Density functional theory study of doped coronene and circumcoronene as anode materials in lithium-ion batteries.

Density functional theory calculations are carried out to investigate the adsorption properties of Li+ and Li on twenty-four adsorbents obtained by replacement of C atoms of coronene (C24H12) and circumcoronene (C54H18) by Si/N/BN/AlN units. The molecular electrostatic potential (MESP) analysis show that such replacements lead to an increase of the electron-rich environments in the molecules. Li+ is relatively strongly adsorbed on all adsorbents. The adsorption energy of Li+ (Eads-1) on all adsorbents is in the range of - 42.47 (B12H12N12) to - 66.26 kcal/mol (m-C22H12BN). Our results indicate a stronger interaction between Li+ and the nanoflakes as the deepest MESP minimum of the nanoflakes becomes more negative. A stronger interaction between Li+ and the nanoflakes pushes more electron density toward Li+. Li is weakly adsorbed on all adsorbents when compared to Li+. The adsorption energy of Li (Eads-2) on all adsorbents is in the range of - 3.07 (B27H18N27) to - 47.79 kcal/mol (C53H18Si). Assuming the nanoflakes to be an anode for the lithium-ion batteries, the cell voltage (Vcell) is predicted to be relatively high (> 1.54 V) for C24H12, C12H12Si12, B12H12N12, C27H18Si27, and B27H18N27. The Eads-1 data show only a small variation compared to Eads-2, and therefore, Eads-2 has a strong effect on the changes in Vcell.

Implementation of contact line motion based on the phase-field lattice Boltzmann method.

This paper proposes a strategy to implement the free-energy-based wetting boundary condition within the phase-field lattice Boltzmann method. The greatest advantage of the proposed method is that the implementation of contact line motion can be significantly simplified while still maintaining good accuracy. For this purpose, the liquid-solid free energy is treated as a part of the chemical potential instead of the boundary condition, thus avoiding complicated interpolations with irregular geometries. Several numerical testing cases, including droplet spreading processes on the idea flat, inclined, and curved boundaries, are conducted, and the results demonstrate that the proposed method has good ability and satisfactory accuracy to simulate contact line motions.

Flow and Heat Transfer of CoFe2O4-Blood Due to a Rotating Stretchable Cylinder under the Influence of a Magnetic Field.

The flow and heat transfer of a steady, viscous biomagnetic fluid containing magnetic particles caused by the swirling and stretching motion of a three-dimensional cylinder has been investigated numerically in this study. Because fluid and particle rotation are different, a magnetic field is applied in both radial and tangential directions to counteract the effects of rotational viscosity in the flow domain. Partial differential equations are used to represent the governing three-dimensional modeled equations. With the aid of customary similarity transformations, this system of partial differential equations is transformed into a set of ordinary differential equations. They are then numerically resolved utilizing a common finite differences technique that includes iterative processing and the manipulation of tridiagonal matrices. Graphs are used to depict the physical effects of imperative parameters on the swirling velocity, temperature distributions, skin friction coefficient, and the rate of heat transfer. For higher values of the ferromagnetic interaction parameter, it is discovered that the axial velocity increases, whereas temperature and tangential velocity drop. With rising levels of the ferromagnetic interaction parameter, the size of the axial skin friction coefficient and the rate of heat transfer are both accelerated. In some limited circumstances, a comparison with previously published work is also handled and found to be acceptably accurate.

Alternative pre-mRNA splicing in stem cell function and therapeutic potential: A critical review of current evidence.

