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The complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of the ex-type strain of Pleurocordyceps sinensis, a fungus originally isolated from Ophiocordyceps sinensis, was sequenced, and assembled as a single circular DNA of 31,841 bp. The mt genome encoded 15 conserved proteins (rps3, cox1, cox2, cox3, cob, atp6, atp8, atp9, nad1, nad2, nad3, nad4, nad4L, nad5, and nad6), 2 rRNA (rnl and rns), and 25 tRNA, as well as 10 additional non-conserved open reading frames (ncORFs). Comparative analyses showed that mt genomes within the order Hypocreales encoded the same number and synteny of conserved protein coding genes despite an obvious size variation among this group of fungi. Phylogenetic analyses using 14 conserved protein sequences revealed that this fungus may not belong to the current designated family Ophiocordycipitaceae but is more closely related to the species of Clavicipitaceae. The mt genome presented herein would give valuable information on reconstructing the evolutionary history of clavicipitaceous fungi and also aid in resolving the family-level taxonomic assignment of Polycephalomyces s. l. species.

Four polyoxometalate (POM)-based organic-inorganic hybrid compounds, namely, (H

Amorphous, highly salt tolerant and stable polymer PVK as a negative ion mode matrix was successfully achieved for the qualitative and quantitative detection of small molecule compounds by MALDI MS.

Developing new low-cost and efficient proton-conducting materials remains an attractive and challenging task. Herein, sodium molybdate dihydrate is used as the source of molybdenum, mixed with transition metal chloride and 2-methylimidazole (2-MI), using the "one-pot method" to synthesize two crystalline proton conducting materials based on {P4Mo6} units: H14[C4H6N2]2[M(H2O)5] [M(H2O)2]2{M[(PO3)3(PO4)Mo6O15]2}·4H2O (M=Co and Fe) (1–2). Different from the common {P4Mo6}, we use H3PO3 to adjust the pH value, resulting in two different coordination modes of P atoms in the crystal structure. The structure is expanded into three-dimensional network by metal ions. At 75 °C and 98% relative humidity, the proton conductivity of compounds 1 and 2 are 1.33 × 10–2 S·cm−1 and 1.03 × 10–2 S·cm−1, respectively. The high proton conductivity is mainly attributed to the free state of 2-methylimidazole as the proton carrier, which has a fast migration rate. At the same time, 2-methylimidazole, coordination water, and {P4Mo6} anion form a hydrogen bond network to provide multiple pathways for the transmission of protons.

Background Virescent mutation broadly exists in plants and is an ideal experimental material to investigate regulatory mechanisms underlying chlorophyll synthesis, photosynthesis and plant growth. Up to date, the molecular mechanisms in two virescent mutations have been clarified in cottons (Gossypiuma hirsutum). A virescent mutation has been found in the cotton strain Sumian 22, and the underlying molecular mechanisms have been studied. Methods The virescent mutant and wild type (WT) of Sumian 22 were cross-bred, and the F1 population were self-pollinated to calculate the segregation ratio. Green and yellow leaves from F2 populations were subjected to genome sequencing and bulked-segregant analysis was performed to screen mutations. Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) were performed to identify genes in relations to chlorophyll synthesis. Intermediate products for chlorophyll synthesis were determined to validate the RT-qPCR results. Results The segregation ratio of green and virescent plants in F2 population complied with 3:1. Compared with WT, a 0.34 Mb highly mutated interval was identified on the chromosome D10 in mutant, which contained 31 genes. Among them, only ABCI1 displayed significantly lower levels in mutant than in WT. Meanwhile, the contents of Mg-protoporphyrin IX, protochlorophyllide, chlorophyll a and b were all significantly lower in mutant than in WT, which were consistent with the inhibited levels of ABCI1. In addition, a mutation from A to T at the -317 bp position from the start codon of ABCI1 was observed in the genome sequence of mutant. Conclusions Inhibited transcription of ABCI1 might be the mechanism causing virescent mutation in Sumian 22 cotton, which reduced the transportation of protoporphyrin IX to plastid, and then inhibited Mg-protoporphyrin IX, Protochlorophyllide and finally chlorophyll synthesis. These results provided novel insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying virescent mutation in cotton.

