Biomass burning (BB) is a significant air pollution source, with global, regional and local impacts on air quality, public health and climate. Worldwide an extensive range of studies has been conducted on almost all the aspects of BB, including its specific types, on quantification of emissions and on assessing its various impacts. China is one of the countries where the significance of BB has been recognized, and a lot of research efforts devoted to investigate it, however, so far no systematic reviews were conducted to synthesize the information which has been emerging. Therefore the aim of this work was to comprehensively review most of the studies published on this topic in China, including literature concerning field measurements, laboratory studies and the impacts of BB indoors and outdoors in China. In addition, this review provides insights into the role of wildfire and anthropogenic BB on air quality and health globally. Further, we attempted to provide a basis for formulation of policies and regulations by policy makers in China.

Efficient and selective CO₂ electroreduction into chemical fuels promises to alleviate environmental pollution and energy crisis, but it relies on catalysts with controllable product selectivity and reaction path. Here, by means of first-principles calculations, we identify six ferroelectric catalysts comprising transition-metal atoms anchored on In₂Se₃ monolayer, whose catalytic performance can be controlled by ferroelectric switching based on adjusted d-band center and occupation of supported metal atoms. The polarization dependent activation allows effective control of the limiting potential of CO₂ reduction on TM@In₂Se₃ (TM = Ni, Pd, Rh, Nb, and Re) as well as the reaction paths and final products on Nb@In₂Se₃ and Re@In₂Se₃. Interestingly, the ferroelectric switching can even reactivate the stuck catalytic CO₂ reduction on Zr@In₂Se₃. The fairly low limiting potential and the unique ferroelectric controllable CO₂ catalytic performance on atomically dispersed transition-metals on In₂Se₃ clearly distinguish them from traditional single atom catalysts, and open an avenue toward improving catalytic activity and selectivity for efficient and controllable electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction.