The pulverization of silicon (Si) anode materials is recognized as a major cause of their poor cycling performance, yet a mechanistic understanding of this degradation from a full cell perspective remains elusive. Here, we identify an overlooked contributor to Si anode failure: mechanical shutdown of separators. Through mechano-structural characterization of Si full cells, combined with digital-twin simulation, we demonstrate that the volume expansion of Si exerts localized compressive stress on commercial polyethylene separators, leading to pore collapse.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMedical plastic-appliance-based healthcare services, especially in dentistry, generate tremendous amounts of plastic waste. Given the physiological features of our mouth, it is desirable to substitute dental care plastics with viscoelastic and antimicrobial bioplastics. Herein, we develop a medical-grade and sustainable bioplastic that is viscoelastic enough to align the tooth positions, resists microbial contamination, and exhibits recyclable life cycles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBoth uncontrolled Li dendrite growth and corrosion are major obstacles to the practical application of Li-metal batteries. Despite numerous attempts to address these challenges, effective solutions for dendrite-free reversible Li electrodeposition have remained elusive. Here, we demonstrate the horizontal Li electrodeposition on top of atomically polarized monolayer hexagonal boron nitride (hBN).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSingle-ion conductors based on covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have garnered attention as a potential alternative to currently prevalent inorganic ion conductors owing to their structural uniqueness and chemical versatility. However, the sluggish Li conduction has hindered their practical applications. Here, we present a class of solvent-free COF single-ion conductors (Li-COF@P) based on weak ion-dipole interaction as opposed to traditional strong ion-ion interaction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Liesegang pattern is a beautiful natural anisotropic patterning phenomenon observed in rocks and sandstones. This study reveals that the Liesegang pattern can induce nonlinear elasticity. Here, a Liesegang-patterned complex with biomineral-hydrogel repetitive layers is prepared.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRechargeable batteries, typically represented by lithium-ion batteries, have taken a huge leap in energy density over the last two decades. However, they still face material/chemical challenges in ensuring safety and long service life at temperatures beyond the optimum range, primarily due to the chemical/electrochemical instabilities of conventional liquid electrolytes against aggressive electrode reactions and temperature variation. In this regard, a gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) with its liquid components immobilized and stabilized by a solid matrix, capable of retaining almost all the advantageous natures of the liquid electrolytes and circumventing the interfacial issues that exist in the all-solid-state electrolytes, is of great significance to realize rechargeable batteries with extended working temperature range.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConventional power-integrated wireless neural recording devices suffer from bulky, rigid batteries in head-mounted configurations, hindering the precise interpretation of the subject's natural behaviors. These power sources also pose risks of material leakage and overheating. We present the direct printing of a power-integrated wireless neural recording system that seamlessly conforms to the cranium.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHydrocarbon (HC)-based block copolymers have been recognized as promising candidates for proton exchange membranes (PEMs) due to their distinct hydrophilic-hydrophobic separation, which results in improved proton transport compared to that of random copolymers. However, most PEMs derived from HC-based ionomers, including block copolymers, encounter challenges related to durability in electrochemical cells due to their low mechanical and chemical properties. One method for reinforcing HC-based ionomers involves incorporating the ionomers into commercially available low surface tension PTFE porous substrates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite the enormous interest in high-areal-capacity Li battery electrodes, their structural instability and nonuniform charge transfer have plagued practical application. Herein, we present a cationic semi-interpenetrating polymer network (c-IPN) binder strategy, with a focus on the regulation of electrostatic phenomena in electrodes. Compared to conventional neutral linear binders, the c-IPN suppresses solvent-drying-induced crack evolution of electrodes and improves the dispersion state of electrode components owing to its surface charge-driven electrostatic repulsion and mechanical toughness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Studies on the effect of diabetes mellitus (DM) on the radiologic findings of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) have reported inconsistent results. These findings may have been influenced by the glycemic control status of the patients studied. To our knowledge, no recent data have described the effect of the DM control status on CT findings in PTB in terms of medium-sized airway involvement that is visualized as bronchial erosion on CT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite the enormous interest in Li metal as an ideal anode material, the uncontrollable Li dendrite growth and unstable solid electrolyte interphase have plagued its practical application. These limitations can be attributed to the sluggish and uneven Li migration towards Li metal surface. Here, we report olefin-linked covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with electronegative channels for facilitating selective Li transport.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite the enormous interest in inorganic/polymer composite solid-state electrolytes (CSEs) for solid-state batteries (SSBs), the underlying ion transport phenomena in CSEs have not yet been elucidated. Here, we address this issue by formulating a mechanistic understanding of bi-percolating ion channels formation and ion conduction across inorganic-polymer electrolyte interfaces in CSEs. A model CSE is composed of argyrodite-type LiPSCl (LPSCl) and gel polymer electrolyte (GPE, including Li-glyme complex as an ion-conducting medium).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe current lithium-ion battery (LIB) electrode fabrication process relies heavily on the wet coating process, which uses the environmentally harmful and toxic N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) solvent. In addition to being unsustainable, the use of this expensive organic solvent substantially increases the cost of battery production, as it needs to be dried and recycled throughout the manufacturing process. Herein, we report an industrially viable and sustainable dry press-coating process that uses the combination of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) as a dry powder composite and etched Al foil as a current collector.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Korean Soc Radiol
September 2022
Purpose: To compare the computerized Greulich-Pyle based bone age with elbow bone age.
