Search Results (1,108)

Wheat is a globally important food crop, and its yield is crucial for ensuring food security. Lunxuan 13 is an elite wheat variety developed by the Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. It has high yield potential and outstanding agronomic traits, such as excellent seed setting rate, plump kernels, and good lodging resistance. However, this variety is highly susceptible to pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) when exposed to rain during the maturation period, leading to premature grain germination on the spike, which causes yield losses and quality deterioration, severely restricting its popularization. This study focused on addressing the PHS susceptibility of Lunxuan 13 by employing CRISPR/Cas9 technology for the targeted knockout of the three homoeologous copies (A, B, and D subgenomes) of TaQsd1, a key gene regulating seed dormancy. A total of 41 transgenic plants were obtained, achieving a transformation efficiency of 52.6%, among which 27 plants exhibited edits at the target sites, resulting in an editing efficiency of 65.9%. Phenotypic analysis of homozygous T₂ edited lines revealed significant functional redundancy among the three TaQsd1 homoeologs: a significant extension of the seed dormancy period and a substantial increase in PHS resistance were achieved only when all three A, B, and D copies underwent loss-of-function mutation (aabbdd genotype). After-ripened seeds from these mutants showed normal germination ability, indicating enhanced dormancy rather than loss of germination capacity. Importantly, all of the edited lines exhibited no significant differences compared to the wild type in key agronomic traits such as plant height, spike length, and grains per spike, thus retaining the excellent characteristics of Lunxuan 13. This study successfully optimized Lunxuan 13 for significantly enhanced PHS resistance while retaining its superior agronomic traits. This work provides an effective approach for improving PHS resistance in white-grained wheat and removes a key barrier to the potential commercialization of this variety. Full article

In this study, chicken bone biochar (CBC) was prepared from waste chicken bones via oxygen-limited pyrolysis. A magnetic component (Fe₃O₄) was introduced, and the composite was embedded in a sodium alginate (SA) gel network, successfully constructing magnetic chicken bone biochar/sodium alginate composite gel beads (M-CBC/SA). The experimental results showed that under the conditions of pH = 4.5, 25 °C, and an adsorbent dosage of 0.5 g/L, the removal efficiency of M-CBC/SA toward 50 mg/L U(VI) reached 91.67%, corresponding to an adsorption capacity of 91.67 mg/g. The adsorption process followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm model, with a theoretical maximum adsorption capacity of 322.58 mg/g, indicating that the adsorption was dominated by monolayer chemisorption. The material exhibited excellent magnetic separability and good anti-interference ability against coexisting ions such as K⁺, Na⁺, Cl⁻, and SO₄²⁻, and its adsorption behavior was only weakly affected by ionic strength. Characterization by XRD, FTIR, XPS, SEM-EDS and other techniques revealed that the immobilization mechanism of U(VI) involved the synergistic effects of dissolution–precipitation (the formation of a new autunite phase), surface complexation (involving hydroxyl and phosphate groups), ion exchange (exchange with Ca²⁺), and electrostatic attraction. Using waste chicken bones as the raw material, this composite achieves both efficient uranium immobilization and convenient magnetic separation, fully embodying the environmental concept of “treating waste with waste”, and shows promising application prospects in the treatment of uranium-containing wastewater. Full article

The increasing release of non-biodegradable heavy metals, particularly lead (Pb²⁺) and cadmium (Cd²⁺), poses severe risks to ecosystems and human health. Herein, we present a sustainable “treating-waste-with-waste” strategy that simultaneously addresses heavy-metal contamination in water and the accumulation of expanded perlite waste. Expanded perlite waste was directly converted into a high-purity, low-silica CHA zeolite via a simple, one-pot, template-free hydrothermal conversion. The resulting sodium-exchanged material (Na-CHA-p) demonstrated excellent Pb²⁺ and Cd²⁺ removal performance, featuring ultrafast adsorption kinetics (reaching equilibrium within 5 min for both ions), high adsorption capacities (555.6 mg·g⁻¹ for Pb²⁺ and 211.0 mg·g⁻¹ for Cd²⁺), and superior selectivity. This study demonstrates an efficient pathway for the high-value utilization of perlite waste and highlights the strong potential of waste-derived CHA zeolites as advanced adsorbents for heavy-metal wastewater remediation. Full article

