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Rechargeable Zn-air batteries have received extensive attention due to their use of nontoxic materials, safety, and high energy density. However, the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the air electrode of Zn-air batteries both suffer from slow kinetics, limiting their commercialization development. Herein, we prepared Co, N, and S co-doped hollow carbon nanoboxes (Co-N/S-CNBs) rich in topological defects using polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) as a sulfur-rich carbon source. Critically, by utilizing the self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS), PPS can avoid melting, while simultaneously enabling the catalyst to take on a unique hollow structure. Additional post-treatment to introduce Co and N atoms as active centers further increases the defect sites and microporous structures of the catalyst. Under alkaline electrolytes, the Co-N/S-CNBs enabled Zn-air batteries to exhibit excellent bifunctional catalytic activity for both ORR and OER, surpassing commercial catalysts. Chemical analysis showed that the cracking loss of small molecules from PPS during pyrolysis is the main reason for the formation of topological defects, where the defect sites act as active centers to enhance the catalytic performance. Overall, this work provides new insights into the mechanism of how defects are formed in such a catalyst, as well as shows how a high-performance bifunctional electrocatalyst can be utilized for practical Zn-air batteries.

Polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) fiber products have been widely used for separation and filtration in harsh environments due to their excellent chemical resistance and relatively economical price. However, the poor temperature and weak oxidation resistance of PPS significantly shorten its service life under high temperature and strong oxidation environments. Herein, we report a type of oxidation-modified PPS (OPPS) fibers with excellent high temperature and oxidation resistance. This is achieved by oxidizing the thioether sulfide groups in PPS molecular chains into sulfoxide and sulfone groups and cross-linking the intermolecular chains. Both experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that hypochlorous acid (HClO) molecules can rapidly oxidize the PPS fiber surface. In addition, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations prove that there are strong hydrogen bonds and van der Waals interactions between HClO molecules and OPPS molecular chains, which promote the penetration of HClO molecules into the interior of the fiber to complete the layer-by-layer oxidation. The prepared OPPS-20 fibers exhibit excellent structural stability under high temperature and strong oxidant environments. Impressively, the OPPS-20 nonwoven filter still exhibits a high dust filtration efficiency of 99.95% after aging at 320 °C for 12 h, and the corresponding pressure drop is 24 Pa. In addition, the OPPS-20 nonwoven filter also maintains excellent filtration performance after aging in 60% HNO

The rational design of electrode architecture coupling with high specific capacity nanomaterials is highly desirable to build superior energy storage system. Herein, molybdenum-based compounds embedded in flexible 3D interconnected porous carbon nanofibers with protective porous carbon shell are constructed via a facile electro-blowing spinning technique using as free-standing lithium-ion battery (LIB) anodes. Such a well-designed architecture possesses large surface area, protective porous carbon shell and 3D interconnected porous structure. Moreover, various high specific capacity molybdenum-based compounds, including MoS2, MoO2 and MoN, can homogenously disperse within the fibers under different carbonization condition, especially, some of them are bridged to the fiber skeleton through a thin graphite carbon layer. The synergetic coupling effects benefited from the structural and material advantages are effective to provide more lithium-ion storage active sites, fast electrons/ions transfer pathways and good structural integrity. Using as free-standing anodes of LIB, the three fibrous anodes deliver an excellent electrochemical performance in terms of high specific capacity, superior rate capability and satisfied cycling stability. Extraordinarily, the well-designed architecture of fibrous anodes might open a new paradigm to boost the creation of high-performance electrodes for various energy storage devices.

The construction of smart grid is an important part of improving the utilization rate of electric energy. As an important way for the construction of smart grid, non-intrusive load decomposition methods have been extensively studied. In this type of method, limited by transmission cost and network bandwidth, low-frequency data has been widely used in practical applications. However, the accuracy of device identification in this case faces challenges. Due to the relatively single characteristics of low-frequency data, it is difficult to express the operating status of complex electrical appliances, resulting in low decomposition performance. In this paper, a non-intrusive load is proposed based on household electrical habits by studying the relationship between household electricity consumption habits and load status decomposition method. The Gaussian mixture model and time information are used to model the probability distribution of the electrical appliance state. This probability distribution is then used as the observation probability distribution of the factor hidden Markov model. In such a way, the BH-FHMM model is proposed. Finally, load decomposition is carried out through the load decomposition process of the FHMM model. In order to verify the performance of the proposed method, an experimental comparison is conducted based on the REDD data set. According to the results, a significant improvement in equipment recognition accuracy is obtained.

