Isolation and Characterization of the Wastewater Micropollutant Phenacetin-Degrading Bacterium Rhodococcus sp. Strain PNT-23.

Phenacetin, an antipyretic and analgesic drug, poses a serious health risk to both humans and aquatic organisms, which is of concern since this micropollutant is frequently detected in various aquatic environments. However, rare pure bacterial cultures have been reported to degrade phenacetin. Therefore, in this study, the novel phenacetin-degrading strain PNT-23 was isolated from municipal wastewater and identified as a Rhodococcus sp. based on its morphology and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The isolated strain could completely degrade 100 mg/L phenacetin at an inoculum concentration of OD600 1.5 within 80 h, utilizing the micropollutant as its sole carbon source for growth. Strain PNT-23 exhibited optimal growth in LB medium at 37 °C and a pH of 7.0 with 1% NaCl, while the optimal degradation conditions in minimal medium were 30 °C and a pH of 7.0 with 1% NaCl. Two key intermediates were identified during phenacetin biodegradation by the strain PNT-23: N-acetyl-4-aminophenol and 4-aminophenol. This study provides novel insights into the biodegradation of phenacetin using a pure bacterium culture, expands the known substrate spectra of Rhodococcus strains and presents a potential new candidate for the microbial removal of phenacetin in a diverse range of environments.

Octahedral Distortion Co-Regulation via Dual Strategies toward Luminescence Enhancement for the MA4InBr7 Perovskite Single Crystal.

A series of novel perovskite single crystals are innovatively grown. Aiming to enhance the luminescence performance, octahedral distortion co-regulation via dual strategies for the as-prepared perovskite single crystals is performed. The distortion of the octahedral structure strengthens the electron-phonon coupling and electron localization, resulting in a more stable self-trapped state, which thereby increases the potential for radiative recombination, accompanied by the self-trapped exciton emission. Accordingly, the luminescence spectra of the as-prepared MA4In0.975Sb0.025Br7 single crystal can cover the 450-800 nm range, and the photoluminescence quantum yield is up to 81.25%.

Electron Delocalization and Structure Coupling Promoted π-Conjugated Charge Transport in a Novel [Ga-Tpy2]PbI5 Perovskite-like Single Crystal.

Multidimensional perovskite techniques are of intense research interest since they are proved to be advantageous to enhance the perovskite stability. Thereinto, the structure engineering strategy has been widely used to regulate the low dimensional (LD) perovskite structures and obtain expected optoelectronic properties. In this work, we intercalate a thus far unreported metallic coordination compound [Ga-Tpy2]3+ (Tpy: 2,2';6',2″-terpyridine) to the inorganic Pb-I building block as the A-site organic group, and the zero dimensional (0D) [Ga-Tpy2]PbI5 perovskite-like single crystal is obtained. This material displays suitable band edge levels, which enable its potential application as light absorber in solar cells. The DFT calculations manifest delocalized charge distribution on Tpy ligands that can facilitate electron transport, which is attributed to the formation of a double hybrid coordinate bond, i.e., σ bonds and π bonds, between Ga3+ ions and Tpy ligands. These coordinate bonds make metallic complexes promising molecules to regulate structure-associated optoelectronic performances of the LD perovskites.

Terpyridine-derived perovskite single crystals with tunable structures and electronic dimensionality.

Dimensionality engineering has proved to be a reliable strategy for addressing the issue of perovskite stability. In this study, a series of previously unreported low-dimensional organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite single crystals were designed and grown by following a simple hydrothermal approach involving solution processing. The as-prepared terpyridine-derived perovskite single crystals displayed tunable structures and electronic dimensionality, which was closely associated with the crystal growth conditions. The performed DFT calculations suggested that the fluctuating conduction band edge demonstrates obvious charge delocalization associated with the π-conjugation effect, a feature promoting efficient charge transport by means of coupling structural dimensionality and electronic dimensionality. This study has provided new ideas for the design of new materials to be used in fields involving photovoltaic devices.

Engineered Electronic Structure and Carrier Dynamics in Emerging Cs2AgxNa1-xFeCl6 Perovskite Single Crystals.

Lead-free double perovskites have attracted noteworthy attention due to their compositional flexibility and electronic diversity. In this study, we hydrothermally grow a new class of Cs2AgxNa1-xFeCl6 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) perovskite single crystals with high thermal stability. The substitution of B-site cation allows to regulate the crystallographic and band structure, which gives rise to enlarged band absorbance close to the near-infrared region (∼800 nm) via composition engineering. Ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy (TAS) certifies that the decay time of excited-state absorption is 5.02 and 2450 ps in the case of Cs2NaFeCl6 and Cs2AgFeCl6, respectively. The corresponding charge carrier diffusion length accordingly enhances from 3.7 to 311 nm by means of increasing Ag dopant concentration. Structurally, the primitive cell shrinks due to the partial replacement of [NaCl6]5- octahedra by [AgCl6]5- octahedra. It is proved theoretically as well as experimentally that the introduction of Ag species can effectively enhance the electron mobility (from 1.06 to 15.3 cm2 V-1 s-1) by ∼15 times through realizing stronger orbital coupling of the conductive ions, which enables such a novel double perovskite to be a potential candidate for the optoelectronic and photovoltaic applications.