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Two new stilbenes, 5-methoxy-6-(4-methoxystyryl)-3-methylbenzofuran (1) and 5-methoxy-6-(4- hydroxystyryl)-3-methylbenzofuran (2), together with six known ones, bauhiniastatin D (3), gramideoxybenzoin B (4), gramistilbenoid A (5), gramistilbenoid B (6), gramniphenol H (7), and pterostilbene (8), were isolated from the whole plants of Arundina graminifolia. Their structures were established by their 1D, 2D NMR, and MS spectral data. Compounds 1 and 2 were tested for their anti-SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) activity. The results revealed that compound 1 exhibited potential activity with IC50 of 17.4 μM for delta strain and 28.5 μM for Omicron BA.1 strain, compound 2 also showed potential activity with IC50 of 15.3 μM for delta strain and 22.6 μM for Omicron BA.1 strain, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the aim of screening more bioactivity metabolites, in this study, two new stilbenes, 5-methoxy-6-(4- methoxystyryl)benzofuran (1) and 6-(4-methoxystyryl)benzofuran-5-ol (2) were isolated from the leaves and stems of Bletilla striata. Their structures were established by their 1D, 2D NMR, and MS spectral data. Interestingly, the anti-SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) activity revealed that compound 1 exhibited potential anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity with IC50 of 15.2 μM for the delta strain and 22.8 μM for the omicron BA.1 strain; compound 2 also showed potential anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity with IC50 of 10.2 μM for the delta strain and 16.8 μM for the omicron BA.1 strain. These values are lower than that of a positive control (with IC50 of 1.2 μM for the delta strain and 3.4 μM for the omicron BA.1 strain). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) is a novel process of deammonification that exhibits superior ecological and economic potential compared to that of traditional heterotrophic processes. Although this process has been successfully implemented in treating high‐strength nitrogen‐contaminated wastewater, it still faces many challenges in treating mainstream municipal wastewater. This review aims to provide an overview of the status and challenges of mainstream anammox‐based processes. The different configurations and crucial factors are discussed in this review. Finally, the future needs for feasible application are stated. Practitioner points: Factors restricting mainstream application of anammox‐based processes are reviewed.Control strategies for selecting and maintaining anammox bacteria are discussed.Recent advances in nitrite production via partial nitrification or denitrification are summarized.Future needs for the feasible application of anammox‐based nitrogen removal technology for mainstream municipal wastewater treatment are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Both nickel and salinity are often detected in the environment. Especially electroplating wastewater contains some salt and nickel, which affects microbial activity in biological wastewater treatment process. In this study, the effects of sustaining addition of a high-concentration salinity and Ni(II) on the anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process were examined. The results indicated that the anammox system had an acclimation ability to <0.2 mg L−1 Ni(II) and 20 g L−1 NaCl. After a recovery phase of approximately 70 days, the nitrogen removal efficiency and rate reached at 77.1% and 1.18 kg N m−3 d−1, respectively. The three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix fluorescence and Fourier transform infrared spectra results showed that the introduction of NaCl and Ni(II) caused a substantial variation in the quantity and composition of the bound EPS in the surface of anammox granules. The present study is the first to document the long-term effect of co-existence of salinity and Ni(II) on the performance of the freshwater-derived anammox bacteria in the upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor and to provide a reference for the stable operation of anammox bioreactors for the treatment of sulfonamide-containing wastewater. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • Long-term exposure to NaCl and Ni(II) resulted in co-inhibition on the anammox UASB system. • The sludge characteristics changed after chronic exposure to NaCl and Ni(II). • 3D-EEM analyses showed a change in organic compositions in B-EPS. • FTIR analyses suggested a shift in functional groups in B-EPS. • The deleterious impact of NaCl and Ni(II) was reversible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • The suppression threshold of Zn(II) on reactor performance was 10 mg L−1 for long-term exposure. • Castellaniella mainly was devoted to denitrification under no or low Zn(II) stress conditions. • Klebsiella was the dominant denitrifying bacteria under high Zn(II) stress conditions. Abstract High-rate denitrification is a popular and efficient process for treatment of nitrate-rich wastewater. Knowing the effect of heavy metals on denitrification is essential for industrial development. In the present study, the