Boosting Superior Lithium Storage Performance of Alloy‐Based Anode Materials via Ultraconformal Sb Coating–Derived Favorable Solid‐Electrolyte Interphase

Alloy materials such as Si and Ge are attractive as high‐capacity anodes for rechargeable batteries, but such anodes undergo severe capacity degradation during discharge–charge processes. Compared to the over‐emphasized efforts on the electrode structure design to mitigate the volume changes, understanding and engineering of the solid‐electrolyte interphase (SEI) are significantly lacking. This work demonstrates that modifying the surface of alloy‐based anode materials by building an ultraconformal layer of Sb can significantly enhance their structural and interfacial stability during cycling. Combined experimental and theoretical studies consistently reveal that the ultraconformal Sb layer is dynamically converted to Li3Sb during cycling, which can selectively adsorb and catalytically decompose electrolyte additives to form a robust, thin, and dense LiF‐dominated SEI, and simultaneously restrain the decomposition of electrolyte solvents. Hence, the Sb‐coated porous Ge electrode delivers much higher initial Coulombic efficiency of 85% and higher reversible capacity of 1046 mAh g−1 after 200 cycles at 500 mA g−1, compared to only 72% and 170 mAh g−1 for bare porous Ge. The present finding has indicated that tailoring surface structures of electrode materials is an appealing approach to construct a robust SEI and achieve long‐term cycling stability for alloy‐based anode materials

In Situ Construction of an Ultrarobust and Lithiophilic Li-Enriched Li–N Nanoshield for High-Performance Ge-Based Anode Materials

Alloy-based materials are promising anodes for rechargeable batteries because of their higher theoretical capacities in comparison to graphite. Unfortunately, the huge volume changes during cycling cause serious structural degradation and undesired parasitic reactions with electrolytes, resulting in fragile solid-electrolyte interphase formation and serious capacity decay. This work proposes to mitigate the volume changes and suppress the interfacial reactivity of Ge anodes without sacrificing the interfacial Li+ transport, through in situ construction of an ultrarobust and lithiophilic Li-enriched Li–N nanoshield, which demonstrated improved chemical, electrochemical, mechanical, and environmental stability. Therefore, it can serve as a versatile interlayer to facilitate Li+ transport and effectively block the attack of electrolyte solvents, thus boosting the long-term cycle stability and fast charging capability of Ge anodes. This work offers an alternative methodology to tune the interfaces of other electrode materials as well by screening for more N-containing compounds that can react with Li+ during battery operation

Boosting the Performance of Iron-Phthalocyanine as Cathode Electrocatalyst for Alkaline Polymer Fuel Cells Through Edge-Closed Conjugation

One-pot microwave conjugation results in a polymerized iron-phthalocyanine (pFePc) which exhibits extremely high ORR performance,, showing activity much better than that of the FePc monomer and 20 wt % Pt/C, and similar to that of the 60 wt % Pt/C under the same catalyst loading. Furthermore, we proposed an edge-closing strategy to significantly enhance the stability of the pFePc catalyst in alkaline media by eliminating the edge anhydride groups. Using the edge-closed pFePc as cathode catalyst in APFC, a power density as high as 452 mW∙cm-2 is achieved, which is among the best performance of non-noble metal catalyst-based APFCs so far reported

Numerical Analysis of Natural Gas Injection in Shougang Jingtang Blast Furnace

A static model of blast furnace operation of natural gas (NG) injection was developed. The effect of NG injection on the raceway adiabatic flame temperature, the amount and composition of bosh gas, the direct reduction degree and fuel ratio were studied. The results showed that under no thermal compensation, the heat loss of the whole blast furnace increases, which means the heat surplus of the whole furnace is sufficient. However, the heat in the high-temperature zone of the blast furnace is insufficient, showing the characteristics of “cold at bottom and hot at the top”. Based on the comparison of heat loss in the high-temperature zone after NG injection with the reference condition, if the heat loss is consistent with the reference case, the suitable NG injection volumes are 17.3, 34.6, 52 and 69.3 m3/t when the coal ratio is reduced by 20, 40, 60 and 80 kg/t, respectively. With the increase of the suitable NG injection volumes, the adiabatic flame temperature gradually decreases, the amount of bosh gas slightly increases, and the overall fuel ratio reduces gradually. The effect of other thermal compensation operations, such as increasing blast temperature and addition of oxygen on the NG injection, were also investigated. The findings of this work can be used as a theoretical basis to guide plant operations for NG injection in blast furnaces

