Supported atomically dispersed metals are proving to be efficacious photocatalysts for CO 2 reduction to solar fuels. While being atom efficient, they suffer from being noble, rare, and costly (Pt, Pd, Au, Ag, Rh) and lacking in long‐term stability. Herein, all of these problems are solved with the discovery that atomically dispersed Cu supported on ultrathin TiO 2 nanosheets can photocatalytically reduce an aqueous solution of CO 2 to CO. The atomically dispersed Cu can be recycled in a straightforward procedure when they become oxidatively deactivated. This advance bodes well for the development of a solar fuels technology founded on abundant, low‐cost, nontoxic, atomically dispersed metal photocatalysts.

Upgrading corncob residues (CCR) to a high quality energy resource is an effective utilization of an underutilized industrial lignocellulose waste. A hydrothermal carbonization technique was therefore employed to generate a high heating value (HHV) hydrochar. Results showed that its HHV increased 47% after treatment at 230 °C for 1.5 h. Decreases in H/C and O/C verified that reductions in C and O reactions were occurring following hydrothermal carbonization. The chemical and thermal properties of the final hydrochar as analyzed by FT-IR, TG/DTG, and XRD analyses indicated that dehydration and decarboxylation were the predominant pathways for the C and O reductions. The present hydrothermal carbonization process is offered as a promising approach to upgrade CCR to a high heating value hydrochar under mild conditions.

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are a potentially high-value lignin extraction methodology. DESs prepared from choline chloride (ChCl) and three hydrogen-bond donors (HBD)—lactic acid (Lac), glycerol, and urea—were evaluated for isolation of willow (Salix matsudana cv. Zhuliu) lignin. DESs types, mole ratio of ChCl to HBD, extraction temperature, and time on the fractionated DES-lignin yield demonstrated that the optimal DES-lignin yield (91.8 wt % based on the initial lignin in willow) with high purity of 94.5% can be reached at a ChCl-to-Lac molar ratio of 1:10, extraction temperature of 120 °C, and time of 12 h. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) , 13C-NMR, and 31P-NMR showed that willow lignin extracted by ChCl-Lac was mainly composed of syringyl and guaiacyl units. Serendipitously, a majority of the glucan in willow was preserved after ChCl-Lac treatment.

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