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) exhibit high proton conductivity, thermal stability, and offer immense flexibility in terms of tailoring their size. Owing to their unique characteristics, they are desirable candidates for proton conductors. Nevertheless, constructing ordered MOF proton channels in proton exchange membranes (PEMs) remains a formidable challenge. Herein, blend nanofibers of cellulose and UiO-66-NH2 (Cell–UiO-66-NH2) obtained via the electrospinning process were embedded in a sulfonated polysulfone matrix to obtain high-performance composite PEMs with an orderly arrangement of UiO-66-NH2. Comprehensive characterization and membrane performance tests reveal that composite membrane with 5 wt% (nominal) UiO-66-NH2 have revealed high proton conductivity of 0.196 S cm−1 at 80 °C and 100% relative humidity. Meantime, the composite membrane exhibits a low methanol permeability coefficient (~5.5 × 10−7 cm2 s−1). Moreover, the composite membrane exhibits a low swelling ratio (17.3%) even at 80 °C. The Cell–UiO-66-NH2 nanofibers exhibit strong potential for use as a proton-conducting nanofiller in fuel-cell PEMs.

The cleanup of oily wastewater and crude-oil spills is a global challenge. Traditional membrane materials are inefficient for oil/water separation under harsh conditions and limited by sorption speeds because of the high viscosity of crude oil. Herein, a kind of Graphene-wrapped polyphenylene sulfide fibrous membrane with superior chemical resistance and hydrophobicity for efficient oil/water separation and fast adsorption of crude oil all-weather is reported. The reduced graphene oxide (rGO)@polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) fibrous membrane can be applied in the various harsh conditions with Joule heating and solar heating. In addition, the oil(dichloromethane)/water separation flux of rGO@PPS reached 12 903 L m-2h-1, and the separation efficiency reached 99.99%. After 10 cycles, the rGO@PPS still performed high separation flux and filtration efficiency. More importantly, the rGO@PPS still retained its high conductivity, excellent filtration efficiency, and stable hydrophobicity after acid or alkali treatment. Moreover, the rGO@PPS can be heated by solar energy to absorb viscous crude oil during the day, while at night, the crude oil can be adsorbed by Joule heating. The time to adsorb crude oil can be reduced by 98.6% and 97.3% through Joule heating and solar heating, respectively. This all-weather utilization greatly increases the adsorption efficiency and effectively reduces energy consumption.

In view of the disadvantages of concentration polarization and trade-off effects in the application of membrane in desalination field, oxide-nano graphene oxide/polyamide (O-NGO/PA) loose intermediate layer and PA ultra-thin dense layer were introduced to fabricate PA/O-NGO/polyphenylene sulfide composite membrane with sandwich structure via multi-step interfacial polymerization (MS-IP) method. The selective permeation mechanism of ultrathin layer produced by different aqueous monomers (PIP and MPD) was studied, the effect of its physicochemical structure on the relief of concentration polarization phenomenon and the breakthrough of trade-off effect was analyzed. The ultra-thin and dense PA layer mainly played the role of interception and shortened the water molecular penetration path. In the retention test of metal salt solution, compared with the rough surface, it was found that the smooth surface was more conducive to the diffusion of intercepted metal ions into the feed solution, thus alleviating the concentration polarization phenomenon.

The aqueous rechargeable Zn-ion batteries based on the safe, low cost and environmental benignity aqueous electrolytes are one of the most compelling candidates for large scale energy storage applications. However, pursuing suitable insertion materials may be a great challenge due to the strong electrostatic interaction between Zn2+ and cathode materials. Hence, a novel NaV6O15/V2O5 skin-core heterostructure nanowire is reported via a one-step hydrothermal method and subsequent calcination for high-stable aqueous Zn-ion batteries (ZIBs). The NaV6O15/V2O5 cathode delivers high specific capacity of 390 mAh/g at 0.3 A/g and outstanding cycling stability of 267 mAh/g at 5 A/g with high capacity retention over 92.3% after 3000 cycles. The superior electrochemical performances are attributed to the synergistic effect of skin-core heterostructured NaV6O15/V2O5, in which the sheath of NaV6O15 possesses high stability and conductivity, and the V2O5 endows high specific capacity. Besides, the heterojunction structure not only accelerates intercalation kinetics of Zn2+ transport but also further consolidates the stability of the layers of V2O5 during the cyclic process. This work provides a new perspective in developing feasible insertion materials for rechargeable aqueous ZIBs.

