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A facile method for preparing hierarchical carbon composites that contain activated carbon (AC), carbon nanospheres (CNSs), and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for use as the electrode material in supercapacitors (SCs) was developed. The CNS/CNT network enabled the formation of three-dimensional conducting pathways within the highly porous AC matrix, effectively reducing the internal resistance of an SC electrode. The specific capacitance, cyclability, voltage window, temperature profile during charging/discharging, leakage current, gas evolution, and self-discharge of the fabricated SCs were systematically investigated and the optimal CNS/CNT ratio was determined. A 2.5 V floating aging test at 70 °C was performed on SCs made with various hierarchical carbon electrodes. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, postmortem electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses were conducted to examine the electrode aging behavior. A hierarchical carbon architecture with an appropriate AC/CNS/CNT constituent ratio could significantly improve charge-discharge performance, increase cell reliability, and decrease the aging-related degradation rate.

Lots of lithium ion battery (LIB) products contain lithium metal oxide LiNi5Co2Mn3O2 (LNCM) as the positive electrode&rsquo, s active material. The stable surface of this oxide results in high resistivity in the battery. For this reason, conductive carbon-based materials, including acetylene black and carbon black, become necessary components in electrodes. Recently, carbon nano-tube (CNT) has appeared as a popular choice for the conductive carbon in LIB. However, a large quantity of the conductive carbon, which cannot provide capacity as the active material, will decrease the energy density of batteries. The ultra-high cost of CNT, compared to conventional carbon black, is also a problem. In this work, we are going to introduce long-length carbon nano-tube s(L-CNT) into electrodes in order to design a reduced-amount conductive carbon electrode. The whole experiment will be done in a 1Ah commercial type pouch LIB. By decreasing conductive carbon as well as increasing the active material in the positive electrode, the energy density of the LNCM-based 1Ah pouch type LIB, with only 0.16% of L-CNT inside the LNCM positive electrode, could reach 224 Wh/kg and 549 Wh/L, in weight and volume energy density, respectively. Further, this high energy density LIB with L-CNT offers stable cyclability, which may constitute valuable progress in portable devices and electric vehicle (EV) applications.

In this study, Si nanoparticles with interweaving carbon nanotubes are wrapped by graphitic sheets to achieve high conductivity and high dimensional stability of a composite anode (denoted as Si/CNT/G) for Li-ion batteries. In addition, an ionic liquid (IL) electrolyte that consists of ether-side-chain pyrrolidinium, asymmetric imide, and a high Li+ fraction is prepared. This electrolyte is for the first time employed for Si-based Li-ion batteries. Decomposition of the ether groups creates organic components in the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI). The high Li+ concentration promotes decomposition of the (fluorosulfonyl)(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (FTFSI−) anions, leading to a LiF- and Li3N-rich SEI. The organic-inorganic balanced SEI is responsible for the excellent charge-discharge properties of the Si/CNT/G anode. The FTFSI− anions exhibit low corrosivity toward the Al current collector and high compatibility with the LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 (NCM-811) cathode. With a charging voltage of 4.5 V, remarkable reversible capacities and cycling stability of NCM-811 in the high-Li+-fraction N-methoxyethyl-N-methylpyrrolidinium/FTFSI IL electrolyte are observed. Differential scanning calorimetry is used to examine the interfacial exothermic reactions between the delithiated NCM-811 and various electrolytes. After 300 charge-discharge cycles, the capacity retention of a Si/CNT/G||NCM-811 full cell with the proposed IL electrolyte is 80% with a Coulombic efficiency of ∼99.9%. These values are significantly higher than those of the conventional carbonate electrolyte cell.

