Both the timing and kinetics of neurotransmitter release depend on the positioning of clustered Ca2+ channels in active zones to docked synaptic vesicles on presynaptic plasma membranes. However, how ...active zones form is not known. Here, we show that RIM and RIM-BP, via specific multivalent bindings, form dynamic and condensed assemblies through liquid-liquid phase separation. Voltage-gated Ca2+ channels (VGCCs), via C-terminal-tail-mediated direct binding to both RIM and RIM-BP, can be enriched to the RIM and RIM-BP condensates. We further show that RIM and RIM-BP, together with VGCCs, form dense clusters on the supported lipid membrane bilayers via phase separation. Therefore, RIMs and RIM-BPs are plausible organizers of active zones, and the formation of RIM and RIM-BP condensates may cluster VGCCs into nano- or microdomains and position the clustered Ca2+ channels with Ca2+ sensors on docked vesicles for efficient and precise synaptic transmissions.
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•RIM and RIM-BP mixture forms liquid-liquid phase-separation-mediated condensates•Specific multivalent interaction between RIM and RIM-BP is essential for the LLPS•RIM and RIM-BP condensates cluster Ca2+ channels in solution and on membrane surface•RIM and RIM-BP are plausible organizers of presynaptic active zones
Clustering of Ca2+ channels at presynaptic active zones is critical for precise control of neurotransmitter release. Wu et al. show that the presynaptic active zone scaffold proteins RIM and RIM-BP form self-assembled condensates via liquid-liquid phase separations capable of clustering voltage-gated Ca2+ channels on lipid membrane bilayers.
The low Coulombic efficiency of the lithium metal anode is recognized as the real bottleneck to practical high‐efficiency lithium metal batteries with limited Li excess. The grain size and ...microstructure of deposited lithium strongly influences the lithium plating/stripping efficiency. Here, a solubilizer‐mediated carbonate electrolyte that can realize grain coarsening of lithium deposits (>20 µm in width) with oriented columnar morphology, which is in sharp contrast with conventional nanoscale dendrite‐like lithium deposits in carbonate electrolytes, is reported. It exhibits improved Li Coulombic efficiency to 98.14% at a high capacity of 3 mAh cm−2 over 150 cycles, because the colossal lithium deposition with minimal tortuosity can maintain the bulk Li with continuous electron conducting pathway during the stripping process, thus enabling efficient Li utilization. Li/NMC811 full batteries, composed of thin Li anode (45 µm) and a high‐capacity NMC811 cathode (16.7 mg cm−2), can achieve at least 12 times longer lifespan (200 cycles).
A grain‐coarsening behavior of lithium deposits with oriented columnar morphology can be realized in a solubilizer‐mediated carbonate electrolyte. Nanowave‐structured solid electrolyte interphases derived from the Sn2+–NO3– coordination‐solvation structure promote a significant improvement in the lifespan (200 cycles) of Li/NMC811 full batteries (45 µm thin Li anode and 16.7 mg cm−2 NMC811 cathode).
The energy density of batteries with lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) can be maximized by increasing the cut‐off voltage to approach the theoretical capacity limit. However, it is not realized in the ...practical applications due to the restricted cycle life caused by vulnerable cathode surface in deep delithiation state, where severe side reactions, oxygen/cobalt loss and structure degradation often happen. Here, an outside‐in oriented nanostructure on LiCoO2 crystals is fabricated. The outer electrochemically stable LiF and Li2CoTi3O8 particles perform as physical barrier to prevent damage of both cathodes and electrolytes, while the inner F doping promote Li ions diffusivity and stabilize the lattice oxygen. With the spinel‐like transition layer between them, a solid and complete lithium‐ion transport channel generation along the lithium concentration gradient. Under the protection from this structure, the LiCoO2 withstand the high voltage of 4.6 V and the LCO/graphite pouch full cell with high loading density exhibits 81.52% energy density retention after 135 cycles at 4.5 V.
