Featured
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| Open AccessPredictability of fossil fuel CO2 from air quality emissions
The historical changes in country emissions of greenhouse gases and air quality pollutants are classified together as a function of economic development, providing valuable guidance to emission scenario development.
- Kazuyuki Miyazaki
- & Kevin Bowman
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Article
| Open AccessIn situ acid etching boosts mercury accommodation capacities of transition metal sulfides
There is an urgent need to develop efficient strategies to remove elemental mercury from industrial flue gases. Here the authors develop a simple, versatile, and scalable strategy to obtain a 100-fold enhancement of the elemental mercury accommodation capacities of a wide range of transition metal sulfides by in situ acid etching.
- Hailong Li
- , Jiaoqin Zheng
- & Zequn Yang
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Article
| Open AccessMixed-valence molybdenum oxide as a recyclable sorbent for silver removal and recovery from wastewater
Silver ions in wastewater are a major health hazard, and there is an urgent need to develop methods to reliably extract them. Here, the authors show that mixed-valence molybdenum oxide can selectively adsorb and reduce Ag+ from wastewater and be easily recycled while maintaining high selectivity towards Ag+.
- Penghui Shao
- , Ziwen Chang
- & Liming Yang
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Comment
| Open AccessApplication of cyclodextrins as second-sphere coordination ligands for gold recovery
Supramolecular chemistry based on cyclodextrin receptors as second-sphere ligands contribute to developing non-covalent materials with synergistic functionalities. Herein, we comment on a recent investigation of this concept, describing selective gold recovery through a hierarchical host-guest assembly specifically built from β-CD.
- Anne Ponchel
- & Eric Monflier
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Article
| Open AccessEmissions and fate of organophosphate esters in outdoor urban environments
The authors show how city design and climate both influence the release of chemicals to the world, and suggest that we can help reduce impacts on people and ecosystems by reducing emissions and using green space to trap and degrade chemicals.
- Timothy F. M. Rodgers
- , Amanda Giang
- & Amandeep Saini
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Article
| Open AccessScalable and switchable CO2-responsive membranes with high wettability for separation of various oil/water systems
Smart membranes with responsive wettability show promise for controllably separating oil/water mixtures but it remains challenging to fabricate responsive and stable scalable membranes. Here, the authors develop a capillary force-driven self-assembling strategy to construct a scalable and stable CO2-responsive membrane for the smart separation of various oil/water systems.
- Yangyang Wang
- , Shaokang Yang
- & Xiaowei Yang
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Article
| Open AccessPolyamide membranes with nanoscale ordered structures for fast permeation and highly selective ion-ion separation
Membranes with precise ion-ion separation are critical for sustainable water treatment. Here, authors demonstrated controlled construction of a nanofiltration membrane with fast permeation and high Cl-/SO42- selectivity by simultaneous spatial and temporal control of interfacial polymerization.
- Changwei Zhao
- , Yanjun Zhang
- & Sui Zhang
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Article
| Open AccessSynergistic promotions between CO2 capture and in-situ conversion on Ni-CaO composite catalyst
The integrated CO2 capture and conversion (iCCC) technology has been booming for carbon neutrality. Here the authors optimized the Ni–CaO composite catalyst to promote iCCC involving consecutive high-temperature Calcium-looping and dry reforming of methane and illustrated their synergistic promotions at the suitable catalyst interface.
- Bin Shao
- , Zhi-Qiang Wang
- & Jun Hu
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Article
| Open AccessLong-lifetime water-washable ceramic catalyst filter for air purification
Disposable filters are generally used for air purification despite frequent replacement and waste generation problems. Here, a ceramic catalyst filter is introduced as a new class of filter that simultaneously removes PMs and VOCs as primary air pollutants and can be regenerated and used for long periods by simple water washing.
- Hyuk Jae Kwon
- , Dong Sik Yang
- & Hyun Chul Lee
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Article
| Open AccessSteering carbon dioxide reduction toward C–C coupling using copper electrodes modified with porous molecular films
This study explores how the activity and selectivity of Cu electrodes for CO2 reduction can be tuned with organic films of different porosity and thickness. As a result, the films increase the local CO partial pressures and surface coverages.
