Aerobic denitrifying bacterial-fungal consortium mediating nitrate removal: Dynamics, network patterns and interactions.

In recent years, nitrogen removal by mixed microbial cultures has received increasing attention owing to cooperative metabolism. A natural bacterial-fungal consortium was isolated from mariculture, which exhibited an excellent aerobic denitrification capacity. Under aerobic conditions, nitrate removal and denitrification efficiencies were up to 100% and 44.

An Electrochromic Nickel Phosphate Film for Large-Area Smart Window with Ultra-Large Optical Modulation.

Exploring materials with high electrochemical activity is of keen interest for electrochemistry-controlled optical and energy storage devices. However, it remains a great challenge for transition metal oxides to meet this feature due to their low electron conductivity and insufficient reaction sites. Here, we propose a type of transition metal phosphate (NiHPO·3HO, NHP) by a facile and scalable electrodeposition method, which can achieve the capability of efficient ion accommodation and injection/extraction for electrochromic energy storage applications.

Metagenomic exploration of antibiotic resistance genes and their hosts in aquaculture waters of the semi-closed Dongshan Bay (China).

In marine environments, increasing occurrence and numbers of microbial Antibiotic Resistance Gene (ARG) subtypes, especially of new beta-lactamases, have received lots of attention in recent years. Updated databases with novel developed tools provide new opportunities to obtain more comprehensive ARG profiles as well as ARG-carrying hosts. Yet, ARGs in human-associated marine aquaculture environments, e.

Disentangling the abundance and structure of communities in a semi-enclosed Bay with mariculture (Dongshan Bay, Southern China).

The genus contains a diverse group of heterotrophic bacteria, which are members of ubiquitous and abundant microbial communities in coastal ecosystems. has been frequently found in a wide range of marine environments either by employing -specific 16S rRNA sequencing or culturing methods. A combination of molecular and cultivation-dependent methods was developed to more precisely discriminate between different members of the genus in seawater.

Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Communities and Abundance in Dongshan Bay, South of China.

The genus inhabit estuarine and marine ecosystem throughout the world and can cause severe infections in humans and animals. Previous studies have demonstrated the dynamics of at both community and population levels and assessed the close relationship between environmental factors and diversity and abundance, such as temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen. It is also generally believed that aquaculture is the fastest-growing food sector, which is also applying great environmental impacts on microbial communities in aquatic ecosystems.

Fungal diversity in deep-sea sediments from the Magellan seamounts as revealed by a metabarcoding approach targeting the ITS2 regions.

Recent reports have revealed diverse and abundant fungal communities in the deep-sea biosphere, while their composition, distribution, and variations in seamount zones are poorly understood. Using a metabarcoding approach targeting the ITS2 regions, we present the structure of the fungal community in 18 sediment samples from the Magellan seamount area of the northwest Pacific. A total of 1,979 fungal OTUs was obtained, which were taxonomically assigned to seven phyla, 17 classes, 43 orders, 7 families, and 98 genera.

Fungal diversity in deep-sea sediments from Magellan seamounts environment of the western Pacific revealed by high-throughput Illumina sequencing.

There are lots of seamounts globally whose primary production is disproportionally greater than the surrounding areas. Compared to other deep-sea environments, however, the seamounts environment is relatively less explored for fungal diversity. In the present study, we explored the fungal community structure in deep-sea sediments from four different stations of the Magellan seamounts environment by using high-throughput sequencing of the ITS1 region.

A novel self-assembled-derived 1D MnO@CoO composite as a high-performance Li-ion storage anode material.

Manganese dioxide (MnO) is a high-performance anodic material and applied widely in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, some intrinsic limitations originate from the low ionic conductivity, high polarization, and severe volume expansion of this type of material. In this work, we generated a one-dimensional porous MnO@CoO composite from a MnOOH@ZIF-67 precursor, which is synthesized via a self-assembly strategy.

A two-dimensional zinc(II)-based metal-organic framework for fluorometric determination of ascorbic acid, chloramphenicol and ceftriaxone.

A two-dimensional zinc(II)-based metal-organic framework [Zn • (BA) • (BBI)] was synthesized from 1,2-benzenediacetic acid and 1,1'-(1,4-butanediyl) bis(imidazole) via a solvothermal reaction. The crystal exhibits good chemical stability in the pH range from 2 to 12, and strong fluorescence with excitation/emission maxima of 270/290 nm. The crystal is shown to by a viable fluorescent probe for the detection of ascorbic acid (AA) and the antibiotics chloramphenicol (CHL) and ceftriaxone (CRO).

A Cd-MOF as a fluorescent probe for highly selective, sensitive and stable detection of antibiotics in water.

Recently, the pollution and damage caused by antibiotics in water have aroused serious concerns. In this situation, it is extremely important to develop a highly effective approach to detect antibiotics in water. In this contribution, we built a Cd-MOF material with stable fluorescence properties, using bbi = 1,4-bis(2-methyl-imidazol-1-yl)butane and H2L = 1,2-phenylenediacetic acid as organic ligands and Cd(NO3)2·4H2O as the metal node.

Dynamic Response of Graphitic Flakes in Nematic Liquid Crystals: Confinement and Host Effect.

