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The safety concerns surrounding lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have garnered increasing attention due to their potential to endanger lives and incur significant financial losses. However, the origins of battery failures are diverse, presenting significant challenges in developing safety measures to mitigate accidental catastrophes. In this study, the aging mechanism of LiNi 0.5 Co 0.2 Mn 0.3 O 2 ||graphite-based cylindrical 18,650 LIBs stored at room temperature for two years was investigated. It was found that an uneven distribution of electrolytes can be caused by gravity, leading to temperature variations within the battery. Specifically, it was observed that the temperature at the top of the battery was approximately -0.89 °C higher than at the bottom, correlating with an increase in partial internal resistance. Additionally, upon disassembly and analysis of spent batteries, the most significant damage to electrode materials at the top of the battery was observed. These findings suggest that gravity-induced electrolyte insufficiency exacerbates side reactions, particularly at the top of the battery. This study offers a unique perspective on the safety concerns associated with high-energy-density batteries in long-term and large-scale applications.

Porous carbons with concurrently high specific surface area and electronic conductivity are desirable by virtue of their desirable electron and ion transport ability, but conventional preparing methods suffer from either low yield or inferior quality carbons. Here we developed a lithiothermal approach to bottom-up synthesize highly meso-microporous graphitized carbon (MGC). The preparation can be finished in a few milliseconds by the self-propagating reaction between polytetrafluoroethylene powder and molten lithium (Li) metal, during which instant ultra-high temperature (>3000 K) was produced. This instantaneous carbon vaporization and condensation at ultra-high temperatures and in ultra-short duration enable the MGC to show a highly graphitized and continuously cross-coupled open pore structure. MGC displays superior electrochemical capacitor performance of exceptional power capability and ultralong-term cyclability. The processes used to make this carbon are readily scalable to industrial levels., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Due to their small interlayer spacing and a low lithiation potential close to Li + deposition, current graphite anodes suffer from weak kinetics, and lithium deposition in a fast-charging process, hindering their practical application in high-power lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). In this work, expanded graphite incorporated with Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 nanoparticles (EG/LTO) was synthesized via moderate oxidization of artificial graphite following a solution coating process. The EG/LTO has sufficient porosity for fast Li + diffusion and a dense Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 layer for decreased interface reaction resistance, resulting in excellent fast-charging properties. EG/LTO presented a high reversible capacity of 272.8 mA h g -1 at 3.74 A g -1 (10C), much higher than that of the original commercial graphite (50.1 mA h g -1 at 10C) and even superior to that of hard carbon. In addition, EG/LTO exhibited capacity retention rate of 98.4% after 500 cycles at 10C, demonstrating high structural stability during a long cycling process. This study provides a protocol for a solution chemistry method to prepare fast-charging graphite anode materials with high stability for high-power LIBs., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

A lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery is a promising candidate for an electrochemical energy-storage system. However, for a long time, it suffered from the "shuttle effect" of the intermediate products of soluble polysulfides and safety issues concerning the combustible liquid electrolyte and lithium anode. In this work, sulfide polyacrylonitrile (SPAN) is employed as a solid cycled cathode to resolve the "shuttle effect" fundamentally, a gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) based on poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) is matched to the SPAN cathode to minimize the safety concerns, and finally, a quasi-solid-state Li-SPAN battery is combined by an in situ thermal polymerization strategy to improve its adaptability to the existing battery assembly processes. The PEGDA-based GPE achieved at 60 °C for 40 min ensures little damage to the in situ battery, a good electrode-electrolyte interface, a high ionic conductivity of 6.87 × 10 -3 S cm -1 at 30 °C, and a wide electrochemical window of 4.53 V. Ultimately, the as-prepared SPAN composite exerts a specific capacity of 1217.3 mAh g -1 after 250 cycles at 0.2 C with a high capacity retention rate of 89.9%. The combination of the SPAN cathode and in situ thermally polymerized PEGDA-based GPE provides a new inspiration for the design of Li-SPAN batteries with both high specific energy and high safety.

Inspired by the immune system's own strategy for macrophage activation, we describe here a simple self-assembly strategy for generating artificial immune complexes. The built-in recognition domains in the antibody, viz. the Fab and Fc domains, are judiciously leveraged for cargo conjugation to generate the nanoassembly and macrophage targeting, respectively. A responsive linker is engineered into the nanoassembly for releasing the protein cargo inside the macrophages, while ensuring stability during delivery. The design principles are simple and versatile to be applicable to a range of biologics, from small protein toxins to large enzymes, with high loading capacity. This self-assembly platform has the potential for delivering biologics to immune cells with implications in immunotherapy.

