Search

The metabolic enzyme methionine adenosyltransferase 2A (MAT2A) was recently implicated as a synthetic lethal target in cancers with deletion of the methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (MTAP) gene, which is adjacent to the CDKN2A tumor suppressor and codeleted with CDKN2A in approximately 15% of all cancers. Previous attempts to target MAT2A with small-molecule inhibitors identified cellular adaptations that blunted their efficacy. Here, we report the discovery of highly potent, selective, orally bioavailable MAT2A inhibitors that overcome these challenges. Fragment screening followed by iterative structure-guided design enabled >10 000-fold improvement in potency of a family of allosteric MAT2A inhibitors that are substrate noncompetitive and inhibit release of the product, S-adenosyl methionine (SAM), from the enzyme's active site. We demonstrate that potent MAT2A inhibitors substantially reduce SAM levels in cancer cells and selectively block proliferation of MTAP-null cells both in tissue culture and xenograft tumors. These data supported progressing AG-270 into current clinical studies (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03435250).

Na

B-doped pyrolytic carbon from poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) was used to enhance the performance of a LiVPO4F/C cathode, which is much cheaper than carbon nanotubes and graphene. The carbon layer in LVPF/C-B3 becomes more and more regular compared with the undoped sample. The electronic conductivity, diffusion coefficient, and rate and cycle performance of the B-doped cathode are greatly improved. The capacities of LVPF/C-B3 at 0.2C, 5C, and 15C are 148.1, 132.9, and 125.6 mAh·g-1, which may be the best reported magnitude. The crystallite structure of LiVPO4F/C is well maintained after 300 charge and discharge cycles. The carbonization process of PVDF is greatly accelerated. These improvements are attributed to the changes in chemical and electronic structures. The generation of BC2O and BCO2 results in many defective active sites, and BC3 promotes the growth of a six-membered carbon ring. According to the first-principles approach based on density functional theory, the state density around the Fermi level of the B-doped pyrolytic carbon is increased. The electronic structure of pyrolytic carbon is transformed from a P-type semiconductor to a metal-like structure through the generation of pyridinic-like and graphitic-like B. Therefore, the electronic conductivity of LiVPO4F/C is increased.

Electrochemical CO2 reduction is a promising technology for solving the CO2 emission problems and producing value-added products. Here, we report a hierarchically porous Cu1Au single-atom alloy (SAA) as an efficient electrocatalyst for CO2 reduction. Benefiting from the hierarchically porous architectures with abundant vacancies as well as three-dimensional accessible active sites, the as-prepared nanoporous Cu1Au SAA catalyst shows remarkable CO2 reduction performance with nearly 100% CO Faraday efficiency in a wide potential range (−0.4 to −0.9 V vs . reversible hydrogen electrode. The in-situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy studies and density functional theory calculations reveal that the Cu-Au interface sites serve as the intrinsic active centers, which can facilitate the activated adsorption of CO2 and stabilize the *COOH intermediate.

Ni-based layered transition-metal oxides are advanced cathode materials used in rechargeable Na-ion batteries due to their high specific capacity; however, their applications are blocked by irrever...

The electrochemical reduction of CO2 to an ethanol product is regarded as a highly promising route for CO2 utilization. However, the poor selectivity is still a critical challenge for increasing the yield of the specific ethanol. As a CO2 reduction catalyst, the hierarchically nanoporous copper integrated with vanadium oxide can achieve a 30.1% faradaic efficiency for CO2-to-ethanol production and an ethanol partial current density of −16 mA cm−2 at −0.62 V vs. RHE, corresponding to a 4-fold increase in activity compared to bare nanoporous Cu. It even delivers an ethanol partial current density that exceeds −39 mA cm−2 at −0.8 V vs. RHE in a flow-cell reactor. The hierarchically nanoporous Cu skeleton not only facilitates both electron and electrolyte transport but also provides a large specific surface area for high active site density. Density functional theory reveals that the vanadium oxide decorated Cu surface can facilitate water dissociation and optimize the hydrogen adsorption energy on Cu, lowering the energy barrier for the protonation of carbon dioxide and C–C coupling. Meanwhile, it can increase hydrogen proton coverage on the catalyst surface and inhibit dehydration, which are beneficial for breaking the CC bond of the *HCCOH intermediate, thus enhancing the faradaic efficiency of ethanol significantly. The highly efficient conversion of CO2 to ethanol demonstrates that the hybrid electrocatalyst is considered as a promising candidate for practical electrocatalytic CO2RR applications.

