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| Open AccessCatalytic ozonation mechanism over M1-N3C1 active sites
Understanding the atomic-level structure-activity relationship in catalytic ozonation is crucial. Here, the authors reveal single-metal-atom-dependent catalytic ozonation and identify surface atomic oxygen reactivity as a descriptor in this relationship.
- Dingren Ma
- , Qiyu Lian
- & Jiaguo Yu
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Article
| Open AccessMortality risks from a spectrum of causes associated with sand and dust storms in China
Sand and dust storms pose considerable health risks worldwide. Here, the authors conduct a nationwide multicenter time-series study to examine sand and dust storm-associated mortality risks.
- Can Zhang
- , Meilin Yan
- & Tiantian Li
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Article
| Open AccessCircular wood use can accelerate global decarbonisation but requires cross-sectoral coordination
Cascading and especially circular wood uses enhance climate-change mitigation achieved by forestry. In combination, these measures could cumulatively mitigate 258.8 million tonnes CO2e by 2050 in the UK but implementation barriers must be overcome.
- Eilidh J. Forster
- , John R. Healey
- & David Styles
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Article
| Open AccessDirect biological fixation provides a freshwater sink for N2O
Denitrification is still widely considered as the only natural sink for N2O here we show how direct biological fixation represents an alternative sink for this potent climate gas.
- Yueyue Si
- , Yizhu Zhu
- & Mark Trimmer
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Article
| Open AccessDissolved organic matter thiol concentrations determine methylmercury bioavailability across the terrestrial-marine aquatic continuum
Methylmercury is a strong neurotoxin that accumulates in aquatic biota. Here, the authors demonstrate that the concentration of thiol compounds associated with dissolved organic matter controls the bioavailability of methylmercury in aquatic systems
- Emily Seelen
- , Van Liem-Nguyen
- & Erik Björn
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Article
| Open AccessEnhanced and synergistic catalytic activation by photoexcitation driven S−scheme heterojunction hydrogel interface electric field
The regulation of heterogeneous material properties to enhance the peroxymonosulfate activation remains a challenge. Here, authors synthesize S−scheme heterojunction PBA/MoS2@chitosan hydrogel to achieve photoexcitation synergistic peroxymonosulfate activation driven by interface electric field.
- Aiwen Wang
- , Meng Du
- & Wei Wang
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Article
| Open AccessPatterns and drivers of evapotranspiration in South American wetlands
Wetlands can affect regional climate by altering surface-atmosphere interactions. This paper investigates drivers and patterns of evapotranspiration in South American wetlands, from the Amazon floodplains to the large Pantanal system.
- Ayan Santos Fleischmann
- , Leonardo Laipelt
- & Anderson Ruhoff
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Article
| Open AccessUnveiling the spatially confined oxidation processes in reactive electrochemical membranes
Understanding oxidation processes in reactive electrochemical membranes is essential for addressing environmental concerns. The authors highlight that microchannel pore size can profoundly impact not only the reaction kinetics but also the electron transfer pathways.
- Yuyang Kang
- , Zhenao Gu
- & Jiuhui Qu
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Article
| Open AccessMolecular imprinting-based indirect fluorescence detection strategy implemented on paper chip for non-fluorescent microcystin
Fluorescence analysis is a fast and sensitive method for the trace detection of environmental toxins, but it remains challenging to develop a fluorescence method for detecting nonfluorescent toxins. Here, the authors report an indirect fluorescent sensing strategy for the rapid, selective and sensitive detection of the non-fluorescent microcystin as a model target.
- Bowei Li
- , Ji Qi
- & Lingxin Chen
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Article
| Open AccessControls of thermal response of temperate lakes to atmospheric warming
This study shows that lake heating in response to atmospheric warming slows as surface waters warm and evaporate. Lake sensitivity to warming air is higher in clear, cold, undisturbed, or elevated lakes, but declines when land-use practices fertilize basins.
