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Artificial photosynthetic reduction of CO2 into valuable chemicals is one of the most promising approaches to solve the energy crisis and decreasing atmospheric CO2 emissions. However, the poor selectivity accompanied by the low activity of photocatalysts limits the development of photocatalytic CO2 reduction. Herein, inspired by the use of oxygen vacancy engineering to promote the adsorption and activation of CO2 molecules, we introduced oxygen vacancies in the representative barium titanate (BaTiO3) photocatalyst for photocatalytic CO2 reduction. We found that oxygen vacancies brought significant differences in the CO2 photoreduction activity and selectivity of BaTiO3. The intrinsic BaTiO3 showed a low photocatalytic activity with the dominant product of CO, whereas BaTiO3 with oxygen vacancies exhibited a tenfold improvement in photocatalytic activity, with a high selectivity of ~ 90% to CH4. We propose that the presence of oxygen vacancies promotes CO2 and H2O adsorption onto the BaTiO3 surface and also improves the separation and transfer of photogenerated carriers, thereby boosting the photocatalytic CO2 reduction to CH4. This work highlights the essential role of oxygen vacancies in tuning the selectivity of photocatalytic reduction of CO2 into valuable chemicals.

Research on genetic diversity based on mitochondrial DNA of giant pandas mainly focused on a single marker or a few genes.To provide a more comprehensive assessment of the genetic diversity on giant pandas based on 13 mitochondrial protein coding genes.We assembled 13 protein coding genes in the mitochondrial genome of the giant panda based on the whole genome sequencing data, including ND1, ND2, COX1, COX2, ATP8, ATP6, COX3, ND3, ND4L, ND4, ND5, ND6 and Cyt b.We successfully obtained long sequence of 11,416 base pairs with all 13 genes for 110 giant panda individual, accounting for 67.93% in length of the mitochondrial reference genome. Haplotype diversity was 0.9518 ± 0.009 and nucleotide diversity (π) was 0.00157 ± 0.00014. We detected three new haplotypes, including GPC10 and GPC21 for the CR sequence and GPB12 for the Cyt b gene.These multi-gene sequences provided more genetic variable information to compare captive and wild giant panda population.

ObjectiveTo determine the effect of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with stage I mucinous ovarian cancer (MOC) undergoing fertility-preserving surgery.Patients and methodsThe clinicopathological characteristics and survival information of young women with stage I MOC from SEER databases between 2004 and 2019 were collected. The relationship between chemotherapy and the characteristics was examined by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Univariable and multivariate Cox proportional hazards survival analysis were employed for cancer-specific survival. Cox analysis was performed to build a nomogram model.ResultsAll 901 eligible patients with stage I MOC were screened from the SEER database. There were 321(35.6%) patients aged 9-30 years, 580(64.4%) aged 31-45 years, 645 (71.6%) patients with stage IA/IB, 256 (28.4%) with stage IC disease, 411(45.6%) who underwent fertility-sparing surgery, and276(30.6%) who received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that postoperative chemotherapy was often used in patients aged 31-45 relative to aged 9-30 (HR: 2.215, 95%CI 1.443-3.401, P < 0.001) or with grade 3 compared to grade 1 tumors (HR: 7.382, 95%CI 4.054-13.443, P < 0.001) or with stage IC compared to stage IA/IB (HR: 6.436, 95%CI 4.515-9.175, P < 0.001) or with non-fertility sparing surgery relative to fertility-sparing (HR:2.226, 95%CI 1.490-3.327, P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis for the special population with fertility preservation indicated that patients with chemotherapy (HR: 2.905, 95% CI: 0.938-6.030, P=0.068) or with grade 3 (HR: 4.750, 95% CI: 1.419-15.896, P=0.011) had a greater risk of mortality. Significant CSS differences were observed between the non-chemotherapy and chemotherapy groups in MOC when patients were stage IA/IB-grade 2 (P=0.004) (10-year CSS rates of chemotherapy=84%, non-chemotherapy = 100%), but not when they were stage IA/IB-grade 1, stage IA/IB-grade 3 or stage IC (both P>0.05). A prognostic prediction nomogram model was built for stage I MOC patient who underwent fertility-sparing and the C-index was 0.709.DiscussionThe patients aged 31-45 years, with grade 3, stage IC, and non-fertility-sparing surgery were more likely to receive adjuvant chemotherapy in the real world. For stage I MOC patient who underwent fertility-sparing surgery, the choice of chemotherapy may increase the risk of death, and it should be carefully selected in clinical practice.

