GeV4 S8 : a Novel Bimetallic Sulfide for Robust and Fast Potassium Storage.

Potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) have attracted much attention due to their low production cost and abundant resources. Germanium is a promising alloying-type anode with a high theoretical capacity for PIBs, yet suffering significant volume expansion and sluggish potassium-ion transport kinetics. Herein, a rational strategy is formulated to disperse Ge atoms into transition metal V-S sulfide frameworks to form a loosely packed and metallic GeV4 S8 medium. The theoretical prediction shows that GeV4 S8 is conducive to the adsorption and diffusion of K+ . The V-S frameworks provide fast ion/electron diffusion channels and also help to buffer the volume expansion during K+ insertion. In situ and ex situ characterizations manifest that KGe alloy clusters are constrained and dispersed by potassiated VS2 topological structure during discharging, and revert to the original GeV4 S8 after charging. Consequently, as a novel anode for PIBs, GeV4 S8 provides a high specific capacity of ≈400 mAh g-1 at 0.5 C, maintaining 160 mAh g-1 even at 12.5 C and ≈80% capacity after 1000 cycles at 5 C, superior to most of the state-of-the-art anode materials. The proposed strategy of combining alloy and intercalation dual-functional units is expected to open up a new way for high-capacity and high-rate anode for PIBs.

1D Insertion Chains Induced Small-Polaron Collapse in MoS2 2D Layers Toward Fast-Charging Sodium-Ion Batteries.

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2 ) with high theoretical capacity is viewed as a promising anode for sodium-ion batteries but suffers from inferior rate capability owing to the polaron-induced slow charge transfer. Herein, a polaron collapse strategy induced by electron-rich insertions is proposed to effectively solve the above issue. Specifically, 1D [MoS] chains are inserted into MoS2 to break the symmetry states of 2D layers and induce small-polaron collapse to gain fast charge transfer so that the as-obtained thermodynamically stable Mo2 S3 shows metallic behavior with 107 times larger electrical conductivity than that of MoS2 . Theoretical calculations demonstrate that Mo2 S3 owns highly delocalized anions, which substantially reduce the interactions of Na-S to efficiently accelerate Na+ diffusion, endowing Mo2 S3 lower energy barrier (0.38 vs 0.65 eV of MoS2 ). The novel Mo2 S3 anode exhibits a high capacity of 510 mAh g-1 at 0.5 C and a superior high-rate stability of 217 mAh g-1 at 40 C over 15 000 cycles. Further in situ and ex situ characterizations reveal the in-depth reversible redox chemistry in Mo2 S3 . The proposed polaron collapse strategy for intrinsically facilitating charge transfer can be conducive to electrode design for fast-charging batteries.

Dynamic landscapes and the influence of human activities in the Yellow River Delta wetland region.

The Yellow River Delta (YRD) wetland is one of the largest and youngest wetland ecosystems in the world. It plays an important role in regulating climate and maintaining ecological balance in the region. This study analyzes the spatiotemporal changes in land use, wetland migration, and landscape pattern from 2013 to 2022 using Landsat-8 and Sentinel-1 data in YRD. Then wetland landscape changes and the impact of human activities are determined by analyzing correlation between landscape and socio-economic indicators including nighttime light centroid, total light intensity, cultivated land area and centroid, building area and centroid, economic and population. The results show that the total wetland area increased 1426 km2 during this decade. However, the wetland landscape pattern tended to be fragmented from 2013 to 2022, with wetlands of different types interlacing and connectivity decreasing, and distribution becoming more concentrated. Different types of human activities had influences on different aspects of wetland landscape, with the expansion of cultivated land mainly compressing the core area of wetlands from the edge, the expansion of buildings mainly disrupting wetland connectivity, and socio-economic indicators such as total light intensity and the centroid mainly causing wetland fragmentation. The results show the changes of the YRD wetland and provide an explanation of how human activities effect the change of its landscape, which provides available data to achieve sustainable development goals 6.6 and may give an access to measure the change of wetland using human-activity data, which could help to adject behaviors to protect wetlands.

IPAC integrates rewarding and environmental memory during the acquisition of morphine CPP.

The association between rewarding and drug-related memory is a leading factor for the formation of addiction, yet the neural circuits underlying the association remain unclear. Here, we showed that the interstitial nucleus of the posterior limb of the anterior commissure (IPAC) integrated rewarding and environmental memory information by two different receiving projections from ventral tegmental area (VTA) and nucleus accumbens shell region (NAcSh) to mediate the acquisition of morphine conditioned place preference (CPP). A projection from the VTA GABAergic neurons (VTAGABA) to the IPAC lateral region GABAergic neurons (IPACLGABA) mediated the effect of morphine rewarding, whereas the pathway from NAcSh dopamine receptor 1-expressing neurons (NAcShD1) to the IPAC medial region GABAergic neurons (IPACMGABA) was involved in the acquisition of environmental memory. These findings demonstrated that the distinct IPAC circuits VTAGABA→IPACLGABA and NAcShD1R→IPACMGABA were attributable to the rewarding and environmental memory during the acquisition of morphine CPP, respectively, and provided the circuit-based potential targets for preventing and treating opioid addiction.

Nanoscale Borate Coating Network Stabilized Iron Oxide Anode for High-Energy-Density Bipolar Lithium-Ion Batteries.