Alternative splicing is a crucial regulator in stem cell biology, intricately influencing the functions of various biological macromolecules, particularly pre-mRNAs and the resultant protein isoforms. This regulatory mechanism is vital in determining stem cell pluripotency, differentiation, and proliferation. Alternative splicing's role in allowing single genes to produce multiple protein isoforms facilitates the proteomic diversity that is essential for stem cells' functional complexity. This review delves into the critical impact of alternative splicing on cellular functions, focusing on its interaction with key macromolecules and how this affects cellular behavior. We critically examine how alternative splicing modulates the function and stability of pre-mRNAs, leading to diverse protein expressions that govern stem cell characteristics, including pluripotency, self-renewal, survival, proliferation, differentiation, aging, migration, somatic reprogramming, and genomic stability. Furthermore, the review discusses the therapeutic potential of targeting alternative splicing-related pathways in disease treatment, particularly focusing on the modulation of RNA and protein interactions. We address the challenges and future prospects in this field, underscoring the need for further exploration to unravel the complex interplay between alternative splicing, RNA, proteins, and stem cell behaviors, which is crucial for advancing our understanding and therapeutic approaches in regenerative medicine and disease treatment.

Interfacial properties of the brine + carbon dioxide + oil + silica system.

Molecular dynamics simulations of the H2O + CO2 + aromatic hydrocarbon and H2O + CO2 + benzene + silica (hydrophilic) systems are performed to gain insights into CO2-enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes. For comparison purposes, an overview of the previous simulation studies of the interfacial properties of the brine + CO2 + alkane + silica system is also presented. In general, the water contact angle (CA) of the H2O + CO2 + silica (hydrophilic) system increased with pressure and decreased with temperature. The CAs of the H2O + hydrocarbon + silica (hydrophilic) system are not significantly affected by temperature and pressure. The simulated CAs were in the ranges of about 58°-77° and 81°-93° for the H2O + hexane + silica (hydrophilic) and the H2O + aromatic hydrocarbon + silica (hydrophilic) systems, respectively. In general, these CAs were not significantly influenced by the addition of CO2. The simulated CAs were in the ranges of about 51.4°-95.0°, 69.1°-86.0°, and 72.0°-87.9° for the brine + CO2 + silica (hydrophilic), brine + hexane + silica (hydrophilic), and brine + CO2 + hexane + silica (hydrophilic) systems, respectively. All these CAs increased with increasing NaCl concentration. The adhesion tension of the brine + silica (hydrophilic) system in the presence of CO2 and/or hexane decreased with increasing salt concentration. The simulated CAs were in the range of about 117°-139° for the H2O + alkane + silica (hydrophobic) system. These CAs are increased by the addition of CO2. At high pressures, the distributions of H2O normal to the silica (hydrophobic) surface in the droplet region of the H2O + silica system were found to be strongly affected by the presence of CO2. These insights might be key for optimizing the performance of the miscible CO2 water-alternating-gas injection schemes widely used for EOR.

Fractured Geothermal Reservoir Using CO2 as Geofluid: Numerical Analysis and Machine Learning Modeling.

The effect of natural fractures, their orientation, and their interaction with hydraulic fractures on the extraction of heat and the extension of injection fluid are fully examined. A fully coupled and dynamic thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) model is utilized to examine the behavior of a fractured geothermal reservoir with supercritical CO2 as a geofluid. The interaction between natural fracture and hydraulic fracture, as well as the type and location of geofluids, influences the production temperature, thermal strain, mechanical strains, and effective stress in rock/fractures in the reservoir. A mathematical model is developed by using the fully connected neural network (FCN) model to establish a mathematical relationship between the reservoir parameters and the temperature. The response surface methodology is applied for qualitative numerical experimentation. It is found that the developed FCN model can be utilized to forecast the temporal variation of temperature in the production well to a desired level using FCN. Therefore, the numerical simulations developed with the FCN method can be useful tools to investigate the temperature evolution with higher accuracy.

Development and validation of a short-form suboptimal health status questionnaire.