To chase the long lifespan of LiCoO2 at 4.6 V, an outside‐in oriented nanostructure is fabricated on LiCoO2 crystals consisting of the outer electrochemically stable LiF and Li2CoTi3O8 particles, the inner F doping and the spinel‐like transition layer between them. A solid and complete lithium‐ion transport channel is generated along the lithium concentration gradient, keeping the integrity of LiCoO2 structure.
Abstract
Solid polymer electrolytes with large-scale processability and interfacial compatibility are promising candidates for solid-state lithium metal batteries. Among various systems, ...poly(vinylidene fluoride)-based polymer electrolytes with residual solvent are appealing for room-temperature battery operations. However, their porous structure and limited ionic conductivity hinder practical application. Herein, we propose a phase regulation strategy to disrupt the symmetry of poly(vinylidene fluoride) chains and obtain the dense composite electrolyte through the incorporation of MoSe
2
sheets. The electrolyte with high dielectric constant can optimize the solvation structures to achieve high ionic conductivity and low activation energy. The in-situ reactions between MoSe
2
and Li metal generate Li
2
Se fast conductor in solid electrolyte interphase, which improves the Coulombic efficiency and interfacial kinetics. The solid-state Li||Li cells achieve robust cycling at 1 mA cm
−2
, and the Li||LiNi
0.8
Co
0.1
Mn
0.1
O
2
full cells show practical performance at high rate (3C), high loading (2.6 mAh cm
−2
) and in pouch cell.
Single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) can be used to resolve subcellular structures and achieve a tenfold improvement in spatial resolution compared to that obtained by conventional ...fluorescence microscopy. However, the separation of single-molecule fluorescence events that requires thousands of frames dramatically increases the image acquisition time and phototoxicity, impeding the observation of instantaneous intracellular dynamics. Here we develop a deep-learning based single-frame super-resolution microscopy (SFSRM) method which utilizes a subpixel edge map and a multicomponent optimization strategy to guide the neural network to reconstruct a super-resolution image from a single frame of a diffraction-limited image. Under a tolerable signal density and an affordable signal-to-noise ratio, SFSRM enables high-fidelity live-cell imaging with spatiotemporal resolutions of 30 nm and 10 ms, allowing for prolonged monitoring of subcellular dynamics such as interplays between mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum, the vesicle transport along microtubules, and the endosome fusion and fission. Moreover, its adaptability to different microscopes and spectra makes it a useful tool for various imaging systems.
Formation of membraneless organelles or biological condensates via phase separation and related processes hugely expands the cellular organelle repertoire. Biological condensates are dense and ...viscoelastic soft matters instead of canonical dilute solutions. To date, numerous different biological condensates have been discovered, but mechanistic understanding of biological condensates remains scarce. In this study, we developed an adaptive single-molecule imaging method that allows simultaneous tracking of individual molecules and their motion trajectories in both condensed and dilute phases of various biological condensates. The method enables quantitative measurements of concentrations, phase boundary, motion behavior, and speed of molecules in both condensed and dilute phases, as well as the scale and speed of molecular exchanges between the two phases. Notably, molecules in the condensed phase do not undergo uniform Brownian motion, but instead constantly switch between a (class of) confined state(s) and a random diffusion-like motion state. Transient confinement is consistent with strong interactions associated with large molecular networks (i.e., percolation) in the condensed phase. In this way, molecules in biological condensates behave distinctly different from those in dilute solutions. The methods and findings described herein should be generally applicable for deciphering the molecular mechanisms underlying the assembly, dynamics, and consequently functional implications of biological condensates.
highlights•A blockchain-as-coordination-committee energy trading framework is proposed.•Methods to select coordination committee members and ensure consensus among them are presented.•The results ...show how our framework prevents energy market failures caused by dishonest participants.•The framework resolves the trust crisis in existing distributed-optimization-based trading schemes.•The results demonstrate a paradigm to quantify blockchain value for a specific use case.
