hardly detectable by X-ray diffractions. The present work reveals the complexity in deposition mechanism and kinetics when performing incongruent PLDs, in particular, for growing multiple elemental thin film materials.

Particulate organic matter (POM) plays an important role in biological pumping as a source of energy and nutrients in aquatic systems, as well as being the mechanism for algal bloom formation. However, research on its sources and composition, particularly the research on the contribution of algae in the bloom season, is still insufficient. In this study, the sources and composition of the POM in the surface water of Lake Taihu during the algal bloom season were quantitatively analysed. Dual stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopes revealed that the algae were not the only sources of POM during algal blooms, and their contributions were inconsistent in the different lake regions. On average, algae made up 57.2% of the POM in Lake Taihu. Due to wind farms and nutrient runoff, algal POM was mainly concentrated in Meiliang Bay, Gonghu Bay and Central Taihu. The proportions of algal POM in the western estuary area and East Taihu were the smallest with a minimum of 10.8%. The proportion of terrestrial POM in the surface water and vertical sections was 18.3% and 40.0%, respectively. Furthermore, the highest value was 76.8%, which accounted for a large proportion in the algal bloom season. The terrestrial POM that came from rivers was mainly concentrated in the western part of Lake Taihu, while the resuspension of sediments also increased the proportion of terrestrial sources in the surface water. Affected by the distribution of the vegetation in Lake Taihu, the proportion of macrophyte POM in East Taihu was higher than that of algal sources. Although the contribution of endogenous POM might further increase due to the dual effects of climate change and eutrophication, our isotopic evidence suggested that terrestrial POM cannot be ignored, even in the algal bloom season.

The antibiotic sulfadiazine (SDZ) is a challenging threat to the health of aquatic organisms, as it frequently occurs in aquatic ecosystems. Tolerance mechanisms and accumulation of SDZ in a floating macrophyte (Eichhornia crassipes) under hydroponic conditions were investigated in this study to provide more insight into the SDZ removal process. Results show that the presence of 1 mg L−1 SDZ decreased the quickest and ranged from 669.45 to 165.34 μg L−1 from days 5 to 25. Exposing E. crassipes to SDZ ( aerial parts under all treatments. These findings suggest that E. crassipes has the ability to phytoremediation SDZ contaminated water.

The spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) at Pt/ Y3Fe5O12(YIG) interfaces with (100)-, (110)- and (111)-oriented YIG films was studied. Before that, high-quality YIG films were fabricated on Gd3Ga5O12 (GGG) substrates by pulsed-laser deposition and the structure, magnetic property and damping of YIG films with different crystallographic orientations were compared and analyzed. By angle-dependent magnetoresistance (ADMR) measurements in neighboring Pt layer of YIG films, an anisotropy of SMR was observed. The spin mixing conductance (SMC) at different Pt/YIG interfaces was calculated according to the model of SMR. It was found that Pt/YIG (100) and Pt/YIG(110) interfaces have larger SMC than that of Pt/YIG(111) interface due to the relatively larger surface roughness, which could provide a reference for optimizing the performance of magnetic transport property in magnonic devices involving Pt/YIG interface.

Epiphytic bacteria and bacterioplankton affect the plant physiology and nutrient transformation of submerged macrophytes. The community structure of epiphytic bacteria and bacterioplankton is fundamental to understanding their ecological role and, in turn, the effect of macrophytes on bacteria. In this study we compared the composition of epiphytic bacteria in association with Potamogeton pectinatus, as well as that of the surrounding bacterioplankton at different growing stages of P. pectinatus. Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Cyanobacteria, and Actinobacteria were dominant groups in both epiphytic bacteria and bacterioplankton, yet there was a significant discrepancy in the community structure among different growing stages, and bacterioplankton exhibited higher diversity than epiphytic bacteria during the entire growing period. The relative abundance of most bacteria showed opposite trends between epiphytic bacteria and bacterioplankton. Further studies should focus on the underlying interactions between epiphytic bacteria and their host plants.

Based on a typical residential area, this paper studies the characteristics of pollutant concentration changes in two rainfall runoffs and the first flush effect of rainfall. In rainfall runoff, the concentrations of seven pollutants (CODMn, TN, DTN, NH3-N, TP, DTP, and PO43-) increased during the initial rainfall period and decreased in the later period. Rainfall causes the erosion of pollutants on the underlying surface so that water pollution begins when rainfall runoff occurs, and the pollution level drops over time. The seven pollutants all experience this first flush effect, of which, rainfall has the strongest scouring effect on NH3-N produced by domestic sewage. The significant excess of pollutants in rainfall runoff should be considered by management departments. In addition, the existence of the first flush effect makes it possible in theory to partially intercept rainfall runoff to control water pollution, thereby reducing the cost of pollution control.

