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Many microorganisms live in the vagina of healthy women. They interact with and compete with the microenvironment in the female vagina to form a dynamic balance of the microenvironment in the female vagina. However, imbalanced vaginal microecology can lead to vaginal resistance to pathogenic microorganisms. Poor capacity can cause women to develop infections of the reproductive tract. This article analyzes the vaginal microecological status of women with high-risk HPV infection for more than 6 months and healthy women and explores the risk factors that cause long-term high-risk HPV infection for timely detection and regulation of possible vaginal microecological imbalance in women with high-risk HPV infection for more than 6 months to prevent further development of cervical lesions in such patients. This article covers women with a sexual life history who attended the gynecology department of a hospital from January 2020 to September 2021. There were 280 patients in the experimental group: positive high-risk HPV; and there were 140 patients in the control group: negative high-risk HPV test. The correlation between vaginal microecology of CIN patients and patient prognosis according to the subject’s vaginal microecology test results and prognosis of various levels of cervical lesions was analyzed. The experiment proved that the detection rate of normal vaginal microecology in the experimental group was 12.14% (34/280) compared with the detection rate of 29.29% (41/140) in the control group, and there was a trend of decrease, and the difference was statistically significant (χ2=17.23,P<0.05). The detection rate of vaginal BV in the experimental group was 10.36% (29/280) compared with the detection rate of 5.0% (7/140) in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (χ2=5.19,P<0.05). This indicates that women with high-risk HPV infections for 6 months or longer have a higher incidence of vaginal microecological imbalances than healthy individuals and aggressive vaginal microecological screening. It is necessary to carry out the program. Detect and treat possible abnormal conditions in time to prevent the further onset of the disease.

Objective: To explore the rationality of the new stage IB of International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) 2018 cervical cancer from the open surgical oncology perspective. Methods: Patients with FIGO 2018 stage IB cervical cancer were screened from the clinical diagnosis and treatment for cervical cancer in China (Four C) database including cases from 47 hospitals in mainland China between 2004 and 2018.Firstly, we classified the lymph node-positive cases in the FIGO 2009 stage IB as stage “IIIC-IB”.Then,using Real World Study(RWS) method,we retrospectively compared the 5-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS)of patients with FIGO2018 staged IB1、IB2、IB3 and IIIC-IB . Results:The results were as follows: 1210 cases were in stage IB1, 1315 cases were in stage IB2, 470 cases were in stage IB3, and 868 cases were in stage “IIIC-IB”.(1) In the whole study population, Kaplan-Meier analysis showed statistically meaningful differences in 5-year OS and 5-year DFS in patients with stage IB1、IB2、IB3 and IIIC-IB cervical cancer (OS: 98.4% vs 94.8% vs 92.1%vs 81.9% , PConclusion: The new FIGO 2018 staging strategy is helpful for further distinguishing the survival outcomes of patients with different IB substages, especially IB1、IB2 , but it is not significant for those with IB2、IB3 substages. Patients in the FIGO2009 stage IB disease with positive lymph node metastasis are classified in the FIGO 2018 stage IIIC-IB group, which is helpful for further guiding clinical decision-making and prognosis evaluation.

The transformation behaviors of Zn during co-pyrolysis of waste tires and coal were studied in a fixed-bed reaction system. The effects of pyrolysis temperature and the Zn content of coal mixture on the Zn distributions in the pyrolytic products (coke, tar and gas) were investigated in detail. It is found that the relative percentages of Zn in the pyrolytic products are closely related to the contents of S and mineral elements (Ca, Al, Si and Fe) in the coal. The thermodynamic equilibrium simulations conducted using FactSage 8.0 show that S, Al and Si can interact with Zn to inhibit the volatilization of Zn from coke. The reaction sequence with Zn is S > Al > Si, and the thermal stability of products is in the order of ZnS > ZnAl2O4 > Zn2SiO4. These results provide insights into the migration characteristics of Zn during co-pyrolysis of coal and waste tires, which is vital to the prevention and control of Zn emissions to reduce the environmental burden.