- Siqi Zhao
- , Oliver Christensen
- & Kim Daasbjerg
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Article
| Open AccessCoupling nitrate capture with ammonia production through bifunctional redox-electrodes
Coupling nitrate capture with conversion to ammonium is attractive because it combines pollutant remediation and chemical production. Here, the authors design a bifunctional redox-electrode to achieve the reactive separation of nitrate to ammonium in a single electrochemical cell.
- Kwiyong Kim
- , Alexandra Zagalskaya
- & Xiao Su
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Article
| Open AccessPorous organic polycarbene nanotrap for efficient and selective gold stripping from electronic waste
Efficient and selective gold recovery from electronic waste is highly demanded. Here, authors demonstrate the application of a porous organic polycarbene adsorbent with up to 2.09 g/g gold-capturing capability.
- Xinghao Li
- , Yong-Lei Wang
- & Yaozu Liao
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Article
| Open AccessIon sieving in graphene oxide membrane enables efficient actinides/lanthanides separation
Separation of actinides from lanthanides is very important for the safe management of nuclear waste, however still challenging due to the chemical complexity of the f-elements. Here, authors report an efficient strategy with graphene oxide membranes for ion sieving of high valent actinyl ions and spherical lanthanide ions.
- Zhipeng Wang
- , Liqin Huang
- & Chao Xu
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Article
| Open AccessMetal single-site catalyst design for electrocatalytic production of hydrogen peroxide at industrial-relevant currents
Direct hydrogen peroxide electrosynthesis offers a sustainable alternative to the traditional energy-intensive anthraquinone technology. Here, the authors report a scalable cobalt single-site catalyst for hydrogen peroxide synthesis at industrial-relevant currents in acidic, neutral or alkaline electrolyte.
- Peike Cao
- , Xie Quan
- & Jingguang G. Chen
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Article
| Open AccessIllustrating new understanding of adsorbed water on silica for inducing tetrahedral cobalt(II) for propane dehydrogenation
Metal sites immobilized by hydroxyl groups gain great attention, however, the role of adsorbed water derived by hydroxyl groups on the silica is generally ignored. Herein, the authors propose a new understanding of adsorbed water on the immobilization of highly dispersed tetrahedral Co(II).
- Zijun Huang
- , Dedong He
- & Yongming Luo
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Article
| Open AccessNon-linear effects of secondary organic aerosol formation and properties in multi-precursor systems
Tiny airborne particles play a critical role in two major environmental issues: climate change and air pollution. Our study highlights the important, yet often overlooked non-linear interaction of organic compounds on the formation of such particles.
- Masayuki Takeuchi
- , Thomas Berkemeier
- & Nga Lee Ng
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Article
| Open AccessAmpere-level current density ammonia electrochemical synthesis using CuCo nanosheets simulating nitrite reductase bifunctional nature
Electroreduction of NO3− to NH3 is drawing increasing interest. Here, the authors designed a CuCo catalyst imitating the bifunctional nature of Cu-type nitrite reductase to deliver an ampere-level current density for NH3 formation.
- Jia-Yi Fang
- , Qi-Zheng Zheng
- & Shi-Gang Sun
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Article
| Open AccessSelective and rapid extraction of trace amount of gold from complex liquids with silver(I)-organic frameworks
The development of adsorbents for extracting gold from solutions is desirable from an environmental and economical point of view. Here, the authors report two two-dimensional silver(I)‒organic frameworks that enable selective sensing and extraction of gold from aqueous solutions, including seawater and solutions of e-waste.
- Jie Luo
- , Xiao Luo
- & Dan Li
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Article
| Open AccessSignificant contributions of combustion-related sources to ammonia emissions
By integrating nitrogen isotope systematics of ammonia emissions and transformations in the atmosphere, this study quantified the combustion-related ammonia emission and uncovered its importance for mitigating strategies of ammonia pollution.
- Zhi-Li Chen
- , Wei Song
- & Xue-Yan Liu
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Article
| Open AccessDeficiency and excess of groundwater iodine and their health associations
Both iodine deficiency and excess could cause thyroid disorders. By creating a national map of groundwater iodine throughout China, the authors reveal the spatial responses of diverse health risks to iodine in continental groundwater.
