Shanghai Institute of Technology

Li K., Liang M., Wang H., Wang X., Huang Y., Coelho J., Pinilla S., Zhang Y., Qi F., Nicolosi V., Xu Y.

Rao L., Wang L., Yang C., Zhang R., Zhang J., Liang C., Che R.

Liu Y., Lee J.M., Lee C.

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a pandemic. As the evolution and implications of the COVID-19 crisis are still unfolding, we posit that exploring the experiences and strategic responses of Asian countries may shed light on ways to combat COVID-19 for the rest of the world. In this paper, we first articulate the importance of resilience, strategic agility, and entrepreneurship in the context of the fight against COVID-19. Then, with the focus on China, South Korea, and Singapore, we discuss the impact COVID-19 is having on economies and businesses, governmental support for businesses and societies, and implications for global supply chain disruptions. We hope that the global health system will recover quickly, and that the world economy will be revitalized with the contributions and collaboration of science (including social science), industry, and governments.

Wang J., Feng T., Chen J., Ramalingam V., Li Z., Kabtamu D.M., He J., Fang X.

Ammonia (NH 3 ) is attracted as a potential carbon free energy carrier and as important feedstock for most of the fertilizers, chemicals, pharmaceutical related products. NH 3 is industrially produced by conventional Haber–Bosch process under harsh experimental conditions (high temperature and high pressure), and this process requires high-energy consumption and produces large amount of CO 2 emissions into the atmosphere. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop an alternative and sustainable route for NH 3 production under ambient conditions. Recently, electrocatalytic N 2 reduction to NH 3 production has attracted as a potential approach, but achieving high NH 3 yield and Faradaic efficiency, and avoiding competitive hydrogen-evolution reaction (HER) are still challenging. Nitrate/nitrite (NO 3 − /NO 2 − ) is the widely reported contaminant for eutrophication and carcinogens, which can be utilized as a nitrogen resource for electrocatalytic NO 3 − /NO 2 − reduction to NH 3 (NRA) via eight/six-electron transfer process. Unfortunately, electrocatalytic NRA using metal nanomaterials are rarely investigated. In this review, we discuss the electrocatalytic NRA performance containing reactivity, selectivity, Faradaic efficiency and cycling stability of metal nanocatalysts, bio-inspired metalloenzymes and bioelectrochemical system. After this overview, we investigate the key factors, rate-determining step and the reaction mechanism that controlling the NRA performance. Finally, we summarize the challenges and future pathways guiding the design of effective nanomaterials and reaction systems to promote the industrial application of electrocatalytic NRA. This paper comprehensively reviews electrocatalytic NRA performance of the metal nanomaterials, bio-inspired metalloenzymes and bioelectrochemical systems. An insight into the rate-determining step and reaction mechanism of NRA process is summarized. The challenges and perspectives are put forward for the future design and application of advanced electrocatalytic NRA systems under low-temperature conditions. • This review summarizes the recent advances in electrocatalytic NRA. • The strategies for NH 3 yield and Faradic efficiency improvement are discussed. • Key factors and fundamental mechanisms of NRA are described. • Challenges and future pathways of NRA are summarized.

Li X., Chen Y., Tao Y., Shen L., Xu Z., Bian Z., Li H.

The photocatalysis process comprises both the catalytic steps, such as diffusion, adsorption, surface reaction, and desorption, and the photoelectric conversion steps, including light harvesting, semiconductor excitation, photo-charge migration, and photoelectron-hole separation. The strategic development of efficient photocatalysts and photocatalytic reaction technologies is crucial for coping with the challenges of photocatalysis in practical applications. First, photocatalytic performance greatly depends on the physical and chemical properties of the photocatalyst, such as light absorbance, excitation, photocarrier recombination, instinct activity, molecule adsorption, and activation. Meanwhile, optimizing the photocatalytic reaction process can also improve the photocatalytic efficiency by inhibiting photoelectron-hole recombination, diminishing the secondary pollution from by-products, and avoiding poisoning deactivation. Herein, we outline the recent achievements in photocatalysis development and application. Photocatalysis has received increasing attention owing to its potential application in the fields of environment, energy, photosynthesis, medicine, and health. The practical application of photocatalysis is still limited by the low photocatalytic efficiency and poor stability. By means of the comprehensive study of the fundamentals of photocatalysis, this review summarizes recent developments in improving photocatalytic efficiency by designing new photocatalysts and optimizing reaction processes to promote light absorption and utilization, inhibit photoelectron-hole recombination, enhance instinct activity, and diminish poisoning deactivation. Some representative powerful photocatalysts have been designed by composition adjusting, morphology and structure tailoring, pore-channel engineering, surface chemistry modifying, etc. Meanwhile, the reaction process can also be optimized by coupling photocatalysis with other advanced oxidation technology. The strategic development of efficient photocatalysts and photocatalytic reaction technologies is crucial for coping with the challenges of photocatalysis in practical applications. Optimizing the photocatalytic reaction process can also improve the photocatalytic efficiency by inhibiting photoelectron-hole recombination, diminishing secondary pollution from by-products, and avoiding poisoning deactivation. Herein, we outline the recent achievements in photocatalysis development and application.

