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Nanoporous carbon materials have attracted considerable attention as highly promising anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). In this work, N-doped nanoporous carbon (NPC) particles with different sizes are synthesized from metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) through a straightforward process. When applied as anode materials for LIBs and SIBs, these NPCs exhibit excellent performance in the storage of Li+and Na+ions. For LIBs, the NPC particles with an average diameter of 200 nm demonstrate retained capacities of 1503 mAh g–1at 0.1 mA g–1after 100 cycles and 738 mAh g–1at 2 A g–1after 1000 cycles. For SIBs, the NPC particles with an average diameter of 50 nm exhibit high capacities of 508 mAh g–1at 0.1 mA g–1after 500 cycles and 238.5 mAh g–1at 5 A g–1after 1000 cycles. The excellent electrochemical performance of NPCs in both LIBs and SIBs is mainly attributed to the small size, nitrogen-containing, mesoporous, and microporous features. These findings indicate that NPC particles derived from MOFs offer an effective synthesis method and expand the application potential of carbon-based anode materials.

This article proposes a novel reconfigurable multimode microwave sensor integrating with resonance- and transmission-sensing capabilities for real-time noninvasive glucose monitoring. The sensor is initiated by utilizing a dynamic controllable spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP) transmission line (TL) and a multimode array resonator based on spoof localized surface plasmon (SLSP). This sensor possesses multiple resonance modes with high ${Q}$ -factors, and its working characteristic can be flexibly manipulated by tuning the bias voltage applied to the loaded varactor diodes. Glucose monitoring is accomplished by analyzing the changes in the shift of multiple resonance frequencies and the amplitude of transmission coefficient within a specific operating band. Furthermore, an effective joint sensing method is developed by combining the results obtained from different resonance modes and various working characteristics of the sensor, which can greatly enhance sensitivity and the ability to correct errors. The experimental results demonstrate that, within a valuable glucose concentration range of 0–800 mg/dL, the presented sensor realizes a high sensitivity of $9.86\times 10^{\mathbf {-2}}$ MHz/(mg/dL) for resonance sensing and $2.00\times 10^{\mathbf {-2}}$ dB/(mg/dL) for transmission sensing. Also, the resonance sensing and transmission sensing exhibit an ultrahigh linear correlation, enabling the glucose sensor to possess robust crosschecking capability. Moreover, the results demonstrate that this sensor has a strong error correction function.

This letter proposes a novel simple planar circularly polarized (CP) frequency beam-scanning (FBS) antenna using slotline (SL) and spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP) structure. A new SL-SSPP slow-wave transmission line (TL) is initiated by periodically introducing orthogonal tilted corrugated grooves on both sides of the SL, which can generate orthogonal electric-field components in the same cross-section along the TL, and its dispersion characteristic can be flexibly adjusted. In order to excite an effective radiating mode from the propagating slow-wave mode, a simple double-sided tilted modulation method is devised to periodically modulate the SL-SSPP TL. Furthermore, to obtain the CP characteristic, a π/2 phase displacement between the sinusoidal modulation structures on both sides of the TL is designed. The configuration of presented CP beam-scanning antenna owns the merits of simpler structure, low profile, and single dielectric layer. A prototype is manufactured and then tested to verify the proposed design. The experimental results confirm that, within the 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth (from 7.2 to 8.35 GHz), the designed antenna achieves a 35° beam-steering range with CP characteristic. This antenna also realizes appropriate gain and radiation efficiency in the working band.

•An enhanced ViT with SSL-transfer learning is proposed for SOH & RUL estimation.•Depth separable convolution is introduced to capture local battery aging details.•Maximum mean discrepancy is used to reduce the inconsistency of data distribution.•SSL is designed with consistency regularization to label the abundant aging data.•SOH & RUL average errors were within 0.6 % and 3.86 % under 40 °C dynamic cycles.

One of the most popular cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries in 3C electronics is layered LiCoO2(LCO). Higher energy density is made possible by raising the charging cut-off voltage of LCO to 4.6 V. However, if the cut-off voltage (relative to Li/Li+) is more than 4.5 V, a number of issues, including structural instability and significant side reactions with the electrolyte, could occur. To address this problem, here, the Al and Ti bimetallic synergistic modified layer is constructed on the surface of commercial LCO (AT-LCO) by sol-gel method. At high voltage, the Li+diffusion rate of AT-LCO is enhanced, surface side reactions and harmful phase transitions are attenuated. The capacity retention of AT-LCO at 0.5C and 4.6 V after 500 cycles is 62.2 %, which is superior to that of the unmodified LCO. This work provides useful hints for the development and utilization of long-life high-voltage LCO materials in the future.

