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The melting phenomenon in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) has been recognised as one of the fourth generation MOF paradigm behaviours. Molten MOFs have high processibility for producing mechanically robust glassy MOF macrostructures, and they also offer highly tunable interfacial characteristics when combined with other types of functional materials, such as crystalline MOFs, inorganic glass and metal halide perovskites. As a result, MOF glass composites have emerged as a family of functional materials with dynamic properties and hierarchical structural control. These nanocomposites allow for sophisticated materials science studies as well as the fabrication of next-generation separation, catalysis, optical, and biomedical devices. Here, we review the approaches for designing, fabricating, and characterising MOF glass composites. We determine the key application opportunities enabled by these composites and explore the remaining hurdles, such as improving thermal and chemical compatibility, regulating interfacial properties, and scalability.

Branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (brGDGT) lipids are membrane-spanning lipids of some bacteria that are sensitive to environmental gradients, which makes it possible to use brGDGT proxies to estimate changes in environmental temperatures in paleoenvironmental studies. However, it is currently unknown whether the observed correlations of temperature and brGDGT distribution in natural samples are driven by directly changing bacterial membrane fluidity and permeability, or by a shift in the bacterial community. Here we present brGDGT distributions along an elevation gradient (704–3760 m) in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau, spanning gradients in temperature and vegetation. Analysis of brGDGTs shows that their distributions are significantly influenced by vegetation-intermediated soil temperature, in addition to mean annual air temperature, soil pH, and other environmental variables. Different vegetation types contribute to soil temperature and bacterial community changes. Consequently, these different groups of bacteria result in changes in the relative abundance of brGDGTs. Our results show that temperature and pH indirectly influence cyclopentane-containing brGDGTs via changes in the bacterial community. Genetic analyses reveal that in addition to Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria, Nitrospira, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, and Verrucomicrobia could be potential candidates as brGDGT producers. These results indicate that changes in the vegetation and bacterial community should be taken into consideration when applying brGDGT proxies to reconstruct past changes in climate.

Marker based optical motion capture MoCap aims to estimate 3D human motions from a sequence of input raw markers In this paper we propose a divide and conquer strategy based MoCap solving network that accurately retrieves 3D human skeleton motions from raw marker sequences in real time Our core idea is to decompose the task of direct estimation of global human motion from all markers into first solving sub motions of local parts and then aggregating sub motions into a global one to achieve accurate motion estimation

The discovery of complete ammonium oxidation (comammox) has redefined the perception of the nitrification process which plays a vital part in biological nitrogen removal (BNR) from wastewater. Despite the reported detection or cultivation of comammox bacteria in biofilm or granular sludge reactors, limited attempts have been made to enrich or assess comammox bacteria in floccular sludge reactors with suspended growth of microbes, which are most extensively applied at wastewater treatment plants. Therefore, through making use of a comammox-inclusive bioprocess model reliably evaluated using batch experimental data with joint contributions of different nitrifying guilds, this work probed into the proliferation and functioning of comammox bacteria in two commonly-used floccular sludge reactor configurations, i.e., continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) and sequencing batch reactor (SBR), under mainstream conditions. The results indicated that compared with the studied SBR, the CSTR was observed to favor the enrichment of comammox bacteria through maintaining a sufficient sludge retention time (40-100 d) while avoiding an extremely low DO level (e.g., 0.05 g-O2/m3), irrespective of the varied influent NH4+-N of 10-100 g-N/m3. Meanwhile, the inoculum sludge was found to greatly influence the start-up process of the studied CSTR. By inoculating the CSTR with a sufficient amount of sludge, finally enriched floccular sludge with a high abundance of comammox bacteria (up to 70.5 %) could be rapidly obtained. These results not only benefitted further investigation and application of comammox-inclusive sustainable BNR technologies but also explained, to some extent, the discrepancy in the reported presence and abundance of comammox bacteria at wastewater treatment plants adopting floccular sludge-based BNR technologies.