The coexistence of emulsified oil, dissolved organics, and heavy metal ions in industrial oily wastewater makes one-step treatment highly challenging. Herein, an organic-inorganic co-modified PVDF composite membrane (MTSP) was fabricated via nonsolvent-induced phase separation, with tea polyphenols, SiO₂, and fibrous MXene synergistically incorporated. The resulting membrane exhibited a superhydrophilic/underwater oleophobic surface, with a water contact angle of 1° and an underwater oil contact angle of ~136°, owing to the optimized surface chemistry and hierarchical pore structure. As a result, the MTSP membrane effectively suppressed oil fouling while enabling rapid water transport. At 0.1 bar, the optimized membrane delivered an oil/water separation efficiency of ~99.5% and a high flux of 2420–2670 L·m⁻²·h⁻¹, while maintaining >99% separation efficiency for various emulsified oils, including kerosene, edible oil, n-hexane, and 1,2-dichloroethane. It also showed excellent recyclability and chemical stability, retaining >98–99% efficiency after five cycles and after 24 h exposure to pH 1 and pH 12 conditions. Notably, for complex simulated wastewater containing emulsified kerosene, phenol, and Fe³⁺, Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, and Cd²⁺, the membrane maintained ~99% oil/water separation efficiency and simultaneously removed ~79% of phenol and 70–86% of heavy metal ions in a single filtration process. The superior performance is attributed to the synergistic effects of the superhydrophilic/underwater-oleophobic membrane surface, hierarchical transport channels enabling rapid water permeation, and multifunctional sites that adsorb/coordinate dissolved pollutants. This work provides a simple, scalable design strategy for PVDF-based membranes that integrate high-flux separation, antifouling performance, and multi-pollutant remediation for the treatment of complex oily wastewater. Full article

Leaching carbon residue (LCR) is a carbonaceous solid waste generated during the hydrometallurgical recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries. Although its high graphite content offers substantial potential for resource recovery, the residual heavy metals and fluorides present in LCR pose considerable environmental risks. Currently, LCR has not garnered sufficient attention within the industry, and the lack of recycling technologies suitable for large-scale disposal results in resource wastage and environmental pollution. To address these challenges, this study proposes an innovative strategy based on the concept of multi-field synergistic enhancement. The proposed approach involves recovering and regenerating graphite (RG) from LCR via low-temperature molten salt roasting assisted by high-pressure and mechanical activation. A combination of advanced characterization techniques was employed to compare the physicochemical properties of RG and commercial graphite (CG) and to systematically evaluate the technical feasibility of using regenerated graphite as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries. The results demonstrate that, under optimized molten salt roasting and aqueous leaching conditions, the carbon content of RG reaches 99.94 wt%, indicating the efficient removal of non-carbon impurities from the graphite matrix. Compared to CG, RG retains a typical layered structure; however, a lower carbon content (99.94 wt%) and poorer structural order (I_D/I_G = 0.30) are observed. In terms of electrochemical performance, RG delivers a discharge specific capacity of 394.64 mAh/g during the first cycle and exhibits excellent cycling stability, with a capacity retention of 86.50% after 100 cycles. This electrochemical performance is comparable to that of commercial graphite. The proposed multi-field-assisted low-temperature molten salt roasting technique enables the efficient recovery of high-value graphite resources from LCR, establishing a full-lifecycle recycling strategy tailored for lithium-ion battery applications. Full article

A highly efficient ZnO/biochar (ZnO/BC) composite was synthesised from phytoremediation residue and evaluated for the advanced sonocatalytic degradation of malachite green in aqueous solutions. The structural, chemical, and morphological properties of the composite were characterised using physicochemical techniques, confirming the successful impregnation of zinc oxide (ZnO) onto the biochar matrix. The catalytic performance of the synthesised composite in treating malachite green was systematically evaluated and optimised using response surface methodology (RSM), specifically a central composite design (CCD), to analyse the interactive effects of initial dye concentration, catalyst loading, and ultrasonic irradiation time. The developed model exhibited a high coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.996 and an adequate precision of 62.67, confirming the model’s significance. Optimal degradation was observed at an initial malachite green concentration of 73.71 mg/L, a catalyst loading of 0.527 g/L, and a sonocatalytic treatment duration of 18.7 min. Furthermore, the ZnO/biochar composite demonstrated excellent mineralisation capabilities, with chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total organic carbon (TOC) removal efficiencies reaching 89.79% and 68.43%, respectively, after 60 min of treatment. These findings establish ZnO/BC as a highly active sonocatalyst, offering a promising approach for the remediation of organic dyes in industrial wastewater treatment. Full article