Background: With the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria, the development of new antibiotics is urgently required. Target-based drug discovery is the most frequently employed approach for the drug development process. However, traditional drug target identification techniques are costly and time-consuming. As research continues, innovative approaches for antibacterial target identification have been developed which enabled us to discover drug targets more easily and quickly., Methods: In this review, methods for finding drug targets from omics databases have been discussed in detail including principles, procedures, advantages, and potential limitations. The role of phage-driven and bacterial cytological profiling approaches is also discussed. Moreover, current article demonstrates the advancements being made in the establishment of computational tools, machine learning algorithms, and databases for antibacterial target identification., Results: Bacterial drug targets successfully identified by employing these aforementioned techniques are described as well., Conclusion: The goal of this review is to attract the interest of synthetic chemists, biologists, and computational researchers to discuss and improve these methods for easier and quicker development of new drugs., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Li and Zn metal batteries using organic and aqueous electrolytes, respectively, are desirable next-generation energy storage systems to replace the traditional Li-ion batteries. However, their cycle life and safety performance are severely constrained by a series of issues that are attributed to dendrite growth. To solve these issues, a nanothick ZnO-oleic acid (ZnO-OA) composite protective layer is developed by a facile ionic layer epitaxy method. The ZnO-OA layer provides strong lithophilic and zincophilic properties, which can effectively induce uniform ion deposition. As a result, the ZnO-OA protected Li and Zn metal anodes can cycle stably for over 600 and 1000 h under a large current density of 10 mA cm -2 . Employing the ZnO-OA protected anodes, the Li||LiFePO 4 cell can maintain a capacity retention of 99.5% after 600 cycles at a 1 C rate and the Zn||MnO 2 cell can operate stably for 1000 cycles at 1 A g -1 current density.

Antimicrobial peptides are promising alternatives to conventional antibiotics. Herein, we report a class of "tadpole-like" peptides consisting of an amphipathic α-helical head and an aromatic tail. A structure-activity relationship (SAR) study of "tadpole-like" temporin-SHf and its analogs revealed that increasing the number of aromatic residues in the tail, introducing Arg to the α-helical head and rearranging the peptide topology dramatically increased antimicrobial activity. Through progressive structural optimization, we obtained two peptides, HT2 and RI-HT2, which exhibited potent antimicrobial activity, no hemolytic activity and cytotoxicity, and no propensity to induce resistance. NMR and molecular dynamics simulations revealed that both peptides indeed adopted "tadpole-like" conformations. Fluorescence experiments and electron microscopy confirmed the membrane targeting mechanisms of the peptides. Our studies not only lead to the discovery of a series of ultrashort peptides with potent broad-spectrum antimicrobial activities, but also provide a new strategy for rational design of novel "tadpole-like" antimicrobial peptides., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Ni-rich layered oxide materials exhibit great prospects for practical applications in lithium-ion batteries due to their high specific capacity. However, the poor cycling performance and suboptimal rate performance have caused obstacles for their widespread application. Herein, we developed a gradient Zr element doping method based on the bulk gradient concentration of Ni-rich layered oxide material to reinforce the cycle stability and rate performance of the cathode. In particular, the orientations of the gradient Zr doping were achieved via coprecipitation in a positive or negative correlation between the concentrations of Zr and Ni, and it was revealed that the material behaves better when the Zr content is abundant in the core. The gradient doping of Zr decreases the content of Ni 2+ and mitigates the mixing degree of Li + and Ni 2+ , implying the superior performance of doped cathode material. Compared with the bare sample (70.7%, 121.4 mAh g -1 ), the Zr-doped sample delivered a higher capacity retention of 85.6% after 300 cycles at 1C (1C = 180 mA g -1 ) and exhibited a considerable rate performance of 122.5 mAh g -1 at 20C. In particular, the Zr-doped cathodes performed dramatically on high rate cycling at 10C, with an initial capacity of 143.6 and 103.9 mAh g -1 after 300 cycles. Furthermore, the Zr-doped cathode delivered significant stability at a high potential of 4.5 V with a capacity retention of 72.1% after 300 cycles, while that of the bare sample was only 37.4%. The concept of gradient doping strategies during coprecipitation offers new insight into the design of advanced cathodes with excellent cycling stability and rate capability.

