EurekAlert! China News - News Releases from China

News from China

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 10-Apr-2026 04:15 ET (10-Apr-2026 08:15 GMT/UTC)

Scientists engineer smarter biochar to boost wastewater cleanup efficiency

Biochar Editorial Office, Shenyang Agricultural University

A newly engineered biochar material could offer a powerful and low-cost way to remove toxic pollutants from wastewater, according to a new study published in Biochar. By combining simple chemicals during production, researchers created a material that dramatically improves the performance of advanced oxidation processes widely used in water treatment.

Journal: Biochar

Biochar and microbes team up to rebuild soil health and cut greenhouse gases

Biochar Editorial Office, Shenyang Agricultural University

As global agriculture struggles to feed a growing population, soils are under increasing pressure. Heavy fertilizer use has degraded soil quality, disrupted microbial ecosystems, and increased greenhouse gas emissions. Now, a new review highlights a promising solution rooted beneath our feet: the powerful partnership between biochar, soil microbes, and plant systems.

Journal: Biochar

Magnetic biochar nanocomposite rapidly removes antibiotic pollution from wastewater

Biochar Editorial Office, Shenyang Agricultural University

Antibiotic contamination in water is a growing global concern, threatening ecosystems and human health. Now, researchers have developed a novel biochar-based nanocomposite that can efficiently remove the widely used antibiotic tetracycline from wastewater using a combination of adsorption and light-driven degradation.

Journal: Biochar

Rewetting peatlands plus biochar could turn major carbon sources into climate solutions

Biochar Editorial Office, Shenyang Agricultural University

A new study shows that combining water management with biochar application could transform drained agricultural peatlands from greenhouse gas emitters into powerful carbon sinks, offering a promising pathway for climate change mitigation.

Journal: Biochar

Biomass-derived biochar catalyst offers low-cost alternative to platinum for clean energy technologies

Biochar Editorial Office, Shenyang Agricultural University

A new study reports a breakthrough in sustainable energy materials by transforming biomass into a high-performance catalyst that could replace expensive platinum in fuel cells and metal-air batteries.

Journal: Biochar

Turning waste into a solution: Biochar shows promise for cleaning uranium-contaminated water and soil

Biochar Editorial Office, Shenyang Agricultural University

Uranium contamination is an urgent environmental challenge with serious implications for ecosystems and human health. A new review highlights how biochar, a carbon-rich material made from waste biomass, could offer a sustainable and cost-effective solution for removing uranium from polluted water and soil.

Journal: Biochar

Vine tea genome unlocks a valuable antioxidant

Nanjing Agricultural University The Academy of Science

A research team has uncovered the genomic basis behind why some vine tea varieties accumulate far more dihydromyricetin than others.

Journal: Horticulture Research

AI-powered plastic waste management: A smart path to zero-waste cities

Higher Education Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

This study developed and validated an AI-driven, transferable city-scale assessment framework for municipal living plastic waste. By aligning life-cycle environmental accounting with process-based costs and benefits within a unified boundary, the approach provides robust support for forecasting and elastic dispatch.

Journal: Engineering

Chiral iron single-atom nanozymes for enhanced photothermal chemodynamic cancer therapy

Tsinghua University Press

Chiral nanomaterials have great potential for enhancing clinical therapeutic efficacy, attributed to the distinctive chiral selectivity in biosystems. Herein, we designed chiral iron single-atom nanoenzymes (L/D-Cys@SAFe/NC) that exhibit remarkable tumor microenvironment-triggered catalytic therapeutic activity, by simultaneously depleting GSH and generating potent reactive oxygen species in cancer cells. Under laser irradiation, they displays photothermal-enhanced catalytic activities. The study of L/D-Cys@SAFe/NC on cancer cells shows that D-Cys@SAFe/NC exhibits stronger cytotoxicity than L-Cys@SAFe/NC due to the stronger internalization ability, also supported by the higher efficiency of cancer therapy of D-Cys@SAFe/NC in vivo. This research demonstrates that the chirality of the surface ligand of the nanomaterials could exert a substantial impact on their efficacy in treating cancer, which opens a novel way for the advancement of anticancer nanomedicine

Journal: Nano Research

Laser-stepwise-induced graphene enables tunable electromagnetic shielding with remarkably low sheet resistance

Tsinghua University Press

Researchers from Wuhan University of Technology have developed a laser-stepwise-induced graphene (LSIG) method that significantly lowers sheet resistance to just 15 Ω sq^-1. By combining focused and defocused laser pulses, this technique reduces structural defects and improves crystallinity in laser-induced graphene, enabling advanced applications in electromagnetic shielding and infrared stealth.

Journal: Nano Research

1
2
3