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Safety issue is the main concern for current lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), especially for the high energy density cells based on nickel-rich oxide/Si-C chemistries, which could experience violent explosion and intense burning with the temperature exceeding 1000 °C during thermal runaway (TR). And moreover, within a module/system, the TR of a single cell might trigger the TR of neighboring cells, usually called TR propagation, leading to a fire accident or even a server disaster. The objective of this work is to introduce an aerogel sheet with extremely low thermal conductivity and high thermal stability to block the TR propagation. The silica aerogel sheet (SAS) is synthesized via a sol-gel process followed by supercritical fluid drying. The thermal conductivities of the obtained SAS are 0.018, 0.029, 0.043 and 0.074 W (m·K) −1at 20 °C, 300 °C, 500 °C and 800 °C, respectively. A simple module is constructed with two LIBs (NCM811/Si-C, 320 Wh/kg) sandwiched with a piece of SAS with various thicknesses (1.2–2.8 mm). The results show that the SAS of 1.2 mm or 1.8 mm thickness cannot stop the TR propagation. The propagation times to next cell are 50 (1.2 mm) and 106 s (1.8 mm), respectively. While the SAS of 2.3 mm or thicker can suppress the TR propagation successfully, and moreover, protect the neighboring cell from any voltage drop/collapse. The microstructure and thermal conductivity of the SAS after TR experiments do not show evident change, revealing that the as-prepared SAS is thermally stable during the violent TR process. This work provides new insights for battery thermal management system (BTMS).

A mass production route to catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is crucial for their end-use application. To date, the direct manufacture of ORR catalysts through simple and economic manufacturing routes remains a challenge, with current approaches relying on convoluted processes using expensive components. Here, a straightforward and cost-effective method is developed to fabricate metal hybrid carbon/titania composite aerogels (CTA-M) as ORR catalysts, which was obtained via carbonizing metal hybrid resorcinol–formaldehyde (RF)/titania composite aerogels at 900 °C in an inert atmosphere. The effect of metal nitrate, including La, Sm, Zr, Cr, Fe, and Cu nitrates, on the structure and ORR performance was investigated. The high porosity and specific surface area enabled CTA-M with a high mass transfer performance. The high asymmetry of anatase leads to the presence of oxygen vacancies in the crystal structure of CTA-M, which maintains the electrostatic equilibrium of the crystal structure, which verifies that the catalytic activity of anatase is superior to that of rutile, whereas the non-homogeneous product enhances the electrical conductivity, which further affects the catalytic activity of the ORR. Trace metal doping can modulate the electronic structure and composition of CTA-M. Iron nitrate doping carbon/titania aerogel (CTA-Fe-A) showed the best pore structure and oxygen adsorption performance. The specific surface area and pore volume of CTA-Fe-A were 720 m2g–1and 1.12 cm3g–1, respectively. The onset potential, half-wave potential, and ultimate current density were 0.82 V, 0.74 V, and 4.96 mA cm–2, respectively. It is expected that this synthesis technique and the resulting CTA-M could be used as a method for large-scale commercial production of ORR catalysts, thus enabling the use of these materials in a broad spectrum of industrial applications.

ABSTRACT N,N,N',N'-Tetrakis-(2-hydroxyethyl)ethylenediamine ([C.sub.10][H.sub.24][N.sub.2][O.sub.4], THEED) is a different type of alkanolamine. In this work, the physical and chemical effects of small amounts of THEED added to Portland cement were investigated. THEED [...]

ABSTRACT This study presents the influence of coral sand powder (CSP) on the hydration and mechanical behaviours of Portland cement paste at the curing ages from 1 day to 90 [...]

ABSTRACT In order to explore the effects of limestone powder on the long-term performance of calcium sulphoaluminate (CSA) cement, the hydration process and microstructure development of CSA cement incorporated with [...]

Phase equilibria of carbon dioxide (CO2) hydrate in aqueous solutions of N-methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) at four different mass fractions (5, 10, 15, and 25 wt %) in the temperature range of 274.01 to 281.93 K and pressure range of 1.79 to 4.34 MPa were experimentally investigated by adopting an isochoric pressure search method. The reliability and accuracy of our experimental apparatus and method were examined by comparing the measured data with published ones. The enthalpy of CO2hydrate dissociation was calculated by the Clausius–Clapeyron equation. The experimental results showed that MDEA acted as a thermodynamic inhibitor which could suppress the equilibrium line of CO2hydrate to lower temperatures or higher pressures. The thermodynamic inhibition effect was enhanced after increasing the mass fraction. However, it was weaker than the conventional thermodynamic inhibitors of ethylene glycol (EG) and sodium chloride (NaCl). MDEA had synergistic inhibition effects with EG and NaCl, as their mixtures had stronger thermodynamic inhibition performance. The average enthalpies of CO2hydrate dissociation in the presence of MDEA (5 to 25 wt %) were found to be in the range of 67.562 to 80.776 kJ·mol–1, which were very close to that of pure water. The research results have theoretical guidance for the flow assurance of natural gases.