Optimization of metabolic regulation is a promising solution for many pathologies, including obesity, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes, and inflammatory liver disease. Synthetic thyroid hormone mimics-based regulation of metabolic balance in the liver showed promise but was hampered by the low biocompatibility and harmful effects on the extrahepatic axis. In this work, we show that specifically directing the thyromimetic to the liver utilizing a nanogel-based carrier substantially increased therapeutic efficacy in a diet-induced obesity mouse model, evidenced by the near-complete reversal of body weight gain, liver weight and inflammation, and cholesterol levels with no alteration in the thyroxine (T4) / thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) axis. Mechanistically, the drug acts by binding to thyroid hormone receptor β (TRβ), a ligand-inducible transcription factor that interacts with thyroid hormone response elements and modulates target gene expression. The reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) pathway is specifically implicated in the observed therapeutic effect. Overall, the study demonstrates a unique approach to restoring metabolic regulation impacting obesity and related metabolic dysfunctions., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of National Academy of Sciences.)

Defective two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides can be effective electrocatalysts for Li-S batteries, but the relationship between defect types and battery performance is unclear. In this work, we designed S vacancy-type S V -VS 2 and V self-intercalated-type V I -VS 2 and measured their catalytic activities in Li-S batteries. Compared with self-intercalating V atoms, S vacancies accelerated Li + diffusion and S V -VS 2 as a Li + "reservoir" promoted the sulfur conversion kinetics significantly. In addition, the presence of sulfur vacancies promoted the lithiation behavior of S V -VS 2 during discharge, leading to an enhancement of the catalytic ability of S V -VS 2 . However, this lithiation phenomenon weakened the catalytic activity of V I -VS 2 . Overall, S V -VS 2 had better adsorption and catalytic activity. Li-S batteries with S V -VS 2 -coated separators delivered high rate performance and excellent cycling stability, with a capacity decay rate of 0.043% over 880 cycles at 1.0 C. This work provides an effective strategy for designing efficient Li-S battery electrocatalysts using defect engineering.

Transition metal phthalocyanines are potential soluble redox mediators for Li-O 2 batteries. In this work, effective strategies to control the redox potentials and activities of iron phthalocyanine (FePc) based redox mediators are designed by the introduction of electron-withdrawing or electron-donating groups. Substituted electron-donating groups can shift the oxidation potential of FePc to a higher energy level, consequently reducing the charging voltage of Li-O 2 batteries. Especially, oxygen radical anion (-O - ) modified FePc (FePc-O - ) shows the most significant improvement to the oxygen reduction and evolution reactions of Li-O 2 batteries. Electronic analysis indicates that -O - substitution can break the symmetry of electronic structures of FePc which further tunes the reduction of O 2 and the oxidation of Li 2 O 2 . Detailed reaction mechanisms of (FePc-O - )-mediated Li-O 2 batteries are proposed based on first-principles molecular dynamics simulations and thermodynamic free energy calculations.

The dendrite growth and side reactions of zinc metal anode in mildly acidic electrolytes seriously hinder the practical application of aqueous zinc-ion battery. To address these issues, an artificial protective layer of nitrogen-doped MXene (NMX) is used to protect the zinc anode. The NMX protective layer has high conductivity and uniformly distributed zincophilic sites, which can not only homogenize the local electric field on the electrode interface but also accelerate the kinetics for Zn deposition. As a result, the NMX protective layer induces uniform zinc deposition and reduces the overpotential of the electrode. Encouragingly, this NMX-protected Zn anode can cycle stably for 1900 h at 1 mA cm -2 and 1 mAh cm -2 . In asymmetric cells, it achieves high cycle reversibility with an average Coulomb efficiency of 99.79% for 4800 cycles at 5 mA cm -2 ., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