Yan Xiao,1 Xin-Yue Yao,1 Yong-Hui Wang,1 Lan-Wen Han,1 Lian-Xia Li,1 Ming Li,2 Shan Gao3 1Department of Endocrinology, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Endocrinology, National Health Commission (NHC) Key Laboratory of Endocrinology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Endocrinology, Beijing Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Shan Gao, Department of Endocrinology, Beijing Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, No. 45 Changchun Street, Xuanwu District, Beijing, 100053, People’s Republic of China, Tel +8613910599635, Email gaoshanmw@163.comPurpose: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a common risk factor for cardiovascular disease which increases the risk of heart failure. This study aimed to determine whether clinical characteristics and subclinical cardiovascular disease (CVD) features are correlated with echocardiographic morpho-functional parameters of T2DM patients.Patients and Methods: Two hundred and fifty-five T2DM patients without a history of coronary heart disease were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. The demographic characteristics, glucose and lipid levels were assessed for each patient. Carotid ultrasonography and peripheral artery examination were performed to measure carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), carotid plaque, ankle-brachial index (ABI), brachial artery pulse wave velocity (baPWV), and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV). Furthermore, echocardiography was conducted to evaluate cardiac morphology and systolic and diastolic function. The relationship between clinical characteristics, subclinical cardiovascular diseases, and cardiac morpho-functional parameters was explored with the Pearson and stepwise multivariable linear regression analyses.Results: A total of 255 subjects aged 18– 80 years were enrolled in the study. Multiple regression analysis revealed that left ventricular mass index (LVMI) was correlated with age (β=0.463, p = 0.000) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) (β=0.179, p = 0.003). Relative wall thickness (RWT) was related to cfPWV (β=0.006, p = 0.007) and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (β=0.000, p = 0.036). In contrast, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was inversely related to cIMT (β=− 0.925, p = 0.019). The ratio of the peak flow velocity of early diastole to atrial contraction (peak E/A) was correlated with age (β=− 0.014, p = 0.000), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (β=− 0.006, p = 0.001) and cfPWV (β=− 0.025, p = 0.044).Conclusion: In preclinical stage A/B heart failure adults with T2DM, age, BP, HOMA-IR, cfPWV and cIMT are correlated with cardiac morpho-functional parameters.Keywords: type 2 diabetes mellitus, preclinical stage A/B heart failure, subclinical cardiovascular diseases, echocardiography

Fabricating proton exchange membranes (PEMs) with high ionic conductivity and ideal mechanical robustness through regulation of the membrane microstructures achieved by molecular-level hybridization remains essential but challenging for the further development of high-performance PEM fuel cells. In this work, by precisely hybridizing nano-scaled bismuth oxide clusters into Nafion, we have fabricated the high-performance hybrid membrane, Nafion-Bi12 -3 %, which showed a proton conductivity of 386 mS cm-1 at 80 °C in aqueous solution with low methanol permeability, and conserved the ideal mechanical and chemical stabilities as PEMs. Moreover, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was employed to clarify the structural properties and the assembly mechanisms of the hybrid membrane on the molecular level. The maximum current density and power density of Nafion-Bi12 -3 % for direct methanol fuel cells reached to 432.7 mA cm-2 and 110.2 mW cm-2 , respectively. This work provides new insights into the design of versatile functional polymer electrolyte membranes through polyoxometalate hybridization.

Advanced hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts matching with the chlor-alkali reaction serve as a vital link to realize the cost-effective and environmentally-benign co-production of hydrogen and chlor-alkali. The core problem in this field is to design and fabricate the HER electrocatalysts with high activity and stability under the harsh condition of chlor-alkali electrolysis. This review highlights the scientific, technical and engineering advances and challenges in this co-production of hydrogen and chlor-alkali. In detail, working mechanism and performance test criteria of HER electrocatalysts in chlor-alkali condition are provided. Recently developed HER electrocatalysts can be worked in chlor-alkali electrolysis are summarised, with a special emphasis on the relationship between their structure and electrolytic properties. Simultaneously, the latest progress in technology and engineering of co-production process is also listed. Finally, the opportunities and the direction of forward motion for this hydrogen and chlor-alkali co-production are also discussed.

