Oocytes maintain low ROS levels to support the dormancy of primordial follicles.

Primordial follicles (PFs) function as the long-term reserve for female reproduction, remaining dormant in the ovaries and becoming progressively depleted with age. Oxidative stress plays an important role in promoting female reproductive senescence during aging, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we find that low levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are essential for sustaining PF dormancy.

Electronegative Phosphorus-Integrated Co Active Sites for Enhanced Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction.

In the quest for proficient electrocatalysts for ammonia's electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction, cobalt oxides, endowed with a rich d-electron reservoir, have emerged as frontrunners. Despite the previously evidenced prowess of CoO in this realm, its ammonia yield witnesses a pronounced decline as the reaction unfolds, a phenomenon linked to the electron attrition from its Co active sites during electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (ENRR). To counteract this vulnerability, we harnessed electron-laden phosphorus (P) elements as dopants, aiming to recalibrate the electronic equilibrium of the pivotal Co active site, thereby bolstering both its catalytic performance and stability.

Built-in Electric Field-Induced Work Function Reduction in C-CoO for Efficient Electrochemical Nitrogen Reduction.

CoO is a highly selective catalyst for the electrochemical conversion of N to NH. However, the large work function (WF) of CoO leads to unsatisfactory activity. To address this issue, a strong built-in electric field (BIEF) was constructed in CoO by doping C atoms (C-CoO) to reduce the WF for improving the electrocatalytic performance.

Regulation of the Work Function Difference Promotes In Situ Phase Transition of WO for Efficient Formate Electrooxidation.

Direct formate fuel cells (DFFCs) have drawn tremendous attention because they are environmentally benign and have good safety. However, the lack of advanced catalysts for formate electrooxidation hinders the development and applications of DFFCs. Herein, we report a strategy of regulating the metal-substrate work function difference to effectively promote the transfer of adsorbed hydrogen (H), thus enhancing formate electrooxidation in alkaline solutions.

Local Electric Field Induced by Atomic-Level Donor-Acceptor Couple of O Vacancies and Mn Atoms Enables Efficient Hybrid Capacitive Deionization.

Transition metal oxides suffer from slow salt removal rate (SRR) due to inferior ions diffusion ability in hybrid capacitive deionization (HCDI). Local electric field (LEF) can efficiently improve the ions diffusion kinetics in thin electrodes for electrochemical energy storage. Nevertheless, it is still a challenge to facilitate the ions diffusion in bulk electrodes with high loading mass for HCDI.

Shearing Sulfur Edges of VS Electrocatalyst Enhances its Nitrogen Reduction Performance.

Electrochemical N fixation requires effective electrocatalysts to expedite the nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) kinetics and suppress the concomitant hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Although transition metal sulfides have been deemed as efficient NRR electrocatalysts, it remains a great challenge to suppress the serious HER to achieve high Faradaic efficiency (FE). Herein, vanadium disulfide (VS ) is deliberately designed by partially shearing its sulfur (S) edges through a simple calcination treatment at 350 °C.