Strong Interaction Research Articles

Comprehensive analysis and implications of Veronica persica germination and growth traits in their invasion ecology

Invasive alien species implications in ecological threats are attributed to their unique characteristics that are linked to their invasion. Veronica persica (Plantaginaceae family) is an alien weed species in Egypt. Regardless of its widespread globally in various regions, the growth traits and behavior of V. persica remain poorly understood. The comprehensive analysis, reveals the optimal germination (Gmax) was detected at 10/20 °C, 15/20 °C, and 20/25 °C at the moderate temperature regimes. The rapid germination rate (G rate) peaked at 10/20 °C regime, with a rate of 0.376 per day. Furthermore, under stress conditions, V. persica has 50% germination inhibition (G50) and 50% of growth inhibition occurred at − 0.91 MPa and 0.75 MPa of osmotic pressure and 3225.81 ppm and 2677.1 ppm of salt stress (NaCl) respectively. The germination ranged from 6 to 9 pH, with the highest germination percentage occurring at a pH of 7 & 8, reaching 88.75% compared to the control group. There is a strong interaction effect between habitats and plant stages, the plant stages and habitats have significant effects (p ≤ 0.00) on V. persica growth. There was high and moderate plasticity in the response of morphological and growth features between stages. During the seedling-juvenile interval and the juvenile-flowering stages, respectively, there was a noticeable increase in both Relative Growth Rate and Net Assimilation Rate. Demographic surveys identified approximately 24 species across 11 families associated with V. persica in invaded areas. The Sorenson indices of qualitative index exhibited high similarity values in the invaded sites by (82.35%) compared to (72.72%) in non-invaded sites. However, interactions with native communities were reflected in lower richness, diversity, and evenness, displaying slightly higher Simpson index 1 (λ) values compared to invaded and non-invaded sites (0.043 and 0.0290) vs. (0.0207 and 0.268), in rangelands and F. carica orchards respectively. These results emphasize the substantially higher adaptability of V. persica to variable environmental conditions and abilities to invade a new community. This knowledge about invasive V. persica weeds germination and growth is itemized as the consistent predictive base for future invasion and informs strategic management priorities.

Synthesis and characterisation of carbon nanofiber-wrapped polyaniline and polypyrrole sensory films in polyester resin for strain sensing

ABSTRACT Nanomaterials hold promise as flexible sensor elements due to their enhanced flexibility and efficiency compared to conventional sensors. This study explores Carbon Nanofibers (CNF) in strain-sensing applications, synthesised with Polyaniline (PANI) and Polypyrrole (PPy) via a chemical oxidative technique. These composites form sensory layers on flexible Polyester resin substrates using a layer-by-layer technique. Characterisation through Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy and Powder X-ray Diffraction (PXRD) reveals strong interactions within CNF/PANI/Polyester and CNF/PPy/Polyester configurations, with heightened crystallinity in CNF/PANI, indicating enhanced electrical conductivity. Stress-strain analysis shows a significant 25% elongation with a corresponding 15% change in resistance across all samples. Calculated gauge factors exhibit substantial improvements: Polyester/PPy (12.96), Polyester/PANI (13.54), Polyester/CNF wrapped PPy (58.62), and Polyester/CNF wrapped PANI (95.8). Notably, CNF-wrapped PPy and CNF-wrapped PANI demonstrate superior gauge factors compared to conventional strain sensors, with Polyester/CNF-wrapped PANI displaying the highest sensitivity at 95.8%. This research underscores the potential of CNF-based composites, particularly CNF-wrapped PANI within a Polyester matrix, for advanced strain-sensing applications.

Chiral absorption enhancement via critically coupled resonances in atomically thin photonic crystal exciton-polaritons.

Atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDS) offer a promising route to the scaling down of optoelectronic devices to the ultimate thickness limit. But the weak light-matter interaction caused by their atomically thin nature makes them inevitably rely on external photonic structures to enhance optical absorption. Here, we report chiral absorption enhancement in atomically thin tungsten diselenide (WSe2) using chiral resonances in photonic crystal (PhC) nanostructures patterned directly in WSe2 itself. We show that the quality factors (Q factors) of the resonances grow exponentially as the PhC thickness approaches atomic limit. As such, the strong interaction of high Q factor photonic resonance with the coexisting exciton resonance in WSe2 results into self-coupled exciton-polaritons. By balancing the light coupling and absorption rates, the incident light can critically couple to chiral resonances in WSe2 PhC exciton-polaritons, leading to the theoretically limited 50% optical absorptance with over 84% circular dichroism (CD).

