Search

Development of efficient lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery requires the need to develop an appropriate functional separator that allows strong facilitation and transport of lithium ions together with limited passage of polysulfides. In this work, a multifunctional separator (TB-BAA/SWCNT/PP) is developed through spin coating of a novel zwitterionic microporous polymer (TB-BAA) on the gutter layer constructed from single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT), where commercially available polypropylene (PP) separator is used to act as the mechanical support. SWCNT in this study serves as the first modification layer to decrease the size of the macropores in the PP separator, while the ultrathin TB-BAA top barrier layer with the presence of zwitterionic side chains allows the creation of confined ionic channels with both lithiophilic and sulfophilic groups. Due to the presence of available chemical interactions with lithium polysulfides, selective ion transport can be foreseen through such separator. In this regard, shuttle effect that is frequently encountered in Li-S battery can be suppressed effectively via implementing the as-obtained functional separator, resulting in the creation of credible and stable sulfur electrochemistry. The TB-BAA/SWCNT/PP-based Li-S battery has been investigated to possess high cycling ability (capacity fading per cycle of 0.055% over 500 cycles at 1 C) together with decent rate capability (736.6 mAh g

The shuttle effect and slow redox kinetics of sulfur cathode are the most significant technical challenges to the practical application of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery. Herein, a novel zwitterionic covalent organic framework (ZW-COF) wrapped onto carbon nanotubes (CNTs), labeled as ZW-COF@CNT, is developed by a reversible condensation reaction of 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxaldehyde (BTA) and 3,8-diamino-6-phenylphenanthridine (DPPD) with CNTs as a template and a subsequently-one-step post-synthetic grafting reaction with 1,3-propanesultone. The experimental results showed that, after loading active material sulfur, zwitterionic ZW-COF@CNT can effectively suppress the shuttle effect of the soluble lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) in Li-S batteries, and exhibits better cycling behavior than the as-developed neutral COF@CNT. Specifically, the as-obtained ZW-COF@CNT based sulfur cathode can maintain a discharge capacity of 944 mAh/g after 100 cycles, while that of COF@CNT based sulfur cathode drops to (665 mAh/g) after 100 cycles. Moreover, the ZW-COF@CNT based sulfur cathode delivers an attractive prolonged cycling behavior with a low capacity decay rate of 0.046 % per cycle at 1 C. This work sheds new light on rational selection and design of functionalized COFs based sulfur cathode in the Li-S battery.

Black patients suffer higher rates of antibody-mediated rejection and have worse long-term graft survival after heart transplantation. Donor-derived cell free DNA (ddcfDNA) is released into the blood following allograft injury. This study analyzed %ddcfDNA in 63 heart transplant recipients categorized by Black and non-Black race, during the first 200 days after transplant. Immediately after transplant, %ddcfDNA was higher for Black patients (mean [SE]: 8.3% [1.3%] vs 3.2% [1.2%], p = 0.001). In the first week post-transplant, the rate of decay in %ddcfDNA was similar (0.7% [0.68] vs 0.7% [0.11], p = 0.78), and values declined in both groups to a comparable plateau at 7 days post-transplant (0.46% [0.03] vs 0.45% [0.04], p = 0.78). The proportion of Black patients experiencing AMR was higher than non-Black patients (21% vs 9% [hazard ratio of 2.61 [95% confidence interval: 0.651-10.43], p = 0.18). Black patients were more likely to receive a race mismatched organ than non-Black patients (69% vs 35%, p = 0.01), which may explain the higher levels of early allograft injury.

Biofilter systems coupling with microbial electrochemical technology can enhance the removal performance of pollutants. In this study, two types of coke (PK-A and PK-LSN) were used as electroconductive substrates in biofilter systems with silicone tubings. The results showed that the silicone tubings were beneficial for removing NH4+-N. The PK-A systems reached removal efficiencies up to 83.5–85.3% for NH4+-N without aeration. Compared to gravel systems, significantly higher removal efficiencies of NO3−-N (84.8–95.4%) were obtained in coke systems, and better removal of PO43--P (91.9–95.7%) was also simultaneously achieved in PK-A systems. Redundancy analysis (RDA) indicated that the better performances of coke systems rely on the functions of both electroactive (Trichococcus and Sulfurovum) and non-electroactive bacteria (Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1, Propionicicella, and Acinetobacter). These findings highlight the important contribution of silicone tubings to oxygen supply and provide useful guidance for the application of coke in composite matrix systems.

Developing heterogeneous catalysts with identifiable catalytic sites provides opportunities to explore their structure–activity relationship. Covalent organic framework (COF) represents an emerging class of porous materials that have exhibited great potential in various applications. Herein, a single-site heterogeneous photocatalyst consisting of 2D COF ultrathin nanobelts coordinated with single Cu–O/N sites (defined as Cu–COF) is synthesized and investigated for visible-light-driven CO2 reduction. The relatively weak N and O binding sites from the imine and methoxy groups of the organic linkers result in active Cu–O/N sites for charge transfer and CO2 reduction. The resultant Cu–COF with 0.2 wt% Cu only serves as a bifunctional photocatalyst for visible-light-driven CO2 reduction in the absence of a photosensitizer with triethanolamine as the sacrificial reagent. A high CO selectivity of 94% is obtained. This study further demonstrates the great potential of COFs in heterogeneous catalysis with the abundant choices of functional groups in the organic linkers.

