SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-025-3952-5
High-entropy alloys (HEAs) and metallic glasses (MGs) are promising electrocatalysts but suffer from inherent limitations: HEAs lack corrosion resistance and uniform surfaces due to their crystalline nature, while MGs have limited compositional flexibility, restricting active-site diversity and electronic-structure tuning. High-entropy metallic glasses (HEMGs) integrate the structural disorder of MGs with the multi-principal-element chemistry of HEAs, offering a unique combination of robust corrosion resistance, homogeneous surfaces, and abundant tunable active sites. Using Pd20Pt20Cu20Ni20P20 as a model HEMG, we investigate its electrocatalytic performance for alcohol oxidation and hydrogen evolution. The HEMG exhibits superior activity and stability compared to conventional HEAs and MGs, attributed to its disordered structure and high configurational entropy, which promote optimized adsorption energies and accelerated charge transfer. This work bridges the performance gap between HEAs and MGs, demonstrating HEMGs as multifunctional electrocatalytic materials with potential for industrial applications.
Environmental Chemistry•2026•DOI: 10.7524/j.issn.0254-6108.2025031905
Land use types profoundly influence the accumulation, speciation, and ecological risk of heavy metals through differences in human activity intensity, pollution input pathways, and soil self-regulation capacity. This study investigated soils of different land use types in Longhua County, downstream of the Yixun River Basin, central Chengde City, Hebei Province. Using the Nemerow Index and Potential Ecological Risk Index, the overall regional pollution was mild (Pn=1.65) with low ecological risk (RI=121.17). Main pollutants were Cd, Pb, Zn, and Hg, with Cd and Hg as primary ecological risk factors. Construction land exhibited moderate pollution and medium risk, with a Nemerow Index of 2.37 and average RI of 190.78, significantly exceeding other land use types. PMF model identified four pollution sources: pedogenic parent material natural source (43.54% contribution) dominating Cr, Cu, Ni, Zn enrichment; metallogenic parent material natural source (19.88%) controlling Cd spatial differentiation; agricultural-transportation mixed source (24.79%) driving As and Pb accumulation; and industrial source (11.93%) causing local Hg enrichment. Natural sources contributed 63.42% of total heavy metals, being the primary contributor. As was generally below background values, not constituting pollution; Pb exceeded standards but posed low ecological risk; industrial Hg enrichment in construction land presented high pollution and ecological risk, requiring priority control.
Chinese Journal of Environmental Engineering•2026•DOI: 10.12030/j.cjee.202509120
The 'Zero-Waste City' initiative, centered on source reduction, resource utilization, and safe disposal of solid waste, aims to minimize environmental impact. To quantitatively assess its carbon reduction contribution, this study took Mianyang as a case, systematically collecting data on solid waste generation, utilization, and disposal across industrial, agricultural, and other sectors from 2021 to 2024. Employing an improved WARM model and emission factor method, and incorporating generation, utilization, and disposal intensities, the carbon reduction benefits before (2021–2022) and after (2023–2024) the initiative were evaluated. Results show that despite significant improvements in comprehensive utilization and safe disposal rates, total solid waste generation increased, leading to a net negative carbon effect of -127.6×10^4 tCO2eq based on absolute quantities. However, after stripping economic and population growth factors, intensity-based accounting revealed a cumulative reduction of 10.8×10^4 tCO2eq, demonstrating significant synergistic benefits. The industrial sector contributed the most, with a reduction of 40.2×10^4 tCO2eq, driven by green transformation and enhanced utilization capacity. Conversely, the rising intensity of domestic solid waste generation resulted in a negative benefit of -46.1×10^4 tCO2eq, highlighting a key area for future improvement. The study underscores the necessity of considering both intensity and absolute quantity dimensions in evaluating rapidly developing cities. These findings provide practical evidence and reference pathways for advancing 'Zero-Waste City' construction and synergistic pollution reduction and carbon mitigation under the 'dual carbon' goals.
Journal of Fuel Chemistry and Technology•2026•DOI: 10.1016/S1872-5813(26)60669-X
Dry reforming of methane (DRM) converts CH4 and CO2 into syngas with a unity H2/CO ratio, but suffers from catalyst deactivation via sintering and carbon deposition at high temperatures. This study addresses these challenges by employing UiO-66 as a precursor to modify Pt-based catalysts. A series of Pt/CeO2-ZrO2 catalysts were synthesized via incipient wetness impregnation using supports with varying Ce/Zr ratios prepared hydrothermally. Comprehensive characterization—including CO2-TPD, CH4-TPD, XPS, XAFS, in situ DRIFTS, TG, and Raman spectroscopy—revealed a volcano-type correlation between DRM performance and Ce/Zr ratio. Optimal activity and stability were achieved with Pt/3CeO2-ZrO2 (Ce/Zr = 3:1). This catalyst features highly dispersed platinum, primarily as single atoms and thermally stable PtOx clusters. It exhibits the highest concentration of Ce3+ and Zr3+ species, abundant oxygen vacancies, and high defect density, indicating strong metal-support interaction. Mechanistically, stable DRM is facilitated by oxygen-assisted CH4 dissociation and hydrogen-assisted CO2 dissociation. At 800 °C, CH4 and CO2 conversions reached 86% and 93%, respectively, with H2/CO ratio near unity. A 10 h stability test showed no detectable carbon deposition. These results confirm that the catalyst enhances reaction kinetics while demonstrating superior activity, stability, and resistance to coking and sintering.