Composites of Piezoelectric Materials and Silicon as Anode for Lithium Ion Batteries

Group IVA elements (Si, Ge and Sn) are promising candidates for the anode materials of lithium ion batteries (LIBs) due to their large theoretical specific capacities. However, serious problems of pulverization and capacity degradation resulted from the huge volume changes during charge/discharge operations hindered their successful applications as the anode materials in the LIBs. In this work, diffusion behaviors of Li ions in Si(100) and Si(111) slabs with a piezoelectric field applied perpendicularly to the surfaces were investigated using density functional theory. Results showed that the diffusivity of the Li in Si can be significantly enhanced by applying the electric field generated from the piezoelectric material. This finding can explain well the recent experimental observations in which improved electrochemical performance was obtained using Si/carbon nanotube/BaTiO3 as the anode for the LIBs. New generation of anode composite materials can be designed based on this idea and the piezoelectric material is used not only to accommodate the volume variation of active materials of Si, but also to enhance the charging rate of the LIBs

N′-(2-Methoxy­benzyl­idene)nicotinohydrazide

The title compound, C14H13N3O2, was prepared by the reaction of 2-methoxy­benzyaldehyde with nicotinic acid hydrazide in methanol. The dihedral angle between the benzene and pyridine rings is 5.9 (3)°. In the crystal structure, mol­ecules are linked by inter­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, leading to the formation of chains along the c axis; adjacent chains are linked via C—H⋯O and C—H⋯N hydrogen bonds

Chloroquinone Inhibits Cell Proliferation and Induces Apoptosis in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Cell Lines

Purpose: To demonstrate the role of chloroquinone (CQ) in inducing apoptosis in HONE-1 and HNE-1, nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cell lines.Methods: Water-soluble tetrazolium salt (WST)-1 assay was used for the determination of cell proliferation while an inverted microscope was employed for the analysis of alterations in the morphology of the cells.Results: CQ treatment led to a significant reduction in the rate of cell proliferation in NPC cells after 48 h. In HONE-1 and HNE-1 cell lines viability was reduced to 89 and 82 %, respectively on treatment with 10 μΜ concentration of CQ without affecting normal human skin keratinocyte cell line, K38. The expression of Ki67, a marker for proliferation as well as proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), decreased in the CQ-treated NPC cells. Morphological examination of NPC cells revealed cell apoptosis on treatment with CQ after 48 h. Treatment of NPC cells with CQ induced activation of caspases and DNA was damaged which further confirmed CQ mediated induction of apoptosis. The level of apoptotic cells in CQ treated and untreated control HONE-1 cell cultures was 53.67 and 3.78 %, respectively (p < 0.05). In addition, CQ treatment decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in NPC cells.Conclusion: CQ inhibits cell proliferation of NPC cells by inducing apoptosis via DNA damage, and may be of therapeutic use for the treatment of NPC. However, this requires clinical investigation to ascertain its therapeutic potential.Keywords: Chloroquinone, Caspases, Apoptosis, Nuclear antigen, Nasopharyngeal carcinom

Frequency effect on streaming phenomenon induced by Rayleigh surface acoustic wave in microdroplets

Acoustic streaming of ink particles inside a water microdroplet generated by a surface acoustic wave(SAW) has been studied numerically using a finite volume numerical method and these results have been verified using experimental measurements. Effects of SAW excitation frequency, droplet volume, and radio-frequency (RF) power are investigated, and it has been shown that SAW excitation frequency influences the SAWattenuation length, lSAW , and hence the acoustic energy absorbed by liquid. It has also been observed that an increase of excitation frequency generally enhances the SAW streaming behavior. However, when the frequency exceeds a critical value that depends on the RF power applied to the SAW device, weaker acoustic streaming is observed resulting in less effective acoustic mixing inside the droplet. This critical value is characterised by a dimensionless ratio of droplet radius to SAWattenuation length, i.e., Rd/lSAW . With a mean value of Rd/lSAW  ≈ 1, a fast and efficient mixing can be induced, even at the lowest RF power of 0.05 mW studied in this paper. On the other hand, for the Rd/lSAW ratios much larger than ∼1, significant decreases in streaming velocities were observed, resulting in a transition from regular (strong) to irregular (weak) mixing/flow. This is attributed to an increased absorption rate of acoustic wave energy that leaks into the liquid, resulting in a reduction of the acoustic energy radiated away from the SAW interaction region towards the droplet free surface. It has been demonstrated in this study that a fast and efficient mixing process with a smaller RF power could be achieved if the ratio of Rd/lSAW  ≤ 1 in the SAW-droplet based microfluidics