- Ruoqi Ma
- , Mingquan Yan
- & Jinren Ni
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Article
| Open AccessUnexpectedly efficient ion desorption of graphene-based materials
Desorption of ions from sorbents generally involves high acid or base concentrations and long desorption times, especially for multivalent ions. Here the authors report a rapid and efficient desorption of Co2+, Mn2+, and Sr2+ adsorbed on magnetite-graphene oxide that occurs by adding low amounts of Al3+, which is shown to interact with graphene more strongly than divalent ions.
- Xinming Xia
- , Feng Zhou
- & Haiping Fang
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Article
| Open AccessBiodegradation of highly crystallized poly(ethylene terephthalate) through cell surface codisplay of bacterial PETase and hydrophobin
High-crystallinity poly(ethylene terephthalate) is a major recycling challenge. Here, the authors show an engineered whole-cell biocatalyst showing adhesive hydrophobin and PETase on the surface of cells, for biodegradation of PET.
- Zhuozhi Chen
- , Rongdi Duan
- & Zefang Wang
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Article
| Open AccessDrivers of recent decline in dust activity over East Asia
Changes in climatic factors mainly drive the decline of East Asian dust activity in the past two decades. The weakening of surface winds plays a dominant role, and the increasing of vegetation cover and soil moisture also has key contribution
- Chenglai Wu
- , Zhaohui Lin
- & Ying Li
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Article
| Open AccessFine-tuned local coordination environment of Pt single atoms on ceria controls catalytic reactivity
CeO2-supported Pt single atoms with different coordination environments exhibit distinct behaviors in reactant adsorption/activation and product desorption, thus showing different catalytic performance for various catalytic oxidation reactions.
- Wei Tan
- , Shaohua Xie
- & Fudong Liu
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Article
| Open AccessDust emission reduction enhanced gas-to-particle conversion of ammonia in the North China Plain
Liu et al. found that the formation rate of particulate ammonium is slower in the atmosphere than that observed in the laboratory, while it is sped up due to an increase in aerosol acidity driven by an emission reduction of dust in North China Plain.
- Yongchun Liu
- , Junlei Zhan
- & Markku Kulmala
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Article
| Open AccessMolecular oxygen enhances H2O2 utilization for the photocatalytic conversion of methane to liquid-phase oxygenates
The oxidation of methane to formic acid or related oxygenates relies on efficient reaction with H2O2. Here, the authors report a TiO2-based catalyst to selectively form formic acid by using molecular O2 additives to avoid unwanted side reactions.
- Xiao Sun
- , Xuanye Chen
- & Weixin Huang
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Article
| Open AccessUnequal airborne exposure to toxic metals associated with race, ethnicity, and segregation in the USA
A new study assesses differences in exposure to particulate air pollution between racially segregated and racially integrated communities in the U.S, and finds that segregated communities are exposed to higher proportions of toxic and carcinogenic metals.
- John K. Kodros
- , Michelle L. Bell
- & John Volckens
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Article
| Open AccessThe extent to which soil hydraulics can explain ecohydrological separation
Soil physics simulations show water isotope ratios can differ among drainage, mobile and immobile storages due to transport processes alone, but effects were smaller than field data implying unrepresented processes underly ecohydrologic separation.
- Catherine E. Finkenbiner
- , Stephen P. Good
- & Salini Sasidharan
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Article
| Open AccessEthylene industrial emitters seen from space
Combining 13 years of satellite measurements led to the discovery of 300 global hotspots of atmospheric ethylene (C2H4). They are found to be linked to heavy industries and megacities, and are currently misrepresented in emission inventories.
