It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Tuesday, December 30, 2025
MULTIPOLARITY
South Korea’s Lee to visit China for talks with Xi
South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung will travel to China early next week for summit talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a visit that underscores Seoul’s effort to stabilise relations with its largest trading partner amid wider regional tensions.
According to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, Lee is due to leave for Beijing on January 4 for meetings with the Chinese leader before travelling on to Shanghai on January 6. He is expected to return to South Korea the following day, according to the Korean presidential office. The visit will be Lee’s first trip to China since taking office in June and the first state visit by a South Korean president to the country in eight years.
The summit will be the second meeting between Lee and Xi in just over two months, following their encounter on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit held in Gyeongju in November. Officials in Seoul say the discussions are intended to build momentum towards restoring a more comprehensive strategic partnership between the two neighbours.
Talks are expected to focus on deepening economic cooperation, with particular attention to supply chains, digital industries and cross-border investment. The two leaders are also likely to address collaboration on issues that have a direct impact on citizens, including responses to transnational crime, Yonhap adds.
The trip comes as Lee has pledged to pursue a pragmatic and predictable approach towards Beijing, at a time when South Korea is seeking Chinese support for renewed dialogue with North Korea. Seoul has repeatedly urged China to use its influence in Pyongyang to help ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula, a position Beijing has said it broadly supports.
While in Shanghai, it is understood Lee will attend events marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of Kim Gu, a leading figure in Korea’s independence movement, as well as the centenary of the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in the city during Japan’s colonial rule.
KIST develops eco-friendly palladium recovery technology to safeguard resource security
World-leading recovery technology using titanium-based Maxine
Using TiOx/Ti3C2Tx nanosheets, we selectively recovered palladium from spent catalysts and repurposed it as a hydrogen evolution catalyst. Subsequently, we achieved high-purity separation of the nanosheets and palladium for industrial reuse, while reusing the nanosheets themselves. This completes a fully closed-loop resource recycling system.
Palladium (Pd) is widely used in various industries and everyday products, including smartphones, semiconductor manufacturing processes, and hydrogen fuel cells. Palladium is an essential metal that acts as an excellent catalyst even in minute quantities, reducing pollutants and enhancing energy efficiency. However, palladium production is concentrated in a few countries, leading to unstable supply. While South Korea generates significant amounts of spent catalysts and electronic waste annually, a lack of eco-friendly and efficient recovery technologies means much is discarded or relies on foreign technology.
A research team led by Dr. Jae-Woo Choi from the Water Resources Recycling Research Group and Dr. Jin Young Kim from the Center for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST, President Sangrok Oh) has developed an eco-friendly palladium recovery technology based on titanium-based maxene material ('TiOx/Ti3C2Tx') nanosheets. Existing overseas technologies operated only in strongly acidic environments, limiting their applicability to weakly acidic wastewater commonly found in industrial settings.
This technology features the high-density arrangement of 'TiOx nanoclusters' with unsaturated oxygen on the surface of nanomaterials. It enables the recovery of 99.9% high-purity palladium within 30 minutes, even in weakly acidic environments where recovery is difficult using conventional methods. It requires no toxic chemicals or power supply, and the recovered palladium naturally reduces to its metallic state, allowing separation through simple filtration. This means it can significantly reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions compared to existing strong acid processes.
Furthermore, this material exhibits world-leading adsorption performance at 1,983 mg/g and maintains approximately 90% efficiency even after more than 10 cycles of reuse, confirming its stability and reusability. The recovered palladium-nanosheet composite can be recycled back into a hydrogen evolution catalyst, making it suitable for implementing a complete precious metal recycling system.
This technology operates at room temperature and does not require high-temperature processing or strong acidic chemicals, so it is expected to reduce carbon emissions by up to 80% or more compared to existing processes. It also has low cost burdens due to no electricity usage and high industrial value as it can be reused repeatedly.
Its broad range of applications is also considered a major advantage. It is suitable not only as a catalyst for use in various industries such as refining, petrochemicals, automotive, and hydrogen fuel cells, but also for recovering palladium contained in electronic waste like smartphones and circuit boards.
KIST researchers anticipate further refining this technology to enable real-time treatment of palladium-containing wastewater generated in industrial settings. They aim to establish a circular resource ecosystem where recovered palladium is reintroduced as a catalyst and electronic material. Additionally, through technology transfer and commercialization, they plan to advance the self-sufficiency of domestic precious metal recovery technology. Future expansion plans include developing recovery technologies for other precious metals such as platinum, gold, and silver.
Dr. Jae-Woo Choi of KIST stated, "This research represents a technological turning point that can contribute to the self-sufficiency of Korea's resource circulation system and reduce dependence on precious metal imports by enabling the easy recovery of precious metals previously discarded in spent catalysts or electronic waste." He added, "We plan to enhance commercialization potential by developing a modular recovery system in the future." Dr. Jin Young Kim of KIST, who collaborated on the research, explained, "We confirmed that the recovered palladium can be applied not merely as recycled material, but as an electrochemical electrode catalyst material for producing high-efficiency hydrogen." He added, "We verified the potential for it to be utilized not as a 'discarded metal,' but as a circular resource supporting clean energy production.“
This study illustrates the palladium recovery Maxine nanosheets developed in this research, likening them to fish that selectively recover palladium from industrial wastewater, produce hydrogen, and then leap back to the surface to send the palladium for recycling in industry. The fish then return to the industrial wastewater outlet to recover palladium again.
