Yichun Lu

Liquid crystal monomers (LCMs), critical substances of liquid crystal displays in consumer electronics, are persistent pollutants, posing potential threats to marine ecosystems. Despite their bioaccumulative potential, their occurrence and possible biological impacts on marine megafauna remain understudied. We investigated LCM occurrence in Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis) and finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides) collected from the South China Sea (2007-2021) and assessed their toxicity through in vitro assays using established dolphin cell lines. By employing robust source-tracing methodologies, we provide the first evidence that LCMs from household electronics and coastal e-waste accumulate in cetacean tissues, including blubber, muscle, and, critically, brain tissues, demonstrating blood-brain barrier penetration, a previously undocumented phenomenon of LCMs in mammalian wildlife. The temporal trend of LCM burden in porpoise blubber is correlated with shifts in global liquid crystal display production. Transcriptomic profiling revealed LCM-induced DNA damage, cell cycle arrest, and impaired cell division in cetacean cells. These findings suggest that LCMs may pose potential risks to the nervous system and other organs of marine mammals, warranting further investigation into their toxicological effects and possible implications for human health. By bridging critical gaps among everyday electronics, LCM contamination, and marine conservation, this study highlights the need for urgent regulatory actions and improved e-waste governance to mitigate ecological and public health risks.

A Pd nanocube-modified PHI composite was successfully fabricated via electrostatic self-assembly and effectively promoted the visible-light-driven hydrogenation of nitriles to primary amines.

Photocatalytic oxygen reduction to industrially valuable hydrogen peroxide (H ₂ O ₂ ) in the presence of water without sacrificial agents is highly desirable but challenging in the context of carbon neutrality. As a type of metal‐free photocatalysts, covalent triazine polymers (CTPs) have great potential in photocatalytic H ₂ O ₂ evolution. In this paper, a strategy is proposed by simultaneously introducing the pyrene (Py) and ether (Et) groups into covalent triazine polymers to fabricate CTP‐Py‐Et. The introduction of pyrene groups increases the material's overall conjugation degree, thereby enhancing visible light absorption. Meanwhile, the stronger electronic ability of the pyrene groups establishes more charge transfer channels through the electron push–pull effect, and more free charges can participate in the photocatalytic H ₂ O ₂ evolution from water and oxygen. The incorporation of ether groups enhances the migration efficiency of photogenerated charges and effectively boosts the selectivity of the photocatalytic one‐step two‐electron oxygen reduction. Compared with one‐component CTPs (CTP‐Py and CTP‐Et), CTP‐Py‐Et possesses an outstanding photocatalytic H ₂ O ₂ apparent quantum efficiency of 13.2% at 420 nm and an objective solar‐to‐chemical conversion (SCC) efficiency of 0.52% at 298 K. In certain instances, a high H ₂ O ₂ concentration (3.22 m m , 1 h) can be obtained through CTP‐Py‐Et, prominently surpassing many reported polymer‐based photocatalysts.

Biological denitrification is a key process for nitrogen removal in wastewater, enabling the conversion of nitrate (NO₃^-) to nitrogen gas (N₂). However, this process can be inhibited in the presence of aromatic substrates. Conventional advanced oxidation protocols involve the mineralization of aromatics, but the widespread adoption of such protocols is limited by high energy and chemical requirements. In this study, we present a novel electrochemical hydrogenation (ECH) protocol to transform bioinhibiting aromatics into bioavailable aliphatic products, thereby promoting biologically driven denitrification. A highly active carbon-supported ruthenium electrode was designed to convert various unsaturated, aromatic, and halogenated aromatic pollutants into aliphatic products, achieving conversion efficiencies of 66.0%-100%. After 5 day incubation, the saturated products enhanced the denitrification rate by up to 614.0%. The relative abundance of denitrifiers in the sequencing batch reactor landfill sludge increased, confirming that the aliphatic products from ECH treatment could enhance bioavailability. This work demonstrates the integration of electrochemical and biological catalysis, valorizing pollutants into biologically useful products that can improve denitrification, especially in existing high-organic-load wastewater treatment networks.

The green alga Scenedesmus is known for its phenotypic plasticity in response to grazing risk. However, the benefits of colony formation induced by infochemicals from zooplankton should come with costs. That is, a tradeoff in benefit-to-cost ratios is likely under complex environmental conditions. In this study, we hypothesized that the coexistence of Scenedesmus and its competitors decreases the formation of anti-grazer colonies in Scenedesmus. Results demonstrated that the presence of a competitor Microcystis aeruginosa inhibited inducible defensive colony formation of Scenedesmus obliquus and the established defensive colonies negatively affected the competitive ability of S. obliquus. The proportion of induced defensive colonies in cultures was dependent on the relative abundance of competitors. Under low competition intensity, large amount of eight-celled colonies were formed but at the cost of decreased competitive inhibition on M. aeruginosa. By contrast, defensive colony formation of S. obliquus slacked in the presence of high competition intensity to maintain a high displacement rate (competitive ability). In conclusion, S. obliquus exhibited different responses to potential grazing pressure under different intensities of competition, i.e., Scenedesmus morphological response to grazing infochemicals was affected by competition against Microcystis.