Search

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs) hold great promise for next-generation safe, durable and energy-dense battery technology. However, solid-state sulfur conversion reactions are kinetically sluggish and primarily constrained to the restricted three-phase boundary area of sulfur, carbon and solid electrolytes, making it challenging to achieve high sulfur utilization. Here we develop and implement mixed ionic–electronic conductors (MIECs) in sulfur cathodes to replace conventional solid electrolytes and invoke conversion reactions at sulfur–MIEC interfaces in addition to traditional three-phase boundaries. Microscopic and tomographic analyses reveal the emergence of mixed-conducting domains embedded in sulfur at sulfur–MIEC boundaries, helping promote the thorough conversion of active sulfur into Li2S. Consequently, substantially improved active sulfur ratios (up to 87.3%) and conversion degrees (>94%) are achieved in Li–S ASSBs with high discharge capacity (>1,450 mAh g–1) and long cycle life (>1,000 cycles). The strategy is also applied to enhance the active material utilization of other conversion cathodes. more...

Platooning can reduce air drag when driving at high speed and improve aerodynamic characteristics. It can not only improve fuel economy, driving comfort, and safety of drivers but also reduce emissions and alleviate traffic congestion. At the same time, the energy recovery of vehicle driving is also in line with the general trend of international environmental governance. It has played an active role in reducing emissions and improving the ecological environment. In this paper, the effects of vehicle longitudinal spacing, number of vehicles and crosswind on the aerodynamic performance of longitudinal and side-by-side platoons are reviewed, as well as energy recovery. The study found that the three-vehicle platoon reduces drag by 30% compared to the two-vehicle platoon. Comparing the aerodynamic drag of the three-vehicle platoon with that of the single vehicle, the drag coefficient of the first and last vehicles can be reduced by 20%, and the drag coefficient of the middle vehicle can be reduced by about 50%. As the crosswind speed and crosswind angle increase, the drag coefficient and pressure of each member in the platoon increase. Recycling wind energy through wind turbines and alternators can increase the driving range of electric vehicles by 23%. The study of the aerodynamic characteristics and energy recovery of platooning vehicles can provide direction and theoretical basics for the development and sustainable development of intelligent transportation. more...

Ion transport is a critical phenomenon underpinning numerous biological, physical, and chemical systems. Proton transistors leveraging proton transport face significant limitations, such as a low on–off ratio and deficient carrier mobility, which restrict their applicability in biological and other scenarios. This study explores the use of two-dimensional (2D) vacancy-residing transition metal phosphorus trichallcogenide-based membranes as the active layer for proton field-effect transistors. The synthesized Cd0.85PS3Li0.15H0.15membrane exhibits a well-organized layered structure and high hydrophilicity, with nanometer-sized interlayers containing interconnected water networks. These distinct features facilitate proton conduction, leading to a high proton conductivity value of 0.83 S cm–1at 98% relative humidity and 90 °C, with an activation energy of 0.26 eV. The Cd0.85PS3Li0.15H0.15-based proton transistor demonstrates tunability via gate voltage, thereby enabling effective modulation of proton flow across source and drain electrodes. The transistor notably showcases superior switching characteristics, with an on/off ratio surpassing 5.51 and a carrier mobility of 8.84 × 10–2cm2V–1s–1. The underlying mechanism for this performance enhancement is attributed to electric-field-induced switching in Cd vacancies. This research boosts the development of highly versatile ionotropic devices by introducing advanced 2D ion-conductive membranes. more...

This article studies the problem of distributed adaptive cooperative tracking for multiagent systems with communication constraints in complex communication environments. For this problem, a novel quantitative adaptive tracking control strategy is proposed based on adaptive backstepping technology, quantization theory, and variable transformation. First, the mechanism of communication between agents or between agents and ground stations is analyzed and quantized. And a multiagent swarm formation model with quantized inputs is established by considering a class of high-order nonlinear multiagent systems with partially unknown parameters. Moreover, the limitation of the nonholonomic constraint is removed via the variable transformation method. The adaptive backstepping method is used to design an adaptive cooperative tracking controller to update the unknown parameters of the model in real-time. Formation flight is maintained by designing time-varying reference trajectories to track the desired specified positions. Then, the rationality of the proposed method is verified in terms of Lyapunov stability. Finally, the designed control strategy is applied to a scaled-down model for an unmanned aerial vehicle formation to further verify its effectiveness in practical engineering applications. more...

