Northern China harbored the world's earliest complex societies based on millet farming, in two major centers in the Yellow (YR) and West Liao (WLR) River basins. Until now, their genetic histories have remained largely unknown. Here we present 55 ancient genomes dating to 7500-1700 BP from the YR, WLR, and Amur River (AR) regions. Contrary to the genetic stability in the AR, the YR and WLR genetic profiles substantially changed over time. The YR populations show a monotonic increase over time in their genetic affinity with present-day southern Chinese and Southeast Asians. In the WLR, intensification of farming in the Late Neolithic is correlated with increased YR affinity while the inclusion of a pastoral economy in the Bronze Age was correlated with increased AR affinity. Our results suggest a link between changes in subsistence strategy and human migration, and fuel the debate about archaeolinguistic signatures of past human migration.

The past decades have witnessed a rapid expansion in investigations of twodimensional (2D) monoelemental materials (Xenes), which are promising materials in various fields, including applications in optoelectronic devices, biomedicine, catalysis, and energy storage. Apart from graphene and phosphorene, recently emerging 2D Xenes, specifically graphdiyne, borophene, arsenene, antimonene, bismuthene, and tellurene, have attracted considerable interest due to their unique optical, electrical, and catalytic properties, endowing them a broader range of intriguing applications. In this review, the structures and properties of these emerging Xenes are summarized based on theoretical and experimental results. The synthetic approaches for their fabrication, mainly bottom-up and top-down, are presented. Surface modification strategies are also shown. The wide applications of these emerging Xenes in nonlinear optical devices, optoelectronics, catalysis, biomedicine, and energy application are further discussed. Finally, this review concludes with an assessment of the current status, a description of existing scientific and application challenges, and a discussion of possible directions to advance this fertile field.

A novel α-FeOOH/mesoporous carbon (α-FeOOH/MesoC) composite prepared by in situ crystallization of adsorbed ferric ions within carboxyl functionalized mesoporous carbon was developed as a novel visible light assisted heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst. The visible light active α-FeOOH nanocrystals were encapsulated in the mesoporous frameworks accompanying with surface attached large α-FeOOH microcrystals via C-O-Fe bonding. Assisting with visible light irradiation on α-FeOOH/MesoC, the mineralization efficiency increased owing to the photocatalytic promoted catalyzing HO beyond the photothermal effect. The synergistic effect between α-FeOOH and MesoC in α-FeOOH/MesoC composite improved the mineralization efficiency than the mixture catalyst of α-FeOOH and MesoC. The iron leaching is greatly suppressed on the α-FeOOH/MesoC composite. Interestingly, the reused α-FeOOH/MesoC composites showed much higher phenol oxidation and mineralization efficiencies than the fresh catalyst and homogeneous Fenton system (FeSO/HO). The XPS, XRD, FTIR, and textural property results reveal that the great enhancement comes from the interfacial emerged oxygen containing groups between α-FeOOH and MesoC after the first heterogeneous Fenton-like reaction. In summary, visible light induced photocatalysis assisted heterogeneous Fenton-like process in the α-FeOOH/MesoC composite system improved the HO• production efficiency and Fe(III)/Fe(II) cycle and further activated the interfacial catalytic sites, which finally realize an extraordinary higher degradation and mineralization efficiency.

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Owning to the energy crisis and environmental pollution, it is urgent to develop an efficient and earth‐abundant electrocatalyst for water splitting. In this work, the Cu2O cubes are first synthesized through a modified precipitation method, and it is subsequently selected as the Cu2+ source to synthesize 3D MOF (metal‐organic framework, Cu‐BDC) nanoarray by a facile and efficient bottom‐up method. Next, porous Cu3P@C is prepared via the low‐temperature phosphorization of 3D Cu‐BDC nanoarray as a high‐performance electrocatalyst for oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions (OER and HER). In particular, the effect of reaction temperature on the morphology of 3D Cu‐BDC precursor is studied in detail. Experimental results reveal that Cu3P@C‐120 derived from sea urchin‐like Cu‐BDC exhibits excellent electrocatalytic performance owning to the high special surface area, developed porous structure, and the uniform dispersion of Cu3P nanoparticles, which affords the current density of 10 mA cm−2 at low overpotentials of 300 and 124 mV for OER (alkaline medium) and HER (acidic medium) with Tafel slopes of 24 and 29 mV dec−1, respectively. Remarkably, Cu3P@C‐120 also exhibits an excellent durability for OER and HER, making it an efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst for application in the production of clean hydrogen fuel.

Issues with separation and recycling of suspension powder samples in wastewater hinder the practical application of hybrid enzyme materials for environmental pollution control. In this work, for the first time, laccase–Cu3(PO4)2 hybrid microspheres with hierarchical structure were successfully prepared and loaded on a treated copper foil surface. First, Cu8(PO3OH)2(PO4)4·7H2O nanoflowers (CPN) were synthesized on the copper foil surface by a solution-growth method. Then the laccase–Cu3(PO4)2 hybrid microspheres were loaded on the CPN surface via an immersion reaction method using a laccase-containing phosphate buffer solution (PBS) solution. The formation mechanisms of CPN and La–CPN (laccase–Cu3(PO4)2 hybrid microspheres on the CPN surface) are discussed in detail and mainly contain the following processes: crystal growth, coordination effect, in situ growth, and self-assembly. Compared with free laccase, the as-obtained La–CPN has a higher decoloration efficiency (more than 95%) and decoloration rate (nearly 3.6 times higher than that of free laccase) on Congo red dye (CR) solution in the short time of 3 h. Cyclic voltammetry results demonstrated that the oxidizability of immobilized laccase could be enhanced as a result of the presence of Cu2+. Meanwhile, the utilization of the CPN carrier and the unique nanostructure gave the laccase–Cu3(PO4)2 hybrid microspheres high and stable decoloration efficiency and improved the tolerance toward pH and temperature changes. La–CPN still maintained about 85% relative activity after storage for 10 days. The concept presented herein can be further expanded to the preparation of other hybrid enzyme materials for environmental control, medical treatment, and more applications.

The utilization of visible light for direct photocatalytic methane conversion remains a huge challenge. Here, we developed a thermo-photo catalytic process with a visible-light-responsive Pt/WO3 catalyst and realized highly efficient visible-light driven methane conversion for the first time. The conversion efficiency was enhanced by 4.6 and 14.7 times compared to room-temperature photocatalysis and thermal catalysis at 150 °C, respectively. Furthermore, the production of liquid oxygenates (mainly CH3OH) was found to proceed via photocatalysis with high apparent quantum efficiencies of 5.9%, 4.5%, and 1.9% at 350, 420, and 450 nm, respectively, while CO2 evolution was contributed by photoassisted thermal catalysis. Solid isotope evidence further confirmed that CH3OH, HCHO, and CO2 were produced via parallel rather than sequential reactions. These observations provide a valuable guide for designing a visible-light driven system for methane conversion with high efficiency and controllable selectivity.

The addition of Ca(3) Al(2) O(6) into Ca(3) SiO(5) accelerated the hydration process, reduced the setting time and improved the compressive strength. Furthermore, these mixtures were bioactive and biocompatible and had a stimulatory effect on the L929 cell growth when the content of Ca(3) Al(2) O(6) was below 10%. Therefore, the mixtures with 10% Ca(3) Al(2) O(6) produced the best compromise between hydration and ex vivo biological properties.