We present an algorithm for retrieving aerosol layer height (ALH) and aerosol optical depth (AOD) for smoke and dust over vegetated land and water surfaces from measurements of the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) onboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR). Our algorithm uses EPIC atmospheric window bands to determine AOD and then takes advantage of oxygen A and B bands to derive ALH. We applied this algorithm on several dust and smoke events. Validation shows our results are of high accuracy.

It is essential to understand the combined effects of elevated CO2 and temperature on phytoplankton-zooplankton link when attempting to predict climate change responses of freshwater ecosystems. Phytoplankton species differ in stoichiometric and fatty acids composition, and this may result in phytoplankton-mediated effect on zooplankton at elevated CO2 and temperature. Beyond the isolated analysis of CO2 or temperature effect, few studies have assessed zooplankton growth under the phytoplankton-mediated effects of elevated CO2 and temperature. In this study, three algal species (green alga, diatom, cyanobacteria) were fed on zooplankton Daphnia magna, under the conditions of CO2 concentrations of ambient (390 ppm) and elevated (1000 ppm) levels and temperatures at 20, 25 and 30 °C. Elevated CO2 increased the algal biomass, while it reduced the phosphorus (P) and ω3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω3 PUFAs) to carbon (C) ratios. Elevated temperature decreased the P/C ratios in all algal cultures and ω3 PUFAs/C ratios in the diatom and the cyanobacteria cultures. Phytoplankton-mediated effect of elevated CO2 reduced the growth of zooplankton fed on the green and the mixed three algae culture. The stimulation of zooplankton fed on the diatom and the cyanobacteria by elevated temperature can be offset by decreasing food P and ω3 PUFAs contents. The combined effects of elevated CO2 and temperature on the growth of daphnids were mainly mediated by ω3 PUFAs/C ratios in the phytoplankton. Rising temperature as a combined direct and indirectly phytoplankton-mediated effect on zooplankton may be able to ameliorate the negative effects of elevated CO2. The results indicated that the combined effects of increased CO2 and temperature increased the fatty acid content of the green alga but not the other algae. This study highlighted that climate change with simultaneously increasing temperature and CO2 may entangle the carbon transfer in freshwater planktonic communities.

We report the enhancement of spin-orbit torque (SOT) in Pt/Co/Pt multilayers with inserting Ru layers. From current induced magnetization switching and harmonic measurements, we have found that both the damping-like and field-like effective fields increased with inserting Ru layers. The variation is firstly ascribed to the enhancement of the effective spin accumulation at the Co/Ru interfaces. Meanwhile, the interfacial Rashba effect has also been modulated, which depends on the direction of the internal electric field gradient at the interfaces. Our study provides an alternative way to modulate SOT.

In heavy metal (HM)/ferromagnetic metal (FM)/oxide heterostructures with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), the magnetization can be efficiently controlled through spin orbit torque (SOT), which has attracted great attention since its applications in spintronic devices. In this work, we have investigated the SOT with modifying capping layers X in Pt/Co/X trilayers. In these systems, both the bottom Pt/Co and top Co/X interfaces are utilized to generate SOT via bulk SHE effect and/or Rashba effect. By the selecting of different capping layer X, one can expect an enhancement or cancellation of SOT contributions via interface effect, which provides an interesting prospect for enhancing the efficiency of SOT through a proper combination of materials in the structural engineering. Our experimental study explored the choice of the capping materials which influenced the magnetic behavior and current-induced magnetization switching process.

Lakes are regarded as one of the important sources of atmospheric CH4. However, the role of cyanobacteria blooms (CBBs) play in the CH4 production in eutrophic lakes is not fully clear. In this study, the spatial distribution characteristics of CH4 concentrations in surface water and sediment columns were investigated in Zhushan Bay of Taihu lake, China. Results showed that CH4 concentrations in CBBs accumulated zones were much higher than that in the open lake areas, with the highest values of 3.79 μmol·L−1 and 2261.88 μmol·L−1 in surface water and sediment columns, respectively. CH4 concentrations were strongly influenced by various factors. In surface water, the occurrence of CBBs greatly contributed to CH4 productions, as evidenced by the well-predicting for CH4 concentrations using Chl-a and NH4+ concentrations. In the sediments, the Ignition Loss and C:N ratio values were two indicators of CH4 contents, suggesting that the methanogenesis processes were influenced by not only the quantities, but also the qualities of organic matter. The labile substrates produced during the CBBs decomposition processes promoted the CH4 production and migration from sediments to the water column, resulting in the coherence in CH4 concentrations between the sediments and the surface water. The high-resolution determinations of CH4 concentrations in surface water and sediments clarified that the CBBs were a neglected facilitator of CH4 productions, which should be considered in the future estimation of CH4 emissions in eutrophic lakes.

