Environmental Chemistry•2026•DOI: 10.7524/j.issn.0254-6108.2025092802
Activated carbon (AC) filters in drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) experience significant adsorption performance decline over extended operation, yet complete media replacement is a major cost. To evaluate cost-effective strategies, pilot-scale column experiments with five AC replacement ratios (0%, 30%, 50%, 70%, and 100%) were conducted to assess removal of disinfection by-product (DBP) precursors and pesticide-related emerging contaminants. For dissolved organic matter (DOM), all fractions except low molecular weight compounds (LMWC) achieved >85% of the removal obtained with full replacement when 70% new AC was used, with UV254 removal reaching 70%. LMWC, due to small molecular size and low adsorption energy, required higher replacement ratios or full replacement for substantial removal. For DBPs, removal of trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) was insensitive to replacement ratio, while haloacetaldehydes (HALs) removal improved markedly with increasing ratio, indicating structural selectivity. For pesticide-related contaminants, all except triazoles achieved >95% removal at 70% replacement; triazoles, due to high water solubility, high polarity, and low octanol-water partition coefficient, achieved only ~60% removal. Overall, replacing 70% of AC restored treatment performance to >80% of that with full replacement, ensuring effluent quality while saving ~30% of new carbon cost. Molecular structure, polarity, and pore size matching are key determinants of removal efficiency; optimizing replacement ratio balances water quality and economic benefits.
SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-025-3938-0
Chirality is a fundamental property ubiquitous in nature, playing a pivotal role across physics, chemistry, biology, and materials science. With the advent of nanotechnology, chiral research has extended to the nanoscale, where chiral quantum dots have attracted attention due to high photoluminescence quantum yields and stability. However, conventional II–VI quantum dots often contain toxic heavy metals, exhibit poor water solubility and biocompatibility, and require complex preparation. Carbon dots (CDs), a novel class of carbon-based nanomaterials under 10 nm, offer low toxicity, straightforward synthesis, and excellent biocompatibility. Chiral carbon dots (Ch-CDs) combine the advantages of CDs with intrinsic chirality, endowing them with circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) and distinctive photophysical and chemical properties. This review systematically refines and summarizes construction strategies for Ch-CDs, including one-step synthesis, surface modification, and assembly methods. It comprehensively elaborates on recent advances in optical properties, focusing on tunable multicolor CPL, CPL enhancement, and triplet-state emission, addressing a gap in reviews on triplet-related chiral functionalities. The challenges and future perspectives for diversified applications are proposed. Ch-CDs have been extensively applied in photoelectric detection, optical devices, biomedicine, information anti-counterfeiting, and encryption. This review aims to summarize current achievements and stimulate further research, fostering rapid development in the Ch-CDs field.
Environmental Chemistry•2026•DOI: 10.7524/j.issn.0254-6108.2026021002
The construction of species sensitivity distribution (SSD) models using a single function requires optimization to reduce subjectivity. To minimize model selection uncertainty and align with Chinese freshwater organism effect criteria, this study integrated native freshwater species toxicity data, including experimental and predicted values from interspecies correlation estimation (ICE) and acute-chronic ratio (ACR) methods, and applied a model-averaging approach to construct SSD models for seven representative phthalate esters (PAEs): dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), dibutyl phthalate (DnBP), butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP), and dihexyl phthalate (DnHP). The derived short-term predicted no-effect concentrations (PNECacute) for DMP, DEP, DnBP, BBP, DEHP, DIDP, and DnHP were 16.796, 4.984, 9.064×10⁻², 2.490×10⁻¹, 1.898×10⁻², 1.386×10⁻¹, and 7.428×10⁻² μg·L⁻¹, respectively. Long-term PNECs (PNECchronic) were 3.245×10², 36.500, 1.149, 4.018, 8.949×10⁻², 1.637, and 4.073×10⁻¹ μg·L⁻¹, respectively. These PNECs, based on native species toxicity data and more stringent than existing standards, are recommended as potential references for water quality criteria based on Chinese freshwater organism effects. Ecological risk assessment using the hazard quotient (HQ) method on exposure concentrations from typical Chinese freshwater basins revealed that DEHP and DnBP posed high short-term risks, BBP mainly medium risk, while DMP, DEP, and DnHP showed low or no risk. Long-term risks indicated DEHP at medium to high risk, DnBP mainly medium to low, BBP low or no risk, and DMP, DEP, and DnHP no risk. The overall ecological risk ranking was DEHP > DnBP > BBP > DEP > DMP ≈ DnHP.
SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-025-3921-2
Moisture-enabled energy harvesting technologies offer a promising route for self-powered strain sensing, yet conventional generators suffer from slow response, poor recovery, and limited multidirectional resolution. Here, we report a stretchable thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) nanofiber moisture-enabled electric generator (MEG) with highly aligned ion channels. A carbon black/sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (CB/SDBS) layer is coated on the TPU membrane, while carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and acidified poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (HPSS) are applied on opposite sides, establishing lateral hydrophilicity and ion gradients to drive directional ion migration. The planar MEG is lightweight, flexible, and requires no fully covered electrodes, enabling conformity to complex deformations. The aligned channels reduce ion migration tortuosity, enhancing ion transport efficiency and flux. As a result, the aligned MEG (ATMEG) delivers 0.2 V and 0.51 μA cm−2 at ~90% relative humidity, corresponding to 400% and 287% enhancements compared with the unaligned MEG (UATMEG). The ATMEG also exhibits ultrafast response (0.16 s) and recovery (0.08 s). Utilizing its anisotropic characteristics, a multidirectional self-powered strain sensor is developed, capable of distinguishing both the amplitude and direction of human motion, demonstrating strong potential for adaptive wearable electronics and intelligent motion monitoring.