Laser powder bed fusion AlSi10Mg exhibits severe mechanical anisotropy, which hinders its applications in industrial field. In the present work, we investigated the mechanisms of anisotropy in the light of phase stress partition, using traditional crystal plasticity and mechanism-based strain gradient crystal plasticity models. Two representative volume elements of the Al-Si cellular structures, corresponding to 35 ℃ and 200 ℃ build platform temperatures, were built to assess the influences of Al matrix strength and strain gradient on phase stress partition and anisotropy. In addition, the maximum principal stress distribution of the Si-rich network was probed, based on which the potential damage sites and densities were evaluated. The results show that the anisotropic strength and damage both originate from the elongated Si-rich network. According to the comparison between the 35 ℃ and 200 ℃ materials, an increase in Al phase strength can change the phase stress partition and effectively mitigate the anisotropy degree. Moreover, it is revealed that the strain gradient tends to alleviate anisotropy and delay damage evolution. The findings of this work can pave the way to developing highperformance LPBF Al alloys with lower degrees of anisotropy.

Rechargeable aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) have drawn intense attention for large-scale energy storage because of their intrinsic safety, low cost, and high energy intensity. However, it is difficult to find suitable cathode materials with excellent Zn²⁺ storage cyclability due to the strong electrostatic interaction of divalent Zn²⁺ with cathode material frameworks. Herein, a series of preintercalated nanostructure vanadium-based oxides with alkali metal ions (Li⁺, Na⁺, and K⁺) are prepared via a simple spontaneous growth method under ambient conditions. In the synthesis process, the electronegativity of alkali metal ions plays a key role in the intercalated nanostructure evolution, preintercalated vanadium-based oxide synthesis rate, targeted product morphology, etc. Furthermore, the subsequent modification of the appropriate calcination temperature is favorable for tuning the amorphous structure of the electrode to achieve the outstanding Zn-storage performances. The alkali metal ions between the layers can not only ameliorate the stability of the vanadium oxide structure, but also achieve high ion diffusion ability by enlarging the interlayer spacing and enhancing the electrical conductivity. For instance, the Na⁺ preintercalated V₂O₅ cathode exhibits high capacity retention of 96.4% after 100 cycles at 0.5 A g–¹ and an excellent capacity of 153 mAh g–¹ at 20 A g–¹. Meanwhile, the cointercalation mechanism of Zn²⁺ and protons has also been proven using the trifluoromethanesulfonic acid as the electrolyte. Furthermore, for the flexible quasi-solid-state battery with preintercalated vanadium-based oxide as the cathode, significant electrochemical performance could be observed after 150 cycles. This cost-effective and green large-scale synthesis process sheds light on the development and applications of ZIBs’ stationary grid storage.

Bimetallic metal organic framework (MOF) as a precursor to prepare catalysts with bifunctional catalytic activity of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) attracts more and more attention. Herein, hollow oxygen deficiency-enriched NiFe2O4 is synthesized by pyrolytic FeNi bimetallic MOF. The defects of rGO during carbonization can act as nucleation sites for FeNi particles. After nucleation and N doping, the FeNi particles were served as catalysts for the deposition of dissolved carbon in the defects of the N/rGO. These deposited carbon, like a bridge, connect N/rGO and hollow oxygen deficiency-enriched NiFe2O4 together, which giving full play to the advantages of N/rGO in fast electron transfer, thereby improving its catalytic activity. The resultant NiFe2O4@N/rGO-800 exhibits a low overpotential of 252 mV at 20 mA cm−2 for OER and 157 mV at 10 mA cm−2 for HER in 1 M KOH, respectively. When used as bifunctional electrodes for overall water splitting, it also shows low cell voltage of 1.60 V and 1.67 V at 10 and 20 mA cm−2, respectively.

