Symmetry Breaking Enhancing the Activity of Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction on an Icosahedron-Kernel Cluster by Cu Atoms Regulation

Recently, CO2 hydrogenation had a new breakthrough resulting from the design of catalysts to effectively activate linear CO2 with symmetry-breaking sites. However, understanding the relationship between symmetry-breaking sites and catalytic activity at the atomic level is still a great challenge. In this study, a set of gold-copper alloy Au13 Cux (x=0-4) nanoclusters were used as research objects to show the symmetry-controlled breaking structure on the surface of nanoclusters with the help of manipulability of the Cu atoms. Among them, Au13 Cu3 nanocluster displays the highest degree of symmetry-breaking on its crystal structure compared with the other nanoclusters in the family. Where the three copper atoms occupying the surface of the icosahedral kernel unevenly with one copper atom is coordinately unsaturated (CuS2 motif relative to CuS3 motif). As expected, Au13 Cu3 has an excellent hydrogenation activity of CO2 , in which the current density is as high as 70 mA cm-2 (-0.97 V) and the maximum FECO reaches 99 % at -0.58 V. Through the combination of crystal structures and theoretical calculations, the excellent catalytic activity of Au13 Cu3 is revealed to be indeed closely related to its asymmetric structure.

The OsNLP3/4-OsRFL module regulates nitrogen-promoted panicle architecture in rice

Rice panicles, a major component of yield, are regulated by phytohormones and nutrients. How mineral nutrients promote panicle architecture remains largely unknown. Here, we report that NIN-LIKE PROTEIN3 and 4 (OsNLP3/4) are crucial positive regulators of rice panicle architecture in response to nitrogen (N). Loss-of-function mutants of either OsNLP3 or OsNLP4 produced smaller panicles with reduced primary and secondary branches and fewer grains than wild-type, whereas their overexpression plants showed the opposite phenotypes. The OsNLP3/4-regulated panicle architecture was positively correlated with N availability. OsNLP3/4 directly bind to the promoter of OsRFL and activate its expression to promote inflorescence meristem development. Furthermore, OsRFL activates OsMOC1 expression by binding to its promoter. Our findings reveal the novel N-responsive OsNLP3/4-OsRFL-OsMOC1 module that integrates N availability to regulate panicle architecture, shedding light on how N nutrient signals regulate panicle architecture and providing candidate targets for the improvement of crop yield.

Methodology for Lost Gas Determination from Exploratory Coal Cores and Comparative Evaluation of the Accuracy of the Direct Method

In the coal exploration of China, the commonly used direct method within 120 min has potential errors in lost gas calculation of deep coal seam for its complex geological conditions. The exploration of deep coal resources by drilling holes in Huainan of Eastern China offered an opportunity to starting research into developing a new method. A developed method with error analysis was constructed to estimate the lost gas using the total desorption process obtained from exploratory coal cores. The accuracy of the direct method was also evaluated comparatively. The result shows that the desorption curve of tested coal samples matches the fitted curve equation. Desorption temperature and the tectonic coal with associated pore characteristics significantly affect the variation of the adsorption characteristics and the estimation of lost gas. The direct method obviously underestimates the lost gas, and methodology using a new lost gas estimation procedure with additional residual gas allows for achieving relatively accurate results of the determination of gas content in coal seams. The calculated result of the new method is about 1.00-1.41 times that of the direct method. The error analysis of desorption results allowed us to determine the dependence between the time (retrieval time and desorption time) and determination method. The time used for desorption in the tank is allowed to extend to less than 400 min or more than 1000 min, which is very potentially important to accurately get the coalbed gas content for coring samples, especially deep exploratory cores for field application.