Enabling Stable and Low-Strain Lithium Plating/Stripping with 2D Layered Transition Metal Carbides by Forming Li-Zipped MXenes and a Li Halide-Rich Solid Electrolyte Interphase.

Two-dimensional (2D) layered materials demonstrate prominent advantage in regulating lithium plating/stripping behavior by confining lithium diffusion/plating within interlayer gaps. However, achieving effective interlayer confined lithium diffusion/plating without compromising the stability of bulk-structural and the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) remains a considerable challenge. This paper presents an electrochemical scissor and lithium zipper-driven protocol for realizing interlayer confined lithium plating with pretty-low strain and volume change. In this protocol, lithium serves as a "zipper" to reunite the adjacent MXene back to MAX-like phase to markedly enhance the structural stability, and a lithium halide-rich SEI is formed by electrochemically removing the terminals of halogenated MXenes to maintain the stability and rapid lithium ions diffusion of SEI. When the Ti3 C2 I2 serves as the host for lithium plating, the average coulomb efficiency exceeds 97.0 % after 320 lithium plating/stripping cycles in conventional ester electrolyte. Furthermore, a full cell comprising of LiNi0.8 Mn0.1 Co0.1 O2 and Ti3 C2 I2 @Li exhibits a capacity retention rate of 73.4 % after 200 cycles even under high cathode mass-loading (20 mg cm-2 ) and a low negative/positive capacity ratio of 1.4. Our findings advance the understanding of interlayer confined lithium plating in 2D layered materials and provide a new direction in regulating lithium and other metal plating/stripping behaviors.

[Efficacy of Kangshuailing Gao on benign prostatic hyperplasia in rats].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of Kangshuailing Gao (KG) on benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in rats and its action mechanisms. METHODS: Fifty BPH model rats were randomized into five groups of equal number, BPH model control, finasteride control, and high-, medium- and low-dose KG, to be treated intragastrically with distilled water, finasteride solution at 0.52 mg/kg, and KG solution at 4.16, 2.08 and 1.04 g/kg respectively once a day for 30 days consecutively. Another 10 normal healthy rats were taken as blank controls. The rats were weighed once a week during the treatment. The wet weight and index of the prostate were obtained after treatment, followed by measurement of the contents of serum estradiol (E2) and dihydrotestosterone (DHT), testosterone (T) and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) in the prostatic tissue, and observation of histomorphological changes in the prostate under the light microscope. RESULTS: Compared with the BPH model control group, high- and medium-dose KG significantly reduced the prostate wet weight (ï¼»0.84 ± 0.08ï¼½ vs ï¼»0.69 ± 0.04ï¼½ and ï¼»0.71 ± 0.07ï¼½ g, P < 0.01), the prostatic index (ï¼»0.28 ± 0.03ï¼½% vs ï¼»0.20 ± 0.02ï¼½% and ï¼»0.22 ± 0.03ï¼½%, P < 0.01), and the levels of T (ï¼»4.63 ± 1.25ï¼½ vs ï¼»2.44 ± 0.47ï¼½ and ï¼»2.91 ± 0.69ï¼½ ng/L, P < 0.01) and DHT (ï¼»154.44 ± 20.25ï¼½ vs ï¼»88.23 ± 13.63ï¼½ and ï¼»90.52 ± 16.44ï¼½ nmol/L, P < 0.01), but increased the level of E2 (ï¼»0.95 ± 0.24ï¼½ vs ï¼»1.19 ± 0.14ï¼½ and ï¼»1.20 ± 0.22ï¼½ nmol/L, P < 0.01) in the serum. High-dose KG remarkably reduced the overexpression of HIF-1α in the prostate tissue of the BPH model rats (P < 0.01) and alleviated such BPH-related symptoms as epithelium thinning, intraglandular secretion reduction, and interstitial substance decrease. CONCLUSIONS: Kangshuailing Gao acted effectively on BPH in the model rats by reducing the androgen level, balancing the estrogen/androgen ratio, and downregulating the expression of HIF-1α in the prostate tissue.