Purification of Micro-Polluted Lake Water by Biofortification of Vertical Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetlands in Low-Temperature Season

In this study, a novel lab-scale biofortification-combination system (BCS) of Oenanthe javanica and Bacillus series was developed to improve the treatment ability of vertical subsurface flow constructed wetlands (VSFCW) at low temperatures (0–10 °C). The results showed that BCS-VSFCW overcame the adverse effects of low temperature and achieved the deep removal of nutrients. In addition, the removal rates of chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP) by BCS-VSFCW were 38.65%, 28.20%, 18.82%, and 14.57% higher than those of blank control, respectively. During the experiment, Oenanthe javanica and low temperature tolerant Bacillus complemented each other in terms of microbial activity and plant uptake. Therefore, VSFCW combined with Oenanthe javanica and low temperature tolerant Bacillus has a promising future in low temperature (<10 °C) areas of northern China

Wood-Inspired Ultrafast High-Performance Adsorbents for CO₂ Capture

Under favorable regeneration conditions (120 °C, 100% CO2), ultrafast adsorption kinetics and excellent long-term cycle stability are still the biggest obstacles for amine-based solid CO2 adsorbents. Inspired by natural wood, a biochar with a highly ordered pore structure and excellent thermal conductivity was prepared and used as a carrier of organic amines to prepare ideal CO2 adsorbents. The results showed that the prepared adsorbent has a very high adsorption working capacity (4.23 mmol CO2·g–1), and its performance remains stable even after 30 adsorption–desorption cycles in the harsh desorption environment (120 °C, 100% CO2). Due to the existence of the hierarchical structure, the adsorbent exhibited ultra-fast adsorption kinetics, and the reaction rate constant is 37 times higher than that of traditional silica. This adsorbent also showed a very low regeneration heat of 1.64 MJ·kg–1 (CO2), which is especially important for the practical application. Therefore, these biochar-based adsorbents derived from natural wood make the CO2 capture process promising

Cellulose Nanofiber/Carbon Nanotube@Polypyrrole-Silver Nanowires Composite Films with a Multilayer Double Conductive Structure for High-Efficiency Electromagnetic Interference Shielding and Infrared Stealth

Fiber-based conductive films show great potential for use in electromagnetic interference shielding (EMI). However, it remains a challenge to meet the multifunctional requirements of ultrathin materials, such as simultaneous infrared stealth and outdoor stability. Here, this work prepared multilayer composite membranes composed of cellulose nanofiber layer (CNF), CNF/carbon nanotube@polypyrrole layer, and CNF/silver nanowire (AgNWs) layer in different sequences by a simple step-by-step vacuum filtration strategy and named them F, P, and A, respectively. Compared with the uniformly mixed film, the three-layer films have excellent shielding effectiveness (SE), attributed to the double gradient conductive network structure and loss of interfacial polarization. The P–F–A film, in particular, has a unique blank sandwich layer that makes the reflection and scattering paths of electromagnetic waves longer. As a result, the EMI SE of the P–F–A film is 69.8 dB, which is higher than those of F–P–A (64.06 dB) and F–A–P (63.8 dB). In addition, this work constructed a superhydrophobic surface by using 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecanethiol (PFDT) as the composite membranes. Because of the extremely low infrared emissivity of AgNWs, F–P–A and P–F–A films have excellent infrared stealth capabilities, and their performances are not affected by bending and abrasion, which can meet the requirements of multifunctions and adapt to complex environments. Overall, the composite films designed in this study have broad application prospects in flexible electronics wearable products, radar stealth, aerospace, and other fields

Observation of critical phase transition in a generalized Aubry-André-Harper model with superconducting circuits

Abstract Quantum simulation enables study of many-body systems in non-equilibrium by mapping to a controllable quantum system, providing a powerful tool for computational intractable problems. Here, using a programmable quantum processor with a chain of 10 superconducting qubits interacted through tunable couplers, we simulate the one-dimensional generalized Aubry-André-Harper model for three different phases, i.e., extended, localized and critical phases. The properties of phase transitions and many-body dynamics are studied in the presence of quasi-periodic modulations for both off-diagonal hopping coefficients and on-site potentials of the model controlled respectively by adjusting strength of couplings and qubit frequencies. We observe the spin transport for initial single- and multi-excitation states in different phases, and characterize phase transitions by experimentally measuring dynamics of participation entropies. Our experimental results demonstrate that the recently developed tunable coupling architecture of superconducting processor extends greatly the simulation realms for a wide variety of Hamiltonians, and can be used to study various quantum and topological phenomena