long-term impacts of Zn(II) on denitrifying granular sludge were investigated. The suppression threshold of Zn(II) on denitrifying bacteria was 10 mg L−1 for long-term exposure. The nitrogen removal rate was decreased by long-term addition of 10 mg L−1 Zn(II). Castellaniella and Klebsiella were the two dominant genera under Zn(II) stress. The relative abundance of Klebsiella sharply decreased to 4.64% after the addition of 10 mg L−1 Zn(II), whereas Castellaniella was susceptible to 2 mg L−1 Zn(II), revealing that Castellaniella mainly was devoted to denitrification under no or low Zn(II) stress conditions, whereas Klebsiella was effective under high Zn(II) stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Binding of anammox EPS with Cu2+ was endothermic and entropy-increased. • Carboxyl groups of proteins were preferentially responded to Cu2+. • The protein in EPS changed into loose structure after combining with Cu2+. Extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) of anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) sludge plays an important role in resisting the toxicity when treating heavy metal containing wastewater. Understanding the interaction mechanism between EPS and heavy metal is essential for stable and optimal operation of such technology. In this work, the identification and preferential response of the binding sites, as well as the binding thermodynamic and the conformational changes of EPS to Cu2+ were explored. Unlike the activated sludge system, functional groups in EPS would coordinate with Cu2+ to form inner sphere complexes, which is an endothermic and entropy-increasing process. Low concentration of Cu2+ was found to result in the reduced electrostatic repulsion and bridging effect, which promoted the compaction and agglomeration of EPS colloid. Two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy analysis confirmed that carboxyl groups of proteins were preferentially responded to Cu2+ compared to polysaccharides and hydrocarbons. More importantly, the secondary structure of the protein in EPS was disrupted and changed into loose state after combining with Cu2+. This work is of great significance for understanding the binding properties of anammox sludge EPS with Cu2+ and may provide theoretical support for elucidating the resist mechanism of anammox bacteria to heavy metals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Better resistance and resilience were observed in unacclimated anammox granular sludge. • Anammox system was significantly suppressed by the addition of high level Cu NPs and OTC. • Dominant bacteria and functional genes coincide with each other. • The presence of ARGs improved the resistance of anammox sludge to Cu NPs and OTC. Nanoparticles and antibiotics, the two most frequently detected emerging pollutants from different wastewater sources, are eventually discharged into wastewater treatment plants. In this study, the widely used materials CuNPs and oxytetracycline (OTC) were selected as target pollutants to investigate their joint effects on anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox). The results indicated that the environmental concentration slightly inhibited the performance of the reactors, while the performance rapidly deteriorated within a week under high-level combined shocks (5.0 mg L−1 CuNPs and 2.0 mg L−1 OTC). After the second shock (2.5 mg L−1 CuNPs and 2.0 mg L−1 OTC), the resistance of anammox bacteria was enhanced, with an elevated relative abundance of Candidatus Kuenenia and absolute abundance of hzs A, nir S, and hdh. Moreover, the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) content and specific anammox activity (SAA) showed corresponding changes. Improved sludge resistance was observed with increasing CuNP and OTC doses, which accelerated the recovery of performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) bacteria are sensitive and susceptible to operating condition fluctuations that can lead to the instability of a bioreactor. Through multivariate spectral analysis, the dynamic changes of intracellular and extracellular metabolites of anammox sludge under the declined temperature stress were characterized. It was found that effluent fluorescence components were positively related to the bacterial activity, and the response of the protein-like substances to the temperature change was more sensitive than that of humic substances. Under the transient disturbance during temperature change from 35 to 15 °C, anammox system tended to considerably excrete extracellular polymeric substances to resist the low temperature inhibition. However, the long-term exposure of the sludge at 10 °C resulted in the considerably inhibition of sludge activity, granular disintegration and heterotrophic denitrification bacteria increase. The two-dimensional correlation analysis further revealed that the humic acid in extracellular polymeric substances was preferentially responded to the temperature change than protein. Anammox bacteria tended to increase the intracellular protein and electron transfer-related reactive substance excretion to counteract the low temperature inhibition. Herein, both the intra- and