Large-Scale Synthesis of High Energy Thermal Battery Cathode Ni0.5Co0.5S2 by a Simple Sintering Technique.

With the synergies of multiple elements, bimetallic sulfides exhibit excellent performance as splendid electrode materials and effective catalysts. However, large-scale synthesis of high-performance single-phase multicomponent sulfides has always been a challenge. Based on thermodynamic calculations, the intermediate phases NiS2 and Co3S4 are devoted to the synthesis of single-phase Ni0.5Co0.5S2. Because the reaction from NiS2 and Co3S4 to Ni0.5Co0.5S2 goes through a lower energy, it thermodynamically contributes to achieving a single-phase structure. Thus, single-phase Ni0.5Co0.5S2 can be simply and quickly prepared by two-step sintering and successfully scalable for mass production. This technique can extend to the whole ingredients Ni1-xCoxS2. Ni0.5Co0.5S2 demonstrates excellent thermal stability and good conductivity. It delivers a specific capacity of 671 mAh·g-1 and a specific energy of 1173 Wh·kg-1 when applied to a thermal battery cathode, which are increased by 18.6% and 25.0%, respectively, compared to pristine NiS2 (566 mAh·g-1) and CoS2 (537 mAh·g-1). This work proposes an innovative sintering method, which is applicable for cost-efficient and large-scale synthesis of single-phase multicomponent sulfides.

MultiElement-Doped Ni-Based Disulfide Enhances the Specific Capacity of Thermal Batteries by High Thermal Stability.

With the high theoretical capacity and the ability of large current discharge, NiS2 has been expected as a new cathode material for thermal batteries. However, its lower decomposition temperature (∼500 °C) restricts its application on thermal batteries because of the high operating temperature of thermal batteries (500-600 °C). In this case, Cr, Fe, Co, and Cu multielement-doped NiS2 (NiS2-d) has been successfully prepared by low-temperature solid-phase sintering. Owing to the effect of high entropy, the multielement doping improved the thermodynamic system stability of NiS2, and the decomposition temperature (2NiS2 → 2NiS + S2) increased from 482 to 610 °C. Interestingly, doping also reduces the particle size of NiS2, resulting in defects on the surface of NiS2 particles and improving the conductivity of NiS2.The actual discharge capacity of NiS2 enhanced significantly from 516 to 643 mA h g-1 at 500 °C, with a current density of 100 mA cm-2 and a cut-off voltage of 1.5 V. This is due to a more complete release of the first discharge reaction (NiS2 + 2Li+ + 2e- → NiS + Li2S) as the decomposition temperature rises. The enhancement of conductivity, meanwhile, lessens polarization during the discharge process, raises the voltage of the NiS2 discharge platform, and improves the stability of the NiS2 later discharge platform. Additionally, the smaller particle size enables improved contact between the cathode and the electrolyte interface, allowing electrolyte ions to quickly come into touch with the NiS2 surface. These results show that the discharge performance of NiS2 at high temperatures could be effectively improved by multielement doping. It provides a new method for improving the stability of a metal sulfide and its application at high-temperature discharge.

Lower Interfacial Resistance between a Ta-Doped Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZTO) Solid Electrolyte and NiCl2 Cathode by a Simple Heat Treatment for a High-Specific Energy Thermal Battery.

Large current discharge is restricted because of the poor conductivity between the Ta-doped Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZTO) solid electrolyte and electrode. The poor conductivity would be caused by the interfacial reaction between LLZTO and the cathode, which is detrimental to the secondary Li ionic or metal battery. In this case, we studied the interfacial reaction between LLZTO and a haloid cathode (NiCl2) for a thermal battery for the first time, and a lower interfacial resistance could be obtained by a simple heat treatment. Owing to the element interdiffusion of Cl- and O2- at a high temperature of 600 °C, the main reaction products are LaOCl, LiCl, and La2Zr2O7. This reaction reduces the interfacial resistance from 3 Ω to 2 Ω. After a pretreatment at 600 °C, the discharge specific energy could reach 1254 Wh kg-1 from 828 Wh kg-1 at 550 °C with a cut-off voltage of 1.8 V. These results suggest that the interfacial reaction could be significant for the battery by adding interfacial contact. It is an effective approach to decrease the interfacial resistance at high temperature for some specific system, such as a haloid cathode-solid electrolyte.

