Dendrite growth of alkali metal anodes limited their lifetime for charge/discharge cycling. Here, we report near-perfect anodes of lithium, sodium, and potassium metals achieved by electrochemical ...polishing, which removes microscopic defects and creates ultra-smooth ultra-thin solid-electrolyte interphase layers at metal surfaces for providing a homogeneous environment. Precise characterizations by AFM force probing with corroborative in-depth XPS profile analysis reveal that the ultra-smooth ultra-thin solid-electrolyte interphase can be designed to have alternating inorganic-rich and organic-rich/mixed multi-layered structure, which offers mechanical property of coupled rigidity and elasticity. The polished metal anodes exhibit significantly enhanced cycling stability, specifically the lithium anodes can cycle for over 200 times at a real current density of 2 mA cm
with 100% depth of discharge. Our work illustrates that an ultra-smooth ultra-thin solid-electrolyte interphase may be robust enough to suppress dendrite growth and thus serve as an initial layer for further improved protection of alkali metal anodes.
Heterostructured metal—organic framework (MOF)‐on‐MOF thin films have the potential to cascade the various properties of different MOF layers in a sequence to produce functions that cannot be ...achieved by single MOF layers. An integration method that relies on van der Waals interactions, and which overcomes the lattice‐matching limits of reported methods, has been developed. The method deposits molecular sieving Cu‐TCPP (TCPP=5,10,15,20‐tetrakis(4‐carboxyphenyl)porphyrin) layers onto semiconductive Cu‐HHTP (HHTP=2,3,6,7,10,11‐hexahydrotriphenylene) layers to obtain highly oriented MOF‐on‐MOF thin films. For the first time, the properties in different MOF layers were cascaded in sequence to synergistically produce an enhanced device function. Cu‐TCPP‐on‐Cu‐HHTP demonstrated excellent selectivity and the highest response to benzene of the reported recoverable chemiresistive sensing materials that are active at room temperature. This method allows integration of MOFs with cascading properties into advanced functional materials.
MOF‐on‐MOF thin films were prepared from Cu‐HHTP (HHTP=hexahydrotriphenylene) and Cu‐TCPP (TCPP=tetrakis(4‐carboxyphenyl)porphyrin frameworks). The properties of the MOF layers cascade to produce functionality not achieved by a single layer. The MOF‐on‐MOF films demonstrate excellent selectivity and the highest response to benzene among reported recoverable chemiresistive sensing materials active at room temperature.
Abstract
We report the observations of FRB 20220912A using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope. We conducted 17 observations totaling 8.67 hr and detected a total of 1076 bursts ...with an event rate up to 390 hr
−1
. The cumulative energy distribution can be well described using a broken power-law function with the lower- and higher-energy slopes of −0.38 ± 0.02 and −2.07 ± 0.07, respectively. We also report the
L
-band (1–1.5 GHz) spectral index of the synthetic spectrum of FRB 20220912A bursts, which is −2.6 ± 0.21. The average rotation measure value of the bursts from FRB 20220912A is −0.08 ± 5.39 rad m
−2
, close to 0 rad m
−2
and was relatively stable over 2 months. Most bursts have nearly 100% linear polarization. About 45% of the bursts have circular polarization with Signal-to-Noise ratio > 3, and the highest circular polarization degree can reach 70%. Our observations suggest that FRB 20220912A is located in a relatively clean local environment with complex circular polarization characteristics. These various behaviors imply that the mechanism of circular polarization of FRBs likely originates from an intrinsic radiation mechanism, such as coherent curvature radiation or inverse Compton scattering inside the magnetosphere of the FRB engine source (e.g., a magnetar).
Deeply involved with dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease has becoming the leading cause of mortality since the early twentieth century in the modern world. Whose correlation with metabolic syndrome ...(MetS), hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has been well established. We conducted a 9-year longitudinal study to identify the association between easily measured lipid parameters, future MetS, hypertension and T2DM by gender and age distribution. Divided into three groups by age (young age: < 40, middle age: ≥ 40 and < 65 and old age: ≥ 65), 7670 participants, receiving standard medical inspection at Tri-Service General Hospital (TSGH) in Taiwan, had been enrolled in this study. Atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) was a logarithmically transformed ratio of triglyceride (TG)/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). Through multivariate regression analyses, the hazard ratio (HR) of AIP for MetS, hypertension and T2DM were illustrated. AIP revealed significant association with all the aforementioned diseases through the entire three models for both genders. Additionally, AIP revealed significant correlation which remained still after fully adjustment in MetS, hypertension, and T2DM groups for subjects aged 40-64-year-old. Nevertheless, for participants aged above 65-year-old, AIP only demonstrated significant association in MetS group. Our results explore the promising value of AIP to determine the high-risk subjects, especially meddle-aged ones, having MetS, hypertension, and T2DM in the present and the future.
