Valorizing plastic waste into value-added chemicals/fuels in a green manner (
e.g.
, electrochemical reforming) is a sustainable way to address the global pressing problem of plastic pollution. For ...the electro-reforming of plastic waste (
e.g.
, polyethylene terephthalate (PET)), the development of highly active and selective catalysts remains a challenge. Herein, we have designed a low-cost and highly defective nickel sulfide to selectively convert ethylene glycol (PET monomer) into formate, with the co-production of hydrogen fuel. The optimal B and Co co-doped Ni
3
S
2
(B,Co-NiS) only takes 1.341 V compared to the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) at 100 mA cm
−2
for ethylene glycol oxidation, and it can realize high faradaic efficiency (>93%) and selectivity (>92%) for EG-to-formate conversion over a wide potential range. Furthermore, the bifunctional B,Co-NiS assisted real PET waste hydrolysate electrolysis in a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) can generate 15.24 mmol formate per hour and attain H
2
production efficiency over 70 times compared to conventional water electrolysis. Mechanism analyses indicate that the excellent catalytic performance of B,Co-NiS stems from the hierarchical structure, rich S defective sites, regulated electronic properties, and the dopant-facilitated
in situ
formation of an active sulfide@oxyhydroxide phase. This work provides an integrated nanostructure controlled-composition regulation strategy to design cost-effective catalysts for plastic electro-upcycling and paves the way for low-carbon plastic waste management.
Hierarchical defective nickel sulfide catalysts enable efficient electro-upcycling of plastic waste to value-added chemicals and hydrogen fuel.
Schematic diagram of proposed next-generation artificial nitrogen cycle process based on electrochemical and photocatalytic reactions.
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The nitrogen cycle is an important part of the ...global biogeochemical cycle, while the human activities have already caused a severe imbalance of the global nitrogen cycle. In this review, we proposed a new generation of artificial nitrogen cycle via electrochemical and photocatalytic reactions. In details, the N2 from the air, NO3−/NO2− containing wastewater, nitrogen oxides from vehicle emission are all able to be utilized as a nitrogen source for the synthesis of NH3 under ambient conditions. The oxidation of NH3, N2 and nitrogen oxides can all achieve the aim of obtaining NO3−. Hydrazine can also be synthesized electrochemical and photochemical reactions. Utilizing electrochemical and photocatalytic processes enables to eliminate the hazardous of nitrogen-containing organic chemicals, and some inorganic nitrogen polluted wastewater. More importantly, coupling N-based reaction with other reaction like CO2 reduction enables to synthesize some high-value chemicals such as urea. Then we highlighted some recent achievements in these reactions and proposed some future potential developing directions. The results and funding of this work may help us develop highly efficient catalysts and strategies for the artificial nitrogen cycle, repairing the broken nitrogen cycle balance.
•Photocatalytic conversion of biomass to biofuels is firstly and comprehensively reviewed.•Long-chain hydrocarbons can be produced from photocatalytic C-C coupling of biomass-derived ...compounds.•Photocatalytic decarboxylation reactions are concluded for the generation of diesel-like biofuels.•Photocatalytic (trans)esterification processes are reviewed for the production of biodiesels.•Photocatalytic conversion of biomass to produce syngas or H2 energy is reviewed.
Biofuels derived from abundant biomass are promising alternatives to fossil fuels, which are considered to be green, renewable, and sustainable. Great efforts have been made to explore efficient strategies for converting biomass to biofuels. Although thermal catalytic methods are frequently studied, but the harsh reaction conditions and high energy consumption limit their applications. Alternatively, the solar energy-driven photocatalytic approaches are considered as mild, eco-friendly and energy-saving processes, and recent achievements in the photocatalytic biomass-to-biofuels conversion significantly improve the sustainable development of biofuels. Lignocellulosic biomass and non-edible oil are seen as promising source of materials for future biofuels. In this review, photocatalytic processes for producing liquid biofuels from diverse biomass are systematically concluded, including the C-C coupling of biomass-derived platform compounds to produce diesel-like biofuels, decarboxylation reactions to produce diesel-like biofuels, and (trans)esterification of crude bio-oil to produce biodiesels. Moreover, photocatalytic conversion of biomass to produce gas biofuels is also discussed including the production of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and syngas. The advances in photocatalysts are emphasized, and efficient photocatalysts for specific reactions and the factors influencing the catalytic performance are outlined. Moreover, perspectives for the photo-reforming of biomass to biofuels are proposed to guide further development of biofuel production.
