Effective solid‐state interfacial contact of both the cathode and lithium metal anode with the solid electrolyte (SE) are required to improve the performance of solid‐state lithium metal batteries ...(SSBs). Electro–chemo–mechanical coupling (ECMC) strongly affects the interfacial stability of SSBs. On one hand, mechanical stress strongly influences interfacial contact and causes side reactions. On the other hand, electrochemical reactions such as lithium deposition cause mechanical deformation and stress at electrode/SE interfaces. To solve the degradation/failure problems of interfaces and provide guidelines to construct high‐performance SSBs, the ECMC at electrode/SE interfaces should be comprehensively investigated. In this review, the problems associated with ECMC at electrode/SE interfaces are summarized. The interfacial degradation/failure mechanisms, including the contact and electrochemical stability of interfaces, are introduced. Mechanical factors affecting interfacial contact and lithium deposition are highlighted. Experimental observation and computational analysis methods for electrode/SE interfaces are then summarized. Strategies to construct stable electrode/SE interfaces, such as assembling stress and wetting layers to improve interfacial contact, 3D SE structure, and plating stress relief to suppress lithium dendrite formation, are reviewed. The remaining challenges to better understanding ECMC and related solutions to aid SSB development are discussed.
The failure mechanisms of electrode/solid electrolyte (SE) interfaces in solid‐state lithium metal batteries (SSBs) involve multiscale and multiphysical field coupling. Various in situ observation technologies and corresponding theoretical approaches have been used to investigate the degradation mechanism of SSBs. Based on the experimental and theoretical results, well‐established solutions are explored to construct stable electrode/SE interfaces in SSBs.
Separating molecules or ions with sub-Angstrom scale precision is important but technically challenging. Achieving such a precise separation using membranes requires Angstrom scale pores with a high ...level of pore size uniformity. Herein, we demonstrate that precise solute-solute separation can be achieved using polyamide membranes formed via surfactant-assembly regulated interfacial polymerization (SARIP). The dynamic, self-assembled network of surfactants facilitates faster and more homogeneous diffusion of amine monomers across the water/hexane interface during interfacial polymerization, thereby forming a polyamide active layer with more uniform sub-nanometre pores compared to those formed via conventional interfacial polymerization. The polyamide membrane formed by SARIP exhibits highly size-dependent sieving of solutes, yielding a step-wise transition from low rejection to near-perfect rejection over a solute size range smaller than half Angstrom. SARIP represents an approach for the scalable fabrication of ultra-selective membranes with uniform nanopores for precise separation of ions and small solutes.
A new approach was designed to synthesize tin‐nanoparticles encapsulated in elastic hollow carbon spheres (TNHCs) with uniform size, in which tin nanoparticles with a diameter <100 nm were ...encapsulated in one thin hollow carbon sphere. The content of tin is up to over 70% by weight, andthe void volume inside the TNHCsis as high as 70–80%, which can accommodate the volume after expansion. This tin‐based nanocomposite exhibits a great potential as an anode materials for lithium‐ion batteries.
Recently, phage display technology has been announced as the recipient of Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2018. Phage display technique allows high affinity target-binding peptides to be selected from a ...complex mixture pool of billions of displayed peptides on phage in a combinatorial library and could be further enriched through the biopanning process; proving to be a powerful technique in the screening of peptide with high affinity and selectivity. In this review, we will first discuss the modifications in phage display techniques used to isolate various cancer-specific ligands by in situ, in vitro, in vivo, and ex vivo screening methods. We will then discuss prominent examples of solid tumor targeting-peptides; namely peptide targeting tumor vasculature, tumor microenvironment (TME) and overexpressed receptors on cancer cells identified through phage display screening. We will also discuss the current challenges and future outlook for targeting peptidebased therapeutics in the clinics.
Thin-film composite membranes formed by conventional interfacial polymerization generally suffer from the depth heterogeneity of the polyamide layer, i.e., nonuniformly distributed free volume pores, ...leading to the inefficient permselectivity. Here, we demonstrate a facile and versatile approach to tune the nanoscale homogeneity of polyamide-based thin-film composite membranes via inorganic salt-mediated interfacial polymerization process. Molecular dynamics simulations and various characterization techniques elucidate in detail the underlying molecular mechanism by which the salt addition confines and regulates the diffusion of amine monomers to the water-oil interface and thus tunes the nanoscale homogeneity of the polyamide layer. The resulting thin-film composite membranes with thin, smooth, dense, and structurally homogeneous polyamide layers demonstrate a permeance increment of ~20-435% and/or solute rejection enhancement of ~10-170% as well as improved antifouling property for efficient reverse/forward osmosis and nanofiltration separations. This work sheds light on the tunability of the polyamide layer homogeneity via salt-regulated interfacial polymerization process.
With H2O or NH3 stimuli, the blue cobalt‐based metal–organic framework (MOF) BP can reversibly transform to red RP. The removal/recovery of terephthalate ligands accompanied by the transformation ...leads to a gate effect, which allows the encapsulation and release of small solvent molecules under certain conditions. This is the first example of topology transformation from a self‐penetrating to interpenetrating net in 3D MOFs.