- Jian Zhou
- , Peter R. Leavitt
- & Boqiang Qin
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Article
| Open AccessAchieving health-oriented air pollution control requires integrating unequal toxicities of industrial particles
Health-oriented emissions reduction in China focusing on the iron and steel industry can reduce costs by 1.56 billion dollars while lowering the population-weighted toxic potency-adjusted exposure risk.
- Di Wu
- , Haotian Zheng
- & Jiming Hao
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Article
| Open AccessChar dominates black carbon aerosol emission and its historic reduction in China
Black carbon (BC) is distinguished into two parts (char vs soot) in emission sources and inventories, char is revealed as the core component of China’s historical emissions and the optimal target for future BC reductions.
- Junjie Cai
- , Hongxing Jiang
- & Gan Zhang
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Article
| Open AccessImproved human greenspace exposure equality during 21st century urbanization
A study of 1,028 global cities from 2000-2018 shows increased human exposure to greenspace, reducing greenspace inequality. Notably, cities in the Global South improved nearly four times faster than those in the Global North. These insights can guide city greening strategies.
- Shengbiao Wu
- , Bin Chen
- & Peng Gong
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Article
| Open AccessIntegrated urban water management by coupling iron salt production and application with biogas upgrading
Effective urban water management requires technological solutions that enable system-wide gains via a holistic approach. Here, authors propose an integrated system where an iron-oxidising electrochemical cell upgrades biogas while producing FeCO3 and subsequently uses the salt in wastewater treatment.
- Zhetai Hu
- , Lanqing Li
- & Zhiguo Yuan
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Article
| Open AccessHigh-temperature electrothermal remediation of multi-pollutants in soil
Soil contamination is a pressing environmental concern due to increasing anthropogenic activity. Here, the authors developed a rapid and energy-efficient electrothermal process that simultaneously removes heavy metals and organic pollutants in soil.
- Bing Deng
- , Robert A. Carter
- & James M. Tour
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Article
| Open AccessOver 200,000 kilometers of free-flowing river habitat in Europe is altered due to impoundments
European rivers have over a million barriers hindering aquatic species migration and altering freshwater habitats. This study quantifies the spatial extent of upstream fish habitat alteration caused by physical blockage and shows that impoundments have altered 10% or 200,000 km of free-flowing river habitat in Europe.
- Piotr Parasiewicz
- , Kamila Belka
- & Wiesław Wiśniewolski
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Article
| Open AccessRebound effects undermine carbon footprint reduction potential of autonomous electric vehicles
Autonomous electric vehicles reduce operational emissions but increase manufacturing emissions due to rebound effects. Recycling helps, but their full life cycle emits 8% more greenhouse gases. Embrace renewable energy, circular economy, cleaner manufacturing, and improved efficiency.
- Nuri C. Onat
- , Jafar Mandouri
- & Abdel Magid Hamouda
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Article
| Open AccessCosts and health benefits of the rural energy transition to carbon neutrality in China
Electric cooking and air-to-air heat pump adoption in China advances carbon neutrality and the rural energy transition, with the transformation costs offset by monetized health benefits in most provinces.
- Teng Ma
- , Silu Zhang
- & Yang Xie
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Article
| Open AccessReducing risks of antibiotics to crop production requires land system intensification within thresholds
Crop intensification has increased agricultural production albeit with an increase in field antibiotic pollution. Here, Chen et al. project how antibiotic pollution undermines production and how intensification needs to be kept below a threshold.
- Fangkai Zhao
- , Lei Yang
- & Liding Chen
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Article
| Open AccessRegionally sourced bioaerosols drive high-temperature ice nucleating particles in the Arctic
Primary bioaerosols, important for clouds and climate, were measured at an Arctic mountain site and traced to regional sources. Their seasonality was observed to peak in summer, where they significantly contribute to high-temperature ice nucleating particles.