Selenium (Se) is a promising cathode material for next-generation alkali metal–ion batteries due to its high volumetric capacity and good conductivity. Using a first-principles approach, the presen...

Electrochemical reduction of CO

The development of alkali metal-ion batteries requires anode materials with high capacity and fast kinetics. The present study theoretically investigates the double-layer honeycomb (DLHC) AlP as a ...

Towards practical lithium–sulfur batteries, the rational design of a sulfur host that enables highly efficient sulfur electrochemistry and high areal sulfur loading is essential but still a challenge. Here, a class of 3D nanocomposite architecture characterised by a necklace-like structure that contains intertwined carbon-nanotubes (CNTs) and defective Prussian blue (PB) nanocrystals is developed as the sulfur host. Benefiting from the fact that a 3D CNT conductive skeleton can provide efficient ion/electron channels and the abundant Lewis acidic sites in PB can effectively entrap lithium polysulfide (LiPS) species, the S@PB/CNT composite cathode exhibits high reversibility, stable cycling performance, and fast kinetics. More importantly, the LiPS adsorption capacity of PB materials and the kinetics of LiPS conversion on PB is highly dependent on the amount of [Fe(CN)6] vacancies based on both theoretical and experimental studies, which may further shed light on the interfacial phenomena between the PB sulfur host and soluble LiPS in the electrolyte.

Li2TiSiO5 (LTSO) has a theoretical specific capacity of up to 315 mA h g−1 with a suitable working potential (0.28 V vs. Li/Li+). However, the electronic structure of Li2TiSiO5 is firstly investigated by theoretical calculation based on the first-principles approach, and the results demonstrate that Li2TiSiO5 acts as the insulator for transferring electrons. Therefore, the framework with better conductivity is very essential for Li2TiSiO5 to enhance the charge transfer kinetics. Nitrogen-doped carbon encapsulated Li2TiSiO5 nanofibers (LTSO/NDC nanofibers) are obtained by using carbamide as a nitrogen source through an electrospinning technique. The nitrogen-doped carbon matrix with high electronic conductivity improves the electrochemical properties of LTSO significantly. The diffusion coefficient of lithium ions (DLi+) is greatly improved by manual calculation. The LTSO/NDC nanofiber electrode can deliver 371.7 mA h g−1 at 0.1 A g−1 and 361.1 mA h g−1 at 0.2 A g−1, and also shows a comparable cycle performance which could endure a long cycle over 800 cycles at 0.5 A g−1 almost without capacity decay. Hence, the LTSO/NDC nanofiber anode with a high rate and a long life provides a new direction for the realization of LTSO-based compounds in lithium ion batteries.

Ta-doped TiO2/C nanofibers are synthesized by an electrospinning method. First-principles calculations reveal that the Ta dopant can lower the Li/K diffusion barrier, which is beneficial for improving the rate capability. According to the electronic structure analysis, the dopant can obviously shift the conduction band of TiO2 downward, resulting in significantly improved electronic conductivity. Ta doping causes phase transformation from anatase to rutile, and increases the specific surface area. The well-designed rutile Ta-doped TiO2/C nanofibers show outstanding electrochemical properties in both Li-metal half cells and K-metal half cells, which are much better than those of pristine anatase TiO2/C nanofibers. At 2 A g−1, 5% rutile Ta-doped TiO2/C nanofibers could deliver high reversible specific capacities of 399 mA h g−1 in Li-ion batteries after 1000 cycles whereas deliver 148 mA h g−1 in K-ion batteries after 800 cycles. When assembled, the full cells with 5% rutile Ta-doped TiO2/C nanofibers as the anode and commercial LiFePO4/perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride as the cathode show excellent cycling performance and can light up more than 18 LEDs. These results demonstrate that Ta-doped TiO2/C nanofibers are a promising anode material for Li/K ion batteries.

