Direct Ink Writing of Polymer Batteries

In the recent year, the fabrication of rechargeable batteries via three-dimensional (3D) printing has drawn considerable interest due to the advanced performances that arise from 3D design of rechargeable battery architectures as compared to the conventionally fabricated ones. However, challenges with the 3D printing of electrolytes for rechargeable batteries still remain. Additional processing steps such as solvent evaporation were required for earlier studies of electrolyte fabrication, which hindered the simultaneous production of electrode and electrolyte in an all-3D-printed battery. We demonstrate a novel method to fabricate hybrid solid-state electrolytes using an elevated-temperature direct ink writing technique without any additional processing steps. The hybrid solid-state electrolyte consists of solid Poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-co-HFP) matrices and a Li+ conducting ionic liquid electrolyte. The ink was modified by adding nano-sized ceramic fillers to achieve the desired rheological properties. Interestingly, a continuous, thin, and dense layer was discovered to form between the porous electrolyte layer and the electrode, which effectively reduced the interfacial resistance of the solid-state battery. Compared to the traditional methods of solid-state battery assembly, our directly printed electrolyte helps to achieve higher capacities and a better rate performance. The direct fabrication of electrolyte from printable inks at an elevated temperature will shed new light on design of all-3D-printed batteries for next-generation electronic devices. Proper distribution of thermally-conductive nanomaterials in polymer batteries offers new opportunities to mitigate performance degradations associated with local hot spots and battery safety concerns. We utilized direct ink writing (DIW) method to fabricate solvent-free polyethylene oxide (PEO) composite polymers electrolytes (CPE) embedded with silane-treated hexagonal boron nitride (S-hBN) platelets. It was observed that the S-hBN platelets were well aligned in the printed CPE during the DIW process. The in-plane thermal conductivity of the printed CPE with the aligned S-hBN platelets is higher than the pristine CPE with the randomly dispersed S-hBN platelets. Thermal imaging showed that the peak temperature of the printed electrolytes is lower than that of the CPE without S-hBN and the CPE with the randomly dispersed S-hBN, indicating a better thermal transport property. Lithium-ion half-cells made with this printed CPE and LiFePO4 cathode displayed high specific discharge capacity and stable Coulombic efficiency at room temperature. This work facilitates the development of thermally-conductive solid-state batteries enabled by printing techniques

Synthesis and Solution Characterization of [Ru(bpy)₂]²⁺ Modified Polyazines

A series of [Ru(bpy)2]2+ complexes linked by a controlled number of azine units (one to seven) were synthesized and studied in the solution phase. Polymers and dimer model compounds were examined by cyclic voltammetry and IR, NMR, and visible-NIR spectroscopies. The NMR spectra and the cyclic voltammograms indicated that the Ru2+ sites influenced the main chain properties at least 15 Å from the metal site. The first oxidation in each material was assigned to a ligand-centered process, but DFT calculations suggested that the Ru2+ has an important influence. The first oxidized state of the polymers has a spectroscopic band that is consistent with an intervalence transfer (IT) transition, but this absorption is not seen in the dimer model compounds. Thus, the IT feature is assigned to a ligand−ligand transition that spans several repeat units in the polymer

End-Group Effects on the Structure and Spectroscopy of Oligoazines

Oligoazines with three different types of end groups, ketone, hydrazone, and 2-pyridine, are studied in solution. When the end groups are ketone or 2-pyridine, the 1H and 13C NMR spectra are simple and show that the oligomers maintain 2-fold symmetry up to the longest chain lengths investigated (five azine units for the 2-pyridine end groups). In contrast, when the end groups are hydrazones, the 1H NMR spectra show evidence for as many as five conformers present in solution for each oligomer while the 13C NMR spectra are still simple, indicative of a single compound. Semiempirical AM1 calculations suggest that all of the oligoazines should be severely twisted but give no insight about the origin of the large number of conformers found for the materials with hydrazone end groups. The end groups have a significant effect on the UV spectra. All the oligoazines show two absorptions close in energy, but the relative intensities change depending upon the end group. For ketone end groups the higher energy transition is stronger, for 2-pyridine end groups the lower energy transition dominates, and for the hydrazone end groups the two transitions are about the same intensity. Deconvolution of the UV spectra allowed a more accurate assessment of the profile of each absorption peak. Use of the fitting parameters for the lowest energy azine π−π* transition removed the effect of the end groups and gave a consistent estimate of the band gap in a poly(methylazine) of 3.31 eV

