Biotic interactions and environmental modifications determine symbiotic microbial diversity and stability.

Taking amphibians as island models, we examined the effects of interspecific interaction on the diversity and stability of microbial ecological. As skin area increased, the diversity and stability of skin microbes decreased, but the strength of negative interactions increased significantly. In contrast, as gut area increased, the diversity and stability of gut microbes increased, but the strength of interactions remained constant. These results indicate that microbial interactions are affected by habitat properties. When living in fluctuating environments without strong filtering, microorganisms can enhance their negative interactions with other taxa by changing the pH of their surroundings. In contrast, the pH of the gut is relatively stable, and colonized microorganisms cannot alter the gut pH and inhibit other colonizers. This study demonstrates that in the field of microbiology, diversity and stability are predominantly influenced by the intensity of interspecies interactions. The findings in this study deepen our understanding of microbial diversity and stability and provide a mechanistic link between species interactions, biodiversity, and stability in microbial ecosystems.

Highly Stable Perovskite Oxides for Electrocatalytic Acidic NOx- Reduction Streamlining Ammonia Synthesis from Air.

Electrochemical nitrogen oxide ions reduction reaction (NOx-RR) shows great opportunity for ammonia production under ambient conditions. Yet, performing NOx-RR in strong acidic conditions remains challenging due to the corrosion effect on the catalyst and competing hydrogen evolution reactions. Here, we demonstrate a stable La1.5Sr0.5Ni0.5Fe0.5O4 perovskite oxide for the NOx-RR at pH 0, achieving a Faradaic efficiency for ammonia of approaching 100% at a current density of 2 A cm-2 in a H-type cell. At industrially relevant current density, the NOx-RR system shows stable cell voltage and Faradaic efficiency for >350 h in membrane electrode assembly (MEA) at pH 0. By integrating the catalyst in a stacked MEA with a series connection, we have successfully obtained a record-breaking 2.578 g h-1 NH3 production rate at 20 A. This catalyst's unique acid-operability streamlines downstream ammonia utilization for direct ammonium salt production and upstream integration with NOx sources. Techno-economic and lifecycle assessments reveal substantial economic advantages for this ammonia production strategy, even when coupled with a plasma-based NOx production system, presenting a sustainable complement to the conventional Haber-Bosch process.

3D Morphological Scanning and Environmental Correlates of Bufo gargarizans in the Yellow River Basin.

Morphology plays a crucial role in understanding the intricacies of biological forms. Traditional morphometric methods, focusing on one- or two-dimensional geometric levels, often fall short of accurately capturing the three-dimensional (3D) structure of organisms. The advent of 3D scanning techniques has revolutionized the study of organismal morphology, enabling comprehensive and accurate measurements. This study employs a 3D structured light scanning system to analyze the morphological variations in the Chinese toad (Bufo gargarizans Cantor, 1842) along the Yellow River Basin. The 3D digital model obtained from the scan was used to calculate various morphological parameters including body surface area, volume, fractal dimensions, and limb size. The research explores geographic variability patterns and identifies environmental drivers affecting the 3D phenotypic variation of B. gargarizans. Results reveal a bimodal pattern of variation in the toad population, with higher elevations exhibiting smaller body sizes, greater appendage proportions, and more complex body structures. Linear regression analyses highlight the influence of elevation and annual mean temperature on the morphological variation of B. gargarizans, with elevation playing a significant role. This study underscores the significance of 3D morphometric analysis in unraveling the intricacies of organismal morphology and understanding the adaptive strategies of species in diverse environments.

Creation of High-Quality Deep-Blue AIE Emitter with a Crossed Long-Short Axis Structure for Efficient and Versatile OLEDs.