In recent years, low-dimensional organic–inorganic hybrid metal halides (OIHMHs) have shown excellent photophysical properties due to their quantum structure, adjustable energy levels, and energy transfer between inorganic and organic components, which have attracted extensive attention from researchers. Herein, we synthesize a zero-dimensional (0D) OIHMH, Sb3+:(Gua)3InCl6, by introducing Sb3+into (Gua)3InCl6, which undergoes a significant enhancement of the emission peak at 580 nm with the photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) boosted from 17.86 to 95.72% when excited at 340 nm. This boost in photoluminescence of the doped sample was studied by combining ultrafast femtosecond transient absorption, temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) spectra, and density functional theory (DFT) calculation, revealing the process of self-trapped exciton (STE) recombination to emit light at both Sb and In sites in this 0D structure simultaneously. This material with the lowest dark STE level at the In site for emission in the undoped sample can amazingly yield very strong emission in the doped sample, which has never been observed before. Finally, we tested its application in a photoelectric device. This work not only helps to gain a deeper understanding of the formation of STEs in In-based halides but also plays a certain guiding role in the design of new luminescent materials.

Electricity prices behave more irregular patterns due to uncertainties and effects of mixed-temporal primary energy markets. Thus, it is challenging to precisely forecast them. To conquer this barrier, an interpretable interval prediction method that seamlessly unifies cross-energy and electricity markets is proposed. At the outset, to clarity the feature rising the aberrant electricity prices, several exogenous, and multitemporal features from other primary energy markets, such as natural gas and coal markets, are unified to settle our database. Then, a Gaussian mixture model (GMM)-lightweight gradient boosting machine hybrid detector is presented to isolate and foresee the outlier sequence of electricity prices. A hybrid LSTNet-kernel density estimation (LSTNet-KDE) method is further proposed to enable outlier-adaptive interpretable interval prediction. Specifically, the LSTNet contributes to amalgamating multitemporality across markets and predicting the principal trends, and the KDE serves to encapsulate the uncertainty for the GMM-foreseen outliers. The method further merges with the Shapley additive explanations technique, such that exogenous latent features that induce electricity prices outliers can be finally comprehended. The numerical study on the real-world Danish electricity market verifies that, our proposed method beats other rivals in terms of precision, especially notable in forecasting outliers of electricity prices.

Historical data scarce and varying patterns of new built run-off small hydropower (RSHP) limits precise power generation prediction. Unforeseen hydropower can induce uneconomic power grid operations. To address this issue, a novel transfer learning method enabling integration of public RSHP knowledge is proposed. First, a RSHP data matching algorithm is proposed to pre-filter similar source domain data and produce a RSHP database matching patterns of target RSHP. This algorithm allows us to improve performance of transfer learning model. Next, public prediction knowledge implicated in the RSHP database is learned towards a CNN-BiLSTM hybrid pre-trained network. Then, the pre-trained network is transferred to the target RSHP prediction models by hyper-parameter fine-tuning algorithm, which reduces divergence between the pre-trained network outputs and the target domain data. As a result, accurate new RSHP prediction models can be generated under the challenge of data lack. At the last, the RSHP prediction models are fed back to the fine-tuning algorithm such that generalizability of the models enables life-long self-renewal. The real-world case demonstrates the superiority of the proposed method in terms of accuracy and data utilization. The average prediction error of the proposed method is 16.27% lower than the best traditional alternative.

Graphical abstract: The preparation of glycoside precursors was studied by advanced flow reactor (AFR) system and conventional coil flow chemistry system.

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the effect of S[O.sub.3] dopants on the Mi polymorph formation and mechanical properties of alite containing a high content of MgO. The structure of the [M.sub.1] [...]

ABSTRACT The service life and durability of concrete structures strongly depend on the transport properties of the concrete. Water permeability is one of the important indicators for durability of concrete. [...]

Olivine dissolution plays an important role in environmental science and technology, from controlling global element circulation to carbon capture for climate change mitigation. Most studies have been focused on investigating its dissolution rates by monitoring chemical effluent changes under various conditions. However, only by observation of surface reactivity can we unravel the actual mechanism (s) of dissolution. Here, we studied the dissolution of an olivine (010) plane in a flow-through reaction cell with an acidic solution, a surface-controlled regime, and far-from-equilibrium conditions. Direct mineral surface topography measurements using vertical scanning interferometry and atomic force microscopy allowed for quantitative analyses of the spatial and temporal changes in the dissolution rate. The (010) plane dissolved discontinuously in time for different surface sites, resulting in a heterogeneously distributed rate map. Pits with different depths showed opposite dissolution rate distributions from the dislocation center to further out from the etch pit. Based on the step-wave model, we propose a mechanism of dissolution that is governed by the competition between Gibbs free energy of the dissolution process, ΔG,and the critical free energy of the opening of etch pits, i.e., ΔGcrit. The migration of step waves, the distribution of surface defects, the strain field of etch pits, and other dynamic elements, resulting in the instantaneous change of ΔGcriton the surface, are important factors leading to the discontinuous dissolution of crystal materials. This discontinuous dissolution provides new insight into the guidance of crystalline mineral applications and the prediction of material properties regarding mineral dissolution variation.