Metal-organic framework materials (MOFs), such as zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF), have been widely used in energy storage due to their advantages such as high structural stability, large specific surface, more active sites and skeleton structures. Herein, a novel two-dimensional (2D) CoCu-ZIF was synthesized by a facile solvothermal method. The as-prepared CoCu-ZIF nanosheets exhibit an ultrahigh reversible capacity of 2287.4 mAh/g and remains at 1172.1 mAh/g after 300 cycles at a current density of 100 mA/g, far better than that of the single Co-ZIF and Cu-ZIF. Additionally, the specific discharge capacity of CoCu-ZIF nanosheets can maintain at about 590 mAh/g after 1000 cycles at the current density of 2 A/g. Owing to the synergistic effect of two metals, function of nitrogen in the molecular and self-assembly 2D nanosheets, our research can provide strong support for the practical application of CoCu-ZIF materials in lithium ion batteries.

Cement-based solidification is a widely used sustainable technology for transforming waste dredged sludge (DS) into backfill materials. This study developed a novel solidification/oxidization synergistic (SOS) method, using Portland cement as a binder and sodium persulfate (SP) as an oxidant, for treating the organic DS with different fulvic acid (FA) content. The results demonstrated that adding SP could significantly improve the UCS of the cement-solidified DS doped with FA. When the FA content was 4%, the 28-day UCS of the sample with 25% cement content was only 160.5 kPa. The addition of 6% SP increased the UCS to 2225.5 kPa, which was 15.1 times that of the sample without SP. However, excessive SP hydrolyzed to produce a large amount of sulfuric acid, leading to a low pH value of the pore solution. This in turn hindered further persulfate activation and cement hydration, which was detrimental to the strength of cement-solidified DS.

Tiller number and grain size are important agronomic traits that determine grain yield in rice. Here, we demonstrate that DEFECTIVE TILLER GROWTH 1 (DTG1), a member of the casein kinase 1 protein family, exerts a co-regulatory effect on tiller number and grain size. We identified a single amino acid substitution in DTG1 (I357K) that caused a decrease in tiller number and an increase in grain size in NIL-dtg1. Genetic analyses revealed that DTG1 plays a pivotal role in regulation of tillering and grain size. The DTG1I357Kallelic variant exhibited robust functionality in suppressing tillering. We show that DTG1is preferentially expressed in tiller buds and young panicles, and negatively regulates grain size by restricting cell proliferation in spikelet hulls. We further confirm that DTG1 functioned in grain size regulation by directly interacting with Grain Width 2 (GW2), a critical grain size regulator in rice. The CRISPR/Cas9-mediated elimination of DTG1significantly enhanced tiller number and grain size, thereby increasing rice grain yield under field conditions, thus highlighting potential value of DTG1in rice breeding.

Metal sulfides such as Bismuth sulfide (Bi 2 S 3) hold immense potential to be promoted as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), owing to their high theoretical gravimetric and volumetric capacities. However, the poor electrical conductivity and volume expansion during cycling hinder the practical applications of Bi 2 S 3. In this work, we used pyrrole and glucose as carbon source to design the surface carbon coating on the surface of Bi 2 S 3 particles, to improve the structural stability of Bi 2 S 3. Two composite materials were synthesized – Bi 2 S 3 coated with nitrogen doped carbon (Bi 2 S 3 @NC), and Bi 2 S 3 coated with carbon (Bi 2 S 3 @C). When used as anode active materials, both Bi 2 S 3 @NC and Bi 2 S 3 @C showed improved performance compared to Bi 2 S 3 , which confirms surface carbon coating as an effective and scalable way for the modification of Bi 2 S 3 material. The electrode based on Bi 2 S 3 @NC materials demonstrated higher performance than that of Bi 2 S 3 @C, with an initial discharge capacity of 1126.5 mA h/g, good cycling stability (500 mA h/g after 200 cycles at 200 mA/g) and excellent rate capability. Finally, Li storage and migration mechanisms in Bi 2 S 3 are revealed using first principle density functional theory calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pollen fertility is an agronomic trait that strongly influences rice yield. Recent studies have revealed that the development of the pollen wall is required for pollen fertility and is regulated by several genes. However, the mechanisms underlying pollen and pollen wall development in rice remain largely unknown. In the present study, a point mutation in a gene on chromosome 1 was identified that resulted in the production of less and shrunken pollen (LSP) and led to defects in pollen wall formation. This gene was named LSP1and was found to encode a member of the adenosine triphosphate-binding cassette (ABC) transporter G subfamily, OsABCG3. Two other loss-of-function mutants of LSP1/OsABCG3, generated using CRISPR/Cas9 technology, showed the same male sterile phenotype. The LSP1/OsABCG3gene showed a spatio-temporal expression pattern in the developing anthers, and is an ortholog of the Arabidopsisgenes AtABCG1and AtABCG16, which play an important role in pollen wall development. Mutation of LSP1/OsABCG3affected the expression of several genes involved in pollen and pollen wall formation. These results suggest that LSP1/OsABCG3is critical for normal pollen fertility and shed light on the molecular mechanisms underlying rice pollen wall development.