Sediment resuspension has been recognized as a crucial internal process in aquatic ecosystems. However, there is still a lack of reliable measuring methods due to the complex hydrodynamic conditions in large shallow eutrophic lakes. In this study, sequential sediment traps (SST) and instantaneous multiple point (IMP) methods were compared at 6 sites located in the littoral zone of Zhushan Bay in Lake Taihu. Results show that the average resuspension rates (RRs) estimated using the IMP method at sites 1 to 6 were 266.39, 272.79, 235.17, 254.95, 392.25, and 483.85 g·m−2d−1, respectively. While the RRs estimated using the SST method were 195.16, 236.99, 116.76, 156.23, 389.53, and 509.85 g·m−2d−1, respectively. In wind-disturbed areas, both methods were suitable for RR analysis in large and shallow eutrophic lakes and SST provides high-resolution temporal RR estimations. However, in the areas with cyanobacterial blooms and vegetation cover, the IMP method overestimated the RR. Therefore, SST was more suitable across different conditions in large and shallow eutrophic lakes, providing a simple, accurate, and high-resolution temporal estimation of RR, while furthering our understanding of lake evolution processes.

This paper reports magnetically recoverable Ag/Bi2Fe4O9 nanoparticles (BFO NPs) using as a photoexcited catalyst. The Ag NPs are uniformly distributed on the surface of BFO NPs. Compared to BFO NPs, the decomposition rate of methyl orange for Ag/BFO NPs under the visible-light is greatly enhanced due to the high surface plasmon resonance and electron conductivities of Ag NPs. Moreover, Ag/BFO NPs have a higher saturation magnetization than BFO NPs, which makes them can be collected easily under magnetic fields. Therefore, Ag/BFO NPs are potential recoverable visible-light-driven photocatalyst for environmental pollutants degradation.

We have investigated the oxidation effect on the spin orbit torque (SOT) in Pt/Co/TiOx heterostructures through controlling the oxidation time of Ti. The SOT induced magnetization switching in Pt/Co/Ti heterostructures is weak. However, it becomes evident as the oxidation of the Ti layer goes above a threshold level, and the magnetization can be completely switched when the oxidation time of the Ti layer is 11 min. With excessive oxidation, the SOT in the Pt/Co/TiOx films finally disappears. The average valence of the Ti was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectra, which is about +3.619 for 11 min oxidation and the Ti2O3 will enhance the SOT efficiency. It is proposed that the oxidation will modulate the interfacial Rashba effect, the film qualities and the spin transparency at the interfaces, which will collectively dominate the SOT results.

Absorbing aerosols like smoke heat the atmosphere by absorbing solar radiation, and such heating is enhanced when aerosols are above liquid clouds. To reduce uncertainty in estimates of the aerosol radiative forcing, it is desirable to characterize the size, index of refraction, optical depth, and altitude of smoke aerosols and underlying cloud droplets. While past work with remotely sensed multi-spectral data have made progress toward such characterization, it remains unclear if those radiatively important parameters can be fully and simultaneously retrieved from shortwave hyperspectral measurements. This issue is studied here first by examining the spectral fingerprints of above-cloud aerosols in the shortwave region (wavelength from 330 nm to 4000 nm) using hyperspectral radiative transfer simulations. These simulations are further explored to analyze the information content for hyperspectral inversion of aerosol and cloud optical depths as well as their microphysical properties over an ocean surface. The analysis shows that the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), with limited spectral bands in the solar spectrum, has partial information required for retrieving the optical depth and the effective radius of smoke and cloud. In contrast, hyperspectral measurements have about 5 extra pieces of information (double the degrees of freedom for signals of MODIS), allowing for the retrieval of additional aerosol and cloud microphysical parameters, including the smoke layer height above cloud, the imaginary part of smoke refractive index, and partially the effective variance of cloud droplet size. Thus, hyperspectral measurements can provide valuable constraints on heating rate estimates of absorbing aerosols above clouds.