Developing deep-blue emitters for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) is critical but challenging, which requires a good balance between light color, exciton utilization, and photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of solid film. Herein, a high-quality deep-blue emitter, abbreviated 2TriPE-CzMCN, is designed by introducing an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) group into a crossed long-short axis (CLSA) skeleton. Theoretical and experimental investigations reveal that the CLSA molecular design can achieve a balance between deep-blue emission and triplet-excitons utilization, while the high PLQY of the solid film resulting from the AIE feature helps to improve the performance of OLEDs. Consequently, when 2TriPE-CzMCN is used as the emitting dopant, the OLED exhibits a deep-blue emission at 430 nm with a record-high maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 8.84%. When 2TriPE-CzMCN serves as the host material, the sensitized monochrome orange and two-color white OLEDs (WOLEDs) realize high EL performances that exceed the efficiency limit of conventional fluorescent OLEDs. Moreover, high-performance three-color WOLEDs with a color rendering index (CRI) exceeding 90 and EQE up to 18.08% are achieved by using 2TriPE-CzMCN as the blue-emitting source. This work demonstrates that endowing CLSA molecule with AIE feature is an effective strategy for developing high-quality deep-blue emitters, and high-performance versatile OLEDs can be realized through rational device engineering.

Microbial Species-Area Relationships on the Skins of Amphibian Hosts.

Unlike species-area relationships (SARs) that have been widely reported for plants and animals on Earth, there is no clear understanding of the SARs for microorganisms. In this study, 358 specimens of 10 amphibian host species collected from the rural Chengdu region of southwest China were selected as island models for evaluating SAR curve shapes and assessing the skin microbiota from different amphibian species. The results showed that skin microbial diversity, measured using Hill's number, presented significant differences between hosts, but the difference was insignificant between habitat-specific classifications of hosts. As for microbial SARs, other than the classical power-law (PL) model describing an expected steady increase in microbial diversity as sampled skin area increases, two additional trends were observed: (i) microbial diversity first rises and gradually decreases after reaching a maximum accrual diversity (MaxAD) and (ii) microbial diversity decreases and starts to rise after reaching the minimum accrual diversity (MinAD). Among the four SAR statistical models compared, it was consistently found that the models that can describe MaxAD were favorably selected in the highest frequency. Models that can describe MinAD and PL model also performed reasonably well. However, PL had the poorest fitting power, implying the necessity of introducing biologically meaningful complex SAR models in microbial diversity research. In conclusion, through multihost analyses, our study provided compelling evidence that microbial SARs are complex and nonlinear. A variety of ecological mechanisms may be used for explaining these, including, but not limited to, community saturation, small-island effects, or sampling heterogeneity. IMPORTANCE In this study, we investigate species-area relationships (SARs) for skin-borne symbiotic microbes of wildlife hosts. Unlike the traditional SARs for plants and animals, symbiotic microbial SARs were complex. We found that both U-shaped and inverted U-shaped SAR models were widely favored for microbial taxa than the well-known power-law model in different host species. These favored models presented interesting statistical features, including minimal or maximal accrual diversity or inflection point. We provide intuitive derivations of these statistical properties. We showed that different habitat-specific amphibian hosts did not present distinct microbial diversity and skin-related SAR patterns. We predicted that approximately 600 to 1,400 cm2 (in two-dimensional [2D] measurement) or approximately 1,200 to 3 500 cm2 (in 3D measurement) are the skin area threshold range that can allow the emergence of minimal or maximal accrual microbial diversity with high chances. Finally, we list a variety of ecological mechanisms that may be used for explaining the observed nonlinear SAR trends.

New-Fashioned Universal and Functional Host-Material from a Near-Ultraviolet Organic Emitter for High-Efficiency Organic Light-Emitting Diodes with Low Efficiency Roll-Offs.

