Porous Electrode Materials for Zn-Ion Batteries: From Fabrication and Electrochemical Application

Porous materials as electrode materials have demonstrated numerous benefits for high-performance Zn-ion batteries in recent years. In brief, porous materials as positive electrodes provide distinctive features such as faster electron transport, shorter ion diffusion distance, and richer electroactive reaction sites, which improve the kinetics of positive electrode reactions and achieve higher rate capacity. On the other hand, the porous structures as negative electrodes also exhibit electrochemical properties possessing higher surface area and reducing local current density, which favors the uniform Zn deposition and restrains the dendrite formation. In view of their advantages, porous electrode materials for ZIB are expected to be extensively applied in electric and hybrid electric vehicles and portable electronic devices. In this review, we highlight the methods of synthesizing porous electrode materials and discuss the mechanism of action of porous structures as electrodes on their electrochemical properties. At the end of this review, the perspectives on the future development of porous materials in the field of electrochemical energy storage are also discussed

Cooperation effect of indium and vanadium co-doped into bismuth-iron garnets on magnetic properties

For achieving tunable saturation magnetization and line width, different cations were doped into the YIG-based garnets, which the standard molecular formula could be expressed as A _3 [Fe _2−x M _x ](Fe _3−y N _y )O _12 . Most researchers have reported a single rule of one element doping (x or y) on its magnetic properties. However, the cooperation effect of x + y to the magnetic contribution was not clearly clarified. In this work, multi-doped bismuth-iron garnets {Bi _0.84 Ca _2.16 }[Fe _2−x In _x ](Fe _3−y V _y )O _12 (x = 0.72–0.14 and y = 1.24–1.38) with low saturation magnetizations (4 πM _s  = 200–600 Gs at 298 K) were prepared by a conventional fluxing agent method. The cooperation effect of In ^3+ and V ^5+ co-doped into bismuth-iron garnets (BIG) on their structures and magnetic properties were systematically investigated using XPS, TEM and VSM. It could be found that the total doped concentration (x + y) was decreasing regardless of the increasing V concentration (y) and decreasing In concentration (x). As-synthesized BIG presented a well single-crystal structure, and the lattice spacing was decreasing with the decrease of x + y in accompanying with the transition of dislocations from point defects to edge dislocations. Both linear increase of Curie temperature and 4 πM _s with the decrease of x + y was revealed. The mechanism could be attributed that the doped non-magnetic ions could reduce the average nearest-neighbor coordination irons for oxygen ions and weaken the anti-ferromagnetic super-exchange interactions among the magnetic ions within the structure, namely dilution effect. By comparison, the total concentraions were higher than that of previous works, which the tailorable 4 πM _s of ferrite was not reported. Here we revealed the controllable 4 πM _s with higher total concentrations (x + y ≥ 1.52). These findings will be provided more opportunities for applications in microwave devices

Tandem Addition/Cyclization for Access to Isoquinolines and Isoquinolones via Catalytic Carbopalladation of Nitriles

The first example of the palladium-catalyzed sequential nucleophilic addition followed by an intramolecular cyclization of functionalized nitriles with arylboronic acids has been achieved, providing an efficient synthetic pathway to access structurally diverse isoquinolines and isoquinolones. This methodology has also been successfully applied to the total synthesis of the topoisomerase I inhibitor CWJ-a-5 (free base)

Tumor mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation stimulated by the nuclear receptor RORγ represents an effective therapeutic opportunity in osteosarcoma.

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common malignant bone tumor with a poor prognosis. Here, we show that the nuclear receptor RORγ may serve as a potential therapeutic target in OS. OS exhibits a hyperactivated oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) program, which fuels the carbon source to promote tumor progression. We found that RORγ is overexpressed in OS tumors and is linked to hyperactivated OXPHOS. RORγ induces the expression of PGC-1β and physically interacts with it to activate the OXPHOS program by upregulating the expression of respiratory chain component genes. Inhibition of RORγ strongly inhibits OXPHOS activation, downregulates mitochondrial functions, and increases ROS production, which results in OS cell apoptosis and ferroptosis. RORγ inverse agonists strongly suppressed OS tumor growth and progression and sensitized OS tumors to chemotherapy. Taken together, our results indicate that RORγ is a critical regulator of the OXPHOS program in OS and provides an effective therapeutic strategy for this deadly disease

Targeting castration-resistant prostate cancer with a novel RORγ antagonist elaiophylin

Prostate cancer (PCa) patients who progress to metastatic castration-resistant PCa (mCRPC) mostly have poor outcomes due to the lack of effective therapies. Our recent study established the orphan nuclear receptor RORγ as a novel therapeutic target for CRPC. Here, we reveal that elaiophylin (Elai), an antibiotic from Actinomycete streptomyces, is a novel RORγ antagonist and showed potent antitumor activity against CRPC in vitro and in vivo. We demonstrated that Elai selectively binded to RORγ protein and potently blocked RORγ transcriptional regulation activities. Structure-activity relationship studies showed that Elai occupied the binding pocket with several key interactions. Furthermore, Elai markedly reduced the recruitment of RORγ to its genomic DNA response element (RORE), suppressed the expression of RORγ target genes AR and AR variants, and significantly inhibited PCa cell growth. Importantly, Elai strongly suppressed tumor growth in both cell line based and patient-derived PCa xenograft models. Taken together, these results suggest that Elai is novel therapeutic RORγ inhibitor that can be used as a drug candidate for the treatment of human CRPC