Trading based on distributed optimization is becoming a world-wide trend in energy markets. Without proper trading mechanism design, however, participants might act dishonestly, which further leads to potential trust crisis and even market failures. This trust issue has been overlooked in state-of-the-art trading mechanism design. Blockchain, known as the enabler of trust, is promising to address this challenge. However, current studies have not detailed how blockchain can disable dishonest participants in energy trading, and primarily give qualitative rather than quantitative analysis of blockchain value in energy trading. Here, we propose an energy trading framework by marrying blockchain and distributed optimization, where blockchain enables check and balance among participants and disables dishonesty. Our results on a multi-energy district demonstrate in a quantitative way how our proposed framework can help prevent energy market failures caused by dishonest participants.
The industrial application of lithium metal anode requires less side reaction between active lithium and electrolyte, which demands the sustainability of the electrolyte‐induced solid‐electrolyte ...interface. Here, through a new diluted lithium difluoro(oxalato)borate‐based (LiDFOB) high concentration electrolyte system, it is found that the oxidation behavior of aggregated LiDFOB salt has a great impact on solid‐electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation and Li reversibility. Under the operation window of Cu/LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 full cells (rather than Li/Cu configuration), a polyether/coordinated borate containing solid‐electrolyte interphase with inner Li2O crystalline can be observed with the increasing concentration of salt, which can be ascribed to the reaction between aggregated electron‐deficient borate species and electron‐rich alkoxide SEI components. The high Li reversibility (99.34%) and near‐theoretical lithium deposition enable the stable cycling of LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2/Li cells (N/P < 2, 350 Wh kg−1) under high cutoff voltage condition of 4.6 V and lean electrolyte condition (E/C ≈ 3.2 g Ah−1).
High‐efficacy and polymeric solid‐electrolyte interphase is in situ formed on lithium metal anode by using a new diluted lithium difluoro(oxalato)borate‐based (LiDFOB) high‐concentration electrolyte. The outer SEI layer is an amorphous polyether/tri‐coordinated borate polymeric organic phase, while the inner layer contains robust Li2O inorganic crystalline. As‐fabricated cells deliver a high Li reversibility of 99.34% and long full‐cell lifetime under ≈350 Wh kg−1.
Mud construction waste lightweight soil (MCWLS) is made by dredged mud, lightweight construction waste (LCW), cement. Consolidated-drained (CD) shear tests were conducted to investigate the shear ...characteristics of MCWLS. The stress-strain relationships were divided into three types: strain-hardening, strain-softening and ideal elastic-plastic. A straight line was presented as the failure envelope. The cohesion and internal friction angle were first increased then decreased with the increase of LCW content, the peak value corresponding to LCW content of 50%. Failure modes showed the drum type and contraction type. A new bi-exponential expression model was proposed to describe the three stress-strain curves simultaneously.
Researchers prefer mild aqueous static zinc-ion batteries (ASZIBs) for their distinct benefits of excellent safety, abundant zinc resources, low cost, and high energy density. However, at the moment ...there are some issues with the cathode materials of mild ASZIBs, including dissolution, by-products, poor conductivity, and a contentious energy storage system. Consequently, there are numerous difficulties in the development of high-performance mild ASZIBs cathode materials. This overview examines the mechanisms for storing energy and the developments in inorganic, organic, and other novel cathode materials that have emerged in recent years. At the same time, three solutions—structural engineering, interface engineering, and reaction pathway engineering—as well as the difficulties now faced by the cathode materials of mild ASZIBs are forcefully introduced. Finally, a prospect is made regarding the evolution of cathode materials in the future.
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•The problems faced by cathode materials of mild ASZIBs, such as dissolution, by-products, inferior conductivity and controversial energy storage mechanism, and their causes were summarized.•Three practical strategies of structural engineering, interface engineering, and reaction pathway engineering for mild ASZIBs cathode materials in recent years are summarized.•Mild ASZIBs cathode should be commercialized by thoroughly studying the energy storage mechanism, achieving high energy density and low temperature resistance.
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