The catalytic reduction of NO with NH3 (NH3-SCR) on phosphorus-doped carbon aerogels (P-CAs) was studied in the temperature range of 100–200 °C. The P-CAs were prepared by a one-pot sol–gel method by using phosphoric acid as a phosphorus source followed by carbonization at 600–900 °C. A correlation between catalytic activity and surface P content is observed. The P-CA-800vac sample obtained via carbonization at 800 °C and vacuum treatment at 380 °C shows the highest NO conversion of 45.6–76.8% at 100–200 °C under a gas hourly space velocity of 500 h−1 for the inlet gas mixture of 500 ppm NO, 500 ppm NH3 and 5.0 vol% O2. The coexistence of NH3 and O2 is essential for the high conversion of NO on the P-CA carbon catalysts, which can decrease the spillover of NO2 and N2O. The main Bronsted acid sites derived from P-doping and contributed by the C–OH group at edges of carbon sheets are beneficial for NH3 adsorption. In addition, the C3–PO configuration seems to have the most active sites for favorable adsorption and dissociation of O2 and facilitates the formation of NO2. Therefore, the simultaneous presence of acidic groups for NH3 adsorption and the C3–PO active sites for NO2 generation due to the activation of O2 molecules is likely responsible for the significant increase in the NH3-SCR activity over the P–CAs. The transformation of C3–PO to C–O–P functional groups after the reaction is found, which could be assigned to the oxidation of C3–PO by the dissociated O*, resulting in an apparent decrease of catalytic activity for P-CAs. The C–O–P based functional groups are also active in the NH3-SCR reaction.

Purpose To evaluate the survival outcomes of abdominal Q-M type B and type C2 radical hysterectomy (RH) for early-stage (IA1 (lymphovascular invasion)-IIA2) cervical cancer. Patients and methods Based on this multicenter, retrospective cohort study on the clinical diagnosis and treatment for cervical cancer in China (Four C), the survival outcomes of abdominal type B and type C2 RH for early-stage cervical cancer were compared under real-world and matched cohort study conditions. Results In total, 46,313 cases were included in the Four C database, among whom 20,018 underwent abdominal type B or type C2 RH. In the real-world study, no differences were found in the 5-year overall survival (OS) between the type B group (n=15,471) and type C2 group (n=4547), but the 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) was lower in the type C2 group (82.1 vs 84.8%, hazard ratio: 1.144). Based on the inclusion criteria, 9135 cases were included and the type C2 group (n=1818) was found to have a lower 5-year OS and DFS (OS: 89.5 vs 92.0%, hazard ratio: 1.393; DFS: 84.3 vs 87.4%, hazard ratio: 1.342). Subsequently, 1799 cases from each group were matched and the type C2 group had a lower 5-year DFS (84.6 vs 88.4%, hazard ratio: 1.332). Upon further analysis of the subgroups, the type C2 group had a lower 5-year OS and DFS (OS: 90.3 vs 93.8%, hazard ratio: 1.522; DFS: 85.2 vs 89.4%, hazard ratio: 1.439). Conclusion Q-M type B RH could be used for the treatment of stage IA1 (lymphovascular invasion)-IIA2 cervical cancer.

Long non-coding (lnc)RNA HAND2 antisense RNA 1 (HAND2-AS1) exhibited tumor suppression activity in different types of cancer. However, its role in cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC), which is frequently diagnosed among females, has not been elucidated. The current study revealed that lncRNA HAND2-AS1 was downregulated, while Rho-associated protein kinase 1 (ROCK1) was upregulated in serum of human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive and -negative patients with CSCC compared with healthy controls. Correlation analysis revealed that the expression levels of lncRNA HAND2-AS1 were negatively correlated with the expression levels of ROCK1 in HPV-positive and -negative patients with CSCC but not in healthy controls. Downregulation of lncRNA HAND2-AS1 distinguished patients with CSCC from healthy controls. Additionally, lncRNA HAND2-AS1 overexpression led to reduced expression levels of ROCK1 in HPV-positive and -negative human CSCC cell lines but not in normal cervical cell lines. ROCK1 overexpression did not significantly affect the expression of lncRNA HAND2-AS1 in all the cell lines investigated. lncRNA HAND2-AS1 overexpression inhibited, while ROCK1 overexpression promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of HPV-positive and -negative human CSCC cell lines but not normal cervical cell lines. ROCK1 overexpression attenuated the effects of lncRNA HAND2-AS1 overexpression on cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion. lncRNA HAND2-AS1 may inhibit cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion by downregulating ROCK1 in HPV-positive and -negative CSCC.

