Cu(I)-based catalysts have proven to play an important role in the formation of specific hydrocarbon products from electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO 2 RR). However, it is difficult to understand the effect of intrinsic cuprophilic interactions inside the Cu(I) catalysts on the electrocatalytic mechanism and performance. Herein, two stable copper(I)-based coordination polymer (NNU-32 and NNU-33(S)) catalysts are synthesized and integrated into a CO 2 flow cell electrolyzer, which exhibited very high selectivity for electrocatalytic CO 2 -to-CH 4 conversion due to clearly inherent intramolecular cuprophilic interactions. Substitution of hydroxyl radicals for sulfate radicals during the electrocatalytic process results in an in situ dynamic crystal structure transition from NNU-33(S) to NNU-33(H), which further strengthens the cuprophilic interactions inside the catalyst structure. Consequently, NNU-33(H) with enhanced cuprophilic interactions shows an outstanding product (CH 4 ) selectivity of 82% at −0.9 V (vs reversible hydrogen electrode, j = 391 mA cm −2 ), which represents the best crystalline catalyst for electrocatalytic CO 2 -to-CH 4 conversion to date. Moreover, the detailed DFT calculations also prove that the cuprophilic interactions can effectively facilitate the electroreduction of CO 2 to CH 4 by decreasing the Gibbs free energy change of potential determining step (*H 2 COOH → *OCH 2 ). Significantly, this work first explored the effect of intrinsic cuprophilic interactions of Cu(I)-based catalysts on the electrocatalytic performance of CO 2 RR and provides an important case study for designing more stable and efficient crystalline catalysts to reduce CO 2 to high-value carbon products.

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It is a challenge to explore photocatalytic materials for sunlight‐driven water splitting owing to the limited choice of a single semiconductor with suitable band energy levels but with a minimized band gap for light harvesting. Here, we report a one‐photon excitation pathway by coupling polymeric carbon nitride (PCN) semiconductor with LaOCl to achieve overall water splitting. This artificial photosynthesis composite catalyzes the decomposition of H2O into H2 and O2, with evolution rates of 22.3 and 10.7 μmol h−1, respectively. The high photocatalytic performance of PCN/LaOCl can be ascribed to the simultaneously accomplished reduction and oxidation of water on LaOCl and PCN domains, respectively, as well as the fast charge separation and migration induced by the interfacial electric field related to LaOCl modification. This study provides new insights on the development of composite photocatalysts for pure water splitting based on polymer‐based materials via charge modulation.

In this paper, we developed amphiphilic zein hydrolysate (ZH) as a novel delivery vehicle, which could be used for preparing curcumin (Cur) nanocomplexes. These ZH-Cur nanocomplexes exhibited spherical morphology with a monodisperse size distribution (<50 nm), and the dispersion was transparent, which could have a great application potential in nutraceutical-fortified food and clear beverages. The water solubility of curcumin was considerably enhanced by the nanocomplexation above 8200-fold (vs. free curcumin in water). The good colloidal and storage stability of ZH-Cur nanocomplexes was greatly improved, and more than 60% of curcumin was retained in 72 h storage under ambient conditions. These phenomena appeared to be attributable to the fact that amphiphilic ZH displayed self-assembly properties in water solution and strong interfacial activity at the oil-water interface, as confirmed by micelle formation and dynamic interfacial adsorption respectively. Fluorescence titration and FTIR results indicated the existence of strong hydrophobic interactions between ZH and Cur, which was responsible for the complexation.