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Pioneer plants play an important role in eco-engineering Fe ore tailings into soil for sustainable mine site rehabilitation. However, root-driven mineral weathering and secondary mineral formation remain poorly understood in tailings, despite being prerequisites for aggregate formation and pedogenesis. The present study aimed at characterizing the direct role of plant roots in tailing mineral weathering and secondary mineral formation in a compartmented cultivation system. It was found that root activities accelerated the weathering of biotite-like minerals via Fe(II) oxidation coupled with Fe(III) and Si dissolution. Numerous nanosized Fe–Si short-range-ordered (SRO) minerals and vermiculite were neoformed in the tailings after root interactions, as revealed by various microspectroscopic analyses. The Fe–Si-SRO minerals may have resulted from co-precipitation of dissolved Fe(III) and Si on mineral surfaces under alkaline and circumneutral pH conditions. Among the three plant species, Sorghum spp. (Gramineae plant) root developed most extensively in the tailings, possibly leading to more efficient mineral weathering and secondary mineral formation than Atriplex amnicola (halophyte plant) and Acacia chisholmii (leguminous plant). Overall, the study has elucidated the rhizosphere effects on tailing mineral (biotite dominant) weathering and secondary Fe–Si mineral formation, justifying pioneer plant roles in eco-engineering Fe ore tailings into soil.

Ni-rich high-energy-density lithium ion batteries pose great risks to safety due to internal short circuits and overcharging; they also have poor performance because of cation mixing and disordering problems. For Ni-rich layered cathodes, these factors cause gas evolution, the formation of side products, and life cycle decay. In this study, a new cathode electrolyte interphase (CEI) for Ni2+ self-oxidation is developed. By using a branched oligomer electrode additive, the new CEI is formed and prevents the reduction of Ni3+ to Ni2+ on the surface of Ni-rich layered cathode; this maintains the layered structure and the cation mixing during cycling. In addition, this new CEI ensures the stability of Ni4+ that is formed at 100% state of charge in the crystal lattice at high temperature (660 K); this prevents the rock-salt formation and the over-reduction of Ni4+ to Ni2+. These findings are obtained using in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy, operando X-ray diffraction, operando gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Transmission electron microscopy reveals that the new CEI has an elliptical shape on the material surface, which is approximately 100 nm in length and 50 nm in width, and covers selected particle surfaces. After the new CEI was formed on the surface, the Ni2+ self-oxidation gradually affects from the surface to the bulk of the material. It found that the bond energy and bond length of the Ni-O are stabilized, which dramatically inhibit gas evolution. The new CEI is successfully applied in a Ni-rich layered compound, and the 18650- and the punch-type full cells are fabricated. The energy density of the designed cells is up to 300 Wh/kg. Internal short circuit and overcharging safety tests are passed when using the standard regulations of commercial evaluation. This new CEI technology is ready and planned for future applications in electric vehicle and energy storage.

A facile, green and economical preparation technique is critical for the cost-effective scale-up manufacture and optoelectronic device engineering of halide perovskites. Herein, we developed a viable solvent-free mechanochemical synthetic route to systematically prepare organic–inorganic hybrid perovskites. In this work, an enormous halide library comprising 16 zero-dimensional hybrid manganese halides with the formula of AnMnX4 (A = organic cations, X = Cl, Br, n =1, 2) was synthesized through an economically and environmentally friendly mechanical grinding solid-state reaction within a quite fast time of 40 s and 100% yield. Even without any crystallization process, these AnMnX4 display strong green light emissions with the highest photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of 79.5%, which reaches up to the top rank of green-light-emitting halide perovskites. Moreover, the enormous structural library facilitates us to build up a direct correlation between intermolecular Mn⋯Mn distances and PLQY, which provides a feasibility of fine-tuning luminescence performance by reasonably managing organic species to tailor the Mn⋯Mn distance. This work not only paves a green assembly way of hybrid perovskite materials but also provides a generalized method to rationally optimize the luminescence performances of hybrid manganese halides, which is potentially extended to all emissive hybrid metal halides.

