Design advanced lithium metal anode materials in high energy density lithium batteries.

Nowadays, the ongoing electrical vehicles and energy storage devices give a great demand of high-energy-density lithium battery. The commercial graphite anode has been reached the limit of the theoretical capacity. Herein, we introduce lithium metal anode to demonstrate the promising anode which can replace graphite. Lithium metal has a high theoretical capacity and the lowest electrochemical potential. Hence, using lithium metal as the anode material of lithium batteries can reach the limit of energy and power density of lithium batteries. However, lithium metal has huge flaw such as unstable SEI layer, volume change and dendrites formation. Therefore, we give a review of the lithium metal anode on its issues and introduce the existing research to overcome these. Besides, we give the perspective that the engineering problems also restrict the commercial use of lithium metal. This review provides the reasonable method to enhance the lithium metal performance and give the development direction for the subsequent research.

A DNA Aptamer Against Influenza A Virus: An Effective Inhibitor to the Hemagglutinin-Glycan Interactions.

Most therapeutical nucleic acid aptamers tend to inhibit protein-protein interactions and thereby function as antagonists. Attachment of the influenza virus surface glycoprotein hemagglutinin (HA) to sialic acid-containing host cell receptors (glycan) facilitates the initial stage of viral infection. Inhibition of the attachment may result in an antiviral effect on the proliferation of the influenza virus. To develop therapeutically interesting agents, we selected two single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) aptamers specific to the HA protein of H1N1 influenza virus (A/Puerto Rico/8/1934) through a procedure of systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment. As it showed a higher binding affinity for HA protein (Kd = 78 ± 1 nM), aptamer 1 was tested for its ability to interfere with HA-glycan interactions using chicken red blood cell hemagglutination and microneutralization assays, which demonstrated that it significantly suppressed the viral infection in host cells. These results indicate that the isolated ssDNA aptamer may be developed as an antiviral agent against influenza through appropriate therapeutic formulation.

Efficient suppression of biofilm formation by a nucleic acid aptamer.

Biofilms are microbial communities that are attached to a solid surface using extracellular polymeric substances. Motility and initial attachment mediated by flagella are required for biofilm formation. Therefore, blocking the motility of flagella is a potential strategy to inhibit biofilm formation. In this study, single-stranded DNA aptamers specific to the Salmonella choleraesuis were selected after 14 cycles of the systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment. Among the selected aptamers, the aptamer 3 showed the highest affinity for S. choleraesuis with a dissociation constant (Kd) of 41 ± 2 nM. Aptamer 3, conjugated with magnetic beads, was then used to capture its binding target on the bacteria. After mass spectrometry and specific binding analysis, the flagellin was identified as the target captured by aptamer 3. Furthermore, inhibition experiments, inverted microscopy and atomic force microscopy demonstrated that aptamer 3 was able to control the biofilm formation and promote the inhibitory effect of an antibiotic on bacterial biofilms. Single-stranded DNA aptamers therefore have great potential as inhibitors of biofilm formation.