{"title":"A pure radiant cooling device for “air conditioning” without conditioning air","authors":"Xinyao Zheng, Yuekuan Zhou, Jinbo Li, Siyi Li","doi":"10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102191","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102191","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Ever since the birth of the first air conditioner (Carrier air conditioner) in 1902, over one hundred years ago, it has been accompanied by several technical problems, e.g., (1) low energy efficiency in large open spaces, (2) spread of pollutants, airborne pandemic transmission (e.g., severe acute respiratory syndrome [SARS], COVID-19) through air-conditioning systems, and (3) low comfort caused by fan noise and blowing sounds. Here, we report a personalized pure radiant cooling device that decouples the fresh air supply from space cooling to achieve air conditioning without conditioning the air. Condensation-free radiant cooling with a radiant cooling capacity of 152 W/m<sup>2</sup> is achieved with a polyethylene (PE) film-covered super-cold infrared-emissive surface. By optimizing the design and operation parameters, the device saves up to 50.4% of cooling energy in a typical summer building environment. Our concept opens up the possibility of pandemic-free personalized thermal management with high energy efficiency and thermal comfort.</p>","PeriodicalId":9703,"journal":{"name":"Cell Reports Physical Science","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142226020","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Celina M. Schulz, Emil D. Agerschou, Luis Gardon, Miriam Alexander, Matthias Stoldt, Henrike Heise, Gültekin Tamgüney, Wolfgang Hoyer
{"title":"Disordered regions of inhibitor-bound α-synuclein suppress seed-induced fibril nucleation in cells","authors":"Celina M. Schulz, Emil D. Agerschou, Luis Gardon, Miriam Alexander, Matthias Stoldt, Henrike Heise, Gültekin Tamgüney, Wolfgang Hoyer","doi":"10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102180","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102180","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Inhibitors of amyloid fibril formation can act in diverse ways and aid in elucidating the mechanisms of protein aggregation. The engineered binding protein β-wrapin AS69 binds monomers of Parkinson-disease-associated α-synuclein (αS), yet achieves inhibition at substoichiometric concentration. The substoichiometric activity was not attributed to the binding protein per se, but to its 1:1 complex with αS, in which AS69 sequesters αS residues 30–60 into a globular protein fold, whereas other αS parts remain intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs). Here, we investigate AS69-αS fusion constructs that form the AS69:αS complex by intramolecular folding and expose different IDRs. We find that not only the globular part of the complex but also αS IDRs are critical for substoichiometric inhibition, which is achieved by interference with primary and secondary fibril nucleation. The effects <em>in vitro</em> are reproduced in cellular seeding assays, indicating that secondary nucleation drives seeding in aggregate biosensing.</p>","PeriodicalId":9703,"journal":{"name":"Cell Reports Physical Science","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142226024","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kui Zhang, Yangkai Han, Yun Zhao, Tao Wei, Jinchen Fu, Zhiwei Ren, Xiaozhi Xu, Li Zhou, Zhigang Shao
{"title":"Energy-efficient and cost-effective ammonia electrolysis for converting ammonia to green hydrogen","authors":"Kui Zhang, Yangkai Han, Yun Zhao, Tao Wei, Jinchen Fu, Zhiwei Ren, Xiaozhi Xu, Li Zhou, Zhigang Shao","doi":"10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102171","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102171","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Ammonia (NH<sub>3</sub>), touted as a promising hydrogen carrier, has received increasing attention. However, the technoeconomic prospects of comprehensive conversion of hydrogen to ammonia and ammonia to hydrogen (H<sub>2</sub>-NH<sub>3</sub>-H<sub>2</sub>) are unclear, and the approach to ammonia-to-hydrogen conversion has not yet reached the full commercialization stage. In this work, we perform a technoeconomic analysis of a H<sub>2</sub>-NH<sub>3</sub>-H<sub>2</sub> conversion system, including synthesis, storage and transportation, and ammonia-to-hydrogen conversion, where we particularly compared thermal ammonia cracking with ammonia electrolysis. We find that ammonia electrolysis has a significant economic advantage thanks to its low energy consumption and capital cost. With this as motivation, we develop an energy-efficient and durable ammonia electrolyzer with an energy consumption of 0.84 kWh Nm<sup>−3</sup> H<sub>2</sub> and a continuous operation for 317 h at 100 mA cm<sup>−2</sup>. In addition, we also innovate a tandem cell to produce hydrogen without any electric power supply by coupling fuel-cell and electrolysis technologies.</p>","PeriodicalId":9703,"journal":{"name":"Cell Reports Physical Science","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142226025","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jingyu Zhang, Bin Guo, Yiyi Jiang, Xiaorui Shi, Chong Hu, Zihao Jiao, Fu Wang