Credit
Korea Institute of Science and Technology
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KIST was established in 1966 as the first government-funded research institute in Korea. KIST now strives to solve national and social challenges and secure growth engines through leading and innovative research. For more information, please visit KIST’s website at https://www.kist.re.kr/eng/index.do
This research was conducted as part of KIST's Institutional Program and the Solar Panel Recycling Technology Development Project (RS-2025-02223005), supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Bae Kyung-hoon) and the Ministry of Climate, Energy, and Environment (Minister Kim Sung-hwan). The research findings were published in the latest issue of the international academic journal Advanced Functional Materials (IF: 19, JCR (%): 4.5%).
A research team from City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) recently collaborated with an international research team to publish a study revealing a correlation between global contamination of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in globally consumed edible marine fish and associated human health risks.
The study found that consumers may be exposed to elevated levels of PFAS by consuming imported fish such as salmon, tuna, swordfish and cod — even in regions with low environmental pollution — thereby increasing food‑safety risks.
The research was jointly led by Professor QiuWenhui and Professor ZhengChunmiao,from the School of Environmental Science and Engineering at Southern University of Science and Technology in the Chinese Mainland. Professor Kenneth Leung Mei-yee, Director of the State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Health, Chair Professor of the Department of Chemistry and Associate Dean of the College of Science at CityUHK, served as a co‑author of the study. The findings were recently published in the international journal Science, under the title “Risks of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance Exposure through Marine Fish Consumption”.
The team compiled seawater‑monitoring data from 3,126 locations worldwide over the past 20 years and used marine food‑web models to analyse PFAS concentrations in 212 edible marine fish species. They found that PFAS levels are closely linked to the pollution history and dilution capacity of marine regions, with significantly higher concentrations found in predatory species at high trophic levels.
PFAS are synthetic chemicals widely used in industrial and consumer products, such as non‑stick cookware, waterproof clothing and firefighting foams. Owing to their extreme chemical stability, PFAS are slow to degrade in the natural environment and tend to accumulate in organisms and move up the food chain, posing potential risks to human health.
The study’s findings reveal that between 2010 and 2021, the median concentration of C8‑PFAS — including PFOA and PFOS — in global marine fish was 0.34 ng/g wet weight. In Asia, the median level was notably higher than that in other regions, reaching 1.03 ng/g wet weight. Some marine fish species from Saudi Arabia and Thailand exhibited even higher contamination levels at 11.72 and 6.06 ng/g wet weight, respectively.
The team also analysed fisheries and trade data from 33 countries, along with estimated daily intake (EDI) levels of various fish species. They found that high-risk contaminated species, such as cod, herring, sea bass, salmon, tuna and swordfish, are sourced mainly from Europe and traded to other markets. This indicates that consumers in local sea areas with low contamination levels may still be exposed to higher food-safety risks because of imported fish, leading to a “cross‑border transfer” of PFAS exposure. For example, in Italy, only 11.71% of fish is imported from Sweden, but these imports account for 35.82% of Italians’ C8‑PFAS intake. In contrast, the domestic fish catch in Italy accounts for 28.02% of consumption but only 5.23% of C8-PFAS exposure. Similar patters were observed in the United Kingdom and Colombia.
Professor Leung and his research team at CityUHK, including Professor Ruan Yufei, Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry,and Dr Qi Wang, postdoctoral fellow, also conducted tests on PFAS contamination in local fish species commonly caught in Hong Kong waters.
The results indicate that while overall PFAS exposure risks from local fish remained low in Hong Kong, several species were found to contain relatively high PFAS concentrations, including Blackspot threadfin (Polydactylus sextarius), Daggertooth pike conger (Muraenesox cinereus), Indian thryssa (Thryssa kammalensis) and Burrowing goby (Trypauchen vagina).
Professor Leung noted that three categories of fish tend to pose higher PFAS‑exposure risks:
Predatory species at high trophic levels, such as threadfin, conger, cod, tuna and swordfish;
High‑fat species, such as salmon, herring and sardines; and
Demersal (bottom‑dwelling) species, such as the burrowing goby.
“Elderly people, pregnant women, young children and individuals with chronic illnesses are more vulnerable to PFAS‑related risks and should therefore be especially careful when choosing seafood,” said Professor Leung. “The public is also advised to maintain a balanced diet and limit their consumption of fish species known to have elevated PFAS levels to minimise potential health risks.”
A new method to capture carbon dioxide from the air has been developed at the University of Helsinki's chemistry department.
The method developed by Postdoctoral Researcher Zahra Eshaghi Gorji is based on a compound of superbase and alcohol. Tests done in professor Timo Repo’s group show that the compound appears promising: one gram of the compound can absorb 156 milligrams of carbon dioxide directly from untreated ambient air. However, the compound does not react with nitrogen, oxygen or other atmospheric gases. Capasity clearly outperforms the CO2 capture methods currently in use.
The CO2 captured by the compound can be released by heating the compound at 70 °C in 30 minutes. Clean CO2 is recovered and can be recycled.
The ease of releasing CO2 is the key advantage of the new compound. In current compounds, releasing CO2 typically requires heat above 900 degrees Celsius.
– In addition, the compound can be used multiple times: the compound retained 75 percent of its original capacity after 50 cycles, and 50 percent after 100 cycles.
Non-toxic and cost-effective
The new compound was discovered by experimenting with a number of bases in different compounds, says Eshagi Gorji. The experiments lasted more than a year in total.
The most promising base proved to be 1,5,7-triazabicyclo [4.3.0] non-6-ene (TBN), developed at in the professor Ilkka Kilpeläinen’s group, which was combined with benzyl alcohol to produce the final compound.
– None of the components is expensive to produce, Eshaghi Gorji points out. In addition, the fluid is non-toxic.
The compound will now be tested in pilot plants at a near-industrial scale, rather than in grams. A solid version of the liquid compound must be made for this purpose.
– The idea is to bind the compound to compounds such as silica and graphene oxide, which promotes the interaction with carbon dioxide.
Link to article https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.5c13908
