Ultrafast-Loaded Nickel Sulfide on Vertical Graphene Enabled by Joule Heating for Enhanced Lithium Metal Batteries.

The design and fabrication of a lithiophilic skeleton are highly important for constructing advanced Li metal anodes. In this work, a new lithiophilic skeleton is reported by planting metal sulfides (e.g., Ni3S2) on vertical graphene (VG) via a facile ultrafast Joule heating (UJH) method, which facilitates the homogeneous distribution of lithiophilic sites on carbon cloth (CC) supported VG substrate with firm bonding. Ni3S2 nanoparticles are homogeneously anchored on the optimized skeleton as CC/VG@Ni3S2, which ensures high conductivity and uniform deposition of Li metal with non-dendrites. By means of systematic electrochemical characterizations, the symmetric cells coupled with CC/VG@Ni3S2 deliver a steady long-term cycle within 14 mV overpotential for 1800 h (900 cycles) at 1 mA cm-2 and 1 mAh cm-2. Meanwhile, the designed CC/VG@Ni3S2-Li||LFP full cell shows notable electrochemical performance with a capacity retention of 92.44% at 0.5 C after 500 cycles and exceptional rate performance. This novel synthesis strategy for metal sulfides on hierarchical carbon-based materials sheds new light on the development of high-performance lithium metal batteries (LMBs).

HLA Fully-Mismatched Sibling-Derived CD7 CAR-T Therapy Bridging to Haploidentical Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Hepatosplenic γδ T-cell Lymphoma.

While chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T-cell therapy has demonstrated remarkable effectiveness in the treatment of B-cell lymphomas and leukemias, research on T-cell malignancies is still limited. Here, we reported a patient with hepatosplenic γδ T-cell lymphoma refractory to multiple lines of chemotherapy, who eventually achieved first complete remission with flow cytometry-confirmed minimal residual disease negativity after human leukocyte antigen (HLA) fully-mismatched sibling-derived CD7 CAR-T therapy. However, given the allogeneic nature, CAR-T cells dropped rapidly after a peak of 83.4% of circulating T-cells. Cytokine release syndrome, cytopenia, and infections occurred but were manageable after treatments. After the consolidative haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), the patient remained in remission at the end of the follow-up (13 months post-CAR-T infusion). This is the first case of relapsed/refractory hepatosplenic γδ T-cell lymphoma who achieved lasting CR after HLA fully-mismatched sibling-derived CD7 CAR-T therapy bridging to haploidentical HSCT.

Quasi-Solid Electrolyte Interphase Boosting Charge and Mass Transfer for Dendrite-Free Zinc Battery.

The practical applications of zinc metal batteries are plagued by the dendritic propagation of its metal anodes due to the limited transfer rate of charge and mass at the electrode/electrolyte interphase. To enhance the reversibility of Zn metal, a quasi-solid interphase composed by defective metal-organic framework (MOF) nanoparticles (D-UiO-66) and two kinds of zinc salts electrolytes is fabricated on the Zn surface served as a zinc ions reservoir. Particularly, anions in the aqueous electrolytes could be spontaneously anchored onto the Lewis acidic sites in defective MOF channels. With the synergistic effect between the MOF channels and the anchored anions, Zn2+ transport is prompted significantly. Simultaneously, such quasi-solid interphase boost charge and mass transfer of Zn2+, leading to a high zinc transference number, good ionic conductivity, and high Zn2+ concentration near the anode, which mitigates Zn dendrite growth obviously. Encouragingly, unprecedented average coulombic efficiency of 99.8% is achieved in the Zn||Cu cell with the proposed quasi-solid interphase. The cycling performance of D-UiO-66@Zn||MnO2 (~ 92.9% capacity retention after 2000 cycles) and D-UiO-66@Zn||NH4V4O10 (~ 84.0% capacity retention after 800 cycles) prove the feasibility of the quasi-solid interphase.

A Silk Protein-Based Eutectogel as a Freeze-Resistant and Flexible Electrolyte for Zn-Ion Hybrid Supercapacitors.