To meet the demand for bipolar high-voltage pulse out in the food sterilization field, an all-solid-state bipolar Marx pulse generator (BMPG) based on magnetic isolation is developed. The drive circuit uses the magnetic core to transmit the control signal and power simultaneously. It adopts the stacking of the magnetic core and the reverse parallel of the secondary winding, so that the drive circuit can realize the control of main switch and bypass switch with only one drive signal. The secondary side winding adopts half-bridge structure, which makes the gate source voltage of each driving switch half of the secondary side output. It improves the stability of the driving circuit and solves the problem of insufficient driving power under low-frequency working condition. The drive circuit without isolated power supply modules features high-isolation voltage level, low cost, reliability, and high synchronization. The correctness of the circuit principle is verified by simulation analysis. Finally, the prototype of all-solid-state bipolar pulse generator based on dual Marx topology is developed, and the performance test of the prototype is proposed. The test results show that 15-kV pulses can be obtained with repetition frequencies ranging from 1 Hz to 1 kHz. The pulsewidth ranges from 3 to $10 \mu \text{s}$ . The output voltage, pulsewidth, repetition rate, and positive and negative pulse intervals can be adjusted flexibly. Higher levels of output voltage can be achieved by increasing the number of Marx modules.

Randomness and fluctuations in wind power output may cause changes in important parameters (e.g., grid frequency and voltage), which in turn affect the stable operation of a power system. However, owing to external factors (such as weather), there are often various anomalies in wind power data, such as missing numerical values and unreasonable data. This significantly affects the accuracy of wind power generation predictions and operational decisions. Therefore, developing and applying reliable wind power interpolation methods is important for promoting the sustainable development of the wind power industry. In this study, the causes of abnormal data in wind power generation were first analyzed from a practical perspective. Second, an improved complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (ICEEMDAN) method with a generative adversarial interpolation network (GAIN) network was proposed to preprocess wind power generation and interpolate missing wind power generation sub-components. Finally, a complete wind power generation time series was reconstructed. Compared to traditional methods, the proposed ICEEMDAN-GAIN combination interpolation model has a higher interpolation accuracy and can effectively reduce the error impact caused by wind power generation sequence fluctuations

ABSTRACT Ti[O.sub.2]@Si[O.sub.2] nanoparticles with a core/shell structure widely used in photocatalytic fields were used in this paper to improve the hydration properties of the Portland cement. To this end, the [...]

ABSTRACT The service life and durability of concrete structures strongly depend on the transport properties of the concrete. These transport properties are highly related to their microstructure, especially the pore [...]

ABSTRACT In this work, six types of alkanolamines (i.e., TEA, TIPA, DEIPA, EDIPA, THEED and THPED) were added into Portland cement as chemical additives, and their effects on physical properties [...]

ABSTRACT This work investigates the influence of synthetic C-S-H/polycarboxylate(PCE) nanocomposites (CPNs) on the hydration and properties of hydrated cement pastes. HPEG-PCE copolymers exhibiting side chain length of 45 ethylene oxide [...]

ABSTRACT The formation and transformation characteristics of ettringite play an extremely important effect on the accelerated hardening and expansion of concrete as well as its long term durability. In alkaline [...]

ABSTRACT An expansive high early strength alite-ye'elimite clinker containing 4.8% ye'elimite was synthesised by annealing without addition of mineralizer into the raw meal. The reformation of ye'elimite was achieved by [...]

ABSTRACT Sodium gluconate is commonly used to delay the setting of cement and concrete. This study investigated the effects of sodium gluconate on the physical properties and structure of Portland [...]

Calcium sulphoaluminate (CSA) cement is an environmentally friendly material and has its specific characteristics, including good resistance to ingress of external chlorides. To date, performance evolution and relevant mechanism of CSA cement-based materials during its service in chloride environment are still not clear, and needs a thorough study before its widely application in practice. This paper reviews the research progress on the chloride transport, chloride binding and corrosion behavior of steel in CSA cement under chloride environment. The crucial factors influencing the resistance of CSA cement-based materials to chloride attack are emphasized, such as water-to-binder ratio, molar ratio of gypsum to ye’elimite and use of supplementary cementitious materials. Meanwhile, future research directions on chloride related durability issues of CSA are recommended.

