Designing a Magnesium/Sodium Hybrid Battery Using Hierarchical Iron Selenide Architecture as Cathode Material and Modified Dual-Ion Salts in Ether as Electrolyte.

We developed a magnesium/sodium (Mg/Na) hybrid battery using a hierarchical disk-whisker FeSe2 architecture (HD-FeSe2) as the cathode material and a modified dual-ion electrolyte. The polarizable Se2- anion reduced the Mg2+ migration barrier, and the 3D configuration possessed a large surface area, which facilitated both Mg2+/Na+ cation diffusion and electron transport. The dual-ion salts with NaTFSI in ether reduced the Mg plating/stripping overvoltage in a symmetric cell. The hybrid battery exhibited an energy density of 260.9 Wh kg-1 and a power density of 600.8 W kg-1 at 0.2 A g-1. It showed a capacity retention of 154 mAh g-1 and a Coulombic efficiency of over 99.5% under 1.0 A g-1 after 800 long cycles. The battery also displayed outstanding temperature tolerance. The findings of 3D architecture as cathode material and hybrid electrolyte provide a pathway to design a highly reliable Mg/Na hybrid battery.

A Room-Temperature Self-Healing Liquid Metal-Infilled Microcapsule Driven by Coaxial Flow Focusing for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Battery Anode.

Liquid metals have attracted a lot of attention as self-healing materials in many fields. However, their applications in secondary batteries are challenged by electrode failure and side reactions due to the drastic volume changes during the "liquid-solid-liquid" transition. Herein, a simple encapsulated, mass-producible method is developed to prepare room-temperature liquid metal-infilled microcapsules (LMMs) with highly conductive carbon shells as anodes for lithium-ion batteries. Due to the reasonably designed voids in the microcapsule, the liquid metal particles (LMPs) can expand freely without damaging the electrode structure. The LMMs-based anodes exhibit superior capacity of rete-performance and ultra-long cycling stability remaining 413 mAh g-1 after 5000 cycles at 5.0 A g-1. Ex situ X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) patterns and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) reveal that the LMMs anode displays a stable alloying/de-alloying mechanism. DFT calculations validate the electronic structure and stability of the room-temperature LMMs system. These findings will bring some new opportunities to develop high-performance battery systems.

Size Dependent Phase Transformation of Liquid Gallium.

As the most popular liquid metal (LM), gallium (Ga) and its alloys are emerging as functional materials due to their unique combination of fluidic and metallic properties near room temperature. As an important branch of utilizing LMs, micro- and submicron-particles of Ga-based LM are widely employed in wearable electronics, catalysis, energy, and biomedicine. Meanwhile, the phase transition is crucial not only for the applications based on this reversible transformation process, but also for the solidification temperature at which fluid properties are lost. While Ga has several solid phases and exhibits unusual size-dependent phase behavior. This complex process makes the phase transition and undercooling of Ga uncontrollable, which considerably affects the application performance. In this work, extensive (nano-)calorimetry experiments are performed to investigate the polymorph selection mechanism during liquid Ga crystallization. It is surprisingly found that the crystallization temperature and crystallization pathway to either α -Ga or ß -Ga can be effectively engineered by thermal treatment and droplet size. The polymorph selection process is suggested to be highly relevant to the capability of forming covalent bonds in the equilibrium supercooled liquid. The observation of two different crystallization pathways depending on the annealing temperature may indicate that there exist two different liquid phases in Ga.

A Temperature-Tolerant Magnesium-Ion Battery Using Ball Cactus-like MgV2O4 as High-Performance Cathode.

Safe and high-performance secondary batteries using for all-climate conditions with different temperatures are highly required. Here, we develop a three-dimensional ball cactus-like MgV2O4 as cathode material for magnesium-ion (Mg-ion) batteries. After cycling 300 times, the capacity maintains 111.7 mAh g-1, while Coulombic efficiency stabilizes at about 100 %. Under temperatures of 45 °C and -5 °C, the capacities remain stable after 200 cycles. After three rounds of rate-performance tests, the capacity keeps quite stable. It is ascribed to the ball cactus-like morphology buffers the volumetric change during Mg2+ insertion/extraction, and provides sufficient pathways for ion diffusion, which has been verified by constant-current intermittent titration technology. It is believed that the good performance enables the Mg-ion batteries to have a all-climate capability.

Delivery of mRNA vaccine with a lipid-like material potentiates antitumor efficacy through Toll-like receptor 4 signaling.

