Advanced Na metal anodes

Na metal anode, benefiting from its high theoretical capacity and lowest electrochemical potential, ~sone of the most favorable candidates for future Na-based batteries with high energy density. Dendritegrowth, volume change and high reactivity are the formidable challenges in terms of good cycling perfor-mance and high Coulombic efficiency as well as an expected safety guarantee of Na metal anode for thepractical application. Solid electrolyte interphase （SEI） layer as an indispensable component of a battery,its formation and stability play the critical role in the feasibility of Na metal anode. In this review, wefirst discuss the current consideration and challenges of Na metal anode, and then summarize severalstrategies to suppress dendrite growth and improve electrochemical performance, including interface en-gineering, electrolyte composition, electrode construction, and so on. Finally, the conclusion and futureperspective of potential development on Na metal anode are proposed.

Advances in Understanding Materials for Rechargeable Lithium Batteries by Atomic Force Microscopy

The development of advanced lithium batteries represents a major technological challenge for the new century.Understanding the fundamental electrode degradation mechanisms is important for battery performance improvements.The complex electrochemical processes inside a working battery are being explored to a limited extent.Various advanced material characterization techniques have been used to monitor dynamic conditions for optimizing battery materials.State-of-the-art atomic force microscopy methods have been applied to energy storage systems,specifically lithium-ion batteries.Atomic force microscopy is an ideal tool to provide localized morphological,chemical,and physical information at nanoscale for the in-depth understanding of the electrochemical processes,reaction mechanisms,and degradation of battery materials.Here,we review recent progress in the development and application of atomic force microscopy for high-performance lithium-ion batteries.We discuss atomic force microscopy as an analytical tool to help researchers understand graphite,silicon,layered metal oxides,and other representative electrode materials.We summarize the importance of atomic force microscopy technique in studying the next-generation Li–S and Li–O 2 batteries.We also highlight some of the remaining challenges and possible solutions for future development.

Wide-temperature range and high safety electrolytes for highvoltage Li-metal batteries

Along with the keeping growing demand for high-energy-density energy storage system,high-voltage Li-metal batteries(LMBs)have attracted many attentions.In view of many defects of the commercial electrolytes,such as flammability,limited operation temperature range,and severe Li dendrite growth,non-flammable phosphate-based localized highly concentrated electrolytes(LHCE)have been explored as one of the safe electrolytes for LMBs.But until now there is rare report on wide-temperature range LMBs using phosphate-based electrolytes.Here,we prepare a wide-temperature LHCE,which is composed of lithium difluoro(oxalato)borate(LiDFOB),triethyl phosphate(TEP),and 1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethyl-2,2,3,3-tetrafluoropropyl ether(HFE),and explore the applicability in wide-temperature LMBs from−40 to 70℃.In the LHCE,both TEP and HFE are non-flammable,and Li^(+) is highly coordinated with TEP and DFOB^(−),which can effectively inhibit the TEP decomposition on anode,and facilitate the preferential reduction of DFOB^(−),thus obtain a robust solid electrolyte interphase(SEI)to suppress Li dendrite growth and side reactions.Therefore,this LHCE can not only endow Li/Cu and Li/Li cells with high Coulombic efficiency(CE)and long cycling lifespan,but also be applied to LiFePO_(4)(LFP)/Li and LiNi_(0.5)Co_(0.2)Mn_(0.3)O_(2)(NCM523)/Li LMBs.Most importantly,the NCM523/Li LMBs with LHCE can deliver stable cycling performance at 4.5 V high-voltage and high-temperature(70℃),as well as excellent low-temperature capacity retention even though both charging and discharging process were carried out at−40℃.

Boosting reversible anionic redox reaction with Li/Cu dual honeycomb centers

The anionic redox reaction(ARR)is a promising charge contributor to improve the reversible capacity of layeredoxide cathodes for Na-ion batteries;however,some practical bottlenecks still need to be eliminated,including a low capacity retention,large voltage hysteresis,and low rate capability.Herein,we proposed a high-Na content honeycomb-ordered cathode,P2–Na_(5/6)[Li_(1/6)Cu_(1/6)Mn_(2/3)]O_(2)(P2-NLCMO),with combined cationic/anionic redox.Neutron powder diffraction and X-ray diffraction of P2-NLCMO suggested P2-type stacking with rarely found P6322 symmetry.In addition,advanced spectroscopy techniques and density functional theory calculations confirmed the synergistic stabilizing relationship between the Li/Cu dual honeycomb centers,achieving fully active Cu^(3+)/Cu^(2+) redox and stabilized ARR with interactively suppressed local distortion.With a meticulously regulated charge/discharge protocol,both the cycling and rate capability of P2-NLCMO were significantly.

Ni-based cathode materials for Na-ion batteries

Na-ion batteries(NIBs)have attracted significant attention owing to Na being an abundant resource that is uniformly distributed in the Earth's crust.Several 3d transition metal(TM)ions have been thoroughly investigated as charge compensators in single or multiple composition systems to enhance the electrochemical performance of cathodes for the practical applications.In this review,the composition-structure-property relationship of Ni-based cathodes has been reviewed as a design perspective for NIB'S cathodes.The typical Ni-based cathode materials have bee n systematically summarized and comparatively analyzed,and it is dem on strated that Ni io ns can be used to provide charge compensation.Moreover,Ni-based cathodes present high reversible capacity owing to the multi-electron redox reactions and suitable redox pote ntial of Ni-ions redox.However,con sidering the abundan ce,cost,and hygroscopic properties of Ni eleme nt,the content of 0.15-0.35 per formula can be optimal for enhancing the performance of cathodes.Lastly,further perspectives on designing Ni?containing cathodes,including Ni-rich layered cathodes,have been discussed,which could promote the practical applications of NIBs for grid-scale energy storage in future.