Efficient separation of photogenerated electrons and holes is of key importance in photocatalysis. Tuning the charge separation pathway is significant but still suffering from low efficiency for the charge extraction from semiconductors. Herein, taking 2D g-C

Although photocatalytic water splitting has excellent potential for converting solar energy into chemical energy, the challenging charge separation process and sluggish surface catalytic reactions significantly limit progress in solar energy conversion using semiconductor photocatalysts. Herein, we demonstrate a feasible strategy involving the surface assembly of cobalt oxide species (CoOx) on a visible-light-responsive Cd0.9Zn0.1S (CZS) photocatalyst to fabricate a hierarchical CZS@CoOx heterostructure. The unique hierarchical structure effectively accelerates the directional transfer of photogenerated charges, reducing charge recombination through the smooth interfacial heterojunction between CZS and CoOx, as evidenced by photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and various electrochemical characterizations. The surface cobalt species on the CZS material also act as efficient cocatalysts for photocatalytic hydrogen production, with activity even higher than that of noble metals. The well-defined CZS@CoOx heterostructure not only enhances the interfacial separation of photoinduced charges, but also improves surface catalytic reactions. This leads to superior photocatalytic performances, with an apparent quantum efficiency of 20% at 420 nm for visible-light-driven hydrogen generation, which is one of the highest quantum efficiencies measured among noble-metal-free photocatalysts. Our work presents a potential pathway for controlling complex charge separation and catalytic reaction processes in photocatalysis, guiding the practical development of artificial photocatalysts for successful transformation of solar to chemical energy.

Correction for ‘Recent advances and perspectives for solar-driven water splitting using particulate photocatalysts’ by Xiaoping Tao et al., Chem. Soc. Rev., 2022, 51, 3561–3608, https://doi.org/10.1039/d1cs01182k.

Surface plasmon resonances in metal nanostructures enable the generation of nonequilibrium hot electron–hole pairs, which has received wide interest as a means to drive chemical reactions at the na...

Photocatalytic water splitting has attracted great interest as a means of cost-effective conversion of sustainable solar energy to valuable chemicals. However, the absence of authorized efficiency measurement methods results in the accumulation of unverifiable and often misleading data, wasting the investment and resources of the research community and impeding the progress in the research field. Herein, testing protocols for reliable efficiency reporting of photocatalytic overall water splitting are discussed based on particulate photocatalysts. The sources of error and standard reporting protocols for hydrogen evolution rate, light source calibration, and solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency have been revisited and recommended. The establishment of accreditation research laboratories is proposed for efficiency certification toward the launch of the figure of merit, a “best research photocatalyst efficiencies” chart. This initiative will provide an important platform for establishing standard testing protocols in photocatalytic water splitting and accelerating the STH conversion efficiency improvement toward practical application.Increasing energy security and environmental concerns have mobilized society to develop sustainable energy-production technologies. Photocatalytic water splitting is a promising approach for renewable hydrogen production. But the lack of standard efficiency testing protocols has significantly hindered the broad research community. This perspective provides a critical overview on the sources of error existing in the present photocatalytic water-splitting measurement. Suggested testing protocols are presented for reliable solar-to-hydrogen efficiency reporting. More importantly, we recommend a new initiative on the efficiency certification at a number of leading research institutions toward the launch of the figure of merit, a “best research photocatalyst efficiencies” chart. We hope that this initiative will not only facilitate the healthy progress of solar fuel production but also accelerate the transition of our society from a fossil fuel economy to a renewable energy economy.Photocatalytic water splitting is an important alternative for renewable hydrogen production. It is essential to accredit the solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of a photocatalysts through the standard operation. Some renowned institutes are recommending undertaking this critical task and launching the accredited solar-to-hydrogen efficiency chart as a benchmark for the reference of the whole field.