ABSTRACT The effects of S[O.sub.3] and MgO on the formation of cement clinker and the polymorphism of alite were thoroughly investigated. Quantitative analysis of the mineral composition was performed using [...]

ABSTRACT This study focuses on the activation of belite to promote the addition of solid industrial waste, such as fly ash (FA), as the supplementary component in high belite-sulfoaluminate cement [...]

ABSTRACT Belite-rich sulfoaluminate cement, a novel type of cement, has been synthesized via a calcined process. This paper presents an experimental study on the effects of polycarboxylate superplasticizer on the [...]

Switchable surfaces play an important role in the development of functional materials. However, the construction of dynamic surface textures remains challenging due to the complicated structural design and surface patterning. Herein, a pruney finger-inspired switchable surface (PFISS) is developed by constructing water-sensitive surface textures on a polydimethylsiloxane substrate by taking advantage of the hygroscopicity of the inorganic salt filler and the 3D printing technology. Like human fingertips, the PFISS shows high water sensitivity with obvious surface variation in wet and dry states, which is actuated by water absorption–desorption of the hydrotropic inorganic salt filler. Besides, when the fluorescent dye is optionally added into the matrix of the surface texture, water-responsive fluorescent emitting is observed, providing a feasible surface-tracing strategy. The PFISS shows effective regulation of the surface friction and performs a good antislip effect. The reported synthetic strategy for the PFISS offers a facile way for building a wide range of switchable surfaces.

The objective of this research was to develop new hydrophobic silica aerogel microspheres (HSAMs) with water glass and hexmethyldisilazane for oil adsorption. The effects of the hexmethyldisilazane concentration and drying method on the structure and organic liquid adsorption capacity were investigated. The hexmethyldisilazane concentration of the modification solution did not influence the microstructure and pore structure in a noteworthy manner, which depended more on the drying method. Vacuum drying led to more volume shrinkage of the silica gel microsphere (SGM) than supercritical CO2drying, thus resulting in a larger apparent density, lower pore volume, narrower pore size distribution, and more compact network. Owing to the large pore volume and pore size, the HSAMs synthesized via supercritical CO2drying had a larger organic liquid adsorption capacity. The adsorption capacities of the HSAMs with pore volumes of 4.04–6.44 cm3/g for colza oil, vacuum pump oil, and hexane are up to 18.3, 18.9, and 11.8 g/g, respectively, higher than for their state-of-the-art counterparts. The new sorbent preparation method is facile, cost-effective, safe, and ecofriendly, and the resulting HSAMs are exceptional in capacity, stability, and regenerability.

Nanomaterials are widely used in cement to improve the various properties of cement-based materials. Nano-CSH is considered as an effective accelerator for the hydration of cement. This paper studied the effects of nano-CSH on the hydration behavior and compressive strength of cementitious materials with various mineral admixtures. Isothermal calorimetry test was used to study the early hydration of cement paste. Thermogravimetric and X-ray diffraction tests were used to study the evolution of hydration product and unhydrated mineral phases in the hydrated cement paste. The presentation of compressive strength can evaluate the influence of nano-CSH on the property of cement-based material at the macro level. The obtained results show that the used nano-CSH can promote the hydration of tricalcium silicate (C3S), and is more active on the hydration of tricalcium aluminate (C3A) in the samples with GGBFS. The presence of nano-CSH can definitely accelerate the secondary hydration reaction of mineral admixtures.

ABSTRACT The design of experiments (DOE) was adjusted in cement clinker chemistry, with alite polymorphisms in the clinker taken into account. The additions of S[O.sub.3], MgO, as well as two [...]

ABSTRACT The interaction effects of several chemical additives such as triethanolamine, triisopropanolamine, chloride and a type of monosaccharide on the strength development of silicate cement were investigated and were quantified [...]

A resorcinol-formaldehyde/titanium oxide (RF/TiO2) aerogel was synthesized via an acid-catalyzed sol-gel process followed by CO2supercritical drying. After the thermal treatment of the RF/TiO2aerogel, the partially reduced TiO2aerogel (PRTA) was prepared as a catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Magnéli phase (Ti4O7) and anatase with oxygen vacancies were formed in PRTA. The specific surface area and the pore volume of PRTA were 637 m2g-1and 1.72 cm3g-1, respectively. RF-derived carbon, TiO2(a)/TiO2(r), and TiO2(a) were also prepared to estimate the origin of ORR activity. The Eonset, E1/2, and Jlimitwere 0.75 V, 0.65 V, and 3.33 mA cm-2, respectively. Its stability outperformed Pt/C. This preparation method is inspiring for preparing the Magnéli phase with a better pore structure.A partially reduced TiO2aerogel catalyst with high specific surface area and high pore volume was synthesized by the sol-gel method, CO2supercritical drying and in-situ carbothermal treatment. The sample showed appealing ORR catalytic activity due to the formation of Ti4O7(Magnéli phase) and anatase, which contains abundant oxygen vacancies and structural defects.