Electrochemical N2 reduction to NH3 is an emerging energy technology, attracting much attention due to its features of mild reaction conditions and being non-polluting. In this work, we demonstrate that a well-defined cobalt tetraphenylporphyrin (CoTPP) molecule as a model catalyst exhibits good electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction activity in 0.1 M HCl electrolyte with an ammonia yield of 15.18 ± 0.78 μg h−1 mg−1cat. calculated by the indophenol blue method and a Faraday efficiency (FE) of 11.43 ± 0.74%. The catalyst also has satisfactory electrolytic stability and recycling test reusability. The activity displayed by the porphyrin molecular catalysts is attributed to the full exposure of the metal–N4 sites. To trace the source of ammonia, an isotope labeling experiment (15N2 as the feed gas) is used to calculate the ammonia yield via1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), which is close to that of the indophenol blue method. In addition, we replace the central metal to prepare CuTPP and MnTPP, and they also show electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) ability. This work proves the feasibility and versatility of using metalloporphyrin molecules as model electrocatalysts for NRR and offers a new strategy for the further development of molecular NRR catalysts.

Exploring an efficient non-enzymetic electrochemical sensor towards the detection of H2O2 is of great significance for the practical health monitoring and environmental analysis. In this study, four Preyssler-type polyoxometalate-based organic–inorganic hybrid materials were synthesized as non-enzymatic H2O2 electrochemical sensors having the formulae (H2bimb)6H4[(Mn(H2O)3)2(μ-bimb)(Mn(H2O)4(Mn(H2O)5)0.75(Mn(H2O)4)0.25(Na(H2O)P5W30O110))2]·30.5H2O (1), (H2bimb)3H4[(Co(H2O)4)2(μ-bimb)(Na(H2O)P5W30O110)]·10H2O (2), {[(Cu(Hbimb)(H2O)(μ-bimb)Cu(Hbimb)(H2O))(Cu(H2O)2(μ-bimb)Cu(H2O)2)((Cu(H2O)2)0.5(μ-bimb)(Cu(H2O)3)0.5)H2(Na(H2O)P5W30O110)]·12H2O}n (3) and (H2bimb)2H[((Zn(Hbimb)(H2O)2)0.5)2(Zn(Hbimb)(H2O)4)2(Na(H2O)P5W30O110)]·8H2O (4) (bimb = 1,4-bis(1H-imidazol-1-yl)benzene). In the compounds 1–4, Preyssler {P5W30} clusters show abundant coordination modes, and support the transition metal–organic fragments to give fascinating diverse networks. When used as electrochemical sensors for H2O2 detection, compounds 1–4 exhibited good electrocatalytic activities with high sensitivity and low detection limit. Among them, compound 2 showed the lowest limit of detection of 0.13 mM with a high sensitivity of 4.35 μA mM−1 and fast response time of 1 s. Moreover, compound 2 displayed excellent electrochemical operational stability and anti-interference capacity. This study provides a good choice for the development of promising electrochemical non-enzymatic H2O2 sensors by employing Preyssler {P5W30}-based materials.

Noble metal nanoparticles (NMNPs) with excellent catalytic activity and stability play an important role in the field of environmental governance. A uniform distribution and a strong binding force with the carriers of the noble metal nanoparticles are important, but avoidance of the use of additional reducing agents is a promising direction of research. Herein, 2D ultrathin surfactant-encapsulating polyoxometalate (SEP) nanosheets constructed by the self-assembly of dodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DODA) and molybdophosphate (H3PMo12O40, PMo12) are designed to be versatile carriers for Ag nanoparticles. Under the synergistic effect of the well-arranged PMo12 units, encapsulating hydrophobic oleic acid (OA) and reductive molybdophosphate under Xe lamp irradiation, the silver oleate (AgOA)-derived Ag nanoparticles (5 ± 2 nm) are monodispersed on the DODA-PMo12 assemblies and form the Agx/DODA-PMo12 composite. The optimized Ag4.89/DODA-PMo12 composite exhibits high catalytic activity and stability in the degradation of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP), which reaches a superior rate constant of 6.49 × 10-3 s-1 and without significant deterioration after three recycles. This technique can be facilely promoted to other noble metal nanoparticles with excellent catalytic activity and stability.