Across Interfacial Li+ Conduction Accelerated by a Single-Ion Conducting Polymer in Ceramic-Rich Composite Electrolytes for Solid-State Batteries.

Composite electrolytes have been accepted as the most promising species for solid-state batteries, exhibiting the synergistic advantages of solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) and solid ceramic electrolytes (SCEs). Unfortunately, the interrupted Li+ conduction across the SPE and SCE interface hinders the ionic conductivity improvement of composite electrolytes. In our study on a ceramic-rich composite electrolyte (CRCE) membrane composed of borate polyanion-based lithiated poly(vinyl formal) (LiPVFM) and Li1.3Al0.3Ti1.7(PO4)3 (LATP) particles, it is found that the strong interaction between the polyanions in LiPVFM and LATP particles results in a uniform distribution of ceramic particles at a high proportion of 50 wt % and good robustness of the electrolyte membrane with a Young's modulus of 9.20 GPa. More importantly, ab initio molecular dynamics simulation and experimental results demonstrate that Li+ conduction across the SPE and SCE interface is induced by the polyanion-based polymer due to its high lithium-ion transference number and similar Li+ diffusion coefficient with the SCE. Therefore, the unblocked Li+ conduction among ceramic particles dominates in the CRCE membrane with a high ionic conductivity of 6.60 × 10-4 S cm-1 at 25 °C, a lithium-ion transference number of 0.84, and a wide electrochemical stable window of 5.0 V (vs Li/Li+). Consequently, the high nickel ternary cathode LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.1O2-based batteries with CRCE deliver a high-rate capability of 135.08 mAh g-1 at 1.0 C and a prolonged cycle life of 100 cycles at 0.2 C between 3.0 and 4.3 V. The polyanion-induced Li+ conduction across the interface sheds new light on solving composite electrolyte problems for solid-state batteries.

CuNi alloy anchored on dual-substrate TiOx/N-doped carbon nanofibers as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for rechargeable zinc-air batteries

Development of non-noble metal-based electrocatalysts to enhance the performance of zinc-air batteries (ZABs) is of great significance, but it remains a formidable challenge due to their poor stability and activity. Herein, a bifunctional CuNi-TiOx/NCNFS electrocatalyst, featuring with electron-rich copper-nickel (CuNi) alloy nanoparticles anchored on titanium oxide/N-doped carbon nanofibers (TiOx/NCNFS), is constructed by a dual-substrate loading strategy. The introduction of TiOx has led to a significant increase in the stability of the dual-substrate. The strong electronic interaction between CuNi and TiOx strengthens the anchoring of active metal sites, thus accelerating the electron transfer. Theoretical calculations unclose that NCNFS can regulate the charge distribution of TiOx, inducing the charge transfer from NCNFS → TiOx → CuNi, thereby reducing the d-band center of Cu and Ni, which is beneficial to the desorption of intermediate oxide species of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Therefore, CuNi-TiOx/NCNFS delivers a remarkable bifunctional performance with a low OER overpotential of 258 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and an ORR half-wave potential of 0.85 V. When assembled into ZABs, CuNi-TiOx/NCNFS shows a low potential gap of 0.64 V, a higher power density of 149.6 mW cm−2 at 330 mA cm−2, and an outstanding stability for 250 h at 5mA cm−2. This study provides a novel approach by constructing dual-substrate to tune the electronic structure of active metal sites for efficient rechargeable ZABs.

Are recyclable plastics eco-friendly? Recycled PVC microplastics show higher toxicity than pristine PVC on Vallisneria natans, regardless of Cadmium

As environmental awareness increases, the use of recyclable plastics has risen. However, it is currently unclear whether recycled microplastics (MPs) pose a lesser or greater environmental risk than pristine MPs. Cadmium (Cd), known for its toxicity to most organisms, can bind with MPs and accumulate in sediments. Few studies have explored the environmental risks posed by the coexistence of recycled MPs and pristine MPs with Cd to rooted macrophytes. We investigated the effects of recycled PVC MPs (R-PVC-MPs) and pristine PVC MPs (PVC-MPs) on Vallisneria natans in the presence and absence of Cd. Results showed that at moderate and high Cd levels, R-PVC-MPs reduced plant Cd enrichment. Despite this, the fresh weight of V. natans exposed to R-PVC-MPs was significantly lower than those exposed to PVC-MPs. Furthermore, R-PVC-MPs had more negative impacts on the physiological traits of V. natans than PVC-MPs, as chlorophyll was significantly reduced across all Cd levels. At high Cd levels, both R-PVC-MPs and PVC-MPs caused significantly high oxidative stress, with no significant differences observed. The PCoA plot showed that different MPs cause noticeable variations within the same Cd concentration. The trait network diagrams illustrated strong interactions among traits, with R-PVC-MPs showing the highest complexity. Lower average degree and decreased edge density indicate that traits of plants with R-PVC-MPs addition are more independent of each other. Our findings suggest that recycled PVC MPs pose a greater environmental risk than pristine PVC MPs, offering reference for assessing the risks of recycled plastics in freshwater ecosystems.