Lithium metal anodes suffer from poor cycling stability and potential safety hazards. To alleviate these problems, Li thin‐film anodes prepared on current collectors (CCs) and Li‐free types of anodes ...that involve direct Li plating on CCs have received increasing attention. In this study, the atomic‐scale design of Cu‐CC surface lithiophilicity based on surface lattice matching of the bcc Li(110) and fcc Cu(100) faces as well as electrochemical achievement of Cu(100)‐preferred surfaces for smooth Li deposition with a low nucleation barrier is reported. Additionally, a purposely designed solid–electrolyte interphase is created for Li anodes prepared on CCs. Not only is a smooth planar Li thin film prepared, but a uniform Li plating/stripping on the skeleton of 3D CCs is achieved as well by high utilization of the surface and cavities of the 3D CCs. This work demonstrates surface electrochemistry approaches to construct stable Li metal–electrolyte interphases towards practical applications of Li anodes prepared on CCs.
Get in touch with lithium: The generation of surface lithiophilicity on planar and 3D Cu hosts for Li metal anodes is reported. Enabled by a lattice matching of Cu(100) and Li(110), smooth deposition of Li thin films and the creation of ultra‐smooth ultra‐thin SEI on the Cu hosts is made possible. This allows a high utilization of not only the surface but also cavities of the Cu hosts.
Computing-in-memory (CIM) based on embedded nonvolatile memory is a promising candidate for energy-efficient multiply-and-accumulate (MAC) operations in artificial intelligence (AI) edge devices. ...However, circuit design for NVM-based CIM (nvCIM) imposes a number of challenges, including an arealatency-energy tradeoff for multibit MAC operations, patterndependent degradation in signal margin, and small read margin. To overcome these challenges, this article proposes the following: 1) a serial-input non-weighted product (SINWP) structure; 2) a down-scaling weighted current translator (DSWCT) and positive-negative current-subtractor (PN-ISUB); 3) a currentaware bitline clamper (CABLC) scheme; and 4) a triple-margin small-offset current-mode sense amplifier (TMCSA). A 55-nm 1-Mb ReRAM-CIM macro was fabricated to demonstrate the MAC operation of 2-b-input, 3-b-weight with 4-b-out. This nvCIM macro achieved T MAC = 14.6 ns at 4-b-out with peak energy efficiency of 53.17 TOPS/W.
Transition metal phosphides (TMPs) are recognized as such promising supercapacitor materials for the practical application, due to their superior electrical conductivity and excellent redox activity. ...Here, self-supported three-dimensional NiCoP nanoparticles embedded in NiCoO
2
nanowires (NiCoO
2
/NiCoP) electrode consisting of nickel cobalt phosphides (NiCoP) with high activity and nickel cobalt oxides (NiCoO
2
) with good stability were fabricated by a hydrothermal and phosphorization method. The electrode integrates the advantages of nanowire arrays for fast ion transport and foam Ni for effective charge transport and flexibility. Benefitting the proper composition control of the nanohybrid and unique structure design, the optimized NiCoO
2
/NiCoP-20 exhibits a high specific capacitance of 3204 F·g
−1
at 1 A·g
−1
in 3 mol·L
−1
KOH aqueous electrolyte in a three-electrode system. Moreover, the asymmetric supercapacitor assembled with the prepared NiCoO
2
/NiCoP-20 and activated carbon achieves a specific capacitance of 116 F·g
−1
with a high energy density of 40.32 Wh·kg
−1
at the power density of 800.18 W·kg
−1
. The practical application is further demonstrated with all-solid-state winding supercapacitor devices, with decent flexibility, in series to light the Central South University (CSU) logo consisting of 21 red LED indicators.
Graphic abstract
The NiCoO
2
/NiCoP-20 combines the superior electrical conductivity and preeminent redox activity of NiCoP and excellent electrochemical stability of NiCoO
2
together, which performed the best electrochemical performance.