Protein-based delivery systems can be used to increase the solubility and bioavailability of curcumin (Cur). In the current work, the synergistic effect of sodium caseinate (NaCas) and soluble soybean polysaccharide (SSPS) on improving the water solubility, stability and in vitro accessibility of Cur was investigated. Compared with SSPS, NaCas had a more prominent water solubilizing effect for Cur, at least ten times higher under the same conditions. This solubility increase was attributed to the formation of nanoscale colloidal complexes (~ 100 nm), exhibiting excellent dispersibility. The presence of SSPS did not significantly (p > 0.05) change the zeta potential (− 40 mV) or polydisperse index of the NaCas-based Cur nanocomplexes. However, SSPS significantly improved the environmental stability (pH, ionic strength and temperature) of the nanocomplexes, as well as the biological accessibility of Cur. Due to the good synergistic effect of SSPS and NaCas on the solubilization of Cur, the combination of NaCas/SSPS is expected to be an effective carrier for the preparation of water-soluble Cur nanocomplexes, and opens up the possibility of producing clarified Cur-enriched beverages.

It is vital to choose economical and environmentally friendly proton conductive materials to improve the performance of proton exchange membranes, which occupies a unique position in proton exchange membrane fuel cells. This paper reports a new proton conductive nanocomposite, that was named NbO2(OH)-PA prepared from phytic acid (PA) and NbCl5. NbO2(OH)-PA showed an excellent proton conductivity of 135 mS cm−1 at 85 °C and 97% relative humidity. In addition, NbO2(OH)-PA was combined with sulfonated poly (ether ketone) (SPEEK) in different proportions to form proton conductive membranes, that are labeled SPEEK-x NbO2(OH)-PA. SPEEK-0.9% NbO2(OH)-PA exhibited the best proton conductivity of 0.17 S cm−1 at 80 °C in water. This work may provide new ideas for improving proton conductivity of membranes through simple methods.

The electrocatalytic carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction reaction (CO2RR) involves a variety of electron transfer pathways, resulting in poor reaction selectivity, limiting its use to meet future energy requirements. Polyoxometalates (POMs) can both store and release multiple electrons in the electrochemical process, and this is expected to be an ideal “electron switch” to match with catalytically active species, realize electron transfer modulation and promote the activity and selectivity of the electrocatalytic CO2RR. Herein, we report a series of new POM-based manganese-carbonyl (MnL) composite CO2 reduction electrocatalysts, whereby SiW12–MnL exhibits the most remarkable activity and selectivity for CO2RR to CO, resulting in an increase in the faradaic efficiency (FE) from 65% (MnL) to a record-value of 95% in aqueous electrolyte. A series of control electrochemical experiments, photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), transient photovoltage (TPV) experiments, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that POMs act as electronic regulators to control the electron transfer process from POM to MnL units during the electrochemical reaction, enhancing the selectivity of the CO2RR to CO and depressing the competitive hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). This work demonstrates the significance of electron transfer modulation in the CO2RR and suggests a new idea for the design of efficient electrocatalysts towards CO2RR., Polyoxometalates as electron regulators to promote the carbonyl manganese (MnL) electrocatalyst for highly efficient CO2 reduction in aqueous electrolyte.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the deadliest cancers worldwide. At present, few effective biomarkers and targets are available for prognosis and treatment of HCC. Chemokines are a group of small proinflammatory chemoattractant cytokines binding to specific G-protein-coupled seven-span transmembrane receptors, which could recruit various immune cells to diverse tissues. Mountainous evidence from cell lines, animal models, even human liver tissues indicates that CXC cytokines display a strong correlation with HCC tumorigenesis. Nevertheless, the accurate expression patterns as well as functions of these CXCLs remain unclear. This study aims to explore the mRNA transcriptional and survival analysis of CXCLs in patients with HCC from the databases involving ONCOMINE, GEPIA, and cBioPortal databases. The result showed that the mRNA expression levels of CXCL2/12/14 were significantly lower in HCC tissues than those in adjacent tissues. By contrast, the mRNA expression levels of CXCL9/10 were significantly higher in HCC tissues. The expression levels of CXCL3/5 were correlated with different tumor stages. The survival analysis demonstrated that high transcriptional levels of CLCL1/3/5/8 may exhibit poorer overall survival in patients with HCC while high CXCL2 in patients with HCC may confer better overall survival. In conclusion, our study uncovered that CXCL2/5/9/10/12/14 may be novel biomarkers for the prognosis of HCC and that CXCL1/2/3/5/8 could server as potential targets in the precise treatment of HCC.