The efficient removal of dyes and separation from dissolved salts are crucial for the recovery of valuable resources from saline textile wastewater. In this study, hollow fiber membranes were fabricated using the non-solvent-induced phase separation (NIPS) method and then improved with a dual-coating process to create effective nanofiltration (NF) membranes. First, hollow fiber substrates with Fe³⁺ were fabricated using NIPS. Subsequently, the inner surface of the membrane was coated with phytic acid (PA) and polyethyleneimine (PEI), which increased the thickness of the separation layer and reduced the size of the surface pores, thereby improving the separation efficiency. The loose NF membrane exhibited superior water permeance (pure water permeability of 280 L·m⁻²·h⁻¹·bar⁻¹) and, with dye rejection rates consistently exceeding 95%, also remarkable dye/salt selectivity (with separation factors of CR/NaCl: 64.08, CR/Na₂SO₄: 21.21, CBB/NaCl: 14.75, and CBB/Na₂SO₄: 10.74). The flux recovery of the membrane was over 80% for humic acid, and the membrane exhibited favorable stability under acidic and alkaline conditions, confirming its excellent antifouling and stability performance. In conclusion, this study presents a straightforward and effective approach for fabricating hollow fiber loose NF membranes, underscoring their potential for treating hypersaline wastewater and resource recovery. Full article

Sulfide-alkaline wastewater (SAW) from petrochemical plants, particularly from pyrolysis and hydrotreating units, presents a significant environmental challenge due to its high toxicity, extreme alkalinity (pH > 12), and high concentrations of sulfides and organic pollutants. Traditional treatment methods like acid neutralization or air oxidation are often inefficient, generate secondary waste, or fail to recover valuable components. This study investigates the effectiveness of a novel electrochemical system for the simultaneous treatment of SAW and recovery of valuable products. A lab-scale four-chamber electrodialyzer, equipped with cation-exchange membranes and nickel bipolar electrodes, was designed and tested using real industrial wastewater. The wastewater was characterized by a pH of 13.06, chemical oxygen demand of 12,600 mg/L, and a sulfide content of approximately 5000 mg/L. The process leverages anodic oxidation to convert sulfide ions into elemental sulfur, while sodium cations migrate through cation-exchange membranes to the cathodic compartments. There, water reduction generates high-purity hydrogen (≥99.9%) and a concentrated, purified sodium hydroxide solution. The results demonstrate the ineffectiveness of electrodialysis with anion-exchange membranes due to rapid membrane degradation. In contrast, the proposed electrodialyzer with bipolar electrodes achieved excellent performance: a caustic soda solution with a concentration of 2.3–2.5% was recovered with a current efficiency of 83–85%, containing only trace amounts of sulfides (0.0052%) and organic impurities (0.053%). The process completely removed the original sulfide alkalinity. The study confirms the chemical and mechanical stability of the cation-exchange membranes under harsh SAW conditions. The proposed technology offers a path towards a closed-loop system in refineries by enabling the reuse of recovered caustic, utilization of hydrogen, and potential recovery of sulfur, aligning with the principles of green chemistry and circular economy. Full article

Arsenic contamination, mainly in the arsenate (As(V)) form, continues to pose a serious threat to groundwater quality worldwide due to its long-term stability and toxicity at very low levels. Herein, we demonstrate, for the first time, a three-dimensional graphene oxide-based nanocomposite composed of Cu nanoparticle-doped, amino-functionalized UiO-66 (Cu/UiO-66-NH₂) anchored on a graphene oxide framework (Cu/UiO-66-NH₂@GO) as a novel and efficient nanosorbent for the rapid removal of As(V) in groundwater-like solutions. The nanocomposite was characterized by SEM and HRTEM to confirm the hybrid structure and by XRD, N₂ adsorption–desorption isotherms, and XPS to investigate crystallinity, porosity, and surface chemistry. The derived material exhibited a highly dispersed morphology and performed rapid arsenate solid-phase extraction to attain equilibration within 10 min and was effective for a wide pH range of 2–11. The best fit for the kinetic profiles was provided by the pseudo-second-order model. Interestingly, the maximum adsorption capacity of 747.9 mg g⁻¹ at pH 6.8 was achieved, demonstrating the benefits of the complementary pairing of dispersive GO sheets and Zr-MOF adsorption domains with Cu-derived active sites. Mechanistically, the enhanced uptake is ascribed to a combination of effects, including electrostatic pre-concentration, ligand exchange, and inner-sphere complexation at metal-oxo nodes; spectroscopic analysis (XPS and FTIR) suggests that the majority of arsenate is immobilized via a strong Zr-O-As bond at coordinatively unsaturated Zr centers, which is in line with t-ZrO₂-like surface domains formed within the nanocomposite. The embedded GO support inhibits further framework interpenetration and enhances active site availability and mass transport, leading to fast and high-capacity arsenate capture in groundwater samples with related conditions. Taken together, this work presents a powerful design concept that integrates unique GO-supported, Cu-modified UiO-66-NH₂ with Zr-O binding motifs to afford high-rate remediation nanocomposites, providing an excellent platform for next-generation arsenate remediation materials. Full article