Although lithium–sulfur batteries have been regarded as the most promising candidates for next-generation energy storage devices with high specific capacity, their rapid capacity decay, mainly caused by volume expansion and dissolution of polysulfides, has limited their practical applications. Aiming at these issues, herein, we have designed an ideal three-dimensional (3D)-structured polypyrrole@sulfur@graphene aerogel (PPy@S@GA) as an efficient sulfur host via advanced pyrrole vapor polymerization. GA with an interconnected 3D porous structure provides an excellent conductive network for electrons and a channel for ion transfer, as well as a physical barrier or absorber for the polysulfides. In addition, physical confinement and chemical adsorption are further strengthened by the PPy coating layer with polar nitrogen. The electrode with the PPy@S@GA 3D structure delivered a superior initial discharge specific capacity of 1135 mA h g–1and a capacity of 741 mA h g–1after 500 cycles at a rate of 0.5 C, with capacity fading as low as 0.031% per cycle, superior to both a sulfur electrode and a S@GA electrode. These results demonstrate that GA as a sulfur host further coated with PPy is a promising cathode for pursuing high-performance Li–S batteries.

Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) has a high overpotential, which can significantly reduce the energy efficiency in water decomposition. Using urea oxidation reaction (UOR) to replace OER has been a feasible and energy-saving approach because of its lower electrode potential. Furthermore, UOR is also an important process in wastewater treatment. This paper successfully synthesizes a high-performance bifunctional catalyst for urea electrolysis. The catalyst is nickel nitride bead-like nanospheres array supported on Ni foam (Ni3N/NF). Several characterization methods are used to analyze the catalyst’s morphology, structure, and composition as well as catalytic activity/stability, including X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and electrochemical methods (cyclic voltammetry, linear sweep voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and CAM). A concurrent two-electrode electrolyzer (Ni3N/NF∥Ni3N/NF) is constructed and used to validate the catalyst performance, and the results show that the cell achieves 100 mA·cm–2at 1.42 V, while the cell voltage of Pt/C∥IrO2is 1.60 V, indicating that the Ni3N/NF catalyst is superior to precious metals.

Currently adding a suitable additive in the electrolyte is one of the most effective strategies to improve the electrochemical performance for a lithium-ion battery, especially under high temperature. In this work, N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) as an electrolyte additive was introduced to improve the battery performance of LiFePO4at 60 °C. The addition of DMF can effectively increase the specific capacity, cycling performance, and rate performance of batteries using LiFePO4as cathode material. X-ray diffraction results reveal that for the electrode cycled in the electrolyte without additive, Fe2O3, FePO4, and other impurity peaks appear under high temperature. scanning electron microscopy/transmission electron microscopy results indicate that some deposits are generated on the electrode surface without additive under high temperature due to the decomposition of electrolyte in the reaction between electrolyte and electrode materials. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy/NMR/X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results demonstrate that DMF as a lewis base can capture lewis acidic PF5from the decomposition of LiPF6as well as block the chain reaction of LiFePO4with hydrogen fluoride, which alleviates the electrolyte decomposition and electrode dissolution at high temperature.