Abstract
Context
The key gut microbial biomarkers for polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and how dysbiosis causes insulin resistance and PCOS remain unclear.
Objective
To assess the characteristics ...of intestinal flora in PCOS and explore whether abnormal intestinal flora can affect insulin resistance and promote PCOS and whether chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) can activate intestinal farnesoid X receptor (FXR), improving glucose metabolism in PCOS.
Setting and design
The intestinal flora of treatment-naïve PCOS patients and hormonally healthy controls was analyzed. Phenotype analysis, intestinal flora analysis, and global metabolomic profiling of caecal contents were performed on a letrozole-induced PCOS mouse model; similar analyses were conducted after 35 days of antibiotic treatment on the PCOS mouse model, and glucose tolerance testing was performed on the PCOS mouse model after a 35-day CDCA treatment. Mice receiving fecal microbiota transplants from PCOS patients or healthy controls were evaluated after 10 weeks.
Results
Bacteroides was significantly enriched in treatment-naïve PCOS patients. The enrichment in Bacteroides was reproduced in the PCOS mouse model. Gut microbiota removal ameliorated the PCOS phenotype and insulin resistance and increased relative FXR mRNA levels in the ileum and serum fibroblast growth factor 15 levels. PCOS stool-transplanted mice exhibited insulin resistance at 10 weeks but not PCOS. Treating the PCOS mouse model with CDCA improved glucose metabolism.
Conclusions
Bacteroides is a key microbial biomarker in PCOS and shows diagnostic value. Gut dysbiosis can cause insulin resistance. FXR activation might play a beneficial rather than detrimental role in glucose metabolism in PCOS.
Immunotherapies like the adoptive transfer of gene-engineered T cells and immune checkpoint inhibitors are novel therapeutic modalities for advanced cancers. However, some patients are refractory or ...resistant to these therapies, and the mechanisms underlying tumor immune resistance have not been fully elucidated. Immunosuppressive cells such as myeloid-derived suppressive cells, tumor-associated macrophages, tumor-associated neutrophils, regulatory T cells (Tregs), and tumor-associated dendritic cells are critical factors correlated with immune resistance. In addition, cytokines and factors secreted by tumor cells or these immunosuppressive cells also mediate the tumor progression and immune escape of cancers. Thus, targeting these immunosuppressive cells and the related signals is the promising therapy to improve the efficacy of immunotherapies and reverse the immune resistance. However, even with certain success in preclinical studies or in some specific types of cancer, large perspectives are unknown for these immunosuppressive cells, and the related therapies have undesirable outcomes for clinical patients. In this review, we comprehensively summarized the phenotype, function, and potential therapeutic targets of these immunosuppressive cells in the tumor microenvironment.
A series of donor–acceptor–donor triazine‐based molecules with thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) properties were synthesized to obtain highly efficient blue‐emitting OLEDs with ...non‐doped emitting layers (EMLs). The targeted molecules use a triazine core as the electron acceptor, and a benzene ring as the conjugated linker with different electron donors to alternate the energy level of the HOMO to further tune the emission color. The introduction of long alkyl chains on the triazine core inhibits the unwanted intermolecular D–D/A–A‐type π–π interactions, resulting in the intermolecular D–A charge transfer. The weak aggregation‐caused quenching (ACQ) effect caused by the suppressed intermolecular D–D/A–A‐type π–π interaction further enhances the emission. The crowded molecular structure allows the electron donor and acceptor to be nearly orthogonal, thereby reducing the energy gap between triplet and singlet excited states (ΔEST). As a result, blue‐emitting devices with TH‐2DMAC and TH‐2DPAC non‐doped EMLs showed satisfactory efficiencies of 12.8 % and 15.8 %, respectively, which is one of the highest external quantum efficiency (EQEs) reported for blue TADF emitters (λpeak<475 nm), demonstrating that our tailored molecular designs are promising strategies to endow OLEDs with excellent electroluminescent performances.
Getting the blues: A series of donor–acceptor–donor triazine‐based molecules with thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) properties were synthesized to obtain highly efficient blue‐emitting OLEDs with non‐doped emitting layers (EMLs). The targeted molecules use a triazine core as the electron acceptor, and a benzene ring as the conjugated linker with different electron donors to alternate the energy level of the HOMO to further tune the emission color.