Target-Oriented Synthesis of Borate Derivatives Featuring Isolated [B₃O₃] Six-Membered Rings as Structural Features

Borates provide an excellent platform for investigating the optical nonlinearity and linearity of crystals as photoelectric functional materials. In our work, borate derivatives with isolated [B3O3] six-membered rings as structural features are the preferred system due to their simple functional units and excellent properties. Herein, by utilizing the target-oriented synthesis, a series of borate derivatives, A2[B3O3F4(OH)] (A= NH4, Rb, Cs) (ABOFH), K2.3Cs0.7B3O3F6 (KCsBOF), and Cs3[B3O3(OH)3]Cl3 (CsBOHCl), with novel heteroanionic groups containing [BOxF4–x] (x = 0–3) and/or [BO2(OH)] units were obtained. ABOFH, KCsBOF, and CsBOHCl construct different two-dimensional pesudolayers featuring [B3O3F4(OH)], [B3O3F6], and [B3O3(OH)3] units, respectively. Also, the optical properties and the arrangement information of these anionic groups were studied. Among the total five compounds, (NH4)2[B3O3F4(OH)] and Cs3[B3O3(OH)3]Cl3 with enlarged birefringence and sufficient band gaps were screened out as promising birefringent crystals due to the optimally aligned configuration of birefringence-active heteroanionic units. The successful results of target-oriented synthesis indicate a more profound conclusion that the borate system now has more diversified structural chemistry, and an effective strategy was proposed to modify the arrangement and species of anionic units to optimize the performance of optical crystals

Highly Salt Resistant Polymer Supported Ionic Liquid Adsorbent for Ultrahigh Capacity Removal of <i>p</i>‑Nitrophenol from Water

The exploration of new adsorbents is still highly desirable, especially those with ultrahigh adsorption capacity, super anti-interference ability, and excellent regeneration power. Herein, a novel chloromethyl polystyrene resin supported task-specific ionic liquid adsorbent was prepared by chemical grafting and its performance to remove p-nitrophenol (PNP) from water was systematically investigated by both batch process and dynamic column elution method. It was shown that the adsorbent not only exhibited excellent adsorption performance toward high concentration PNP with an ultrahigh adsorption capacity of 1269.8 mg/g within 30 min but also could effectively remove trace PNP from water at the concentration as low as 0.0025 mg/L. Common interfering ions and neutral molecules in water, especially K+, Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, NO3–, and Cl–, did not interfere with the removal of PNP even if their concentrations (1 mol/L) were 1 000 000 times higher than that of PNP, which indicates its potential in removal of PNP from high salinity wastewater. The adsorbent could be easily regenerated and recycled at least 10 times with no loss in separation performance. The possible adsorption mechanism was investigated in various approaches. In addition, the adsorbent was applied to remove PNP in real water samples, and promising results were reported

Additional file 6 of TPM1 mediates inflammation downstream of TREM2 via the PKA/CREB signaling pathway

Additional file 6: Figure S6. TPM1 knockdown elicits inflammation-related transcriptomic alterations in the WT retina. A, B DEGs associated with the phagosome formation pathway (A) and neuroinflammation signaling pathway (B) in WT mice after treatments with LPS and siTPM1-1 or siCTR

Additional file 4 of TPM1 mediates inflammation downstream of TREM2 via the PKA/CREB signaling pathway