A crucial issue in artificial photosynthesis is how to modulate the behaviors of photogenerated charges of semiconductor photocatalysts. Here, using lead chromate (PbCrO

Semi-hydrogenation of acetylene in excess ethylene is a key industrial process for ethylene purification. Supported Pd catalysts have attracted most attention due to their superior intrinsic activity but often suffer from low selectivity. Pd single-atom catalysts (SACs) are promising to significantly improve the selectivity, but the activity needs to be improved and the feasible preparation of Pd SACs remains a grand challenge. Here, we report a simple strategy to construct Pd1/TiO2 SACs by selectively encapsulating the co-existed small amount of Pd nanoclusters/nanoparticles based on their different strong metal-support interaction (SMSI) occurrence conditions. In addition, photo-thermo catalysis has been applied to this process where a much-improved catalytic activity was obtained. Detailed characterization combined with DFT calculation suggests that photo-induced electrons transferred from TiO2 to the adjacent Pd atoms facilitate the activation of acetylene. This work offers an opportunity to develop highly stable Pd SACs for efficient catalytic semi-hydrogenation process.

The photocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide to fuels presents great promise for storing renewable energy and alleviating global warming. Herein, using the visible-light-responsive semiconductor bismuth tantalum oxyhalogen (Bi4TaO8X, X = Cl, Br) with suitable band structures, we realize the photocatalytic reduction of CO2 to selectively produce CO under visible light without introducing any sacrificial reagents. An isotope-labeling experiment clearly demonstrated that the produced CO originated from CO2 and, additionally, continuous water oxidation for O2 evolution was also detected during photocatalytic CO2 reduction. Further introducing crystal morphology modulation to prepare well-defined nanocrystals enables great enhancement of the photogenerated charge separation performance compared to that of irregular nanoparticles. Moreover, surface modification of the silver nanoparticles deployed as the CO2 reduction cocatalyst evidently facilitates the generation of intermediate species to promote the surface catalytic reaction. This work not only presents a potential semiconductor candidate for photocatalytic CO2 reduction, but it also provides a feasible strategy for designing artificial photosynthetic systems via combining morphology tailoring and suitable cocatalysts.

We experimentally demonstrated that spatial charge separation can take place between the {010} and {001} facets of Bi2WO6 microplates. Further assembly of the reduction and oxidation cocatalysts leads to a remarkable enhancement of photocatalytic water oxidation activity in the presence of Fe3+ ions while the reverse oxidation of Fe2+ to Fe3+ ions is totally inhibited. The origin of the driving force is theoretically proven to be the difference in surface work function between the co-exposed facets, which shows a feasible strategy for developing efficient photocatalysts for solar energy conversion.

Solar-driven water splitting by photocatalysts is potentially a promising solution for global-scale production of nonfossil fuels and environmental problems, yet deep understanding toward the intri...

Experimental studies of the surface reactions of photocatalyzed or photoelectrocatalyzed water oxidation on rutile, anatase, and brookite TiO2 show significant differences between the three polymor...