{"title":"Bioluminescence and photoacoustic dual-modality imaging of apoptosis using a duramycin-immobilized gold nanorod probe","authors":"Jingyu Zhang, Bin Guo, Yiyi Jiang, Xiaorui Shi, Chong Hu, Zihao Jiao, Fu Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102177","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102177","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) translocation is considered a hallmark event of cellular apoptosis. The development of non-invasive multi-modality probes targeting PE for apoptosis detection holds great promise. Here, we develop a dual-modality imaging probe, duramycin-Fluc-AuNRs (DFA), for detecting apoptosis in tumor cells. DFA is created by linking duramycin peptide and firefly luciferase (Fluc) recombinant protein to gold nanorods (AuNRs). Duramycin exhibits high affinity for PE, while Fluc produces a robust bioluminescence signal, and AuNRs enhance imaging resolution through photoacoustic conversion. The DFA probe demonstrates low toxicity in both cells and mice, showcasing its potential for <em>in vivo</em> applications. In A549 and 4T1 cell lines, the bioluminescence signal of the DFA probe increases with the degree of doxorubicin (Dox)-induced apoptosis. At the mouse level, mice with Dox-triggered apoptosis exhibit higher bioluminescence and photoacoustic imaging signals. Thus, this dual-modality bioluminescence/photoacoustic imaging platform holds significant potential for detecting cellular apoptosis and providing high-performance imaging information.</p>","PeriodicalId":9703,"journal":{"name":"Cell Reports Physical Science","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142226026","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gregory Parisi, Piotr K. Szewczyk, Shankar Narayan, Urszula Stachewicz
{"title":"Wettability gradient of photoresponsive electrospun yarns for harp-based fog water harvesting","authors":"Gregory Parisi, Piotr K. Szewczyk, Shankar Narayan, Urszula Stachewicz","doi":"10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102176","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102176","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Fog water harvesting offers a solution to water scarcity. Here, we introduce a method to enhance fog water harvesting systems utilizing electrospun yarns featuring a wettability gradient. These yarns, made from polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and titanium dioxide (TiO<sub>2</sub>), gain photoinduced hydrophilicity under UV light due to TiO<sub>2</sub> photocatalytic properties, allowing dynamic shifts from hydrophobic to hydrophilic states. Experiments show that an alternating PVDF-TiO<sub>2</sub> harp with a wettability gradient surpasses purely hydrophobic or hydrophilic versions in fog collection. The strategic mix of hydrophobic and hydrophilic sections enhances droplet movement and water capture, achieving a 16% increase in collection rate up to 400 mg cm<sup>−2</sup> h<sup>−1</sup>. This approach introduces a novel method for creating wettability gradients in electrospun yarns via UV irradiation and represents a significant advancement in adaptable fog water harvesting systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":9703,"journal":{"name":"Cell Reports Physical Science","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142226022","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Intrinsically conductive polymer reinforced hydrogel with synergistic strength, toughness, and sensitivity for flexible motion-monitoring sensors","authors":"Mengke Zhao, Ting Wu, Xiaofa Wang, Long Liang, Hailong Lu, Zhanghong Xie, Tongqi Yuan, Guigan Fang","doi":"10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102178","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102178","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Conductive hydrogels with remarkable flexibility and sensitivity have attracted substantial attention as a potential material for the construction philosophy of wearable electronics. Nevertheless, the development of high-performance hydrogels continues to be a significant challenge due to the inherent trade-off between conductivity and deformation adaptability. Here, a novel strategy is demonstrated for the preparation of intrinsically conductive reticulated polymer-based hydrogels (allylated hydroxyethyl cellulose-PEDOT:PSS/PAM hydrogel [AHEC-PP/PAM]) with mechanical robustness and perceptual sensitivity. The conductive reticulated component, AHEC-PP, is obtained by an ingenious polymerization involving AHEC and EDOT and demonstrates favorable dispersion and stability, with the treatment of H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub> and the charge regulation of PSS. The AHEC-PP/PAM hydrogel has a tensile strength of 0.69 MPa, a fracture strain of 1,273%, a broad sensing range, and a high gauge factor of 7.86. The synergistic performance enables integration into smart wearable electronic devices for the detection of motion signals, electronic skin, and advanced human-machine interaction.