Trend of Developing Aqueous Liquid and Gel Electrolytes for Sustainable,Safe,and High‑Performance Li‑Ion Batteries

Current lithium-ion batteries(LIBs)rely on organic liquid electrolytes that pose significant risks due to their flammability and toxicity.The potential for environmental pollution and explosions resulting from battery damage or fracture is a critical concern.Water-based(aqueous)electrolytes have been receiving attention as an alternative to organic electrolytes.However,a narrow electrochemicalstability window,water decomposition,and the consequent low battery operating voltage and energy density hinder the practical use of aqueous electrolytes.Therefore,developing novel aqueous electrolytes for sustainable,safe,high-performance LIBs remains challenging.This Review first commences by summarizing the roles and requirements of electrolytes–separators and then delineates the progression of aqueous electrolytes for LIBs,encompassing aqueous liquid and gel electrolyte development trends along with detailed principles of the electrolytes.These aqueous electrolytes are progressed based on strategies using superconcentrated salts,concentrated diluents,polymer additives,polymer networks,and artificial passivation layers,which are used for suppressing water decomposition and widening the electrochemical stability window of water of the electrolytes.In addition,this Review discusses potential strategies for the implementation of aqueous Li-metal batteries with improved electrolyte–electrode interfaces.A comprehensive understanding of each strategy in the aqueous system will assist in the design of an aqueous electrolyte and the development of sustainable and safe high-performance batteries.

Engineered 3D liver-tissue model with minispheroids formed by a bioprinting process supported with in situ electrical stimulation

Three-dimensional(3D)bioprinting,an effective technique for building cell-laden structures providing native extracellular matrix environments,presents challenges,including inadequate cellular interactions.To address these issues,cell spheroids offer a promising solution for improving their biological functions.Particularly,minispheroids with 50-100μm diameters exhibit enhanced cellular maturation.We propose a one-step minispheroid-forming bioprinting process incorporating electrical stimulation(E-MS-printing).By stimulating the cells,minispheroids with controlled diameters were generated by manipulating the bioink viscosity and stimulation intensity.To validate its feasibility,E-MS-printing process was applied to fabricate an engineered liver model designed to mimic the hepatic lobule unit.E-MS-printing was employed to print the hepatocyte region,followed by bioprinting the central vein using a core-shell nozzle.The resulting constructs displayed native liver-mimetic structures containing minispheroids,which facilitated improved hepatic cell maturation,functional attributes,and vessel formation.Our results demonstrate a new potential 3D liver model that can replicate native liver tissues.

Mucoadhesive and antifouling Janus polysaccharide film for prevention of colorectal cancer recurrence post-surgery

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers,and current treatment options include surgery,chemotherapy,and radiation therapy.Most patients undergo surgery,which often requires extensive resection of the colon to prevent recurrence and metastasis of residual malignant tumor cells,leading to postoperative pain and discomfort in daily routines.Although versatile therapeutic patches have been developed to induce tumor apoptosis,achieving both great adhesiveness on the mucus layers of the colon tissue and anti-cell/tissue adhesion to other surrounding organs remains a challenge.Herein,we report a Janus polysaccharide film comprising two polymers:mussel-inspired catechol-conjugated chitosan(Chi-C)with muco-adhesiveness,and alginate(Alg)with anti-adhesion property.The Chi-C and Alg polymers form a stably entangled bilayer film via electrostatic interactions.The Janus film shows a strong tissue adhesive strength of~10 kPa for the Chi-C layer and weak strength of~1 kPa for the Alg layer.Particularly,the Janus film encapsulating an anti-cancer drug exhibits a directional release profile to the tumor site,which is effective for triggering tumor death in in vivo colorectal tumor resection model.Ultimately,such anti-cancer material strategies using bilayered structures are promising for advanced tumor therapy.

Fibrillary gelation and dedoping of PEDOT:PSS fibers for interdigitated organic electrochemical transistors and circuits

As one of conducting polymers,PEDOT:PSS,is commonly used in organic electronics,especially for bioelectronics due to its advantages such as high electrical and ionic conductivity,solution-processability and biocompatibility.Creating bioelectronics with the PEDOT:PSS requires advanced techniques to obtain physical/chemical modification of the PEDOT:PSS for improved performance and various applications.To satisfy these demands,fibrillary gelation of PEDOT:PSS by injection to choline acetate,an ionic liquid,with a constant flow rate was used in this study to make a conductive fiber and improve characteristics of PEDOT:PSS.Conductive fibers by fibrillary gelation showed enhanced electrical conductivity of about 400 S cm^(-1) and volumetric capacitance of about 154 F cm^(−3) which would be strongly beneficial to be utilized for organic electrochemical transistors(OECTs),resulting in a high transconductance of 19 mS in a depletion-mode.Moreover,dedoping of the conductive fibers by PEI(polyethyleneimine)enabled the creation of enhancement-mode OECTs.Interdigitated inverters were then fabricated by connecting depletion and enhancement-mode OECTs.These results demonstrate that these conductive fibers and electronic-textiles are suitable candidates for applications in bio-integrated electronics.