Single-component emitters with broadband emission are attractive but challenging for illumination and display applications. The two-dimensional organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites have exhibited outstanding broad emission property due to low electronic dimensionality and strong exciton-phonon coupling. However, few layered all-inorganic lead-free perovskites with broadband emission have been explored, and the explicit mechanism of exciton recombination in them also needs in-depth understanding. Herein, the inorganic bismuth-based perovskite Cs 3 Bi 2 Br 9 achieves the stable broadband emission under ambient temperature and pressure by tuning the exciton recombination pathways via antimony (Sb) doping, and the photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) realizes an enhancement from 2.9% to 15.9%. The photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectra indicate that the doped Sb introduces newly extrinsic self-trapped states. The incorporation of Sb promotes the transfer of free excitons (FEs) to extrinsic self-trapped excitons (STEs) observed from Sb content-dependent steady-state PL spectra and, meanwhile, reduces the nonradiative recombination of the generated extrinsic STEs, which are primarily responsible for the remarkably enhanced broad emission. Furthermore, femtosecond transient absorption results elucidate a clear exciton dynamics, in which the transition from FEs to STEs might arise through the gradient energy levels, and finally extrinsic STEs at various energy states contribute to the broadband emission.

Summary Dispersing metal nanoclusters on the oxide supports is attracting close attention in heterogeneous catalysis, but great challenges still lie in controlling the size and dispersion of nanoclusters due to the inevitable agglomeration. Here, we propose a sequential photochemical deposition strategy named “first store, and then release” to uniformly fabricate the size-controlling noble metal nanoclusters on semiconductor oxides. Using the typical semiconductor TiO2, the photoexcited electrons can be first stored as reduced species (e.g. Ti3+) under irradiation and the Ti3+ species can optimize both the nucleation and growth processes in dark reaction, resulting in a uniform dispersing of various noble metals (Au, Pt, Ag etc.) with size diameters of ∼1 nm. The nanoclusters catalysts exhibited superior performance in catalytic oxidation of HCHO compared with that of nanoparticles. This work brings a new and useful strategy to construct size-controlling noble metals on the oxide supports for heterogeneous catalysis and the related fields., Graphical abstract, Highlights • Metal nanoclusters were deposited on semiconductors via sequential photodeposition • Ti3+ species store the photoelectrons and optimize the nucleation and growth processes • The catalysts exhibit superior performance in catalytic oxidation of HCHO, Catalysis; Optical materials; Materials science; Materials chemistry

Graphical abstract Abstract Giant pandas are mono-estrus seasonal breeders, with the breeding season typically occurring in the spring. Successful fertilization is followed by an embryonic diapause, of variable length, with birth in the late summer/autumn. There is a need for additional understanding of giant panda reproductive physiology, and the development of enhanced biomarkers for impending proestrus and peak fertility. We aimed to determine the utility of non-invasive androgen measurements in the detection of both proestrus and estrus. Urine from 20 cycles (−40 days to +10 days from peak estrus) from 5 female giant pandas was analyzed for estrogen, progestogens and androgens (via testosterone and DHEA assays), and hormone concentrations were corrected against urinary specific gravity. Across proestrus, estrogens increased while progestogens and androgens decreased – at the point of entry into proestrus, androgens (as detected by the testosterone assay) decreased prior to progestogens and gave 4 days advanced warning of proestrus. At the time of peak estrus, androgens (as detected by the DHEA assay) were significantly increased at the time of the decrease in estrogen metabolites from the peak, acting as an alternative confirmatory indicator of the fertile window. This novel finding allows for enlargement of the preparative window for captive breeding and facilitates panda management within breeding programmes. Androgens allow an enhanced monitoring of giant panda estrus, not only advancing the warning of impending proestrus, but also prospectively identifying peak fertility. Lay summary Giant pandas have one chance at pregnancy per year. The 2-day fertile window timing varies by year and panda. This is monitored by measuring the level of estrogens in the urine, which increase, indicating an upcoming fertile period. After 1–2 weeks of increase, estrogens peak and fall, marking the optimal fertile time. We tested other hormones to see if we can predict the fertile window in advance, and the specific fertile time with more accuracy. In 20 breeding seasons from 5 females, we found androgens, usually thought of as male hormones, had an important role. Testosterone gives 4 days advanced warning of estrogens increasing. DHEA identified peak estrogen and the fertile time before needing to see a confirmed decrease in estrogen itself. Therefore, androgens help improve monitoring of the giant panda breeding season, giving early warning of fertility, key in facilitating captive breeding and giant panda conservation.