To quantitatively estimate the divergences in the natural and anthropogenic dust emission fluxes among different climatic regions, the total dust emissions at the global scale from 2007 to 2010 were simulated in this study. Despite the widely scattered anthropogenic dust distribution, the total area of potential anthropogenic dust sources was found slightly higher than that of natural dust sources. The anthropogenic dust distribution area was 1.61 × 107 km2 in January and 1.54 × 107 km2 in July, respectively. The natural dust sources contributed 81.0% of the global dust emissions and the anthropogenic contributed 19.0% of the residual. The natural and anthropogenic dust emission flux was 6.34 ± 0.31 μg m−2 s−1 and 1.01 ± 0.07 μg m−2 s−1, respectively. Especially, natural and anthropogenic dust emissions situated in different climatic regions. Natural dust emissions mainly located in hyper-arid and arid regions such as the Sahara, Arabian and Taklimakan Desert where dust emission fluxes range from 1 to 50 μg m−2 s−1, accounted for 97.3% of natural dust emissions at the global scale. While anthropogenic dust emissions concentrate in semi-arid, sub-humid and humid regions and generally fluctuated between 0.1 and 10 μg m−2 s−1. In addition, natural and anthropogenic dust proportions in semi-arid regions were the most complicated due to the complex land cover types, including grasslands, urban areas, croplands and open shrub lands, resulting in 42.99% of the anthropogenic dust emissions in semi-arid regions. The complex interplay of natural and anthropogenic dust emissions contributing to the total dust loadings may be a crucial factor enhanced the warming over semi-arid regions. This study provided confidence for the further investigation of the climatic impacts of natural and anthropogenic dust in different climatic regions under the background of global warming, especially the strengthening warming in semi-arid regions.

Although carbon nanotube (CNT) is commonly used as an effective component in composite materials to improve the thermal and electrical transportations, the intrinsic thermal and electrical transportation properties of individual CNTs were seldom explored. By using orderly and randomly aligned multi-walled CNT (MWCNT) frameworks with self-supported constructions, herein we investigate the intrinsic thermal and electrical transportation properties of MWCNTs at high temperature ranges. Distinct temperature dependences in both thermal and electrical transportation properties along individual tubes or across the cross-linked tube joints were demonstrated. It is associated to the anisotropic phonon and carrier transportations at elevated temperatures. The present investigation is expected to improve the fundamental understanding of the transportation of CNTs and provide guidelines in design and fabrication for high-performance CNTs based composites.

Taste and odor (T&O) compounds are frequently reported during black blooms, however, their production mechanisms and influencing factors are far from clear. In this study, laboratory simulation experiment was carried out to investigate the formation processes of T&O compounds under the influences of temperature, cyanobacteria biomass and their combined effects. The decay of cyanobacteria blooms caused increased T&O compounds loading to water. Results showed the maximum dimethyl sulfide (DMS) release concentration was observed at 35°C compared with that at 25 and 30°C. DMS release concentration under cyanobacteria biomass of 25000 g/m3 demonstrated the highest production, whereas the minimum DMS production were obtained under 7500 g/m3. Similar patterns were observed for dimethyl disulfide, dimethyl trisulfide, β-cyclocitral and β-ionone production. Therefore, higher temperature and higher cyanobacteria biomass can enhance the concentration of T&O compounds. Furthermore, there were synergistic effects of cyanobacteria biomass and temperature on the production of T&O compounds.

Two classes of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) mechanisms have been considered as candidate sources for the spin orbit torque (SOT): the spin Hall Effect (SHE) in heavy metals with strong SOC and the Rashba effect arising from broken inversion symmetry at material surfaces and interfaces. In this work, we have investigated the SOT in perpendicularly magnetized Pt/Co/W films, which is compared with the results in Pt/Co/AlOx films. Using the harmonic measurements, we have characterized the effective fields corresponding to the damping like torque and the field like torque. Theoretically, in the case of the asymmetrical Pt/Co/W trilayers with opposite sign of spin Hall angle, both damping like torque and field like torque due to the SHE and the Rashba effect will be enhanced, but we have found the dominancy of damping like torque in the Pt/Co/W films. It is much different from the results in the Pt/Co/AlOx films, in which both the damping like torque and the field like torque are evident.

Although the carbon nanotube (CNT) based organic composites thermoelectric materials arouses considerable attentions, up to now the anisotropy in their thermoelectric performances has been overlooked. Herein, strong anisotropy in the temperature-dependent thermal and electrical transport properties have been demonstrated for organic composites thermoelectric materials, made by cold pressing the CNT powders coated by in situ polymerized polyaniline (PANI). The Seebeck coefficient, electrical and thermal conductivity are larger along the direction perpendicular to the cold pressing axis compared to the direction parallel to pressing axis. The anisotropy observed in the thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity maximizes at a CNT content of 30–40% (expressed in mass%), while the one observed for the Seebeck coefficient is small. The highest thermoelectric performances of the thermoelectric composites are achieved at a CNT mass ratio of ∼40% for both multi-walled CNT (MCNT)/PANI and single-walled CNT (SCNT)/PANI at a direction perpendicular to the cold pressing axis. These results highlight the importance of optimizing the CNT contents during the in situ polymerization with PANI to achieve a homogeneous nanostructure and reducing the agglomerate of the uncoated CNTs, in order to obtain high thermoelectric properties.