The surface compositions and structure of oil bodies (OBs) are dependent on the oil crop, and these factors affect in vitro gastrointestinal digestion behaviors. Herein, a comparative study was conducted to examine the in vitro gastrointestinal digestion characteristics of two natural emulsions prepared with soybean seeds and rapeseed OBs during gastrointestinal digestion process. The average particle size of soybean OBs and rapeseed OBs emulsions was 0.46 and 5.02 µm, respectively. The droplet size of soybean seed and rapeseed OBs emulsions was large with relatively low zeta-potentials at 30 min digestion time in simulated gastric fluid condition. The droplet size of two natural OBs emulsions decreased with increasing digestion time in simulated gastric fluid condition. The average droplet size of both emulsions gradually decreased with increasing digestion time in simulated intestinal fluid conditions. The zeta-potential of the two emulsions increased with increasing digestion time in simulated intestinal fluid conditions. The extent of free fatty acids of soybean OBs emulsions was significantly higher than rapeseed after 20 min digestion time in simulated intestinal fluid conditions. The obtained results suggested that plant OBs could be useful as natural emulsifiers in the development of functional food and achieve controlled release of bioactive compounds from emulsions during gastrointestinal digestion.

Traditional matrices for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) are usually crystalline small molecules. The heterogeneous co-crystallization of the analyte and the matrix creates a sweet spot effect and reduces point-to-point reproducibility. In this study, an amorphous poly

The complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of Pleurocordyceps sinensis, a fungus originally isolated from Ophiocordyceps sinensis was sequenced, and assembled as a single circular DNA of 31,841 bp. The mt genome encoded 15 conserved proteins (rps3, cox1, cox2, cox3, cob, atp6, atp8, atp9, nad1, nad2, nad3, nad4, nad4L, nad5 and nad6), 2 rRNA (rnl and rns) and 25 tRNA, as well as 10 additional non-conserved open reading frames. Comparative analyses showed that mt genomes within the order Hypocreales encoded same number and synteny of conserved protein coding genes despite an obvious size variation among this group of fungi. Phylogenetic analyses using 14 conserved protein sequences revealed that this fungus may not belong to the current designated family Ophiocordycipitaceae but is more closely related to the species of Clavicipitaceae. The mt genome presented herein would aid to clarify the phylogenetic position of species of Polycephalomyces s. l. and also gave valuable information on reconstructing the evolutionary history of clavicipitaceous fungi.

This study aims to demonstrate current research priorities and predict future trends in the link between kidney disease and gut microbiota by means of scientometric analysis. We collected nearly 20 years (2001-2020) of publications related to kidney disease and gut microbiota in the Web of Science database. CiteSpace was used to evaluate the knowledge mapping. There are 965 manuscripts about kidney disease and gut microbiota in total, and faster growth after 2016. The country, institution, and author who posted the most are the USA, Univ Calif Irvine, and DENISE MAFRA, respectively. The frequencies are 109, 16, and 17. The most important of them are FRANCE (0.23), Fed Univ Parana UFPR (0.13), and VAZIRI ND (1.14), owing to their highest centrality. In addition, the cited documents that have contributed the most to the co-citations are Wong J (2014); the most key cited reference is Rossi M (2016); the most commonly used keywords are chronic kidney disease, gut microbiota and indoxyl sulfate. Through scientometric analysis of the past 20 years, we obtained the knowledge map of this information, which has important guiding significance for accurately and quickly locating trends in this field.