The electrochemical reduction of CO2 to an ethanol product is regarded as a highly promising route for CO2 utilization. However, the poor selectivity is still a critical challenge for increasing the yield of the specific ethanol. As a CO2 reduction catalyst, the hierarchically nanoporous copper integrated with vanadium oxide can achieve a 30.1% faradaic efficiency for CO2-to-ethanol production and an ethanol partial current density of −16 mA cm−2 at −0.62 V vs. RHE, corresponding to a 4-fold increase in activity compared to bare nanoporous Cu. It even delivers an ethanol partial current density that exceeds −39 mA cm−2 at −0.8 V vs. RHE in a flow-cell reactor. The hierarchically nanoporous Cu skeleton not only facilitates both electron and electrolyte transport but also provides a large specific surface area for high active site density. Density functional theory reveals that the vanadium oxide decorated Cu surface can facilitate water dissociation and optimize the hydrogen adsorption energy on Cu, lowering the energy barrier for the protonation of carbon dioxide and C–C coupling. Meanwhile, it can increase hydrogen proton coverage on the catalyst surface and inhibit dehydration, which are beneficial for breaking the CC bond of the *HCCOH intermediate, thus enhancing the faradaic efficiency of ethanol significantly. The highly efficient conversion of CO2 to ethanol demonstrates that the hybrid electrocatalyst is considered as a promising candidate for practical electrocatalytic CO2RR applications.

To retrospectively analyze the risk factors and the prognosis according to the number of lymph node metastases (LNMs) in different neck compartments in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) patients. In total, 962 patients with PTC were enrolled in this study. According to the methods of the 2015 American Thyroid Association, the treatment response of the patients was divided into a good prognosis and a poor prognosis. First, their clinical characteristics were summarized. Then, according to whether they had LNMs and the number of LNMs in different neck compartments, their risk factors and their prognosis were analyzed. Male sex, younger ( 4. Male sex, younger age, higher sTg levels and ETE were correlated with LNM > 4. Furthermore, the cutoffs for a poor prognosis of central lymph node metastasis (CLNM), lateral lymph node metastasis (LLNM) and CLNM + LLNM were > 6, > 1 and > 5, respectively. Younger age and ETE were strongly correlated with CLNM > 6. Male sex, younger age, higher sTg levels and ETE were correlated with LLNM > 1. Younger age, ETE and higher sTg levels were correlated with CLNM + LLNM > 5. Further analysis revealed a positive correlation between CLNM and LLNM. We should pay more attention to LNMs in PTC patients who are male, are of a younger age, have ETE, T1 staging and have higher sTg levels. The neck regional LNMs should be correctly evaluated to guide the surgical options for the neck LNMs in PTC. When the number of LNMs in different neck compartments has exceeded the cutoff value, they can be considered as predictors of the outcome of 131I treatment.

As a promising energy technology, the rechargeable aqueous Ni//Bi battery is attracting increasing attention. However, a suitable Bi electrode with high capacity remains elusive and its redox dynamics remain to be uncovered. Here, we report a porous metallic Bi electrode for an efficient Ni//Bi battery by the chemical dealloying method. The as-prepared porous Bi electrode delivers a capacity of 9.43 mA h cm−2 (155.8 mA h g−1) at 10 mA cm−2, with significantly improved interface charge exchange and outstanding electrochemical response compared with a bulk Bi electrode. An Ni//Bi battery based on the self-standing anode achieves an ultrahigh high area specific capacity of 5.72 mA h cm−2 with specific energy density of 4.70 mW h cm−2. Operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy, semi-operando X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy uncover the asymmetric redox dynamics of the Bi electrode. The present work highlights the importance of both intrinsic material properties and structural design, and will inspire more designs for high-performance electrodes of energy devices.

A general graphene quantum dot-tethering design strategy to synthesize single-atom catalysts (SACs) is presented. The strategy is applicable to different metals (Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn) and supports (0D carbon nanosphere, 1D carbon nanotube, 2D graphene nanosheet, and 3D graphite foam) with the metal loading of 3.0-4.5 wt %. The direct transmission electron microscopy imaging and X-ray absorption spectra analyses confirm the atomic dispersed metal in carbon supports. Our study reveals that the abundant oxygenated groups for complexing metal ions and the rich defective sites for incorporating nitrogen are essential to realize the synthesis of SACs. Furthermore, the carbon nanotube supported Ni SACs exhibits high electrocatalytic activity for CO2 reduction with nearly 100 % CO selectivity. This universal strategy is expected to open up new research avenues to produce SACs for diverse electrocatalytic applications.

The rapid progression of piezoelectric technology and the upgradation of electronic devices have resulted in a global increase in Pb-based piezoelectric ceramic materials. In this study, the feasibility of incorporating Pb into a PbZr(PO

Superoxide (LiO2) formation on charging is one of the major causes of poor cycle life of Li–O2 batteries. The underlying mechanism controlling LiO2 formation remains elusive. Here, we reveal that t...

