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Recently, the production and demand for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have increased owing to the increasing number of electric vehicles and electronic products. This surge has considerably increased the volume of spent LIBs, leading to environmental damage and economic losses. Thus, the recycling of spent LIBs is critical because it enables the recovery of valuable metals and mitigates environmental impacts. This work introduces a novel environmentally friendly and biodegradable deep eutectic solvent (DES) for leaching valuable metals from waste LIBs, which includes ascorbic acid (VC) derived from fruits and dimethyl-beta-propiothetin chloride (DMSP) derived from fish attractants. It is noteworthy that the utilization of chemical reagents in this study was significantly diminished, with VC and DMSP accounting for 16.5% and 8.5% of the total solvents, respectively—which decreased recycling costs and alleviated the environmental burden. The leaching of LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 (LNCM111) cathode materials was rapidly achieved at a low temperature of 50 °C within 14 minutes. The coordinated action of Cl− ions and the reducing effect of VC in DMSP resulted in a 99% leaching efficiency for Lithium, Cobalt, Manganese, and Nickel. In addition, the leaching mechanism was comprehensively investigated via kinetics and density functional theory calculations. This efficient, easy-to-operate, low-cost, and sustainable leaching process involving the DES demonstrates considerable potential for recycling LIBs, offering an environmentally friendly and effective solution for LIB reuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Soil water content is one of the critical indicators in agricultural systems. Visible/near-infrared hyperspectral remote sensing is an effective method for soil water estimation. However, noise removal from massive spectral datasets and effective feature extraction are challenges for achieving accurate soil water estimation using this technology. Methods: This study proposes a method for hyperspectral remote sensing soil water content estimation based on a combination of continuous wavelet transform (CWT) and competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS). Hyperspectral data were collected from soil samples with different water contents prepared in the laboratory. CWT, with two wavelet basis functions (mexh and gaus2), was used to pre-process the hyperspectral reflectance to eliminate noise interference. The correlation analysis was conducted between soil water content and wavelet coefficients at ten scales. The feature variables were extracted from these wavelet coefficients using the CARS method and used as input variables to build linear and non-linear models, specifically partial least squares (PLSR) and extreme learning machine (ELM), to estimate soil water content. Results: The results showed that the correlation between wavelet coefficients and soil water content decreased as the decomposition scale increased. The corresponding bands of the extracted wavelet coefficients were mainly distributed in the near-infrared region. The non-linear model (ELM) was superior to the linear method (PLSR). ELM demonstrated satisfactory accuracy based on the feature wavelet coefficients of CWT with the mexh wavelet basis function at a decomposition scale of 1 (CWT(mexh_1)), with R2, RMSE, and RPD values of 0.946, 1.408%, and 3.759 in the validation dataset, respectively. Overall, the CWT(mexh_1)-CARS-ELM systematic modeling method was feasible and reliable for estimating the water content of sandy clay loam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The defects from functional layers and interface, the agglomeration of SnO2 nanoparticles (NPs), and poor perovskite crystallization are the main barrier to further heightening the power conversion efficiency (PCE) and stability of regular perovskite solar cells. Here, a bottom‐up multilayer manipulation strategy by pre‐embedding multisite racemic DL‐cysteine hydrochloride monohydrate (DLCH) into the SnO2 electron transport layer (ETL) is reported. The positively and negatively charged defects from ETL, perovskite layer and their interface can be passivated through the synergistic effect of the ─SH, ─COOH, ─NH3+, and Cl− groups in DLCH. The synergy of multiple functional groups and multiple chemical bonds enables bottom‐up cross‐layer passivation, which minimizes bulk and interfacial nonradiative recombination losses. Furthermore, the multifunctional DLCH plays a role in inhibiting the agglomeration of SnO2 NPs, managing photons, relieving interfacial tensile stress, and manipulating perovskite crystallization. Benefiting from the above advantages, the DLCH‐incorporating device delivers a PCE of 24.01%, which is much higher than the 21.61% of the control device. Moreover, the DLCH‐modified devices demonstrate inviting thermal and ambient stabilities by maintaining 93% of the initial efficiency after aging at 65 °C for 1800 h and 95% of the original PCE after aging under a relative humidity of 20–25% for 2000 h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA) primarily catalyzes the conversion between lactic acid and pyruvate, serving as a key enzyme in the aerobic glycolysis pathway of sugar in tumor cells. LDHA plays a crucial role in the occurrence, development, progression, invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis, and immune escape of tumors. Consequently, LDHA not only serves as a biomarker for tumor diagnosis and prognosis but also represents an ideal target for tumor therapy. Although LDHA inhibitors show great therapeutic potential, their development has proven to be challenging. In the development of LDHA inhibitors, the key active sites of LDHA are emphasized. Nevertheless, there is a relative lack of research on the amino acid residues around the active center of LDHA. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the amino acid residues around the active center of LDHA. Through structure comparison analysis, five key amino acid residues (Ala30, Met41, Lys131, Gln233, and Ala259) were identified. Subsequently, the effects of these five residues on the enzymatic properties of LDHA were investigated using site-directed mutagenesis. The results revealed that the catalytic activities of the five mutants varied to different degrees in both the reaction from lactic acid to pyruvate and pyruvate to lactic acid. Notably, the catalytic activities of LDHAM41G and LDHAK131I were improved, particularly in the case of LDHAK131I. The results of the molecular dynamics analysis of LDHAK131I explained the reasons for this phenomenon. Additionally, the optimum temperature of LDHAM41G and LDHAQ233M increased from 35 °C to 40 °C, whereas in the reverse reaction, the optimum temperature of LDHAM41G and LDHAK131I decreased from 70 °C to 60 °C. These findings indicate that Ala30, Met41, Lys131, Gln233, and Ala259 exert diverse effects on the catalytic activity and optimum temperature of LHDA. Therefore, these amino acid residues, in addition to the key catalytic site of the active center, play a crucial role. Considering these residues in the design and screening of LDHA inhibitors may lead to the development of more effective inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sodium/potassium‐ion batteries (NIBs and KIBs) are considered the most promising candidates for lithium‐ion batteries in energy storage fields. Tin sulfide (SnS2) is regarded as an attractive negative candidate for NIBs and KIBs thanks to its superior power density, high‐rate performance and natural richness. Nevertheless, the slow dynamics, the enormous volume change and the decomposition of polysulfide intermediates limit its practical application. Herein, microcubes SnS2 were prepared through sacrificial MnCO3 template‐assisted and a facile solvothermal reaction strategy and their performance was investigated in Na and K‐based cells. The unique hollow cubic structure and well‐confined SnS2 nanosheets play an important role in Na+/K+ rapid kinetic and alleviating volume change. The effect of the carbon additives (Super P/C65) on the electrochemical properties were investigated thoroughly. The in operando and ex‐situ characterization provide a piece of direct evidence to clarify the storage mechanism of such conversion‐alloying type negative electrode materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]