Ag/Bi2Fe4O9 nanoparticles (BFO NPs) have been synthesized using a two-step approach involving glycine combustion and visible light irradiation. Their structures were characterized in detail using X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscope, scanning electron microscopy, and scanning transmission electron microscopy techniques. Their electrocatalytic properties were studied through enzymatic glucose detection with an amperometric biosensor. The Ag deposited on selective crystal facets of BFO NPs significantly enhanced their electrocatalytic activity. To gain insights into the origin of the enhanced electrocatalytic activities, we have carried out studies of Ag+ reduction and Mn2+ oxidation reaction at the {200} and {001} facets, respectively. The results suggest effective charge separation on the BFO NP surfaces, which is likely responsible for the enhanced electrocatalytic properties. Furthermore, enhanced ferromagnetism was observed after the Ag deposition on BFO NPs, which may be related to the ...

International audience; While polarimetric measurements contain valuable information regarding aerosol microphysical properties, polarization data in the near-infrared (NIR) bands have not been widely utilized. This paper evaluates whether the aerosol property information contents from single-viewing satellite polarimetric measurements at 1,610 and 2,250 nm can be used to improve the retrieval of aerosol parameters over vegetated land, in combination with shorter-wavelength bands (490, 670, and 870 nm). The a priori information and errors for the analysis are derived by assuming that the surface reflectance at visible wavelengths can be derived from the top of atmosphere at 2,250 nm. The information content in the synthetic data set is investigated for 10 aerosol parameters characterizing the columnar aerosol volumes (V0f and V0c), particle size distributions (refff, vefff, reffc, and veffc), and refractive indices (mrf, mif, mrc, and mic) for the fine- and coarse-mode aerosol models, respectively, and one parameter C characterizing the surface polarization. The results indicate that the degrees of freedom for signal can be increased by at least 2 with the addition of NIR measurements and that one to three additional parameters could be further retrieved with significantly decreased uncertainties. In addition, the 1,610 nm band is necessary for the simultaneous retrieval of V0f, mrf, and refff for the fine mode dominated aerosols, while the 1,610 and 2,250 nm bands are both indispensable for retrieving V0f, V0c, mrc, refff, and reffc in tandem for the coarse mode dominated aerosols. The analysis also reveals that C could be further retrieved by including scalar radiance and that measurement errors have significantly larger influences on the retrieval uncertainties than model errors.

We demonstrate the spin filtering effect in Co|MgO|TiOx|graphene junctions and a large negative spin polarization in graphene at room temperature. By systematically introducing Ti (TiOx) clusters to the exfoliated few-layer graphene, we confirm that the Ti (TiOx) clusters will increase the charged impurity scattering and lead to a decreased momentum scattering time and an abnormal Gaussian broadening effect. However, the spin relaxation mechanism is not significantly affected, indicating that the spin relaxation mechanism of graphene will not be affected by the atomic-scale Ti (TiOx) clusters induced charged impurity scattering.

The selection of aquatic plants at different growth stages and their absorption, migration, and transformation mechanisms has yet to be clarified. In this study, Eichhornia crassipes at the seedling and mature stages were selected to uptake antibiotics under hydroponic conditions. The results showed that the enrichment of ciprofloxacin (CIP) in roots at the seedling and mature stages were 7.72～2114.39 μg g−1 and 0.07～3711.33 μg g−1, respectively. The enrichment of CIP in aerial parts at the seedling and mature stages were 16.38～24.24 μg g−1 and 9.55～20.13 μg g−1, respectively. The translocation from roots to aerial parts at the seedling stage was high, as evidenced by the relatively higher transfer factor (TF). In addition, eight and ten major metabolic products were observed in the tissues of seeding and mature stage of E. crassipes, respectively. The metabolic pathway of CIP was short at the maturity stage, and CIP had a strong upward migration ability at the seedling stage, facilitating long-time photodegradation. However, E. crassipes exhibited a poor CIP tolerance at the mature stage and decayed relatively early. Therefore, the seedling stage of E. crassipes was proposed to be applied for phytoremediation, and these findings might improve the ability to phytoremediation of antibiotic-contaminated water.

A submerged dynamic membrane bioreactor (sDMBR) was developed to test the influence of attapulgite (AT) addition on the treatment performances and the microbial community structure and function. The batch experimental results displayed the highest UV254 and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal efficiencies with 5% AT/mixed liquid suspended solids addition dosage. The continuous sDMBR results showed that the removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand, NH4+-N, total nitrogen and total phosphorus significantly increased in the AT added sDMBR. Excitation emission matrix analysis demonstrated that the protein-like peaks and fulvic acid-like peaks were significantly decreased in both in the mixed liquid and the effluent of the AT added reactor. The obligate anaerobes were observed in the sDMBR with AT addition, such as Bacteroidetes and Gamma proteobacterium in the dynamic membrane, which played an important role in the process of sludge granulation. Bacterial community richness significantly increased after AT addition with predominated phyla of Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes. Similarly, species abundance significantly increased in the AT added sDMBR. Further investigations with cluster proved that AT was a favorite biological carrier for the microbial ecology, which enriched microbial abundance and community diversity of the sDMBR.

