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Biomass carbon materials, which are environmentally friendly, have received significant attention and rapidly developed in the field of electrochemical devices. In this study, rice husk carbon (RHC) was prepared using calcination and activation methods, and a layer of nickel–cobalt double hydroxide (NiCo-LDH) was grown on the surface of RHC using a hydrothermal method, resulting in the formation of the NiCo-LDH@RHC composite. The open nanoflower structure and the synergistic effect between RHC and NiCo-LDH increased the conductivity and stability of the electrode material, as well as its specific capacitance. The NiCo-LDH@RHC electrode delivered a high specific capacity of 8542.5 mF cm−2 at a current density of 2 mA cm−2 with a good cycling stability of 80.45% across 5000 cycles. Furthermore, a high-performance all-solid-state asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) was assembled using Fe2O3/CC as the anode material and NiCo-LDH@RHC as the cathode material. It displayed a high energy density of 61.44 μW h cm−2 at a power density of 3.99 mW cm−2 and an excellent cycle retention rate of 86.54% after 10 000 cycles. This research demonstrates that NiCo-LDH@RHC is an environmentally friendly and high performance electrode material with great development potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To develop a novel high-temperature microwave absorber, B4C/Al2O3/CNTs composite powders were prepared by a combustion synthesis method. The experiment results show that the products are mainly composed by B4C, α-Al2O3, and residual CNTs. The better crystallinity B4C particles had a grain size about 0.5–1.0 μm and embedded in the Al2O3 matrix, while the CNTs cracked and dispersed in the composite powders. The results of combustion synthesis process illustrated that as CNTs increase, the product zone decreased, and the combustion temperature (Tc), the adiabatic combustion temperature (Tad), and the combustion wave velocity (VC) decreased. The dielectric permittivity of prepared composite powders has been determined in the X band. The results show that the dielectric real part ε´ and dielectric loss tanδ have a growing tendency with the increase of the CNTs. The dielectric real part (ε′) and the loss tangent (tanδ) reached the highest, when the molar excess coefficient of CNTs was 0.2 (CS-2). The different mass ratios of CS-2 and paraffin binder were combined to test their dielectric properties. The results show that both ε′ and tanδ increased with the increase of the CS-2, while the impedance matching ratio decreased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We assessed whether perioperative circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) could be a biomarker for early detection of molecular residual disease (MRD) and prediction of postoperative relapse in resected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)., Experimental Design: Based on our prospective, multicenter cohort on dynamic monitoring of ctDNA in lung cancer surgery patients (LUNGCA), we enrolled 950 plasma samples obtained at three perioperative time points (before surgery, 3 days and 1 month after surgery) of 330 stage I-III NSCLC patients (LUNGCA-1), as a part of the LUNGCA cohort. Using a customized 769-gene panel, somatic mutations in tumor tissues and plasma samples were identified with next-generation sequencing and utilized for ctDNA-based MRD analysis., Results: Preoperative ctDNA positivity was associated with lower recurrence-free survival (RFS; HR = 4.2; P < 0.001). The presence of MRD (ctDNA positivity at postoperative 3 days and/or 1 month) was a strong predictor for disease relapse (HR = 11.1; P < 0.001). ctDNA-based MRD had a higher relative contribution to RFS prediction than all clinicopathologic variables such as the TNM stage. Furthermore, MRD-positive patients who received adjuvant therapies had improved RFS over those not receiving adjuvant therapy (HR = 0.3; P = 0.008), whereas MRD-negative patients receiving adjuvant therapies had lower RFS than their counterparts without adjuvant therapy (HR = 3.1; P < 0.001). After adjusting for clinicopathologic variables, whether receiving adjuvant therapies remained an independent factor for RFS in the MRD-positive population (P = 0.002) but not in the MRD-negative population (P = 0.283)., Conclusions: Perioperative ctDNA analysis is effective in early detection of MRD and relapse risk stratification of NSCLC, and hence could benefit NSCLC patient management., (©2021 American Association for Cancer Research.)