RORγ is a dual-functional drug target, which involves not only induction of inflammation but also promotion of cancer immunity. The development of agonists of RORγ promoting Th17 cell differentiation could provide a novel mechanism of action (MOA) as an immune-activating anticancer agent. Herein, we describe new 2-(ortho-substituted benzyl)-indole derivatives as RORγ agonists by scaffold hopping based on clinical RORγ antagonist VTP-43742. Interestingly, subtle structural differences of the compounds led to the opposite biological MOA. After rational optimization for structure–activity relationship and pharmacokinetic profile, we identified a potent RORγ agonist compound 17that was able to induce the production of IL-17 and IFNγ in tumor tissues and elicit antitumor efficacy in MC38 syngeneic mouse colorectal tumor model. This is the first comprehensive work to demonstrate the in vivoantitumor efficacy of an RORγ agonist.

Amine hybrid silica aerogel globule (AHSAG) for CO2capture including direct air capture (DAC) was firstly synthesized via wet casting assisted self-catalyzed sol-gel process. AHSAG has abundant interpenetrating macropores, which favors diffusion of CO2into internal amine sites and can enhance CO2adsorption kinetics and capacity. The optimal CO2adsorption capacity of AHSAG with dry 100% and 400 ppm CO2are 3.82 (30 °C) and 1.86 mmol/g (55 °C), respectively. Corresponding amine efficiencies are 0.478 and 0.233. The effect of temperature on CO2adsorption capacity is attributed to simultaneous enhancement of mass transfer kinetics and adsorption thermodynamics. The highest CO2adsorption rate of AHSAG is achieved at 70 and 55 °C with 100% and 400 ppm CO2, respectively. The trend of CO2adsorption rate with temperature is attributed to the synergistic effect of diffusion kinetics and desorption. Based on experimental CO2adsorption kinetics, adsorption mechanism in 400 ppm CO2was estimated with different diffusion models. Both film diffusion resistance and intraparticle diffusion resistance are involved in CO2capture of AHSAG from air under given condition to control the overall adsorption process. Three kinetics models were used to fit the experimental data of AHSAG for DAC, and the Avrami model showed the best fitting within the whole adsorption period. Comparing with its state-of-the-art counterparts, AHSAG offers significant advantages for practical DAC, such as high adsorption capacity and amine efficiency, fast adsorption kinetics, and excellent cyclic stability.

Manganese halides, as dilute magnetic semiconductor materials, have magnetic coupling interactions that play an essential role in their photoluminescence (PL); however, such interactions remain controversial. AMnCl3(AMC, A = K, Rb, and Cs) and their hydrates AMnCl3·2H2O (AMCH, A = K, Rb, and Cs) are both in the ABX3configuration but exhibit a wide variety of structures with different connectivity types and dimensions. Their magnetic coupling interaction has been demonstrated. However, few studies have systematically investigated the PL in conjunction with the magnetic coupling interaction over these chloride compounds. In this paper, the effect of the magnetic coupling interaction on AMC and AMCH PL is mainly revealed by temperature-dependent PL spectra and lifetimes. The MnX6(X6 = Cl4(H2O)2or Cl6) cluster connection types affect the Mn2+–Mn2+distances. The magnetic coupling interaction between MnX6octahedrons affects the radiative transitions of manganese chlorides, which is influenced by the Mn2+–Mn2+distance, local symmetry, and water ligand. The Mn2+–Mn2+distance and the magnetic coupling interaction also affect their lifetimes. Variations in magnetic coupling interactions can shift emission wavelength, especially dual-emissions and near-infrared (NIR) emission at lower temperatures while A+ = K+. This work helps researchers understand the optical process of Mn2+ions in different manganese compounds and provides new insights into the design of tailored Mn2+ion phosphors.

A superflexible hydrophobic silica-based aerogel (FHSA) was prepared via a facile sol–gel process and ambient pressure drying method. The FHSA was treated at different temperatures varying from −196 to 450 °C to evaluate its thermal and mechanical performances. The evolutions of the physical property, hydrophobicity, microstructure, pore structure, and chemical structure of the FHSA with the various treatment temperatures were investigated comprehensively. The structure of the FHSA did not show an obvious change after treatment in the liquid nitrogen. The bulk density of the FHSA increased from 0.047 to 0.077 g cm–3when the thermal treatment temperature increased from 25 to 450 °C. The specific surface area and pore volume of the FHSA increased with the treatment temperature owing to the decomposition of the organic moieties. The Fourier transform infrared spectra showed that the methyl groups in the FHSA had excellent thermostability up to 400 °C. The water contact angles of the FHSA after treatment at −196, 25, 200, 300, 350, 400, and 450 °C were 131, 151, 162, 150, 132, 119, and 34°, respectively. The thermal conductivity of the FHSA at a low temperature of −10 °C was 0.022 W m–1K–1. The reversible deformation rate of the FHSA was more than 80% within 100 compression cycles. After treatment in liquid nitrogen, the reversible deformation rate of the FHSA remained at 50%. The synthesis method of the FHSA is simple, the resulting FHSA showed good performance both in thermostability and flexibility, and it is promisingly applied for thermal insulation and sealing in ultralow-temperature environments.