In this paper, novel cobalt-doped Ni0.85Se chalcogenides (CoxNi0.85–xSe, x= 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4) are successfully synthesized and studied as high active and stable electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in electrolysis water splitting. The morphologies, structures, and composition of these as-prepared catalysts are characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The electrochemical tests, such as linear sweep voltammetry, cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and chronoamperometry testing, are performed to evaluate these catalysts’ HER catalytic performance including activity and stability. The results indicate that a suitable doping can result in synergetic effect for increasing the catalytic performance. Among different catalysts, Co0.1Ni0.75Se shows the highest HER performance. After introducing the reduced graphene oxide (rGO) into this catalyst as the support, the resulted Co0.1Ni0.75Se/rGO shows even better performance than unsupported Co0.1Ni0.75Se, which are confirmed by the reduction of HER overpotential of Co0.1Ni0.75Se/rGO to 103 mV compared to 153 mV of Co0.1Ni0.75Se at a current density of 10 mA/cm2, and the smaller Tafel slope (43 mV/dec) and kinetic resistance (21.34 Ω) than those of Co0.1Ni0.75Se (47 mV/dec, 30.23 Ω). Furthermore, the large electrochemical active surface area and high conductivity of such a Co0.1Ni0.75Se/rGO catalyst, induced by rGO introduction, are confirmed to be responsible for the high HER performance.

The development of novel electrolytes for next-generation high voltage lithium ion battery is of primary importance. In this work, a fluorinated phosphazene derivative, ethoxy-(pentafluoro)-cyclotriphosphazene (PFN), is proposed as a novel electrolyte additive for improving the electrochemical performance and safety of lithium nickel manganese oxide (LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4) cathode. With the addition of PFN, the electrolyte can be preferentially oxidized and decomposed, thus producing some linear polymers, multi-ring polymers, LiNO3, RONO2Li (RONO2: nitrate ester functional group, with R standing for any organic residue), Li3PO4, and ROPO3Li (ROPO3: monoester phosphate) simultaneously. These as-generated materials form a dense, uniform, and thin protective layer on the surface of the cathode material, which suppresses the decomposition of electrolyte and electrode corrosion, correspondingly protecting the LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4from structural destruction. Due to the coverage by the protective film and corrosion suppression, charge and discharge tests demonstrate that PFN is effective for improving the cycling stability of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4. The discharge capacity of a battery with 5 wt% PFN is 124.4 mAh g−1and 99.8 mAh g−1after 100 cycles at the current rates of 0.2 C and 1 C, respectively, which is much better than the performance without PFN. Meanwhile, because of the combined structure of the nonflammable cyclophosphazene and fluorine, the PFN creates a highly synergistic flame retardant effect, and a low content of PFN can almost completely extinguish burning electrolyte, leading to excellent safety performance for the lithium ion battery.

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In this study, Cl-GQDs anchored into pure reduced graphene oxide (Cl-GQDs/rGO) hybrid materials were hydrothermally fabricated and characterized by various analyses. Meanwhile, P-GQDs, S-GQDs and N-GQDs were also fabricated and anchored into rGO as controls. The AFM images of Cl-GQDs, P-GQDs, N-GQDs and S-GQDs displayed the average height of 1–3 nm, 1–1.5 nm, 1.5–2.0 nm and 4.0–4.5 nm, respectively. Moreover, the absorbance and fluorescence spectra of Cl-GQDs were different from those of other doped graphene quantum dots. Cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge curves were employed to analyze the capacitive performances of doped-GQDs/rGO. At the current density of 2 A g−1, the capacitance of Cl-GQDs/rGO achieved 316 F g−1, which was about 3 times, 2 times and 1.5 times as high as that of rGO, S or N-GQDs/rGO and P-GQDs/rGO, respectively. At the power density of 1.1−3.3 KW Kg−1, Cl-GQDs/rGO reached the energy density of 53.2 − 32.1 Wh Kg−1. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy clearly indicated that Cl-GQDs could improve the conductivity of rGO in the electrochemical reaction, resulting in superior capacitive performances.