Proton conduction is a ubiquitous fundamental phenomenon in biological systems. Biology has solved the problem of energy-related proton conduction, in which the exposed amino acids in the protein ordered channels play a key role in proton conduction. In this contribution, amino acids (glutamate, lysine, and threonine) were attached to metal organic framework (MOF) nanoparticles, which were incorporated into sulfonated polysulfone matrix forming bio-proton channels for the nanocomposite membranes. It is shown in the results that the amino acid-functionalized MOF can help to enhance the proton conductivity and the proton exchange membrane with glutamate-functionalized MOF demonstrate excellent proton conductivity of 0.212 S cm−1 at 80 °C and 100% relative humidity. Meanwhile, the methanol permeability coefficient of the nanocomposite membrane is reduced to 5.8 × 10−7 cm2 s−1. The nanocomposite membranes demonstrate excellent proton conductivity, dimensional stabilities, water absorption, and resistance to methanol performance. Therefore, this material is promising for fuel cells.

Objective: To investigate the value of multi-slice spiral CT in the diagnosis of extrahepatic bile duct stones using Iris algorithm. Methods: 66 cases of extrahepatic bile duct stones underwent plain and enhanced multiline spiral CT. Observe the density, size, location and number of stones during the plain scan. According to the venous phase enhanced scan, the extrahepatic bile duct wall ≥2 mm was used as the thickening criterion to evaluate the stone density, size, number, and composition ratio of the site and its relationship with tube wall thickening. Results: A total of 57 cases of stones of different densities were found on CT. Nine cases of stones of equal density were not identified. Among the 56 cases with thickened wall, 87.50% (49/56) were concentric and 12.50% (7/56) were eccentric. The wall thickening occurred 62.50% (35/56) below the stone; 17.86% (10/56) was located on the level or above the stone, and 8.93% (5/56) was above the stone. 6 cases (6/56) (10.71%) showed extensive tube wall thickening, all caused by multiple stones. Conclusion: In the study of extrahepatic bile duct stones using the Iris algorithm, it was found that most concentric circular tube wall thickening occurred on or below the stone level. When plain CT scan does not show clear bile duct stones, and this phenomenon appears in the portal vein phase of enhanced scan, the possibility of stones should be considered.

This paper aims to develop a chloride transport model of engineered cementitious composites (ECC) that can consider the influence of both exposure time and crack width. ECC specimens with crack widths of 0.1 mm, 0.2 mm and 0.3 mm were soaked into NaCl solution with periods of 30, 60, 90 and 120 days. The free chloride content profile was measured and used for the development of the transport model. Regression analysis was applied to build the time and crack width dependent models of apparent diffusion coefficient and surface chloride content. The results show that the crack width has significant influence on the free chloride concentration profile when it is above 0.2 mm and the time-dependent constant n decreases linearly with the crack width. The chloride transport model was obtained by subscribing the models of apparent diffusion coefficient and surface chloride content into the analytical solution of Fick’s second law. The model was further validated with the experimental results, showing a deviation within 20%. The findings of the presented study can enhance the current understanding on the chloride transportation in ECC.

Developing high-performance non-noble metal bifunctional oxygen reduction and evolution reaction electrocatalysts is a critical factor for the commercialization of rechargeable Zn-air batteries. Herein, Co/Co-N/Co-O rooted on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) hybrid boron and nitrogen codoped carbon (BCN) nanotube arrays (BCN/rGO-Co) is prepared by facile low-temperature precross-linking and high-temperature pyrolysis treatment. Benefit from the synergistic effect of its B/N codoping, Co/Co-N/Co-O bifunctional active sites, 3D hybrid porous structure of BCN nanotubes, and highly conductive rGO sheets. The obtained BCN/rGO-Co exhibits superior bifunctional oxygen catalytic activity with a positive ORR half-wave potential (0.85 V) and a low OER potential (1.61 V) at 10 mA cm

