A modelling and experimental study on the co-precipitation of Ni0.8Mn0.1Co0.1(OH)2 as precursor for battery cathodes

A multi-inlet vortex mixer is used to investigate the co-precipitation of Ni0.8Mn0.1Co0.1(OH)2 particles, largely employed to produce Li-ion battery cathodes. The co-precipitation process is simulated with a population balance model, adopted to describe the experimental findings and gain deeper understanding of the process. Experiments and simulations are carried out under different operating conditions to quantify the effect of mixing conditions, turbulence and feed reactant concentrations on the final characteristics of the obtained particles, such as the size distribution, structure, morphology and density. These characteristics are measured by conducting static light-scattering, FESEM and XRD analyses and are expected to have, in turn, a tremendous effect on the final electrochemical performance of the cathode. Based on the experimental and modelling observations, we discuss the role of nucleation, molecular growth and aggregation in the co–precipitation process. Eventually a possible mechanism explaining the formation of Ni0.8Mn0.1Co0.1(OH)2 particles is proposed

Oxygen therapy in headache disorders: A systematic review

Background: The global active prevalence of migraines is approximately 14.7%. Oxygen therapy may reduce the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) which often have various negative side effects. The purpose of this systematic review is to analyze the literature on the efficacy of high flow oxygen for the management of headache disorders, compared to placebo treatment. Methods: Studies were identified by PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus database from 1980 to the 30 October 2020. The search included the following terms: “oxygen therapy” and “headache” and “migraine”. Studies were included if high flow oxygen was used in the treatment of headache disorders. All selected studies were qualitatively analyzed. Results: Our literature search identified 71 studies, of which 65 were discarded and 6 were included in the meta-analysis. The random effect model did not show a pooled significant resolution of headache disorders (OR 2.08 (95% CI 0.92–4.70), p < 0.0001) in the oxygen therapy group compared to the placebo group. Conclusion: In our systematic review of six studies, there were no significant differences between high flow oxygen and placebo treatment groups

Designing a double-coated cathode with high entropy oxides by microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis for highly stable Li–S batteries

Nowadays, Li-S batteries are considered as one of the most promising alternatives to Li-ion technology in the near future, thanks to their high specific capacity and their significantly lower environmental impact and production costs. Consequently, many efforts have been directed to tackle with the inherent issues that affect Li-S batteries. One of the main problems is the so-called shuttle effect, which basically entails the unwanted migration of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) from the cathode to the anode side, causing the degradation of the cell. Here, we report an effective strategy to restrain the shuttle effect and increase the kinetics at the cathode of the lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery. A functional layer including high entropy oxides (HEO) coated onto the sulfur cathode allows to exploit the HEOs capability as promoter catalysts for the conversion of LiPSs. Pure HEO powders are synthesized by fast, highly efficient microwave irradiation, followed by heat treatment at 930 degrees C. The formation of highly crystalline HEO is confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis. The LiPSs adsorption capability of HEO is evaluated by UV-vis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses. The effect of the HEO-coated sulfur cathode on the electrochemical performance of the Li-S battery is studied by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge/discharge. The cell with double-coated cathode delivers an initial discharge capacity of 1173 mAh/g at C/10 with 45% capacity retention over 500 cycles at C/5, approaching similar to 99% coulombic efficiency.[GRAPHICS]

Testing the Higgs Mechanism in the Lepton Sector with multi-TeV e+e- Collisions

Multi-TeV e+e- collisions provide with a large enough sample of Higgs bosons to enable measurements of its suppressed decays. Results of a detailed study of the determination of the muon Yukawa coupling at 3 TeV, based on full detector simulation and event reconstruction, are presented. The muon Yukawa coupling can be determined with a relative accuracy of 0.04 to 0.08 for Higgs bosons masses from 120 GeV to 150 GeV, with an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse-ab. The result is not affected by overlapping two-photon background.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, submitted to J Phys G.: Nucl. Phy

SILAC-based proteomic quantification of chemoattractant-induced cytoskeleton dynamics on a second to minute timescale

Cytoskeletal dynamics during cell behaviours ranging from endocytosis and exocytosis to cell division and movement is controlled by a complex network of signalling pathways, the full details of which are as yet unresolved. Here we show that SILAC-based proteomic methods can be used to characterize the rapid chemoattractant-induced dynamic changes in the actin–myosin cytoskeleton and regulatory elements on a proteome-wide scale with a second to minute timescale resolution. This approach provides novel insights in the ensemble kinetics of key cytoskeletal constituents and association of known and novel identified binding proteins. We validate the proteomic data by detailed microscopy-based analysis of in vivo translocation dynamics for key signalling factors. This rapid large-scale proteomic approach may be applied to other situations where highly dynamic changes in complex cellular compartments are expected to play a key role