- Bruno Franco
- , Lieven Clarisse
- & Pierre-François Coheur
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Article
| Open AccessFacet effect of hematite on the hydrolysis of phthalate esters under ambient humidity conditions
With a combined experimental and computational study, Jin et al. demonstrate that hematite nanoparticles can efficiently degrade phthalates under ambient humidity conditions, with a rate strongly dependent on the exposed facet via bidentate coordination involving neighbor Fe atoms, suggesting their possible use for indoor air purification
- Xin Jin
- , Dingding Wu
- & Cheng Gu
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Article
| Open AccessInsights into memory effect mechanisms of layered double hydroxides with solid-state NMR spectroscopy
The “memory effect” of layered double hydroxides (LDHs) plays a critical role in their applications, yet the details of the mechanism are still under debate. Here authors reveal the nature of the “memory effect” with ex situ and in situ solid-state NMR spectroscopy.
- Li Jin
- , Xiaoyuan Zhou
- & Luming Peng
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Article
| Open AccessTowards fully ab initio simulation of atmospheric aerosol nucleation
Atmosphere aerosol nucleation contributes to climate change, air pollution, and human health, however the mechanisms are complex and elusive. Here the authors propose a general workflow based on deep neural network-based force field, paving the way towards fully ab initio simulation of atmospheric aerosol nucleation.
- Shuai Jiang
- , Yi-Rong Liu
- & Wei Huang
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Article
| Open AccessLow 13C-13C abundances in abiotic ethane
Distinguishing biotic compounds from abiotic ones is critical to the search for life in the universe. Here, the authors demonstrate that the abiotic ethane has distinctively low 13C-13C abundances compared to biotic ethane.
- Koudai Taguchi
- , Alexis Gilbert
- & Yuichiro Ueno
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Article
| Open AccessBiodegradation of poly(butylene succinate) in soil laboratory incubations assessed by stable carbon isotope labelling
This study applies stable carbon isotope labelling to study polymer biodegradation in soils. This labelling enables accurate and precise tracking of polymer carbon during biodegradation and, thereby, provides a holistic picture of this process.
- Taylor F. Nelson
- , Rebekka Baumgartner
- & Michael Sander
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Article
| Open AccessPauling-type adsorption of O2 induced electrocatalytic singlet oxygen production on N–CuO for organic pollutants degradation
Side-on configuration of O2 on the catalysts conventionally leads to reduction of O2 to water. Here, the authors propose a nitrogen doping strategy with Pauling-type adsorption of O2 for selective electrocatalytic singlet oxygen production.
- Liangbo Xie
- , Pengfei Wang
- & Wenping Hu
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Article
| Open AccessDiesel soot photooxidation enhances the heterogeneous formation of H2SO4
Potential source of H2SO4 remains unclear in the atmosphere. This work first demonstrates that the formation of photoinduced •OH radical can directly promote the heterogeneous conversion of SO2 to H2SO4 on real diesel soot under light irradiation, extending the known sources of atmospheric H2SO4.
- Peng Zhang
- , Tianzeng Chen
- & Hong He
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Article
| Open AccessGrave-to-cradle upcycling of Ni from electroplating wastewater to photothermal CO2 catalysis
The valorization of undesirable substrates offers a two-fold strategy for pollution remediation and renewable energy conversion. Here, authors demonstrate the scavenging of Ni from electroplating wastewater and subsequent utilization as materials for photothermal CO2 reduction.
- Shenghua Wang
- , Dake Zhang
- & Geoffrey A. Ozin
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Article
| Open AccessA central arctic extreme aerosol event triggered by a warm air-mass intrusion
Warm and moist air-mass intrusions into the Arctic are more frequent than the past decades. Here, the authors show that warm air mass intrusions from northern Eurasia inject record amounts of aerosols into the central Arctic Ocean strongly impacting atmospheric chemistry and cloud properties.
- Lubna Dada
- , Hélène Angot
- & Julia Schmale
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Article
| Open AccessMarine phosphate availability and the chemical origins of life on Earth
Phosphate is critical for all life on Earth but its origins have remained enigmatic. Experiments indicate that phosphate may have been abundant in ancient Fe-rich seawater, providing a crucial ingredient for the origins of life on Earth.
- Matthew P. Brady
- , Rosalie Tostevin
- & Nicholas J. Tosca
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Article
| Open AccessLarge contribution of fossil-derived components to aqueous secondary organic aerosols in China
Isotope fingerprinting is used to track precursor sources and formation pathways of aqueous SOA, such as oxalic acid, finding that fossil fuel precursors contributions have largely been underestimated.