Boosting the Performance of Iron-Phthalocyanine as Cathode Electrocatalyst for Alkaline Polymer Fuel Cells Through Edge-Closed Conjugation

One-pot microwave conjugation results in a polymerized iron-phthalocyanine (pFePc) which exhibits extremely high ORR performance,, showing activity much better than that of the FePc monomer and 20 wt % Pt/C, and similar to that of the 60 wt % Pt/C under the same catalyst loading. Furthermore, we proposed an edge-closing strategy to significantly enhance the stability of the pFePc catalyst in alkaline media by eliminating the edge anhydride groups. Using the edge-closed pFePc as cathode catalyst in APFC, a power density as high as 452 mW∙cm^-2 is achieved, which is among the best performance of non-noble metal catalyst-based APFCs so far reported

N-Phenyl-2-Pyridone-Derived Endoperoxide Exhibiting Dual Activity by Suppressing both Lung Cancer and Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Conventional light-driven photodynamic therapy (PDT) to generate toxic singlet oxygen are potential for cancer therapeutics but limited by the light penetrability and hypoxia tumor. PDT-involved combinational therapy could enhance overall therapeutic effects and reduce drug resistance, while disadvantages such as diverse pharmacokinetics among different ingredients, low active-ingredient loading, inevitably utilization of non-functional components need to be addressed. Here we report an endoperoxide E5 synthesized via ‘in vitro’ PDT could spontaneously deliver singlet oxygen, triplet oxygen and 3-methyl-N-phenyl-2-pyridone as an analogue of pirfenidone (Approved drug for treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis), showing great potential for treating non-small cell lung cancer and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. In aqueous solution, E5 could undergo a clear cycloreversion to afford three components with a half-life time of 8.3 hours and it efficiently suppress the migration and invasion of lung cancer cell as well as the TGF-b1 induced fibrosis in vitro. In vivo experiments suggest that E5 not only efficiently inhibits tumor growth, decreases the HIF-1α protein levels, relieves idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, but shows good biocompatibility. Many evidence reveal that both singlet oxygen and 3-methyl-N-phenyl-2-pyridone are therapeutic ingredients, and triplet oxygen could relieve tumor hypoxia which is an inevitable issue in conventional PDT. Our study validates that endoperoxides as single active components containing multiple ingredients including singlet oxygen are of exceptionally therapeutic potential

Variation of interlinked-phenolics in <i>Miscanthus</i> (n = 79).

<p>(A) Interlinked-phenolics in the KOH-extractable and non-KOH-extractable residues; (B) Total interlinked-phenolic compositions. H-: <i>p</i>-Hydroxybenzaldehyde, G-: Vanillin, S-: Syringaldehyde, AV-: Acetovanillone, AS-: Acetosyringone, PCA-: <i>p-</i>Coumaric acid, FA-: Ferulic acid, SA-: Sinapic acid.</p

Correlation analysis among lignin, interlinked-phenolics and biomass saccharification in <i>Miscanthus</i>.

<p>(A) Correlation between lignin content and hexoses yield; (B) Correlation between total interlinked-phenolics and hexoses yield. * and ** Indicated the significant correlation coefficient values at <i>p</i><0.05 and 0.01 (n = 79), respectively.</p

The Minor Wall-Networks between Monolignols and Interlinked-Phenolics Predominantly Affect Biomass Enzymatic Digestibility in <i>Miscanthus</i>

<div><p>Plant lignin is one of the major wall components that greatly contribute to biomass recalcitrance for biofuel production. In this study, total 79 representative <i>Miscanthus</i> germplasms were determined with wide biomass digestibility and diverse monolignol composition. Integrative analyses indicated that three major monolignols (S, G, H) and S/G ratio could account for lignin negative influence on biomass digestibility upon NaOH and H₂SO₄ pretreatments. Notably, the biomass enzymatic digestions were predominately affected by the non-KOH-extractable lignin and interlinked-phenolics, other than the KOH-extractable ones that cover 80% of total lignin. Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between the monolignols and phenolics at <i>p</i><0.05 level in the non-KOH-extractable only, suggesting their tight association to form the minor wall-networks against cellulases accessibility. The results indicated that the non-KOH-extractable lignin-complex should be the target either for cost-effective biomass pretreatments or for relatively simply genetic modification of plant cell walls in <i>Miscanthus</i>.</p></div