Tunnel Structure Enhanced Polysulfide Conversion for Inhibiting "Shuttle Effect" in Lithium-Sulfur Battery.

The Lithium sulfur (Li-S) battery has a great potential to replace lithium-ion batteries due to its high-energy density. However, the "shuttle effect" of polysulfide intermediates (LiS, LiS, LiS, etc.) from the cathode can lead to rapid capacity decay and low coulombic efficiency, thus limiting its further development.

Influence of traditional Chinese medicines on the metabolism of lopinavir/ritonavir based on UHPLC-MS/MS analysis.

A fast, reliable, and cost-effective liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was established to determine the effects of the traditional Chinese medicine employed to treat coronavirus disease 2019, namely, Lianhua Qingwen granules, Huoxiang Zhengqi capsules, Jinhua Qinggan granules, Shufeng Jiedu capsules, and Angong Niuhuang pills, on the pharmacokinetics of lopinavir/ritonavir in rats. Blood samples were prepared using the protein precipitation method and atazanavir was selected as the internal standard (IS). Separation was performed on an Agilent ZORBAX eclipse plus C (2.

Enhanced High-Temperature Mechanical Properties of Al⁻Cu⁻Li Alloy through T1 Coarsening Inhibition and Ce-Containing Intermetallic Refinement.

The effects of the addition of 0.29 wt% Ce on the high-temperature mechanical properties of an Al-Cu-Li alloy were investigated. Ce addition contributes to T1 (AlCuLi) phase coarsening inhibition and Ce-containing intermetallic refinement which greatly improved the thermal stability and high-temperature deformation uniformity of this alloy.

Ultrasonic Modification of Ag Nanowires and Their Applications in Flexible Transparent Film Heaters and SERS Detectors.

Ultrasonic morphology modification of silver (Ag) nanowires and their applications in transparent film heaters for defogging in electric vehicles and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detectors have been studied. With 10 min ultrasonic treatment of Ag nanowires, the electro-thermal conversion capability of Ag nanowire based transparent film heaters is efficiently improved (about 50% increase in temperature rise), which can be mainly attributed to the cross-section area reduction and the serious agglomerations of the ultrasonic modified Ag nanowire films. Furthermore, the bending or fracture caused by deformation of Ag nanowires after ultrasonic treatment provides more hot spots for SERS, and therefore lead to a significant SERS signal enhancement.

Sonication induced amorphisation in Ag nanowires.

It has long been conjectured that pure-element face-centred cubic (fcc) metals can be transformed into a glassy state by deformation at ultra-high strain rates. However, when an impact force is applied at the nanoscale, deformation-induced melting prevents observations of fcc metal amorphisation. Here we propose a sonication treatment of Ag nanowires (fcc) and confirmed amorphisation induced by high strain rates at bent areas of the Ag nanowires.

Electricity mediated plasmonic tip engineering on single Ag nanowire for SERS.

An electricity-mediated plasmonic engineering was applied on a single Ag nanowire to engineer its tip for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Under this constant photoelectric field treatment, a significant sharpening of the tip and reduction of the surface fluctuation was observed for the Ag nanowire tip via in situ atomic force microscopy. A significant SERS signal enhancement was thus obtained after the tip engineering.