Background: Suboptimal health status (SHS) is a reversible, borderline state between optimal health and disease. Although this condition's definition is widely understood, related questionnaires must be developed to identify individuals with SHS in various populations relative to predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine (PPPM/3PM). This study presents a short-form suboptimal health status questionnaire (SHSQ-SF) that appears to possess sufficient reliability and validity to assess SHS in large-scale populations. Methods: A total of 6183 participants enrolled from Southern China constituted a training set, while 4113 participants from Northern China constituted an external validation set. The SHSQ-SF includes nine key items from the Suboptimal Health Status Questionnaire-25 (SHSQ-25), an instrument that has been applied to Africans, Asians, and Caucasians. Item analysis and reliability and validity tests were carried out to validate the SHSQ-SF. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to identify an optimal cutoff value for SHS diagnosis, by which the area under the curve (AUC) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were determined. Results: Cronbach's α coefficient for the training dataset was 0.902; the split-half reliability was 0.863. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value was 0.880, and Bartlett's test of sphericity was significant (χ2 = 32,929.680, p < 0.05). Both Kaiser's criteria (eigenvalues > 1) and the scree plot revealed one factor explaining 57.008% of the total variance. Standardized factor loadings for the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indices ranged between 0.58 and 0.74, with χ2/dƒ = 4.972, GFI = 0.996, CFI = 0.996, RFI = 0.989, and RMSEA = 0.031. The AUC was equal to 0.985 (95% CI: 0.983-0.988) for the training dataset. A cutoff value (≥ 11) was then identified for SHS diagnosis. The SHSQ-SF showed good discriminatory power for the external validation dataset (AUC = 0.975, 95% CI: 0.971-0.979) with a sensitivity of 96.2% and a specificity of 87.4%. Conclusions: We developed a short form of the SHS questionnaire that demonstrated sound reliability and validity when assessing SHS in Chinese residents. From a PPPM/3PM perspective, the SHSQ-SF is recommended for the rapid screening of individuals with SHS in large-scale populations. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13167-023-00339-z.

Predicting wettability of mineral/CO2/brine systems via data-driven machine learning modeling: Implications for carbon geo-sequestration.

Effectively storing carbon dioxide (CO2) in geological formations synergizes with algal-based removal technology, enhancing carbon capture efficiency, leveraging biological processes for sustainable, long-term sequestration while aiding ecosystem restoration. On the other hand, geological carbon storage effectiveness depends on the interactions and wettability of rock, CO2, and brine. Rock wettability during storage determines the CO2/brine distribution, maximum storage capacity, and trapping potential. Due to the high CO2 reactivity and damage risk, an experimental assessment of the CO2 wettability on storage/caprocks is challenging. Data-driven machine learning (ML) models provide an efficient and less strenuous alternative, enabling research at geological storage conditions that are impossible or hazardous to achieve in the laboratory. This study used robust ML models, including fully connected feedforward neural networks (FCFNNs), extreme gradient boosting, k-nearest neighbors, decision trees, adaptive boosting, and random forest, to model the wettability of the CO2/brine and rock minerals (quartz and mica) in a ternary system under varying conditions. Exploratory data analysis methods were used to examine the experimental data. The GridSearchCV and Kfold cross-validation approaches were implemented to augment the performance abilities of the ML models. In addition, sensitivity plots were generated to study the influence of individual parameters on the model performance. The results indicated that the applied ML models accurately predicted the wettability behavior of the mineral/CO2/brine system under various operating conditions, where FCFNN performed better than other ML techniques with an R2 above 0.98 and an error of less than 3%.

Molecular insights into fluid-solid interfacial tensions in water + gas + solid systems at various temperatures and pressures.