Additional file 4: Figure S4. TPM1 knockdown exacerbates inflammation in the TREM2−/− mouse retina. A, B Western blot analysis (A) and quantification of TPM1 (B) in the retina of C57BL/6J (WT) and TREM2−/− mice. Data are presented as mean ± SEM and analyzed by unpaired two-tailed Student’s t test (WT vs. TREM2−/−, **p < 0.01). C, D Western blot analysis (C) and quantification of TREM2 (D) in WT mice following LPS and siCTR or siTPM1-1 treatments. Data are presented as mean ± SEM and analyzed by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test (compared to PBS, **p < 0.01). n = 4 mice in each group (E) mRNA level of TPM1 in TREM2−/− mice after treatments with LPS and siCTR or siTPM1-1. Data are presented as mean ± SEM and analyzed by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test (compared to LPS + siCTR, *p < 0.05). n = 7 mice in each group. F Quantification of density of microglia in the ONL of the TREM2−/− mouse retina after treatments with LPS and siCTR or siTPM1-1. Data are presented as mean ± SEM and analyzed by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test (compared to PBS or LPS + siCTR, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01). n = 4 mice in each group. G Quantification of fluorescence intensity of GFAP in retinal sections from TREM2−/− mice after treatments with LPS and siCTR or siTPM1-1. Data are presented as mean ± SEM and analyzed by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test (compared to PBS or LPS + siCTR, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01). n = 3, 4, 4 mice in PBS, LPS + siCTR and LPS + siTPM1-1, respectively. H, I Scotopic and photopic ERG recordings on TREM2−/− mice after treatments with LPS and siCTR or siTPM1-1. Data are presented as mean ± SEM and analyzed by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test (compared to PBS, *p < 0.05). n = 13, 10, 11 mice in PBS, LPS + siCTR and LPS + siTPM1-1, respectively

Cell Coding Arrays Based on Fluorescent Glycan Nanoparticles for Cell Line Identification and Cell Contamination Evaluation

Cell lines are applied on a large scale in the field of biomedicine, but they are susceptible to issues such as misidentification and cross-contamination. This situation is becoming worse over time due to the rapid growth of the biomedical field, and thus there is an urgent need for a more effective strategy to address the problem. As described herein, a cell coding method is established based on two types of uniform and stable glycan nanoparticles that are synthesized using the graft-copolymerization-induced self-assembly (GISA) method, which further exhibit distinct fluorescent properties due to elaborate modification with fluorescent labeling molecules. The different affinity between each nanoparticle and various cell lines results in clearly distinguishable differences in their endocytosis degrees, thus resulting in distinct characteristic fluorescence intensities. Through flow cytometry measurements, the specific signals of each cell sample can be recorded and turned into a map divided into different regions by statistical processing. Using this sensing array strategy, we have successfully identified six human cell lines, including one normal type and five tumor types. Moreover, cell contamination evaluation of different cell lines with HeLa cells as the contaminant in a semiquantitative analysis has also been successfully achieved. Notably, the whole process of nanoparticle fabrication and fluorescent testing is facile and the results are highly reliable

Additional file 1: of ‘Standardized patients’ in teaching the communication skill of history-taking to four-year foreign medical undergraduates in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology

Questionnaire. (PDF 51 kb

Additional file 2 of TPM1 mediates inflammation downstream of TREM2 via the PKA/CREB signaling pathway

Additional file 2: Figure S2. TPM1 knockdown reduces inflammation via the PKA/CREB pathway in BV2 cells. A–F qPCR analysis of TPM1, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, COX-2 and iNOS in BV2 cells following treatments with LPS and siTPM1-1, siTPM1-2, or siCTR. Data are presented as mean ± SEM and analyzed by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test (compared to LPS + siCTR or control, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.001; LPS + siTPM1-1 vs. LPS + siTPM1-2, **p < 0.01). Four independent experiments were performed. G Immunostaining of BV2 cells with with antibodies against Iba-1 and CD68 after treatments with LPS and siTPM1-1, siTPM1-2, or siCTR. Arrowheads show colocalization of microglial cells with CD68. The boxed regions are highly magnified at the right side. Scale bar, 20 µm. H–M Western blot analysis (H) and quantification of p-PKA, PKA, p-CREB, CREB and TPM1 (I–M) in BV2 cells following treatments with LPS and siTPM1-1, siTPM1-2, or siCTR. Data are presented as mean ± SEM and analyzed by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test (compared to LPS + siCTR or control, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 ***p < 0.001). Four independent experiments were performed. N–Q Western blot analysis (N) and quantification of p-PKA, p-CREB, and TPM1 (O–Q) in BV2 cells after transfection with siTPM1-1, siTPM1-2, or siCTR followed by LPS and H89 treatment. Data are presented as mean ± SEM and analyzed by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test (compared to LPS + siCTR or control, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.001; compared to LPS + siTPM1-1/siTPM1-2, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01). Five independent experiments were performed