High-capacity metal oxides based on non-toxic earth-abundant elements offer unique opportunities as advanced anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). But they often suffer from large volumetric expansion, particle pulverization, extensive side reactions, and fast degradations during cycling. Here, an easy synthesis method is reported to construct amorphous borate coating network, which stabilizes conversion-type iron oxide anode for the high-energy-density semi-solid-state bipolar LIBs. The nano-borate coated iron oxide anode has high tap density (1.6 g cm-3 ), high capacity (710 mAh g-1 between 0.5 - 3.0 V, vs Li/Li+ ), good rate performance (200 mAh g-1 at 50 C), and excellent cycling stability (≈100% capacity resention over 1,000 cycles at 5 A g-1 ). When paired with high-voltage cathode LiCoO2 , it enables Cu current collector-free pouch-type classic and bipolar full cells with high voltage (7.6 V with two stack layers), achieving high energy density (≈350 Wh kg-1 ), outstanding power density (≈6,700 W kg-1 ), and extended cycle life (75% capacity retention after 2,000 cycles at 2 C), superior to the state-of-the-art high-power LIBs using Li4 Ti5 O12 anode. The design and methodology of the nanoscale polyanion-like coating can be applied to other metal oxides electrode materials, as well as other electrochemical materials and devices.

Electron-Extraction Engineering Induced 1T''-1T' Phase Transition of Re0.75 V0.25 Se2 for Ultrafast Sodium Ion Storage.

Inducing new phases of transition metal dichalcogenides by controlling the d-electron-count has attracted much interest due to their novel structures and physicochemical properties. 1T'' ReSe2 is a promising candidate for sodium storage, but the low electronic conductivity and limited active sites hinder its electrochemical capacity. Herein, new-phase 1T' Re0.75 V0.25 Se2 crystals (P2/m) with zig-zag chains are successfully synthesized. The 1T''-1T' phase transition results from the electronic reorganization of 5d orbitals via electron extraction after V-atom doping. The electrical conductivity of 1T' Re0.75 V0.25 Se2 is 2.7 × 105 times higher than that of 1T'' ReSe2 . Moreover, density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that 1T' Re0.75 V0.25 Se2 has a larger interlayer spacing, lower bonding energy, and migration energy barrier for Na+ ions than 1T'' ReSe2 . As a result, 1T' Re0.75 V0.25 Se2 electrode shows an excellent rate capability of 203 mAh g-1 at 50 C with no capacity fading over 5000 cycles for sodium storage, which is superior to most reported sodium-ion anode materials. This 1T' Re0.75 V0.25 Se2 provides a new platform for various applications such as electronics, catalysis, and energy storage.

Tailoring Ultrafast and High-Capacity Sodium Storage via Binding-Energy-Driven Atomic Scissors.

Controllably tailoring alloying anode materials to achieve fast charging and enhanced structural stability is crucial for sodium-ion batteries with high rate and high capacity performance, yet remains a significant challenge owing to the huge volume change and sluggish sodiation kinetics. Here, a chemical tailoring tool is proposed and developed by atomically dispersing high-capacity Ge metal into the rigid and conductive sulfide framework for controllable reconstruction of GeS bonds to synergistically realize high capacity and high rate performance for sodium storage. The integrated GeTiS3 material with stable Ti-S framework and weak GeS bonding delivers high specific capacities of 678 mA h g-1 at 0.3 C over 100 cycles and 209 mA h g-1 at 32 C over 10 000 cycles, outperforming most of the reported alloying type anode materials for sodium storage. Interestingly, in situ Raman, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and ex situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) characterizations reveal the formation of well-dispersed Nax Ge confined in the rigid Ti-S matrix with suppressed volume change after discharge. The synergistically coupled alloying-conversion and surface-dominated redox reactions with enhanced capacitive contribution and high reaction reversibility by a binding-energy-driven atomic scissors method would break new ground on designing a high-rate and high-capacity sodium-ion batteries.

Flexible yet Robust Framework of Tin(II) Oxide Carbodiimide for Reversible Lithium Storage.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) can become promising electrode materials for advanced lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), because their loosely packed porous structures may mitigate volume expansion and metal atom aggregation, which occur at the respective metal oxides. However, they suffer from poor electrical conductivity and irreversible structural degradation upon charge/discharge processes, which impede their practical utilization. Herein, we investigate MOF-like Sn2 O(CN2 ) as a new electrode material. The conductive yet flexible [N=C=N] linkers are tilted between [Sn4 O] nodes and cross-linked into a porous quasi-layered structure. Such structure offers abundant channels for fast Li-ion transport and tolerance of enormous volume expansion. Notably, anisotropic [N=C=N]2- arrays hardly migrate so that Sn0 nanodots are physically separated via robust [N=C=N]2- framework during discharge, thereby effectively preventing the formation of large Sn islands. Owing to the structural advantage, the Sn2 O(CN2 ) electrode exhibits an initial Coulombic efficiency as high as ∼80 %. With the addition of graphite as conductive supporter, the electrode provides 978 mAh g-1 at 1.0 A g-1 even after 300 cycles. Such MOF-like carbodiimides hold potential for the advanced electrodes in LIBs and other battery systems.