A room temperature rechargeable LiO-based lithium-air battery enabled by a solid electrolyte.

A lithium-air battery based on lithium oxide (LiO) formation can theoretically deliver an energy density that is comparable to that of gasoline. Lithium oxide formation involves a four-electron reaction that is more difficult to achieve than the one- and two-electron reaction processes that result in lithium superoxide (LiO) and lithium peroxide (LiO), respectively. By using a composite polymer electrolyte based on LiGePS nanoparticles embedded in a modified polyethylene oxide polymer matrix, we found that LiO is the main product in a room temperature solid-state lithium-air battery.

High-Affinity-Assisted Nanoscale Alloys as Remarkable Bifunctional Catalyst for Alcohol Oxidation and Oxygen Reduction Reactions.

A key challenge in developing fuel cells is the fabrication of low-cost electrocatalysts with high activity and long durability for the two half-reactions, i.e., the methanol/ethanol oxidation reaction (MOR/EOR) and the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR).

Accelerated Bone Regeneration by Two-Photon Photoactivated Carbon Nitride Nanosheets.

Human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSCs) present promising opportunities for therapeutic medicine. Carbon derivatives showed only marginal enhancement in stem cell differentiation toward bone formation. Here we report that red-light absorbing carbon nitride (CN) sheets lead to remarkable proliferation and osteogenic differentiation by runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) activation, a key transcription factor associated with osteoblast differentiation.

Efficient CO Oxidation by 50-Facet CuO Nanocrystals Coated with CuO Nanoparticles.

As carbon monoxide oxidation is widely used for various chemical processes (such as methanol synthesis and water-gas shift reactions HO + CO ⇄ CO + H) as well as in industry, it is essential to develop highly energy efficient, inexpensive, and eco-friendly catalysts for CO oxidation. Here we report green synthesis of ∼10 nm sized CuO nanoparticles (NPs) aggregated on ∼400 nm sized 50-facet CuO polyhedral nanocrystals. This CuO-NPs/50-facet CuO shows remarkable CO oxidation reactivity with very high specific CO oxidation activity (4.

Fluorene and Phenanthrene Uptake and Accumulation by Wheat, Alfalfa and Sunflower from the Contaminated Soil.

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are diverse organic contaminants released into the environment by both natural and anthropogenic activities. These compounds have negative impacts on plants growth and development. Although there are many reports on their existence in different parts of plant, their uptake and translocation pathways and mechanisms are not well understood yet.