Te-Doped Bi2Se3@NC Nanocomposites for High-Performance Li-Ion Battery Anodes

Bismuth-based anodes are promising for lithium-ion batteries owing to their high theoretical capacity, garnering significant attention in recent decades. Despite its intrinsic advantages, this anode material has the shortcoming of excessive volume expansion during the charging and discharging processes, which significantly reduces the cycling stability. In this work, a nitrogen-doped carbon-coated Bi2Se3−xTex composite (Bi2Se3−xTex@NC) with excellent electrochemical properties was synthesized by the solvothermal method followed by heat treatment. Benefiting from its unique structure and Te-doping properties, the nitrogen-doped carbon-coated Bi2Se3−xTex composite maintains a discharge specific capacity of 464.0 mAh g−1 after 60 cycles at a current density of 0.1 A g−1. This research presents an efficient approach for the preparation of nitrogen-doped carbon-coated anode materials and a fresh perspective on battery electrode material design

Sulfolane as an additive to regulate Zn anode in aqueous Zn-ion batteries

Aqueous Zn-ion batteries (AZIBs) have attracted strong attention for widespread applications because of their safety, cheapness and ecological amiability. Nevertheless, challenges exist at the Zn anode such as the side reactions. Here, a small amount of sulfolane (SL) (1 vol%) was added into the typical ZnSO4 electrolyte as an additive. Detailed studies shown that SL adjusts the solvation structure of Zn2+, reduces the water activity and regulates the Zn deposition. Consequently, the side reactions are suppressed. Therefore, with only addition of 1% SL, the symmetric cells exhibit long cycling lifespan of more than 2000 h and high Coulombic efficiency of 99.7% at 1 mA cm−2 and 1 mAh cm−2. Even under harsh conditions of 5 mA cm−2 and 5 mAh cm−2, the Zn anode still displays long cycling performance of 1000 h. Furthermore, Zn||MnO2 full batteries with SL/ZnSO4 electrolyte shows a high capacity of about 120 mAh g−1 after 500 cycles at 0.5 A g−1

Emodin reverses leukemia multidrug resistance by competitive inhibition and downregulation of P-glycoprotein.

Development of multidrug resistance (MDR) is a continuous clinical challenge partially due to the overexpression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) patients. Herein, we evaluated the inhibitory potency of emodin, a natural anthraquinone derivative isolated from Rheum palmatum L, on P-gp in P-gp positive K562/ADM cells. Competition experiments combined with molecular docking analysis were utilized to investigate the binding modes between emodin and binding sites of P-gp. Emodin reversed adriamycin resistance in K562/ADM cells accompanied with the decrease of P-gp protein expression, further increasing the uptake of rhodamine123 in both K562/ADM and Caco-2 cells, indicating the inhibition of P-gp efflux function. Moreover, when incubated with emodin under different conditions where P-gp was inhibited, K562/ADM cells displayed increasing intracellular uptake of emodin, suggesting that emodin may be the potential substrate of P-gp. Importantly, rhodamine 123 could increase the Kintrinsic (Ki) value of emodin linearly, whereas, verapamil could not, implying that emodin competitively bound to the R site of P-gp and noncompetition existed between emodin and verapamil at the M site, in a good accordance with the results of molecular docking that emodin bound to the R site of P-gp with higher affinity. Based on our results, we suggest that emodin might be used to modulate P-gp function and expression

Novel Quinolizine AIE System: Visualization of Molecular Motion and Elaborate Tailoring for Biological Application

Molecular motions are ubiquitous in nature and they immutably play intrinsic roles in all actions. However, exploring appropriate models to decipher molecular motions is an extremely important but very challenging task for researchers. Considering aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminogens possess their unique merits to visualize molecular motions, it is particularly fascinating to construct new AIE systems as model to study molecular motion. Herein, a novel quinolizine (QLZ) AIE system was constructed based on the restriction intramolecular vibration mechanism. It was demonstrated that QLZ could act as an ideal model to visualize single-molecule motion and macroscopic molecular motion via fluorescence change. Additionally, further elaborate tailoring of this impressive core achieved highly efficient reactive oxygen species production and realized fluorescence imaging-guided photodynamic therapy applications, which confirms the great application potential of this new AIE-active QLZ core. Therefore, this work not only provides an ideal model to visualize molecular motion but also opens a new way for the application of AIEgens

Effect of emodin combined with various amount of rhodamine 123 or verapamil on inhibition of P-gp.

<p>K562/ADM cells were incubated with emodin (0.25–20 μM), together with 1, 3, 10 μM of rhodamine 123, respectively (A); The <i>K</i>_<i>i</i> of emodin was calculated and plotted against the concentrations of rhodamine 123 (B). K562/ADM cells were incubated with emodin (0.25–20 μM) with 0.5, 1, 2 μM of verapamil and 1 μM of rhodamine 123 (C). The calculated values of <i>K</i>_<i>i</i> for emodin were plotted against the concentrations of verapamil (D). Data were represented as the mean ± S.D of three independent experiments.</p