Resistance spot welding (RSW) is a widely used technique in the automotive industry. The weld size is the critical parameters for evaluating the quality of RSW. In this study, an innovative non-destructive inspection method based on fiber-optic sensing was proposed. The relationship between the change of the fiber optic sensor signals during the welding process and the weld size is established. The results show that there is a strong correlation between the maximum wavelength change of the fiber optic sensing signal during the welding process and the weld size. The method shows good generalizability to different welding parameters and materials. In addition, the signal vibration difference can accurately predict the occurrence of expulsion. more...

Blast furnace ferronickel slag (BFFS) was converted to thermal insulation materials by sintering of its mixture with 15 wt% fly ash cenosphere (FAC) from 1000 °C to 1200 °C. The influence of sintering temperature on the phase compositions, microstructures, and properties of the materials was investigated based on both thermodynamic and experimental analyses. It was demonstrated that increasing sintering temperature from 1000 °C to 1200 °C led to linear increases of contents of diopside (CaMgSi2O6; y = 0.039T – 21.5, where y and T denote the content and temperature, respectively), anorthite (CaAl2Si2O8; y = 0.0504T – 46.54), and magnesium aluminate spinel (MgAl2O4; y = 0.043T – 30.86) in the thermal insulation materials. Meanwhile, there existed linear decreases of contents of akermanite (Ca2MgSi2O7; y = -0.0352T + 66.18) and gehlenite (Ca2Al2SiO7; y = -0.0914T + 129.96), which could form a solid solution above 1100 °C, suppressing the expansion associated with the generation of magnesium aluminate spinel. Along with the phase transformation, the macroporous structure was also identified. By sintering at 1100 °C for 2 h, an optimal high-quality thermal insulation material with apparent porosity of 46.04%, water absorption of 42.12%, bulk density of 1.35 g/cm3, linear shrinkage of 0.82%, compressive strength of 6.83 MPa, thermal conductivity of 0.31 W/(m·K) at 25 °C and 0.42 W/(m·K) at 800 °C, and refractoriness of 1259 °C could be obtained. more...

To meet the requirements of fuel standards, the coupling simulations of fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) and hydrotreating processes were carried out to analyze the conversion and distribution of sulfides at the molecular level to improve the cleanliness of gasoline and diesel. According to the structure-oriented lumping (SOL) method and the reaction mechanism, the transformation laws and distributions of sulfides in gasoline and diesel were studied. When the FCC reaction temperature increased, the content of dimethyl-thiophene in heavy gasoline and the content of dimethyl-dibenzothiophene in diesel increased due to the stronger promotion of high temperature to the side chain cracking reactions. As gasoline hydrotreating reaction temperature rose from 220 to 280 °C, the content of dimethyl-thiophene in heavy gasoline reduced from 4.77 to 0.98 mg/kg since higher temperature promotes the hydrodesulfurization reactions. The coupling simulation could provide effective guidance at the molecular level for reducing the content of sulfides in heavy gasoline and diesel. more...

Fms-like tyrosine receptor kinase 3 (FLT3) proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) represent a promising approach to eliminate the resistance of FLT3 inhibitors. However, due to the poor druggability of PROTACs, the development of orally bioavailable FLT3-PROTACs faces great challenges. Herein, a novel orally bioavailable FLT3-ITD degrader A20with excellent pharmacokinetic properties was discovered through reasonable design. A20selectively inhibited the proliferation of FLT3-ITD mutant acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells and potently induced FLT3-ITD degradation through the ubiquitin–proteasome system. Notably, oral administration of A20resulted in complete tumor regression on subcutaneous AML xenograft models. Furthermore, on systemic AML xenograft models, A20could completely eliminate the CD45+CD33+human leukemic cells in murine and significantly prolonged the survival time of mice. Most importantly, A20exerted significantly improved antiproliferative activity against drug-resistant AML cells compared to existing FLT3 inhibitors. These findings suggested that A20could serve as a promising drug candidate for relapsed or refractory AML. more...