How ancestry-associated genetic variance affects disparities in the risk for polygenic diseases and influences the identification of disease-associated genes warrant a deeper understanding. We hypothesized that the discovery of genes associated with polygenic diseases may be limited by overreliance on single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based genomic investigation, since most significant variants identified in genome-wide SNP association studies map to introns and intergenic regions of the genome. To overcome such potential limitation, we developed a gene-constrained and function-based analytical method centered on high-risk variants (hrV) that encode frameshifts, stopgains, or splice site disruption. We analyzed the total number of hrV per gene in populations of different ancestry, representing a total of 185 934 subjects. Using this analysis, we developed a quantitative index of hrV (hrVI) across 20 428 genes within each population. We then applied hrVI analysis to the discovery of genes associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), a polygenic disease with ancestry-related disparity. HrVI profiling and gene-to-gene comparisons of ancestry-specific hrV between the case (20 781 subjects) and control (24 440 subjects) populations in the T2DM national repository identified 57 genes associated with T2DM, 40 of which were discoverable only by ancestry-specific analysis. These results illustrate how function-based and ancestry-specific analysis of genetic variations can accelerate the identification of genes associated with polygenic diseases. Besides T2DM, such analysis may facilitate our understanding of the genetic basis for other polygenic diseases that are also greatly influenced by environmental and behavioral factors, such as obesity, hypertension, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Capturing CO2 from large stationary sources, such as coal-burning power plants, has been proposed to limit the rise of average global temperature. Currently, however, it is not economically feasibl...

Radiation therapy plays a vital role in the treatment of tumours. In particular, the occurrence of the "abscopal effect" brings about a favourable turn for the treatment of patients with advanced metastatic malignant tumours. Because of the abscopal effect, non-irradiated areas are also treated. However, the abscopal effect occurs by chance, not through seeking. Although the abscopal effect has been studied enthusiastically, the desired result does not appear to be achieved. Moreover, its combination with immunotherapy appears to be overwhelming. There is an opinion that abscopal effect is difficult to achieve by irradiation of a single tumour, and irradiation of multiple or total lesions is advocated to increase the possibility of obtaining clinically meaningful outcomes. Obviously, there are still questions about the mechanism, condition and possibility underlying the occurrence of the abscopal effect. Can the abscopal effect truly change the future treatment strategy as the researchers expect? What are the current problems? This article reviewed the research in recent years to explore the progress and controversy surrounding the abscopal effect of radiation therapy.

Post-combustion CO2 capture from large point sources has been proposed as a promising technology to prevent growth of the level of atmospheric CO2 and thus restrict the progress of global warming. However, CO2 capture technology is economically unfeasible at present due to the high cost and large energy penalty. Therefore, the development of cost-effective CO2 capture technologies has attracted keen interest. Herein, we develop a series of amine-functionalized adsorbents via one-step amine grafting of cost-effective porous polymers containing unreacted chloromethyl groups, which are prepared from five di- or trichloromethyl monomers via Friedel–Crafts alkylation. Among the adsorbents prepared, PTP-DETA possesses the highest CO2 uptake capacity and CO2/N2 selectivity owing to the highest amine loading. In contrast, the highly porous adsorbent PBP-DETA presents the fastest adsorption kinetics but poorest CO2 capture performance. Nevertheless, subsequent breakthrough experiments revealed that all amine-functionalized adsorbents retain attractive CO2 adsorption properties under dynamic flow conditions even in the presence of moisture.

With the rapid advances in wearable electronics and photonics, self-sustainable wearable systems are desired to increase service life and reduce maintenance frequency. Triboelectric technology stands out as a promising versatile technology due to its flexibility, self-sustainability, broad material availability, low cost, and good scalability. Various triboelectric-human-machine interfaces (THMIs) have been developed including interactive gloves, eye blinking/body motion-triggered interfaces, voice/breath monitors, and self-induced wireless interfaces. Nonetheless, THMIs conventionally use electrical readout and produce pulse-like signals due to the transient charge flows, leading to unstable and lossy transfer of interaction information. To address this issue, we propose a strategy by equipping THMIs with robust nanophotonic aluminum nitride (AlN) modulators for readout. The electrically capacitive nature of AlN modulators enables THMIs to work in the open-circuit condition with negligible charge flows. Meanwhile, the interaction information is transduced from THMIs' voltage to AlN modulators' optical output via the electro-optic Pockels effect. Thanks to the negligible charge flow and the high-speed optical information carrier, stable, information-lossless, and real-time THMIs are achieved. Leveraging the design flexibility of THMIs and nanophotonic readout circuits, various linear sensitivities independent of force speeds are achieved in different interaction force ranges. Toward practical applications, we develop a smart glove to realize continuous real-time robotics control and virtual/augmented reality interaction. Our work demonstrates a generic approach for developing self-sustainable HMIs with stable, information-lossless, and real-time features for wearable systems.