extra-cellular response characteristics of anammox sludge to temperature variation were successfully resolved via the combined spectra. This work provides a comprehensive understanding on the mechanism of anammox sludge to temperature variation and may be valuable for the development of bioreactor monitoring techniques. Unlabelled Image • The performance of anammox bioreactor was characterized by spectra combination. • 2-dimension correlation spectroscopy was used for extracellular substances analysis. • Effluent fluorescence components were positively related to the bacterial activity. • 15 °C was an inflection temperature for the extracellular substances excretion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new isoprenylated flavone, 8,4′-dimethoxy-6-(4-methyl-1H-pyrrol-2-yl)-flavone (1), 8-hydroxy-4′-methoxy-6-(4-methyl-1H-pyrrol-2-yl)-flavone (2), together with seven known isoprenylated flavonoids (3–9) were isolated from the whole plants of Desmodium caudatum. Their structures were established by their 1D, 2D NMR, and MS spectral data. In addition, compounds 1–9 were tested for their anti-SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Glycyrrhetinic acid (GA), the main active constituents of Glycyrrhiza glabra roots, is extensively used as food additives and herbal medicines. This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of different dietary levels of GA on growth, body composition and plasma biochemical index of channel catfish (average weight, 159.0±5.0g). Five diets were formulated to contain five levels of GA (0, 0.075, 0.15, 0.3 and 0.6g/kg). Fish were randomly distributed into 30 tanks and fed three times daily (08:30, 12:00 and 16:30h) for 8weeks. Dietary GA levels have little significant effect on weight gain (WG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR). Intraperitoneal fat ratio (IFR) (P <0.05) and viscera/body ratio (VBR) (P <0.01) decreased significantly as GA levels increased, and hepatosomatic index (HSI) tended to decrease as dietary GA levels increased (P <0.1). Lipid content of liver decreased significantly as GA concentrations increased (P <0.01), and lipid content of muscle tended to decrease as dietary GA concentrations increased (P <0.1). Plasma triglycerides (TG) and total cholesterol (CHO) were decreased as dietary GA concentrations increased (P <0.05); whereas, plasma cortisol and glucose (GLU) showed an opposite tendency (P <0.05). Results of this study indicate that 0.3g/kg GA had a positive influence in improving lipid deposition in channel catfish without negative effect on growth; the beneficial effect may be due to promoting lipolysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• The presence of 1 mg L−1 Cu NPs was supposed to be safe in granule-based denitrification systems. • The system lost 51.9% of nitrogen removal capacity under the stress of 5 mg L−1 Cu NPs. • The presence of 5 mg L−1 Cu NPs reduced the gene abundance of nap A, nar G and nos Z. • The introduction of Cu NPs shifted the community composition of denitrifying bacteria. The widespread use of copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) has attracted increasing concern because of their potential effects on biological wastewater treatment. However, their effect on granule-based denitrification systems is unclear. Hence, the effects of CuNPs on denitrifying granules were investigated during long-term operation. The results showed that 51.9% of nitrogen removal capacity was lost after exposure to 5 mg L−1 CuNPs, with the amount of Cu(II) gradually increasing with elevating CuNP levels. Moreover, the relative abundance of denitrifying bacteria (Castellaniella) and denitrifying functional genes (nir K, nap A, nar G and nos Z) obviously decreased. Meanwhile, the specific denitrification activity, the content of extracellular polymeric substances and dehydrogenase activity decreased by 44.0%, 15.2% and 99.9%, respectively, compared to their values in the initial sludge. Considering the downtrend in the abundance of copper resistance genes, it was deduced that the toxicity of CuNPs was mainly or at least partially due to the release of Cu(II). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Some researchers have reported that Toxoplasma gondii can cause serious reproductive impairment in male animals. Specifically, T. gondii destroy the quality of sperm in the epididymis, which affects their sexual ability. However, among such studies, none have investigated the male reproductive transcriptome. Therefore, to investigate the relationship between T. gondii and sperm maturation, we infected mice with T. gondii prugniaud (PRU) strain and performed transcriptome sequencing of the epididymis. Results: Compared with the control group, 431 upregulated and 229 downregulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were found (P-value < 0.05, false discovery rate (FDR) < 0.05 and |log2 (fold change)| ≥ 1). According to results of a bioinformatics analysis, Gene Ontology (GO) function is divided into three categories: cellular component, molecular function and biological process. Upon performing GO analysis, we found that some DEGs correlated with an integral