An extended interaction site determines binding between AP180 and AP2 in clathrin mediated endocytosis

The early phases of clathrin mediated endocytosis are organized through a highly complex interaction network mediated by clathrin associated sorting proteins (CLASPs) that comprise long intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs). AP180 is a CLASP exclusively expressed in neurons and comprises a long IDR of around 600 residues, whose function remains partially elusive. Using NMR spectroscopy, we discovered an extended and strong interaction site within AP180 with the major adaptor protein AP2, and describe its binding dynamics at atomic resolution. We find that the 70 residue-long site determines the overall interaction between AP180 and AP2 in a dynamic equilibrium between its bound and unbound states, while weaker binding sites contribute to the overall affinity at much higher concentrations of AP2. Our data suggest that this particular interaction site might play a central role in recruitment of adaptors to the clathrin coated pit, whereas more transient and promiscuous interactions allow reshaping of the interaction network until cargo uptake inside a coated vesicle.

Transverse momentum-dependent heavy-quark fragmentation at next-to-leading order

The transverse momentum-dependent fragmentation functions (TMD FFs) of heavy (bottom and charm) quarks, which we recently introduced, are universal building blocks that enter predictions for a large number of observables involving final-state heavy quarks or hadrons. They enable the extension of fixed-order subtraction schemes to quasi-collinear limits, and are of particular interest in their own right as probes of the nonperturbative dynamics of hadronization. In this paper we calculate all TMD FFs involving heavy quarks and the associated TMD matrix element in heavy-quark effective theory (HQET) to next-to-leading order in the strong interaction. Our results confirm the renormalization properties, large-mass, and small-mass consistency relations predicted in our earlier work. We also derive and confirm a prediction for the large-z behavior of the heavy-quark TMD FF by extending, for the first time, the formalism of joint resummation to capture quark mass effects in heavy-quark fragmentation. Our final results in position space agree with those of a recent calculation by another group that used a highly orthogonal organization of singularities in the intermediate momentum-space steps, providing a strong independent cross check. As an immediate application, we present the complete quark mass dependence of the energy-energy correlator (EEC) in the back-to-back limit at Oαs\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{O}\\left({\\alpha}_s\\right) $$\\end{document}.

Defect dipole stretching enables ultrahigh electrostrain.

Piezoelectric actuators have been extensively utilized as micro-displacement devices because of their advantages of large output displacement, high sensitivity, and immunity to electromagnetic interference. Here, we propose a straightforward approach to design <110>-oriented defect dipoles by introducing A-site vacancies and oxygen vacancies in (K0.48Na0.52)0.99NbO2.995 ceramics. As a result, we achieve ultrahigh electrostrains of 0.7% at 20 kV cm-1 (with an effective piezoelectric strain coefficient d33* = 3500 pm V-1), outperforming the performance of existing piezoelectric ceramics at the same driving field. The exceptional electrostrain is primarily attributed to the large stretching of defect dipoles when subjected to an applied electric field, a phenomenon that has been experimentally confirmed. Moreover, the strong interaction between these defect dipoles and <110> spontaneous polarizations plays a critical role in minimizing hysteresis and ensuring excellent fatigue resistance. Our findings present a practical and effective strategy for developing high-performance piezoelectric materials tailored for advanced actuator applications.