The abundant plastic wastes become an imperative global issue, and how to handle these organic wastes gains growing scientific and industrial interest. Recently, converting plastic wastes into ...hydrogen fuel has been investigated, and the “waste-to-value” practice accelerates the circular economy. To accelerate the development of plastic-to-hydrogen conversion, in this review, recent advances in plastic-to-hydrogen conversion via thermochemical, photocatalytic, and electrocatalytic routes are analyzed. All of the thermo-, photo-, and electrochemical processes can transform different plastic wastes into hydrogen, and the hydrogen production efficiency depends heavily on the selected techniques, operating parameters, and applied catalysts. The application of rational-designed catalysts can promote the selective production of hydrogen from plastic feedstocks. Further studies on process optimization, cost-effective catalyst design, and mechanism investigation are needed.
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•Plastic-to-hydrogen conversion can be realized via thermo-, photo-, and electrochemical processes.•Operating factors have obvious effects on H2 production yield in plastic upcycling.•Catalysts can improve the plastic-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency.
Microplastics (MPs) have attracted tremendous attention due to their widespread appearance in the environment and biota, and their adverse effects on organisms. Since plastics are substantially ...produced to meet human needs, primary and secondary MPs are extensively trapped in wastewater treatment plants, freshwater, drinking water, ocean, air, and soil. The serious MPs pollution calls for efficient treatment strategies Herein, we discuss three catalytic processes (photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, and biocatalysis) for the sustainable management of MPs, and the relevant catalytic mechanisms are clarified. For photocatalysis, three categories (organic, inorganic, hybrid) of photocatalysts are listed, with degradation efficiency of 23%-100%. Next, relative impact factors on photocatalysis, such as characteristics of MPs and photocatalysts, are discussed. Then, some promising electrocatalysts for the degradation/conversion of (micro)plastics and standard electrolyzer designs are briefly introduced. This electrocatalytic method has achieved over 77% of Faradaic efficiency. Next, potential organisms with abundant biocatalysts for degrading different types of MPs are reviewed. Advances in three bioremediation techniques including biositimulation, bioaugmentation, and biosurfactant are outlined. Lastly, perspectives are put forward to promote scientific development in solving environmental issues on MPs pollution in broad fields. This paper provides insights into the development of next-generation techniques for MPs pollution management in a sustainable manner.
Chronic pain can cause both hyperalgesia and anxiety symptoms. However, how the two components are encoded in the brain remains unclear. The prelimbic cortex (PrL), a critical brain region for both ...nociceptive and emotional modulations, serves as an ideal medium for comparing how the two components are encoded. We report that PrL neurons projecting to the basolateral amygdala (PrLBLA) and those projecting to the ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (PrLl/vlPAG) were segregated and displayed elevated and reduced neuronal activity, respectively, during pain chronicity. Consistently, optogenetic suppression of the PrL-BLA circuit reversed anxiety-like behaviors, whereas activation of the PrL-l/vlPAG circuit attenuated hyperalgesia in mice with chronic pain. Moreover, mechanistic studies indicated that elevated TNF-α/TNFR1 signaling in the PrL caused increased insertion of GluA1 receptors into PrLBLA neurons and contributed to anxiety-like behaviors in mice with chronic pain. Together, these results provide insights into the circuit and molecular mechanisms in the PrL for controlling pain-related hyperalgesia and anxiety-like behaviors.
•Cancer is a risk factor for tuberculosis with time-dependent association.•The highest risk of tuberculosis was observed around the time of cancer diagnosis.•The confounding effect of unmeasured ...confounders were adjusted by external database.•Cancers in respiratory tract, upper digestive tract, and hematology were at risk.•Screening and case detection for tuberculosis should be considered.
We aimed to investigate the time-dependent association between cancer and the risk of tuberculosis (TB) before and after cancer diagnosis.
This population-based cohort study incorporated the National Health Insurance Research Database and the National Health Interview Survey in Taiwan to estimate TB risk in cancer and noncancer populations. We estimated the period-specific incidence rate ratio (IRR) between cancer and risk of TB and used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate the average hazard ratio between cancer and TB during the peridiagnostic period.