Severe electrolyte decomposition under high voltage can easily lead to degradation of the performance of lithium-ion batteries, which has become a major obstacle to the practical application of high-energy-density batteries. To solve these problems, a dual-functional electrolyte additive comprising inorganic lithium difluorophosphate (LiDFP) and organic 1,3,6-hexanetrinitrile (HTN) was designed and employed to improve the performance of high-voltage Si@C/LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4full batteries. LiDFP with a lower LUMO energy than the solvent in the electrolyte takes priority in reduction, facilitating the formation of a dense and stable film on the anode, effectively suppressing side reactions of the electrolyte and aiding tolerance to the volume expansion of the Si@C electrode. Additionally, the lower HOMO energy of HTN can improve the oxidation resistance of the electrolyte, with the C≡N functional group of HTN helping to remove the trace water and the byproduct HF from the electrolyte. The Si@C/LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4full battery with 1 wt % LiDFP and 1 wt % HTN in 1.0 M LiPF6traditional electrolyte delivers high capacity retention of 91.57% after 150 cycles at 0.2C, compared to 34.58% capacity retention without any additives. Moreover, the Coulombic efficiency of batteries with electrolyte additives can reach 99.75% on average, compared to their counterparts at ∼96.54%. The synergistic effect of LiDFP and HTN provides a promising strategy for enhancing the performance of high-voltage batteries for practical industrialization.

Tower-like ZnO structures have been prepared by a simple carbon thermal reduction method and the possible growth mechanism of such structures was discussed. Comparing with microrods and nanowires, the photoluminescence images and spectra of tower-like ZnO were examined to understand the origins of their visible emissions, which is vital to future ultraviolet display devices. The visible photoluminescence locations of ZnO structures were studied by the near-field scanning optical microscopy. The experimental data indicate that the structure defects, surface impurities or dust, and adsorbed oxygen molecules can induce the visible emission of various ZnO nanostructures.

Amino acid polymorphisms of the prion protein (PrP) greatly influence the susceptibility of sheep to scrapie. Selective breeding to increase the prevalence of PrP gene alleles associated with scrapie resistance is a flock management practice that is important for scrapie control programs. Determination of sheep PrP alleles typically has required extraction of DNA from host tissues that are freshly derived or stored frozen. We describe application of a DNA extraction procedure for formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues (PET) for the purpose of PCR amplification and nucleotide sequencing of relevant codons (136–171) of the sheep PrP gene. Tissues derived from 96 sheep were studied. The DNA sequence identity was confirmed in 87 of 94 matched samples of PET and frozen tissue specimens. DNA from brainstem PET of 2 sheep, from which fresh tissue was not available, was amplified and sequenced after formalin fixation for 7–70 days. This method will allow retrospective analysis of PrP genetics of sheep subsequent to postmortem diagnosis of scrapie when nonfixed tissue is unavailable for DNA extraction; however, it is not recommended that submission of fixed tissue supplant collection of fresh tissues for the purpose of determining PrP gene polymorphisms.

Tat-CIRP perturbed the function of MD2 and provided robust neuroprotection in cells, rodents, and gyrencephalic nonhuman primates.

We present a hand specialized for climbing unstructured rocky surfaces. Articulated fingers achieve grasps commonly used by human climbers. The gripping surfaces are equipped with dense arrays of spines that engage with asperities on hard rough materials. A load-sharing transmission system divides the shear contact force among spine tiles on each phalanx to prevent premature spine slippage or grasp failure. Taking advantage of the hand’s kinematic and load-sharing properties, the wrench space of achievable forces and moments can be computed rapidly. Bench-top tests show agreement with the model, with average wrench space errors of 10–15%, despite the stochastic nature of spine/surface interaction. The model provides design guidelines and control strategy insights for the SpinyHand and can inform future work.

Selenium nanowires have been synthesized by using 2-mercaptoethylamine-depleted CdSe nanoparticles as selenium source and ethylenediaminetetramethylenephosphonic acid as chelating agent. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and UV–vis spectrophotometry. The result shows that the selenium nanowires are single crystals grown along the [001] direction of hexagonal lattice. The optical measurement shows a blue shift relative to the bulk hexagonal selenium, and the optical bandedge might be attributed to the interchain interactions within a hexagonal selenium crystal.

A flexible robotic spine actuated by shape memory alloy (SMA) can achieve both bending motion and impact absorption, which will allow robots to realize a variety of postures. In this paper, the robotic spine is designed and simplified into a multi-segment dynamic model based on several verified assumptions. The SMA wire is modelled using the Seelecke-Muller-Acenbach theory. An iterative algorithm is developed to address the external forces distributed along the spine and compute the spine's bending angle. Based on the dynamic model, we improve the simulation structure and search algorithm to achieve good efficiency and stable solutions. Experiments are conducted to verify the simulation and the results fit the simulation prediction well, with error of less than five degrees. Design optimization with our simulation tool based on several parameters is also discussed in this paper.