Hollow CuS Nanoboxes as Li‐Free Cathode for High‐Rate and Long‐Life Lithium Metal Batteries

Transition metal sulfides hold promising potentials as Li‐free conversion‐type cathode materials for high energy density lithium metal batteries. However, the practical deployment of these materials is hampered by their poor rate capability and short cycling life. In this work, the authors take the advantage of hollow structure of CuS nanoboxes to accommodate the volume expansion and facilitate the ion diffusion during discharge–charge processes. As a result, the hollow CuS nanoboxes achieve excellent rate performance (≈371 mAh g^?1 at 20 C) and ultra‐long cycle life (>1000 cycles). The structure and valence evolution of the CuS nanobox cathode are identified by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Furthermore, the lithium storage mechanism is revealed by galvanostatic intermittent titration technique and operando Raman spectroscopy for the initial charge–discharge process and the following reversible processes. These results suggest that the hollow CuS nanobox material is a promising candidate as a low‐cost Li‐free cathode material for high‐rate and long‐life lithium metal batteries.     

Interface Engineering of Hierarchical Branched Mo‐Doped Ni3S2/NixPy Hollow Heterostructure Nanorods for Efficient Overall Water Splitting

Rational design and construction of bifunctional electrocatalysts with excellent activity and durability is imperative for water splitting. Herein, a novel top‐down strategy to realize a hierarchical branched Mo‐doped sulfide/phosphide heterostructure (Mo‐Ni₃S₂/Ni_xP_y hollow nanorods), by partially phosphating Mo‐Ni₃S₂/NF flower clusters, is proposed. Benefitting from the optimized electronic structure configuration, hierarchical branched hollow nanorod structure, and abundant heterogeneous interfaces, the as‐obtained multisite Mo‐Ni₃S₂/Ni_xP_y/NF electrode has remarkable stability and bifunctional electrocatalytic activity in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER)/oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in 1 m KOH solutions. It possesses an extremely low overpotential of 238 mV at the current density of 50 mA cm^?2 for OER. Importantly, when assembled as anode and cathode simultaneously, it merely requires an ultralow cell voltage of 1.46 V to achieve the current density of 10 mA cm^?2, with excellent durability for over 72 h, outperforming most of the reported Ni‐based bifunctional materials. Density functional theory results further confirm that the doped heterostructure can synergistically optimize Gibbs free energies of H and O‐containing intermediates (OH*, O*, and OOH*) during HER and OER processes, thus accelerating the catalytic kinetics of electrochemical water splitting. This work demonstrates the importance of the rational combination of metal doping and interface engineering for advanced catalytic materials.     

Promises of Main Group Metal–Based Nanostructured Materials for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction to Formate

Selective CO₂ reduction to formic acid or formate is the most technologically and economically viable approach to realize electrochemical CO₂ valorization. Main group metal–based (Sn, Bi, In, Pb, and Sb) nanostructured materials hold great promise, but are still confronted with several challenges. Here, the current status, challenges, and future opportunities of main group metal–based nanostructured materials for electrochemical CO₂ reduction to formate are reviewed. Firstly, the fundamentals of electrochemical CO₂ reduction are presented, including the technoeconomic viability of different products, possible reaction pathways, standard experimental procedure, and performance figures of merit. This is then followed by detailed discussions about different types of main group metal–based electrocatalyst materials, with an emphasis on underlying material design principles for promoting the reaction activity, selectivity, and stability. Subsequently, recent efforts on flow cells and membrane electrode assembly cells are reviewed so as to promote the current density as well as mechanistic studies using in situ characterization techniques. To conclude a short perspective is offered about the future opportunities and directions of this exciting field.     

Simultaneous nitrogen and carbon removal in a packed A/O reactor: effect of C/N ratio on microbial community structure

In this research, a novel packed anoxic/oxic moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) was established to achieve high-organic matter removal rates, despite the carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio of 2.7–5.1 in the influent. Simultaneous nitrification–denitrification (SND) was investigated under a long sludge retention time of 104 days. The system exhibited excellent performance in pollutant removal, with chemical oxygen demand and total nitrogen (TN) enhanced to 93.6–97.4% and 34.4–60%, respectively. Under low C/N conditions, the nitrogen removal process of A/O MBBR system was mainly achieved by anaerobic denitrification. The increase of C/N ratio enhanced SND rate of the aerobic section, where dissolved oxygen was maintained at the range of 4–6 mg/L, and resulted in higher TN removal efficiency. The microbial composition and structures were analyzed utilizing the MiSeq Illumina sequencing technique. High-throughput pyrosequencing results indicated that the dominant microorganisms were Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes at the phylum level, which contributes to the removal of organics matters. In the aerobic section, abundances of Nitrospirae (1.12–29.33%), Burkholderiales (2.15–21.38%), and Sphingobacteriales (2.92–11.67%) rose with increasing C/N ratio in the influent, this proved that SND did occur in the aerobic zone. As the C/N ratio of influent increased, the SND phenomenon in the aerobic zone of the system is the main mechanism for greatly improving the removal rate of TN in the aerobic section. The C/N ratio in the aerobic zone is not required to be high to exhibit good TN removal performance. When C/NH₄⁺ and C/TN in the aerobic zone were higher than 2.29 and 1.77, respectively, TN removal efficiency was higher than 60%, which means that carbon sources added to the reactor could be saved. This study would be vital for a better understanding of microbial structures within a packed A/O MBBR and the development of cost-efficient strategies for the treatment of low C/N wastewater.