In this work, a near-ultraviolet (NUV) emitter, 2MCz-CNMCz, with hot-exciton property is designed based on a "long-short axis" strategy, which exhibits good thermal stability, bipolar carrier transport ability, and high T1 energy level. Its nondoped NUV organic light-emitting diode (OLED) achieves a record maximum external quantum efficiency (ηext ) of 7.76%, with a peak at 404 nm and CIE coordinates of (0.158, 0.039). The corresponding high exciton utilization efficiency (ηr ) in the electroluminescence process reveals its potential as a functional sensitizing host. As expected, the TBPe-based blue fluorescent OLED with 2MCz-CNMCz as the host material shows better efficiency and lower efficiency roll-off than that with traditional host material mCP. Meanwhile, the Ir complexes-based green/yellow/red phosphorescent OLEDs with 2MCz-CNMCz host are also fabricated, reaching high ηext values of 26.1%, 30.4%, and 20.4%, respectively, and displaying negligible efficiency roll-offs at 1000 cd m-2 , which are among the best OLED performances based on the same emitters. To the authors' best knowledge, this is the first report on the design of high-quality universal and functional host material, and may bring new inspiration to the preparation of high-efficiency, low roll-off, full-color OLEDs.

Impact of Global Climate Change on the Distribution Range and Niche Dynamics of Eleutherodactylus planirostrish in China.

Species distribution models (SDMs) have become indispensable tools in risk assessment and conservation decision-making for invasive species. Eleutherodactylus planirostris has a strong dispersal ability, and the main route of introduction to new regions is likely transport via seedlings. This species is understood as one of the foremost successful invasive amphibian species with direct or indirect negative impacts in multiple regions. In this study, we used MaxEnt to assess suitable areas for this species under current and future climates globally and in China. We considered seven climatic variables, three timepoints (current, 2050, and 2070), and three CO2 emission scenarios. Annual mean temperature, precipitation of the driest month, and annual precipitation were the most important variables predicting E. planirostris occurrence. This species has a much larger suitable habitat area in China than reflected by the current distribution, so the species is likely to spread from the Pearl River Delta to surrounding areas. Under future warming, its invasive range will expand northward in China. In conclusion, this study assessed the risk of invasion of this species and made recommendations for management and prevention.

Efficient Ultraviolet Organic Light-Emitting Diodes with a CIEy of 0.04 and Negligible-Efficiency Roll-Off.

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with ultraviolet (UV) emission (λEL ≤ 400 nm) have attracted special attention in commercial and civil fields owing to their special functions. Nevertheless, the lack of high-quality ultraviolet emitters restricts the practical application of UV OLEDs. Herein, a novel organic molecule with desirable UV emission, 2Na-CzCN, is developed for UV OLEDs. Theoretical investigation indicates that it is equipped with hybridized local and charge-transfer (HLCT) characteristics, which is in favor of the high-lying reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) process, thus remarkably boosting the exciton utilization in electroluminescence (EL). Significantly, the nondoped device derived from the 2Na-CzCN emitter exhibits an EL emission peak of 398 nm with a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 5.92%, which represents the record-high result among nondoped UV OLEDs. The doped UV OLED of 2Na-CzCN radiates robust UV emission at a peak of 392 nm with a maximum EQE of 6.15%. Coupled with the narrow full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the EL spectra, desirable color purities with Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.15, 0.06) and (0.16, 0.04) for nondoped and doped OLEDs are presented, respectively. Additionally, the potential of 2Na-CzCN adopted as the host material is demonstrated with phosphorescent OLEDs (PhOLEDs), and all of the devices show good EL performances with low-efficiency roll-offs. An orange PhOLED with 2Na-CzCN acquires a maximum current and external quantum efficiency of 84.9 cd A-1 and 25.3%, respectively. These findings may pave an avenue for the development of high-performance UV emitters.

Urbanization increases stochasticity and reduces the ecological stability of microbial communities in amphibian hosts.