The development of photocatalysts with wide spectral absorption and high charge separation efficiency has always been a pursued objective for photocatalytic solar energy conversion. Herein, we reported a wide-range visible-light-active Bi 4 TaO 8 Cl (BTOC) single crystal nanoplate with dominating {110} and {001} facets for enhancing the intrinsic charge separation efficiency. Insitu selective photodeposition of metals and metal oxides provides evidences of photogenerated electrons and holes spatially separated on {110} and {001} coexposed facets of BTOC, respectively. The intrinsic charge separation efficiency was demonstrated to be closely dependent on the crystal facets, which can be modulated by tuning the coexposed crystal facet ratio. Further surface modification of BTOC with suitable dual cocatalyst Ag and RuO x enables remarkable improvement of charge separation efficiency and photocatalytic water oxidation performance. Investigation by comparison between well-defined BTOC nanoplate and BTOC nanoparticles confirmed the significance of coexposed crystal facets for efficient spatial charge separation and the blocking of reverse reaction from Fe 2+ to Fe 3+ ions during water oxidation reaction, indicating that rational modulation of exposed crystal facets is significant for controlling the intrinsic charge separation efficiency on Bi 4 TaO 8 Cl photocatalyst for efficient photocatalytic water splitting.

We experimentally demonstrated that spatial charge separation can take place between the {010} and {001} facets of Bi

Semi-hydrogenation of acetylene in excess ethylene is a key industrial process for ethylene purification. Supported Pd catalysts have attracted most attention due to their superior intrinsic activity but often suffer from low selectivity. Pd single-atom catalysts (SACs) are promising to significantly improve the selectivity, but the activity needs to be improved and the feasible preparation of Pd SACs remains a grand challenge. Here, we report a simple strategy to construct Pd

Crystal facet engineering has been recognized as a powerful strategy to finely modulate the charge separation behavior in semiconductor photocatalysis; however, disclosing the intrinsic roles that the morphologies and crystal facets play on photogenerated charge separation of semiconductor nanocrystals remains elusive. Herein, exemplified on the typical visible-light-responsive photocatalyst bismuth vanadate (BiVO4 ), for the first time, the successful fabrication is reported of well-defined BiVO4 square nanocrystals with precisely controllable (040)/(200) facet proportion, which undergo a dissolution-recrystallization-facet growth process accompanied with tetragonal to monoclinic phase transition. Spatial separation of photogenerated electrons and holes has been evidently demonstrated to take place between (040) and (200) facets of BiVO4 nanocrystals, on which the charge separation efficiency is verified to definitely depend on the facet proportion of (040)/(200). Further theoretical simulation reveals that the matching degree of charge collection length and crystal configuration is considered to be the major factor determining charge separation efficiency of BiVO4 nanocrystals. This study presents a strategy to fabricate morphology-tailored semiconductors, which will be favorable to advance the understanding of spatial charge separation in semiconductor photocatalysis.

A triple sequential junction by rationally combining anatase/rutile nanoparticle TiO2 heterophase (Ans/R) and rutile/rutile TiO2 homophase (Rns/R) junctions was fabricated as a proof of concept. Such a continuous charge separation and transfer channel resulted in a remarkable enhancement in the separation of photogenerated carriers and the photocatalytic activity.