Intracellular delivery of messenger RNA (mRNA)-based cancer vaccine has shown great potential to elicit antitumor immunity. To achieve robust antitumor efficacy, mRNA encoding tumor antigens needs to be efficiently delivered and translated in dendritic cells with concurrent innate immune stimulation to promote antigen presentation. Here, by screening a group of cationic lipid-like materials, we developed a minimalist nanovaccine with C1 lipid nanoparticle (LNP) that could efficiently deliver mRNA in antigen presenting cells with simultaneous Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) activation and induced robust T cell activation. The C1 nanovaccine entered cells via phagocytosis and showed efficient mRNA-encoded antigen expression and presentation. Furthermore, the C1 lipid nanoparticle itself induced the expression of inflammatory cytokines such as IL-12 via stimulating TLR4 signal pathway in dendritic cells. Importantly, the C1 mRNA nanovaccine exhibited significant antitumor efficacy in both tumor prevention and therapeutic vaccine settings. Overall, our work presents a C1 LNP-based mRNA cancer nanovaccine with efficient antigen expression as well as self-adjuvant property, which may provide a platform for developing cancer immunotherapy for a wide range of tumor types.

Highly Sensitive Pressure Sensor Based on Elastic Conductive Microspheres.

Elastic pressure sensors play a crucial role in the digital economy, such as in health care systems and human-machine interfacing. However, the low sensitivity of these sensors restricts their further development and wider application prospects. This issue can be resolved by introducing microstructures in flexible pressure-sensitive materials as a common method to improve their sensitivity. However, complex processes limit such strategies. Herein, a cost-effective and simple process was developed for manufacturing surface microstructures of flexible pressure-sensitive films. The strategy involved the combination of MXene-single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) with mass-produced Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microspheres to form advanced microstructures. Next, the conductive silica gel films with pitted microstructures were obtained through a 3D-printed mold as flexible electrodes, and assembled into flexible resistive pressure sensors. The sensor exhibited a sensitivity reaching 2.6 kPa-1 with a short response time of 56 ms and a detection limit of 5.1 Pa. The sensor also displayed good cyclic stability and time stability, offering promising features for human health monitoring applications.

All-Climate Long-Life and Fast-Charging Sodium-Ion Battery using Co3 S4 @NiS2 Heterostructures Encapsulated in Carbon Matrix as Anode.

Sodium-ion (Na-ion) battery is one of the research focuses because of high theoretical capacity and low cost. However, seeking for ideal anodes remains a big challenge. Here, a Co3 S4 @NiS2 /C synthesized by in situ growing NiS2 on CoS spheres then converting to Co3 S4 @NiS2 heterostructures encapsulated by carbon matrix, is developed as a promising anode. Co3 S4 @NiS2 /C as anode displays a high capacity of 654.1 mAh g-1 after 100 cycles. Even over 2000 cycles at a high rate of 10 A g-1 , capacity exceeds 143.2 mAh g-1 . Heterostructures between Co3 S4 and NiS2 improve electron transfer as verified by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. In addition, when cycling at a high temperature of 50 °C, the Co3 S4 @NiS2 /C anode displays 525.2 mAh g-1 , while it remains 340 mAh g-1 at -15 °C, indicating all-climate potential for using under different temperatures.

Long-Cycling-Life Sodium-Ion Battery Using Binary Metal Sulfide Hybrid Nanocages as Anode.

Due to the relatively high capacity and lower cost, transition metal sulfides (TMS) as anode show promising potential in sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). Herein, a binary metal sulfide hybrid consisting of carbon encapsulated CoS/Cu2 S nanocages (CoS/Cu2 S@C-NC) is constructed. The interlocked hetero-architecture filled with conductive carbon accelerates the Na+ /e- transfer, thus leading to improved electrochemical kinetics. Also the protective carbon layer can provide better volume accommondation upon charging/discharging. As a result, the battery with CoS/Cu2 S@C-NC as anode displays a high capacity of 435.3 mAh g-1 after 1000 cycles at 2.0 A g-1 (≈3.4 C). Under a higher rate of 10.0 A g-1 (≈17 C), a capacity of as high as 347.2 mAh g-1 is still remained after long 2300 cycles. The capacity decay per cycle is only 0.017%. The battery also exhibits a better temperature tolerance at 50 and -5 °C. A low internal impedance analyzed by X-ray diffraction patterns and galvanostatic intermittent titration technique, narrow band gap, and high density of states obtained by first-principle calculations of the binary sulfides, ensure the rapid Na+ /e- transport. The long-cycling-life SIB using binary metal sulfide hybrid nanocages as anode shows promising applications in versatile electronic devices.

