Light-driven activation of redox enzymes is an emerging route for sustainable chemical synthesis. Among redox enzymes, the family of Old Yellow Enzyme (OYE) dependent on the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide cofactor (NADH) catalyzes the stereoselective reduction of α,β-unsaturated hydrocarbons. Here, we report OYE-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation through light-driven regeneration of NADH and its analogues (mNADHs) by N-doped carbon nanodots (N-CDs), a zero-dimensional photocatalyst. Our spectroscopic and photoelectrochemical analyses verified the transfer of photo-induced electrons from N-CDs to an organometallic electron mediator (M) for highly regioselective regeneration of cofactors. Light triggered the reduction of NAD⁺ and mNAD⁺s with the cooperation of N-CDs and M, and the reduction behaviors of cofactors were dependent on their own reduction peak potentials. The regenerated cofactors subsequently delivered hydrides to OYE for stereoselective conversions of a broad range of substrates with excellent biocatalytic efficiencies.

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Recently, the doping of topological insulators has attracted significant interest as a potential route towards topological superconductivity. Because many experimental techniques lack sufficient surface sensitivity, however, definite proof of the coexistence of topological surface states and surface superconductivity is still outstanding. Here we report on highly surface sensitive scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy experiments performed on Tl-doped Bi2Te3, a three-dimensional topological insulator which becomes superconducting in the bulk at TC=2.3 K. Landau level spectroscopy as well as quasiparticle interference mapping clearly demonstrated the presence of a topological surface state with a Dirac point energy ED=-(118±1) meV and a Dirac velocity vD=(4.7±0.1)×105 m/s. Tunneling spectra often show a superconducting gap, but temperature- and field-dependent measurements show that both TC and μ0HC strongly deviate from the corresponding bulk values. Furthermore, in spite of a critical field value which clearly points to type-II superconductivity, no Abrikosov lattice could be observed. Experiments performed on normal-metallic Ag(111) prove that the gapped spectrum is caused only by superconducting tips, probably caused by a gentle crash with the sample surface during approach. Nearly identical results were found for the intrinsically n-type compound Nb-doped Bi2Se3. Our results suggest that the superconductivity in superconducting-doped V-VI topological insulators does not extend to the surface where the topological surface state is located.

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Spin waves are collective excitations of magnetic systems. An attractive setting for studying long-lived spin-wave physics is the quantum Hall (QH) ferromagnet, which forms spontaneously in clean two-dimensional electron systems at low temperature and in a perpendicular magnetic field.We used out-of-equilibrium occupation of QH edge channels in graphene to excite and detect spin waves in magnetically ordered QH states. Our experiments provide direct evidence for long-distance spin-wave propagation through different ferromagnetic phases in the N = 0 Landau level, as well as across the insulating canted antiferromagnetic phase. Our results will enable experimental investigation of the fundamental magnetic properties of these exotic two-dimensional electron systems.

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We propose a novel method to deal with the scale ambiguity in monocular SLAM based on control stability. We analytically show that (1) using unscaled state feedback from monocular SLAM for control can lead to system instability, and (2) there is a unique linear relationship between the absolute scale of the SLAM system and the control gain at which instability arises. Using this property, our method estimates the scale by adapting the gain and detecting self-induced oscillations. Unlike conventional monocular approaches, no additional metric sensors are used for scale estimation. We demonstrate the ability of our system to estimate the scale for performing autonomous indoor navigation with a low-cost quadrotor MAV.