The electrochemical N2 fixation, which is far from practical application in aqueous solution under ambient conditions, is extremely challenging and requires a rational design of electrocatalytic centers. We observed that bismuth (Bi) might be a promising candidate for this task because of its weak binding with H adatoms, which increases the selectivity and production rate. Furthermore, we successfully synthesized defect‐rich Bi nanoplates as an efficient noble‐metal‐free N2 reduction electrocatalyst via a low‐temperature plasma bombardment approach. When exclusively using 1H NMR measurements with N2 gas as a quantitative testing method, the defect‐rich Bi(110) nanoplates achieved a 15NH3 production rate of 5.453 μg mgBi−1 h−1 and a Faradaic efficiency of 11.68 % at −0.6 V vs. RHE in aqueous solution at ambient conditions.

Electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution in alkaline and neutral media offers the possibility of adopting platinum‐free electrocatalysts for large‐scale electrochemical production of pure hydrogen fuel, but most state‐of‐the‐art electrocatalytic materials based on nonprecious transition metals operate at high overpotentials. Here, a monolithic nanoporous multielemental CuAlNiMoFe electrode with electroactive high‐entropy CuNiMoFe surface is reported to hold great promise as cost‐effective electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline and neutral media. By virtue of a surface high‐entropy alloy composed of dissimilar Cu, Ni, Mo, and Fe metals offering bifunctional electrocatalytic sites with enhanced kinetics for water dissociation and adsorption/desorption of reactive hydrogen intermediates, and hierarchical nanoporous Cu scaffold facilitating electron transfer/mass transport, the nanoporous CuAlNiMoFe electrode exhibits superior nonacidic HER electrocatalysis. It only takes overpotentials as low as ≈240 and ≈183 mV to reach current densities of ≈1840 and ≈100 mA cm−2 in 1 m KOH and pH 7 buffer electrolytes, respectively; ≈46‐ and ≈14‐fold higher than those of ternary CuAlNi electrode with bimetallic Cu–Ni surface alloy. The outstanding electrocatalytic properties make nonprecious multielemental alloys attractive candidates as high‐performance nonacidic HER electrocatalytic electrodes in water electrolysis.

Formic acid (HCOOH) is one of the most promising chemical fuels that can be produced through CO 2 electroreduction. However, most of the catalysts for CO 2 electroreduction to HCOOH in aqueous solution often suffer from low current density and limited production rate. Herein, we provide a bismuth/cerium oxide (Bi/CeO x) catalyst, which exhibits not only high current density (149 mA cm À2), but also unprecedented production rate (2600 mmol h À1 cm À2) with high Faradaic efficiency (FE, 92 %) for HCOOH generation in aqueous media. Furthermore, Bi/CeO x also shows favorable stability over 34 h. We hope this work could offer an attractive and promising strategy to develop efficient catalysts for CO 2 electroreduction with superior activity and desirable stability. Excessive CO 2 emission has brought about severe problems related to resources, environment, and climate. Thus, converting CO 2 into valuable chemical fuels attract more and more research attention. [1] Among the various conversion approaches, electrochemical reduction of CO 2 in aqueous media is more favorable because it can make better use of electricity generated from sustainable sources without producing any additional CO 2. [1-5] Nevertheless, low activity, selectivity and stability of catalysts are still the big challenges for CO 2 electroreduction. Therefore, developing efficient electrocatalysts for CO 2 reduction is highly desired. As one of the most attractive CO 2 reduction products, formic acid (HCOOH) is widely identified as a desirable hydrogen carrier. [6-10] Up to now, many metallic catalysts, including Cd, Hg, Pd, Pb, In, Sn and Bi are found to be effective to form HCOOH (or formate) through CO 2 electroreduction. [11-29] However, the activities are still very low even using the toxic or noble metals. As well as we know, the current density and production rate (in H-type reaction cell) by far are less than 80 mA cm À2 , and 1500 mmol h À1 cm À2 , respectively. [11-29] On the other side, high applied potentials and current density always lead to the low Faradaic efficiency (FE) due to the severe competitive hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). [25] Therefore, achieving a low-cost, eco

Avian influenza virus A of the novel H7N9 reassortant subtype was recently found to cause severe human respiratory infections in China. Live poultry markets were suspected locations of the human H7N9 infection sources, based on the cases' exposure histories and sequence similarities between viral isolates. To explore the role of live poultry markets in the origin of the novel H7N9 virus, we systematically examined poultry and environmental specimens from local markets and farms in Hangzhou, using realtime reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) as well as high-throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS). RT-PCR identified specimens positive for the H7 and N9 genomic segments in all of the 12 poultry markets epidemiologically linked to 10 human H7N9 cases. Chickens, ducks, and environmental specimens from the markets contained heavily mixed subtypes, including H7, N9, H9, and N2 and sometimes H5 and N1. The idea of the coexistence of H7N9 and H9N2 subtypes in chickens was further supported by metagenomic sequencing. In contrast, human H7N9 infection cases (n ‫؍‬ 31) were all negative for H9N2 virus according to real-time RT-PCR. The six internal segments were indistinguishable for the H7N9 and H9N2 viruses. The H9, N2, and internal-segment sequences were very close to the sequence of the H9N2 virus circulating in chickens in China recently. Our results provide direct evidence that H9N2 strains coexisted with the novel human-pathogenic H7N9 influenza virus in epidemiologically linked live poultry markets. Avian influenza A virus of the H9N2 subtype likely made a recent contribution to the evolution of the H7N9 virus and continues to do so. IMPORTANCEOur results suggest that avian influenza A virus of the H9N2 subtype likely made a recent contribution to the evolution of the H7N9 virus, a novel reassortant avian influenza virus A subtype, and continues to do so. The finding helps shed light on how the H7N9 virus emerged, spread, and transmitted to humans. It is of considerable interest for assessing the risk of the possible emergence of novel reassortant viruses with enhanced transmissibility to humans.

Developing robust nonprecious electrocatalysts towards hydrogen/oxygen evolution reactions is crucial for widespread use of electrochemical water splitting in hydrogen production. Here, we report that intermetallic Co 3 Mo spontaneously separated from hierarchical nanoporous copper skeleton shows genuine potential as highly efficient electrocatalysts for alkaline hydrogen/oxygen evolution reactions in virtue of in-situ hydroxylation and electrooxidation, respectively. The hydroxylated intermetallic Co 3 Mo has an optimal hydrogenbinding energy to facilitate adsorption/desorption of hydrogen intermediates for hydrogen molecules. Associated with high electron/ion transport of bicontinuous nanoporous skeleton, nanoporous copper supported Co 3 Mo electrodes exhibit impressive hydrogen evolution reaction catalysis, with negligible onset overpotential and low Tafel slope (~40 mV dec −1) in 1 M KOH, realizing current density of −400 mA cm −2 at overpotential of as low as 96 mV. When coupled to its electro-oxidized derivative that mediates efficiently oxygen evolution reaction, their alkaline electrolyzer operates with a superior overall water-splitting output, outperforming the one assembled with noble-metal-based catalysts.