Lithium metal is considered a “Holy Grail” of anode materials for high‐energy‐density batteries. However, both dendritic lithium deposition and infinity dimension change during long‐term cycling have ...extremely restricted its practical applications for energy storage devices. Here, a thermal infusion strategy for prestoring lithium into a stable nickel foam host is demonstrated and a composite anode is achieved. In comparison with the bare lithium, the composite anode exhibits stable voltage profiles (200 mV at 5.0 mA cm−2) with a small hysteresis beyond 100 cycles in carbonate‐based electrolyte, as well as high rate capability, significantly reduced interfacial resistance, and small polarization in a full‐cell battery with Li4Ti5O12 or LiFePO4 as counter electrode. More importantly, in addition to the fact that lithium is successfully confined in the metallic nickel foam host, uniform lithium plating/stripping is achieved with a low dimension change (merely ≈3.1%) and effective inhibition of dendrite formation. The mechanism for uniform lithium stripping/plating behavior is explained based on a surface energy model.
A Li–Ni composite anode is achieved via a thermal infusion strategy. It exhibits stable voltage profiles (90 mV at 1.0 mA cm−2) with small hysteresis beyond 100 cycles, as well as low dimension change and effective dendrite inhibition after 100 cycles in a symmetric cell.
Nanofluidics derived from low‐dimensional nanosheets and protein nanochannels are crucial for advanced catalysis, sensing, and separation. However, polymer nanofluidics is halted by complicated ...preparation and miniaturized sizes. This work reports the bottom‐up synthesis of modular nanofluidics by confined growth of ultrathin metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) in a polymer membrane consisting of zwitterionic dopamine nanoparticles (ZNPs). The confined growth of the MOFs on the ZNPs reduces the chain entanglement between the ZNPs, leading to stiff interfacial channels enhancing the nanofluidic transport of water molecules through the membrane. As such, the water permeability and solute selectivity of MOF@ZNPM are one magnitude improved, leading to a record‐high performance among all polymer nanofiltration membranes. Both the experimental work and the molecular dynamics simulations confirm that the water transport is shifted from high‐friction‐resistance conventional viscous flow to ultrafast nanofluidic flow as a result of rigid and continuous nanochannels in MOF@ZNPM.
A rigid‐scaffold‐reinforced polymeric nanoparticles’ interfacial channel strategy is proposed for fabricating nanofluidic membranes that exhibit water permeance and dye/salt selectivity that are 1–2 orders of magnitude higher than conventional polymeric membranes. The unprecedented separation performance is due to the paradigm shift of water transport from conventional viscous flow to ultrafast nanofluidic flow in the membrane nanofluidics.
Typically, volume expansion of the electrodes after intercalation of active ions is highly undesirable yet inetvitable, and it can significantly reduce the adhesion force between the electrodes and ...current collectors. Especially in aluminum‐ion batteries (AIBs), the intercalation of large‐sized AlCl4− can greatly weaken this adhesion force and result in the detachment of the electrodes from the current collectors, which seems an inherent and irreconcilable problem. Here, an interesting concept, the “dead zone”, is presented to overcome the above challenge. By incorporating a large number of OH− and COOH− groups onto the surface of MXene film, a rich negative‐charge region is formed on its surface. When used as the current collector for AIBs, it shields a tiny area of the positive electrode (adjacent to the current collector side) from AlCl4− intercalation due to the repulsion force, and a tiny inert layer (dead zone) at the interface of the positive electrode is formed, preventing the electrode from falling off the current collector. This helps to effectively increase the battery's cycle life to as high as 50 000 times. It is believed that the proposed concept can be an important reference for future development of current collectors in rocking chair batteries.
A stable, lightweight, durable, and low‐cost current collector, MXene (Ti3C2Tx) film, is achieved for aluminum‐ion batteries. A large number of OH− and COOH− groups are incorporated onto the surface of the MXene film to form rich negative charges region on its surface, which shields the positive electrode material from AlCl4− intercalation in its “dead zone.”
Nonaqueous rechargeable aluminum batteries (RABs) of low cost and high safety are promising for next‐generation energy storage. With the presence of ionic liquid (IL) electrolytes, their high ...moisture sensitivity and poor stability would lead to critical issues in liquid RABs, including undesirable gas production, irreversible activity loss, and an unstable electrode interface, undermining the operation stability. To address such issues, herein, a stable quasi‐solid‐state electrolyte is developed via encapsulating a small amount of an IL into a metal–organic framework, which not only protects the IL from moisture, but creates sufficient ionic transport network between the active materials and the electrolyte. Owing to the generated stable states at both positive‐electrode–electrolyte and negative‐electrode–electrolyte interfaces, the as‐assembled quasi‐solid‐state Al–graphite batteries deliver specific capacity of ≈75 mA h g−1 (with positive electrode material loading ≈9 mg cm−2, much higher than that in the conventional liquid systems). The batteries present a long‐term cycling stability beyond 2000 cycles, with great stability even upon exposure to air within 2 h and under flame combustion tests. Such technology opens a new platform of designing highly safe rechargeable Al batteries for stable energy storage.
Stable quasi‐solid‐state aluminum batteries are constructed using quasi‐solid‐state electrolyte with high air stability, still operating well when exposed to air and if burning in fire, revealing a long‐term air stability and high safety. The results offer a novel approach for designing highly stable and safe aluminum batteries, providing a feasible strategy to boost applications in grid‐scale energy storage.
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