The stellar optoelectronic properties of metal halide perovskites provide enormous promise for next-generation optical devices with excellent conversion efficiencies and lower manufacturing costs. However, there is a long-standing ambiguity as to whether the perovskite surface/interface (e.g. structure, charge transfer or source of off-target recombination) or bulk properties are the more determining factor in device performance. Here we fabricate an array of CsPbI3 crystal and hybrid glass composites by sintering and globally visualise the property-performance landscape. Our findings reveal that the interface is the primary determinant of the crystal phases, optoelectronic quality, and stability of CsPbI3. In particular, the presence of a diffusion "alloying" layer is discovered to be critical for passivating surface traps, and beneficially altering the energy landscape of crystal phases. However, high-temperature sintering results in the promotion of a non-stoichiometric perovskite and excess traps at the interface, despite the short-range structure of halide is retained within the alloying layer. By shedding light on functional hetero-interfaces, our research offers the key factors for engineering high-performance perovskite devices.

Ammonia (NH3) has attracted considerable attention as a source of fertilizer and a sustainable energy carrier. However, The Haber-Bosch ammonia manufacturing method continues to be plagued by excessive electrical consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. Alternatively, the photocatalytic production of NH3 as an approach for N2 fixation and solar energy conversion has been progressively demonstrated as a more benign synthesis strategy. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as photocatalysts for ammonia production are becoming one of the most promising options because of their design flexibility and new form factors, such as composites. The goal of this Perspective is to offer a timely overview of recent advances in MOF catalysts for photocatalytic ammonia production, as well as an introduction to the fundamentals of N2 fixation and the key state-of-the-art characterization for MOF catalysts. A detailed insight into the trends and challenges for MOF catalysts is also provided to stimulate inspiration for photocatalytic ammonia production.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are porous materials comprised of metal nodes and organic linkers, which feature highly tunable structures and compositions that can be tailored for energy storage applications. While MOFs research in this area has predominantly focused on the crystalline domain, amorphous MOFs have also attracted increasing interests. Amorphpus MOFs, which lack any long-range periodic order in the framework, exhibit several properties that are beneficial for energy storage such as isotropic conduction, higher ionic and electrical conductivity, increased defect sites and enhanced electrochemical stability. This perspective aims to highlight the recent developments in amorphous MOFs including amorphous discrete powder, glassy and composite forms for batteries and supercapacitors. Additionally, we will also provide prospective areas for the future development of amorphous MOFs in this field.

The past few decades have seen increasingly rapid advances in the field of sustainable energy technologies. As a new bio- and eco-friendly energy source, enzymatic biofuel cells (EBFCs) have garnered significant research interest due to their capacity to power implantable bioelectronics, portable devices, and biosensors by utilizing biomass as fuel under mild circumstances. Nonetheless, numerous obstacles impeded the commercialization of EBFCs, including their relatively modest power output and poor long-term stability of enzymes. To depict the current progress of EBFC and address the challenges it faces, this review traces back the evolution of EBFC and focuses on contemporary advances such as newly emerged multi or single enzyme systems, various porous framework-enzyme composites techniques, and innovative applications. Besides emphasizing current achievements in this field, from our perspective part we also introduced novel electrode and cell design for highly effective EBFC fabrication. We believe this review will assist readers in comprehending the basic research and applications of EBFCs as well as potentially spark interdisciplinary collaboration for addressing the pressing issues in this field.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a group of highly tunable porous materials composed of metal nodes and organic linkers. Although MOF research has predominantly focused on crystalline frameworks, amorphous MOFs with disordered structures have seen a surge in interest over the past few years. In particular, an emerging subgroup of amorphous MOFs exhibiting a glass transition temperature, known as MOF glass, offers several benefits as an ion conductor including the absence of grain boundaries, isotropic properties and high moldability. This perspective aims to explore the recent developments in MOF glass materials for ion transport and conduction. The mechanism and underlying factors that govern ion transport properties will be elucidated to guide the design of these materials with enhanced ion conductivity and selectivity. We also highlight their latest applications for electrochemical and energy related systems. Finally, we offer prospective strategies for tuning the ion transport characteristics in MOF glass to direct its implementation in current and future applications.