- Gabriel Pereira Freitas
- , Kouji Adachi
- & Paul Zieger
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Article
| Open AccessHydrolase mimic via second coordination sphere engineering in metal-organic frameworks for environmental remediation
Enzymatic degradation of pollutants under mild conditions is promising for efficient degradation of environmental contaminants under facile operation conditions, but natural enzymes tend to lose enzymatic activity in environmental application scenarios. Here, the authors report a metal-organic frameworks-based artificial enzyme system to achieve high hydrolytic activity under mild conditions.
- Xin Yuan
- , Xiaoling Wu
- & Wenyong Lou
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Article
| Open AccessRiver interlinking alters land-atmosphere feedback and changes the Indian summer monsoon
Connecting river basins using canals and reservoirs can improve water security but can also perturb land-atmosphere feedbacks. This paper analyzes India’s river-interlinking projects and finds that such projects can affect the monsoon rainfall.
- Tejasvi Chauhan
- , Anjana Devanand
- & Subimal Ghosh
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Article
| Open AccessCausal inference from cross-sectional earth system data with geographical convergent cross mapping
Temporal causation models perform poorly in causal inference for variables with limited temporal variations. This paper establishes a causal inference model, which can reveal the nonlinear complex casual associations based on cross-sectional Earth System data.
- Bingbo Gao
- , Jianyu Yang
- & Jinfeng Wang
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Article
| Open AccessAir quality related equity implications of U.S. decarbonization policy
U.S. federal climate policies can reduce air pollutant emissions and associated health impacts from fine particulate matter. However, near-term CO2 reductions alone are insufficient to address racial/ethnic disparities in pollution exposure.
- Paul Picciano
- , Minghao Qiu
- & Noelle E. Selin
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Article
| Open AccessGlobal mean nitrogen recovery efficiency in croplands can be enhanced by optimal nutrient, crop and soil management practices
Enhancing nitrogen use efficiency can improve global food production while minimizing environmental damage. Here, the authors combine 29 meta-analyses revealing that tailored practices based on local conditions can boost NUEr by 30% with variation between high- and middle-income regions.
- Luncheng You
- , Gerard H. Ros
- & Wim de Vries
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Article
| Open AccessDrought as a possible contributor to the Visigothic Kingdom crisis and Islamic expansion in the Iberian Peninsula
Here, the authors compile pollen records from across Iberia and Morocco, comparing them with other paleohydrological and archaeological data, as well as historical sources. Using these data, they suggest that a series of strong droughts could have contributed to the decline of the Visigothic Kingdom and subsequent Islamic expansion.
- Jon Camuera
- , Francisco J. Jiménez-Espejo
- & Manuel Castro-Priego
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Comment
| Open AccessDrainage network response to Arctic warming
Rapid Arctic warming may increase erosion and stream channel formation, which alters the flux of sediments, carbon, and nutrients in these sensitive ecosystems. Yet, understanding landscape change is hampered by a lack of predictive tools applicable to permafrost settings.
- Joel C. Rowland
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Article
| Open AccessThe origin of suspended particulate matter in the Great Barrier Reef
This multidisciplinary fingerprinting study, using isotopic, structural and genetic fingerprints, has shown that the suspended particulate matter in the Great Barrier Reef does not have terrestrial origin but produced locally by marine phytoplankton
- Mohammad Bahadori
- , Chengrong Chen
- & Tom Stevens
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Article
| Open AccessGlobal land and water limits to electrolytic hydrogen production using wind and solar resources
This study composes a country-specific analysis of land and water requirements for electrolytic hydrogen production, revealing nations constrained in achieving self-sufficiency in hydrogen supply and nations who can become hydrogen exporters.
- Davide Tonelli
- , Lorenzo Rosa
- & Francesco Contino
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Article
| Open AccessBlack carbon scavenging by low-level Arctic clouds
Black carbon in the Arctic has pronounced climatic effects, whilst residing in the atmosphere or after being deposited. Here long-term observations of black carbon inside Arctic clouds are used to study their seasonality, sources and links to other meteorological parameters.