In this work, the photoconductivity of chromia (Cr2O3) thin films, which were configured an in-plane electrode, was investigated under visible laser illumination. The fast and slow response components of photocurrent were originated by its exciting defect level. Surprisingly, a high photoresponsivity up to 1.94 × 103 A/W was obtained when the Cr2O3/Pt planar capacitor was applied an incident wavelength of 650 nm at room temperature. Moreover, dielectric characterization implied that the current of channel in Cr2O3 film increased with the increasing of its defects concentrations under laser illumination. Our results indicate that the Cr2O3 thin films have a potential application in the photoelectric field.

The Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) satellite mission observes hyperspectral Earth reflected solar (RS) and emitted infrared radiance (IR). Such measurements span an additional dimension on spectrally dependent scattering and absorption of dust, the critical signals for particle size. Through a suite of observation system simulation experiments (OSSEs), this study assesses the capability of CLARREO's measurements for recovering size-dependent dust emissions in GEOS-Chem chemistry transport model (CTM). To this end, another CTM (FIM-Chem) is used for the nature run to simulate CLARREO spectral radiances. The spectral signals are then used for analyzing the sensitivities and error characteristics of dust optical depth (DOD) under three observations scenarios (IR-only, RS-only, and combined IR and RS) using an optimal estimation technique. Next, these synthetic data are assimilated into GEOS-Chem adjoint model to constrain dust emissions of four particle sizes with radii from 0.1 μm to 6.0 μm. The OSSEs results indicate: (1) The IR spectra are most sensitive to dust of the third size bin (1.8 – 3.0 μm) and least sensitive to the smallest bin (0.1 – 1.0 μm); (2) The RS spectra are most sensitive to dust of the smallest size bin and the sensitivity decreases as dust size increases; (3) Combining IR and RS spectra can fully characterize DOD across all sizes, providing the best constraints for size-resolved dust emissions; (4) CLARREO data fail to constrain the spatial distribution of dust sources due to its narrow swath and joint observations from CLARREO-calibrated sensors with wide swath are desirable.

Symmetry breaking provides new insight into the physics of spin-orbit torque (SOT) and the switching without a magnetic field could lead to significant impact. In this work, we demonstrate the robust zero-field SOT switching of a perpendicular ferromagnet (FM) layer where the symmetry is broken by a bilayer of heavy metals (HMs) with the strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC). We observed the change of coercivity value by 31% after inserting Co 2 FeAl in the multilayer structure. These two HM layers (Ta and Pt) are used to strengthen the SOC by linear combination. With different angles between the magnetization and the current (i.e. parallel and anti-parallel), the structures show different switching behaviors such as clockwise or counterclockwise.

We presented an algorithm for inferring aerosol layer height (ALH) and optical depth (AOD) over ocean surface from radiances in oxygen A and B bands measured by the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) on the Deep Space Climate Observatory orbiting at Lagrangian-1 point. The algorithm was applied to EPIC imagery of a two-day dust outbreak over the North Atlantic Ocean. Retrieved ALHs and AODs were evaluated against counterparts observed by Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and Aerosol Robotic Network. The comparisons showed 71.5% of EPIC-retrieved ALHs were within ±0.5 km of those determined from CALIOP and 74.4% of EPIC AOD retrievals fell within a ±(0.1+10%) envelope of MODIS retrievals. This study demonstrates the potential of EPIC measurements for retrieving global aerosol height multiple times daily, which are essential for evaluating aerosol profile simulated in climate models and for better estimating aerosol radiative effects.