This study provides novel insights into the gradual development of an algal-bacterial self-flocculent biomass in a 400 L pilot-scale raceway pond for wastewater treatment to enhance sustainability and minimize environmental footprint. The synergetic interaction of algal-bacteria consortia improves nutrient removal while enabling biomass concentration increase. Initially, the microalgae-bacteria biomass was gradually developed by increasing the operating volume from 60 to 400 L. After 80 days, the biomass reached a plateau at a concentration of about 4 g L⁻¹, and exhibited excellent settling characteristics. The initial settling velocity was 14.8 cm min⁻¹ and a settling time of 3 min was required to achieve efficient separation. The reactor achieved high treatment efficiency of about 95% for all nutrients (organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorous) after the 80th day. The kinetic analysis showed that nutrient removal followed first-order kinetics, with soluble chemical oxygen demand and ammonia removal reaching 0.017 and 0.020 h⁻¹, respectively. The results demonstrate high pollutant removal efficiencies and design guidelines for the use of increased concentrations of microalgae–bacteria consortia in urban wastewater treatment practice, an alternative green way for solving present-day wastewater treatment problems. Full article

Activated carbons are usually prepared from natural precursors (e.g., fruit stones or nutshells) by carbonization and activation processes carried out at 400–1000 °C. They exhibit well-developed porosity, and chemical activation introduces hydrophilic functional groups on their surface, providing excellent sorption properties. However, the high temperatures required during thermal treatment increase production costs. In this work, cost-reducing methods for preparing carbon sorbents are proposed. Carbonization of H₃PO₄ activated waste pistachio nutshells was performed using classical pyrolysis (500 or 550 °C, 30 min, N₂ atmosphere) and microwave treatment (power 1000 W, 20 min). The properties of the synthesized carbons were characterized using thermogravimetry and spectroscopic techniques including infrared (ATR), Raman, photoelectron (XPS) spectroscopies, and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). Porous structure parameters were determined using nitrogen adsorption experiments. The efficiency of Pb²⁺ removal from spiked ultrapure, tap and river water was evaluated by batch sorption experiments and inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry. The most porous carbons were those prepared at 500 and 550 °C, with specific surface areas of 910 and 256 m²/g, respectively. Surface phosphates increased the Pb²⁺ sorption efficiency to 99% from ultrapure water, at an initial concentration of 300 µg Pb²⁺/L. The material obtained with the microwave method was not fully carbonized and remained nonporous, but it also exhibited 99% Pb²⁺ uptake from ultrapure water due to the presence of oxygen-containing surface groups. The Pb²⁺ removal from spiked tap and river water reached up to 84% and 94%, respectively, at the spiking level of 300 µg Pb²⁺/L. Full article

Silver films are key building blocks for plasmonic and nanophotonic devices, whose optical performance and device reliability are highly sensitive to particulate contamination introduced during fabrication and operation. Herein, a non-destructive surface cleaning strategy specifically applicable to silver film systems is proposed, based on the synergistic regulation of the mechanical properties of a polymer layer and its interfacial adhesion to the silver film. Such regulation is achieved by tuning hydrogen-bond-mediated interactions within a modified poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) layer, enabling effective control over the locus of fracture during peeling, such that fracture preferentially occurs at the polymer/silver interface. Unlike conventional polymer-assisted cleaning methods that suffer from an inherent trade-off between bulk cohesion and interfacial adhesion, this approach decouples the two properties through molecular-level hydrogen-bond redistribution. As a result, particulate contaminants can be efficiently removed from the silver surface while preserving the structural integrity of the silver film. The proposed method achieves a particle removal efficiency of up to 98% for contaminants larger than 30 nm and can be stably applied to silver films with lateral dimensions ranging from 1 inch to 12 inches, demonstrating excellent scalability. By further adjusting the processing parameters and compositional ratios of the polymer layer, this strategy is expected to be adaptable to silver films with different thicknesses and structural configurations, providing a reliable surface cleaning solution for improving the performance and reliability of plasmonic and optoelectronic thin-film devices. Full article