The fluid-solid interfacial tension is of great importance to many applications including the geological storage of greenhouse gases and enhancing the recovery of geo-resources, but it is rarely studied. Extensive molecular dynamics simulations are conducted to calculate fluid-solid interfacial properties in H2O + gas (H2, N2, CH4, and CO2) + rigid solid three-phase systems at various temperatures (298-403 K), pressures (0-100 MPa), and wettabilities (hydrophilic, neutral, and hydrophobic). Our results on the H2O + solid system show that vapor-solid interfacial tension should not be ignored in cases where the fluid-solid interaction energy is strong or the contact angle is close to 90°. As the temperature rises, the magnitude of H2O's liquid-solid interfacial tension declines because the oscillation of the interfacial density/pressure profile weakens at high temperatures. However, the magnitude of H2O vapor-solid interfacial tension is enhanced with temperature due to the stronger adsorption of H2O. Moreover, the H2O-solid interfacial tension in H2O + gas (H2 or N2) + solid systems is weakly dependent on pressure, while the pressure effects on H2O-solid interfacial tensions in systems with CH4 or CO2 are significant. We show that the assumption of pressure independent H2O-solid interfacial tensions should be cautiously applied to Neumann's method for systems containing non-hydrophilic surfaces with strong gas-solid interaction. Meanwhile, the magnitude of gas-solid interfacial tension increases with pressure and gas-solid interaction. High temperatures generally decrease the magnitude of gas-solid interfacial tensions. Further, we found that the increment of contact angle due to the presence of gases follows this order: H2 < N2 < CH4 < CO2.

Remediation materials for the immobilization of hexavalent chromium in contaminated soil: Preparation, applications, and mechanisms.

Hexavalent chromium is a toxic metal that can induce severe chromium contamination of soil, posing a potential risk to human health and ecosystems. In recent years, the immobilization of Cr(VI) using remediation materials including inorganic materials, organic materials, microbial agents, and composites has exhibited great potential in remediating Cr(VI)-contaminated soil owing to the environmental-friendliness, short period, simple operation, low cost, applicability on an industrial scale, and high efficiency of these materials. Therefore, a systematical summary of the current progress on various remediation materials is essential. This work introduces the production (sources) of remediation materials and examines their characteristics in detail. Additionally, a critical summary of recent research on the utilization of remediation materials for the stabilization of Cr(VI) in the soil is provided, together with an evaluation of their remediation efficiencies toward Cr(VI). The influences of remediation material applications on soil physicochemical properties, microbial community structure, and plant growth are summarized. The immobilization mechanisms of remediation materials toward Cr(VI) in the soil are illuminated. Importantly, this study evaluates the feasibility of each remediation material application for Cr(VI) remediation. The latest knowledge on the development of remediation materials for the immobilization of Cr(VI) in the soil is also presented. Overall, this review will provide a reference for the development of remediation materials and their application in remediating Cr(VI)-contaminated soil.

Reforming the Uniformity of Solid Electrolyte Interphase by Nanoscale Structure Regulation for Stable Lithium Metal Batteries.

The stability of high-energy-density lithium metal batteries depends on the uniformity of solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) on lithium metal anodes. Rationally improving SEI uniformity is hindered by poorly understanding the effect of structure and components of SEI on its uniformity. Herein, a bilayer structure of SEI formed by isosorbide dinitrate (ISDN) additives in localized high-concentration electrolytes was demonstrated to improve SEI uniformity. In the bilayer SEI, LiNx Oy generated by ISDN occupies top layer and LiF dominates bottom layer next to anode. The uniformity of lithium deposition is remarkably improved with the bilayer SEI, mitigating the consumption rate of active lithium and electrolytes. The cycle life of lithium metal batteries with bilayer SEI is three times as that with common anion-derived SEI under practical conditions. A prototype lithium metal pouch cell of 430 Wh kg-1 undergoes 173 cycles. This work demonstrates the effect of a reasonable structure of SEI on reforming SEI uniformity.

Transport of Heptane Molecules across Water-Vapor Interfaces Laden with Surfactants.