Urbanization not only profoundly alters landscape profiles, ecosystems and vertebrate faunal diversity but also disturbs microbial communities by increasing stochasticity, vulnerability, biotic homogenization, etc. However, because of the buffering effect of host species, microbial communities are expected to be influenced by both host species and urbanization stresses. Therefore, the impacts of urbanization on animals' microbial symbionts could be more complex and uncertain. In this study, we quantified the urbanization degree of sampling sites and surveyed the gut and skin microbes of three amphibian host species in different sites in urban parks and nearby villages of Chengdu, Southwest China. Furthermore, a co-occurrence network analysis, the phylogenetic normalized stochasticity ratio and Sloan neutral community models were applied to infer the impact of urbanization on symbiotic microbial communities. For the three host species, urbanization increased the diversity of symbiotic microbes and the number of keystone microbial taxa. However, the negative effects of such increased diversification were evident, as the community stochasticity and co-occurrence network structure vulnerability also increased, while the network structure complexity and stability were reduced. Finally, the community stochasticity had positive associations with the network vulnerability, implying that the existence of many transient symbiotic rare microbial taxa in urban parks makes the symbiotic microbial community structure more fragile. Conclusively, urbanization increased the symbiotic microbial diversity at the cost of community stability; the results provide a new perspective for better understanding the complex triangulated environment-host-microbe relationship.

Functionalized Activated Carbon for Competing Adsorption of Volatile Organic Compounds and Water.

The interfacial interaction of activated carbon with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is seriously affected by water vapor. Therefore, it is vital to enhance the hydrophobic performance of activated carbon for expanding its application in industrial and environmental fields. Herein, a series of hydrophobic activated carbon was fabricated by tailored mixed siloxane and applied in dynamic competitive adsorption at 0, 50, and 90% humidity. Simultaneously, the diffusion molecular models and multicomponent adsorption experiments were used to study the adsorption and diffusion mechanisms. The hydrophobicity of activated carbon was significantly improved by loading of mixed siloxane, in which the equilibrium water absorption decreased from 21.9 to 7.2% and the contact angles increased by 70.10°. Meanwhile, dynamic competitive adsorption at different humidities indicated that the siloxane-functionalized activated carbons (SACs) showed much better competitive adsorption performances for VOCs than original activated carbon, which was further confirmed by the theoretical calculations of adsorption energy. In addition, a remarkable adsorption selectivity and reusability could be demonstrated to VOCs with different polarities on SACs. This study not only provides a new strategy for the hydrophobic modification of activated carbon materials but also offers theoretical guidance for the treatment of gas streams with significant water contents.

High-Performance Ultraviolet Organic Light-Emitting Diode Enabled by High-Lying Reverse Intersystem Crossing.

Ultraviolet (UV) organic emitters that can open up applications for future organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are of great value but rarely developed. Here, we report a high-quality UV emitter with hybridized local and charge-transfer (HLCT) excited state and its application in UV OLEDs. The UV emitter, 2BuCz-CNCz, shows the features of low-lying locally excited (LE) emissive state and high-lying reverse intersystem crossing (hRISC) process, which helps to balance the color purity and exciton utilization of UV OLED. Consequently, the OLED based on 2BuCz-CNCz exhibits not only a desired narrowband UV electroluminescent (EL) at 396 nm with satisfactory color purity (CIEx, y =0.161, 0.031), but also a record-high maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 10.79 % with small efficiency roll-off. The state-of-the-art device performance can inspire the design of UV emitters, and pave a way for the further development of high-performance UV OLEDs.

Layer-by-layer assembled biopolymer microcapsule with separate layer cavities generated by gas-liquid microfluidic approach.

In this work, a layer-by-layer (LbL) assembled biopolymer microcapsule with separate layer cavities is generated by a novel and convenient gas-liquid microfluidic approach. This approach exhibits combined advantages of microfluidic approach and LbL assembly method, and it can straightforwardly build LbL-assembled capsules in mild aqueous environments at room temperature. In particular, using this approach we can build the polyelectrolyte multilayer capsule with favorable cavities in each layer, and without the need for organic solvent, emulsifying agent, or sacrificial template. Various components (e.g., drugs, proteins, fluorescent dyes, and nanoparticles) can be respectively encapsulated in the separate layer cavities of the LbL-assembled capsules. Moreover, the encapsulated capsules present the ability as colorimetric sensors, and they also exhibit the interesting release behavior. Therefore, the LbL-assembled biopolymer capsule is a promising candidate for biomedical applications in targeted delivery, controlled release, and bio-detection.