Molecular weight insight into critical component contributing to reverse osmosis membrane fouling in wastewater reclamation

Molecular weight (MW) of organics was one of the important factors influencing membrane fouling propensity. This study identified critical foulants of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes in reclaimed water by MW fractionation. MW > 10 kDa component was identified as the critical fouling contributor (CFC) in secondary effluent (SE), which accounted for only 13 ± 5% of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) but contributed to 86 ± 11% of flux decline. Throughout 12-month monitoring, SE and MW > 10 kDa component showed a similar fouling variation tendency: apparently higher fouling potential in winter and lower in summer, while MW < 10 kDa component presented minor fouling changes. Morphology of membrane fouled by CFC characterized a smooth and thick foulant layer on membrane surface. CFC was mainly composed of proteins and polysaccharides, and a protein-polysaccharide-protein “sandwich” fouling layer structure was preferentially formed on membrane surface. extended Derjaguin–Landau-Verwey–Overbeek (xDLVO) analysis demonstrated that strong attractive interactions between CFC and membrane surface dominated the fouling process. Furthermore, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation revealed strong filtration resistance of CFC, confirming its significant fouling potential. Dual effects including attractive interactions and advantageous ridge-and-valley surface appearance accounted for the significant fouling propensity of MW > 10 kDa component and glean valuable insights into RO fouling mechanisms of reclaimed water in practical application.

Wide-Dynamic-Range Control of Quantum-Electrodynamic Electron Transfer Reactions in the Weak Coupling Regime.

Catalyzing reactions effectively by vacuum fluctuations of electromagnetic fields is a significant challenge within the realm of chemistry. As opposed to most studies based on vibrational strong coupling, we introduce an innovative catalytic mechanism driven by weakly coupled polaritonic fields. Through the amalgamation of macroscopic quantum electrodynamics (QED) principles with Marcus electron transfer (ET) theory, we predict that ET reaction rates can be precisely modulated across a wide dynamic range by controlling the size and structure of nanocavities. Compared to QED-driven radiative ET rates in free space, plasmonic cavities induce substantial rate enhancements spanning the range from 103- to 10-fold. By contrast, Fabry-Perot cavities engender rate suppression spanning the range from 10-2- to 10-1-fold. This work overcomes the necessity of using strong light-matter interactions in QED chemistry, opening up a new era of manipulating QED-based chemical reactions in a wide dynamic range.

Synergy of {Co(H2O)6}2+ with a Polyoxometalate Leads to Aqueous Homogeneous Hydrogen Evolution: Experiments and Computations.

In this work, we have described a polyoxometalate (POM)-based inexpensive and easily synthesizable compound [Co(H2O)6]2[{K(H2O)}2V10O28]·2H2O (1), which exhibits electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution in its aqueous solution without its decomposition (or electrodeposition), acting as a rare homogeneous electrocatalyst. Even though the compound [Co(H2O)6]2[{K(H2O)}2V10O28]·2H2O (1) (soluble in water) shows electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity because of the Coulombic attraction, including H-bonding interactions, between the [Co(H2O)6]2+ cationic species and [{K(H2O)}2V10O28]4-anionic species, the individual homogeneous solutions of [V10O28]6- (source: Na6[V10O28]·18H2O) and [Co(H2O)6]2+ (source: CoCl2·6H2O) do not show any electrocatalytic HER activity. We have thus established that the synergy of [V10O28]6- with [Co(H2O)6]2+ in crystal matrix as well as in the aqueous solution of 1 makes the compound 1 a stable and highly active electrocatalyst for homogeneous HER in an aqueous solution. In order to corroborate these homogeneous HER studies, we performed density functional theory (DFT) calculations to show that decavanadate cluster anion [V10O28]6- interacts with hexa-aqua complex cation [Co(H2O)6]2+ via strong H-bonding interactions, leading to a synergy effect that enables the cobalt center of [Co(H2O)6]2+ to be an active site of HER in the present work.

Femtosecond laser direct writing wedge metallic microcavities for terahertz sensing

Metallic resonators allow the manipulation of electromagnetic fields in subwavelength volumes for strong light-matter interaction, underpinning emerging flat-optics devices. Metamaterials designed with optimized effective mode volume (Veff) for stimulating and maximizing the utilization of high-density photons are highly desirable for sensing applications. Here, we demonstrate a bowtie-type terahertz (THz) metallic aperture metamaterial structure with low Veff for enhanced biosensing. The device leverages the inherent characteristic of the femtosecond laser fabrication process enabling wedge cavities down to 3 µm by tailoring the pulse energy, whose sensing performance is superior to trapezoidal ones. Such a substrate-free, microcavity metallic metamaterial sensor with extremely strong interactions achieves an experimentally normalized sensitivity of 0.654 RIU−1, and demonstrates the detection of L-proline down to 0.87 nmol. These findings provide new insights into the design and optimization of efficient THz metamaterials with tightly confined fields for ultrasensitive biomolecular detection.