Molecular transport across liquid-vapor interfaces covered by surfactant monolayers plays a key role in applications such as fire suppression by foams. The molecular understanding of such transport, however, remains incomplete. This work uses molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the heptane transport across water-vapor interfaces populated with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) surfactants. Heptane molecules' potential of mean force (PMF) and local diffusivity profiles across SDS monolayers with different SDS densities are calculated to obtain heptane's transport resistance. We show that a heptane molecule experiences a finite resistance as it crosses water-vapor interfaces covered by SDS. Such interfacial transport resistance is contributed significantly by heptane molecules' high PMF in the SDS headgroup region and their slow diffusion there. This resistance increases linearly as the SDS density rises from zero but jumps as the density approaches saturation when its value is equivalent to that afforded by a 5 nm thick layer of bulk water. These results are understood by analyzing the micro-environment experienced by a heptane molecule crossing SDS monolayers and the local perturbation it brings to the monolayers. The implications of these findings for the design of surfactants to suppress heptane transport through water-vapor interfaces are discussed.

Root canal treatment of a six-canal first mandibular molar with extensive periapical lesion: A case report.

RATIONALE: There is an increasing tendency for case reports to reveal anatomical aberrances in mandibular first molars, such as the lateral and accessory canals. Thus, clinicians should pay special attention to anatomic variances when dealing with mandibular first molars requiring endodontic treatment to prevent reinfection within the root canal system, which is responsible for the failure of root canal treatment. PATIENT CONCERNS: This article presents the clinical report and successful root canal treatment of a 24-year-old healthy female patient with an extensive periapical lesion in a 6-canal first mandibular molar. The patient was admitted to the endodontic department because of a periapical abscess found 1 month ago in her left mandibular first molar. DIAGNOSIS: Chronic apical periodontitis was diagnosed based on clinical examination coupled with radiographic and cone-beam computed tomography images. INTERVENTIONS: The treatment plan was to first perform root canal therapy and then perform clinical observation. OUTCOMES: During 1-year follow-up period, the treated tooth was asymptomatic, and complete resolution of the extensive apical lesion was eventually achieved, as shown in the postoperative cone-beam computed tomography images and clinical examination. LESSONS: The present case emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive understanding of root canal morphology, especially rare anatomical variations, to ensure successful root canal treatment. Additionally, the case report adds to the library of previously reported cases of extensive periapical lesions with a direct connection to the root canal system, which demonstrates the potential clinical advantages of root canal therapy as a conservative nonsurgical approach in these cases.

Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Ion Transport through Protein Nanochannels in Peritoneal Dialysis.

In recent decades, the development of dialysis techniques has greatly improved the survival rate of renal failure patients, and peritoneal dialysis is gradually showing dominance over hemodialysis. This method relies on the abundant membrane proteins in the peritoneum, avoiding the use of artificial semipermeable membranes, and the ion fluid transport is partly controlled by the protein nanochannels. Hence, this study investigated ion transport in these nanochannels by using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and an MD Monte Carlo (MDMC) algorithm for a generalized protein nanochannel model and a saline fluid environment. The spatial distribution of ions was determined via MD simulations, and it agreed with that modeled via the MDMC method; the effects of simulation duration and external electronic fields were also explored to validate the MDMC algorithm. The specific atomic sequence within a nanochannel was visualized, which was the rare transport state during the ion transport process. The residence time was assessed through both methods to represent the involved dynamic process, and its values showed the temporal sequential order of different components in the nanochannel as follows: H2O > Na+ > Cl-. The accurate prediction using the MDMC method of the spatial and temporal properties proves its suitability to handle ion transport problems in protein nanochannels.

Phase Equilibrium Studies in the Geothermal Energy Development: The Effect of Hydrogen Bond on the Multi-Component Fluid.

Geothermal energy has become an emerging resource with both large reserves and environmental friendliness and is playing an increasingly important role in the current energy transition progress. In this paper, a thermodynamically consistent NVT flash model is developed to consider the effect of hydrogen bond on the phase equilibrium states of multi-component fluid to resolve the challenges of the special thermodynamic characteristic of water as the main working fluid. In order to provide practical suggestions to the industry, a number of possible effects have been investigated on the phase equilibrium states, including the hydrogen bond, environmental temperature, and fluid compositions. The calculated phase stability and phase splitting results can provide thermodynamic foundations for the establishment of the multi-component multi-phase flow model and also help optimize the development process to control the phase transitions for a number of engineering purposes.