Precise control of the size and distribution of noble metal nanoparticles exerts obvious effects on the performance of heterogeneous catalysts and has received tremendous interest. The photochemical deposition method has advantages in adjusting chemical states, morphology, etc., but the tuning of size and distribution remains a big challenge. In this work, via modulating the surface states and surface charges of the TiO2 support, the size and distribution of noble metals including Ag, Pt, Au and Pd were precisely controlled. We demonstrated that photoelectrons located in the conduction band tend to form larger noble metal nanoparticles, while surface state confined electrons could form smaller nanoparticles. The thus-prepared noble metals/TiO2 catalysts exhibit good potential in both photocatalytic H2 evolution and catalytic oxidation of HCHO. This work not only provides a green and effective method to control the particle size of noble metals on metal oxides, but also is helpful in understanding the role of surface states in photocatalytic processes.

Development of Pt group metal-free catalysts for low-temperature CO oxidation remains critical. In this work, active and stable mesoporous Cu-Ce-Ox solid solutions are prepared by using spray pyrolysis. The specific surface areas and pore volumes reach as high as 170 m2 g-1 and 0.24 cm3 g-1 , respectively. The results of CO oxidation study suggest that (1) the catalyst obtained by spray pyrolysis possesses much higher activity than those made by co-precipitation, sol-gel, and hydrothermal methods; (2) the optimal Cu0.2 -Ce0.8 -Ox solid solution presents a reactivity over 28 times that of both single-component CuO and CeO2 at 70 °C. Based on the study of pure-phase Cu-Ce-Ox solid solutions by selective leaching of segregated CuOx species, the active center for CO oxidation is confirmed as the bimetallic Cu-Ce-O site, whereas the individual CuOx particles not only act as spectators but also block the active Cu-Ce-O sites. A low apparent activation energy of approximately 48 kJ mol-1 is detected for CO oxidation at the Cu-Ce-O site, making Cu-Ce-Ox solid solutions able to present high activity at low temperature. Furthermore, the Cu-Ce-Ox catalysts exhibit excellent stability and thermal tolerance toward CO oxidation.

The efficiencies of photocatalytic solar energy conversion systems are significantly limited by the challenging charge separation process, which can be improved via some commonly-used interfacial modulating strategies, e.g., introducing heterojunctions at the interfaces of different semiconductors. However, in many cases, the constructed heterojunctions not always work well mainly due to the serious mismatching of surface and energy structures between different components. In this study, inspired by the similarities in crystalline structures and elemental compositions, a novel heterojunction photocatalyst with hierarchical structure was first fabricated between bismuth-based semiconductors (Bi2Ti2O2 and gamma-Bi2O3) possessing identical cubic phase via a simple insitu transformation method. The resulted Bi2Ti2O7/gamma-Bi2O3 heterojunction photocatalyst (denoted as BT/gamma-Bi2O3) shows extremely high photocatalytic activities in photocatalytic removal of various high concentration environmental pollutants, e.g., phenol, dyes and sulfur containing compounds. An enhancement of more than two orders of magnitude in photocatalytic performances can be achieved for the BT/gamma-Bi2O3 photocatalyst than the single composite, which is possibly attributable to the co-sharing of Bi-O tetrahedra units for the composites in heterojunction structures to provide an atomic charge transferring pathway for facilitating the spatial charge separation. This work provides an effective strategy for rationally constructing charge separation and transfer pathway in semiconductor-based photocatalysts for solar energy conversion.

Titanium dioxide (TiO

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting for renewable hydrogen production has been regarded as a promising solution to utilize solar energy. However, most photoelectrodes still suffer from poor film quality and poor charge separation properties, mainly owing to the possible formation of detrimental defects including microcracks and grain boundaries. Herein, a molecular coordination engineering strategy is developed by employing acetylacetone (Acac) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) dual ligands to regulate the nucleation and crystal growth of the lead chromate (PbCrO