Dust pollution induced by blasting during tunnel construction via the drill-and-blast method poses a severe threat to workers’ health and construction safety. To address this issue, a wet chord grid dust removal and purification device adaptable to deep-buried long tunnels was developed in this study. The device integrates dust control and removal functions, featuring mobility, high purification efficiency, and water recycling capability. Through experimental tests, the optimal operating parameters of the system were determined: the dust removal efficiency reached a peak of 94.3% (laboratory optimal value from the basic parameter optimization test) when the frequency of the extraction axial flow fan was set to 30 Hz and the cross-sectional wind speed of the chord grid reached 3.34 m/s. The circulating water tank achieved the optimal water treatment performance under the conditions of a relative buried depth of 0.42 for the water inlet, a volume ratio of 1:2 for the sedimentation area to the clear water area, and a relative baffle height of 0.65. Numerical simulations based on CFD software (2021) revealed that the on-site dust removal efficiency of the device reached 79.86% and 87.9% under the working conditions where the tunnel face was 10 m and 100 m away from the connecting passage, respectively, which are in good agreement with the field measurement results. In the practical application at the Shierpo Tunnel of the Guangxi Tianba Expressway, the device achieved an average total dust removal efficiency of 78.4%, with 81.2% removal efficiency for PM₁₀ and 76.5% for PM_2.5, demonstrating excellent engineering applicability and dust removal performance for respirable dust. This study provides effective technical support and a theoretical basis for improving the construction environment of drill-and-blast tunnels. Full article

Low-rank recovery has emerged as a powerful methodology for the restoration of degraded images. Conventional low-rank recovery techniques, however, predominantly rely on nuclear norm or weighted nuclear norm minimization to separate sparse noise. A significant limitation of this approach is its dependence on full singular value decomposition, which imposes a substantial computational burden, thereby hindering its practical applicability. This paper presents a novel image denoising model integrating the weighted nuclear norm and deep image prior. The weighted nuclear norm is introduced to accurately characterize the global structural properties of images, ensuring the consistency of the overall image structure after denoising. Meanwhile, the deep image prior is employed to effectively capture local details, which helps avoid the blurring of textures and edges often caused by excessive noise removal. The complementary advantages of the two components enable the proposed model to achieve superior performance compared with existing denoising methods. To efficiently compute the proposed model, we design the bilinear factorization method and the alternating direction method of multipliers. Experiments show that the proposed method outperforms mainstream approaches in both restoration accuracy and computational efficiency, exhibiting rapid convergence and robust algorithm stability, thereby demonstrating excellent comprehensive performance. Full article

Tetracycline has been widely used as an efficient broad-spectrum antibiotic, while its long-term environmental pollution characteristics have gradually gained recognition and attention, highlighting the urgent need to identify a low-cost and effective method for removing tetracycline pollutants. This study aims to develop a one-step bamboo-based biochar preparation method based on a KCl-ZnCl₂ molten salt system; the potential application of obtained bamboo-based biochar as a tetracycline adsorbent was characterized and analyzed. Results show that the biochar prepared at 900 °C possesses abundant microporous and mesoporous structures, with abundant surface functional groups. Also, it exhibits a composite type I/IV isotherm, with a specific surface area of 1305.91 m²·g⁻¹, a total pore volume of 0.944 cm³·g⁻¹, demonstrating excellent tetracycline adsorption capacity of 298.93 mg·g⁻¹. XRD analysis confirmed that increasing the activation temperature significantly enhanced the graphitization degree of the biochar, which is a key factor influencing its tetracycline adsorption performance. Kinetic studies indicated that the adsorption kinetic process was better described by the Elovich model and Freundlich isotherm. Furthermore, cost-effectiveness analysis revealed that the cyclic preparation cost of biochar via this technique could be reduced to 18.25 USD per kilogram owing to the low consumption characteristics of the KCl-ZnCl₂ molten salt, which represents a 93.4% reduction compared with conventional preparation methods, underscoring the economic applicability of this technology in the field of tetracycline removal. The findings of this study are expected to lay a foundation for the industrial preparation of low-cost, high-performance bamboo-based biochar for tetracycline removal. Full article