Bio-printing of aligned GelMa-based cell-laden structure for muscle tissue regeneration

Volumetric muscle loss(VML)is associated with a severe loss of muscle tissue that overwhelms the regenerative potential of skeletal muscles.Tissue engineering has shown promise for the treatment of VML injuries,as evidenced by various preclinical trials.The present study describes the fabrication of a cell-laden GelMa muscle construct using an in situ crosslinking(ISC)strategy to improve muscle functionality.To obtain optimal biophysical properties of the muscle construct,two UV exposure sources,UV exposure dose,and wall shear stress were evaluated using C2C12 myoblasts.Additionally,the ISC system showed a significantly higher degree of uniaxial alignment and myogenesis compared to the conventional crosslinking strategy(post-crosslinking).To evaluate the in vivo regenerative potential,muscle constructs laden with human adipose stem cells were used.The VML defect group implanted with the bio-printed muscle construct showed significant restoration of functionality and muscular volume.The data presented in this study suggest that stem cell-based therapies combined with the modified bioprinting process could potentially be effective against VML injuries.

Customized lipid-coated magnetic mesoporous silica nanoparticle doped with ceria nanoparticles for theragnosis of intracerebral hemorrhage

Intracerebral hemorrhage （ICH）, caused by the sudden rupture of an artery within the brain, is a devastating subtype of stroke, which currently has no effective treatment. Intense inflammatory reactions that occur in the peri-hematomal area after ICH are more deleterious than the hematoma itself, resulting in subsequent brain edema and neurologic deterioration. Thus, we developed lipid-coated magnetic mesoporous silica nanoparticles doped with ceria nanoparticles （CeNPs）, abbreviated as LMCs, which have both potent anti-inflammatory therapeutic effects via scavenging reactive oxygen species and help in increasing the efficacy of magnetic resonance imaging enhancement in the peri-hematomal area. LMCs consist of mesoporous silica nanopartide-supported lipid bilayers, which are loaded with large amounts of CeNPs for scavenging of reactive oxygen species, and iron oxide nanoparticles for magnetic resonance imaging contrast. LMCs loaded with CeNPs exhibited strong anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory activities in vitro. In the rodent ICH model, intracerebraUy injected LMCs reached the peri-hematomal area and were engulfed by macrophages, which were clearly visualized by magnetic resonance imaging of the brain. Moreover, LMCs reduced inflammatory macrophage infiltration, and thus significantly reduced brain edema. Finally, LMC treatment markedly improved neurologic outcomes of the animals with ICH. Thus, LMC is the first nanobiomaterial that successfully showed theragnostic effects in ICH.

Avoiding heating interference and guided thermal conduction in stretchable devices using thermal conductive composite islands

The miniaturization and high integration of devices demand significant thermal management materials.Current technologies for the thermal management of electronics show some limitations in the case of multiple chip arrays.A device in multiple chip array is affected by heat from adjacent devices,along with thermal conductive composite.To address this problem,we present a nano composite of aligned boron nitride(BN)nanosheet islands with porous polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS)foam to have mechanical stability and non-thermal interference.The islands of tetrahedrally-structured BN in the composite have a high thermal conductivity of 1.219 W·m^(-1)·K^(-1) in the through-plane direction(11.234W·m^(-1)·K^(-1)in the in-plane direction)with 16 wt.%loading of BN.On the other hand,porous PDMS foam has a low thermal conductivity of 0.0328W·m^(-1)·K^(-1) in the through-plane direction at 70%porosity.Heat pathways are then formed only in the structured BN islands of the composite.The porous PDMS foam can be applied as a thermal barrier between structured BN islands to inhibit thermal interference in multiple device arrays.Furthermore,this composite can maintain selective thermal dissipation performance with 70%tensile strain.Another beauty of the work is that it could have guided heat dissipation by assembling of multiple layers which have high vertical thermal conductive islands,while inhibiting thermal interference.The selective heat dissipating composite can be applied as a heatsink for multiple chip arrays electronics.

COVID-19-activated SREBP2 disturbs cholesterol biosynthesis and leads to cytokine storm

Sterol regulatory element binding protein-2(SREBP-2)is activated by cytokines or pathogen,such as virus or bacteria,but its association with diminished cholesterol levels in COVID-19 patients is unknown.Here,we evaluated SREBP-2 activation in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of COVID-19 patients and verified the function of SREBP-2 in COVID-19.Intriguingly,we report the first observation of SREBP-2 C-terminal fragment in COVID-19 patients’blood and propose SREBP-2 C-terminal fragment as an indicator for determining severity.We confirmed that SREBP-2-induced cholesterol biosynthesis was suppressed by Sestrin-1 and PCSK9 expression,while the SREBP-2-induced inflammatory responses was upregulated in COVID-19 ICU patients.Using an infectious disease mouse model,inhibitors of SREBP-2 and NF-κB suppressed cytokine storms caused by viral infection and prevented pulmonary damages.These results collectively suggest that SREBP-2 can serve as an indicator for severity diagnosis and therapeutic target for preventing cytokine storm and lung damage in severe COVID-19 patients.

Epidermal piezoresistive structure with deep learning-assisted data translation

Continued research on the epidermal electronic sensor aims to develop sophisticated platforms that reproduce key multimodal responses in human skin,with the ability to sense various external stimuli,such as pressure,shear,torsion,and touch.The development of such applications utilizes algorithmic interpretations to analyze the complex stimulus shape,magnitude,and various moduli of the epidermis,requiring multiple complex equations for the attached sensor.In this experiment,we integrate silicon piezoresistors with a customized deep learning data process to facilitate in the precise evaluation and assessment of various stimuli without the need for such complexities.With the ability to surpass conventional vanilla deep regression models,the customized regression and classification model is capable of predicting the magnitude of the external force,epidermal hardness and object shape with an average mean absolute percentage error and accuracy of<15 and 96.9%,respectively.The technical ability of the deep learning-aided sensor and the consequent accurate data process provide important foundations for the future sensory electronic system.