Electrochemically converting CO₂ into value-added chemicals is a promising approach to mitigate anthropogenic carbon emissions, yet largely limited to short-chained C₁–C₃ products. Herein, we demonstrate a tandem artificial synthesis of biodegradable polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) plastic from CO₂ building blocks. Batch synthesis of defects-enriched Bi catalyst is firstly demonstrated by plasma bombardment and following in situ electrochemical reduction, which delivers a HCOOH Faradaic efficiency above 80% at tunable concentration from 2 to 250 mM, an energy efficiency up to 41%, and a single-pass carbon conversion efficiency up to 60%. Annular dark field and second electron microscopic analysis, density functional theory (DFT) calcualtions, coupled with H-type and solid-state electrolyzer assessments, point out the vital role of defective and/or stepped Bi surface sites in promoting CO₂-to-HCOOH conversion. Thereafter, as-synthesized high-purity HCOOH is used as the sole carbon source for C-chain growth within microbial fermentation reactor with Ralstonia eutropha, where activated formate dehydrogenase and increased metabolites related to Calvin–Benson–Bassham cycle are found to be responsible for the enhanced polyester accumulation.

The self-assembly of DNA provides an attractive approach to understanding structural formation mechanism in living organisms and to assisting applications in materials chemistry. Herein, we investigated the effect of metal ions on chiral self-assembly of DNA through the synthesis of chiral mesostructured silica via self-assembly of metal ions, DNA, and silica source. 31 types of multivalent cationic metal ions were found to induce formation of chiral impeller-like DNA-silica complexes due to the chiral stacking of DNA. The strength of the interaction between the metal ion and phosphate group of DNA was speculated for the chiral stacking of DNA due to close distance of adjacent DNA to assure mutual recognition. Theoretical calculations indicated that chiral packing of DNA depends on the stability of the bridging phosphate-metal ion-phosphate bonds of DNA based on electron delocalization in d-orbital conjugation of metal ions.

Ferroelectric barium titanate nanoparticles (BTO NPs) may play critical roles in miniaturized passive electronic devices such as multi-layered ceramic capacitors. While increasing experimental and theoretical understandings on the structure of BTO and doped BTO have been developed over the past decade, the majority of the investigation was carried out in thin-film materials; therefore, the doping effect on nanoparticles remains unclear. Especially, doping-induced local composition and structure fluctuation across single nanoparticles have yet to be unveiled. In this work, we use electron microscopy-based techniques including high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM), integrated differential phase contrast (iDPC)-STEM, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) mapping to reveal atomically resolved chemical and crystal structure of BTO and strontium doped BTO nanoparticles. Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) results indicate that the increasing strontium doping causes a structural transition from tetragonal to cubic phase, but the microscopic data validate substantial compositional and microstructural inhomogeneities in strontium doped BTO nanoparticles. Our work provides new insights into the structure of doped BTO NPs and will facilitate the materials design for next-generation high-density nano-dielectric devices.