Cubic-phase Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZO) garnet is a promising solid electrolyte candidate for next-generation Li batteries. As a viable approach, the desired cubic-phase formation of LLZO relies on elemental doping. In this regard, various dopants such as Al and Ga are doped into the LLZO samples, which are synthesized using a solid-state reaction method. The Al- and Ga-doped LLZO can transform to a cubic-phase garnet at 900 °C. After 1200 °C sintering, a Li2ZrO3 impurity phase is found for the Al-doped LLZO pellet, which still shows many voids and inhomogeneous particles on the surface. The Ga doping seems to be attractive since it can effectively stabilize the cubic phase and desired microstructure within 900–1200 °C. Based on the optimized Ga-doped LLZO (LGLZO), various electrolyte architecture designs are developed that include LGLZO pellet electrolytes with and without poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-lithium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI)-LGLZO coating, and hybrid electrolyte layers of PEO-LiTFSI, PEO-LGLZO, and PEO-LiTFSI-LGLZO composites. Li//LiFePO4 (LFP) cells with various types of electrolytes are assembled, and their charge-discharge properties are investigated. The all-solid-state Li//PEO-LiTFSI-LGLZO//LFP cell exhibits satisfactory charge storage performance, which has revealed potential for practical applications.

In this paper, we develop a bandpass filter using a stub-loaded stepped impedance resonator (SLSIR) and calculate the even and odd resonant modes of this type of resonator using the input impedance/admittance analysis. In this study, two impedance ratios and two length ratios are operated as the design parameters for controlling the resonant modes of the SLSIR. Several resonant mode variation curves operating three resonant modes with different impedance ratios and two length ratios are developed. By tuning the desired impedance ratios and length ratios of the SLSIRs, compact ultra-wideband (UWB) bandpass filters (BPFs) can be achieved. Two examples of the UWB BPFs are designed in this study. The first example is UWB filter with a wide stopband and the second one is dual UWB BPF, namely, with UWB performance and a notch band. The first filter is designed for a UWB response from 3.1 to 5.26 GHz having a stopband from 5.3 to 11 GHz, with an attenuation level better than 18 dB. The second filter example is a dual UWB BPF with the frequency range from 3.1 to 5 GHz and 6 to 10.1 GHz using two sets of the proposed SLSIR. The measured results have insertion loss of less than 1 dB, and return loss greater than 10 dB. Furthermore, the coupling structures and open stub of the SLSIR also provide several transmission zeros at the skirt of the passbands for improving the passband selectivity.

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the common pathogenic bacteria responsible for bacterial infectious diseases and food poisoning. This study presents an analytical method based on the affinity nanoprobe-based mass spectrometry that enables detection of S. aureus in aqueous samples. A peptide aptamer DVFLGDVFLGDEC (DD) that can recognize S. aureus and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) was used as the reducing agent and protective group to generate DD-immobilized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs@DD) from one-pot reactions. The thiol group from cysteine in the peptide aptamer, i.e., DD, can interact with gold ions to generate DD-immobilized AuNPs in an alkaline solution. The generated AuNPs@DD has an absorption maximum at ∼518 nm. The average particle size is 7.6 ± 1.2 nm. Furthermore, the generated AuNPs@DD can selectively bind with S. aureus and MRSA. The conjugates of the target bacteria with AuNPs were directly analyzed by surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (SALDI-MS). The gold ions generated from the AuNPs@DD anchored on the target bacteria were monitored. Gold ions (m/z 197 and 394) were only generated from the conjugates of the target bacterium-AuNP@DD in the SALDI process. Thus, the gold ions could be used as the indicators for the presence of the target bacteria. The detection limit of S. aureus using this method is in the order of a few tens of cells. The low detection limit is due to the ease of generation of gold cluster ion derived from AuNPs under irradiation with a 355 nm laser beam. Apple juice mixed with S. aureus was used as the sample to demonstrate the suitability of the method for real-world application. Because of its low detection limit, this approach can potentially be used to screen the presence of S. aureus in complex samples.