A eutectogel (ETG) based on immobilizing a zinc salt deep eutectic solvent (DES) in a silk protein backbone is prepared by a coagulating bath method as a solid electrolyte for Zn-ion hybrid supercapacitors (ZHSCs). The Zn salt DES is composed by ethylene glycol (EG), urea, choline chloride (ChCl), and zinc chloride (ZnCl2) with a molar ratio of 6:10:3:3. A strong bonding of the DES liquid to the silk protein backbone is formed between protein macromolecules and the DES due to plenty of hydrogen bonds in both materials. The as-prepared ETG membrane is dense and has no obvious void defects, which possesses a fracture strength of 7.58 MPa and environmental stability. As a solid electrolyte, the ETG membrane exhibits a higher Zn2+ transference number of about 0.60 and a high ionic conductivity (12.31 mS cm-1 at room temperature and 3.63 mS cm-1 at -20 °C). A ZHSC (Zn∥ETG∥C) with the silk protein-based ETG electrolyte is assembled by Zn and active carbon as the anode and the cathode, respectively, which delivers a specific capacitance of 342.8 F g-1 at a current density of 0.2 A g-1 and maintains excellent cycling stability with 80% capacitance retention after 20,000 cycles at a high current rate (5 A g-1) at room temperature. Moreover, the Zn∥ETG∥C device can safely work under a lower temperature of about -18 °C and damaging situations, such as folding states and even cutting tests. The interface evolutions between the Zn anode and the ETG electrolyte are explored, and it was found that a ZnCO3/Zn(CH2OCO2)2 solid electrolyte interphase is in situ formed on the Zn anode, which can inhibit the growth of Zn dendrites. This work provides a new way to fabricate advanced electrolytes for applications in Zn-ion hybrid supercapacitors.

Lignin-Derived Graphene-Like Carbon Nanosheets as an Efficient Catalyst Support for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis.

Bio-renewable lignin has been used as a precursor for the preparation of various carbon materials, such as carbon fibers, ordered mesoporous carbon and graphite carbon cages. Nevertheless, up to now, there are few studies about prepare graphene-like carbon nanosheets derived from lignin. In this study, we synthesized graphene-like carbon nanosheets, using lignin as the precursor, via one-step pyrolysis route. Fortunately, physical and chemical characterization results indicate that it has high pore volume and hierarchical pore with wrinkled sheet graphene structure. Furthermore, the capability of graphene-like carbon nanosheets was investigated as a catalyst support in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The results of catalytic evaluation show that Fe2O3/GCNs has excellent catalytic activity and the selectivity of lower olefins, compared with Fe2O3/AC.

Biological macromolecule delivery system fabricated using zein and gum arabic to control the release rate of encapsulated tocopherol during in vitro digestion.

Nanoparticles were fabricated by adsorbing gum arabic (GA) on zein nanoparticles by antisolvent precipitation. The most stable mass ratio of zein:GA was 1:1.5 with a stable zeta-potential (-32.8 mV) in a pH range of 3.0-9.0. The surface hydrophobicity of zein-GA nanoparticles indicated formation of a stable structure through electrostatic attraction at a pH range of 3.0-6.0 and hydrophobic interaction at pH 7.0-9.0. The FTIR spectrogram showed an additional role of hydrogen bonds to promote the adsorption of GA on zein nanoparticles. Tocopherol (TOC) was encapsulated within the prepared zein-GA nanoparticles with a high loading capacity. The presence of GA not only prevented the precipitation of zein nanoparticles but also controlled the release of TOC from zein-GA nanoparticles during in vitro gastrointestinal digestion. Zein-GA biopolymer nanoparticles can be stably fabricated in a wide pH range for applications in the food and pharmacy industries.

Zein/gum Arabic nanoparticle-stabilized Pickering emulsion with thymol as an antibacterial delivery system.

Zein/gum Arabic (GA) nanoparticles (ZGPs) were fabricated to stabilize the oil-water interface of a Pickering emulsion. The Pickering emulsion was successfully fabricated at an oil fraction of 0.3 with 6.25% concentration of ZGPs. The droplet size and creaming index of the Pickering emulsions were influenced significantly by the concentrations of the ZGPs and oil fractions. Morphological observations showed that droplet aggregation occurred when the concentrations of ZGPs decreased or the oil fraction increased. The interfacial tension and rheological properties of the Pickering emulsions indicated that the ZGPs formed a stable oil-water interfacial layer and limited agglomeration and Ostwald ripening. Thymol loaded ZGP-stabilized Pickering emulsion was able to significantly inhibit the growth of E. coli. In addition, the ZGP-stabilized Pickering emulsion with thymol exhibited a controlled-release effect of thymol and antibacterial activity due to the protective effect of the stable interfacial layer of the ZPGs.