High-temperature treatment induced carbon anode with ultrahigh Na storage capacity at low-voltage plateau

Sodium-ion batteries(NIBs) show great prospect on the energy storage applications benefiting from their low cost and the abundant Na resources despite the expected lower energy density compared with lithium-ion batteries(LIBs). To further enhance the competitive advantage, especially in energy density,developing the high-capacity carbon anode materials can be one of the effective approaches to realize this goal. Herein, we report a novel carbon anode made from charcoal with a high capacity of ~400 m Ah g^(-1), wherein about 85%(>330 mAh g^(-1)) of its total capacity is derived from the long plateau region below ~0.1 V, which differs from those of typical hard carbon materials(~300 m Ah g^(-1)) in NIBs but is similar to the graphite anode in LIBs. When coupled with air-stable Na_(0.9)Cu_(0.22)e_(0.30)Mn_(0.48)O_2 oxide cathode, a high-energy density of ~240 Wh kg^(-1) is achieved with good rate capability and cycling stability. The discovery of this promising carbon anode is expected to further improve the energy density of NIBs towards large-scale electrical energy storage.

Flexible Na batteries

Flexible energy storage devices have gained significant attention because of the increasing needs of bendable displays,wearable electronics,and flexible displays.Flexible Na-based rechargeable batteries are the promising power sources in such products due to their low cost and wide availability.In this review,we firstly introduce the structural superiority of flexible Na-based batteries and summarize their main components including cathodes,electrolytes,and anodes.Moreover,fabrication of their flexible components is discussed in detail,with specific emphasis on material selection,particularly for solid-state electrolytes.This is followed by an overview highlighting recent progress in the development of prototypes of flexible Na-ion batteries and beyond.Finally,perspectives on future challenges for the development of flexible Na batteries are proposed.

Colour compound lenses for a portable fluorescence microscope

In this article,we demonstrated a handheld smartphone fluorescence microscope(HSFM)that integrates dualfunctional polymer lenses with a smartphone.The HSFM consists of a smartphone,a field-portable illumination source,and a dual-functional polymer lens that performs both optical imaging and filtering.Therefore,compared with the existing smartphone fluorescence microscope,the HSFM does not need any additional optical filters.Although fluorescence imaging has traditionally played an indispensable role in biomedical and clinical applications due to its high specificity and sensitivity for detecting cells,proteins,DNAs/RNAs,etc.,the bulky elements of conventional fluorescence microscopes make them inconvenient for use in point-of-care diagnosis.The HSFM demonstrated in this article solves this problem by providing a multifunctional,miniature,small-form-factor fluorescence module.This multifunctional fluorescence module can be seamlessly attached to any smartphone camera for both bright-field and fluorescence imaging at cellular-scale resolutions without the use of additional bulky lenses/filters;in fact,the HSFM achieves magnification and light filtration using a single lens.Cell and tissue observation,cell counting,plasmid transfection evaluation,and superoxide production analysis were performed using this device.Notably,this lens system has the unique capability of functioning with numerous smartphones,irrespective of the smartphone model and the camera technology housed within each device.As such,this HSFM has the potential to pave the way for realtime point-of-care diagnosis and opens up countless possibilities for personalized medicine.

沙库巴曲缬沙坦在射血分数保留的心力衰竭患者中的研究进展

随着沙库巴曲缬沙坦(ARNI)的上市,心力衰竭(HF)治疗有了新的选择。然而,ARNI目前只用于射血分数降低的心力衰竭(HFrEF)患者,尚没有证据显示任何一种现代的疗法能降低HFpEF患者的死亡率,这促进了ARNI用于HFpEF治疗的进一步研究。本文总结了ARNI用于HFpEF的治疗研究。

An acoustofluidic scanning nanoscope using enhanced image stacking and processing

Nanoscale optical resolution with a large field of view is a critical feature for many research and industry areas,such as semiconductor fabrication,biomedical imaging,and nanoscale material identification.Several scanning microscopes have been developed to resolve the inverse relationship between the resolution and field of view;however,those scanning microscopes still rely upon fluorescence labeling and complex optical systems.To overcome these limitations,we developed a dual-camera acoustofluidic nanoscope with a seamless image merging algorithm(alphablending process).This design allows us to precisely image both the sample and the microspheres simultaneously and accurately track the particle path and location.Therefore,the number of images required to capture the entire field of view(200×200μm)by using our acoustofluidic scanning nanoscope is reduced by 55-fold compared with previous designs.Moreover,the image quality is also greatly improved by applying an alpha-blending imaging technique,which is critical for accurately depicting and identifying nanoscale objects or processes.This dual-camera acoustofluidic nanoscope paves the way for enhanced nanoimaging with high resolution and a large field of view.

Genetic alternations and immune characteristics in patients with small cell lung cancer

Dear Editor,As an aggressive and recalcitrant subtype of lung cancer,small cell lung cancer(SCLC)is linked with a dismal prognosis where chemotherapy remains the backbone of treatment.In this disappointing context,immunotherapy has brought hope for patients with SCLC[1].However,data on the genomic and immunological landscape of SCLC are urgently needed to achieve more precise and effective treatment.Here,we conducted a comprehensive analysis of genetic alteration and immune characteristics in a cohort of Chinese patients with SCLC.