Targeting Synthesis of Diatomic Catalysts by Selective Etching and Sequential Adsorption of Metal Atom.

Diatomic catalysts featuring a tunable structure and synergetic effects hold great promise for various reactions. However, their precise construction with specific configurations and diverse metal combinations is still challenging. Here, a selective etching and metal ion adsorption strategy is proposed to accurately assign a second metal atom (M) geminal to the single atom site (M-N) for constructing diatomic sites (e.

Solvent-mediated oxide hydrogenation in layered cathodes.

Self-discharge and chemically induced mechanical effects degrade calendar and cycle life in intercalation-based electrochromic and electrochemical energy storage devices. In rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, self-discharge in cathodes causes voltage and capacity loss over time. The prevailing self-discharge model centers on the diffusion of lithium ions from the electrolyte into the cathode.

Deformation-Induced Crystal Growth or Redissolution, and Crystal-Induced Strengthening or Ductilization in Metallic Glasses Containing Nanocrystals.

It is generally known that the incorporation of crystals in the glass matrix can enhance the ductility of metallic glasses (MGs), at the expense of reduced strength, and that the deformation of MGs, particularly during shear banding, can induce crystal formation/growth. Here, we show that these known trends for the interplay between crystals and deformation of MGs may hold true or become depending on the size of the crystals relative to the shear bands. We performed molecular dynamics simulations of tensile tests on nanocrystal-bearing MGs.

Reversible Cl/Cl redox in a spinel MnO electrode.

A unique prospect of using halides as charge carriers is the possibility of the halides undergoing anodic redox behaviors when serving as charge carriers for the charge-neutrality compensation of electrodes. However, the anodic conversion of halides to neutral halogen species has often been irreversible at room temperature due to the emergence of diatomic halogen gaseous products. Here, we report that chloride ions can be reversibly converted to near-neutral atomic chlorine species in the MnO electrode at room temperature in a highly concentrated chloride-based aqueous electrolyte.

Regulating Catalytic Properties and Thermal Stability of Pt and PtCo Intermetallic Fuel-Cell Catalysts via Strong Coupling Effects between Single-Metal Site-Rich Carbon and Pt.

Developing low platinum-group-metal (PGM) catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) for heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) remains a great challenge due to the highly demanded power density and long-term durability. This work explores the possible synergistic effect between single Mn site-rich carbon (Mn-NC) and Pt nanoparticles, aiming to improve intrinsic activity and stability of PGM catalysts. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations predicted a strong coupling effect between Pt and MnN sites in the carbon support, strengthening their interactions to immobilize Pt nanoparticles during the ORR.

Ball Milling-Enabled Fe to Fe Redox Reaction in Prussian Blue Materials for Long-Life Aqueous Sodium-Ion Batteries.

Aqueous Na-ion batteries using Prussian blue materials have inherent advantages in safety, material sustainability, and economic cost. However, it is challenging to obtain long-term cycling stability because many redox reactions have poor intrinsic stability in water. Here, we demonstrate reversible Fe to Fe redox reaction of Prussian blue electrodes cycled in a 17 m NaClO water-in-salt electrolyte.

Precursor-mediated in situ growth of hierarchical N-doped graphene nanofibers confining nickel single atoms for CO electroreduction.

Despite the various strategies for achieving metal-nitrogen-carbon (M-N-C) single-atom catalysts (SACs) with different microenvironments for electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CORR), the synthesis-structure-performance correlation remains elusive due to the lack of well-controlled synthetic approaches. Here, we employed Ni nanoparticles as starting materials for the direct synthesis of nickel (Ni) SACs in one spot through harvesting the interaction between metallic Ni and N atoms in the precursor during the chemical vapor deposition growth of hierarchical N-doped graphene fibers. By combining with first-principle calculations, we found that the Ni-N configuration is closely correlated to the N contents in the precursor, in which the acetonitrile with a high N/C ratio favors the formation of Ni-N, while the pyridine with a low N/C ratio is more likely to promote the evolution of Ni-N.