Interfacial properties of the hexane + carbon dioxide + water system in the presence of hydrophilic silica.

Molecular dynamics simulations were conducted to study the interfacial behavior of the CO2 + H2O and hexane + CO2 + H2O systems in the presence of hydrophilic silica at geological conditions. Simulation results for the CO2 + H2O and hexane + CO2 + H2O systems are in reasonable agreement with the theoretical predictions based on the density functional theory. In general, the interfacial tension (IFT) of the CO2 + H2O system exponentially (linearly) decreased with increasing pressure (temperature). The IFTs of the hexane + CO2 + H2O (two-phase) system decreased with the increasing mole fraction of CO2 in the hexane/CO2-rich phase xCO2 . Here, the negative surface excesses of hexane lead to a general increase in the IFTs with increasing pressure. The effect of pressure on these IFTs decreased with increasing xCO2 due to the positive surface excesses of carbon dioxide. The simulated water contact angles of the CO2 + H2O + silica system fall in the range from 43.8° to 76.0°, which is in reasonable agreement with the experimental results. These contact angles increased with pressure and decreased with temperature. Here, the adhesion tensions are influenced by the variations in fluid-fluid IFT and contact angle. The simulated water contact angles of the hexane + H2O + silica system fall in the range from 58.0° to 77.0° and are not much affected by the addition of CO2. These contact angles increased with pressure, and the pressure effect was less pronounced at lower temperatures. Here, the adhesion tensions are mostly influenced by variations in the fluid-fluid IFTs. In all studied cases, CO2 molecules could penetrate into the interfacial region between the water droplet and the silica surface.

Machine Learning-Based Accelerated Approaches to Infer Breakdown Pressure of Several Unconventional Rock Types.

Unconventional oil and gas reservoirs are usually classified by extremely low porosity and permeability values. The most economical way to produce hydrocarbons from such reservoirs is by creating artificially induced channels. To effectively design hydraulic fracturing jobs, accurate values of rock breakdown pressure are needed. Conducting hydraulic fracturing experiments in the laboratory is a very expensive and time-consuming process. Therefore, in this study, different machine learning (ML) models were efficiently utilized to predict the breakdown pressure of tight rocks. In the first part of the study, to measure the breakdown pressures, a comprehensive hydraulic fracturing experimental study was conducted on various rock specimens. A total of 130 experiments were conducted on different rock types such as shales, sandstone, tight carbonates, and synthetic samples. Rock mechanical properties such as Young's modulus (E), Poisson's ratio (ν), unconfined compressive strength, and indirect tensile strength (σt) were measured before conducting hydraulic fracturing tests. ML models were used to correlate the breakdown pressure of the rock as a function of fracturing experimental conditions and rock properties. In the ML model, we considered experimental conditions, including the injection rate, overburden pressures, and fracturing fluid viscosity, and rock properties including Young's modulus (E), Poisson's ratio (ν), UCS, and indirect tensile strength (σt), porosity, permeability, and bulk density. ML models include artificial neural networks (ANNs), random forests, decision trees, and the K-nearest neighbor. During training of ML models, the model hyperparameters were optimized by the grid-search optimization approach. With the optimal setting of the ML models, the breakdown pressure of the unconventional formation was predicted with an accuracy of 95%. The accuracy of all ML techniques was quite similar; however, an explicit empirical correlation from the ANN technique is proposed. The empirical correlation is the function of all input features and can be used as a standalone package in any software. The proposed methodology to predict the breakdown pressure of unconventional rocks can minimize the laboratory experimental cost of measuring fracture parameters and can be used as a quick assessment tool to evaluate the development prospect of unconventional tight rocks.

Thermally Stable Polymer-Rich Solid Electrolyte Interphase for Safe Lithium Metal Pouch Cells.