part of membrane, protein complex, cell surface, ATP binding, immune system process, signal transduction and metabolic process which are responsible for the epididymal injury. DEGs were mapped to 101 unique KEGG pathways. Pathways such as cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis and apoptosis are closely related to sperm quality. Moreover, Tnfsf10 and spata18 can damage the mitochondria in sperm, which decreases sperm motility and morphology. Conclusions: We sequenced the reproductive system of male mice chronically infected with T. gondii, which provides a new direction for research into male sterility caused by Toxoplasma infection. This work provides valuable information and a comprehensive database for future studies of the interaction between T. gondii infection and the male reproductive system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we aimed to characterize the fish community structure and identify the drivers contributing to homogenization/differentiation processes in four tributaries to the Pearl River, Guangxi Province, China, over the past few decades. We sampled 22 sites seasonally from 2013 through 2015, and these sites were selected based on archived records of previous sampling conducted in the 1980s. Jaccard's faunal similarity index, cluster analysis, and canonical correspondence analysis ( CCA) were applied to describe the homogenization/differentiation of fish community and illustrate the potential effectors. The number of fish species present in three of the four sampled tributaries declined dramatically over the past 30 years, leading toward a trend of increased fish community homogeneity throughout the watershed. Results from multidimensional scaling and cluster analyses allowed us to divide the study area into two distinct ecoregions. Four species ( yellow catfish Pelteobagrus fulvidraco, pond loach Misgurnus anguillicaudatus, Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus, and sharpbelly Hemiculter leucisculus) were considered to be indicative fish species contributing more than 5% of the dissimilarity between the two eco-regions according to the results of similarity percentage procedure. Results from CCA revealed that pH and latitude corresponded with the dominant fish species of each respective tributary. More specifically, CCA results allowed us to classify dominant fish species into three distinct groups. The first group was mainly located in Guijiang characterized by higher latitudes and lower pH values, the second group was widespread in the four tributaries, and the last group was primarily distributed in Yujiang, Youjiang, and Zuojiang characterized by lower latitudes and higher pH values. Spatial differentiation of fish community structure and temporal homogeneity of species composition were attributed to the joint actions of human interventions including construction of dams and introductions of exotic fish species that led to habitat degeneration and fragmentation, and unequal interspecies competitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• PA caused oxidative stress in the anammox system. • PA exacerbated the CFX inhibition on anammox consortia. • Most antibiotics were adsorbed by PA in the anammox system. • The most dominant bacterium changed from Candidatus Kuenenia to norank_o_SBR1031. Emerging pollutants pose high risks to human health, and also put huge pressures on wastewater treatment. Their interactions would also affect the activity of functional microorganisms. This study investigated the response and mechanism of anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) consortia to the long-term stress of common microplastics (polyamide, PA) and a broad-spectrum antibiotic (cephalexin, CFX). Although 0.1 g L−1 PA microplastics (MP) did not significantly inhibit the nitrogen removal performance, adsorption assays revealed that large amounts of cephalexin were adsorbed by PA. Thus, 0.5 mg L−1 CFX and 0.1–0.2 g L−1 PA caused a deterioration of anammox process. Simultaneously, the most dominant genus changed from Candidatus Kuenenia to norank o SBR1031 , and expressional levels of functional genes dramatically decreased. In addition, the abundance of gene encoding superoxide dismutase (SOD) increased by 10.7 %, verifying that PA also caused the oxidative stress of anammox bacteria. PA promoted the accumulation of CFX in the anammox system through adsorption and extended its side effects on anammox consortia. This study provides a new direction into the implementation of anammox process in complex wastewater treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• High-intense light would inhibit anammox sludge activity decline. • Light induced · OH and · O 2 − were able to destruct ladderane lipids structure. • Se-CQDs would greatly mitigate the photoinhibition and maintain a stable performance. • The potential mitigation mechanism by Se-CQDs was clarified. External stimulus such as light irradiation is able to deteriorate intracellular redox homeostasis and induce photooxidative damage to non-photogenic bacteria. Exploiting effective strategies to help bacteria resisting infaust stress is meaningful for achieving a stable