Machine learning builds full-QM precision protein force fields in seconds.

Full-quantum mechanics (QM) calculations are extraordinarily precise but difficult to apply to large systems, such as biomolecules. Motivated by the massive demand for efficient calculations for large systems at the full-QM level and by the significant advances in machine learning, we have designed a neural network-based two-body molecular fractionation with conjugate caps (NN-TMFCC) approach to accelerate the energy and atomic force calculations of proteins. The results show very high precision for the proposed NN potential energy surface models of residue-based fragments, with energy root-mean-squared errors (RMSEs) less than 1.0 kcal/mol and force RMSEs less than 1.3 kcal/mol/Å for both training and testing sets. The proposed NN-TMFCC method calculates the energies and atomic forces of 15 representative proteins with full-QM precision in 10-100 s, which is thousands of times faster than the full-QM calculations. The computational complexity of the NN-TMFCC method is independent of the protein size and only depends on the number of residue species, which makes this method particularly suitable for rapid prediction of large systems with tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of times acceleration. This highly precise and efficient NN-TMFCC approach exhibits considerable potential for performing energy and force calculations, structure predictions and molecular dynamics simulations of proteins with full-QM precision.

A Foldable Aqueous Zn-Ion Battery with Gear-Structured Composite as Freestanding Cathode.

A foldable battery with high flexibility provides great potential in various wearable electronic devices for health and fitness tracking, chronic disease management, performance monitoring, navigation tracking, and portable gears for soldiers. We report a highly flexible, self-healing Zn-ion battery with a free-standing cathode that is composed of a 3D gear-like NH4 V4 O10 @C composite on carbon paper. The battery retained a capacity of up to 102.4 mAh g-1 even after being folded 60 times with a high angle of 180°. An aqueous hydrogel consisting polyvinyl alcohol, glycerin and Zn(CF3 SO3 )2 was used as electrolyte, which showed as high as 580 % tensile strain under a loading weight of 78 N. The battery exhibited a better capacity retention of over 100 mAh g-1 and Coulombic efficiency of over 99.8 % after cutting and twisting to 90°, thereby indicating a great self-healing performance. The gear-like geometry greatly improved the volume accommodation due to the increased interval space between the blades and the outward configuration. Meanwhile the Zn2+ ionic conductivity was improved by rapid re-binding of many existing hydroxy groups from the electrolyte and the enhanced contact surface area and diffusion route from the cathode material. The highly flexible, safe aqueous Zn-ion battery opens a practical way to power various carry-on electronics under mechanical agitation.

A Pyramidal Metal-Organic Frameworks-Derived FeP@CoP Aluminium-Ion Battery Cathode Displaying Low-Temperature Tolerance and Fast Electron Transfer Kinetics.

Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory for Engineering appropriate cathode materials is significant for the development of high-performance aluminum-ion (Al-ion) batteries. Here, a pyramidal metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)-derived FeP@CoP composite was developed as cathode, which exhibits good stability and high capacity. FeP@CoP cathode maintains a high capacity of 168 mAh g-1 after 200 cycles, and displays a stable rate-performance at both room and low temperatures of -10 °C. After three rounds of rate-performance cycling, the FeP@CoP composite recovers 178.2 mAh g-1 at 0.3 A g-1 . Moreover, density functional theory (DFT) calculations verify improved electron-transfer kinetics with narrowed band gap and enhanced density of states. These findings inspire a broad set of studies on MOFs-derived composites for high-performance secondary batteries.

Rational engineering NiMoO4nanosheets or Mn3O4nanowires on Fe2O3microdiscs as novel hierarchical anodes for high-performance lithium-ion batteries.

Since current graphite-based lithium-ion battery anode has a low theoretical capacity, the development of high-performance lithium-ion battery is severely restricted. Here, novel hierarchical composites composing of microdisc and the secondarily grown nanosheets and nanowires are developed, taking NiMoO4nanosheets and Mn3O4nanowires growing on Fe2O3microdiscs as demonstrating examples. The growth processes of the hierarchical structures have been investigated by adjusting a series of preparation conditions. The morphologies and structures have been characterized by using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscope and x-ray diffraction. Fe2O3@Mn3O4composite-based anode displays a capacity of 713 mAh g-1after 100 cycles at 0.5 A g-1with a high Coulombic efficiency. A good rate-performance is also achieved. Fe2O3@NiMoO4anode delivers 539 mAh g-1after 100 cycles at 0.5 A g-1, which is obviously higher than that of pure Fe2O3. The hierarchical structure is conducive to improve the transport of electrons and ions, and provide numerous active sites, thus significantly enhancing the electrochemical performance. Moreover, the electron transfer performance is investigated by using density functional theory calculations. It is expected the findings presented here and the rational engineering of nanosheets/nanowires on microdiscs would be applicable for developing many other high-performance energy-storage composites.

