Ultra-robust Single-Ion Conducting Composite Electrolytes for Stable Li-Metal Batteries.

With significantly high lithium-ion (Li) transport efficiency, single-ion conducting polymer electrolytes (SIPEs) often suffer from low ionic conductivity due to the covalently bonded anions to the polymer backbone. Adding plasticizers to SIPEs to improve ionic conductivity usually reduces the polymer matrix's mechanical robustness, negatively affecting overall performance as solid electrolytes. Herein, to surpass such a trade-off relationship, we successfully designed a single-ion conducting composite membrane (c-SIPM60) with cross-linked linear SIPEs and incorporated glass-mesh substrate, which shows a cation transport number close to 1, ultrahigh tensile strength of 22 MPa (modulus of 547.

Advances in assessment and cognitive neurorehabilitation of HIV-related neurocognitive impairment.

Neurocognitive impairment (NCI) is present in around 40% of people with HIV and substantially affects everyday life, adherence to combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) and overall life expectancy. Suboptimal therapy regimen, opportunistic infections, substance abuse and highly prevalent psychiatric co-morbidities contribute to NCI in people with HIV. In this review, we highlight the need for efficacious treatment of HIV-related NCI through pharmacological approaches and cognitive neurorehabilitation, discussing recent randomized controlled trials in this domain.

The Heisenberg-RIXS instrument at the European XFEL.

Resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) is an ideal X-ray spectroscopy method to push the combination of energy and time resolutions to the Fourier transform ultimate limit, because it is unaffected by the core-hole lifetime energy broadening. Also, in pump-probe experiments the interaction time is made very short by the same core-hole lifetime. RIXS is very photon hungry so it takes great advantage from high-repetition-rate pulsed X-ray sources like the European XFEL.

In-vivo Raman microspectroscopy reveals differential nitrate concentration in different developmental zones in Arabidopsis roots.

Background: Nitrate (NO) is one of the two major forms of inorganic nitrogen absorbed by plant roots, and the tissue nitrate concentration in roots is considered important for optimizing developmental programs. Technologies to quantify the expression levels of nitrate transporters and assimilating enzymes at the cellular level have improved drastically in the past decade. However, a technological gap remains for detecting nitrate at a high spatial resolution.

Electrochemically driven Michael reaction: synthesis of hydroquinone thioethers.

An original method for the synthesis of a diverse array of hydroquinone thioethers with yields of 36% to 99% under mild conditions is described. The process is voltammetrically controlled and involves electrogenerating active protonated -quinone followed by thiol addition.