Single entity collision for inorganic water pollutants measurements: Insights and prospects.

In the context of aquatic environmental issues, dynamic analysis of nano-sized inorganic water pollutants has been one of the key topics concerning their seriously amplified threat to natural ecosystems and life health. Its ultimate challenge is to reach a single-entity level of identification especially towards substantial amount of inorganic pollutants formed as natural or manufactured nanoparticles (NPs), which enter the water environments along with the potential release of constituents or other contaminating species that may have coprecipitated or adsorbed on the particles' surface. Here, we introduced a 'nano-impacts' approach-single entity collision electrochemistry (SECE) promising for in-situ characterization and quantification of nano-sized inorganic pollutants at single-entity level based on confinement-controlled electrochemistry.

Auxetic and multiferroic MP (M = Al, Ga): a novel 2D material with negative Possion's ratio and high anisotropic carrier mobility.

In the field of materials science, the development of multifunctional 2D materials has been a long-standing research objective. In this study, we employ first-principles calculations to predict a novel 2D material named MP (M = Al, Ga), which exhibits ferroelasticity, ferroelectricity, negative Poisson's ratio, and high anisotropic carrier mobility. Our investigation reveals that a single layer of MP displays multiferroic behavior, wherein ferroelasticity and ferroelectricity are coupled.

Two-dimensional ferroelasticity and negative Poisson's ratios in monolayer YbX (X = S, Se, Te).

Two-dimensional ferroelastic materials and two-dimensional materials with negative Poisson's ratios have attracted great interest. Here, using first-principles calculations, we reveal monolayer YbX (X = S, Se, Te) materials that harbor both ferroelasticity and negative Poisson's ratios. Indirect wide band gaps of about 3 eV have been found in these three materials.

Trace-Level Sensing of Phosphate for Natural Soils by a Nano-Screen-Printed Electrode.

Phosphate as one of the most essential components of living systems, robust analytical techniques available for phosphate sensing in natural waters and soils are essential for monitoring and predicting water quality and agronomic evaluation of phosphate. Using cyclic voltammetry, a point-of-use electrochemical sensor zirconium dioxide/zinc oxide/multiple-wall carbon nanotubes/ammonium molybdate tetrahydrate/screen printed electrode (ZrO/ZnO/MWCNTs/AMT/SPE) was applied to explore the electro-redox reaction of phosphomolybdate complexes on the surface of electrode, which produced a quantitative electrochemical response of phosphate anions. The modification of the electrode surface with ZrO/ZnO/MWCNTs nanocomposites is able to generate the electroactive species via chemical reaction between molybdenum (Mo(VI)) and the targeted phosphate anions, leading to a sensitive detection technique for trace phosphate with a lower detection limit (LOD = 2.