Due to their unique characteristics, nanoparticles are increasingly used in agricultural production through foliage spraying and soil application. The use of nanoparticles can improve the efficiency of agricultural chemicals and reduce the pollution caused by the use of agricultural chemicals. However, introducing nanoparticles into agricultural production may pose risks to the environment, food and even human health. Therefore, it is crucial to pay attention to the absorption migration, and transformation in crops, and to the interaction with higher plants and plant toxicity of nanoparticles in agriculture. Research shows that nanoparticles can be absorbed by plants and have an impact on plant physiological activities, but the absorption and transport mechanism of nanoparticles is still unclear. This paper summarizes the research progress of the absorption and transportation of nanoparticles in plants, especially the effect of size, surface charge and chemical composition of nanoparticle on the absorption and transportation in leaf and root through different ways. This paper also reviews the impact of nanoparticles on plant physiological activity. The content of the paper is helpful to guide the rational application of nanoparticles in agricultural production and ensure the sustainability of nanoparticles in agricultural production.

Alginate lyases catalyze the degradation of alginate, a complex copolymer of α-L-guluronate and its C5 epimer β-D-mannuronate. The enzymes have been isolated from various kinds of organisms with different substrate specificities, including algae, marine mollusks, marine and terrestrial bacteria, and some viruses and fungi. With the progress of structural biology, many kinds of alginate lyases of different polysaccharide lyases families have been characterized by obtaining crystal structures, and the catalytic mechanism has also been elucidated. Combined with various studies, we summarized the source, classification and properties of the alginate lyases from different polysaccharide lyases families. The relationship between substrate specificity and protein sequence was also investigated.

New insight into junction-based designs for efficient charge separation is vitally important for current solar energy conversion research. Herein, an anatase–rutile phase junction is elaborately introduced into TiO₂ films by rapid thermal annealing treatment and the roles of phase junction on charge separation and transfer are studied in detail. A combined study of transient absorption spectroscopy, electrochemical and photoelectrochemical (PEC) measurements reveals that appropriate phase alignment is essential for unidirectional charge transfer, and a junction interface with minimized trap states is crucial to liberate the charge separation potential of the phase junction. By tailored control of phase alignment and interface structure, an optimized TiO₂ film with an appropriately introduced phase junction shows superior performance in charge separation and transfer, hence achieving ca. 3 and 9 times photocurrent density enhancement compared to pristine anatase and rutile phase TiO₂ electrodes, respectively. This work demonstrates the great potential of phase junctions for efficient charge separation and transfer in solar energy conversion applications.