Aerosols affect the radiative transfer in the absorption bands of carbon dioxide (CO2), thereby contributing to the uncertainties in the retrieval of CO2 from space. A Cloud and Aerosol Polarimetric Imager (CAPI) has been designed to fly on the Chinese Carbon Dioxide Observation Satellite (TanSat) and provide aerosol and cloud information to facilitate the measurements of CO2. This study aims to assess the information content about aerosol properties that can be obtained from CAPI's observations of radiance and polarization. We simulate synthetic CAPI observations using the UNified Linearized Vector Radiative Transfer Model (UNL-VRTM), from which the degree of freedom for signal (DFS) and a posteriori error for various aerosol parameters are calculated using optimal estimation theory. The simulation considers different combinations of fine and coarse aerosols and includes detailed treatment for both soil and vegetation surfaces. It is found that CAPI can provide 3 to 4.5 independent pieces of information about aerosol parameters, mainly related to aerosol total volume (or aerosol optical depth), fine mode fraction (fmfv) of aerosol volume, and imaginary part of refractive index for coarse mode aerosols. At directions around back-scattering, aerosol information content is smaller due in part to the large directional surface reflectance. In addition, aerosol DFS also depends on fmfv, aerosol optical depth and solar zenith angle, and such dependence is analyzed for various viewing and azimuth angles. Due to weaker scattering of coarse aerosol, the information content of large particle is relatively less. Therefore, as fmfv decreases, DFS remains large for fine aerosol and increases for coarse aerosol. With larger aerosol optical depth (AOD), more aerosol information content can be obtained, but when AOD increases to a threshold ranging from 0.5 to 1.2, aerosol DFS doesn't increase any more. At larger solar zenith angles (SZA), a longer light path affected by aerosol can slightly increase aerosol information content. Furthermore, the degree of linear polarization (DOLP) is shown to be more sensitive to aerosol properties than reflectance, hence improves CAPI's aerosol retrieval accuracy. The additional information content raised from DOLP measurements ranges from 1 to 1.8 in terms of DFS and reaches the largest in conditions of 0.2

A temporal evolution of spin accumulation of Co/MgO/Ag spin valves have been studied by using the nonlocal spin detection technique over almost a 3-month period in the ambient environment after the fabrication of the devices. Three different stages of the spin accumulation are first observed due to aging effect. The aging effect comes from two contributions–the gradual oxidation of the Ag/MgO and MgO/Co interfaces at the junctions’ areas which arises from the annealing process and the oxidation of the side surfaces of the Ag channels. The theories of S. Takahashi and A. Fert are introduced to evaluate the different evolution stages of spin accumulation.

This paper describes the second part of a series of investigation to develop algorithms for simultaneous retrieval of aerosol parameters and surface reflectance from the future hyperspectral and geostationary satellite sensors such as Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of POllution (TEMPO). The information content in these hyperspectral measurements is analyzed for 6 principal components (PCs) of surface spectra and a total of 14 aerosol parameters that describe the columnar aerosol volume V total , fine-mode aerosol volume fraction, and the size distribution and wavelength-dependent index of refraction in both coarse and fine mode aerosols. Forward simulations of atmospheric radiative transfer are conducted for 5 surface types (green vegetation, bare soil, rangeland, concrete and mixed surface case) and a wide range of aerosol mixtures. It is shown that the PCs of surface spectra in the atmospheric window channel could be derived from the top-of-the-atmosphere reflectance in the conditions of low aerosol optical depth (AOD ≤ 0.2 at 550 nm), with a relative error of 1%. With degree freedom for signal analysis and the sequential forward selection method, the common bands for different aerosol mixture types and surface types can be selected for aerosol retrieval. The first 20% of our selected bands accounts for more than 90% of information content for aerosols, and only 4 PCs are needed to reconstruct surface reflectance. However, the information content in these common bands from each TEMPO individual observation is insufficient for the simultaneous retrieval of surface’s PC weight coefficients and multiple aerosol parameters (other than V total ). In contrast, with multiple observations for the same location from TEMPO in multiple consecutive days, 1–3 additional aerosol parameters could be retrieved. Consequently, a self-adjustable aerosol retrieval algorithm to account for surface types, AOD conditions, and multiple-consecutive observations is recommended to derive aerosol parameters and surface reflectance simultaneously from TEMPO.

We develop an approach combining mass balance and four-dimensional variational (4D-Var) methods to facilitate inversion of decadal-scale total nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2) emissions. In 7 year pseudo-observation tests, hybrid posterior emissions have smaller normalized mean square error (NMSE) than that of mass balance when compared to true emissions in most cases and perform slightly better in detecting NOx emission magnitudes and trends. Using this hybrid method, OMI NO2 satellite observations and the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model, we find more than 30% increases of emissions over most of East China at the 0.5° × 0.667° grid cell level, leading to a 16% growth of emissions over all of China from 2005 to 2012, whereas emissions in several urban centers have decreased by 10–26% in the same period. From 2010 to 2012, a decline is found in the North China Plain, Hubei Province, and Pearl River Delta area, coinciding with China's enforcement of its twelfth “Five Year Plan.” Changes in individual grid cell may be different from changes over the entire city or province, as exemplified by opposite trends in Beijing versus the Mentougou district of Beijing from 2005 to 2012. Also, NO2 columns do not necessarily have the same trend as NOx emissions due to their nonlinear response to emissions and the influence of meteorology, the latter alone which can cause up to 30% interannual changes in NO2 columns. Compared to recent bottom-up inventories, hybrid posterior emissions have the same seasonality, smaller emissions, and emission growth rate at the national scale.

Shallow lakes are a crucial source of methane (CH4), a potent greenhouse gas, to the atmosphere. However, large uncertainties still exist regarding the response of CH4 emissions to the increasing trophic levels of lakes as well as the underlying mechanisms. Here, we investigate the CH4 emission flux from lakes with different trophic states in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River basin, China to evaluate the effect of the trophic lake index (TLI) on CH4 emissions. The mean CH4 emission fluxes from mesotrophic, eutrophic, middle-eutrophic, and hyper-eutrophic lakes were 0.1, 4.4, 12.0, and 130.4 mg m−2 h−1, respectively. Thus, the CH4 emission flux ranged widely and was positively correlated with the degree of eutrophication. The relative abundance of methanogens with respect to the total population for the mesotrophic, eutrophic, mid-eutrophic, and hyper-eutrophic states was 0.03%, 0.35%, 0.94%, and 1.17%, respectively. The biogeographic-scale pattern of lakes classified as each of these four trophic states indicated that CH4 emissions could be well-predicted by the NH4+-N concentration in the water column, as both NH4+-N and CH4 were produced during mineralisation of labile organic matter in lake sediment. In addition, the shift from clear to turbid water, which is an unhealthy evolution for lakes, was associated with a nonlinear increase in the CH4 emissions from the studied lakes. In particular, the hypereutrophic lakes functioned as CH4 emission hotspots. Our findings highlight that nutrient levels, as a potential facilitator of CH4 emissions, should be considered in future research to accurately evaluate the greenhouse gas emissions from shallow lakes.

An outstanding feature of topological quantum materials is their novel spin topology in the electronic band structures with an expected large charge-to-spin conversion efficiency. Here, a charge-current-induced spin polarization in the type-II Weyl semimetal candidate WTe2 and efficient spin injection and detection in a graphene channel up to room temperature are reported. Contrary to the conventional spin Hall and Rashba–Edelstein effects, the measurements indicate an unconventional charge-to-spin conversion in WTe2, which is primarily forbidden by the crystal symmetry of the system. Such a large spin polarization can be possible in WTe2 due to a reduced crystal symmetry combined with its large spin Berry curvature, spin–orbit interaction with a novel spin-texture of the Fermi states. A robust and practical method is demonstrated for electrical creation and detection of such a spin polarization using both charge-to-spin conversion and its inverse phenomenon and utilized it for efficient spin injection and detection in the graphene channel up to room temperature. These findings open opportunities for utilizing topological Weyl materials as nonmagnetic spin sources in all-electrical van der Waals spintronic circuits and for low-power and high-performance nonvolatile spintronic technologies.

The effects of spin-orbit coupling and symmetry breaking at the interface between a ferromagnet and heavy metal are particularly important for spin-based information storage and computation. Recent discoveries suggest they can create novel chiral spin structures (e.g., skyrmions), which have often been identified through the appearance of the bump/dip features of Hall signals, the so-called topological Hall effect (THE). In this work, however, we present an unusual anomalous Hall effect (UAHE) in $\mathrm{M}{\mathrm{n}}_{x}\mathrm{Ga}/\mathrm{Pt}$ bilayers and demonstrate that the features extremely similar to THE can be generated without involving any chiral spin structures. Low-temperature magnetic force microscopy has been used to explore the magnetic field-dependent behavior of spin structures, and the UAHE as a function of magnetic field does not peak near the maximal density of magnetic bubbles. Our results unambiguously evidence that the UAHE in $\mathrm{M}{\mathrm{n}}_{x}\mathrm{Ga}/\mathrm{Pt}$ bilayers shows no correlation with chiral spin structures but is driven by the modified interfacial properties, indicating a wealth of underlying and interesting physics.

Phytoremediation is an effective and environmentally friendly approach to treat antibiotic contaminated water, however, the mechanisms of migration and transformation of antibiotics in plant tissues are still far from clear. In this study, the floating macrophyte Eichhornia crassipes was exposed to a series of antibiotic ciprofloxacin (CIP) concentrations. The results showed that the CIP was taken up and accumulated in the roots, which were the major accumulative tissue. CIP content increased with lipid content. During cultivation, the root bioconcentration factor (RCF) gradually increased. The average CIP content detected in aerial parts was 12.80 μg g−1, an order of magnitude lower than in the roots. At low CIP concentrations, the highest leaf bioconcentration factor (LCF) and transfer factor (TF) indicated highly efficient translocation from roots to aerial parts. The soluble protein growth rate of leaves, which is associated with metabolic activity, increased following CIP exposure. Overall, eight major transformation products in E. crassipes tissues were identified, and three possible transformation pathways were proposed involving the processes of desethylation, dehydroxylation, oxidation, hydroxylation and cleavage of the piperazine and quinoline rings. These findings could prove beneficial for improving the management or amelioration methods used for treating water contaminated with antibiotics.