Among first experimentally discovered two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnetic materials, chromium triiodide (CrI3) monolayers have attracted particular attention due to their potential applications in electronics and spintronics. However, the Curie temperature Tcof the CrI3monolayer is below room temperature, which greatly limits practical development of the devices. Herein, using density functional theory calculation, we explore how the electronic and magnetic properties of CrI3monolayers change upon adsorption of 3d transition-metal (TM) atoms (from Sc to Zn). Our results indicate that the electronic properties of the TM–CrI3system can be tuned from semiconductor to metal/half-metal/spin gapless semiconductor depending on the choice of the adsorbed TM atoms. Moreover, the adsorption can improve the ferromagnetic stability of CrI3monolayers by increasing both magnetic moments and Tc. Notably, Tcof CrI3with Sc and V adatoms can be increased by nearly a factor of 3. We suggest postsynthesis doping of 2D CrI3by deposition of TM atoms as a new route toward potential applications of TM–CrI3systems in nanoelectronic and spintronic devices.

An acidified SnO2/rGO aerogel (ASGA) is an attractive contributor in ethanol gas sensing under ultralow concentration because of the sufficient active sites and adsorption pores in SnO2and the rGA, respectively. Furthermore, a p–n heterojunction is successfully constructed by the high electron mobility between ASP and rGA to establish a brand-new bandgap of 2.72 eV, where more electrons are released and the surface energy is decreased, to improve the gas sensitivity. The ASGA owns a specific surface area of 256.1 m2/g, far higher than SnO2powder (68.7 m2/g), indicating an excellent adsorption performance, so it can acquire more ethanol gas for a redox reaction. For gas-sensing ability, the ASGA exhibits an excellent response of Ra/Rg= 137.4 to 20 ppm of ethanol at the optimum temperature of 210 °C and can reach a response of 1.2 even at the limit detection concentration of 0.25 ppm. After the concentration gradient change test, a nonlinear increase between concentration and sensitivity (S–Ccurve) is observed, and it indirectly proves the chemical adsorption between ethanol and ASGA, which exhibits charge transfer and improves electron mobility. In addition, a detailed energy band diagram and sensor response diagram jointly depict the gas-sensitive mechanism. Finally, a conversed calculation explains the feasibility of the nonlinear S–Ccurve from the atomic level, which further verifies the chemical adsorption during the sensing process.

Minimally invasive approaches to detect residual disease after surgery are needed to identify patients with cancer who are at risk for metastatic relapse. Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) holds promise as a biomarker for molecular residual disease and relapse1. We evaluated outcomes in 581 patients who had undergone surgery and were evaluable for ctDNA from a randomized phase III trial of adjuvant atezolizumab versus observation in operable urothelial cancer. This trial did not reach its efficacy end point in the intention-to-treat population. Here we show that ctDNA testing at the start of therapy (cycle 1 day 1) identified 214 (37%) patients who were positive for ctDNA and who had poor prognosis (observation arm hazard ratio = 6.3 (95% confidence interval: 4.45–8.92); P< 0.0001). Notably, patients who were positive for ctDNA had improved disease-free survival and overall survival in the atezolizumab arm versus the observation arm (disease-free survival hazard ratio = 0.58 (95% confidence interval: 0.43–0.79); P= 0.0024, overall survival hazard ratio = 0.59 (95% confidence interval: 0.41–0.86)). No difference in disease-free survival or overall survival between treatment arms was noted for patients who were negative for ctDNA. The rate of ctDNA clearance at week 6 was higher in the atezolizumab arm (18%) than in the observation arm (4%) (P= 0.0204). Transcriptomic analysis of tumours from patients who were positive for ctDNA revealed higher expression levels of cell-cycle and keratin genes. For patients who were positive for ctDNA and who were treated with atezolizumab, non-relapse was associated with immune response signatures and basal–squamous gene features, whereas relapse was associated with angiogenesis and fibroblast TGFβ signatures. These data suggest that adjuvant atezolizumab may be associated with improved outcomes compared with observation in patients who are positive for ctDNA and who are at a high risk of relapse. These findings, if validated in other settings, would shift approaches to postoperative cancer care.