- Paul Zieger
- , Dominic Heslin-Rees
- & Radovan Krejci
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Matters Arising
| Open AccessUncertainty and bias in Liggio et al. (2019) on CO2 emissions from oil sands operations
- Long Fu
- & Allan H. Legge
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Article
| Open AccessProjecting the future incidence and burden of dengue in Southeast Asia
Climate change and other factors are expected to further drive global dengue spread. This study projects changes in future dengue incidence in Southeast Asia up to 2099, predicting a peak this century. Equatorial areas will see the biggest increases, Thailand and Cambodia will show the biggest decreases in incidence.
- Felipe J. Colón-González
- , Rory Gibb
- & Oliver J. Brady
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Article
| Open AccessReversal of trends in global fine particulate matter air pollution
Global fine particulate matter air pollution recently pivots from increase to decrease as inferred from satellite observations, driven by unprecedented exposure reduction in China and slowed exposure growth in South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
- Chi Li
- , Aaron van Donkelaar
- & Randall V. Martin
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Article
| Open AccessThe challenge of population aging for mitigating deaths from PM2.5 air pollution in China
Estimating health burden of air pollution against the background of population aging is of significance for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3.9. Here, the authors show that population aging is expected to be the leading contributor to increased deaths attributable to PM2.5 in China by 2035, which will counter the positive gains achieved by improvements in air pollution and healthcare.
- Fangjin Xu
- , Qingxu Huang
- & Brett A. Bryan
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Article
| Open AccessMimicking reductive dehalogenases for efficient electrocatalytic water dechlorination
Designing electrocatalysts for water treatment with high activity/selectivity as elaborately as natural enzymes remains a challenge. This work presents the design of electrocatalysts by mimicking the binding pocket configuration and active center of dehalogenases, achieving efficient water dechlorination.
- Yuan Min
- , Shu-Chuan Mei
- & Yujie Xiong
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Article
| Open AccessEfficient and selective capture of thorium ions by a covalent organic framework
Covalent organic frameworks are used in capture of radioactive ions but achieving high separation factors remains challenging. Here, the authors design an ionic COF its neutral non-ionic to better understand the role of different N sites on the selective capture of Th(IV) and report remarkable separation factors ranging from 102 to 105.
- Xiaojuan Liu
- , Feng Gao
- & Guoan Ye
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Article
| Open AccessEffects of drought and recovery on soil volatile organic compound fluxes in an experimental rainforest
Pugliese et al., show that severe drought and rewetting have a major impact on the capacity of rainforest soil to consume and emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs), affecting the atmospheric VOC budget and thereby atmospheric chemistry and climate.
- Giovanni Pugliese
- , Johannes Ingrisch
- & Jonathan Williams
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Article
| Open AccessRapid self-heating synthesis of Fe-based nanomaterial catalyst for advanced oxidation
There is an urgent need to develop efficient Fe-based catalysts for the organic pollutant degradation. Here, the authors develop an iron-based nanomaterial catalyst via flash joule heating. This catalyst exhibits strong energy efficient catalytic performance over a wide pH range and is potentially scalable.