</p>","PeriodicalId":9703,"journal":{"name":"Cell Reports Physical Science","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142226027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Latent thermal energy storage using solid-state phase transformation in caloric materials","authors":"Žiga Ahčin, Andrej Kitanovski, Jaka Tušek","doi":"10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102175","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102175","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Materials with solid-to-solid phase transformations have considerable potential for use in thermal energy storage systems. While these materials generally have lower latent heat than materials with a solid-to-liquid phase transformation, their significantly higher thermal conductivity enables rapid thermal charging/discharging. Here, we show that this property makes them particularly promising for thermal energy storage applications requiring highly dynamic operation. A numerical analysis (using an experimentally validated numerical model) has revealed that some materials with solid-to-solid phase transformations offer an excellent capacity-power trade-off for thermal energy storage applications compared to the corresponding conventional phase change materials. While most conventional phase change materials generally offer higher thermal capacity due to larger latent heat, some metallic materials with solid-state transformation (e.g., Ni-Ti-based alloys, Mn-Co-Ga-B alloys) exhibit up to 10 times higher thermal output powers. These results highlight a significant potential of caloric solid-state materials to outperform traditional latent thermal storage systems for certain applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":9703,"journal":{"name":"Cell Reports Physical Science","volume":"451 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142226028","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Quantifying the contribution of lanthanum single atoms in photocatalytic Fenton-like processes with a rigorous benchmarking protocol","authors":"Xinyu Bai, Meiting Ju, Hengli Qian, Chao Xie, Ruite Lai, Tianliang Xia, Guanjie Yu, Yao Tang, Chengxu Wang, Fei Qu, Haijiao Xie, Qidong Hou","doi":"10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102170","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102170","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Single-atom catalysts (SACs) are increasingly of interest for Fenton-like processes for water treatment due to maximized metal utilization. However, their feasibility has not been conclusively demonstrated, partly due to inconsistent preparation and benchmarking. Here, we verify the catalytic activity of lanthanum single atoms for pollutant degradation by a rigorous benchmarking protocol that considers the contributions of adsorption, catalytic activity of supports, and leached ions. The reaction rate constant increases linearly with lanthanum loading up to 9 wt %, illustrating the viability of synchronously realizing high specific activity and maximized atom utilization. In addition, we show that the synergetic activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) and oxygen to produce multiple reactive oxygen species (ROS) is responsible for the catalytic performance, revealing the previously ignored contributions of air in catalytic systems. We anticipate that this protocol will aid in the development of SACs to realize their full prospects.</p>","PeriodicalId":9703,"journal":{"name":"Cell Reports Physical Science","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142225804","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yong-Chao Wang, Ya-Hui Lv, Sen Wang, Jia-Yi Wang, Wen-Xuan Yang, Feng Ju, Can Wang
{"title":"The role of bacterial communication in activated sludge at low temperatures","authors":"Yong-Chao Wang, Ya-Hui Lv, Sen Wang, Jia-Yi Wang, Wen-Xuan Yang, Feng Ju, Can Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102169","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102169","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Quorum sensing is widespread in the microbial world; however, the role of this population behavior at low temperatures (<15°C) remains poorly understood. Here, the effects of quorum sensing in wastewater treatment processes at low temperatures are revealed using both microcosm experiments and global surveys. Quorum-sensing bacteria act as pioneers to facilitate microorganism migration from the species pool to the carrier surface during biofilm colonization at 15°C. A high biofilm formation rate is accompanied by significant enrichment of quorum-sensing bacteria and upregulation of gene expression. By analyzing the global activated sludge microbiome data, we find that quorum-sensing bacteria exhibit a typical temperature-dependent distribution pattern. The performance of the process is strongly linked to the content of quorum-sensing bacteria. Our findings elucidate a potential response mechanism of the microbial community to environmental stress and provide implications for the enhancement of the wastewater biotreatment process at low temperatures.</p>","PeriodicalId":9703,"journal":{"name":"Cell Reports Physical Science","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2024-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142225808","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}