Diagnostic value of metagenomic next-generation sequencing of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid for the diagnosis of suspected pneumonia in immunocompromised patients.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the diagnostic value of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) in immunocompromised patients for the diagnosis of suspected pneumonia in comparison with that of conventional microbiological tests (CMTs). METHODS: Sixty-nine immunocompromised patients with suspected pneumonia received both CMTs and mNGS of BALF were analyzed retrospectively. The diagnostic value was compared between CMTs and mNGS, using the clinical composite diagnosis as the reference standard. RESULTS: Sixty patients were diagnosed of pneumonia including fifty-two patients with identified pathogens and eight patients with probable pathogens. Taking the composite reference standard as a gold standard, 42 pathogens were identified by CMTs including nine bacteria, 17 fungi, 8 virus, 6 Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, and two Legionella and 19(45%) of which were detected by BALF culture. As for mNGS, it identified 76 pathogens including 20 bacteria, 31 fungi, 14 virus, 5 Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, four Legionella and two Chlamydia psittaci. The overall detection rate of mNGS for pathogens were higher than that of CMTs. However, a comparable diagnostic accuracy of mNGS and CMTs were found for bacterial and viral infections. mNGS exhibited a higher diagnostic accuracy for fungal detection than CMTs (78% vs. 57%, P < 0.05), which mainly because of the high sensitivity of mNGS in patients with Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP) (100% vs. 28%, P < 0.05). Nineteen patients were identified as pulmonary co-infection, mNGS test showed a higher detection rate and broader spectrum for pathogen detection than that of CMTs in co-infection. Moreover, Pneumocystis jirovecii was the most common pathogen in co-infection and mNGS have identified much more co-pathogens of PJP than CMTs. CONCLUSIONS: mNGS of BALF improved the microbial detection rate of pathogens and exhibited remarkable advantages in detecting PJP and identifying co-infection in immunocompromised patients.

Diagnostic performance of the metagenomic next-generation sequencing in lung biopsy tissues in patients suspected of having a local pulmonary infection.

PURPOSE: This study aims to evaluate the diagnostic application and performance of the metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) in patients suspected of local pulmonary infection by comparing it to the traditional pathogen detection methods in lung tissue specimens obtained by a computerized tomography-guided biopsy (CT-guided biopsy). METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed patients, admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, China from May 2018 to December 2020, who were suspected of local pulmonary infection. All cases received a CT-guided lung biopsy, tissue samples were sent both for conventional examinations (CE) and mNGS tests. The sensitivity and specificity of the two diagnostic approaches were compared. RESULTS: 106 patients enrolled, 76 patients were diagnosed with a pulmonary infection. Among 49 patients with identified pathogens, CE confirmed pathogenic infections in 32 cases. Mycobacterium spp. and fungi accounted for 37.5% (12/32) and 28.1% (9/32), respectively, with bacteria 34.4% (11/32). The mNGS examination detected extra pathogenic microorganisms in 22 patients that were consistent with the patients' clinical and radiographic pictures. The sensitivity of mNGS was 53.9% vs. 42.1% for the CE, while the specificity was 56.7% versus 96.7%. For detection rate, mNGS was significantly superior to CE in bacterial (96.3% vs. 40.7%, p < 0.05), and mixed infections (100% vs. 50%, p < 0.05), but inferior to CE in fungal (60% vs. 90%, p > 0.05) and Mycobacterium spp. infections (66.7% vs. 100%, p > 0.05) with no significant difference. Among 31 cases diagnosed with lung abscess, the diagnostic performance of the detection rate was 67.7% (21/31) in favour of mNGS compared to 29.0% (9/31) for CE (p < 0.05). Most polymicrobial infections were induced by anaerobic species that coexisted with Streptococcus constellatus. And Klebsiella pneumoniae was the most common isolated monomicrobial infection. CONCLUSIONS: The most commonly detected causative pathogens for local pulmonary infections were bacteria, Mycobacterium spp. and fungi. Compared with the CE, the advantages of mNGS in the pathogens detection lie in the discovery of bacterial and mixed infections, as well as in the detection of lung abscess. Conversely, mNGS is not good enough to be recommendable for the detection of Mycobacterium spp. and fungi.

Severe Chlamydia psittaci pneumonia: clinical characteristics and risk factors.