Electrodeposition of chitosan based on coordination with metal ions in situ-generated by electrochemical oxidation.

Electrodeposition is an attractive technique that provides a controllable and programmable means to trigger the assembly of stimuli-responsive biopolymers (e.g., chitosan) for a diverse range of applications. Here, we report a new electrodeposition method for chitosan based on the coordination of chitosan to the metal ions in situ-generated by simultaneous electrochemical oxidation. In particular, we typically construct a deposited hydrogel on the copper electrode through this coordinated electrodeposition method, and the obtained hydrogel is smooth, transparent and homogeneous, as well as it has stability under acidic conditions and enough strength to be readily peeled from the electrode. This coordinated electrodeposition can be conveniently employed to build coatings (on the electrodes) or hydrogel films (peeled from the electrodes) with various shapes, and it also enables nanoparticles (e.g., fluorescent carbon dots) to be codeposited with chitosan. Furthermore, by enlisting the special benefits of the coordinated electrodeposition, the diverse hydrogel patterns can be constructed on the electrodes. Interestingly, this coordinated electrodeposition can be employed to directly build the complex hydrogel on the electrode to perform electrochemical detection. Therefore, it can be expected that this coordinated electrodeposition of chitosan has promising applications in biomedical devices, surface coating, and metallic biomaterials.

Electrodeposition of chitosan/gelatin/nanosilver: A new method for constructing biopolymer/nanoparticle composite films with conductivity and antibacterial activity.

Electrodeposition of chitosan provides a controllable means to simultaneously assemble biological materials and nanoparticles for various applications. Here, we present a new method to construct biopolymer/nanoparticle composite films with conductivity and antibacterial activity by electrodeposition of chitosan/gelatin/nanosilver. Besides, this method can be employed to build biopolymer/nanoparticle composite hydrogels or coatings on various electrodes or conductive substrates. We initially use a simple approach to prepare the aqueous nanosilver that can be well-dispersed in water. Then, the codeposition mixture containing chitosan, gelatin and nanosilver is prepared, and it can be electrodeposited onto different electrodes or conductive substrates in response to imposed electrical signals. After electrodeposition, it is found that the deposited hydrogels and their dried films are smooth and homogeneous due to the elimination of H2 bubbles by addition of H2O2 in electrodeposition process. Importantly, the composite films are strong enough to completely and readily peel from the electrodes after they reacted with 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide (EDC), which can build a type of biopolymer/nanoparticle film for further applications. Furthermore, the electrodeposition technique is able to offer controllable and convenient method to construct the composite films with diverse shapes. The composite films display improved conductivity and in vitro antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, which may provide attractive applications in biomedical fields such as artificial muscles, skin biomaterials and neuroprosthetic implants.

Electroaddressing of ZnS quantum dots by codeposition with chitosan to construct fluorescent and patterned device surface.

Electroaddressing is an attractive method for triggering assembly of stimuli-responsive biopolymers with exquisite spatiotemporal control, and it also offers a controllable means to concurrently assemble biological materials and nanoparticles for a diverse range of applications. Here, we demonstrate a novel method to construct fluorescent and patterned device surfaces by electroaddressing of quantum dots (QDs)/chitosan composite. First, the surfaces of ZnS QDs/chitosan composite on the electrodes are built by electrodeposition method. It is shown that the deposited surface displays clear fluorescence under UV light, and the fluorescence intensity of the surface can be controlled by electrodeposition conditions (e.g., deposition time). Furthermore, a variety of fluorescent patterns can be constructed by employing electrodes or substrates with various shapes. Specifically, taking advantage of the spatiotemporal selectivity of electroaddressing and the pH-responsive property of chitosan, we construct diverse fluorescent patterns by electroaddressing QDs/chitosan composite at the localized region. It is also found that the fluorescent patterns of QDs/chitosan composite have reproducibility. Thus, this work presents a convenient, versatile, and controllable method to construct fluorescent and patterned device surface by electroaddressing, which has promising applications in photoluminescence device, fluorescent and patterned coating, and nanocomposite biodevice.