Awake mouse brain photoacoustic and optical imaging through a transparent ultrasound cranial window.

Optical resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM) can map the cerebral vasculature at capillary-level resolution. However, the OR-PAM setup's bulky imaging head makes awake mouse brain imaging challenging and inhibits its integration with other optical neuroimaging modalities. Moreover, the glass cranial windows used for optical microscopy are unsuitable for OR-PAM due to the acoustic impedance mismatch between the glass plate and the tissue. To overcome these challenges, we propose a lithium niobate based transparent ultrasound transducer (TUT) as a cranial window on a thinned mouse skull. The TUT cranial window simplifies the imaging head considerably due to its dual functionality as an optical window and ultrasound transducer. The window remains stable for six weeks, with no noticeable inflammation and minimal bone regrowth. The TUT window's potential is demonstrated by imaging the awake mouse cerebral vasculature using OR-PAM, intrinsic optical signal imaging, and two-photon microscopy. The TUT cranial window can potentially also be used for ultrasound stimulation and simultaneous multimodal imaging of the awake mouse brain.

A Polysulfides-Confined All-in-One Porous Microcapsule Lithium-Sulfur Battery Cathode.

Developing emerging materials for high energy-density lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries is of great significance to suppress the shuttle effect of polysulfides and to accommodate the volumetric change of sulfur. Here, a novel porous microcapsule system containing a carbon nanotubes/tin dioxide quantum dots/S (CNTs/QDs/S) composite core and a porous shell prepared through a liquid-driven coaxial microfluidic method as Li-S battery cathode is developed. The encapsulated CNTs in the microcapsules provide pathways for electron transport; SnO2 QDs on CNTs immobilize the polysulfides by strong adsorption, which is verified by using density functional theory calculations on binding energies. The porous shell of the microcapsule is beneficial for ion diffusion and electrolyte penetration. The void inside the microcapsule accommodates the volumetric change of sulfur. The Li-S battery based on the porous CNTs/QDs/S microcapsules displays a high capacity of 1025 mAh g-1 after 100 cycles at 0.1 C. When the sulfur loading is 2.03 mg cm-2 , the battery shows a stable cycling life of 700 cycles, a Coulombic efficiency exceeding 99.9%, a recoverable rate-performance during repeated tests, and a good temperature tolerance at both -5 and 45 °C, which indicates a potential for applications at different conditions.

A novel free-standing metal organic frameworks-derived cobalt sulfide polyhedron array for shuttle effect suppressive lithium-sulfur batteries.

Metal-organic-frameworks-derived nanostructures have received broad attention for secondary batteries. However, many strategies focus on the preparation of dispersive materials, which need complicated steps and some additives for making electrodes of batteries. Here, we develop a novel free-standing Co9S8polyhedron array derived from ZIF-67, which grows on a three-dimensional carbon cloth for lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery. The polar Co9S8provides strong chemical binding to immobilize polysulfides, which enables efficiently suppressing of the shuttle effect. The free-standing S@Co9S8polyhedron array-based cathode exhibits ultrahigh capacity of 1079 mAh g-1after cycling 100 times at 0.1 C, and long cycling life of 500 cycles at 1 C, recoverable rate-performance and good temperature tolerance. Furthermore, the adsorption energies towards polysulfides are investigated by using density functional theory calculations, which display a strong binding with polysulfides.

xCT: A Critical Molecule That Links Cancer Metabolism to Redox Signaling.

System xc- cystine/glutamate antiporter, composed of a light-chain subunit (xCT, SLC7A11) and a heavy-chain subunit (CD98hc, SLC3A2), is mainly responsible for the cellular uptake of cystine in exchange for intracellular glutamate. In recent years, the xCT molecule has been found to play an important role in tumor growth, progression, metastasis, and multidrug resistance in various types of cancer. Interestingly, xCT also exhibits an essential function in regulating tumor-associated ferroptosis. Despite significant progress in targeting the system xc- transporter in cancer treatment, the underlying mechanisms still remain elusive. It is also unclear why solid tumors are more sensitive to xCT inhibitors such as sulfasalazine, as compared to hematological malignancies. This review mainly focuses on the role of xCT cystine/glutamate transporter in regard to tumor growth, chemoresistance, tumor-selective ferroptosis, and the mechanisms regulating xCT gene expression. The potential therapeutic implications of targeting the system xc- and its combination with chemotherapeutic agents or immunotherapy to suppress tumor growth and overcome drug resistance are also discussed.