The adsorption capacity of SiO2aerogel has been greatly improved with the cross-linking of graphene and composition of PTFE fabric via sol-gel method and CO2supercritical drying technique. The effects of MTMS/GO molar ratios are investigated, it can be found that the GO/SiO2aerogel has a large specific surface area of 551 m2/g and high pore volume of 2.2 cm3/g. Meanwhile, as an excellent adsorbent, hydrophobicity is prerequisite; the contact angle of PTFE fabric reinforced GO/SiO2aerogel is up to 152.8°. In terms of adsorption capacity, the result shows that it can reach the value of 10.87 g/g for NMP and 9.24 g/g for cyclohexane. Furthermore, it can still retain the initial adsorption of 78.3% to 85.9% after several cycles. It is noted that the first-order kinetic model is used to prove the adsorption validity, which achieves a fitting degree over 99%.The SiO2nanospheres are orderedly arranged on the graphene sheet structure in the form of pearl chains, then the GO/SiO2mixture is compounded with the PTFE fabric, so an organic adsorbent of PTFE fabric reinforced GO/SiO2aerogel with high flexibility and a great hydrophobic angle of 152.8° is obtained, which is significant in water treatment.

Amorphous polymer-derived silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) is an attractive candidate for Li-ion battery anodes, as an alternative to graphite, which is limited to a theoretical capacity of 372 mAh/g. However, SiOC tends to exhibit poor transport properties and cycling performance as a result of sparsely distributed carbon clusters and inefficient active sites. To overcome these limitations, we designed and fabricated a layered graphene/SiOC heterostructure by solvent-assisted infiltration of a polymeric precursor into a modified three-dimensional (3D) graphene aerogel skeleton. The use of a high-melting-point solvent facilitated the precursor’s freeze drying, which following pyrolysis yielded SiOC as a layer supported on the surface of nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide aerogels. The fabrication method employed here modifies the composition and microstructure of the SiOC phase. Among the studied materials, the highest levels of performance were obtained for a sample of moderate SiOC content, in which the graphene network constituted 19.8 wt % of the system. In these materials, a stable reversible charge capacity of 751 mAh/g was achieved at low charge rates. At high charge rates of 1480 mA/g, the capacity retention was ∼95% (352 mAh/g) after 1000 consecutive cycles. At all rates, Coulombic efficiencies >99% were maintained following the first cycle. Performance across all indicators was majorly improved in the graphene aerogel/SiOC nanocomposites, compared with unsupported SiOC. The performance was attributed to mechanisms across multiple length scales. The presence of oxygen-rich SiO4–xCxtetrahedral units and a continuous free-carbon network within the SiOC provides sites for reversible lithiation, while high ionic and electronic transport is provided by the layered graphene/SiOC heterostructure.

The LiFePO4nanoplates/C composite was synthesized by a low-temperature precipitation approach around 106 °C. X-ray powder diffraction refinement revealed a smaller crystallographic cell volume of this composite compared to stoichiometric LiFePO4, implying the presence of Li vacancies. Moreover, Mössbauer analysis evidenced Fe3+with content as large as 26 at. %, which was related to amorphous ferric phase (LiFePO4(OH)) in the composite. A short low-temperature annealing under reducing condition can convert this amorphous phase to crystalline LiFePO4. This achieves significant improvement in the electrochemical performance of the LiFePO4/C composite with reversible discharge capacity of 142 mAh g–1at C/20 and 82 mAh g–1at 2 C, which are much higher than 105 and 49 mAh g–1of the bare LiFePO4at the same current rates, respectively.

Layered 1T-type TiS2powders were pretreated by an ethanol-based shear pulverization process, which showed outstanding effectiveness in reducing the average grain size and narrowing the size distribution while maintaining high crystallinity and plate-shaped morphology. The resulting bulk ceramics densified by spark plasma sintering possessed a highly (00l)-oriented texture and pronounced anisotropy. They showed a noticeably increased σ and an unaffected Sin the in-plane direction due to the increased carrier mobility μ and the constant carrier concentration n, which resulted in a significant enhancement of the in-plane power factor, optimally to an unprecedented high level of 1.6–1.8 mW m–1K–2in a range of 323–673 K. Meanwhile, the lattice thermal conductivity was reduced by approximately 20% due to the intensified grain boundary phonon scattering that overwhelmed the effect due to texturing. These effects not only demonstrated the powder shear pulverization pretreatment as a facial and reliable route toward a high-textured TiS2but also enabled a remarkable increase of ZTrecord for TiS2-based thermoelectrics (TEs) to approximately 0.7 at 673 K, indicating clearly the significant effect of texture engineering on TE performance.