The influence of cell number on spectral variability among two different cell types and two states was quantitatively analyzed and evaluated by calculating the similarity distance of the single-cell spectral data obtained from synchrotron infrared microspectroscopy. We found that at least 15 cells are required to achieve robust results with 95% confidence.

Seawater (SW) immersion can increase the damage of skin wounds and produce refractory wounds. However, few studies have been conducted to investigate the mechanisms of SW immersion on skin wounds. In our current study, we investigated the effect of human adipose-derived stem cells (hADSCs) on the repair of SW-treated full-thickness skin wounds and the underlying mechanisms. The results showed that SW immersion could reduce the expression of EGF and suppress the activation of the MEK/ERK signaling pathway. At the same time, the proliferation and migration of skin stem cells were inhibited by SW immersion, resulting in delayed wound healing. However, hADSCs significantly accelerated the healing of SW-immersed skin wounds by promoting cell proliferation and migration through the aforementioned mechanisms. Our results indicate a role for hADSCs in the repair of seawater-immersed skin wounds and suggest a potential novel treatment strategy for seawater-immersed wound healing.

In this study, carboxyl potassium salt polysulfone PSF-COOK60% was selected as an additive and carboxylated polysulfone PSF-COOH60% was identified as a membrane matrix material to prepare mixed matrix membranes via a traditional phase separation method. The viscosity of the casting solutions, as well as the electronegativity, hydrophilicity, and morphologies of the mixed matrix membranes, greatly changed with the addition of PSF-COOK60%. This was because -COOK was more easily ionized than -COOH into -COO−, which affected the charges, conformations, and hydrophilicity of the polymer chains. In particular, the membrane with a PSF-COOK60%:PSF-COOH60% ratio of 3:7 (M3) exhibited a minimum aperture of 1.825 nm and a maximum electronegativity of −29.9 mV. M3 offered outstanding separation efficiency of dye/salt mixtures as seen in the rejection rates of Congo red (as high as 95.5%) and organic salts (as low as 5.6%), as well as the pure water flux of 153.8 L/m2·h·bar. Furthermore, M3 had excellent anti-dye-fouling performance and showed wide application conditions. Therefore, M3 is an ideal candidate for separation membranes for the fractionation of dye/salt mixtures. The PSF-COOK and other polymer carboxylates can be used as a new kind of additive to change the morphology and chemical properties of the membranes.

Seven new species of chewing lice in the genus Priceiella Gustafsson and Bush, 2017, are described and illustrated based on specimens collected in south China. They are Priceiella (Camurnirmus) tanydrepanus n. sp. from Garrulax castanotis castanotis (Ogilvie-Grant, 1899); Priceiella (Camurnirmus) nanlingensis n. sp. from Garrulax maesi maesi (Oustalet, 1890); Priceiella (Thescelovora) brutifrons n. sp. from Turdinus brevicaudatus stevensi (Kinnear, 1925); Priceiella (Thescelovora) chuae n. sp. from Pellorneum albiventre cinnamomeus (Rippon, 1900); Priceiella (Thescelovora) catanachei n. sp. from Stachyris strialata swinhoei Rothschild, 1903; Priceiella (Thescelovora) dehongensis n. sp. from Stachyris nigriceps yunnanensis La Touche, 1921; and Priceiella (Thescelovora) rotundiceps n. sp. from Pomatorhinus ruficollis styani Seebohm, 1884. Several of these new species constitute the second species of Priceiella known from the host, suggesting that local endemism may be high in this louse genus. We also provide new host records for Priceiella (Thescelovora) coleyae Gustafsson et al., 2018, and Priceiella (Thescelovora) austini Gustafsson et al., 2018, and correct the type host subspecies for the latter. Finally, we amend the subgenus descriptions of Camurnirmus Gustafsson and Bush, 2017, and Thescelovora Gustafsson and Bush, 2017. As a result of these changes, Priceiella najeri Gustafsson et al., 2018, is moved to subgenus Thescelovora. An updated checklist of the genus Priceiella is provided.

