Investigation of the cathodic interfacial stability of a nitrile electrolyte and its performance with a high-voltage LiCoO cathode.

The limited discharge capacity of LiCoO2 can be improved by increasing its working potential, but it suffers from Co4+ dissolution and decomposition of the electrolyte. Nitriles have attracted great interest as high-voltage electrolytes due to their wide electrochemical window. However, the cathodic interfacial stability of nitrile electrolytes with a high-voltage LiCoO2 cathode has yet to be explored.

Correction: Towards high-throughput microfluidic Raman-activated cell sorting.

Correction for 'Towards high-throughput microfluidic Raman-activated cell sorting' by Qiang Zhang et al., Analyst, 2015, DOI: 10.1039/c5an01074h.

Towards high-throughput microfluidic Raman-activated cell sorting.

Raman-activated cell sorting (RACS) is a promising single-cell analysis technology that is able to identify and isolate individual cells of targeted type, state or environment from an isogenic population or complex consortium of cells, in a label-free and non-invasive manner. However, compared with those widely used yet labeling-required or staining-dependent cell sorting technologies such as FACS and MACS, the weak Raman signal greatly limits the further development of the existing RACS systems to achieve higher throughput. Strategies that can tackle this bottleneck include, first, improvement of Raman-acquisition efficiency and quality based on advanced Raman spectrometers and enhanced Raman techniques; second, development of novel microfluidic devices for cell sorting followed by integration into a complete RACS system.

On-demand control of microfluidic flow via capillary-tuned solenoid microvalve suction.

A simple, low-cost and on-demand microfluidic flow controlling platform was developed based on a unique capillary-tuned solenoid microvalve suction effect without any outer pressure source. The suction effect was innovatively employed as a stable and controllable driving force for the manipulation of the microfluidic system by connecting a piece of capillary between the microvalve and the microfluidic chip, which caused significant hydrodynamic resistance differences among the solenoid valve ports and changed the flowing mode inside the valve. The volume of sucked liquid could be controlled from microliters even down to picoliters either by decreasing the valve energized duration (from a maximum energized duration to the valve response time of 20 ms) or by increasing the inserted capillary length (i.