The development of the synthetic process to the selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) drug candidate LSZ102 from the medicinal chemistry synthesis to the streamlined large-scale manufacturing route is described. The synthesis of LSZ102 could be significantly improved in regard to overall yield, removal of all chromatographic purifications, and reduction in the number of steps by revisiting the original disconnection strategy. Key features of the final process include construction of the benzothiophene core viaHiga cyclization, late-stage phenolation using a Pd-catalyzed hydroxylation of an aryl bromide, and end-game assembly through a Pd-catalyzed C–H activation step. The overall yield could be significantly improved, and the costs could be reduced.

Recent discovery of intrinsic ferromagnetism in Fe3GeTe2(FGT) monolayer [Deng, Y.; Nature2018, 563, 94−99; Fei, Z.; Nat. Mater.2018, 17, 778–782] not only extended the family of two-dimensional (2D) magnetic materials but also stimulated further interest in the possibility to tune their magnetic properties without changing the chemical composition or introducing defects. By means of density functional theory computations, we explore strain effects on the magnetic properties of the FGT monolayer. We demonstrate that the ferromagnetism can be largely enhanced by the tensile strain in the FGT monolayer due to the competitive effects of direct exchange and superexchange interaction. The average magnetic moments of Fe atoms increase monotonically with an increase in biaxial strain from −5 to 5% in FGT monolayer. The intriguing variation of magnetic moments with strain in the FGT monolayer is related to the charge transfer induced by the changes in the bond lengths. Given the successful fabrication of the FGT monolayer, the strain-tunable ferromagnetism in the FGT monolayer can stimulate the experimental effort in this field. This work also suggests an effective route to control the magnetic properties of the FGT monolayer. The pronounced magnetic response toward the biaxial strain can be used to design the magnetomechanical coupling spintronics devices based on FGT.

Fog computing has garnered significant attention in recent years, since it can bridge the cloud and terminal devices and provide low latency, location awareness, and geo-distribution at the edge of the network. Data aggregation is a prime candidate for fog computing applications. However, most previous works about data aggregation do not focus on the fog computing. In addition, existing secure data aggregation schemes in fog computing usually do not support dynamic groups and arbitrary aggregation functions. In this paper, we construct concrete data encryption, data aggregation and data decryption algorithms, and further propose a privacy-preserving and collusion-resistant data aggregation scheme for dynamic groups in fog computing. Specifically, in the proposed protocol, the cloud server can periodically collect raw data and compute arbitrary aggregation functions on them. Even if some malicious terminal devices collude with the fog device or the cloud server, the honest terminal devices' privacy cannot be breached. The fog device can filter out false data and aggregate all terminal devices' ciphertexts to save the bandwidth. Besides, dynamic join and exit of terminal devices is achieved. Detailed security analysis shows that our scheme holds k -source anonymity. Our scheme is also demonstrated to be efficient via extensive experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-frequency vibrations, such as ocean waves, are widely distributed in nature and serve as a promising renewable energy source. Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have been shown to be an effective method for harvesting low-frequency vibration energy. However, most TENGs can only effectively harvest vibration energy in a single direction and a specific vibration mode. To solve the problem, we developed a disc-shaped liquid-solid triboelectric nano-generator (DLS-TENG) that can harvest vibration energy omnidirectionally. Benefiting from the high flexibility of the fluid and the ultra-high surface utilization of the disc structure, the DLS-TENG has the highest volumetric charge density and load driving capability in harvesting omnidirectional vibrational energy. Driven by seesaw vibrations with a frequency of 0.5 Hz and an amplitude of 30°, one DLS-TENG successfully lit up 544 LEDs simultaneously, with a transferred charge of 1263 nC. Considering the random, irregular, and variable characteristics of most ambient vibrations, our omnidirectional TENG is more practical. The proposed DLS-TENG can achieve long-term and efficient natural vibration energy harvesting to power an increasing number of microsensors widely distributed in the field.

The porous and amorphous silicon oxycarbides (SiOC) derived from polymer precursors are regarded as promising anode materials for lithium-ion batteries due to their high theoretical capacity and minimal volume expansion. Modulations of carbon nanoclusters and reversible species in Si-O-C units have been performed to improve lithium storage properties of SiOC anodes. Herein, we report the effects of pore structure on cycling stability and rate performance of SiOC anode materials, which are prepared by a sol-gel approach using different additions of solvents and a subsequent calcination. The increase in the solvent addition promotes the formation of macropores in the hierarchical porous structure of the SiOC, thereby facilitating rapid Li ion migration and mitigating volume expansion during the lithiation of the SiOC. The as-prepared SiOC anode exhibits competitive reversible capacities of 750.4 mAh g−1at 0.1 A g−1after 150 cycles and 437.1 mAh g−1at 1 A g−1after 500 cycles, compared to those of previously reported SiOC anodes. This work provides a new strategy for designing of high-capacity and high-stability SiOC anode materials.