BACKGROUND: Psittacosis ranges from a mild illness to fulminant severe pneumonia with multi-organ failure. It's crucial to understand the clinical characteristics and identify risk factors for a better outcome. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis designed to identify risk factors for severe Chlamydia psittaci pneumonia (C. psittaci pneumonia) by comparing the clinical characteristics of patients with severe and less severe forms of the disease. Epidemiological, clinical, laboratory, computed tomography (CT) imaging, and outcome data were collected. RESULTS: We enrolled 27 patients with C. psittaci pneumonia, with a median age of 63 (range, 47-82) years, and 23 of whom (85.2%) had a history of avian exposure. Dyspnea was seen in 15 patients with severe C. psittaci pneumonia (100%), and four in 12 non-severe patients (33.3%) (P<0.01). Compared to non-severe patients, those with severe C. psittaci pneumonia had significantly higher levels of procalcitonin, urea nitrogen, lactate dehydrogenase, creatine kinase (CK), B natriuretic peptide (BNP), myoglobin, IL-6, and IL-10, as well as lower lymphocyte and CD8+ T cell counts, and PaO2/FiO2 ratio. Among patients with severe infection, CT showed that 46.7% had multi-lobar (more than two lobes) pneumonia, whereas its incidence was 0% in non-severe patients (P=0.01). Multivariate analysis revealed that the independent risk factors associated with severe C. psittaci pneumonia were abnormal CK (OR 15.2, 95% CI: 1.1-204.8, P=0.04) and BNP (OR 22.3, 95% CI: 1.8-281.9, P=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: A history of prior avian exposure in middle-aged patients should serve as a clue in the diagnosis of C. psittaci pneumonia, and patients with its severe form are more likely to develop dyspnea and progress into respiratory failure, with involvement of multiple lung lobes. Abnormal CK and BNP levels are risk factors associated with severe C. psittaci pneumonia.

Novel NiCl2 Nanosheets Synthesized via Chemical Vapor Deposition with High Specific Energy for Thermal Battery.

Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials possessing a unique sheet structure, compared to correlative bulk materials, exhibit excellent properties, especially in the energy storage and energy conversion field. In this case, NiCl2 nanosheets with thicknesses of 2-8 nm are first prepared by a simple chemical vapor deposition method. For the Li-B/LiF-LiCl-LiBr/NiCl2 thermal battery, the specific energy of NiCl2 nanosheets increases from 510 W h kg-1 (NiCl2 rods) to 616 W h kg-1 at an operation temperature of 500 °C and a current density of 0.2 A cm-2. The 2D morphology and large numbers of defects not only improve the redox reaction rates and the lithium storage capacity, but also enhance the adsorption capacity with the flake-like binder MgO, which prolong the discharge time by suppressing the discharge product diffusion to the electrolyte. These results indicate that NiCl2 nanosheets have a great possibility to become a desirable candidate of cathode materials for assisting in the development of high energy output and provide a new way to restrain the immersion between the electrode and electrolyte.

Enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4 decorated ZrO2-x nanotubes heterostructure for degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride.

Photocatalytic degradation is considered as a promising strategy to address the environmental threat caused by antibiotics abuse. Visible light driven g-C3N4 decorated ZrO2-x nanotubes heterostructure photocatalysts for antibiotic degradation were successfully synthesized by anodic oxidation and following a thermal vapor deposition method. Compared with pure g-C3N4 or ZrO2-x nanotubes, the composite photocatalysts exhibited more extended visible light response and higher separation rate of photo-generated electron-holes pairs. The optimized heteroctructure with 7.1 wt.% g-C3N4 exhibited 90.6% degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride (TC-H) under 1 h visible light irradiation. The mainly active species of TC-H degradation were photo-generated h+ and O2-. The pathway of charge migration in the g-C3N4/ZrO2-x NTs system was also studied and a possible photocatalytic mechanism was proposed for TC-H degradation. Constructing the g-C3N4/ZrO2-x nanotubes heterostructure is anticipated to be an effective strategy for photocatalytic degradation of antibiotics.

Invasive aspergillosis presenting as hilar masses with stenosis of bronchus: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Hilar masses with stenosis of the bronchus occur mainly due to malignant diseases, such as lung cancer. Hilar masses resulting from invasive aspergillosis are extremely rare and occur mostly in severely immunosuppressed patients. CASE SUMMARY: In the current case report, we have documented a unique case of invasive aspergillosis presenting as a mass in the hilum and bronchial stenosis under bronchoscopy mimicking lung cancer in a 54-year-old man with diabetes mellitus. The histological analysis of bronchial membrane biopsy demonstrated fungal elements of 45° branching hyphae with positive Periodic Acid-Schiff and Grocott staining. After 3 mo of antifungal therapy, the symptoms, computed tomography scan and bronchoscopy manifestations all showed improvement. CONCLUSION: We highlight that clinicians should consider a diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis when radiological examination shows pseudotumor appearance in diabetes mellitus patients.

Enhancement of the Adhesive Strength between Ag Films and Mo Substrate by Ag Implanted via Ion Beam-Assisted Deposition.