The practical applications of aqueous zinc ion batteries are hindered by the formation of dendrites on the anode, the narrow electrochemical window of electrolyte, and the instability of the cathode. To address all these challenges simultaneously, a multi-functional electrolyte additive of 1-phenylethylamine hydrochloride (PEA) is developed for aqueous zinc ion batteries based on polyaniline (PANI) cathode. Experiments and theoretical calculations confirm that the PEA additive can regulate the solvation sheath of Zn 2+ and form a protective layer on the surface of the Zn metal anode. This broadens the electrochemical stability window of the aqueous electrolyte and enables uniform deposition of Zn. On the cathode side, the Cl - anions from PEA enter the PANI chain during charge and release fewer water molecules surrounding the oxidized PANI, thus suppressing harmful side reactions. When used in a Zn||PANI battery, this cathode/anode compatible electrolyte exhibits excellent rate performance and long cycle life, making it highly attractive for practical applications., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Targeted delivery of therapeutics using antibody-nanogel conjugates (ANCs) with a high drug-to-antibody ratio has the potential to overcome some of the inherent limitations of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). ANC platforms with simple preparation methods and precise tunability to evaluate structure-activity relationships will greatly contribute to translating this promise into clinical reality. In this work, using trastuzumab as a model antibody, we demonstrate a block copolymer-based ANC platform that allows highly efficient antibody conjugation and formulation. In addition to showcasing the advantages of using an inverse electron-demand Diels-Alder (iEDDA)-based antibody conjugation, we evaluate the influence of antibody surface density and conjugation site on the nanogels upon the targeting capability of ANCs. We show that compared to traditional strain-promoted alkyne-azide cycloadditions, the preparation of ANCs using iEDDA provides significantly higher efficiency, which results in a shortened reaction time, simplified purification process, and enhanced targeting toward cancer cells. We also find that a site-specific disulfide-rebridging method in antibodies offers similar targeting abilities as the more indiscriminate lysine-based conjugation method. The more efficient bioconjugation using iEDDA allows us to optimize the avidity by fine-tuning the surface density of antibodies on the nanogel. Finally, with trastuzumab-mertansine (DM1) antibody-drug combination, our ANC demonstrates superior activities in vitro compared to the corresponding ADC, further highlighting the potential of ANCs in future clinical translation.

Intercalation-type metal oxides are promising active anode materials for the fabrication of safer rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, as they are capable of minimizing or even eliminating Li plating at low voltages. Due to the excellent cycle performance, high specific capacity and appropriate working potential, TiNb 2 O 7 (TNO) is considered to be the candidate of anode materials. Despite a lot of beneficial characteristics, the slow electrochemical kinetics of the TNO-based anodes limits their wide use. In this paper, TiNb 2 O 7 @C was prepared by using the self-polymerization coating characteristics of dopamine to enhance the rate-performance and cycling stability. The TNO@C-2 particles present ideal rate performance with the discharge capacity of 295.6 mA h g -1 at 0.1 C. Moreover, the TNO@C-2 anode materials exhibit initial discharge capacity of 177.4 mA h g -1 , providing 91% of capacity retention after 400 cycles at 10 C. The outstanding electrochemical performance can be contributed to the carbon layer, which builds fast lithium ion paths, enhancing the electrical conductivity of TNO. All these results confirm that TNO@C is a valid methodology to enhance rate-performance and cycling stability and is a new way to provide reliable and quickly rechargeable energy storage resources.

Articular cartilage is one of the most important weight-bearing components in human body, thus the chondrogenesis of stem cells is reactive to many intracellular and extracellular mechanical signals. As a unique physical cue, matrix stiffness plays an integral role in commitment of stem cell fate. However, when examining the downstream effects of matrix stiffness, most studies used different soluble factors to assist physical inducing process, which may mask the chondrogenic effects of matrix stiffness. Here we fabricated polyacrylamide (PAAm) hydrogels with gradient stiffness to unravel the role of matrix stiffness in chondrogenic process of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), with or without TGF-β3 as induction factor. The results showed that with micromass culture mimicking relatively high cell density in vivo, the chondrogenic differentiation of MSCs can be promoted by soft substrates (about 0.5 kPa) independently with assembled cytoskeleton. Further analysis indicated that addition of TGF-β3 generally increased expression level of cartilage-related markers and masked the stiffness-derived expression pattern of hypertrophic markers. These results demonstrate how mechanical cues experienced in developmental context regulate commitment of stem cell fate and have significant impact on the design of tissue regeneration materials., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Garnet Li 7 La 3 Zr 2 O 12 (LLZO) is a potential solid electrolyte for solid-state batteries (SSBs) because of its high ionic conductivity, electrochemical stability, and mechanical strength. However, large interface resistances arising from deserted cathodes and rigid garnet/electrode interfaces block its application. In order to deal with this issue, a gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) was introduced into the cathode and both sides of LLZO to achieve a solid-state battery. Especially, the provided GPE could be thermally polymerized and solidified in situ, which would integrate LLZO with both anode and cathode and dramatically simplify the battery manufacturing process. Since the interface from rigid LLZO is improved by the flexible GPE buffer, the inability of flexible GPE to inhibit lithium dendrites is compensated by the rigid LLZO in return. As a result, the interface resistances are reduced from 6880 to 473 Ω, the Li symmetric cell exhibits a flat galvanostatic charge/discharge for 400 h without lithium dendrites, and the solid-state Li|GPE@LLZO|LiCoO 2 battery exerts a capacity retention of 82.6% after 100 cycles at 0.5 C at room temperature. Such an interfacial engineering approach represents a promising strategy to address solid-solid interface issues and provides a new design for SSBs with high performance.