Huizhen Zhang,1 Shuangling Jin,1 Aifang Ji,2 Ying Ma,3 Chunyan Zhang,1 Ailan Wang,1 Rui Wang1 1Department of Gynecology, Heping Hospital Affiliated to Changzhi Medical College, Changzi, Shanxi Province, 046000, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Clinical Laboratory, Heping Hospital Affiliated to Changzhi Medical College, Changzi, Shanxi Province, 046000, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Obstetrics, Heping Hospital Affiliated to Changzhi Medical College, Changzi, Shanxi Province, 046000, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Shuangling JinDepartment of Gynecology, Heping Hospital Affiliated to Changzhi Medical College, Changzhi City, Shanxi Province, 046000, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail nj6077@163.comBackground: SLC16A1-AS1 has been characterized as an oncogenic long non-coding (lncRNA) in breast cancer and bladder cancer, while its role in cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) is unknown.Methods: CSCC and non-tumor tissue samples were collected from 60 female patients, and qPCR was performed to detect the expression of SLC16A1-AS1, miR-194 and SOCS2. Luciferase reporter assay was performed to detect the interaction between SLC16A1-AS1 and miR-194. Colony formation assay was used to detect cell proliferation.Results: SLC16A1-AS1 was down-regulated in CSCC and correlated with poor survival. Overexpression of SLC16A1-AS1 could inhibit the proliferation of cervical cancer cells. In addition, SLC16A1-AS1 could sponge miR-194 and increase the expression levels of SOCS2, ultimately inhibiting the proliferation of cervical cancer cells.Conclusion: SLC16A1-AS1 was downregulated in CSCC and suppressed cell proliferation in cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) through the miR-194/SOCS2 axis.Keywords: cervical squamous cell carcinoma, SLC16A1-AS1, miR-194, SOCS2

OBJECTIVE To compare 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) rates of laparoscopic radical hysterectomy (LRH) and abdominal radical hysterectomy (ARH) for stage IB1 and tumor size

The catalytic reduction of NO with NH

Alumina aerogels are prepared from the cheap AlCl3·6H2O precursor by the sol-gel method using acetoacetic-grafted polyvinyl alcohol (acac-PVA) as a template and dispersing agent, and propylene oxide as a gelation initiator. The acac-PVA has a high dispersing ability for Al3+ ion through complexation interaction and increases the content of AlCl3·6H2O in sols to as high as 37 wt%, leading to the formation of wet gels without precipitate and crack, and little shrinkage. As-prepared alumina aerogels have high density, high mechanical strength, high mesoporosity, and high-surface area. The shrinkage in supercritical drying processes is greatly reduced. The specific surface area increases and pore size decreases with increasing the content of the acac-PVA in sols. The acac-PVA also acts as a template that provides nucleation sites for boehmite AlOOH particles and inhibits their growth. An excess content of the acac-PVA isolates secondary particles, weakens the interaction between them, and therefore decreases the Young’s modulus. Coarsening is not alleviated obviously after removal of the acac-PVA by high-temperature treatment in air, and the fine primary particles grow into nanorods with diameters of 10–20 nm and lengths of 30–70 nm.

Cotton fabric/LiFePO4 cathode material was synthesized via a conventional solvothemal method. XRD results revealed that all the patterns could be indexed as the olivine-type structured LiFePO4 with the space group of Pnma. SEM images showed that the obtained samples presented plate-type morphology. When the cotton fabric (soaked in the 0.1 M LiOH solutions)/LiFePO4 used as the cathode material for lithium-ion battery, it showed excellent cycle stability, i.e., an extremely low loss in the capacity of 7.8% after 200 cycles at 2 C, due to the enhanced electronic conductivity and Li-ion diffusion processes as also proved by the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Thus, this low cost cotton fabric decorated LiFePO4 composite is a promising cathode material for high-performance lithium-ion battery.

The reactive adsorption desulfurization behavior of the Ni and Zn metal species supported on the activated carbon were investigated. The adsorbents were prepared by incipient wetness impregnation of the carbon support with aqueous solutions of nickel nitrate, zinc nitrate and nitrilotriacetic acid. The impregnated precursors transfer to ZnO and Ni3ZnC0.7 phase after calcination in nitrogen, and partially convert to NiZn alloy by hydrogen reduction treatment. The residual Ni3ZnC0.7 phase of the reduced adsorbents can be consumed slowly in the desulfurization process. The sulfur content of outflow oil can be readily decreased from original 640 ppmw to near zero residual sulfur with a breakthrough sulfur capacity of 106.5 mg-S/g-adsorbent, corresponding to 490 mg-S/g-(NiO + ZnO). The high efficiency of the adsorbents suggests that the release of metallic Ni from NiZn alloy is sufficiently rapid to provide an active phase for desulfurization and the formation of NiZn alloy is also favorable for the contact between Ni and Zn species which could accelerate the sulfur transfer from Ni3S2 to Zn phase.