Electric field-induced reorientation of suspended graphitic (GP) flakes and its relaxation back to the original state in a nematic liquid crystal (NLC) host are of interest not only in academia, but also in industrial applications, such as polarizer-free and optical film-free displays, and electro-optic light modulators. As the phenomenon has been demonstrated by thorough observation, the detailed study of the physical properties of the host NLC (the magnitude of dielectric anisotropy, elastic constants, and rotational viscosity), the size of the GP flakes, and cell thickness, are urgently required to be explored and investigated. Here, we demonstrate that the response time of GP flakes reorientation associated with an NLC host can be effectively enhanced by controlling the physical properties.

Coordination coupling enhanced two-photon absorption of a ZnS-based microhybrid for two-photon microscopy imaging in HepG2.

Coordination coupling induced self-assembly of ZnS microparticles was performed with the help of a π-conjugated sulphur-terminal Zn(ii) complex ZnSL (L = N-hexyl-3-{2-[4-2,2':6',2''-terpyridin-4'-yl-phenyl]ethenyl}-carbazole). The interactions between ZnS and ZnSL components at the interface, which were analyzed by far-IR and XPS, resulted in a tunable single-photon excited fluorescence and an enhanced nonlinear optical response, including a two-photon absorption cross section and a two-photon excited fluorescence. Such an enhancement in nonlinear optical properties was triggered by the coordination coupling effect between terminal S atoms of ZnSL and naked Zn ions at the surface of ZnS particles.

Doping Zn(2+) in CuS Nanoflowers into Chemically Homogeneous Zn0.49Cu0.50S1.01 Superlattice Crystal Structure as High-Efficiency n-Type Photoelectric Semiconductors.

Doping Zn(2+) in CuS nanoflower into chemically homogeneous superlattice crystal structure is proposed to convert p-type CuS semiconductor to an n-type CuS semiconductor for significantly enhanced photoelectric response performance. In this study, the chemically homogeneous Zn-doped CuS nanoflowers (Zn0.06Cu0.

Nanoelectrical investigation and electrochemical performance of nickel-oxide/carbon sphere hybrids through interface manipulation.

Advanced hetero-nanostructured materials for electrochemical devices, such as Li-ion batteries (LiBs), dramatically depend on each functional component and their interfaces to transport and storage charges, where the bottleneck is the sluggish one in series. In this work, we prepare Ni(OH)2@C hybrids through a continuous feeding in reflux and followed by a hydrothermal treatment. The as-prepared Ni(OH)2@C can be further converted into NiO@C hybrids after thermal annealing.

Visible-Light Active and Magnetically Recyclable Nanocomposites for the Degradation of Organic Dye.

Recyclable visible-light photocatalyst Fe₃O₄@TiO₂ with core-shell structure was prepared by a simple synthetic strategy using solvothermal crystallization of titanium precursor on preformed Fe₃O₄ nanopartiles. The photo-degradation reaction of neutral red aqueous solution was tested to evaluate the visible-light photocatalytic activity of the as prepared Fe₃O₄@TiO₂ nanoparticles, which show excellent photocatalytic activity compared with commercial P25 catalyst. Moreover, the Fe₃O₄@TiO₂ nanocomposites can be easily separated from the reaction mixture, and maintain favorable photocatalytic activity after five cycles.

Photophysical properties of spherical aggregations of CdS nanocrystals capped with a chromophoric surface agent.

A novel sulfur-terminal Cd(II) complex, CdS(2)L (L = N-hexyl-3-{2-[4-(2,2':6',2''-terpyridin-4'-yl)phenyl]ethenyl}-carbazole), was successfully synthesized from CdS nanocrystals and the organic chromophores (L), which was confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Its photophysical properties have been investigated both experimentally and theoretically. The novel hybrid nanoparticles (CdS/L) were then obtained using the L as surface capped agent, which aggregate into large spheres, exhibiting novel luminescent properties, strong two photon absorption (TPA) and obvious prolonged fluorescence lifetime, which differ from those of the pure CdS nanocrystals and free L.

From nanoplates to microtubes and microrods: a surfactant-free rolling mechanism for facile fabrication and morphology evolution of Ag2S films.

By a simple and facile wet-chemistry technique without any surfactant, various shapes of Ag(2)S crystals--including leaflike pentagonal nanoplates, crinkly nanoscrolls, hexagonal prismlike microtubes, and microrods--were fabricated in situ on a large-area silver-foil surface separately. Detailed experiments revealed that the Ag(2)S nanoplates were formed just by immersing the silver foil in a sulfur/ethanol solution at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, and they subsequently rolled into nanoscrolls and further grew into microtubes and microrods under solvothermal conditions. Inspired by the natural curling of a piece of foliage, we proposed a surfactant-free rolling mechanism to interpret the observed morphological evolution from lamellar to tubular structures.

A sulfur-terminal Zn(II) complex and its two-photon microscopy biological imaging application.

A novel sulfur-terminal Zn(II) complex Zn(S)(2)L (L = N-hexyl-3-{2-[4-(2,2':6',2''-terpyridin-4'-yl)phenyl] ethenyl}carbazole) was obtained by a facile solvothermal process. The unique feature in this new reaction design is the use of ZnS nanocrystals as a precursor and bulky chromophoric L as an ancillary ligand. The versatility of the two terminal sulfur atoms is relevant to biological system.