Four new species of Guimaraesiella Eichler, 1949 are described and illustrated based on specimens collected in South China. They are: Guimaraesiella (Cicchinella) citreisoma new species ex Leiothrix lutea kwangtungensis Whistler, 1943 (Leiothrichidae); Guimaraesiella (Cicchinella) corrugata new species ex Alcippe hueti hueti David, 1874 (Leiothrichidae); Guimaraesiella (Cicchinella) petilorica new species ex Alcippe nipalensis nipalensis (Hodgson, 1837) (Leiothrichidae); and Guimaraesiella (Cicchinella) yuhinae new species from Yuhina flavicollis rouxi (Oustalet, 1896) (Zosteropidae); this is the first species of the Brueelia-complex recorded from a member of the Zosteropidae.

Electrochemical cycling induces transition-metal (TM) ion migration and oxygen vacancy formation in layered transition-metal oxides, thus causing performance decay. Here, a combination of

Electrochemical CO

The metabolic enzyme methionine adenosyltransferase 2A (MAT2A) was recently implicated as a synthetic lethal target in cancers with deletion of the methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (

Highlights The unique wire-in-wire structure endows TiO2/C nanofibers film with superior mechanical flexibility.The wire-in-wire TiO2/C nanofibers (TiO2 ww/CN) film shows outstanding electrochemical performances as free-standing anodes for Li/K-ion batteries and full cells.The TiO2 ww/CN film shows an extremely high pseudocapacitance contribution ratio in K-ion batteries. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40820-021-00632-4., Wearable and portable mobile phones play a critical role in the market, and one of the key technologies is the flexible electrode with high specific capacity and excellent mechanical flexibility. Herein, a wire-in-wire TiO2/C nanofibers (TiO2 ww/CN) film is synthesized via electrospinning with selenium as a structural inducer. The interconnected carbon network and unique wire-in-wire nanostructure cannot only improve electronic conductivity and induce effective charge transports, but also bring a superior mechanic flexibility. Ultimately, TiO2 ww/CN film shows outstanding electrochemical performance as free-standing electrodes in Li/K ion batteries. It shows a discharge capacity as high as 303 mAh g−1 at 5 A g−1 after 6000 cycles in Li half-cells, and the unique structure is well-reserved after long-term cycling. Moreover, even TiO2 has a large diffusion barrier of K+, TiO2 ww/CN film demonstrates excellent performance (259 mAh g−1 at 0.05 A g−1 after 1000 cycles) in K half-cells owing to extraordinary pseudocapacitive contribution. The Li/K full cells consisted of TiO2 ww/CN film anode and LiFePO4/Perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride cathode possess outstanding cycling stability and demonstrate practical application from lighting at least 19 LEDs. It is, therefore, expected that this material will find broad applications in portable and wearable Li/K-ion batteries. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40820-021-00632-4.

Using LiI nanoparticles as the active material is a promising way to improve the performance of the Li-I2 battery. In this study, a first-principles approach is employed to reveal the reaction mechanism of an ultra-small LiI nanoparticle, represented by a Li14I14 cluster, with and without nanoconfined environment. This study is the first time to report that there are polyiodides longer than I 5 − as intermediate products. For the free Li14I14 cluster, the super-long polyiodides ( I 11 − and I 13 − ) are observed at the deep state of charge (delithiation). However, the super-long chains are converted to a compact I14 cluster at the end of delithiation process. The theoretical open circuit voltage between the I14 and Li14I14 clusters exhibits three plateaus. The highest plateau corresponds to the conversion between the compact I14 cluster and super-long chain-like polyiodides, and the wide medium-voltage plateau is attributed to the transmission between super-long chains and short chains. When the Li14I14 cluster is confined in a (14, 0) single wall carbon nanotube (weight ratio of LiI is 38%), the nanoconfined effect can change the cluster to one-dimensional LiI nanowire. The nanoconfined environment can eliminate the voltage plateau above 3 V, because the nanoconfined effect prohibits the formation of super-long polyiodides and the final charge products are Ix = 2, 3, 5 molecules.