The current study investigated the expression and functional roles of microRNA‑139 (miR‑139) on human epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT‑qPCR) was performed to measure miR‑139 expression in EOC tissues and cell lines. The effects of miR‑139 on EOC cell proliferation, migration and invasion were assessed using MTT, cell migration and invasion assays, respectively. Subsequently, the molecular mechanism underlying the tumor suppressive roles of miR‑139 on EOC was determined by bioinformatics analysis, RT‑qPCR, western blotting and the luciferase reporter assay. According to the results, it was identified that miR‑139 was significantly downregulated in EOC tissues and cell lines. In addition, restoration of miR‑139 suppressed tumor cell proliferation, migration and invasion in EOC. Furthermore, hepatoma‑derived growth factor (HDGF) was identified as a target of miR‑139 in EOC. Upregulation of HDGF could rescue the inhibitory effects exerted by miR‑139 overexpression on EOC cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Collectively, the results indicated that miR‑139 was downregulated in EOC, and acted as a tumor suppressor by directly targeting HDGF. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first study to identify that miR‑139 contributes to the growth and metastasis of EOC.

Novel Mn&ndash, Ce&ndash, Ti&ndash, O composite aerogels with large mesopore size were prepared via a one-pot sol&ndash, gel method by using propylene oxide as a network gel inducer and ethyl acetoacetate as a complexing agent. The effect of calcination temperature (400, 500, 600, and 700 &deg, C) on the NH3&ndash, selective catalytic reduction (SCR) performance of the obtained Mn&ndash, O composite aerogels was investigated. The results show that the Mn&ndash, O catalyst calcined at 600 &deg, C exhibits the highest NH3&ndash, SCR activity and lowest apparent activation energy due to its most abundant Lewis acid sites and best reducibility. The NO conversion of the MCTO-600 catalyst maintains 100% at 200 &deg, C in the presence of 100 ppm SO2, showing the superior resistance to SO2 poisoning as compared with the MnOx&ndash, CeO2&ndash, TiO2 catalysts reported the literature. This should be mainly attributed to its large mesopore sizes with an average pore size of 32 nm and abundant Lewis acid sites. The former fact facilitates the decomposition of NH4HSO4, and the latter fact reduces vapor pressure of NH3. The NH3&ndash, SCR process on the MCTO-600 catalyst follows both the Eley&ndash, Rideal (E&ndash, R) mechanism and the Langmuir&ndash, Hinshelwood (L&ndash, H) mechanism.

Novel Mn–Ce–Ti–O composite aerogels with large mesopore size were prepared via a one-pot sol–gel method by using propylene oxide as a network gel inducer and ethyl acetoacetate as a complexing agent. The effect of calcination temperature (400, 500, 600, and 700 °C) on the NH3–selective catalytic reduction (SCR) performance of the obtained Mn–Ce–Ti–O composite aerogels was investigated. The results show that the Mn–Ce–Ti–O catalyst calcined at 600 °C exhibits the highest NH3–SCR activity and lowest apparent activation energy due to its most abundant Lewis acid sites and best reducibility. The NO conversion of the MCTO-600 catalyst maintains 100% at 200 °C in the presence of 100 ppm SO2, showing the superior resistance to SO2 poisoning as compared with the MnOx–CeO2–TiO2 catalysts reported the literature. This should be mainly attributed to its large mesopore sizes with an average pore size of 32 nm and abundant Lewis acid sites. The former fact facilitates the decomposition of NH4HSO4, and the latter fact reduces vapor pressure of NH3. The NH3–SCR process on the MCTO-600 catalyst follows both the Eley–Rideal (E–R) mechanism and the Langmuir–Hinshelwood (L–H) mechanism.