Electrolyte optimization plays a key role in deciding energy density (ED) and power density (PD) of supercapacitors. Increasing cell voltage is an effective way to improve ED and PD. Therefore, an electrolyte with a large potential window is highly desired. Ionic liquid (IL) electrolytes, characterized by wide potential windows, excellent thermal stability, intrinsic ionic conductivity, non-volatility, non-flammability, and low environmental concerns, are potential electrolytes and are used for micropore-and mesopore-rich activated carbon (ACmicro and ACmeso) supercapacitors. IL electrolytes consisting of various cations of EMI+ (1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazolium), PMP+ (N-propyl-N-methyl pyrrolidinium), and BMP+ (N-butyl-N-methyl pyrrolidinium) and various anions of TFSI– (bis(trifluoromethyl sulfonyl) imide), BF4 – (tetrafluoroborate), and FSI– (bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide) are explored. The electrolyte viscosity and conductivity and ion transport properties at the ACmicro and ACmeso electrodes are studied. Also, the capacitance, cycling stability, and rate capability of the ACmicro and ACmeso electrodes are systematically investigated, and post-mortem material analyses are conducted. This study shows the influence of IL composition on charge–discharge capacitances of the ACmicro electrodes is more pronounced than that for the ACmeso electrodes. The FSI-based IL electrolytes, whose electrochemical properties are dependent on cation, are found to be highly promising. Uniting EMI+ with FSI– results in low viscosity of electrolyte and high ion transport, optimizing the electrode capacitance and rate capability. Interchanging EMI+ with PMP+ enhances the cell voltage (to 3.5 V) and maximum ED (to 42 Wh kg−1) of the ACmicro cell at the cost of cycling stability.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have emerged because of the prevalent use of antibacterial agents. Thus, new antibacterial agents and therapeutics that can treat bacterial infections are necessary. Vancomycin is a potent antibiotic. Unfortunately, some bacterial strains have developed their resistance toward vancomycin. Nevertheless, it has been demonstrated that vancomycin-immobilized nanoparticles (NPs) are capable to be used in inhibition of the cell growth of vancomycin-resistant bacterial strains through multivalent interactions. However, multistep syntheses are usually necessary to generate vancomycin-immobilized NPs. Thus, maintaining the antibiotic activity of vancomycin when the drug is immobilized on the surface of NPs is challenging. In this study, a facile approach to generate vancomycin immobilized gold (Van-Au) NPs through one-pot stirring of vancomycin with aqueous tetrachloroauric acid at pH 12 and 25 °C for 24 h was demonstrated. Van-Au NPs (8.4 ± 1.3 nm in size) were readily generated. The generated Van-Au NPs maintained their antibiotic activities and inhibited the cell growth of pathogens, which included Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria as well as antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains. Furthermore, the minimum inhibitory concentration of the Van-Au NPs against bacteria was lower than that of free-form vancomycin. Staphylococcus aureus-infected macrophages were used as the model samples to examine the antibacterial activity of the Van-Au NPs. Macrophages have the tendency to engulf Van-Au NPs through endocytosis. The results showed that the cell growth of S. aureus in the macrophages was effectively inhibited, suggesting the potential of using the generated Van-Au NPs as antibacterial agents for bacterial infectious diseases.

Dextrans are widely used as additives in food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics because of their hydrophilicity, biocompatibility, and low toxicity. These features allow the use of dextrans to modify the surface of nanoparticles to improve cell compatibility for biomedical applications. Additionally, dextran molecules covalently bound with fluorescent dyes are frequently used as tracers in animal studies. These facts show that dextrans are useful compounds for biomedicine-related applications and research. Our aim was to explore a facile way to generate dextran-derived nanoparticles with photoluminescent property for the use in fluorescence imaging of bacteria and cancer cells. Dextran-encapsulated gold nanoclusters (AuNCs@dextran) were generated through a one-pot reaction by stirring dextrans and aqueous tetrachloroauric acid overnight. The generated AuNCs exhibit bright and green photoluminescence under the illumination of an ultraviolet lamp (λ max = 365 nm), and high cell biocompatibility was found as well. Therefore, the generated AuNCs can be used as fluorescence tracers and nanoprobes. We explored the suitability of AuNCs@dextran as labeling agents for bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. After the bacteria were labeled by AuNCs@dextran, they became quite visible under a fluorescence microscope. Additionally, we demonstrated that nanocomposites composed of AuNCs@dextran and silica beads can be readily internalized by cancer cells. The nanocomposites can be readily detected in the cells through their photoluminescence, suggesting possible applications in drug delivery and fluorescence imaging.