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a vascular disease found to have progressive growth in the area of aorta. Rupturing of aorta causes excessive bleeding that leads to health-related issues, which can be fatal sometimes. Therefore, it becomes important to make early diagnosis of AAA and its condition and start immediate treatment. Blood-based biomarker helps to diagnose AAA and to monitor the condition after AAA surgery. N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is a hormone produced in the heart in small quantities and increased when the heart needs to work harder. NT-proBNP was proved to be strongly linked with AAA incidence. Moreover, quantifying the level of NT-proBNP helps to determine the risk factors on cardiovascular system after the surgery. This work is quantifying the NT-proBNP on interdigitated electrode sensor by using NT-proBNP binding aptamer. The detection limit of NT-proBNP was calculated as 1 pg/mL on a linear regression curve [y = 0.2148x + 0.8849; R² = 0.9049]. The linear range with dose-dependent analysis was from 0.01 until 100 ng/mL. Moreover, the control experiment with complementary aptamer sequence did not show the current signal, specifying the detection of NT-proBNP. This research benefits to identify the heart condition of patient after the removal of AAA.

The high theoretical capacity around 1672 mA h g−1 and the energy density of 2567 Wh kg−1and addition advantages of the low cost and environmental benignity, make lithium-sulfur batteries (LiSBs) next generation battery. However, due to restrictions on the low conductivity of sulfur and soluble polysulfides during discharge, electrochemical performance of the batteries is deteriorated. Heteroatom doped carbon as an effective strategy can improve the poor electrochemical performance caused by polysulfide shuttle. Hence, the nitrogen and oxygen dual-doped tube-like porous biomass-derived carbon from the fluffy catkins is successfully fabricated for the LiSBs. After carbonization and activation, the tube-like and unique mesoporous structure are obtained and maintained, and a high sulfur content of 82.5 wt% is achieved in tube-like activated carbon material/sulfur composites (TACM/S). The N, O dual-doping introduces more active sites and strong chemical adsorption to anchor the polysulfides, therefore remarkably ameliorating the intractable polysulfide shuttle effect and enhancing the utilization of sulfur. The electrochemical results show that the LiSBs with the TACM/S cathode exhibit high initial discharge capacities as high as 1041.7 mAh g−1 at 0.1 C, and outstanding capacity retention of about 77.5% after 500 cycles at 0.5 C with an ultralow capacity fading rate of 0.043% per cycle.

In this paper, numerical investigation of hypersonic gas flow over two typical gap-cavity structures is carried out using all-speed preconditioned density-based solver. Such structures filled with porous seal in the gap are often present at the joint locations of control surfaces of the hypersonic vehicles. Single-domain approach is adopted to integrate the governing equations for both porous and fluid regions. The basic thermal invasion characteristic is first illustrated using the maze gap-cavity structure without sealing. Then, the influence of seal filling depth on the thermal invasion characteristic is investigated for the structure with sealing. Finally, a comparison of thermal invasion characteristics between maze and straight gap-cavity structures is performed to examine the influence of gap bending. Results show that the main source of hot airflow invading into the gap is from the millimeter scale gas layer within the boundary layer. And the invasion characteristic presents approximate stationary behavior. A primary vortex occurs in the gap adjacent to the leeward wall, which is ascribed to the impinging effect between the separate boundary flow and the windward wall. This effect is also the main driving force of thermal invasion. A treatment of filling the seal in certain depth inside the gap can significantly reduce the thermal load of seal and maintain an acceptable level of the invading mass flow rate. Additionally, it is found that the gap bending exerts a limited block effect on the thermal invasion without sealing, and this effect can be ignored with sealing. These results can provide a reference for optimizing the seal gap-cavity structure configuration.

A two-dimensional discrete-continuous scheme (DCS), which couples the motions of dislocations and diffusion of vacancies, is developed. There are three modules in this scheme. The glide and climb of dislocations are performed by the discrete dislocation dynamics (DDD) module, by which the evolution of dislocations is captured and the plastic strain due to dislocation motions is obtained. The diffusion of vacancies is performed by the finite difference method (FDM) module, by which the vacancy concentration field and the inelastic strain due to vacancy diffusion are obtained. The plastic strain by the DDD and the inelastic strain by the FDM, as the eigen-strains, are transferred to the finite element method (FEM) module, by which the stress field is obtained and then transferred back to the DDD module and FDM module to drive dislocation motions and vacancy diffusion. By this vacancy diffusion coupled discrete dislocation dynamics scheme, the compression creep of single crystalline and bi-crystalline aluminum micro-pillars at elevated temperature is modeled. Some interesting creep behaviors are computationally captured. The compression creep of single crystalline and bi-crystalline micro-pillars is size dependent: the creep strain of micro-pillars at higher compressive stress increases with increasing micro-pillar diameter, which is in good agreement with experimental results reported in the literature. This is believed to result from higher dislocation density in those micro-pillars with larger diameter.