A series of H3PW12O40 (HPW)-modified Fe2O3 catalysts for the selective catalytic reduction of NOx by NH3 (NH3-SCR) were synthesized via impregnation of HPW on Fe2O3 micro-flowers followed calcination. The optimum HPW/Fe2O3-350-0.5 catalyst exhibits nearly 100% of NO conversion at 240–460 °C as well as excellent SO2 resistance. The number of Bronsted acid sites and Lewis acid sites increases significantly after HPW modification, which promotes the adsorption of NH3. Moreover, the incorporation of HPW decreases the oxidation ability of Fe2O3 catalysts, which effectively inhibits the overoxidization of NH3, resulting in excellent catalytic activity and N2 selectivity. In-situ DRIFTS results indicate that the NH3-SCR reaction on HPW/Fe2O3-350-0.5 catalyst mainly follows Eley–Rideal (E-R) mechanism, in addition, the adsorption and oxidization of SO2 on the surface of HPW/Fe2O3-350-0.5 catalyst are suppressed due to high surface acidity and the decrease of oxidation ability, leading to the enhancement of SO2 tolerance of HPW-modified Fe2O3 catalysts.

To cope the challenges of poor conductivity and volume change for iron oxide, sandwich-like reduced graphene oxide/Fe2O3/N-doped carbon nanosheets are well designed and constructed via a two-step process through the combination of graphene-oriented hydrothermal method and the sol–gel coating technology. Nanometer Fe2O3 with a size of 10 nm is anchored within the sandwich structure composed of graphene nanosheet and a thin nitrogen doping carbon layer. Such unique structure can not only reduce the length of pathway for lithium ion diffusion and electron transport but also greatly alleviate the volume expansion as well as offer more surface active sites for electrochemical process, leading to a superior cycle stability and a high rate capability. The obtained nanosheet delivers an outstanding lithium storage capacity of 1116.7 mA h g−1 after 100 cycles at current density of 500 mA g−1 and an excellent rate capability of 547.4 mA h g−1 at high current density of 4 A g−1. Furthermore, full cell is fabricated using the nanosheet as anode and commercial LiFePO4 as cathode, which exhibits stable cycling performance, indicating good applicability of the anode. This work proposes a novel strategy to synthesize composites which could be further applied to the development of transition metal oxides and carbon composites as anode for lithium ion batteries.

NOx emission from combustion chambers of coke ovens is receiving renewed attention in recent years in China. Combustion process optimization and post combustion treatments are used to reduce NOx emission. In this paper, the effects of size and location of recirculation windows in the heating flues of combustion chambers in a coke oven from Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. on emissions of NO and unburnt fuels were investigated by CFD numerical simulation, targeting for redesign of recirculation windows. Results indicate that with increasing the window size, the amount of recycled flue gases increases, maximum flame temperature decreases and temperature uniformity is improved, leading to a reduction of NO emission. The emission of unburnt fuels increases with the window size at higher heat flux, but this is less obvious at lower heat flux. With moving the windows towards inlets of fuels and air, the average temperatures increase slightly, maximum flame temperature and temperature uniformity keep unchanged, the emission of unburnt fuels decreases apparently, the NO emission increases slightly at lower heat flux, but keeps unchanged at higher heat flux. The unburnt fuel emission is dominated by the average temperature while NO emission by both the average temperature and temperature uniformity. The effect of the window size on NO emission is more apparent than that of the location of the windows while the latter is more obvious than the former to reduce the unburnt fuel emission.

In this work, free-standing graphene oxide (GO) films obtained by vacuum filtration were reduced in HI acid or annealed in a confined space to form self-standing reduced graphene oxide (RGO) films. The effects of reduction methods on the reduction degree, microstructure and thermal conductivity of the RGO films were investigated. The RGO films obtained by thermal annealing have higher reduction degree than those treated with HI acid (55%) or treated with the combination of HI acid and 600 °C annealing. The X-ray pole figure measurements show that the orientation degree of GO films after reduction is degraded, and the HI acid reduction results in the worst oriented structure. The in-plane thermal conductivities of the RGO films obtained by thermal reduction are higher than those of films reduced by other methods due to their higher reduction degree and the resulting unfolded structure. However, the differences in the thermal conductivity of the RGO films obtained by thermal annealing at different temperatures are minor, even their reduction degree is enhanced with the increasing of annealing temperature, which is probably due to the generated interspaces between the graphene layers during reduction that greatly limit thermal transport.

