Demands for large‐scale energy storage systems have driven the development of layered transition‐metal oxide cathodes for room‐temperature rechargeable sodium ion batteries (SIBs). Now, an abnormal ...layered‐tunnel heterostructure Na0.44Co0.1Mn0.9O2 cathode material induced by chemical element substitution is reported. By virtue of beneficial synergistic effects, this layered‐tunnel electrode shows outstanding electrochemical performance in sodium half‐cell system and excellent compatibility with hard carbon anode in sodium full‐cell system. The underlying formation process, charge compensation mechanism, phase transition, and sodium‐ion storage electrochemistry are clearly articulated and confirmed through combined analyses of in situ high‐energy X‐ray diffraction and ex situ X‐ray absorption spectroscopy as well as operando X‐ray diffraction. This crystal structure engineering regulation strategy offers a future outlook into advanced cathode materials for SIBs.
An abnormal layered‐tunnel heterostructure Na0.44Co0.1Mn0.9O2 cathode material induced by chemical element substitution is described. The crystal‐structure engineering strategy that was used gives an outlook into high‐performance sodium ion batteries.
Platelet-derived growth subunit A (PDGFA) plays critical roles in development of glioblastoma (GBM) with substantial evidence from TCGA database analyses and in vivo mouse models. So far, only ...platelet-derived growth receptor α (PDGFRA) has been identified as receptor for PDGFA. However, PDGFA and PDGFRA are categorized into different molecular subtypes of GBM in TCGA_GBM database. Our data herein further showed that activity or expression deficiency of PDGFRA did not effectively block PDGFA activity. Therefore, PDGFRA might be not necessary for PDGFA function.To profile proteins involved in PDGFA function, we performed co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) and Mass Spectrum (MS) and delineated the network of PDGFA-associated proteins for the first time. Unexpectedly, the data showed that EPHA2 could be temporally activated by PDGFA even without activation of PDGFRA and AKT. Furthermore, MS, Co-IP, in vitro binding thermodynamics, and proximity ligation assay consistently proved the interaction of EPHA2 and PDGFA. In addition, we observed that high expression of EPHA2 leaded to upregulation of PDGF signaling targets in TCGA_GBM database and clinical GBM samples. Co-upregulation of PDGFRA and EPHA2 leaded to worse patient prognosis and poorer therapeutic effects than other contexts, which might arise from expression elevation of genes related with malignant molecular subtypes and invasive growth. Due to PDGFA-induced EPHA2 activation, blocking PDGFRA by inhibitor could not effectively suppress proliferation of GBM cells, but simultaneous inhibition of both EPHA2 and PDGFRA showed synergetic inhibitory effects on GBM cells in vitro and in vivo. Taken together, our study provided new insights on PDGFA function and revealed EPHA2 as a potential receptor of PDGFA. EPHA2 might contribute to PDGFA signaling transduction in combination with PDGFRA and mediate the resistance of GBM cells to PDGFRA inhibitor. Therefore, combination of inhibitors targeting PDGFRA and EHA2 represented a promising therapeutic strategy for GBM treatment.
Light asymmetry, with a higher light acquisition per unit biomass for larger plants, has been proposed as a major mechanism of species loss after nitrogen addition. However, solid evidence for this ...has been scarce. We measured the allometric size‐height relationships of 25 plant species along a nitrogen addition gradient manipulated annually for eight years in a speciose alpine meadow and found that the positive relationship between species relative abundance and the height scaling exponent in natural conditions disappeared after nitrogen addition. Those species with lower height scaling exponents increased in relative abundance after nitrogen addition, thereby decreasing the community weighted mean and dispersion of the height scaling exponent and ultimately the species richness. Our results provided some unique evidence for light asymmetry induced species loss after nitrogen addition and a new insight from the perspective of allometric scaling to explain biodiversity maintenance in the face of global changes.
