Rapid development of solid-state lighting technology requires new materials with highly efficient and stable luminescence, and especially relies on blue light pumped red phosphors for improved light ...quality. Herein, we discovered an unprecedented red-emitting Mg
Al
Si
O
:Eu
composite phosphor (λ
= 450 nm, λ
= 620 nm) via the crystallization of MgO-Al
O
-SiO
aluminosilicate glass. Combined experimental measurement and first-principles calculations verify that Eu
dopants insert at the vacant channel of Mg
Al
Si
O
crystal with six-fold coordination responsible for the peculiar red emission. Importantly, the resulting phosphor exhibits high internal/external quantum efficiency of 94.5/70.6%, and stable emission against thermal quenching, which reaches industry production. The maximum luminous flux and luminous efficiency of the constructed laser driven red emitting device reaches as high as 274 lm and 54 lm W
, respectively. The combinations of extraordinary optical properties coupled with economically favorable and innovative preparation method indicate, that the Mg
Al
Si
O
:Eu
composite phosphor will provide a significant step towards the development of high-power solid-state lighting.
Carbon-supported Pt nanoparticles are used as catalysts for a variety of reactions including the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) key to proton-exchange membrane fuel cells, but their catalytic ...performance has long been plagued by detachment and sintering. Here we report the in situ growth of sub-2 nm Pt particles on a commercial carbon support via the galvanic reaction between a Pt(II) precursor and a uniform film of amorphous Se predeposited on the support. The residual Se could serve as a linker to strongly anchor the Pt nanoparticles to the carbon surface, leading to a catalytic system with extraordinary activity and durability toward ORR. Even after 20 000 cycles of accelerated durability test, the sub-2 nm Pt particles were still dispersed well on the carbon support and maintained a mass activity more than three-times as high as the pristine value of a commercial Pt/C catalyst.
Hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN) is regarded as a graphene analogue and exhibits important characteristics and vast application potentials. However, discovering a facile method for the preparation of ...nanoporous crystalline h‐BN nanosheets (h‐BNNS) is still a challenge. Herein, a novel and simple route for the conversion of amorphous h‐BN precursors into highly crystalline h‐BNNS was achieved through a successive dissolution–precipitation/crystallization process in the presence of magnesium. The h‐BNNS has high crystallinity, high porosity with a surface area of 347 m2 g−1, high purity, and enhanced thermal stability. Improved catalytic performance of crystalline h‐BNNS was evidenced by its much higher catalytic efficiency in the dehydrogenation of dodecahydro‐N‐ethylcarbazole, compared with its amorphous h‐BN precursor, as well as other precious‐metal‐loaded heterogeneous catalysts.
Highly crystalline nanoporous hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets (h‐BNNS) were prepared using amorphous h‐BN precursors through a dissolution–precipitation/crystallization process in the presence of magnesium. The crystalline h‐BNNS is a catalyst for the dehydrogenation of dodecahydro‐N‐ethylcarbazole.
Abstract
Photothermal sensing is crucial for the creation of smart wearable devices. However, the discovery of luminescent materials with suitable dual-wavelength emissions is a great challenge for ...the construction of stable wearable optical fibre temperature sensors. Benefiting from the Mn
2+
-Mn
2+
superexchange interactions, a dual-wavelength (530/650 nm)-emitting material Li
2
ZnSiO
4
:Mn
2+
is presented via simple increasing the Mn
2+
concentration, wherein the two emission bands have different temperature-dependent emission behaviours, but exhibit quite similar excitation spectra. Density functional theory calculations, coupled with extended X-ray absorption fine structure and electron-diffraction analyses reveal the origins of the two emission bands in this material. A wearable optical temperature sensor is fabricated by incorporating Li
2
ZnSiO
4
:Mn
2+
in stretchable elastomer-based optical fibres, which can provide thermal-sensitive emissions at dual- wavelengths for stable ratiometric temperature sensing with good precision and repeatability. More importantly, a wearable mask integrated with this stretchable fibre sensor is demonstrated for the detection of physiological thermal changes, showing great potential for use as a wearable health monitor. This study also provides a framework for creating transition-metal-activated luminescence materials.
Abstract Cu-oxide-based catalysts are promising for CO 2 electroreduction (CO 2 RR) to CH 4 , but suffer from inevitable reduction (to metallic Cu) and uncontrollable structural collapse. Here we ...report Cu-based rock-salt-ordered double perovskite oxides with superexchange-stabilized long-distance Cu sites for efficient and stable CO 2 -to-CH 4 conversion. For the proof-of-concept catalyst of Sr 2 CuWO 6 , its corner-linked CuO 6 and WO 6 octahedral motifs alternate in all three crystallographic dimensions, creating sufficiently long Cu-Cu distances (at least 5.4 Å) and introducing marked superexchange interaction mainly manifested by O-anion-mediated electron transfer (from Cu to W sites). In CO 2 RR, the Sr 2 CuWO 6 exhibits significant improvements (up to 14.1 folds) in activity and selectivity for CH 4 , together with well boosted stability, relative to a physical-mixture counterpart of CuO/WO 3 . Moreover, the Sr 2 CuWO 6 is the most effective Cu-based-perovskite catalyst for CO 2 methanation, achieving a remarkable selectivity of 73.1% at 400 mA cm −2 for CH 4 . Our experiments and theoretical calculations highlight the long Cu-Cu distances promoting *CO hydrogenation and the superexchange interaction stabilizing Cu sites as responsible for the superb performance.