Quantum Mechanical-Based Stability Evaluation of Crystal Structures for HIV-Targeted Drug Cabotegravir.

The long-acting parenteral formulation of the HIV integrase inhibitor cabotegravir (GSK744) is currently being developed to prevent HIV infections, benefiting from infrequent dosing and high efficacy. The crystal structure can affect the bioavailability and efficacy of cabotegravir. However, the stability determination of crystal structures of GSK744 have remained a challenge. Here, we introduced an ab initio protocol to determine the stability of the crystal structures of pharmaceutical molecules, which were obtained from crystal structure prediction process starting from the molecular diagram. Using GSK744 as a case study, the ab initio predicted that Gibbs free energy provides reliable further refinement of the predicted crystal structures and presents its capability for becoming a crystal stability determination approach in the future. The proposed work can assist in the comprehensive screening of pharmaceutical design and can provide structural predictions and stability evaluation for pharmaceutical crystals.

A novel spring-structured coaxial hierarchical SiO2@Co3O4 nanowire as a lithium-ion battery anode and its in situ real-time lithiation.

High capacity and stable anodes are demanded since the current graphite-based anode does not meet the high-performance requirements of emerging Li-ion battery systems. Herein, we present a novel spring-shaped hierarchical SiO2@Co3O4 nanowire composite, which exhibits good Li-storage performance. The special structure is able to effectively accommodate the change in structure during charge-discharge, and the coaxial hierarchical morphology enables rapid Li+ ion and electron transfer. The spring-shaped SiO2@Co3O4 anode exhibits a capacity of 770 mAh g-1, along with a high Coulombic efficiency of 99.8% after 400 cycles. A stable rate performance even after three rounds of measurements is also achievable. In addition, the real-time lithiation of the SiO2@Co3O4 composite is investigated through an in situ transmission electron microscopy technology, which demonstrates the stable structure of the spring-shaped SiO2@Co3O4 composite during the rapid lithiation process.

A novel silicon nanoparticles-infilled capsule prepared by an oil-in-water emulsion strategy for high-performance Li-ion battery anodes.

Conventional approaches for preparing yolk-shell nanostructures require complicated procedures such as multi-step coatings and template removal. Herein, we present a new and general strategy for making yolk-shell nanocomposites based on an oil-in-water emulsion system. As a demonstrating case, silicon nanoparticles were dispersed in an oil phase which was in an oil-in-water emulsion; then the oil/water interface was in-situ polymerized to form microcapsules. After carbonization, the shell of microcapsules was formed. The Li-ion battery anodes based on the microcapsules exhibit a good electrochemical performance including stable capacity and high rate-performance. The capacity remains 1100 mAh g-1 after 500 cycles at a current density of 1.9 A g-1, along with a Coulombic efficiency of ≈ 99.9%. In addition, the method presented here is general, which is applicable for the synthesis of many yolk shell-structured nanocomposites.

A novel sulfur@void@hydrogel yolk-shell particle with a high sulfur content for volume-accommodable and polysulfide-adsorptive lithium-sulfur battery cathodes.

High-energy-density secondary batteries are required for many applications such as electric vehicles. Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are receiving broad attention because of their high theoretical energy density. However, the large volume change of sulfur during cycling, poor conductivity, and the shuttle effect of sulfides severely restrict the Li-storage performance of Li-S batteries. Herein, we present a novel core-shell nanocomposite consisting of a sulfur core and a hydrogel polypyrrole (PPy) shell, enabling an ultra-high sulfur content of about 98.4% within the composite, which greatly exceeds many other conventional composites obtained by coating sulfur onto some hosts. In addition, the void inside the core-shell structure effectively accommodates the volume change; the conductive PPy shell improves the conductivity of the composite; and PPy is able to adsorb polysulfides, suppressing the shuttle effect. After cycling for 200 cycles, the prepared S@void@PPy composite retains a stable capacity of 650 mAh g-1, which is higher than the bare sulfur particles. The composite also exhibits a fast Li ion diffusion coefficient. Furthermore, the density functional theory calculations show the PPy shell is able to adsorb polysulfides efficiently, with a large adsorption energy and charge density transfer.