In this paper, the dynamic response of a typical 160 000 m3 liquefied natural gas (LNG) prestressed concrete outer tank under impact loading is investigated. The applicability of the Holmquist-Johnson-Cook (HJC) material model of concrete and numerical simulation method on impact that is proposed in this paper is verified by the test results of concrete slabs under projectile impact cited from the reference. A detailed finite element (FE) model of the LNG outer tank, including walls, buttresses, domes, beams, and bottom plates, under the impact of a Tomahawk cruise missile is established. In addition, pre-stress on the wall, impact angles, locations, and velocities are considered and their influence on dynamic response studied. The impact damage types for the LNG outer tank are concluded according to dynamic response results including stress, displacement, stress sweep range, and energy, and critical impact velocities to distinguish these damage types are also determined. In addition, the damage types and their failure mechanism are analyzed by the damage factor proposed in this paper, which is based on energy propagation. Finally, four empirical formulas of impact loading recommended by the standard “accident analysis for aircraft crash into hazardous facilities” are used for checking the impact resistance performance of the LNG outer tank and compared with FE numerical simulation results. It is demonstrated, by using empirical formulas, that the common 160 000 m3 LNG outer concrete tank could suffer flange impact loading. However, all the four empirical results were more conservative compared to numerical results under the same missile perforation velocity.

This study aimed to analyze vertical distribution and diversity of Beauveria species throughout the soil profile within farmland and forest habitats to obtain an accurate view of Beauveria density and diversity associated with a particular soil layer. The analysis included a total of 72 soil samples collected at four depths: 0–5, 5–10, 10–15, and 15–20 cm. Of the soil samples, 43 (60%) were positive for Beauveria, producing a total of 641 isolates. Of the positive samples, 28 (65%) were from depths of 0–5 and 5–10 cm while only 15 (35%) from depths of 10–15 and 15–20 cm. Further, for the 29 negative samples, 21 (72%) of them were from depths of 10–15 and 15–20 cm. Higher fungal frequency was found in forest habitat, 462 isolates in 21 positive samples (72%), than from farmland, 179 isolates in 22 positive samples (28%). The highest fungal density (577 isolates, 90%) was recorded in the two top layers (0–5 and 5–10 cm) and decreased significantly as the soil depth increased. Only two species B. bassiana and B. pseudobassiana were identified and co-habited along the whole soil profile. Beauveria pseudobassiana was more strongly affiliated with forest (79%) than farmland (27%) and vice-versa for B. bassiana (21% and 73%, respectively). For both species, the haplotypic diversity varied throughout the soil profile and the highest diversity values were recorded within the soil depths 0–5 and 5–10 cm. This study suggested that the soil band 0–10 cm could be adopted as the standardized depth for soil sampling for ecological studies of Beauveria. It will be important to perform exhaustive soil sampling in different seasons and at different soil depths to validate this hypothesis.

Developing new low-cost and efficient proton-conducting materials remains an attractive and challenging task. Herein, a Preyssler-type polyoxometalate derived coordination compound had been synthesized with a hydrothermal method, namely, H4.5NaCo5(2-MI)15.5(2-MI)3 [NaP5W30O110]·5H2O (1) (where 2-methylimidazole is abbreviated as 2-MI, and partial 2-MI was deprotonated). The structure was characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, PXRD, FT-IR, TG, CHN and ICP-OES elemental analyses. We studied the relationship between the crystal structure and proton conduction of compound 1 and found that the presence of 2-MI reduced the leakage of polyoxometalate under high relative humidity. Meanwhile, the strong interaction of the counter cation Na+ with water is beneficial to form more hydrogen bonds. Compound 1 showed the maximum proton conductivity with a value of 4.42 × 10−3 S cm−1 at 367 K and 97% RH. Kinetic investigation indicates that the proton conduction mechanism of compound 1 follows the vehicle mechanism.

Alloy phosphides as one of the most prospect materials are used in electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) because of their adjustable composition, electronic structure and optimized activation energy for the electrocatalytic reactions. Herein, amorphous quaternary alloy phosphide NiCoFeP@NiCoP/NF with pagoda-like hierarchical nanoarrays structure grown on Ni foam is synthesized. The synergy effect between alloy components, the superior hierarchical nanoarrays structure and superaerophobic characteristic enables NiCoFeP@NiCoP/NF to be a pH-Universal electrocatalyst with high electrocatalytic performance toward HER and simulated seawater. To achieve 10 mA cm−2, this catalyst just required overpotential of 77, 136 and 184 mV in alkaline, acidic and neutral aqueous solution. The NiCo2O4@Ni [Fe (CN)6]/NF has stable HER performance (over 10 h) and a Faradic efficiency of 90.5% in simulated seawater. This work is expected to open up a new road for the construction of amorphous alloy phosphides with hierarchical nanoarrays structure for energy storage and conversion.