Meat color traits directly influence consumer acceptability and purchasing decisions. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of comprehensive investigation into the genetic mechanisms underlying meat color ...traits in pigs. Utilizing genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on five meat color traits and the detection of selection signatures in pig breeds exhibiting distinct meat color characteristics, we identified a promising candidate SNP, 6_69103754, exhibiting varying allele frequencies among pigs with different meat color characteristics. This SNP has the potential to affect the redness and chroma index values of pork. Moreover, transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) analysis revealed the expression of candidate genes associated with meat color traits in specific tissues. Notably, the largest number of candidate genes were observed from transcripts derived from adipose, liver, lung, spleen tissues, and macrophage cell type, indicating their crucial role in meat color development. Several shared genes associated with redness, yellowness, and chroma indices traits were identified, including
in adipose tissue,
and
in liver tissue,
and
in lung tissue, and
,
,
,
, and
in spleen tissue. Furthermore, single-cell enrichment analysis revealed a significant association between the immune system and meat color. This finding underscores the significance of the immune system associated with meat color. Overall, our study provides a comprehensive analysis of the genetic mechanisms underlying meat color traits, offering valuable insights for future breeding efforts aimed at improving meat quality.
Abstract
The electroreduction of C
1
feedgas to high-energy-density fuels provides an attractive avenue to the storage of renewable electricity. Much progress has been made to improve selectivity to ...C
1
and C
2
products, however, the selectivity to desirable high-energy-density C
3
products remains relatively low. We reason that C
3
electrosynthesis relies on a higher-order reaction pathway that requires the formation of multiple carbon-carbon (C-C) bonds, and thus pursue a strategy explicitly designed to couple C
2
with C
1
intermediates. We develop an approach wherein neighboring copper atoms having distinct electronic structures interact with two adsorbates to catalyze an asymmetric reaction. We achieve a record
n
-propanol Faradaic efficiency (FE) of (33 ± 1)% with a conversion rate of (4.5 ± 0.1) mA cm
−2
, and a record
n
-propanol cathodic energy conversion efficiency (EE
cathodic half-cell
) of 21%. The FE and EE
cathodic half-cell
represent a 1.3× improvement relative to previously-published CO-to-
n
-propanol electroreduction reports.
Meat quality is an important economic trait that influences the development of the pig industry. Skeletal muscle development and glycolytic potential (GP) are two crucial aspects that significantly ...impact meat quality. It has been reported that abnormal skeletal muscle development and high glycogen content results in low meat quality. However, the genetic mechanisms underlying these factors are still unclear. Compared with intensive pig breeds, Chinese indigenous pig breeds, such as the Jinhua pig, express superior meat quality characteristics. The differences in the meat quality traits between Jinhua and intensive pig breeds make them suitable for uncovering the genetic mechanisms that regulate meat quality traits. In this study, the Jinhua pig breed and five intensive pig breeds, including Duroc, Landrace, Yorkshire, Berkshire, and Pietrain pig breeds, were selected as experimental materials. First, the
and XP-EHH methods were used to screen the selective signatures on the genome in the Jinhua population. Then, combined with RNA-Seq data, the study further confirmed that
could be a key candidate gene that influences meat quality by mediating myoblast proliferation and glycometabolism because of the down-regulated expression of
in Jinhua pigs compared with Landrace pigs. Finally, through
knockout (KO) and overexpression (OE) experiments in mouse C2C12 cells, the results showed that
regulated the cell proliferation of myoblasts. Moreover,
is involved in regulating glucose uptake by the IRS1/PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. Overall, these findings provide a basis for the genetic improvement of meat quality traits in the pig industry.
Abstract China’s Top-10000 Enterprises Energy Conservation and Low Carbon Program, enacted in 2011, sets binding energy saving targets for enterprises. However, whether energy saving target setting ...is a poison or a catalyst remains controversial, and no research has been conducted on how the targets affect enterprises’ total factor productivity. We construct 2012–2013 panel data models by mapping the enterprises subject to the energy saving targets onto the China Industrial Enterprise Database to systematically quantify the effects of the targets on enterprises’ total factor productivity. The study reveals an inverted-U-shaped curve between energy saving targets and manufacturers’ total factor productivity. We also find that the targets boost an enterprise’s total factor productivity by expanding the enterprise’s market share and their impacts vary according to region, type of enterprise, and industry. The study shows that setting appropriate energy saving targets can improve the environment and boost enterprise productivity.
Natural and artificial selection for more than 9000 years have led to a variety of domestic pig breeds. Accurate identification of pig breeds is important for breed conservation, sustainable ...breeding, pork traceability, and local resource registration.
We evaluated the performance of four selectors and six classifiers for breed identification using a wide range of pig breeds (N = 91). The internal cross-validation and external independent testing showed that partial least squares regression (PLSR) was the most effective selector and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was the most powerful classifier for breed identification among many breeds. Five-fold cross-validation indicated that using PLSR as the selector and PLS-DA as the classifier to discriminate 91 pig breeds yielded 98.4% accuracy with only 3K single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We also constructed a reference dataset with 124 pig breeds and used it to develop the web tool iDIGs ( http://alphaindex.zju.edu.cn/iDIGs_en/ ) as a comprehensive application for global pig breed identification. iDIGs allows users to (1) identify pig breeds without a reference population and (2) design small panels to discriminate several specific pig breeds.
In this study, we proved that breed identification among a wide range of pig breeds is feasible and we developed a web tool for such pig breed identification.
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