Exploring desirable nanomaterials as the new building blocks to construct energy conversion assemblies opens up new ways to utilize renewable sources for energy sustainability. Halide perovskites have already received extraordinary attention from research community due to their unique photophysical properties, making them promising candidates for application in various fields like photovoltaic, photoelectric devices. Specifically, the tunable band structures, superior light harvesting and photoexcited charge properties of halide perovskites endow them the possibilities for light emission and photocatalytic solar‐to‐chemical energy conversion. Herein, we open this review by introducing the fundamentals of halide perovskites, including their chemical composition, crystalline structure, electronic structure, photoelectronic properties, and potential applications. Then, the unique features of halide perovskites such as flexibility (adjustability of composition and structure) and defect tolerance are discussed. After that, we focus on the energy‐related applications of halide perovskites including light emission and artificial photosynthesis, followed by the challenges for halide perovskites in practical application, and finally the development promise of halide perovskites in energy conversion is prospected.

Dispersing metal subnano-clusters on the oxide supports is attracting close attention in heterogeneous catalysis, but great challenges still lie in controlling the size and dispersion of subnano-clusters due to the inevitable agglomeration. Here, we propose a sequential photochemical deposition strategy named “first store, and then release” to uniformly fabricate the size-controlling noble metal subnano-clusters on semiconductor oxides. Using the typical semiconductor TiO2, the photoexcited electrons can be first stored as reduced species (e.g. Ti3+) under irradiation and the Ti3+ species can optimize both the nucleation and growth processes in dark reaction, resulting in a uniform dispersing of various noble metals (Au, Pt, Ag etc.) with size diameters of ~1 nm. The subnano-clusters catalysts exhibited superior performance in catalytic oxidation of HCHO compared with that of nanoparticles. This work brings a new and useful strategy to construct size-controlling noble metals on the oxide supports for heterogeneous catalysis and the related fields.

Extant giant pandas are divided into Sichuan and Qinling subspecies. The giant panda has many species-specific characteristics, including comparatively small organs for body size, small genitalia of male individuals, and low reproduction. Here, we report the most contiguous, high-quality chromosome-level genomes of two extant giant panda subspecies to date, with the first genome assembly of the Qinling subspecies. Compared with the previously assembled giant panda genomes based on short reads, our two assembled genomes increased contiguity over 200-fold at the contig level. Additional sequencing of 25 individuals dated the divergence of the Sichuan and Qinling subspecies into two distinct clusters from 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Comparative genomic analyses identified the loss of regulatory elements in the dachshund family transcription factor 2 (DACH2) gene and specific changes in the synaptotagmin 6 (SYT6) gene, which may be responsible for the reduced fertility of the giant panda. Positive selection analysis between the two subspecies indicated that the reproduction-associated IQ motif containing D (IQCD) gene may at least partly explain the different reproduction rates of the two subspecies. Furthermore, several genes in the Hippo pathway exhibited signs of rapid evolution with giant panda-specific variants and divergent regulatory elements, which may contribute to the reduced inner organ sizes of the giant panda.

Light-driven hydrogen production using semiconductor photocatalysts has gained much interest owing to their ability to store sunlight in the form of portable chemical fuel. The spatial separation of dual-cocatalysts onto different surfaces has been considered as a useful strategy for fabricating dynamic particulate photocatalysts to hinder charge recombination and reverse reactions. Herein, using one-dimensional (1D) semiconductors, CdSe nanorods as an example, we experimentally demonstrated that photogenerated electrons and holes can be effectively separated along different directions of a 1D semiconductor. Following this phenomenon, the reduction cocatalyst Pt and oxidation cocatalyst PdS were spatially deposited on different sites via an in situ photodeposition process, which drastically enhanced the photocatalytic activity for hydrogen production to more than 20 times, thus exhibiting an extremely high apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of ∼45% at 420 nm. Further studies using photoluminescence spectroscopy indicated that the spatially separated dual-cocatalysts efficiently captured the photogenerated electrons and holes migrating to the surface, which greatly decreased the recombination of charge carriers and consequently led to superior photocatalytic performances. Our work provides an effective strategy for the rational construction of highly efficient photocatalyst systems based on (quasi) 1D semiconductors for artificial solar energy conversion.