New Class of Ni‐Rich Cathode Materials Li[NixCoyB1−x−y]O2 for Next Lithium Batteries

A new class of layered cathodes, Li[Ni_xCo_yB_1?x?y]O₂ (NCB), is synthesized. The proposed NCB cathodes have a unique microstructure in which elongated primary particles are tightly packed into spherical secondary particles. The cathodes also exhibit a strong crystallographic texture in which the a–b layer planes are aligned along the radial direction, facilitating Li migration. The microstructure, which effectively suppresses the formation of microcracks, improves the cycling stability of the NCB cathodes. The NCB cathode with 1.5 mol% B delivers a discharge capacity of 234 mAh g^?1 at 0.1 C and retains 91.2% of its initial capacity after 100 cycles (compared to values of 229 mAh g^?1 at 0.1 C and 78.8% for pristine Li[Ni_0.9Co_0.1]O₂). This study shows the importance of controlling the microstructure to obtain the required cycling stability, especially for Ni‐rich layered cathodes, where the main cause of capacity fading is related to mechanical strain in their charged state.     

Rational Design of Nanocatalysts with Nonmetal Species Modification for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction

Converting CO₂ to valuable carbonaceous fuels and chemicals via electrochemical CO₂ reduction by using renewable energy sources is considered to be a scalable strategy with substantial environmental and economic benefits. One of the challenges in this field is to develop nanocatalysts with superior electrocatalytic activity and selectivity for targeted products. Nonmetal species modification of nanocatalysts is of great significance for the construction of distinctive active sites to overcome the kinetic limitations of CO₂ reduction. These types of modification enable the efficient control of the selectivity and significantly decrease the reaction overpotential. Herein, a comprehensive review of the recent progress of nonmetal species modification of nanocatalysts for electrochemical CO₂ reduction is presented. After discussing some fundamental parameters and the basic principles of CO₂ reduction, including possible reaction pathways in light of theoretical modeling and experiments, the identification of active sites and elucidation of reaction mechanisms are emphasized for unraveling the role of nonmetal species modification, such as heteroatom incorporation, organic molecule decoration, electrolyte engineering, and single‐atom engineering. In the final section, future challenges and constructive perspectives are provided, facilitating the accelerated advancement of mechanism research and practical applications of green carbon cycling.     

The Application of Electron Backscatter Diffraction on Halide Perovskite Materials

Recently, the application of electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) in halide perovskites has enabled the correlation of the micro‐structural arrangement of polycrystalline grains with other properties (optical, electrical, mechanical, and chemical) in a “pixel‐by‐pixel” approach. Most studies so far have used an ultra‐sensitive electron beam detector that has sensitivity thousands of times higher than a traditional scintillator screen and charge coupled device camera, enabling much lower beam currents. An alternative approach has been the use of low vacuum measurement conditions to avoid charge buildup that leads to damage. This review focuses on introducing the classical EBSD technique to the halide perovskite community, where it has been highly underutilized due to beaminduced damage in these relatively unstable materials. Recent research is used to dispel some common misconceptions about grain boundaries in halide perovskites and highlight what has been learned by comparing and correlating EBSD with other techniques. Additionally, the remaining limitations, development challenges, and future of the EBSD technique for halide perovskites are discussed. Successful utilization of the EBSD technique as a common characterization tool in the halide perovskite community will enable scientists and engineers to develop maps of cross correlated properties, helping to unlock the full potential of this complex material system.     

Accelerating Atomic Catalyst Discovery by Theoretical Calculations‐Machine Learning Strategy

Atomic catalysts (AC) are emerging as a highly attractive research topic, especially in sustainable energy fields. Lack of a full picture of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) impedes the future development of potential electrocatalysts. In this work, the systematic investigation of the HER process in graphdyine (GDY) based AC is presented in terms of the adsorption energies, adsorption trend, electronic structures, reaction pathway, and active sites. This comprehensive work innovatively reveals GDY based AC for HER covering all the transition metals (TM) and lanthanide (Ln) metals, enabling the screening of potential catalysts. The density functional theory (DFT) calculations carefully explore the HER performance beyond the comparison of sole H adsorption. Therefore, the screened catalysts candidates not only match with experimental results but also provide significant references for novel catalysts. Moreover, the machine learning (ML) technique bag‐tree approach is innovatively utilized based on the fuzzy model for data separation and converse prediction of the HER performance, which indicates a similar result to the theoretical calculations. From two independent theoretical perspectives (DFT and ML), this work proposes pivotal guidelines for experimental catalyst design and synthesis. The proposed advanced research strategy shows great potential as a general approach in other energy‐related areas.     

Industrial attributes of β-glucanase produced by Bacillus sp. CSB55 and its potential application as bio-industrial catalyst

Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering - The β-glucanase produced from Bacillus sp. CSB55 not only depicts the potent industrial characteristics but also relates as bio-industrial catalyst...     

Comparison of bacterial community structure and function under different petroleum hydrocarbon degradation conditions

Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering - Bioremediation methods have been successfully applied to the removal of organic pollutants for decades, but the responses of the microbial community to...     

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...     

Establishment of Murine Infection Models with Biological Clones of Dengue Viruses Derived from a Single Clinical Viral Isolate

Virologica Sinica - Dengue virus (DENV) is a single-stranded RNA virus transmitted by mosquitoes in tropical and subtropical regions. It causes dengue fever, dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue...     

A Prognostic Model to Predict Recovery of COVID-19 Patients Based on Longitudinal Laboratory Findings

Virologica Sinica - The temporal change patterns of laboratory data may provide insightful clues into the whole course of COVID-19. This study aimed to evaluate longitudinal change patterns of key...     

Serologic Response to SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 Patients with Different Severity

Virologica Sinica - The immense patient number caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic brings the urge for more knowledge about its immunological features, including the...