The progress of electronic textiles relies on the development of sustainable power sources without much sacrifice of convenience and comfort of fabrics. Herein, we present a rechargeable textile alkaline Zn microbattery (micro-AZB) fabricated by a process analogous to traditional resist-dyeing techniques. Conductive patterned electrodes are realized first by resist-aided electroless/electrodeposition of Ni/Cu films. The resulting coplanar micro-AZB in a single textile, with an electroplated Zn anode and a Ni0.7Co0.3OOH cathode, achieves high energy density (256.2 Wh kg-1), high power density (10.3 kW kg-1), and stable cycling performances (82.7% for 1500 cycles). The solid-state micro-AZB also shows excellent mechanical reliability (bending, twisting, tailoring, etc.). The improved reversibility and cyclability of textile Zn electrodes over conventional Zn foils are found to be due to the significantly inhibited Zn dendrite growth and suppressed undesirable side reactions. This work provides a new approach for energy-storage textile with high rechargeability, high safety, and aesthetic design versatility.

Recently, the first lithium–nitrogen (Li–N2) battery was designed, achieving a reversible electrochemical reaction between N2 and Li3N under ambient conditions (Ma et al., Chem, 2017, 2, 525–532). However, the performance of a Li–N2 battery is limited by the weak interaction between the carbon cloth cathode substrate and N2. In the present work, we theoretically evaluate a Ti2C monolayer as a potential cathode substrate to improve the performance of an Li–N2 battery. Our results reveal that N2 interacts strongly with the bare Ti2C substrate with low adsorption energy and a lot of electron transfer, and the existence of Li atoms facilitates N2 dissociation. The estimated discharge and charge overpotentials of this novel electrochemical system are less than 0.55 V. With regard to the typical surface termination, the oxygen (O) termination weakens the N2 fixation, hinders the dissociation and increases the overpotential of the electrochemical reaction. According to the present theoretical calculations, Ti2CO2 will be lithiated to Ti2CO2Li2 in the initial discharge state, and the lithiated Ti2CO2 substrate can decrease discharge and charge overpotentials in comparison to a bare Ti2CO2 substrate. Our work is the first theoretical report on the mechanism of an Li–N2 battery on a Ti2C cathode substrate, which provides a feasible strategy for efficient N2 fixation and reduction.

Metallic anodes in Li/Na–X (X = S, Se, I2) batteries, in which the working mechanism is a conversion reaction, suffer severe corrosion and self-discharge caused by the shuttle effect. Beyond alkali...

Seeding the impurity elements in W can affect the H behaviors. The effect of Ne on H behaviors in W bulk and W (110) surface has been investigated with the first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations in the present paper. It is found that the interactions between the interstitial Ne and H are attractive in bulk W. Ne atom can reduce the binding energies for H in the vacancy and divacancy, and the binding energies decrease linearly with the ratio of Ne and vacancy. In the W (110) surface without vacancy, the threefold hollow site is the most preferable site for H adsorption; Ne atom cannot be adsorbed on the W surface and in the subsurface because of the weak interaction. The substitutional Ne in subsurface can impede H absorption, and increase the diffusion barrier for H from the surface into subsurface.

Novel positively charged nanofiltration membranes were facilely prepared by polydopamine (PDA) deposition followed by crosslinking on the polyethersulfone (PES) ultrafiltration (UF) membrane substrate. Specifically, small molecules DMAPA and 1,3-dibromopropane were separately selected as the bridge agent and crosslinking agent, which can not only realize the moderate crosslinking and densification of the loose structure of the PDA layer, but also further improve the hydrophilicity and positive charges of the PDA layer. Under the optimized conditions of DMAPA concentration (2 g/L), 1,3-dibromopropane concentration (10 wt%) and reaction time (9 h), the composite membrane had the surface pore size as low as 1.1 nm, water contact angle as low as 35.1° and zeta potential as high as +63.8 mV at pH = 6. As a result, the optimized positively charged NF membrane (M3) showed an outstanding permeance up to 15.7 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 while maintaining a high rejection above 95% for MgCl2. Meanwhile, M3 also showed good environmental adaptability when facing complex feeding or operating conditions. This work provided new situation in the design and construction of positive charged NF membranes for high efficiency cation separation.

