News from China
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 21-Sep-2025 04:11 ET (21-Sep-2025 08:11 GMT/UTC)
Spectral and machine learning approach enhances efficiency of grape embryo rescue
Nanjing Agricultural University The Academy of ScienceA research team has unveiled a non-destructive, highly accurate approach for determining the optimal timing of embryo rescue sampling.
- Journal
- Plant Phenomics
Mining iron from stainless steel pickling wastewater to produce quasi-MIL-100(Fe) for boosted photocatalytic peroxymonosulfate activation
Tsinghua University PressResource recovery for the preparation of high-value-added products represents a promising strategy for reducing pollution and carbon emissions. High-value-added MOFs can be synthesized by adding organic ligands to stainless steel pickling wastewater, which can solve the discharge of hazardous waste and is undoubtedly an important embodiment of the 3Rs principle (reduce, reuse, recycle). By this method, 88.98% cost and 94.14% of energy consumption can be saved relative to traditional synthesis method. Moreover, the obtained materials achieved excellent removal efficiency of refractory organic pollutants by modification. This work not only provides a new idea for the recycling of industrial wastewater, but also lays the foundation for the low-cost and large-scale production of environmentally functional materials, which realizes the dual goals of pollution control and resource recovery.
- Journal
- Nano Research
Tunable built-in electric field of homologous heterojunction regulated by nitrogen doped carbon to enhance water splitting
Tsinghua University PressAs the world transitions to clean energy, hydrogen produced via water electrolysis offers a sustainable solution. However, sluggish reaction kinetics and catalyst instability under alkaline conditions hinder large-scale adoption. A breakthrough by researchers at China University of Petroleum, Beijing, introduces a nitrogen-doped carbon (NC)-enhanced homologous heterojunction (Ni3S2-MoS2/NC) that overcomes these limitations. By optimizing the built-in electric field (BEF) strength, the catalyst achieves record-low overpotentials and long-term stability in alkaline environments. This work demonstrates how strategic electronic engineering can unlock the full potential of heterostructures for green hydrogen production.
- Journal
- Nano Research
AI-driven Plant-MAE boosts 3D plant phenotyping with self-supervised learning
Nanjing Agricultural University The Academy of ScienceA research team introduces Plant-MAE, a self-supervised learning framework designed to automate 3D segmentation of plant organs from point cloud data.
- Journal
- Plant Phenomics
Microneedle electrodes for collecting bioelectrical signals: from a materials science perspective
Tsinghua University PressBioelectrical signals (including EEG, EMG, and ECG signals) have been widely applied in health monitoring, disease treatment, wearable devices, myoelectric exoskeletons, brain-machine interfaces, and other fields. Microneedle electrodes penetrate the stratum corneum, effectively reducing the impedance at the electrode-skin interface without the need for conductive gel, thus meeting the requirements for long-term and high-precision measurements. This review comprehensively summarizes the electrode materials, fabrication methods, performance evaluation, and applications of microneedle electrodes for bioelectrical signal acquisition. It particularly emphasizes the development of materials used to fabricate microneedle electrodes. Furthermore, we discuss the challenges related to material selection and performance testing, and provide insights into the future trends in this field.
- Journal
- Nano Research
Plasma treatment unlocks ultra-sensitive, metal-free, reusable sensors based on graphene-MoS₂
Tsinghua University PressA research team from Tsinghua University has developed a novel, metal-free, reusable surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensing platform using a graphene-MoS2 heterostructure enhanced by oxygen plasma treatment. This innovative approach overcomes the limitations of traditional SERS sensors, achieving detection limits comparable to costly metal-based sensors.
- Journal
- Nano Research
Mitochondria replenishment enhances senescent periodontal ligament stem cell osteogenesis and facilitates bone repair
Tsinghua University PressAging leads to mitochondrial dysfunction in periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs), significantly impairing their osteogenic capacity—a critical barrier to bone regeneration in elderly populations. Researchers from Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Peking University demonstrated that replenishing aged PDLSCs with functional mitochondria from young counterparts restores mitochondrial integrity, reduces oxidative stress, and reactivates osteogenic capacity. This breakthrough, mediated by the AKAP1/cAMP/PKA signaling pathway, highlights mitochondrial replenishment as a promising therapeutic strategy for age-related bone defects and broader regenerative medicine applications.
- Journal
- Nano Research
Transition/rare earth metal co-modified SiC for low-frequency and high-temperature electromagnetic response
Tsinghua University PressPeer-Reviewed Publication
Low-frequency electromagnetic response in microwave technology exhibits unprecedented demand, benefiting applications such as 5G communications, Wi-Fi, and radar systems. To date, the purest low-frequency response materials are induced by magnetic metals. However, magnetic metals will demagnetize at high temperatures and cannot serve in high-temperature environments. Here, we introduced a SiC/CoSi/CeSi composite co-modified with transition metal Co and rare earth metal Ce, achieving a 14-fold increase in reflection loss (RL) from -4.74 dB to -66.48 dB. The effective absorption bandwidth (EAB, RL≤-10 dB) is 2.46 GHz. With the SiC/CoSi/CeSi composite, the effective absorption frequency is shifted to the low-frequency band (3.65 GHz), and the high-temperature stability (500 °C) is maintained, inheriting 94.5% effective absorption. Radar cross-section (RCS) simulation further confirms the excellent stealth capability of the composite, reducing the target reflection intensity by 22.7 dB m2. Mechanism investigation indicates that the excellent EMW absorption performance of the composite is attributed to multiple reflections and scattering, conduction losses, abundant interface polarization, and good magnetic loss. This research supplies critical inspiration for developing efficient SiC-based absorbers with both low-frequency and high-temperature responses.
- Journal
- Journal of Advanced Ceramics
Harnessing non-matched illumination for dark-field-like contrast in live-cell imaging
Smart Computational Imaging Laboratory (SCILab), Nanjing University of Science and TechnologyPeer-Reviewed Publication
The geometry of standard multi-well cell culture plates restricts oblique illumination angles, preventing matched illumination condition required for accurate tomographic reconstruction. To overcome this limitation, researchers developed the DF-FPDT technique, which leverages non-matched illumination and harnesses it as an intrinsic mechanism for dark-field-like contrast enhancement. By selectively updating high-frequency components using Phase Transfer Function (PTF) filtering, DF-FPDT effectively addresses low-frequency loss, enabling high-resolution, high-contrast live-cell imaging and dynamic screening, making DF-FPDT a powerful tool for biomedical research under realistic laboratory conditions.