Isophorone Diisocyanate: An Effective Additive to Form Cathode-Protective-Interlayer and Its Influence on LiNi_0.5Co_0.2Mn_0.3O₂ at High Potential

In this work, we propose a novel electrolyte additive, isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI), to construct the surface protective interlayer. This membrane is produced via nucleophilic addition between the IPDI’s diisocyanate groups and the free-radical-onium ion oxidative intermediate of propylene carbonate (PC). In the electrolyte with IPDI added between 10–20 mM, LiNi_0.5Co_0.2Mn_0.3O₂ presents the excellent performance, demonstrating the relative wide operational window to form the optimal protective membrane. This protective membrane ameliorates the cyclic stability. Although all systems deliver ∼185 mAh g^–1 under 1 C between 2.5–4.6 V (vs Li⁺/Li), the cells in the suitable electrolyte maintain 90.4% in the 50 cycles and 83.2% in the 200 cycles, whereas the control cells are seriously dropped to 73.4% and 69.8%. The cells in the electrolyte with the appropriate IPDI also present the good rate capability, attaining ∼143 mAh g^–1 under 5 C, much higher than the cells in the control electrolyte­(92.4 mAh g^–1). The additive proposed in this work is helpful to augment the energy density of lithium ion battery and prolong the one-drive distance of electric vehicles

Facile Pyrolyzed N‑Doped Binder Network for Stable Si Anodes

Although nanoengineering provides improved stability of Si-based nanostructures, a facile and efficacious method to directly use raw Si practices is still absent. Herein, we report a pyrolyzed N-doped binder network to improve the cycling stability of raw Si particles. Such an N-doped binder network is formed at a conformal pyrolysis condition of the electrode binder using polyacrylonitrile and provides a tight encapsulation of the Si particles with significantly improved cycling stability. In contrast to the single Si particles that pulverize and lose the total capacity at the 20th cycle, the discharge capacity could be retained ∼1700 mA h g^–1 at the 100th cycle for the Si particles imbedded in the pyrolyzed N-doped binder network. Our results demonstrate that such a facile remedy could significantly improve the cycling stability of raw Si particles for high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries

Li₂O‑Reinforced Cu Nanoclusters as Porous Structure for Dendrite-Free and Long-Lifespan Lithium Metal Anode

A nanostructured protective structure, pillared by the copper nanoclusters and in situ filled with lithium oxide in the interspace, is constructed to efficiently improve the cyclic stability and lifetime of lithium metal electrodes. The porous structure of copper nanoclusters enables high specific surface area, locally reduced current density, and dendrite suppressing, while the filled lithium oxide leads to the structural stability and largely extends the electrode lifespan. As a result of the synergetic protection of the proposed structure, lithium metal could be fully discharged with efficiency ∼97% for more than 150 cycles in corrosive alkyl carbonate electrolytes, without dendrite formation. This approach opens a novel route to improve the cycling stability of lithium metal electrodes with the appropriate protective structure

Table_1_Enhanced brain functional connectivity and activation after 12-week Tai Chi-based action observation training in patients with Parkinson’s disease.DOCX

IntroductionMotor-cognitive interactive interventions, such as action observation training (AOT), have shown great potential in restoring cognitive function and motor behaviors. It is expected that an advanced AOT incorporating specific Tai Chi movements with continuous and spiral characteristics can facilitate the shift from automatic to intentional actions and thus enhance motor control ability for early-stage PD. Nonetheless, the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. The study aimed to investigate changes in brain functional connectivity (FC) and clinical improvement after 12 weeks of Tai Chi-based action observation training (TC-AOT) compared to traditional physical therapy (TPT).MethodsThirty early-stage PD patients were recruited and randomly assigned to the TC-AOT group (N = 15) or TPT group (N = 15). All participants underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scans before and after 12 weeks of training and clinical assessments. The FCs were evaluated by seed-based correlation analysis based on the default mode network (DMN). The rehabilitation effects of the two training methods were compared while the correlations between significant FC changes and clinical improvement were investigated.ResultsThe results showed that the TC-AOT group exhibited significantly increased FCs between the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex and cerebellum crus I, between the posterior inferior parietal lobe and supramarginal gyrus, and between the temporal parietal junction and clusters of middle occipital gyrus and superior temporal. Moreover, these FC changes had a positive relationship with patients’ improved motor and cognitive performance.DiscussionThe finding supported that the TC-AOT promotes early-stage PD rehabilitation outcomes by promoting brain neuroplasticity where the FCs involved in the integration of sensorimotor processing and motor learning were strengthened.</p

Effect of LiFSI Concentrations To Form Thickness- and Modulus-Controlled SEI Layers on Lithium Metal Anodes

Improving the cyclic stability of lithium metal anodes is of particular importance for developing high-energy-density batteries. In this work, a remarkable finding shows that the control of lithium bis­(fluorosulfonyl)­imide (LiFSI) concentrations in electrolytes significantly alters the thickness and modulus of the related SEI layers, leading to varied cycling performances of Li metal anodes. In an electrolyte containing 2 M LiFSI, an SEI layer of ∼70 nm that is obviously thicker than those obtained in other concentrations is observed through <i>in situ</i> atomic force microscopy (AFM). In addition to the decomposition of FSI^– anions that generates rigid lithium fluoride (LiF) as an SEI component, the modulus of this thick SEI layer with a high LiF content could be significantly strengthened to 10.7 GPa. Such a huge variation in SEI modulus, much higher than the threshold value of Li dendrite penetration, provides excellent performances of Li metal anodes with Coulombic efficiency higher than 99%. Our approach demonstrates that the FSI^– anions with appropriate concentration can significantly alter the SEI quality, establishing a meaningful guideline for designing electrolyte formulation for stable lithium metal batteries