Directly correlating the morphology and composition of interfacial water is vital not only for studying water icing under critical conditions but also for understanding the role of protein–water interactions in bio-relevant systems. In this study, we present a model system to study two-dimensional (2D) water layers under ambient conditions by using self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) supporting the physisorption of the Cytochrome C (Cyt C) protein layer. We observed that the 2D island-like water layers were uniformly distributed on the SAMs as characterized by atomic force microscopy, and their composition was confirmed by nano-atomic force microscopy-infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. In addition, these 2D flakes could grow under high-humidity conditions or melt upon the introduction of a heat source. The formation of these flakes is attributed to the activation energy for water desorption from the Cyt C being nearly twofold high than that from the SAMs. Our results provide a new and effective method for further understanding the water–protein interactions.

Photocatalytic seawater splitting is an attractive way for producing green hydrogen. Significant progresses have been made recently in catalytic efficiencies, but the activity of catalysts can only maintain stable for about 10 h. Here, we develop a vacancy-engineered Ag₃PO₄/CdS porous microreactor chip photocatalyst, operating in seawater with a performance stability exceeding 300 h. This is achieved by the establishment of both catalytic selectivity for impurity ions and tailored interactions between vacancies and sulfur species. Efficient transport of carriers with strong redox ability is ensured by forming a heterojunction within a space charge region, where the visualization of potential distribution confirms the key design concept of our chip. Moreover, the separation of oxidation and reduction reactions in space inhibits the reverse recombination, making the chip capable of working at atmospheric pressure. Consequently, in the presence of Pt co-catalysts, a high solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 0.81% can be achieved in the whole durability test. When using a fully solar-driven 256 cm² hydrogen production prototype, a H₂ evolution rate of 68.01 mmol h⁻¹ m⁻² can be achieved under outdoor insolation. Our findings provide a novel approach to achieve high selectivity, and demonstrate an efficient and scalable prototype suitable for practical solar H₂ production.

The state-of-the-art anion-exchange membrane water electrolyzers (AEMWEs) require highly stable electrodes for prolonged operation. The stability of the electrode is closely linked to the effective evacuation of H₂ or O₂ gas generated from electrode surface during the electrolysis. In this study, we prepared a super-hydrophilic electrode by depositing porous nickel–iron nanoparticles on annealed TiO₂ nanotubes (NiFe/ATNT) for rapid outgassing of such nonpolar gases. The super-hydrophilic NiFe/ATNT electrode exhibited an overpotential of 235 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² for oxygen evolution reaction in 1.0 M KOH solution, and was utilized as the anode in the AEMWE to achieve a current density of 1.67 A cm⁻² at 1.80 V. In addition, the AEMWE with NiFe/ATNT electrode, which enables effective outgassing, showed record stability for 1500 h at 0.50 A cm⁻² under harsh temperature conditions of 80 ± 3 °C.

scLT-kit automates barcode-quality check, fate metrics & clone-transcriptome mapping, revealing normal vs. drugged cell dynamics across hematopoiesis, C. elegans, and cancer

Survey dissects 5 LLM text-privacy threats in train/inference plus 3 app-centric gaps, urging native safeguards before real-world rollout

Researchers lift FSS from unary to multivariate: two-layer OT-linked binary trees shrink distributed comparison function key size from O(λn²) to O(λn)