For high-voltage cycling of lithium-ion batteries, a gel polymer Li-ion conductor layer, P(VDF-HFP)/LiTFSI (PHL) with high electrochemical stability has been coated on the surfaces of as-formed LiCoO 2 (LCO) cathodes by a solution-casting technique at low temperature. An LCO cathode coated with around 3 μm thickness of the PHL ultrathin membrane, retains 88.4% of its original capacity (184.3 mA h g -1 ) after 200 cycles in the 3.0-4.6 V range with a standard carbonate electrolyte, while the non-coated one retains only 80.4% of its original capacity (171.5 mA h g -1 ). The reason for the better electrochemical behaviors and high-voltage cycling is related to the distinctive characteristics of the PHL coating layer that is compact, has highly-continuous surface coverage and penetrates the bulk of LCO, forming an integrated electrode. The PHL coating layer plays the role of an ion-conductive protection barrier to inhibit side reactions between the charged LCO surface and electrolyte, reduces the dissolution of cobalt ions and maintains the structural stability of LCO. Further, the PHL coated LCO cathode is well preserved, compared to the uncoated one which is severely cracked after 200 cycles at a charging cut-off voltage of 4.6 V., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Purpose: Psoriasis is a complex immunological skin disease. However, whether humoral autoimmunity is involved in the pathogenesis of psoriasis remains unclear. The aim is to determine if there are autoantibodies associated with disease activity of psoriasis., Experimental Design: A novel autoantigen array harboring 75 antigens is developed to discover autoantibodies in the serum of psoriasis patients (N = 12) compared to healthy controls (N = 12). Validation studies are performed in a larger cohort of psoriasis patients (N = 73) and healthy controls (N = 75) together with atopic dermatitis as disease controls (N = 10)., Results: The screening results demonstrate that immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4) anti-gliadin autoantibodies are significantly elevated in the serum of psoriasis patients, compared to healthy controls. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis indicates that IgG4 anti-gliadin autoantibody levels can clearly discriminate psoriasis patients from healthy controls with an AUC of 0.98 (p < 0.001). Also, IgG4 anti-gliadin autoantibody can reflect disease severity with the psoriasis area severity index score in a subpopulation of psoriasis patients., Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: These results suggest that IgG4 anti-gliadin autoantibody may be a disease marker of psoriasis, and it may be useful in clinical diagnostics and disease monitoring of psoriasis., Clinical Relevance: This work represents a relatively comprehensive screening of autoantibodies, that is, IgG4 autoantibodies in psoriasis using an in-house autoantigen array. This novel proteomic platform may be useful in clinical screening of IgG type or IgG4 subtype autoantibodies in psoriasis patients for disease monitoring or drug responses. Particularly, IgG4 anti-gliadin autoantibody, as a new potential disease marker of psoriasis, may be useful in clinical diagnostics or prognostics of related immunological disorders., (© 2019 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Objective: To estimate the levels of phthalates exposure and cumulative risk assessment among infants and their mothers in Shanghai by phthalate monoesters inurine specimens., Methods: To collect urine specimens and questionnaires from 152 pairs of infants and mothers in Shanghai and conduct a cross-sectional study. Ten phthalate monoesters were determined by ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectroscopy. To estimate the internal exposure of 6 phthalates by creatininemodel and performe cumulative risk assessment by hazard index( HI)., Results: The top five of the concentration level of phthalate monoesters in mothers' urine specimens were mono-isobutyl phthalate( Mi BP), mono-n-butyl phthalate( Mn BP), mono-ethyl phthalate( MEP), mono-methyl phthalate( MMP) and mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate( MEHP), while in infants ', they were Mi BP, Mn BP, MEP, MEHP and mono-2-ethyl-5-carboxypentyl phthalate( MECPP). The estimated daily intake( EDI) was calculated according to the concentration of urinary phthalates monoesters. And the DEHP was at the highest level both in mothers and infants, the geometric means( GMs) reached to 6. 64 and 14. 02 μg/(kg·d). While others from high to low were Di BP, Dn BP, DEP, DMP and BBP respectively. HI was used to perform cumulative risk assessment. The proportion of HI over 1 among mothers was 5. 92%, and among infants was 32. 24%., Conclusion: There are some health risks of the phthalates exposure among mothers and infants in communities in Shanghai, and the cumulative risks of infants are higher than mothers.