operation of biological treatment system. In this work, selenium-doped carbon quantum dots (Se-CQDs) were blended into anaerobic ammonia oxidation (anammox) bacteria and an inorganic nanoparticle-microbe hybrid was successfully fabricated to evaluate its nitrogen removal performance under solar-simulated irradiation. It was found that the specific anammox activity decreased by 29.7 ± 5.2% and reactive oxygen species (ROS) content increased by 134.8 ± 4.1% under 50,000 lux light. Sludge activity could be completely recovered under the optimum dosage of 0.42 mL·(g volatile suspended solid) -1 Se-CQDs. Hydroxyl radical (·OH) and superoxide anion radical (·O 2 −) were identified as the leading ROS inducing lipid peroxidation and antioxidase function detriment. Also, the structure of ladderane lipids located on anammoxosome was destroyed by ROS and functional genes abundances declined accordingly. Although cell surface coated Se-CQDs could absorb ultraviolet light and partially mitigated the photoinhibition, the direct scavenging of ROS by intracellular Se-CQDs primarily contributed to the cellular redox homeostasis, antioxidase activity recovery and sludge activity improvement. The findings of this work provide in-depth understanding the metabolic response mechanism of anammox consortia to light irradiation and might be valuable for a more stable and sustainable nitrogen removal technology, i.e., algal-bacterial symbiotic system, development. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The coercive effect of coagulants on EBPR system was investigated. • EPS secretion was increased as a response to metal salt stress in the short term. • Coagulants can cause damage to cells through mediating the formation of ROS. • Metal salts put PAOs at a disadvantage position in competition with GAOs. Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) process is susceptible to the changed operation condition, which results in an unstable treatment performance. In this work, long-term effect of coagulants addition, aluminum salt for the reactor R 1 and iron salt for the reactor R 2 , on EBPR systems was comprehensively evaluated. Results showed that during the initial 30 days' coagulant addition, effluent chemical oxygen demand and phosphorus can be reduced below 25 and 0.5 mg·L-1, respectively. Further supply of metal salts would stimulate microbial extracellular polymeric substance excretion and induce reactive oxygen species accumulation, which destroyed the cell membrane integrity and deteriorated the phosphorus removal performance. Moreover, coagulants would decrease the relative abundance of Candidatus Accumulibacter while increase the relative abundance of Candidatus Competibacter, leading phosphors accumulating organisms in a disadvantage position. The results of this work might be valuable for the operation of chemical assisted biological phosphorus removal bioreactor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We evaluated the effect of dietary protein and lipid on growth and body composition in juvenile red swamp crayfish ( Procambarus clarkii). Nine groups of crayfish were fed nine experimental diets containing three levels of protein (24, 27, and 30 %) and three levels of lipid (4, 7, and 10 %) for 8 weeks. We used a 3 × 3 factorial model with four replicates and 12 crayfish (initial average weight, 2.52 ± 0.04 g) per replicate. We measured weight gain ratio (WG), specific growth rate (SGR), and body composition. WG and SGR were significantly ( P < 0.05) affected by dietary lipid but not significantly ( P < 0.05) affected by dietary protein. When grouped by lipid levels, the WG of crayfish fed diets containing 7 % lipid was higher than that of crayfish fed diets containing 4 or 10 % lipid. The diet containing 30 % protein and 7 % lipid promoted the most efficient growth (WG: 483.38 %, SGR: 3.14 % day). Dietary protein and lipid had no effect on condition factor or the viscous content (VC). Dietary protein, but not lipid, had a significant ( P = 0.038) effect on the muscle content (MC). Crayfish fed a diet containing 27 % protein and 4 % lipid had the highest ( P < 0.05) MC (16.16 %). Dietary protein levels also had a significant ( P = 0.04) effect on the shell content (SC). SC was higher in crayfish fed a 30 % protein diet than in those fed 24 or 27 % protein. Proximate analysis suggested that crayfish fed a diet containing 27 % protein had a significantly higher nutritive composition than fish fed 24 or 30 % protein. Dietary protein also affected both whole body and muscle dry matter (DM) content. Similarly, both dietary protein and lipid affected whole-body crude lipid. Hepatopancreas DM, lipid content, and protein content were affected by dietary lipid. In conclusion, a diet containing 4-7 % lipid and 27 % protein with a protein to digestible energy ratio of 17-21 g protein·MJ appeared optimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Siniperca chuatsi, Siniperca kneri, and Siniperca scherzeri are three of the most economically important sinipercid species. The ultrastructure and morphology of the mature spermatozoa of them are examined using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The