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a common food contaminant that can impair male reproductive function. This study investigated the effects and mechanisms of DON exposure on progenitor Leydig cell (PLC) development in prepubertal male rats. Rats were orally administrated DON (0–4 mg/kg) from postnatal days 21–28. DON increased PLC proliferation but inhibited PLC maturation and function, including reducing testosterone levels and downregulating biomarkers like HSD11B1 and INSL3 at =2 mg/kg. DON also stimulated mitochondrial fission via upregulating DRP1 and FIS1 protein levels and increased oxidative stress by reducing antioxidant capacity (including NRF2, SOD1, SOD2, and CAT) in PLCs in vivo. In vitro, DON (2–4 µM) inhibited PLC androgen biosynthesis, increased reactive oxygen species production and protein levels of DRP1, FIS1, MFF, and pAMPK, decreased mitochondrial membrane potential and MFN1 protein levels, and caused mitochondrial fragmentation. The mitochondrial fission inhibitor mdivi-1 attenuated DON-induced impairments in PLCs. DON inhibited PLC steroidogenesis, increased oxidative stress, perturbed mitochondrial homeostasis, and impaired maturation. In conclusion, DON disrupts PLC development in prepubertal rats by stimulating mitochondrial fission. more...

Replacement of liquid electrolytes with polymer gel electrolytes is recognized as a general and effective way of solving safety problems and achieving high flexibility in wearable batteries1–6. However, the poor interface between polymer gel electrolyte and electrode, caused by insufficient wetting, produces much poorer electrochemical properties, especially during the deformation of the battery7–9. Here we report a strategy for designing channel structures in electrodes to incorporate polymer gel electrolytes and to form intimate and stable interfaces for high-performance wearable batteries. As a demonstration, multiple electrode fibres were rotated together to form aligned channels, while the surface of each electrode fibre was designed with networked channels. The monomer solution was effectively infiltrated first along the aligned channels and then into the networked channels. The monomers were then polymerized to produce a gel electrolyte and form intimate and stable interfaces with the electrodes. The resulting fibre lithium-ion battery (FLB) showed high electrochemical performances (for example, an energy density of about 128 Wh kg−1). This strategy also enabled the production of FLBs with a high rate of 3,600 m h−1per winding unit. The continuous FLBs were woven into a 50 cm × 30 cm textile to provide an output capacity of 2,975 mAh. The FLB textiles worked safely under extreme conditions, such as temperatures of −40 °C and 80 °C and a vacuum of −0.08 MPa. The FLBs show promise for applications in firefighting and space exploration. more...

Polycyclic hydrocarbons with diradical and polyradical characters usually display unique reactivities in ring-cyclization reactions. However, such reactions are rarely used to construct π-extended polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Here, we describe the synthesis of an S-shaped doubly helical singlet diradicaloid compound and its facile transformation into an unprecedented circumchrysene via a two-stage ring cyclization, which includes: (1) an eletrocylization from diradicaloid precursor and (2) a Scholl reaction. The reaction mechanism was investigated through in situspectroscopic studies, assisted by theoretical calculations. This reaction sequence yields an optically resolved π-extended [5]helicene derivative with a fluorescence quantum yield up to 85% and a circularly polarized luminescence brightness up to 6.05 M–1cm–1in the far-red to near-infrared regions. This sequence also yielded a highly delocalized circumchrysene molecule, exhibiting large electron delocalization, moderate fluorescence quantum yield, and multistage redox properties. more...