- Buqing Xu
- , Gan Zhang
- & Guoying Sheng
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Article
| Open AccessSelf-cycled photo-Fenton-like system based on an artificial leaf with a solar-to-H2O2 conversion efficiency of 1.46%
Continuous generation of reactive oxygen species is desirable in the advanced oxidation process. Here, the authors report a self-cycled photoFenton-like with a scalable artificial leaf for production of H2O2 from water with solar-to-H2O2 efficiency of 1.46%.
- Chaoran Dong
- , Yilong Yang
- & Kan Zhang
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Article
| Open AccessCatalytic ozone decomposition and adsorptive VOCs removal in bimetallic metal-organic frameworks
Warm-season O3 pollution has been increasingly frequent worldwide in the past few years, exposing a threat to human health as well as the natural environment. Here, the authors showcase a stable MOF which can not only effectively capture various airborne VOCs, but decompose trace O3 in ambient air.
- Chen Dong
- , Jia-Jia Yang
- & Jian-Rong Li
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Article
| Open AccessMercury isotope evidence for Arctic summertime re-emission of mercury from the cryosphere
Arctic warming thaws permafrost, leading to enhanced soil mercury transport to the Arctic Ocean. Mercury isotope signatures in arctic rivers, ocean and atmosphere suggest that permafrost mercury is buried in marine sediment and not emitted to the global atmosphere
- Beatriz Ferreira Araujo
- , Stefan Osterwalder
- & Jeroen E. Sonke
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Article
| Open AccessHigh activity and selectivity of single palladium atom for oxygen hydrogenation to H2O2
Nanosized Pd-based catalysts are widely used in the direct hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) synthesis from H2 and O2, while the selectivity and yield of H2O2 remain inferior. Here, a remarkable H2O2 yield of 115 mol/gPd/h and H2O2 selectivity higher than 99% are reported using a Pd single-atom catalyst for the direct synthesis of H2O2.
- Shiming Yu
- , Xing Cheng
- & Ge Chen
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Article
| Open AccessStrikingly distinctive NH3-SCR behavior over Cu-SSZ-13 in the presence of NO2
Cu-SSZ-13 zeolites are highly active for standard NH3-SCR, but their activity is unexpectedly inhibited in the presence of NO2. This work demonstrates that strong oxidation by NO2 forces Cu ions to exist mainly as CuII species with low mobility, which is responsible for this distinctive behavior.
- Yulong Shan
- , Guangzhi He
- & Hong He
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Article
| Open AccessHighly efficient and selective extraction of gold by reduced graphene oxide
High extraction capacity with precise selectivity to trace amounts of gold over a wide range of co-existing elements remains a challenge for effective e-waste recycling. Here, authors demonstrate the excellent performance of rGO for gold extraction from e-waste leachate, even at minute concentrations.
- Fei Li
- , Jiuyi Zhu
- & Hui-Ming Cheng
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Article
| Open AccessGlobal analysis and prediction of fluoride in groundwater
A global fluoride hazard prediction map was created using machine learning and over 400,000 fluoride measurements, this shows ~180 million people are potentially affected by chronic fluoride exposure worldwide, mostly in Asia and Africa.
- Joel Podgorski
- & Michael Berg
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Article
| Open AccessSustainable environmental remediation via biomimetic multifunctional lignocellulosic nano-framework
Persistent organic pollutant (POP) remediation is important for protecting the environment and human health but can be expensive. Here, the authors report on the creation of a plant-based remediation material which can absorb high levels of POPs and then provide the nutrients needed for fungal degradation and detoxification.
- Jinghao Li
- , Xiaohan Li
- & Susie Y. Dai
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Article
| Open AccessSunlight-driven nitrate loss records Antarctic surface mass balance
Snow accumulation rates in Antarctica can now be reconstructed from nitrate isotopes in snow and ice. This independent technique offers scientists a new tool for studying how Antarctic climate changed in the past and how it may change in the future.
- Pete D. Akers
- , Joël Savarino
- & Jason L. Roberts