Xiong L., Zhang X., Chen L., Deng Z., Han S., Chen Y., Zhong J., Sun H., Lian Y., Yang B., Yuan X., Yu H., Liu Y., Yang X., Guo J., et. al.

The electroreduction of carbon dioxide (CO2RR) to CH4 stands as one of the promising paths for resourceful CO2 utilization in meeting the imminent “carbon-neutral” goal of the near future. Yet, limited success has been witnessed in the development of high-efficiency catalysts imparting satisfactory methane selectivity at a commercially viable current density. Herein, a unique category of CO2RR catalysts is fabricated with the yolk–shell nanocell structure, comprising an Ag core and a Cu2O shell that resembles the tandem nanoreactor. By fixing the Ag core and tuning the Cu2O envelope size, the CO flux arriving at the oxide-derived Cu shell can be regulated, which further modulates the *CO coverage and *H adsorption at the Cu surface, consequently steering the CO2RR pathway. Density functional theory simulations show that lower CO coverage favors methane formation via stabilizing the intermediate *CHO. As a result, the best catalyst in the flow cell shows a high CH4 Faraday efficiency of 74 ± 2% and partial current density of 178 ± 5 mA cm−2 at −1.2 VRHE, ranking above the state-of-the-art catalysts reported today for methane production. These findings mark the significance of precision synthesis in tailoring the catalyst geometry for achieving desired CO2RR performance.

Wu Q., Hu W., Wang H., Liu P., Wang X., Huang B.

Identification and quantification of the distribution, ecological risk, and sources of heavy metals in soils are essential for regional pollution control and management. In this study, spatial analysis (SA), GeogDetector model (GDM), and positive matrix factorization (PMF) model were combined to evaluate the status, ecological risk, and sources of heavy metals in soils from a typical coastal economic development area in Southeastern China. The mean contents of Cd, Pb, Cr, Cu, and Zn in the surface soils (0–20 cm) were 0.45, 41.72, 90.50, 47.86, and 145.33 mg/kg, respectively. In accordance, the mean contents of Cd exceeded the risk screening value for contamination of agricultural soil in China. Our results revealed that industrial and residential soils had higher enrichment of heavy metals than agricultural and fallow soils. Industrial production was the major driving factors influencing the spatial distribution of heavy metals. Soil OM and pH were found to be the most important factors affecting the potential ecological risk of heavy metals, followed by distance from the industrial enterprises and roads. Heavy metals in the study area were mainly originated from industrial emissions/atmospheric deposition, agricultural sources, and followed by natural sources. Therefore, regular monitoring and source control for heavy metals, especially for Cd, along with the integrated soil environmental management in the study area are crucial to ensure soil health and ecosystem security. • Integration of SA, GeogDetector, and PMF models to identify the risk and source of heavy metals. • Cd was the most prevalent contaminant in soils among all the studied heavy metals. • Industrial activities are the main driving factors influencing heavy metal spatial variation. • Environmental factors are associated with the potential ecological risk of heavy metals. • Integrated management should be implemented to mitigate heavy metal pollution.

Li J., Gao K., Bian M., Ding H.

Recent developments of strategies on the construction of cyclobutanes and their application in complex natural product synthesis are discussed.

Xu Z., Liu Y., Yen N.Y., Mei L., Luo X., Wei X., Hu C.

Crowdsourcing is a process of acquisition, integration, and analysis of big and heterogeneous data generated by a diversity of sources in urban spaces, such as sensors, devices, vehicles, buildings, and human. Especially, nowadays, no countries, no communities, and no person are immune to urban emergency events. Detection about urban emergency events, e.g., fires, storms, traffic jams is of great importance to protect the security of humans. Recently, social media feeds are rapidly emerging as a novel platform for providing and dissemination of information that is often geographic. The content from social media usually includes references to urban emergency events occurring at, or affecting specific locations. In this paper, in order to detect and describe the real time urban emergency event, the 5W (What, Where, When, Who, and Why) model is proposed. Firstly, users of social media are set as the target of crowd sourcing. Secondly, the spatial and temporal information from the social media are extracted to detect the real time event. Thirdly, a GIS based annotation of the detected urban emergency event is shown. The proposed method is evaluated with extensive case studies based on real urban emergency events. The results show the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method.

Zhang D., Liu Y., Wu L., Feng L., Jin S., Zhang R., Jin M.

The effects of various Ti concentrations doping on the electrochemical properties of LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 (NCM 811) sample were systematically studied. The XRD, EDS and XPS analyses indicated that the Ti-ion was substituted the occupied sites of Li and transition metal on the crystal structure. It also led to the increase of lithium interlayer spacing and the decrease of transition metal interlayer slab. The secondary particle size distribution of the 0.005 mol Ti-doped in LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 approximated to normal distribution. It showed multi-layer performance with high capacity (214.9 mAh g−1 at 0.1C), good rate performance (165.02 mAh g−1 at 1 C, 136.9 mAh g−1 at 5 C) and more excellent cyclic stability (77.01% after 150 t h at 1 C and 86.54% after 50 t h at 5 C). TEM studies revealed that the structural degradation on NCM 811 primary nano-particle could be effectively suppressed by the effect of Ti ions doped. The results demonstrated that doping of Ti content had superior advantages for LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 cathodes.