In comparison with the fast development of binary mixture separations, ternary mixture separations are significantly more difficult and have rarely been realized by a single material. Herein, a new strategy of tuning the gate‐opening pressure of flexible MOFs is developed to tackle such a challenge. As demonstrated by a flexible framework NTU‐65, the gate‐opening pressure of ethylene (C2H4), acetylene (C2H2), and carbon dioxide (CO2) can be regulated by temperature. Therefore, efficient sieving separation of this ternary mixture was realized. Under optimized temperature, NTU‐65 adsorbed a large amount of C2H2 and CO2 through gate‐opening and only negligible amount of C2H4. Breakthrough experiments demonstrated that this material can simultaneously capture C2H2 and CO2, yielding polymer‐grade (>99.99 %) C2H4 from single breakthrough separation.

Although metallic ruthenium (Ru) is a potential electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) to replace platinum (Pt) at a cost of only ≈4% of Pt, the persistent dissolution of Ru under operation conditions remains a challenge. Here, it is reported that agglomerates of large ruthenium phosphide (RuP) particles (L-RP, ≈32 nm) show outstanding HER performance in pH-universal electrolytes, which particularly demonstrates a surprisingly higher intrinsic activity and durability than small nanoparticles of RuP (S-RP, ≈3 nm) or metallic Ru on carbon supports. This is especially true in basic media, achieving electrocatalytic activity comparable to or even outperforming that of Pt/C, as reflected by lower overpotential at 10 mA cm , smaller Tafel slope, larger exchange current density, and higher turnover frequency while maintaining 200 h stable operation. Calculations suggest that ΔG of RuP is much closer to zero than that of metallic Ru, and phosphorous doping is proven to enhance the rate of proton transfer in HER, contributing in part to the improved activity of RuP. The better performance of L-RP than that of S-RP is ascribed largely to the stabilization of the P species due to the lowered surface energy of large particles. Furthermore, the relatively low-cost materials and facile synthesis make L-RP/C a highly attractive next-generation HER electrocatalyst.

Induced neural stem cells (iNSCs) reprogrammed from somatic cells have great potentials in cell replacement therapies and in vitro modeling of neural diseases. Direct conversion of fibroblasts into iNSCs has been shown to depend on a couple of key neural progenitor transcription factors (TFs), raising the question of whether such direct reprogramming can be achieved by non-neural progenitor TFs. Here we report that the non-neural progenitor TF Ptf1a alone is sufficient to directly reprogram mouse and human fibroblasts into self-renewable iNSCs capable of differentiating into functional neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, and improving cognitive dysfunction of Alzheimer’s disease mouse models when transplanted. The reprogramming activity of Ptf1a depends on its Notch-independent interaction with Rbpj which leads to subsequent activation of expression of TF genes and Notch signaling required for NSC specification, self-renewal, and homeostasis. Together, our data identify a non-canonical and safer approach to establish iNSCs for research and therapeutic purposes.

This study investigated the interaction between carbon nanostructures, including pristine graphene, defective graphene with monovacancy, graphene oxide (GO), and tripeptide arginine-glycineaspartic acid (RGD), by density functional theory. The results from the adsorption energy analysis show that the strongest adsorption is observed when RGD is parallel to graphene surfaces, in which graphene interacts with all three functional groups of RGD, including NH 3 + , COO − , and guanidine. The interaction of NH 3 + •••π was stronger than that of guanidine−NH 2 •••π and COO − •••π. The vacancy improves the ability of graphene to attract RGD because of active dangling C atoms. GO has a stronger interaction with RGD than the pristine and defective graphene because of O-containing groups. The comparison of the GO model with the OH, epoxy, and mixed OH/epoxy groups reveals that various O-containing groups have distinguishing binding abilities with RGD. Water molecules strengthen the interactions between graphene and RGD, whereas they weaken the interaction between GO and RGD. The results provide useful guidance in designing optimal carbon nanomaterial surfaces with specific characteristics that could satisfy the demand for diverse applications of carbon nanomaterials in biomedical fields.

The exploition of cost-efficient and high-performance catalysts to boost hydrogen generation in overall water splitting is crucial to economically obtain green hydrogen energy. Herein, we propose a novel electrocatalyst consisting of spherical RuS on S-doped reduced graphene oxide (s-RuS/S-rGO) with high catalytic behavior toward hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in all pH conditions, especially in alkaline electrolytes. RuS/S-rGO delivers small overpotentials of 25 and 56 mV at current densities of 10 and 50 mA cm, respectively, and a low Tafel slope of 29 mV dec with good stability for 100 h in basic solutions. This performance is comparable to and even exceeds that of documented representative electrocatalysts, including the benchmark Pt/C; since the price of Ru is about 1/25th that of Pt, this novel electrocatalyst offers a low-cost alternative to Pt-based HER electrocatalysts. Ruthenium-centered sites of RuS in this hybrid catalyst are responsible for the HER active sites, and S doping in RuS also exerts an important function for the HER activity; density functional theory calculations disclose that the water dissociation ability and adsorption free energy of hydrogen intermediate adsorption (Δ G) for RuS are very close to those of Pt. A homemade electrolyzer with an s-RuS/S-rGO (cathode)//RuO/C (anode) couple presents a relatively low voltage of 1.54 V at a current density of 20 mA cm, while maintaining negligible deactivation over a 24 h operation.

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Electrochemical CO2 reduction (ECR) is highly attractive to curb global warming. The knowledge on the evolution of catalysts and identification of active sites during the reaction is important, but still limited. Here, we report an efficient catalyst (Ag-D) with suitable defect concentration operando formed during ECR within several minutes. Utilizing the powerful fast operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy, the evolving electronic and crystal structures are unraveled under ECR condition. The catalyst exhibits a ~100% faradaic efficiency and negligible performance degradation over a 120-hour test at a moderate overpotential of 0.7 V in an H-cell reactor and a current density of ~180 mA cm−2 at −1.0 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode in a flow-cell reactor. Density functional theory calculations indicate that the adsorption of intermediate COOH could be enhanced and the free energy of the reaction pathways could be optimized by an appropriate defect concentration, rationalizing the experimental observation.

Understanding the interaction mechanism between titanium oxide surfaces and proteins/peptides/amino acids is crucial to the success of Ti implants. Aspartic acid (abbreviated as Asp or D) is one of the most abundant amino acid in nature. In this study, Dmol3, a quantum mechanics first-principles density functional theory code, was employed to investigate the interaction of Asp with pure, nitrogen-doped, and calcium-doped rutile (R(110)) surfaces. The effect of water on the interaction was also studied. The adsorption energy analysis demonstrated that the strongest adsorption happened when both the amino and carboxyl groups of Asp approached the R(110) surfaces and formed a bidentate coordination to two surface Ti atoms. Hydrogen bonds from the H atoms of Asp and bridging-O atoms on the surface also contributed to the adsorption. Water hindered the Asp adsorption. N-doping and Ca-doping were not beneficial to Asp adsorption. The results imply that we may realize selective protein/peptide/amino acid adsorption on materials and determine the adsorption of specific biomolecules by an elaborately designed ion doping process. Our results could have potential impact on the design of effective material surface treatments for biomedical applications.