     

An auto-inducible expression and high cell density fermentation of Beefy Meaty Peptide with Bacillus subtilis

Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering - Currently, some cases about the expression of flavor peptides with microorganisms were reported owing to the obvious advantages of biological expression over...     

不同浓度罗哌卡因腰硬联合麻醉用于人工髋关节置换手术对患者麻醉效果和术后运动功能的影响

摘要 目的：探讨不同浓度罗哌卡因腰硬联合麻醉用于人工髋关节置换手术对患者麻醉效果和术后运动功能的影响。方法：2017年2月至2019年12月选择在本院进行人工髋关节置换手术的患者84例,根据随机数字表法把患者分为观察组与对照组各42例。两组都给予腰硬联合麻醉,对照组采用常规浓度0.5 %罗哌卡因麻醉观察组采用低浓度0.375 %罗哌卡因麻醉,记录患者麻醉效果和术后运动功能变化情况。结果：观察组的麻醉持续时间、运动恢复时间和感觉运动时间都显著短于对照组(P<0.05)。观察组麻醉后10 min、30 min、60 min的Bromage评分都低于对照组(P<0.05)。观察组术后7 d的低血压、恶心呕吐、头晕头痛、尿潴留等不良反应发生率为7.1 %,显著低于对照组的19.0 %(P<0.05)。两组所有患者在术后2 h、术后4 h、术后24 h的呼吸、心率均在正常范围内波动,组间与组内对比都无统计学意义(P>0.05)。结论：低浓度罗哌卡因腰硬联合麻醉用于人工髋关节置换手术能改善患者的麻醉效果和运动功能,提高麻醉效果,并不影响患者的生命体征,且能减少术后不良反应的发生。     

Long-Term Existence of SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 Patients: Host Immunity,Viral Virulence,and Transmissibility

Virologica Sinica - COVID-19 patients can recover with a median SARS-CoV-2 clearance of 20&nbsp;days post initial symptoms (PIS). However, we observed some COVID-19 patients with existing...     

Epidermal growth factor improves intestinal morphology by stimulating proliferation and differentiation of enterocytes and mTOR signaling pathway in weaning piglets

Epidermal growth factor(EGF) has been shown to improve piglet intestinal morphology and epithelial recovery. In an attempt to further understand the mechanisms behind these improvements, this study tested the hypothesis that dietary EGF may affect intestinal morphology by stimulating the proliferation and differentiation of enterocytes in weaning piglets. In piglets receiving200 μg kg–1 EGF, crypt depth and villus height increased(P0.05). Adding 400 μg kg–1 EGF increased villus height-to-crypt depth ratio(P0.05), but reduced crypt depth(P0.05). Dietary supplementation with 200 μg kg–1 EGF significantly increased the number of Ki67-positive cells(P0.01) and tended to increase the mRNA level of proliferating cell nuclear antigen(P0.10).However, this supplementation decreased the expression level of intestinal fatty acid-binding protein(P0.05). Piglets fed with400 μg kg–1 EGF had an increased mRNA level of intestinal alkaline phosphatase(P0.05). The phosphorylation of m TOR(mammalian target of rapamycin) was observed in the 200 μg kg–1 EGF group. These results suggest that dietary supplementation with a low level of EGF improved piglet intestinal morphology through stimulating the proliferation and differentiation of enterocytes, and the mTOR signaling pathway may partly be involved in this process.     

应用iTRAQ技术分析滩羊二毛期不同花穗型裘皮差异蛋白

为了解二毛期时滩羊串子花型裘皮与其它类型裘皮中蛋白质的差异,本试验采用iTRAQ技术及LC-MS/MS蛋白质组学研究方法,对串子花型、软大花型、绿豆丝型及其它不规则型花穗裘皮蛋白质进行鉴定和筛选,并运用Proteome Discoverer l.4软件进行定量分析,结合数据库搜索,鉴定出具有显著表达差异的蛋白,同时应用生物学技术对其进行GO和Pathway分析。结果显示4类花穗型裘皮共检测出2 886个蛋白,其中有135个、142个、113个差异蛋白分别存在于软大花型与串子花型、绿豆丝型与串子花型、其它不规则型与串子花型3个对比组中。对有表达差异的蛋白进行分析,发现膜联蛋白与血管内皮生长因子可能与软大花型毛股形成相关,KAP3和KAP6可能与滩羊串子花型毛股结构相关。研究发现滩羊不同二毛裘皮蛋白水平上的差异,可为选育优良的滩羊串子花型二毛裘皮提供理论基础。