Calcium–oxygen (Ca–O2) batteries can theoretically afford high capacity by the reduction of O2to calcium oxide compounds (CaOx) at low cost1–5. Yet, a rechargeable Ca–O2battery that operates at room temperature has not been achieved because the CaOx/O2chemistry typically involves inert discharge products and few electrolytes can accommodate both a highly reductive Ca metal anode and O2. Here we report a Ca–O2battery that is rechargeable for 700 cycles at room temperature. Our battery relies on a highly reversible two-electron redox to form chemically reactive calcium peroxide (CaO2) as the discharge product. Using a durable ionic liquid-based electrolyte, this two-electron reaction is enabled by the facilitated Ca plating–stripping in the Ca metal anode at room temperature and improved CaO2/O2redox in the air cathode. We show the proposed Ca–O2battery is stable in air and can be made into flexible fibres that are weaved into textile batteries for next-generation wearable systems. more...

As a typical representative of the Internet of Energy (IoE) intelligent era, consumer electronic (CE) devices continue to evolve at a remarkable pace. Computers, as typical and essential CE devices, have been instrumental in enhancing efficiency, communication, entertainment, and information access. As part of this evolution, a significant trend in computer design focuses on achieving low power consumption while maintaining high performance. For instance, a computer’s central processing unit (CPU) dynamically modulates its output power in response to the varying workload demands of running applications. However, these power efficiency mechanisms may inadvertently introduce implicit patterns into the operational states of CE devices. Particularly, the power consumption of a CE device executing various tasks can manifest distinguishable temporal patterns, thereby exposing potential vulnerabilities. Thus, this work aims to investigate the vulnerabilities of CE devices on power consumption mechanisms. We focus on exploring the possibility of using alternating current (AC) power consumption to infer the running applications on a consumer computer. To achieve that, we construct a physical attack system that employs data acquisition, processing, classification, and inference stages to establish a “profiler” for application profiling. The extensive experiment results on the self-collected power consumption dataset (36 applications) demonstrate the effectiveness of the attacking system. more...

Traditional time-frequency domain speech enhancement methods either only enhance the amplitude spectral features without changing the phase that contributes to the naturalness, intelligibility and harmonic structure, or improve the estimation of the complex spectral features including the real and imaginary components, which limits the accuracy of amplitude and phase estimation. To address this issue, we propose a joint dual-branch structured state-space model that leverages the strengths of both branches while keeping computational complexity low. Specifically, we introduce interaction modules between the two branches to facilitate information exchange, enabling features learned from one branch to compensate for missing parts in the other. Furthermore, to reduce model complexity, we introduce the diagonal version of structured state-space sequence (S4D) model for speech feature sequence denoising in both branches. Experimental results show that our low-complexity model achieves significant improvements over previous advanced systems on VoiceBank+DEMAND and TIMIT+NOISE92 datasets. more...

With the rapid advancement of deep learning and multimedia technologies, image inpainting has made significant progress in generating desirable content for damaged images. To fill in the corrupted part of the image, existing methods either utilize intrinsic information within the visual modality for single-modal image inpainting or consider semantic correlations from non-visual modalities for cross-modal image inpainting. However, when the corrupted part is extensive, intrinsic information alone within visual modality is insufficient to inpaint the entire image. Cross-modal image inpainting methods cannot guarantee image quality, as they do not explore the relationship among the corrupted part of the image, the remaining part of the image, and the non-visual modality. In order to handle this issue, a haptic to image inpainting scheme is proposed. Specifically, feature extraction and cross-attention-based feature index are firstly constructed to find the correspondence between the corrupted part of the image and the haptic modality. Then, cycle-consistency-based feature translation is implemented to explore the intrinsic correlations among the above two modalities, facilitating the formation of the corrupted part. Finally, the formed corrupted part is combined with the remaining part to realize image inpainting. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. more...

Multi-modal services, integrating haptic modality into audio-visual applications, will further improve user's interactive and immersive experience. However, the quality of haptic signals in multi-modal services is very sensitive to transmission interference. Even in certain virtual scenarios, it is necessary to generate “virtual” haptic signals. Although several cross-modal reconstruction schemes are used to guarantee the quality of haptic signals, the weakly-supervised and weakly-paired issues still exist. To resolve this problem, a fine-grained audio-visual aided haptic signal reconstruction (FGHR) is proposed. Firstly, feature extraction with subcategory label exploration is designed by using the cross-modal transfer-based deep clustering network (CT-DCN). Then, the fusion features with shared semantic learning is performed under the triplet constraint. Finally, haptic signal reconstruction is realized by imposing the fine-grained semantic constraints. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. more...