sperm consists of an acrosome-less head, a short midpiece and a long flagellum. Ultrastructurally, it has a homogeneously electron-dense nucleus in a granular pattern with nuclear lucent and a nuclear fossa excluding the centriolar complex. One to four mitochondria with lamellar cristae encircle the basal body of the flagellum in the midpiece. The cytoplasm surrounding the centrioles and the cylindric cytoplasmic channel contains glycogen granules and vesicles. Comprising the conventional 9+2 axoneme, vesicles and lateral fins, the sperm flagellum is inserted laterally on the nucleus, therefore the spermatozoon is asymmetrical. All of the spermatozoa of the three species are of the primitive or ect-aquasperm form and conform to the teleostean type II spermatozoa instead of the previously supposed type I. Variations in the shape of the heads, angles between the two centrioles, location of the cytoplasmic vesicles, mitochondrial number and structural characteristics of the lateral fins are notable among the three species. S. chuatsi is a sister-group of the other two species and is the most differentiated. The present study provides fresh insights to the comparative spermatology of Siniperca fishes and will be useful to the existing knowledge of the sinipercid fishes in systematic characters, biodiversity conservation and reproduction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The arsenic in livestock wastewater would induce adverse impact on the biological treatment technology such as anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process. Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) play an important role in resisting such toxicity. Unfortunately, the role of EPS in protecting anammox from As(III) and the mechanisms underlying the protection still remains unclear. This work comprehensively evaluated the acute toxicity of arsenic on anammox sludge and investigated the binding property and interaction mechanism. The results revealed that the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC 50) of As(III) on anammox sludge was estimated to be 408 mg L−1, which decreased to 41.97 mg L−1 when EPS was exfoliated. Complexation and hydrophobic interactions were the leading forces in preventing arsenic invasion. Protein was the main component that complexes with As(III), and O–H, –NH, –C O were binding sites. The response sequence of organic component in EPS to As(III) was ordered as hydrocarbons-proteins-polysaccharides-aliphatic amines. [Display omitted] • The IC 50 of As(III) was estimated as 408 mg L−1 in anammox process. • EPS was able to construct buffer zones to prevent As(III) invasion. • Protein is the main component within EPS to complex with As(III). • Response sequence of functional groups to As(III) was clarified via spectra analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of Zn-doped CuAlS2 bulk samples was synthesized by spark plasma sintering, and the CuAl0.90Zn0.10S2 film was prepared on a glass substrate by channel spark ablation. Their electrical and optical properties were carefully investigated. A sharp increase in conductivity due to the enhancement of both Hall mobility and carrier concentration was observed with the introduction of Zn. p-type conduction was confirmed by both the positive Seebeck coefficient and Hall coefficient. The conductivity of the thin film is as high as 63.5 S cm-1 at room temperature, and the average transmittance in the visible region is above 80%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persulfate based advanced oxidation process is a promising technology for refractory contaminants removal. Cobalt is considered as the most efficient metal in catalyzing peroxymonosulfate decomposition. Although different cobalt based nanomaterials have been developed, easy aggregation and metal ion leaching during catalytic reaction would result in its deficiency. To address the above issue, in this work, carbon supported Co/CoO core-shell nanocomposite was in-situ fabricated by using polyphenol-metal coordinate as precursor. Results indicated that cobalt nanoparticle with size of 10 nm was successfully prepared and well dispersed within the carbon matrix. By using as-prepared material as catalyst, 50 mg/L orange II was completely removed under the condition of 0.2 g/L peroxymonosulfate, 0.05 g/L catalyst, pH = 4.0–10.0. Both sulfate and hydroxyl radicals were formed during peroxymonosulfate decomposition, while sulfate radical dominated the pollutant removal. Mechanism study revealed that the cobalt was the key site for catalyzing peroxymonosulfate decomposition. This work might provide valuable information in designing and fabricating metal anchored carbon composite catalyst for efficiently and cost-effectively activate peroxymonosulfate. Image 1 • Co/CoO core-shell nanostructure was well dispersed within the carbon matrix. • Co/CoO@C nanocomposite remains stable within pH ranges of 4.0-10.0, rather than the current 4.0-7.0. • Sulfate radical was the dominant reactive species for orange II removal. • Peroxymonosulfate catalytic decomposition mechanism was explored and clarified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]