Highly Compressible, Superabsorbent, and Biocompatible Hybrid Cryogel Constructs Comprising Functionalized Chitosan and St. John's Wort Extract.

Biobased porous hydrogels enriched with phytocompounds-rich herbal extracts have aroused great interest in recent years, especially in healthcare. In this study, new macroporous hybrid cryogel constructs comprising thiourea-containing chitosan (CSTU) derivative and a Hypericum perforatum L. extract (HYPE), commonly known as St John's wort, were prepared by a facile one-pot ice-templating strategy. Benefiting from the strong interactions between the functional groups of the CSTU matrix and those of polyphenols in HYPE, the hybrid cryogels possess excellent liquid absorption capacity, mechanical resilience, antioxidant performance, and a broad spectrum of antibacterial activity simultaneously. Thus, owing to their design, the hybrid constructs exhibit an interconnected porous architecture with the ability to absorb over 33 and 136 times their dry weight, respectively, when contacted with a phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.4) and an acidic aqueous solution (pH 2). These cryogel constructs have extremely high compressive strengths ranging from 839 to 1045 kPa and withstand elevated strains of over 70% without developing fractures. Moreover, the water-swollen hybrid cryogels with the highest HYPE content revealed a complete and instant shape recovery after uniaxial compression. The incorporation of HYPE into CSTU cryogels enabled substantial improvement in scavenging reactive oxygen species and an expanded antibacterial spectrum toward multiple pathogens, including Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis), Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa), and fungi (Candida albicans). Cell viability experiments demonstrated the cytocompatibility of the 3D cryogel constructs, which did not induce changes in the fibroblast morphology. This work showcases a simple and effective strategy to immobilize HYPE extracts on CSTU 3D networks, allowing the development of novel multifunctional platforms with promising potential in hemostasis, wound dressing, and dermal regeneration scaffolds.

Ligand Characterization and DNA Intercalation of Ru(II) Polypyridyl Complexes: A Local Vibrational Mode Study.

We investigated in this work ruthenium-ligand bonding across the RuN framework in 12 Ru(II) polypyridyl complexes in the gas phase and solution for both singlet and triplet states, in addition to their affinity for DNA binding through π-π stacking interactions with DNA nucleobases. As a tool to assess the intrinsic strength of the ruthenium-ligand bonds, we determined local vibrational force constants via our local vibrational mode analysis software. We introduced a novel local force constant that directly accounts for the intrinsic strength of the π-π stacking interaction between DNA and the intercalated Ru(II) complex. According to our findings, [Ru(phen)2(dppz)]2+ and [Ru(phen)2(11-CN-dppz)]2+ provide an intriguing trade-off between photoinduced complex excitation and the strength of the subsequent π-π stacking interaction with DNA. [Ru(phen)2(dppz)]2+ displays a small singlet-triplet splitting and a strong π-π stacking interaction in its singlet state, suggesting a favorable photoexcitation but potentially weaker interaction with DNA in the excited state. Conversely, [Ru(phen)2(11-CN-dppz)]2+ exhibits a larger singlet-triplet splitting and a stronger π-π stacking interaction with DNA in its triplet state, indicating a less favorable photoinduced transition but a stronger interaction with DNA postexcitation. We hope our study will inspire future experimental and computational work aimed at the design of novel Ru-polypyridyl drug candidates and that our new quantitative measure of π-π stacking interactions in DNA will find a general application in the field.

First-Principles Modeling of the Absorption Spectrum of Crystal Violet in Solution: The Importance of Environmentally Driven Symmetry Breaking.

Theoretical spectroscopy plays a crucial role in understanding the properties of the materials and molecules. One of the most promising methods for computing optical spectra of chromophores embedded in complex environments from the first principles is the cumulant approach, where both (generally anharmonic) vibrational degrees of freedom and environmental interactions are explicitly accounted for. In this work, we verify the capabilities of the cumulant approach in describing the effect of complex environmental interactions on linear absorption spectra by studying Crystal Violet (CV) in different solvents. The experimental absorption spectrum of CV strongly depends on the nature of the solvent, indicating strong coupling to the condensed-phase environment. We demonstrate that these changes in absorption line shape are driven by an increased splitting between absorption bands of two low-lying excited states that is caused by a breaking of the D3 symmetry of the molecule and that in polar solvents, this symmetry breaking is mainly driven by electrostatic interactions with the condensed-phase environment rather than distortion of the structure of the molecule, in contrast with conclusions reached in a number of previous studies. Our results reveal the importance of explicitly including a counterion in the calculations in nonpolar solvents due to electrostatic interactions between CV and the ion. In polar solvents, these interactions are strongly reduced due to solvent screening effects, thus minimizing the symmetry breaking. Computed spectra in methanol are found to be in reasonable agreement with the experiment, demonstrating the strengths of the outlined approach in modeling strong environmental interactions.

