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Funding Information: Financial support from the Academy of Finland (decision 317903, I.O.K.; decision 340584, T.E. and A.J.K.; Flagship Programme, Photonics Research and Innovation PREIN, decision 320166) and computational resources from the Finnish IT Center for Science (CSC) are gratefully acknowledged. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. The phosphonium-decorated phenanthro-imidazolyl pyridine ligand, LP +Br, readily reacts with zinc(II) and cadmium(II) bromides to give inorganic-organic zero-dimensional compounds [ LP +ZnBr2]2[ZnBr4] ( 1 ) and [( LP +)2Cd2Br4][CdBr4] ( 2 ), respectively, upon crystallization. These salts are moderately fluorescent in the solid state under ambient conditions (λem = 458 nm, φem = 0.11 for 1 ; λem = 460 nm, φem = 0.13 for 2 ). Their emission results from spin-allowed electronic transitions localized on the organic component with the negligible effect of [MBr4]2- and MBr2 units. Contrary to ionic species 1 and 2 , lead(II) bromide affords a neutral and water-stable complex [( LP +)2Pb3Br8] ( 3 ), showing weak room-temperature phosphorescence arising from spin-orbit coupling due to the heavy atom effect. The emission, which is substantially enhanced for the amorphous sample of 3 (λem = 575 nm, φem = 0.06), is assigned to the intraligand triplet excited state, which is a rare phenomenon among Pb(II) molecular materials. more...

Boreal peatlands are major sources of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to downstream aquatic ecosystems, and peatland forest harvesting further increases the export of DOC and nutrients. Increased DOC and nutrient loading affects biogeochemical processes and food webs of surface waters, and may cause eutrophication and hypoxia. Furthermore, lateral carbon (C) flux from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems is an important but often ignored component of the global C cycle, because DOC mineralization to CO2 in inland waters markedly contributes to the total C emissions to the atmosphere. Continuous cover forestry (CCF) is proposed to be an environmentally more sustainable management option for peatland forests than clear-cutting. However, the environmental effects of CCF are poorly known. We studied ground water and ditch water N, P and DOC concentrations in clear-cut, partially harvested, i.e. CCF, and uncut drained peatland forests in Finland. We also investigated the effects of harvesting intensity on DOC quality and DOC biodegradation to CO2. Groundwater nutrient and DOC concentrations were lower in CCF and uncut forest than in the clear-cut forest. Groundwater DOC aromaticity was higher in the uncut forest than in the clear-cut and CCF, whereas ditch water aromaticity did not differ between the treatments. The biodegradation of DOC was studied by incubating water (at 15 °C for 24 h) 1, 3, 7 and 21 days after the sampling. The results indicated that the majority of the CO2 production took place during the first three days, and CO2 fluxes were considerably higher from the ditch water than from the groundwater. Biodegradability of DOC was lower in summer than in the other seasons. Ditch water and groundwater CO2 production were generally significantly higher in the clear-cut than in the uncut forest. The results suggest that partial harvesting used in CCF reduces DOC and nutrient concentrations in watercourses, decreases DOC biodegradability, and therefore the aquatic CO2 emissions compared to clear-cutting in drained peatland forests. Thus, CCF can cause less environmental drawbacks than the conventional clear-cutting. more...

Soil and water contaminations are caused by rare earth elements (REEs) due to mining and industrial activities, that threaten the ecosystem and human health. Therefore, phytoremediation methods need to be developed to overcome this problem. To date, little research has been conducted concerning the phytoremediation potential of Salix for REEs. In this study, two Salix species (Salix myrsinifolia and Salix schwerinii) and two Salix cultivars (Klara and Karin) were hydroponically exposed to different concentrations of six-REE for 4 weeks. The treatments were: T1 (Control: tap water), T2 (La: 50 mg/L) and T3 (La 11.50 + Y 11 + Nd 10.50 + Dy 10 + Ce 12 and Tb 11.50 in mg L more...

TiO2 inverse opal (IO) structure surfaces were functionalized with a sub-monolayer amount of Cu by atomic layer deposition (ALD) and tested for photocatalytic and antimicrobial applications. Decomposition of acetylene (C2H2) into CO2 and reduction of CO2 into CH4 were tested in the gas phase and photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) was tested in the liquid phase. Antimicrobial activity was tested against Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) bacteria. ALD Cu without any post-deposition heat treatment (HT) decreased the photo degradation rate of both C2H2 and MB but improved the activity towards CO2 reduction. ALD Cu increased MB photodegradation rate and antimicrobial activity only after HT at 550 °C, which was linked to the improved chemical stability Cu after the HT. The same HT decreased the activity towards CO2 reduction and decomposition of C2H2. The HT induced desorption of loosely bound ALD Cu+/2+ from the TiO2 IO surface and the remaining Cu+/2+ was reduced to Cu+. The photocatalytic and antimicrobial activity of TiO2 IO can be tailored by the addition of a sub-monolayer amounts of Cu with performance depending on the targeted reaction. publishedVersion more...