We experimentally demonstrated that adaptive changes in the species‐specific height scaling exponent due to light asymmetry after nitrogen addition played a key role in driving species loss under nitrogen addition. Our study not only provided an alternative and feasible way for detecting the role of light asymmetry in driving species loss under nitrogen addition, but also a new insight from the perspective of allometric scaling to explain biodiversity maintenance in the face of global changes.
Safety concerns are impeding the applications of lithium metal batteries. Flame‐retardant electrolytes, such as organic phosphates electrolytes (OPEs), could intrinsically eliminate fire hazards and ...improve battery safety. However, OPEs show poor compatibility with Li metal though the exact reason has yet to be identified. Here, the lithium plating process in OPEs and Li/OPEs interface chemistry were investigated through ex situ and in situ techniques, and the cause for this incompatibility was revealed to be the highly resistive and inhomogeneous interfaces. Further, a nitriding interface strategy was proposed to ameliorate this issue and a Li metal anode with an improved Li cycling stability (300 h) and dendrite‐free morphology is achieved. Meanwhile, the full batteries coupled with nickel‐rich cathodes, such as LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2, show excellent cycling stability and outstanding safety (passed the nail penetration test). This successful nitriding‐interface strategy paves a new way to handle the incompatibility between electrode and electrolyte.
A nitriding interface has been developed for the successful application of flame‐retardant electrolytes in high‐energy‐density cells using a Li metal anode and a high‐voltage, high‐capacity cathode. The homogeneity of the solid electrolyte interface (SEI) layer is crucially important for the uniform Li deposition required for high‐voltage batteries.
The therapeutic outcome of photothermal therapy (PTT) remains impeded by the transparent depth of light. Combining PTT with immunotherapy provides strategies to solve this problem. Regulating ...metabolism‐related enzymes is a promising strategy to stimulate immune response. Here, a nanosystem (NLG919/IR780 micelles) with the properties of photothermal conversion and regulation of the tryptophan metabolic pathway is used to suppress the growth of the tumor margin beyond effective PTT and promote tumor PTT and immunotherapy. It is revealed that mild heat treatment promotes the growth of the tumor margin beyond effective PTT for the upregulation of heat shock protein (HSP), indoleamine 2,3‐dioxygenase (IDO), and programmed death‐ligand 1 (PD‐L1). The NLG919/IR780 micelles can effectively inhibit the activity of IDO but do not affect the level of IDO expression. NLG919/IR780 micelles can effectively accumulate in the tumor and can migrate to lymph nodes and the lymphatic system. In vivo antitumor studies reveal that NLG919/IR780 micelles effectively suppress the growth of tumor margin following PTT in primary tumors. NLG919/IR780 micelle‐mediated PTT and IDO inhibition further stimulate the activation of T lymphocytes, inhibiting the growth of distal tumors (abscopal effect). The results demonstrate that the NLG919/IR780 micelles combine PTT and immunotherapy and suppress the tumor margin as well as distal tumor growth post photothermal therapy.
During photothermal therapy (PTT), the tumor margin beyond effective PTT is upregulating series proteins, including indoleamine 2,3‐dioxygenase (IDO), and programmed death‐ligand 1 (PD‐L1) which further accelerate the growth of tumors. By combining with IDO inhibitor, the therapeutic outcome of PTT is enhanced, which also triggers strong immune response to alleviate metastasis and the growth of distant tumor.
Photonic integrated circuits have potentials to advance artificial neural networks by providing ultra-fast and high power efficient computation resources. In many of optical neural network (ONN) ...architectures, data are encoded in light amplitudes, using magnitude and phase to denote the absolute value and the sign. However, the phase insensitivity of optical components such as saturable absorbers, semiconductor optical amplifiers and photodetectors can lead to limitations in ONN designs, including nonlinear activation and inference results readout. In this work, we propose a complementary decomposition approach to overcome the phase insensitive problem. Based on that, we further present a optical ReLU function implementation. The proposed designs can scale to multi-layer neural networks by cascading linear and nonlinear units. These optical neural networks do not require repeated bidirectional digital-analog conversions and optical-electronic conversions between each layers as well as reference signals for homodyne detection. These features could provide a potential implementation of compact, scalable, high efficiency ONNs. We evaluate the concept with a machine learning task. The numerical results demonstrate that the proposed design can tackle the aforementioned phase insensitive problem.