The eyes have a complicated microenvironment with many clearance mechanisms, making it challenging for effective drug delivery to the targeted areas of the eyes. Substrate transport mediated by active transporters is an important way to change drug metabolism in the ocular microenvironment. We designed multifunctional, dual-adaptive nanomicelles (GSCQ@NTB) which could overcome multiple physiological barriers by acting on both the efflux transporter and influx transporter to achieve deep delivery of the P-gp substrate in the cornea. Specifically, an effective “triple” antiangiogenic agent, nintedanib (NTB), was loaded into the biocompatible micelles. The expression of the efflux transporter was reversed by grafting quercetin. The peptide (glycylsarcosine, GS) was modified to target the influx transporter “Peptide Transporter-1” (PepT-1). Quercetin (QRT) and nintedanib (NTB) were transported to the cornea cooperatively, achieving long retention on the ocular surface and high compatibility. In a New Zealand rabbit model, within 8 hours after local administration, GSCQ@NTB was enriched in corneal stromal neovascularization and effectively inhibited the progress of neovascularization. Its effectiveness is slightly better than that in the first-line clinical application of steroids. In this study, we introduce the preparation of a dual adaptive nano-micelle system, which may provide an effective non-invasive treatment for corneal neovascularization. more...

Compared with binary systems, ternary computing systems can utilize fewer devices to realize the same information density. However, most ternary computing systems based on binary CMOS circuits require additional devices to bridge binary processing and ternary computing. Exploring new device architectures for direct ternary processing and computing becomes the key to promoting ternary computing systems. Here, we demonstrated a 2D van der Waals vertical heterojunction transistor (V-HTR) with three flat conductance states, which can be the basic cell in ternary circuits to perform ternary processing and computing, without additional devices. A ternary neural network (TNN) and a ternary inverter were demonstrated based on the V-HTRs. The TNN can eliminate fuzzy data and output only clear data by building a ternary quantization function. By demonstrating both ternary logic and a TNN on the same device architecture, the 2D V-HTR shows potential as a basic hardware unit for future ternary computing systems. more...

Surgical resection is the first-line therapy for breast cancer. However, residual tumor cells and the highly immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) continue to have a serious impact on tumor recurrence and metastasis postresection. Implantation of an in situhydrogel system postresection has shown to be an effective treatment with great clinical potential. Herein, an injectable zwitterionic hydrogel system was developed for local drug delivery with enhanced immune activation and prevention of tumor recurrence. Driven by electrostatic interactions, poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) (PSBMA) self-assembles into a hydrogel in saline, achieving low protein adsorption and tunable biodegradability. The chemotherapy drug doxorubicin (DOX) was loaded into copper peroxide nanoparticles (CuO2/DOX), which were coated with macrophage membranes to form tumor-targeting nanoparticles (M/CuO2/DOX). Next, M/CuO2/DOX and the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) agonist 2′,3′-cGAMP were coloaded into PSBMA hydrogel (Gel@M/CuO2/DOX/STING). The hydrophilic STING agonist was first released by diffusion from hydrogel to activate the STING pathway and upregulate interferon (IFN) signaling related genes, remodeling the immunosuppressive TME. Then, M/CuO2/DOX targeted the residual tumor cells, combining with DOX-induced DNA damage, immunogenic tumor cell death, and copper death. Hence, this work combines chemodynamic therapy with STING pathway activation in TME, encouraging residual tumor cell death, promoting the maturation of dendritic cells, enhancing tumor-specific CD8+T cell infiltration, and preventing postoperative recurrence and metastasis. more...