Atomically Local Electric Field Induced Interface Water Reorientation for Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution Reaction.

The slow water dissociation process in alkaline electrolyte severely limits the kinetics of HER. The orientation of H O is well known to affect the dissociation process, but H O orientation is hard to control because of its random distribution. Herein, an atomically asymmetric local electric field was designed by IrRu dizygotic single-atom sites (IrRu DSACs) to tune the H O adsorption configuration and orientation, thus optimizing its dissociation process.

Three-dimensional Zn-based alloys for dendrite-free aqueous Zn battery in dual-cation electrolytes.

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries, in terms of integration with high safety, environmental benignity, and low cost, have attracted much attention for powering electronic devices and storage systems. However, the interface instability issues at the Zn anode caused by detrimental side reactions such as dendrite growth, hydrogen evolution, and metal corrosion at the solid (anode)/liquid (electrolyte) interface impede their practical applications in the fields requiring long-term performance persistence. Despite the rapid progress in suppressing the side reactions at the materials interface, the mechanism of ion storage and dendrite formation in practical aqueous zinc-ion batteries with dual-cation aqueous electrolytes is still unclear.

Identification of a key ceRNA network associated with ferroptosis in gastric cancer.

Ferroptosis, a newly discovered irondependent form of regulated cell death caused by excessive accumulation of lipid peroxides, is linked to the development and treatment response of various types of cancer, including gastric cancer (GC). Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs), as key regulators in cancer, have both oncogenic and tumor suppressive roles. However, studies on ferroptosis-related ncRNA networks in GC are still lacking.

Carbon-Nitride-Based Materials for Advanced Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are promising candidates for next-generation energy storage systems owing to their high energy density and low cost. However, critical challenges including severe shuttling of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) and sluggish redox kinetics limit the practical application of Li-S batteries. Carbon nitrides (CN), represented by graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN), provide new opportunities for overcoming these challenges.

Enhanced oxygen evolution over dual corner-shared cobalt tetrahedra.

Developing efficient catalysts is of paramount importance to oxygen evolution, a sluggish anodic reaction that provides essential electrons and protons for various electrochemical processes, such as hydrogen generation. Here, we report that the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) can be efficiently catalyzed by cobalt tetrahedra, which are stabilized over the surface of a Swedenborgite-type YBCoO material. We reveal that the surface of YBaCoO possesses strong resilience towards structural amorphization during OER, which originates from its distinctive structural evolution toward electrochemical oxidation.

Prediction of metal ion ligand binding residues by adding disorder value and propensity factors based on deep learning algorithm.

Proteins need to interact with different ligands to perform their functions. Among the ligands, the metal ion is a major ligand. At present, the prediction of protein metal ion ligand binding residues is a challenge.

Spontaneous Lithiation of Binary Oxides during Epitaxial Growth on LiCoO.

Epitaxial growth is a powerful tool for synthesizing heterostructures and integrating multiple functionalities. However, interfacial mixing can readily occur and significantly modify the properties of layered structures, particularly for those containing energy storage materials with smaller cations. Here, we show a two-step sequence involving the growth of an epitaxial LiCoO cathode layer followed by the deposition of a binary transition metal oxide.

Identification and Validation of a GPX4-Related Immune Prognostic Signature for Lung Adenocarcinoma.

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is a commonly occurring histological subtype of lung cancer. Glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) is an important regulatory factor of ferroptosis and is involved in the development of many cancers, but its prognostic significance has not been systematically described in LUAD. In this study, we focused on developing a robust GPX4-related prognostic signature (GPS) for LUAD.

Recognizing protein-metal ion ligands binding residues by random forest algorithm with adding orthogonal properties.

Accurately identifying protein-metal ion ligand binding residues is the key to study protein functions. Because the number of binding residues and non-binding residues is significantly imbalanced, false positives is hard to be eliminated from the binding residues prediction result. Therefore, identification of protein-metal ion ligand binding residues remains challenging.