Strong Coupling of Resonant Metasurfaces with Epsilon-Near-Zero Guided Modes.

We study, both theoretically and experimentally, strong interaction between a quasi-bound state in the continuum (QBIC) supported by a resonant metasurface with an epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) guided mode excited in an ultrathin ITO layer. We observe and quantify the strong coupling regime of the QBIC-ENZ interaction in the hybrid metasurface manifested through the mode splitting over 200 meV. We also measure experimentally the resonant nonlinear response enhanced near the ENZ frequency and observe the effective nonlinear refractive index up to ∼4 × 10-13 m2/W in the ITO-integrated dielectric nanoresonators, which provides a promising platform for low-power nonlinear photonic devices.

Strong Coupling of Resonant Metasurfaces with Epsilon-Near-Zero Guided Modes.

We study, both theoretically and experimentally, strong interaction between a quasi-bound state in the continuum (QBIC) supported by a resonant metasurface with an epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) guided mode excited in an ultrathin ITO layer. We observe and quantify the strong coupling regime of the QBIC-ENZ interaction in the hybrid metasurface manifested through the mode splitting over 200 meV. We also measure experimentally the resonant nonlinear response enhanced near the ENZ frequency and observe the effective nonlinear refractive index up to ∼4 × 10-13 m2/W in the ITO-integrated dielectric nanoresonators, which provides a promising platform for low-power nonlinear photonic devices.

Structure of the flotillin complex in a native membrane environment

In this study, we used cryoelectron microscopy to determine the structures of the Flotillin protein complex, part of the Stomatin, Prohibitin, Flotillin, and HflK/C (SPFH) superfamily, from cell-derived vesicles without detergents. It forms a right-handed helical barrel consisting of 22 pairs of Flotillin1 and Flotillin2 subunits, with a diameter of 32 nm at its wider end and 19 nm at its narrower end. Oligomerization is stabilized by the C terminus, which forms two helical layers linked by a β-strand, and coiled-coil domains that enable strong charge-charge intersubunit interactions. Flotillin interacts with membranes at both ends; through its SPFH1 domains at the wide end and the C terminus at the narrow end, facilitated by hydrophobic interactions and lipidation. The inward tilting of the SPFH domain, likely triggered by phosphorylation, suggests its role in membrane curvature induction, which could be connected to its proposed role in clathrin-independent endocytosis. The structure suggests a shared architecture across the family of SPFH proteins and will promote further research into Flotillin's roles in cell biology.

Insights into the Electrochemical CO2RR Performance and Binding of Small Molecules on Quaternary Thiospinels Ag2FeSn3S8 and Cu2FeSn3S8.

Using a mechanical synthesis method in the form of ball milling and an additional annealing step, a novel and accelerated route for the synthesis of the thiospinels toyohaite (Ag2FeSn3S8) and rhodostannite (Cu2FeSn3S8) was discovered. Both thiospinels display faradaic efficiencies of up to 73% for CO2 reduction to CO using an organic electrolyte in an H-type cell. The materials were furthermore implemented in a zero-gap electrolyzer, with toyohaite producing 22% CO and 52% H2 at 100 mA cm-2 and rhodostannite 28% CO and 37% H2. The catalytically active sites are studied using density functional theory, revealing strong CO binding interactions on both Ag and Cu, whereas Sn is found to contribute to the decomposition of Ag2FeSn3S8 and Cu2FeSn3S8 by coordination with oxygen. Postmortem analysis of the thiospinel-based electrodes by means of SEM-EDX, XRD, XPS, and Mössbauer spectroscopy showed sulfur leaching from the catalysts after applying 100 mA cm-2. These spectroscopic results-in conjunction with DFT calculations of the oxidized surfaces-suggest that the catalytically active species consists of metal oxides. As a conversion of the metal sulfides into the corresponding metallic species was observed via XRD, the decomposition pathways of both catalysts were also computed using DFT; thus, elucidating the energetically most favorable decomposition products and expanding the possible composition of the catalysts postelectrolysis.