The deoxygenation efficiency of graphene oxide (GO) under solid-state microwave irradiation was improved via chemical pre-reduction using different reductants (Vitamin C, hydrazine hydrate and sodium borohydride). The reduced graphene oxide (RGO) samples obtained by reduction of GO via Vitamin C were denoted as VRGO-x (x = 0.33, 1.5 and 5), where x indicates the mass ratio of VC to GO (RVC/GO). And the products fabricated via reduction of GO by hydrazine hydrate and sodium borohydride are recorded as HRGO and SRGO, respectively. It is found that deoxygenation efficiency of RGO samples at the similar initial oxygen concentrations via further microwave irradiation is different. For instance, the oxygen concentration of VRGO-0.33 and SRGO decreases to 10.75% and 19.19%, and the oxygen concentration of VRGO-5 and HRGO decreases to 10.66% and 13.78%, respectively. The real part of complex permittivity (e′) of GO increases from 2.25 to 2.4–2.5 and 2.7–2.8 for VRGO-0.33 and SRGO, VRGO-5 and HRGO, demonstrating the absorption ability of VRGO-0.33 and SRGO, VRGO-5 and HRGO is very close, respectively. Compared with SRGO, the deoxygenation efficiency is higher for VRGO-0.33 that with higher content of carbonyls. This can be explained by that the lower energy is required to remove carbonyls relative to that for the other functional groups. Moreover, because HRGO contains high content of stable oxygen functional groups and some amount of nitrogen-containing groups, which are relatively stable at high temperature, especially for pyrrolic N and graphitic N, the reduction efficiency of HRGO is lower than that of VRGO-5.

Four activated carbons (ACs) activated by different activation methods from different precursors were heat-treated at 600℃ to decrease surface oxygen functional groups and to separate the effect of pore texture from surface chemistry on their sulfur adsorption performance. The ACs and the heat-treated ones were used as adsorbents for thiophene (T), dibenzothiophene (DBT), and 4,6-dimethyl dibenzothiophene (4,6-DMDBT) for model fuels with or without a competing benzene. The correlations of surface functional groups and pore textures to their adsorption capacities for T, DBT and 4,6-DMDBT were investigated. Results indicated that the heat treatment not only decreased surface oxygen content, but also caused a pore texture modification. The adsorption isotherms can be well fitted by the Langmuir–Freundlich single solute isotherm. The sulfur adsorption capacity of ACs after the treatment for T, DBT, and 4,6-DMDBT has a good linear relationship with the pore volume of pores within 0.536–1.090, 0.536–1.179, and 0.679–1.268 nm, respectively. The decreased percentage of surface oxygen of ACs by the heat treatment is correlated linearly with the decreased percentage of the sulfur adsorption capacity for all the thiophenic compounds. Micropore filling via the π–π interaction is the dominant adsorption mechanism of thiophenic compounds for both the untreated and heat-treated ACs. Surface oxides contribute to the thiophenic adsorption by a cooperative interaction of the π–π interaction and the acid–base interaction between the basic sulfur atom and the acidic carbon atoms linked with oxygen in graphene edges. A flat adsorption is the most possible geometry in the adsorption of thiophenic compounds.

Cage-like LiFePO 4 microspheres are synthesized by a solvothermal reaction–calcination process, using Fe(NO 3 ) 3 ·9H 2 O as iron source and ethylene glycol/water as co-solvent medium. The microsphere is the assembly of LiFePO 4 nanoparticles with an open porous structure, thus the carbon coating can be easily introduced on the surface of the nanoparticles by the chemical vapor deposition of C 2 H 4 during calcination process. When used as the cathode materials for the lithium-ion batteries, the resultant cage-like LiFePO 4 /C microsphere shows high capacity and good cycle stability (160 mAh g −1 at 0.1 C over 300 cycles), as well as good rate capability (120 mAh g −1 at 10 C). The desirable electrochemical performance can be attributed to high rate of ionic/electronic conduction and the high structural stability arising from the interconnected open pores, carbon-coated nanoparticles and microsized structure.

A flower-like Fe3O4/carbon nanocomposite with nano/micro hierarchical structure is prepared by controlled thermal decomposition of the iron alkoxide precursor, which is obtained via an ethylene glycol-mediated solvothermal reaction of FeCl3 and hexamethylenetetramine (HMT) in the absence of any surfactant. The nanocomposite is characterized by the assembly of porous nanoflakes consisting of Fe3O4 nanoparticles and amorphous carbon that is in situ generated from the organic components of alkoxide precursor. When used as the anode materials for the lithium-ion batteries, the resultant nanocomposite shows high capacity and good cycle stability (1030 m Ah g−1 at a current density of 0.2 C up to 150 cycles), as well as enhanced rate capability. The excellent electrochemical performance can be attributed to the high structural stability and high rate of ionic/electronic conduction arising from the synergetic effect of the unique nano/micro hierarchical structure and conductive carbon coating.