From 2001 to 2015, 457 673 cancer and 3 738 122 noncancer individuals were enrolled. After stratifying the IRR of TB by year relative to the date of cancer diagnosis, the peak IRRs clustered in the year before and after the index date. In the peridiagnostic period of cancer, the adjusted hazard ratio was 2.29 (95% CI, 2.22–2.35) using the Cox model and 2.20 (95% CI, 2.09–2.32) after adjustment for missing confounders. Patients with cancers in the respiratory tract, upper digestive tract, and hematologic system were at the highest risk for TB.
Cancer is an independent risk factor for TB, with the highest risk observed around the time of cancer diagnosis.
Emerging evidence indicates that circRNAs are broadly expressed in osteosarcoma (OS) cells and play a crucial role in OS progression. Recently, cancer-specific circRNA circPRKAR1B has been identified ...by high-throughput sequencing and is recorded in publicly available databases. Nevertheless, the detailed functions and underlying mechanisms of circPRKAR1B in OS remains poorly understood. By functional experiments, we found that circPRKAR1B enhanced OS cell proliferation, migration, and promotes OS epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Mechanistic investigations suggested that circPRKAR1B promotes OS progression through sponging miR-361-3p to modulate the expression of FZD4. Subsequently, we identified that EIF4A3 promoted cirPRKAR1B formation through binding to the downstream target of circPRKAR1B on PRKAR1B mRNA. Further rescue study revealed that overexpression of the Wnt signalling could impair the onco-suppressor activities of the silencing of circPRKAR1B. Interestingly, further experiments indicated that circPRKAR1B is involved in the sensitivity of chemoresistance in OS. On the whole, our results demonstrated that circPRKAR1B exerted oncogenic roles in OS and suggested the circPRKAR1B/miR-361-3p/FZD4 axis plays an important role in OS progression and might be a potential therapeutic target.
Energy conversion of waste activated sludge alkaline fermentation liquor (WASAFL) to medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) is promising for sludge treatment and carbon recovery. However, the single ...electron donor (ED) fermentation for MCFAs production has irreparable defects. To resolve the respective shortcomings of single electron donor (ED) and improve the MCFAs production efficiency from WASAFL, a novel biotechnical process utilizing ethanol and lactate as co-EDs within different combination ratios were investigated. The results verified that MCFAs production was highest with ethanol to lactate ratio of 1:3 (6988.54 ± 208.18 mg COD/L), being 1.46 and 1.87 times of that with ethanol and lactate as single ED. The kinetic analysis results confirmed that ethanol to lactate ratio of 1:3 resulted in the highest MCFAs yield and formation rate. The microbial taxa results uncovered that the relative abundance of Sphaerochaeta and Haloimpatiens showed positive correlation with MCFAs production. The metabolic pathway analysis indicated that the ethanol oxidization, lactate oxidization, acrylate pathway, reverse β oxidization and fatty acid biosynthesis pathway might take place in the WASAFL fermentation system, contributing to the WASAFL-to-MCFAs conversion.
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•Lower ratio of ethanol: lactate promoted MCFAs production from WASAFL.•Higher or equal ratio of ethanol: lactate reduced MCFA production and selectivity.•Under sole ED condition, ethanol is more efficient for MCFA production than lactate with WASAFL as substrate.
Plastic crystals as barocaloric materials exhibit the large entropy change rivalling freon, however, the limited pressure-sensitivity and large hysteresis of phase transition hinder the colossal ...barocaloric effect accomplished reversibly at low pressure. Here we report reversible colossal barocaloric effect at low pressure in two-dimensional van-der-Waals alkylammonium halides. Via introducing long carbon chains in ammonium halide plastic crystals, two-dimensional structure forms in (CH
-(CH
)
)
NH
X (X: halogen element) with weak interlayer van-der-Waals force, which dictates interlayer expansion as large as 13% and consequently volume change as much as 12% during phase transition. Such anisotropic expansion provides sufficient space for carbon chains to undergo dramatic conformation disordering, which induces colossal entropy change with large pressure-sensitivity and small hysteresis. The record reversible colossal barocaloric effect with entropy change ΔS
~ 400 J kg
K
at 0.08 GPa and adiabatic temperature change ΔT
~ 11 K at 0.1 GPa highlights the design of novel barocaloric materials by engineering the dimensionality of plastic crystals.
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