Silver-coated molybdenum is an optimum material selection to replace pure silver as solar cell interconnector. However, the low adhesive strength between Ag films and Mo substrate hinders the application of the interconnector, because it is difficult to form metallurgical bonding or compound in the film/substrate interface using conventional deposition. In order to improve the adhesion, some Ag particles were implanted into the surface of Mo substrate by ion beam-assisted deposition (IBAD) before the Ag films were deposited by magnetron sputtering deposition (MD). The objective of this work was to investigate the effect of different assisted ion beam energy on the film/substrate adhesive properties. In addition, the fundamental adhesion mechanism was illustrated. The results revealed that the adhesion between Ag films and Mo substrate could be greatly enhanced by IBAD. With the increase of the assisting ion beam energy, the adhesive strength first increased and then decreased, with the optimum adhesion being able to rise to 25.29 MPa when the energy of the assisting ion beam was 30 keV. It could be inferred that the combination of “intermixing layer” and “implanted layer” formed by the high-energy ion bombardment was the key to enhancing the adhesion between Ag films and Mo substrate effectively.

Excellent Tribological Properties of Lower Reduced Graphene Oxide Content Copper Composite by Using a One-Step Reduction Molecular-Level Mixing Process.

Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) composite copper matrix powders were fabricated successfully by using a modified molecular-level mixing (MLM) method. Divalent copper ions (Cu2+) were adsorbed in oxygen functional groups of graphene oxide (GO) as a precursor, then were reduced simultaneously by one step chemical reduction. RGO showed a distribution converting from a random to a three-dimensional network in the copper matrix when its content increased to above 1.0 wt.% The tribological tests indicated that the friction coefficient of the composite with 1.0 wt.% RGO decreased markedly from 0.6 to 0.07 at an applied load of 10 N, and the wear rate was about one-third of pure copper. The excellent tribological properties were attributed to a three-dimensional and uniform distribution, which contributes to improving toughness and adhesion strength.

Synthesis and luminescent properties of novel BaGd2O4:Eu3+ scintillating phosphor.

BaGd2-x O4:xEu(3+) and Ba1-y Gd1.79-2y Eu0.21 Na3y O4 phosphors were synthesized at 1300°C in air by conventional solid-state reaction method. Phosphors were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectra, photoluminescence (PL) spectra and thermoluminescence (TL) spectra. Optimal PL intensity for BaGd2-x O4 :xEu(3+) and Ba1-y Gd1.79-2y Eu0.21 Na3y O4 phosphors at 276 nm excitation were found to be x = 0.24 and y = 0.125, respectively. The PL intensity of Eu(3+) emission could only be enhanced by 1.3 times with incorporation of Na(+) into the BaGd2 O4 host. Enhanced luminescence was attributed to the flux effect of Na(+) ions. However, when BaGd2 O4:Eu(3+) phosphors were codoped with Na(+) ions, the induced defects confirmed by TL spectra impaired the emission intensity of Eu(3+) ions.

Catalytic functions of Mo/Ni/MgO in the synthesis of thin carbon nanotubes.

The functions and structures of Mo/Ni/MgO catalysts in the synthesis of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Raman spectroscopy. Thin 2-5-walled CNTs with high purities (over 90%) have been successfully synthesized by catalytic decomposition of CH(4) over Mo/Ni/MgO catalysts at 1073 K. It has been found that the yield of CNTs as well as the outer diameter or thickness correlates well with the contents of these three elements. The three components Mo, Ni, and MgO are all necessary to synthesize the thin CNTs at high yields since no catalytic activity was observed for CNT synthesis when one of these components was not present. The outer diameter of the CNTs increases from 4 to 13 nm and the thickness of graphene layers also increases with increasing Mo content at a fixed Ni content, while the inner diameter stays at 2-3 nm regardless of their contents. Furthermore, the average outer diameter is in good agreement with the average particle size of metal catalyst. That is, the thickness or the outer diameter can be controlled by selecting the composition of the Mo/Ni/MgO catalysts. XRD analyses have shown that Mo and Ni form a Mo-Ni alloy before CNT synthesis, while the Mo-Ni alloy phase is separated into Mo carbide and Ni. These alloy particles are supported on MgO cubic particles 15-20 nm in width. It has been found that only small Mo-Ni alloy particles 2-16 nm in size catalyze CNT synthesis, with larger particles over 15 nm exhibiting no activity. Mo carbide and Ni should play different roles in the synthesis of the thin CNTs, in which Ni is responsible for the dissociation of CH(4) into carbon and Mo(2)C works as a carbon reservoir.