Serious safety risks caused by the high reactivity of lithium metal against electrolytes severely hamper the practicability of lithium metal batteries. By introducing unique polymerization site and more fluoride substitution, we built an in situ formed polymer-rich solid electrolyte interphase upon lithium anode to improve battery safety. The fluorine-rich and hydrogen-free polymer exhibits high thermal stability, which effectively reduces the continuous exothermic reaction between electrolyte and anode/cathode. As a result, the critical temperature for thermal safety of 1.0 Ah lithium-LiNi0.5 Co0.2 Mn0.3 O2 pouch cell can be increased from 143.2 °C to 174.2 °C. The more dangerous "ignition" point of lithium metal batteries, the starting temperature of battery thermal runaway, has been dramatically raised from 240.0 °C to 338.0 °C. This work affords novel strategies upon electrolyte design, aiming to pave the way for high-energy-density and thermally safe lithium metal batteries.

The Anionic Chemistry in Regulating the Reductive Stability of Electrolytes for Lithium Metal Batteries.

Advanced electrolyte design is essential for building high-energy-density lithium (Li) batteries, and introducing anions into the Li+ solvation sheaths has been widely demonstrated as a promising strategy. However, a fundamental understanding of the critical role of anions in such electrolytes is very lacking. Herein, the anionic chemistry in regulating the electrolyte structure and stability is probed by combining computational and experimental approaches. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals, the solvents and anions in Li+ solvation sheaths exhibit enhanced and decreased reductive stability compared with free counterparts, respectively, which agrees with both calculated and experimental results of reduction potentials. Accordingly, new strategies are proposed to build stable electrolytes based on the established anionic chemistry. This work unveils the mysterious anionic chemistry in regulating the structure-function relationship of electrolytes and contributes to a rational design of advanced electrolytes for practical Li metal batteries.

Research on the osteogenesis and biosafety of ECM-Loaded 3D-Printed Gel/SA/58sBG scaffolds.

Employing scaffolds containing cell-derived extracellular matrix (ECM) as an alternative strategy for the regeneration of bone defects has shown prominent advantages. Here, gelatin (Gel), sodium alginate (SA) and 58s bioactive glass (58sBG) were incorporated into deionized water to form ink, which was further fabricated into composite scaffolds by the 3D printing technique. Then, rat aortic endothelial cells (RAOECs) or rat bone mesenchymal stem cells (RBMSCs) were seeded on the scaffolds. After decellularization, two kinds of ECM-loaded scaffolds (RAOECs-ECM scaffold and RBMSCs-ECM scaffold) were obtained. The morphological characteristics of the scaffolds were assessed meticulously by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In addition, the effects of scaffolds on the proliferation, adhesion, and osteogenic and angiogenic differentiation of RBMSCs were evaluated by Calcein AM staining and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). In vivo, full-thickness bone defects with a diameter of 5 mm were made in the mandibles of Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats to assess the bone regeneration ability and biosafety of the scaffolds at 4, 8 and 16 weeks. The osteogenic and angiogenic potential of the scaffolds were investigated by microcomputed tomography (Micro-CT) and histological analysis. The biosafety of the scaffolds was evaluated by blood biochemical indices and histological staining of the liver, kidney and cerebrum. The results showed that the ECM-loaded scaffolds were successfully prepared, exhibiting interconnected pores and a gel-like ECM distributed on their surfaces. Consistently, in vitro experiments demonstrated that the scaffolds displayed favourable cytocompatibility. In vitro osteogenic differentiation studies showed that scaffolds coated with ECM could significantly increase the expression of osteogenic and angiogenic genes. In addition, the results from mandibular defect repair in vivo revealed that the ECM-loaded scaffolds effectively promoted the healing of bone defects when compared to the pure scaffold. Overall, these findings demonstrate that both RAOECs-ECM scaffold and RBMSCs-ECM scaffold can greatly enhance bone formation with good biocompatibility and thus have potential for clinical application in bone regeneration.