- Fengbo Yu
- , Chao Jia
- & Xiangdong Zhu
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Article
| Open AccessMolecular rearrangement of bicyclic peroxy radicals is a key route to aerosol from aromatics
The oxidation of aromatics contributes significantly to the formation of atmospheric aerosol. Using toluene as an example the authors demonstrate a molecular rearrangement channel in the oxidation mechanism and show that the bicyclic peroxy radicals are much less stable than previously thought and can lead to aerosol-forming low-volatility products with up to 9 oxygen atoms on sub-second timescales
- Siddharth Iyer
- , Avinash Kumar
- & Matti Rissanen
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Article
| Open AccessThe Marginal Ice Zone as a dominant source region of atmospheric mercury during central Arctic summertime
Oceanic evasion, which mainly occurs in the Marginal Ice Zone, is the main cause of the summertime maximum of gaseous elemental mercury in the central Arctic Ocean
- Fange Yue
- , Hélène Angot
- & Zhouqing Xie
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Article
| Open AccessHeterogeneous effects of battery storage deployment strategies on decarbonization of provincial power systems in China
Heterogeneous battery strategy, with each province flexibly choosing different battery strategies, achieves the lowest power system costs. However, this non-uniform strategy only achieves the lowest CO2 emissions at extremely high carbon prices.
- Liqun Peng
- , Denise L. Mauzerall
- & Gang He
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Article
| Open AccessRiver export of macro- and microplastics to seas by sources worldwide
Modelling of riverine plastic exports finds microplastics dominate in areas with many sewage systems and macroplastics where waste is mismanaged. In some areas both plastics are important. Reduction at source is needed.
- Maryna Strokal
- , Paul Vriend
- & Tim van Emmerik
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Article
| Open AccessDirect sulfuric acid formation from the gas-phase oxidation of reduced-sulfur compounds
Experiments verify that oxidation of organic sulphur compounds, such as DMS, directly yields gas-phase H2SO4. Simulations reveal that this pathway can be competitive with SO2 oxidation over oceans in the Southern Hemisphere.
- Torsten Berndt
- , Erik H. Hoffmann
- & Hartmut Herrmann
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Article
| Open AccessBioinspired “cage traps” for closed-loop lead management of perovskite solar cells under real-world contamination assessment
Potential lead contamination risk and environmental vulnerability risk impose a significant obstacle for the commercialization of perovskite solar cells. Here, the authors create a biomimetic cage traps to mitigate lead leakage and establish a sustainable closed-loop lead management process.
- Huaiqing Luo
- , Pengwei Li
- & Yanlin Song
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Article
| Open AccessNear-term pathways for decarbonizing global concrete production
This work quantifies the climate benefits of efficiently utilizing concrete through improved material and structural design, and it shows that over 75% of CO2 emissions from global concrete production could be cut with already implementable measures
- Josefine A. Olsson
- , Sabbie A. Miller
- & Mark G. Alexander
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Article
| Open AccessWastewater-based epidemiology predicts COVID-19-induced weekly new hospital admissions in over 150 USA counties
Wastewater-based epidemiology is increasingly used to predict disease occurrence. Here, the authors use SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations in wastewater in machine learning models to predict COVID-19 related hospitalisation in the United States.
- Xuan Li
- , Huan Liu
- & Qilin Wang
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Article
| Open AccessCovalent organic frameworks for direct photosynthesis of hydrogen peroxide from water, air and sunlight
Solar-driven photosynthesis is a green and sustainable process for hydrogen peroxide production. Here the authors report that optimizing the intramolecular polarity of COFs can greatly boost H2O2 photosynthesis from water, air, and sunlight.
- Fuyang Liu
- , Peng Zhou
- & Jinren Ni
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Article
| Open AccessOptimal reactive nitrogen control pathways identified for cost-effective PM2.5 mitigation in Europe
Reactive nitrogen (Nr) contributes strongly to PM2.5 air pollution in Europe. Here, authors identify diverse Nr control pathways for Europe depending on emission and pollution formation and a priority of NH3 control when costs are considered.
- Zehui Liu
- , Harald E. Rieder
- & Lin Zhang
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Article
| Open AccessMass spectrometry imaging for biosolids characterization to assess ecological or health risks before reuse
Mass spectrometry imaging is a suitable tool for the analysis of non-cohesive materials. Here, authors show that it can be used to detect persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals (HMs) in biosolids using small amounts of material with speed and safety.
- Claire Villette
- , Loïc Maurer
- & Dimitri Heintz