The central relevance of cellular heterogeneity to biological phenomena raises the rational needs for analytical techniques with single-cell resolution. Here, we developed a single-cell FTIR microspectroscopy-based method for the quantitative evaluation of cellular heterogeneity by calculating the cell-to-cell similarity distance of the infrared spectral data. Based on this method, we revealed the infrared phenotypes might reflect the dynamic heterogeneity changes in the cell population during the adipogenic differentiation of the human mesenchymal stem cells. These findings provide an alternative label-free optical approach for quantifying the cellular heterogeneity, and the combination with other single-cell analysis tools will be very helpful for understanding the genotype-to-phenotype relationship in cellular populations.

Li2TiSiO5 (LTSO) has a theoretical specific capacity of up to 315 mA h g-1 with a suitable working potential (0.28 V vs. Li/Li+). However, the electronic structure of Li2TiSiO5 is firstly investigated by theoretical calculation based on the first-principles approach, and the results demonstrate that Li2TiSiO5 acts as the insulator for transferring electrons. Therefore, the framework with better conductivity is very essential for Li2TiSiO5 to enhance the charge transfer kinetics. Nitrogen-doped carbon encapsulated Li2TiSiO5 nanofibers (LTSO/NDC nanofibers) are obtained by using carbamide as a nitrogen source through an electrospinning technique. The nitrogen-doped carbon matrix with high electronic conductivity improves the electrochemical properties of LTSO significantly. The diffusion coefficient of lithium ions (DLi+) is greatly improved by manual calculation. The LTSO/NDC nanofiber electrode can deliver 371.7 mA h g-1 at 0.1 A g-1 and 361.1 mA h g-1 at 0.2 A g-1, and also shows a comparable cycle performance which could endure a long cycle over 800 cycles at 0.5 A g-1 almost without capacity decay. Hence, the LTSO/NDC nanofiber anode with a high rate and a long life provides a new direction for the realization of LTSO-based compounds in lithium ion batteries.

The physical cues in the extracellular environment play important roles in cancer cell metastasis. However, how metastatic cancer cells respond to the diverse mechanical environments of metastatic sites is not fully understood. Here, substrates with different mechanical properties are prepared to simulate the extracellular mechanical environment of various human tissues. The prostate cancer (PC) cells derived from different cancer metastasis sites show heterogeneity in mechanical response. This heterogeneity mediates two distinct metastasis patterns. High stiffness promotes individual cell migration and proliferation by inducing Yes‐associated protein and tafazzin (YAP/TAZ) nuclear localization in bone metastasis‐derived cells, whereas low stiffness promotes cell migration and proliferation by inducing lymphatic metastasis‐derived cells to form clusters characterized by high expression of CD44. The different metastasis patterns induced by the mechanical properties of the extracellular environment are crucial in the development of PC., Cancer metastasis is essential for cancer deaths. The cancer cells are regulated by the mechanical properties of the metastatic site. The prostate cancer cells derived from different cancer metastasis sites show heterogeneity in mechanical response. The different metastasis patterns induced by the mechanical properties of the extracellular environment are crucial in the development of prostate cancer.

Manipulating the in-plane defects of metal-nitrogen-carbon catalysts to regulate the electroreduction reaction of CO

Developing novel nanostructured anode materials for Mg storage plays an important role in improving the performance of magnesium-ion (Mg-ion) batteries. Two-dimensional (2D) metal borides (MBenes) are evaluated as potential anode materials in the present study. Simulation results demonstrate that Cr2B2 is a competitive anode material, which can deliver a maximum theoretical capacity of 853.4 mAh/g with an average open-circuit potential of 0.53 eV versus Mg2+/Mg. In addition, Cr2B2 as anode also can exhibit superior diffusion kinetics due to a low energy barrier of 0.38 eV. Comparing with Cr2B2, Mo2B2 exhibits less but still high Mg storage capacity, with a maximum capacity of 502.1 mAh/g. In addition, Mg diffusion barrier on Mo2B2 is 0.84 eV and the average open-circuit potential is 0.67 V versus Mg2+/Mg, both of which are still comparable to the reported anode materials for Mg-ion batteries.