To buffer the unavoidable volume expansion and structure collapse problems of transitional metal sulfides during lithiation process, herein, nanosized α-MnS homogenously embedded in axial multichannel carbon nanofibers was well designed and directly used as freestanding anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The obtained carbon nanofibers were interwoven into a flexible and cross-linked film, which offered a 3D successive conductive networks and guaranteed sufficient contact interface for electrode/electrolyte. The nanosized α-MnS was homogenously embedded into the carbon nanofiber framework and surrounded with a thin protective carbon layer, which effectively maintained the structural integrity for a satisfied cycling performance. The high aspect ratio carbon nanofibers with axial open channels supplied sufficient active sites and formed long-range electronic pathways along the axial carbon wall. Meanwhile, the radial voids provided enormous accommodation space to alleviate volume expansion and shortened diffusion paths for faster ionic transfer. Benefitting from the above unique merits, the freestanding electrodes delivered excellent lithium storage performances and remarkable long-term cycling stability, including a high initial reversible capacity of 772 mAh g−1 and excellent cycling capacity retention of 93.4% after 100 cycles at a current density of 0.5 A g−1.

The strength, plasticity and ductility-brittleness transition of metals are often governed by various planar fault energies. Due to interactions between the solute hydrogen (H) and the planar faults, the planar fault energies are heavily affected in the H-charged metals. An accurate quantitative description of the H-affected planar fault energies is essential for us to understand correctly the H-induced plasticity mechanism in metals. In this paper, a reliable atomistic modeling method is s2uggested to calculate quantitatively the effect of solute H on four frequently-used fault energies. The computed results show that solute H can increase the unstable stacking fault energy but decrease the other three, and the fault energies are linearly related to the equilibrium hydrogen concentration up to 0.020. In addition, the generalized stacking fault energy curves of the H-charged Ni in the and directions are also computed to construct the γ -surfaces. Finally, the influence of pre-stress on the unstable and stable stacking fault energies is discussed in detail. These quantitative results are helpful to understand the dislocation/twin-dominated plastic mechanisms in the H-charged metals and to develop the H-affected discrete dislocation dynamic (DDD) and crystal plasticity (CP) algorithms.

Nucleus pulposus (NP) apoptosis and subsequent excessive degradation of the extracellular matrix (ECM) are key pathological characteristics of intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). The present study aims to examine the signaling processes underlying the effects of taurine on IDD, with specific focus on endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress‑mediated apoptosis and ECM degradation, in NP cells. To clarify the role of taurine in IDD, NP cells were treated with various concentrations of taurine and IL‑1β or thapsigargin (TG). Cell Counting Kit‑8, western blotting, TUNEL, immunofluorescence assays and reverse transcription‑quantitative PCR were applied to measure cell viability, the expression of ER stress‑associated proteins (GRP78, CHOP and caspase‑12), apoptosis and the levels of metabolic factors associated with ECM (MMP‑1, 3, 9, ADAMTS‑4, 5 and collagen II), respectively. Taurine was found to attenuate ER stress and prevent apoptosis in NP cells induced by IL‑1β treatment. Additionally, taurine significantly decreased the expression of ER stress‑activated glucose regulatory protein 78, C/EBP homologous protein and caspase‑12. TUNEL results revealed that taurine decreased the number of apoptotic TG‑treated NP cells. TG‑treated NP cells also exhibited characteristics of increased ECM degradation, supported by observations of increased MMP‑1, MMP‑3, MMP‑9 and A disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs (ADAMTS)‑4 and ADAMTS‑5 expression in addition to decreased collagen‑II expression. However, taurine treatment significantly reversed all indicators of excessive ECM catabolism aforementioned. These data suggest that taurine can mediate protection against apoptosis and ECM degradation in NP cells by inhibiting ER stress, implicating therapeutic potential for the treatment of IDD.