The absence of tumor antigens leads to a low response rate, which represents a major challenge in immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy. Pyroptosis, which releases tumor antigens and ...damage‐associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) that induce antitumor immunity and boost ICB efficiency, potentially leads to injury when occurring in normal tissues. Therefore, a strategy and highly efficient agent to induce tumor‐specific pyroptosis but reduce pyroptosis in normal tissues is urgently required. Here, a smart tumor microenvironmental reactive oxygen species (ROS)/glutathione (GSH) dual‐responsive nano‐prodrug (denoted as MCPP) with high paclitaxel (PTX) and photosensitizer purpurin 18 (P18) loading is rationally designed. The ROS/GSH dual‐responsive system facilitates the nano‐prodrug response to high ROS/GSH in the tumor microenvironment and achieves optimal drug release in tumors. ROS generated by P18 after laser irradiation achieves controlled release and induces tumor cell pyroptosis with PTX by chemo‐photodynamic therapy. Pyroptotic tumor cells release DAMPs, thus initiating adaptive immunity, boosting ICB efficiency, achieving tumor regression, generating immunological memory, and preventing tumor recurrence. Mechanistically, chemo‐photodynamic therapy and control‐release PTX synergistically induce gasdermin E (GSDME)‐related pyroptosis. It is speculated that inspired chemo‐photodynamic therapy using the presented nano‐prodrug strategy can be a smart strategy to trigger pyroptosis and augment ICB efficiency.
A smart tumor microenvironmental reactive oxygen species/glutathione dual‐responsive nano‐prodrug (denoted as MCPP) with high paclitaxel and photosensitizer purpurin 18 loading is designed. Chemo‐photodynamic therapy using the presented nano‐prodrug strategy can be a smart strategy to trigger pyroptosis and augment the efficiency of immune checkpoint blockade therapy.
Overhead ground wires typically have strong axial tension and are prone to structural defects caused by corrosion and lightning strikes, which could lead to serious safety hazards. Therefore, it is ...important to detect defects accurately and quickly to avoid those problems. Existing defect detection methods for overhead ground wires are mainly traditional metal defect detection methods, including eddy current detection, ultrasonic detection, and manual visual inspection. However, those methods have problems of low detection efficiency, high environmental requirements, and insufficient reliability. To solve the above problems, this paper studies a novel type of defect detection technology for overhead ground wire. Firstly, the magnetic leakage characteristics around the defects of overhead ground wires are analyzed, and the defect detection device is designed. Then, the influence of air gap, lift-off distance, defect width, and cross-sectional loss rate on the magnetic flux leakage signal is studied, a novel defect detection method for overhead ground wire is proposed, and experimental verification is carried out. The results show that the proposed method can accurately locate and quantify the defect, which has the advantages of good reliability and high efficiency and lays the foundation for preventing accidents caused by defective overhead ground wires.
Leakage and super‐cooling are two main disadvantages of polyethylene glycol (PEG) when used as phase‐change materials (PCMs) for thermal energy storage, which seriously restrict the practical ...applications of the materials. In this study, we employ carbon quantum dots (CQDs) as cross‐linkers to fabricate PEG‐based solid–solid PCMs, which not only address the leakage issue of PEG during melting process, but also have much lower super‐cooling degree compared with PEG, exhibiting extraordinary thermal energy storage performance. CQDs serve as a heterogeneous nucleating agent in the crystal domains of these PEG‐based PCMs according to the characterizations. Additionally, CQDs are also beneficial to the thermal stability of the PCMs. And these PEG‐based PCMs have high phase‐change enthalpies (94.4 J/g) and applicable phase‐change temperatures (25–37°C), showing potential for thermal energy storage.
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