Hollow-in-hollow carbon spheres with hollow foam-like cores for lithium-sulfur batteries

Lithium-sulfur batteries have attracted increasing attention because of their high theoretical capadty. Using sulfur/carbon composites as the cathode materials has been demonstrated as an effective strategy to optimize sulfur utilization and enhance cycle stability as well. In this work hollow-in-hollow carbon spheres with hollow foam-like cores （HCSF@C） are prepared to improve both capability and cycling stability of lithium-sulfur batteries. With high surface area and large pore volumes, the loading of sulfur in HCSF@C reaches up to 70 wt.%. In the resulting S/HCSF@C composites, the outer carbon shell serves as an effective protection layer to trap the soluble polysulfide intermediates derived from the inner component. Consequently, the S/HCSF@C cathode retains a high capacity of 780 mAh/g after 300 cycles at a high charge/discharge rate of 1 A/g.

The spatial pattern of farming and factors influencing it during the Peiligang culture period in the middle Yellow River valley, China

The Peiligang culture （ca. 7000-5000 cal BC） is the earliest Neo- lithic culture in the middle Yellow River valley and represents the emergence of cereal farming in the region. It has long been considered representative of millet farming, which requires a dry field, a certain amount of rainfall, and minimal crop management, but new records reveal that mixed farming of millet and rice （Oryza so.） took place during this period.

Synthesis, assembly and device of 1-dimentional nanostructures

Synthesis and assembly of 1-dimentional (1-D) nanostructures and measurement of their electrical and optical properties are very important in fabrication of nanode-vices. Recent developments in this field are summarized in this review. The assembling methods can be divided into two classes: assembly using macroscopic field forces and micro-fluidic-assisted-template-integration. The former can assemble nanowires by controlling direction and intensity of electric or magnetic field, while the latter represents a general assembly strategy for any kind of 1-D nanostructures. The assembly of 1-D nanostructures will make it possible to fabricate nanosensors, nanolasers and nanoscale logic gate circuits for computation.

Land-snail eggs as a proxy of abrupt climatic cooling events during the reproductive season

Seasonal abrupt climatic events severely impact ecosystems and human society.Knowledge of how seasonal abrupt climate events have evolved in the geological past is crucial for understanding seasonal climate change,because the long duration of geological records enables them to provide information unobtainable from modern observations.However,the lack of appropriate proxies has greatly limited our understanding of the long-term evolution of seasonal climate changes.

Eco-environmental changes in the Chinese Loess Plateau during low-eccentricity interglacial Marine Isotope Stage 19

Eco-environmental changes during interglacials with an astronomical background similar to that of the Holocene are potentially helpful for understanding the future climatic evolution.Marine oxygen isotope stage(MIS)19 is similar to the Holocene in astronomical background,both being characterized by a low eccentricity of the Earth’s orbit.However,MIS 19 has attracted research attention only recently and therefore less is known about eco-environmental changes during this interval,especially based on terrestrial records.In the Chinese Loess Plateau(CLP),the S7 paleosol can provide valuable terrestrial paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental record for MIS 19.Here,high-resolution terrestrial snail records from the L8–L7 strata of the Huining,Xifeng and Luochuan sequences in the CLP were analyzed in order to characterize spatio-temporal changes in climate and eco-environment during MIS 20–18.The results show that in all three sections the late part of MIS 20 was dominated by abundant cold-aridiphilous mollusc species,indicating that cold and dry climatic conditions prevailed across the entire CLP,under the strong influence of the winter monsoon.The mollusc fauna of MIS 19 were dominated by warmth-loving and thermohumidiphilous species that enable the definition of two climatic stages.The early part of MIS 19(~790–778 ka)was marked by warm and humid conditions,as evidenced by high abundances of warmth-loving and thermo-humidiphilous species.This interval was slightly warmer than today and it lasted for^12 kyr.The climate of the later part of MIS 19(~778–761 ka)was more moderate,and increased proportions of cold-aridiphilous and warmth-loving species were recorded.The warmth of this period was similar to that of today,but the climatic fluctuations were stronger.During the early part of MIS 18(~761–745 ka),the Xifeng and Luochuan sections in the eastern CLP still maintained high abundances of warmth-loving and thermo-humidiphilous species,indicating that the moderate climatic conditions during late MIS 19 continued during early MIS 18,lasting for another^15 kyr,and that the influence of the summer monsoon remained strong in the eastern CLP during early MIS 18.However,in the western CLP,cold-aridiphilous species in the Huining section became dominant during early MIS 18,reflecting the prevalence of a cold and dry glacial climate,with the strong influence of the winter monsoon.These findings indicate that a steeper climatic gradient and a pronounced regional environmental difference existed between the eastern and western CLP during the early part of MIS 18.Comparison of our mollusc results with the variation of Earth orbital parameters suggested that climate changes in the CLP during MIS 20–18 were likely controlled mainly by insolation changes forced by the configuration of Earth orbital parameters.The unique orbital configuration during the low eccentricity interglacial-to-glacial transition could have strengthened the East Asian summer monsoon which favored the amelioration of the eco-environment in the CLP,especially in the eastern CLP where the summer monsoon exerted a strong influence.Thus we speculate that,under natural climatic conditions,the climate of the CLP may remain in a warm,humid state for another 30 kyr,although climatic instability and the seasonal differences between winter and summer could strengthen.