After decades of molecular phylogenetic studies, the deep phylogeny of gymnosperms has not been resolved, and the phylogenetic placement of Gnetales remains one of the most controversial issues in seed plant evolution. To resolve the deep phylogeny of seed plants and to address the sources of phylogenetic conflict, we conducted a phylotranscriptomic study with a sampling of all 13 families of gymnosperms and main lineages of angiosperms. Multiple datasets containing up to 1 296 042 sites across 1308 loci were analysed, using concatenation and coalescence approaches. Our study generated a consistent and well-resolved phylogeny of seed plants, which places Gnetales as sister to Pinaceae and thus supports the Gnepine hypothesis. Cycads plus is sister to the remaining gymnosperms. We also found that Gnetales and angiosperms have similar molecular evolutionary rates, which are much higher than those of other gymnosperms. This implies that Gnetales and angiosperms might have experienced similar selective pressures in evolutionary histories. Convergent molecular evolution or homoplasy is partially responsible for the phylogenetic conflicts in seed plants. Our study provides a robustly reconstructed backbone phylogeny that is important for future molecular and morphological studies of seed plants, in particular gymnosperms, in the light of evolution.

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Using electrical characteristics from three-terminal field-effect transistors (FETs), we demonstrate substantial strain induced band gap tunability in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) in line with theoretical predictions and optical experiments. Devices were fabricated on flexible substrates, and a cantilever sample holder was used to apply uniaxial tensile strain to the various multilayer TMD FETs. Analyzing in particular transfer characteristics, we argue that the modified device characteristics under strain are clear evidence of a band gap reduction of 100 meV in WSe2 under 1.35% uniaxial tensile strain at room temperature. Furthermore, the obtained device characteristics imply that the band gap does not shrink uniformly under strain relative to a reference potential defined by the source/drain contacts. Instead, the band gap change is only related to a change of the conduction band edge of WSe2, resulting in a decrease in the Schottky barrier (SB) for electrons without any change for hole injection into the valence band. Simulations of SB device characteristics are employed to explain this point and to quantify our findings. Last, our experimental results are compared with DFT calculations under strain showing excellent agreement between theoretical predictions and the experimental data presented here.

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Particle size of nanomaterials has significant impact on their photocatalyst properties. In this paper, TiO 2 nanoparticles with different crystalline sizes were prepared by adjusting the alkali-hydrothermal time (0-48 h). An annealing in N 2 atmosphere after hydrothermal treatment caused TiO 2 reduction and created defects, resulting in the visible light photocatalytic activity. The evolution of physicochemical properties along with the increase of hydrothermal time at a low alkali concentration has been revealed. Compared with other TiO 2 samples, TiO 2 -24 showed higher photocatalytic activity toward degrading Rhodamine B and Sulfadiazine under visible light. The radical trapping and ESR experiments revealed that O 2•is the main reactive specie in TiO 2 -24.Large specific surface areas and rapid transfer of photogenerated electrons are responsible for enhancing photocatalytic activity. The above findings clearly demonstrate that particle size and surface oxygen defects can be regulated by alkali-hydrothermal method. This research will deepen the understanding of particle size on the nanomaterials performance and provide new ideas for designing efficient photocatalysts.

The incorporation of cocatalysts into semiconductors is proved to be an effective approach to improving the efficiency of the photocatalytic H2 production. Noble metals such as Pt have been widely used as cocatalysts and can significantly improve the performance of photocatalytic H2 production. However, owing to the high cost and low abundance, the use of Pt in practical applications is restricted. Herein, we report two well‐known 2 D layered materials, MoS2 and graphene, as highly active cocatalysts for H2 production in CdS‐based photocatalytic systems. The CdS–MoS2 and CdS‐MoS2–graphene nanocomposites were prepared by using a facile two‐step solvothermal method, and the morphologies of CdS and MoS2 can be well controlled. The as‐prepared binary CdS–MoS2 nanocomposite exhibits the enhanced visible‐light photocatalytic activity for H2 production in lactic acid aqueous solution compared with a CdS–graphene nanocomposite and a conventional platinized CdS photocatalyst. Moreover, the ternary CdS–MoS2–graphene nanocomposite achieves the highest visible‐light photocatalytic H2 production activity of 621.3 μmol h−1 and the apparent quantum efficiency of 54.4 % at λ=420 nm. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of the CdS–MoS2–graphene nanocomposite can be primarily attributed to the positive synergistic effect between graphene sheets and thin MoS2 nanoplates. The graphene sheets can accelerate the efficient electron transfer from CdS nanorods to the active edge sites of MoS2 nanoplates, and the nanosized MoS2 can facilitate the photogenerated electrons participating in the photocatalytic H2 production. The mechanisms for improving the photocatalytic performance of the MoS2‐ and/or graphene‐modified CdS nanocomposites were proposed by using the electrochemical analysis and photoluminescence measurement.