Large prefabricated flaps often suffer from necrosis or poor healing due to a lack of new blood vessels and related factors that promote angiogenesis. The innovative use of adipose-derived stem cell exosomes (ADSC-Exo) resolves the problem of vascularization of prefabricated flaps. We analyzed the differential microRNA (miRNA) expression in ADSC-Exo using next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology to explore their potential mechanisms in promoting vascularization. We observed that ADSC-Exo could significantly promote the vascularization of artificial dermis prefabricated flaps compared with human foreskin fibroblast exosomes. NGS indicated that there were some differentially expressed miRNAs in both exosomes. Bioinformatics analysis suggested that significantly upregulated hsa-miR-760 and significantly downregulated hsa-miR-423-3p in ADSC-Exo could regulate the expression of the ITGA5 and HDAC5 genes, respectively, to promote the vascularization of skin flaps. In summary, ADSC-Exo can promote skin-flap vascularization, and thereby resolve the problem of insufficient neovascularization of artificial dermis prefabricated flaps, thus expanding the application of prefabricated skin-flap transplantation.

Vehicle electrification and stationary energy storage urgently demand improved battery systems with high specific capacity and power density. Herein, we design a novel Li-I2 energy storage system by inserting a nitrogen-doped graphene interlayer between the cathode and the separator. This interlayer allows the electrochemical reaction and pseudo-capacitive faradaic reaction to occur at the same reaction sites and helps the resultant battery achieve high electrochemical performance. The Li-I2 battery constructed with the interlayer can achieve remarkable specific capacity (231.0 mAh g−1 at 2 C), excellent rate capability (up to 100 C), and ultra-long cycling life (5000 cycles). Such an outstanding performance can be attributed to the tri-functions of the interlayer which are to retain the iodine species (such as I-, I2, I3-) in the cathode region to alleviate the shuttle phenomenon, utilise the iodine species to afford remarkable pseudo-capacitive effect for energy storage, and accelerate the kinetic process of active materials to present an excellent rate performance owing to the catalytic effect of nitrogen doping. The concept of the tri-functional interlayer suggests a promising direction for the design of robust and high performance rechargeable Li-I2 batteries.

Stringent performance and operational requirements in electric vehicles can push lithium-ion batteries toward unsafe conditions. Electroplating and possible dendritic growth are a cause for safety concern as well as performance deterioration in such intercalation chemistry-based energy storage systems. There is a need for better understanding of the morphology evolution because of electrodeposition of lithium on the graphite anode surface and the interplay between material properties and operating conditions. In this work, a mesoscale analysis of the underlying multimodal interactions is presented to study the evolution of morphology due to lithium deposition on typical graphite electrode surfaces. It is found that electrodeposition is a complex interplay between the rate of reduction of Li ions and the intercalation of Li in the graphite anodes. The morphology of the electrodeposited film changes from dendritic to mossy structures because of the surface diffusion of lithium on the electrodeposited film.

Comprehension over the interactions between lithium (Li) atoms and tungsten (W) or molybdenum (Mo) are crucial to improve the wettability of the flowing liquid Li, a candidate plasma facing material in fusion devices, on the surfaces of supported substrate metals. In this work, we utilize first-principles density- functional theory calculations to figure out the adsorption and diffusion properties of Li atoms and clusters on the (111) surfaces of W and Mo. It is found that single Li atom in the fcc-hollow site is the most favored configuration. For the multiple Li atoms adsorption on the substrates, the planar construction is more stable than the stacking one. The electronic structure analysis shows that the lateral interaction between Li atoms is very weak and the binding between Li atom and the substrates is strong; therefore, it can be inferred that the liquid Li is “wetting” intrinsically on the surfaces of the W and Mo substrates. We also investigate the effect of defects (vacancy, H, C, and O) and find that the preexisted vacancy in the substrates has little effect on the wettability; however, the impurities (especially O atom) will hinder the movement of Li atoms on the metal substrates.