Detection and identification of perfluorinated compounds (PFCPs) plays a crucial role in environmental monitoring, food safety and public health. Fluorescent sensor array by multiple cross-reactive receptors can offer a high-effective...

Pueraria thomsonii and Pueraria lobata are important medicinal plants with unique chemical compositions that are widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. To compare the nutritional and medicinal profiles of these two species, we analyzed the flavonoid, dietary fiber, total starch, and crude protein contents of one P. lobata and three P. thomsonii varieties using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, enzyme weight, acid hydrolysis, and Kjeldahl methods. Furthermore, we used principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering heatmap analysis to separate the data obtained from the P. thomsonii and P. lobata samples. We detected 279 flavonoid compounds in the two Pueraria species, including 90 isoflavones and 78 flavonoids. A large proportion of isoflavones and flavonoids were more abundant in P. lobata than in P. thomsonii. The total starch content was significantly higher in P. thomsonii than in P. lobata. By contrast, the soluble dietary fiber, insoluble dietary fiber, and crude protein contents were substantially lower in P. thomsonii than in P. lobata. Taken together, our results demonstrate that P. lobata is better suited for use as a medicine, whereas P. thomsonii is better suited as an edible food, and provide a theoretical foundation for developing P. thomsonii and P. lobata germplasm resources.

Water is an important source for humankind. However, the amount of available clean water has rapidly reduced worldwide. To combat this issue, the solar-energy-driven evaporation technique is newly proposed to produce clean water. Here, biochar derived from sorghum stalk with a multi-level pore bundle structure is utilized to fabricate a solar-driven evaporator for the first time. The biochar displays rapid water transfer and low thermal conductivity (ca. 0.0405 W m−1 K−1), which is vitally important for such an application purpose. The evaporation rate and energy conversion efficiency of the solar evaporator based on carbonized sorghum stalk can achieve up to 3.173 kg m−2 h−1 and 100%, respectively, which are better than most of the previously reported biomass materials. Furthermore, the carbonized sorghum stalk also displays good resistance to salt crystallization, anti-acidic/basic, and organic pollutants by producing drinking water using seawater, acidic/basic waste water, and organic polluted water, respectively. The direct application of processed water in food production was also investigated. The present solar steam evaporator based on the carbonized sorghum stalk has the potential to create practical drinking water production by using various water sources.