Electrochemical CO 2 reduction (CO 2 RR) is a promising technology to produce value-added fuels and weaken the greenhouse effect. Plenty of efforts are devoted to exploring high-efficiency electrocatalysts to tackle the issues that show poor intrinsic activity, low selectivity for target products, and short-lived durability. Herein, density functional theory calculations are firstly utilized to demonstrate guidelines for design principles of electrocatalyst, maximum exposure of catalytic active sites for MoS 2 edges, and electron transfer from N-doped carbon (NC) to MoS 2 edges. Based on the guidelines, a hierarchical hollow electrocatalyst comprised of edge-exposed 2H MoS 2 hybridized with NC for CO 2 RR is constructed. In situ atomic-scale observation for catalyst growth is performed by using a specialized Si/SiN x nanochip at a continuous temperature-rise period, which reveals the growth mechanism. Abundant exposed edges of MoS 2 provide a large quantity of active centers, which leads to a low onset potential of ≈40 mV and a remarkable CO production rate of 34.31 mA cm −2 with 92.68% of Faradaic efficiency at an overpotential of 590 mV. The long-term stability shows negligible degradation for more than 24 h. This work provides fascinating insights into the construction of catalysts for efficient CO 2 RR.

Severe acute basilar artery occlusion (BAO) has a high mortality rate but as yet no effective treatment has been developed. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and safety of combined mechanical thrombectomy, intra-arterial thrombolysis, and emergent stent placement for patients with severe acute BAO. Eighteen patients who were unconscious after confirmed onset of BAO and who were given arterial interventional treatment from March 2011 to June 2013 at our department were included in this study. The mean age was 59.56 years (range: 31-76 years) and patients were in a critical physical condition upon admission, and had a mean National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score of 25.94 (range: 18-35). All patients were treated with mechanical thrombectomy, 10 of whom received mechanical thrombectomy only. Of the others, eight were also treated with intra-arterial thrombolysis, three were treated with emergent stent placement, and 17 were treated with recanalization with an achieved recanalized rate of 94.4%. The average number of passes through the stent was 1.5 (range: 1-3) and five patients died (27.8%). Thirteen patients survived, and the mean NIHSS score was 6.54 (range: 0-16). Seven patients showed a modified Rankin Scale score ⩽ 2, and the rate of good prognoses was 38.9%. In the treatment of patients with severe acute BAO, intra-arterial mechanical thrombectomy combined with thrombolysis or stent placement are effective strategies to restore blood flow and preserve life, and these strategies have a low incidence of complications.

External fields are introduced to catalytic processes to improve catalytic activities. The light field effect plays an important role in electrocatalytic processes, but is not fully understood. Here we report a series of photo-coupled electrocatalysts for CO₂ reduction by mimicking the structure of chlorophyll. The porphyrin-Au catalyst exhibits a high turnover frequency of 37,069 h^-1 at -1.1 V and CO Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 94.2% at -0.9 V. Under visible light, the electrocatalyst reaches similar turnover frequency and FE with potential reduced by ~ 130 mV. Interestingly, the light-induced positive shifts of 20, 100, and 130 mV for porphyrin-Co, porphyrin-Cu, and porphyrin-Au electrocatalysts are consistent with their energy gaps of 0, 1.5, and 1.7 eV, respectively, suggesting the porphyrin not only serves as a ligand but also as a photoswitch to regulate electron transfer pathway to the metal center.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials such as transition metal chalcogenides can be used to create different components of electronic devices, including semiconducting channels and metallic electrodes and interconnects. However, devices are typically fabricated using a step-by-step process that can introduce defects and impurities, leading to a reduction in device performance. Here we show that 2D electronic components can be chemically synthesized and integrated simultaneously in a single step, creating 2D devices in which each component in the active layer is connected via covalent bonds instead of physical interfaces. The approach involves the phase-patterned growth of atomic layers, and, using 2D molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe 2 ) as the active material, we show that it can be used to construct high-performance field-effect transistors (FETs) and arrays of logic devices. We also use the technique to construct FETs with ultrashort gate lengths, bilayered FETs with vertical interconnections and flexible devices.

Developing high-performance film dielectrics for capacitive energy storage has been a great challenge for modern electrical devices. Despite good results obtained in lead titanate-based dielectrics, lead-free alternatives are strongly desirable due to environmental concerns. Here we demonstrate that giant energy densities of ~70 J cm-3, together with high efficiency as well as excellent cycling and thermal stability, can be achieved in lead-free bismuth ferrite-strontium titanate solid-solution films through domain engineering. It is revealed that the incorporation of strontium titanate transforms the ferroelectric micro-domains of bismuth ferrite into highly-dynamic polar nano-regions, resulting in a ferroelectric to relaxor-ferroelectric transition with concurrently improved energy density and efficiency. Additionally, the introduction of strontium titanate greatly improves the electrical insulation and breakdown strength of the films by suppressing the formation of oxygen vacancies. This work opens up a feasible and propagable route, i.e., domain engineering, to systematically develop new lead-free dielectrics for energy storage.