A molecular-level reaction model for the diesel hydrotreating process was established by using the structure-oriented lumping (SOL) method. A molecular composition matrix was applied to represent the hydrotreating feed molecular composition and was calculated as the model input. By following the 38 hydrotreating reaction rules, each molecule of the feed molecular composition matrix was able to react and automatically generate reaction pathways and eventually form a large reaction network containing 37,097 reactions. The SOL model had the advantage of carrying out the molecular kinetic difference, especially for sulfur-containing molecules. The hydrodesulfurization reaction (HDS) of dibenzothiophene preferred the direct desulfurization pathway rather than the hydrogenation pathway (HYD), while 4,6-dimethyl dibenzothiophene was more dependent on HYD for HDS. The hydrotreating model could calculate the product distribution and molecular composition accurately. Combined with the structural increment contribution method, the model extended the function of predicting the product properties. The hydrotreating reaction model realized the molecular-level description of the whole process including the feed molecular composition, the reaction process, and the product molecular composition and properties. more...

Community detection can discover the cluster structure hidden in complex networks, which helps people predict network behavior and understand network functions. It is one of the current research hotspots. In this brief, we propose a Markov similarity enhancement method, which obtains the steady-state Markov similarity enhancement matrix through the Markov iterative state transition of the initial network. According to the Markov similarity index, the network is divided into initial community structure. Then, we merge the small communities into its closely connected communities to obtain the final community. On seven real networks and artificial networks with variable parameters, compared with other seven well-known community detection algorithms, numerical simulation experiments show that the proposed algorithm has a good community detection effect. more...

Cell communication and signal transduction rely heavily on the charge on the cell surface. The cell surface is negatively charged, with glycoproteins on the cell membrane providing a large percentage of the charge. Sialic acid is found on the outermost side of glycan chains and contributes to glycoprotein’s negative charge. Sialic acid is highly expressed in tumor cells and plays an important role in tumor metastasis and immune escape by interacting with extracellular ligands. However, the specific effect of negative charge changes on glycoproteins is still poorly understood. In this study, we used 9-azido sialic acid (9Az-Sia) to create artificial epitopes on glycoproteins via metabolic glycan labeling, and we attached charged groups such as amino and carboxyl to 9Az-Sia via a click reaction with dibenzocyclooctyne (DBCO). The charge of glycoproteins was changed by metabolic glycan labeling and click modification. The results showed that the migration and invasion ability of the MDA-MB-231 cell labeled with 9Az-Sia was significantly reduced after the modification with amino groups rather than carboxyl groups. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is the biological process of metastatic tumor cells, with an increasing ability of tumor cells to migrate and invade. In particular, the expression of adhesion molecules increased in the amine-linked group, whereas the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) increased significantly, which is not identical to EMT characteristics. In vivoexperiments have demonstrated that the loss of negative charge on glycoproteins has an inhibitory effect on tumors. In conclusion, modifying the positive charge on the surface of glycoproteins can inhibit tumor cell metastasis and has great potential for tumor therapy. more...

Photolysis of free chlorine is an increasingly recognized approach for effectively inactivating microorganisms and eliminating trace organic contaminants. However, the impact of dissolved organic matter (DOM), which is ubiquitous in engineered water systems, on free chlorine photolysis is not yet well understood. In this study, triplet state DOM (3DOM*) was found to cause the decay of free chlorine for the first time. By using laser flash photolysis, the scavenging rate constants of triplet state model photosensitizers by free chlorine at pH 7.0 were determined to be in the range of (0.26–3.33) × 109M–1s–1. 3DOM*, acting as a reductant, reacted with free chlorine at an estimated reaction rate constant of 1.22(±0.22) × 109M–1s–1at pH 7.0. This study revealed an overlooked pathway of free chlorine decay during UV irradiation in the presence of DOM. Besides the DOM’s light screening ability and scavenging of radicals or free chlorine, 3DOM* played an important role in the decay of free chlorine. This reaction pathway accounted for a significant proportion of the decay of free chlorine, ranging from 23 to 45%, even when DOM concentrations were below 3 mgCL–1and a free chlorine dose of 70 μM was present during UV irradiation at 254 nm. The generation of HO•and Cl•from the oxidation of 3DOM* by free chlorine was confirmed by electron paramagnetic resonance and quantified by chemical probes. By inputting the newly observed pathway in the kinetics model, the decay of free chlorine in UV254-irradiated DOM solution can be well predicted. more...