Materials And Methods: A total of 2126 patients (1525 girls; 601 boys) whose elbow bone age was within the evaluable range by the Sauvegrain method, and who simultaneously underwent hand radiography, were enrolled in the study. The 1st-bone age and VUNO score of the hand were evaluated using VUNOMed-BoneAge software.
Despite the ever-increasing demand for transparent power sources in wireless optoelectronics, most of them have still relied on synthetic chemicals, thus limiting their versatile applications. Here, a class of transparent nanocellulose paper microsupercapacitors (TNP-MSCs) as a beyond-synthetic-material strategy is demonstrated. Onto semi-interpenetrating polymer network-structured, thiol-modified transparent nanocellulose paper, a thin layer of silver nanowire and a conducting polymer (chosen as a pseudocapacitive electrode material) are consecutively introduced through microscale-patterned masks (which are fabricated by electrohydrodynamic jet printing) to produce a transparent conductive electrode (TNP-TCE) with planar interdigitated structure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIt has been stated that bronchial anthracofibrosis (BAF) has an important relationship with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), and the coexistence of TB and BAF is high. The purpose of this study was to compare the differences in computed tomography (CT) characteristics of pulmonary TB according to the presence of underlying BAF. Total of 202 consecutive patients who were diagnosed with pulmonary TB and underwent bronchoscopy and CT in our institution were retrospectively reviewed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSingle-ion conductors have garnered attention in energy storage systems as a promising alternative to currently widespread electrolytes that allow migration of cations and anions. However, ion transport phenomena of most single-ion conductors are affected by strong ion (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLithium metal batteries have higher theoretical energy than their Li-ion counterparts, where graphite is used at the anode. However, one of the main stumbling blocks in developing practical Li metal batteries is the lack of cathodes with high-mass-loading capable of delivering highly reversible redox reactions. To overcome this issue, here we report an electrode structure that incorporates a UV-cured non-aqueous gel electrolyte and a cathode where the LiNiCoMnO active material is contained in an electron-conductive matrix produced via simultaneous electrospinning and electrospraying.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFused aromatic networks (FANs) have been studied in efforts to overcome the low physicochemical stability of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs), while preserving crystallinity. Herein, we describe the synthesis of a highly stable and crystalline FAN (denoted as Pz-FAN) using pyrazine-based building blocks to form porphyrazine (Pz) linkages via an irreversible reaction. Unlike most COFs and FANs, which are synthesized from two different building blocks, the new Pz-FAN is formed using a single building block by self-cyclotetramerization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInspired by the atomic-sized, shape-regulated features of G-quadruplexes comprising guanine motifs with a monovalent metal cation, the G-quadruplex-forming ability, and properties of a guanine-based π-conjugated Y2 molecule containing bithiophene and peripheral dodecyl chain units in the presence of various cation salts (Li , Na , K , and Mg ) were exploited. A series of structural characterization revealed that Y2 yielded desirable G-quadruplexes with all the tested cations as a consequence of the combination of a hydrogen-bonded cyclic G-quartet, π-stacking, and cation-dipole interactions. The radius and nature of the coordinating cations crucially affected the structural characteristics of G-quadruplexes, leading to variations in the ion migration ability inside the cavity of the G-quadruplex (Li >Na >K >Mg ), as characterized through theoretical and experimental investigations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Mater Interfaces
December 2021
Lithium-sulfur batteries are afflicted with capacity fading on account of polysulfide shuttling. A novel cost-effective electrode that can hinder the polysulfide shuttling and realize high active material utilization is highly required. Here, we demonstrate a flexible, electrically conductive, nanostructured, and asymmetric hybrid cathode by integrating a high-aspect-ratio wood nanocellulose and a low-cost commercial carbon nanotube (∼$ 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite their potential as promising alternatives to current state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries, aqueous rechargeable Zn-ion batteries are still far away from practical applications. Here, we present a new class of single-ion conducting electrolytes based on a zinc sulfonated covalent organic framework (TpPa-SOZn) to address this challenging issue. TpPa-SOZn is synthesised to exhibit single Zn conduction behaviour its delocalised sulfonates that are covalently tethered to directional pores and achieve structural robustness by its β-ketoenamine linkages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRechargeable calcium batteries have attracted increasing attention as promising multivalent ion battery systems due to the high abundance of calcium. However, the development has been hampered by the lack of suitable cathodes to accommodate the large and divalent Ca ions at a high redox potential with sufficiently fast ionic conduction. Herein, we report a new intercalation host which presents 500 cycles with a capacity retention of 90% and a remarkable power capability at ~3.
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