Introduction: Bladder mucinous adenocarcinoma (BMA) is a very few histological subtypes has an invasive disease progression and poor clinical prognosis. The aim of this study was to investigate prognostic clinicopathological factors in patients with BMA and to develop a nomogram model using a large population-based cancer database.Patients and Methods: A total of 426 patients with BMA with adequate tumor data were determined in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database from 2004 to 2017. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression models were used to identify independent risk factors for constructing the nomograms to forecast the overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) in BMA patients.Results: Compared with transitional cell carcinoma (TCC), BMA patients are younger and have larger tumors. BMA Patients were also be inclined to experience advanced T stage, lymph node metastasis, and distant metastasis. Older age, poorly differentiated histological grade, extravesical tumor, lymphatic metastasis, distant metastasis, and larger tumor volume were unassociated risk factors, and hence integrated into the models. The C-index values of the nomograms to predict OS and CSS were 0.708 and 0.741, respectively.Conclusion: Two prognostic nomograms were developed that provided an individual prediction of OS and CSS for BMA patients, which may help clinicians make treatment plans.

to conduct a systematic review of the observational studies analyzing the association between ultra-processed food (UPF) intake and the risk of depression.the search adhered to the guidelines of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA); a search for observational studies published until June 2020 was performed in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases, followed by additional manual searches. Eight reviewers, working independently in teams of two, screened studies for eligibility, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias. We resolved disagreements through discussion or, if necessary, through adjudication by a third (LH). And the study assessed cross-sectional studies using the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) methodological checklist and cohort and case-control studies using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) for quality. We used a tabular format to summarize the articles.twenty-eight studies evaluating UPF intake and risk of depression were finally selected, 21 of which had a cross-sectional design, 6 studies had a cohort design, and 1 had a case-control design. Of these, 4 cohort studies and 17 cross-sectional studies found that consumption of UPF were positively associated with depression or depressive symptoms.our review demonstrated that most studies included in the systematic review showed that UPF consumption is associated with the risk of depression. Future studies should consider the use of validated food intake assessments and standardized depression assessment methods to promote comparability between studies.

Ruthenium (Ru)-based catalysts, with considerable performance and desirable cost, are becoming highly interesting candidates to replace platinum (Pt) in the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The hydrogen binding at Ru sites (Ru-H) is an important factor limiting the HER activity. Herein, density functional theory (DFT) simulations show that the essence of Ru-H binding energy is the strong interaction between the 4 d z 2 orbital of Ru and the 1s orbital of H. The charge transfer between Ru sites and substrates (Co and Ni) causes the appropriate downward shift of the 4 d z 2 -band center of Ru, which results in a Gibbs free energy of 0.022 eV for H* in the RuCo system, much lower than the 0.133 eV in the pure Ru system. This theoretical prediction has been experimentally confirmed using RuCo alloy-nanosheets (RuCo ANSs). They were prepared via a fast co-precipitation method followed with a mild electrochemical reduction. Structure characterizations reveal that the Ru atoms are embedded into the Co substrate as isolated active sites with a planar symmetric and Z-direction asymmetric coordination structure, obtaining an optimal 4 d z 2 modulated electronic structure. Hydrogen sensor and temperature program desorption (TPD) tests demonstrate the enhanced Ru-H interactions in RuCo ANSs compared to those in pure Ru nanoparticles. As a result, the RuCo ANSs reach an ultra-low overpotential of 10 mV at 10 mA cm-2 and a Tafel slope of 20.6 mV dec-1 in 1 M KOH, outperforming that of the commercial Pt/C. This holistic work provides a new insight to promote alkaline HER by optimizing the metal-H binding energy of active sites.

The electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) provides a promising strategy to convert the abundant but inert N

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) plays an important role in soil structure and biogeochemical function development, which are fundamental for the eco-engineering of tailings-soil formation to underpin sustainable tailings rehabilitation. In the present study, we have characterized the DOM composition and its molecular changes in an alkaline Fe ore tailing primed with organic matter (OM) amendment and plant colonization. The results demonstrated that microbial OM decomposition dramatically increased DOM richness and average molecular weight, as well as its degree of unsaturation, aromaticity, and oxidation in the tailings. Plant colonization drove molecular shifts of DOM by depleting the unsaturated compounds with a high value of nominal oxidation state of carbon (NOSC), such as tannin-like and carboxyl-rich polycyclic-like compounds. This may be partially related to their sequestration by secondary Fe-Si minerals formed from rhizosphere-driven mineral weathering. Furthermore, the molecular shifts of DOM may have also resulted from plant-regulated microbial community changes, which further influenced DOM molecules through microbial-DOM interactions. These findings contribute to the understanding of DOM biogeochemistry and ecofunctionality in the tailings during early pedogenesis driven by OM input and pioneer plant/microbial colonization, providing an important basis for the development of strategies and technologies toward the eco-engineering of tailings-soil formation.