Protective Coating of Single-Crystalline Ni-Rich Cathode Enables Fast Charging in All-Solid-State Batteries.

Improving interfacial stability between cathode active material (CAM) and solid electrolyte (SE) is vital for developing high-performance all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs), with compatibility issues among the cell components representing a major challenge. CAM surface coating with a chemically inert ion conductor is a promising approach to suppress side reactions occurring at the cathode interfaces. Another strategy to mitigate mechanical degradation involves utilizing single-crystalline particle morphologies.

An Implicit Solvation Model for Binding Free Energy Estimation in Nonaqueous Solution.

Implicit solvation models permit the approximate description of solute-solvent interactions, where water is the most often considered solvent due to its relevance in biological systems. The use of other solvents is less common but is relevant for applications such as in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) or chromatography. As an example, chloroform is commonly used in anisotropic NMR to measure residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) of chiral analytes weakly aligned by an alignment medium.

Biphasic lipid extraction from microalgae after PEF-treatment reduces the energy demand of the downstream process.

Background: The gradual extrusion of water-soluble intracellular components (such as proteins) from microalgae after pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment is a well-documented phenomenon. This could be utilized in biorefinery applications with lipid extraction taking place after such an 'incubation' period, i.e.

Structural Changes in Atomically Precise Ag Nanoclusters upon Sequential Attachment and Detachment of Secondary Ligands.

Elucidating the structural dynamics of ligand-stabilized noble metal nanoclusters (NCs) is critical for understanding their properties and for developing applications. Ligand rearrangement at NC surfaces is an important contributor to structural change. In this study, we investigate the dynamic behavior of ligand-protected [Ag(L)] NC's (L = 1,3-benzenedithiol) interacting with secondary ligand 2,2'-[1,4-phenylenebis (methylidynenitrilo)] bis[benzenethiol] (referred to as ).

Monitoring the Fate of Zn in the Cu/ZnO/ZrO2 Catalyst during CO2-to-Methanol Synthesis at High Conversions by Operando Spectroscopy.

In the frame of developing a sustainable chemical industry, heterogeneously catalyzed CO2 hydrogenation to methanol has attracted considerable interest. However, the Cu-Zn based catalyst system employed in this process is very dynamic, especially in the presence of the products methanol and water. Deactivation needs to be prevented, but its origin and mechanism are hardly investigated at high conversion where product condensation is possible.

Dehydroxylated Polyvinyl Alcohol Separator Enables Fast Kinetics in Zinc-Metal Batteries.

Separators are critical components of zinc-metal batteries (ZMBs). Despite their high ionic conductivity and excellent electrolyte retention, the widely used glass fiber (GF) membranes suffer from poor mechanical stability and cannot suppress dendrite growth, leading to rapid battery failure. Contrarily, polymer-based separators offer superior mechanical strength and facilitate more homogeneous zinc (Zn) deposition.

Development of PFAS-Free Locally Concentrated Ionic Liquid Electrolytes for High-Energy Lithium and Aluminum Metal Batteries.

ConspectusLithium-ion batteries (LIBs) based on graphite anodes are a widely used state-of-the-art battery technology, but their energy density is approaching theoretical limits, prompting interest in lithium-metal batteries (LMBs) that can achieve higher energy density. In addition, the limited availability of lithium reserves raises supply concerns; therefore, research on postlithium metal batteries is underway. A major issue with these metal anodes, including lithium, is dendritic formation and insufficient reversibility, which leads to safety risks due to short circuits and the use of flammable electrolytes.

From Infection to Tumor: Exploring the Therapeutic Potential of Ciprofloxacin Derivatives as Anticancer Agents.

Ciprofloxacin, a widely used second-generation fluoroquinolone for treating bacterial infections, has recently shown notable anticancer properties. This review explores progress in developing ciprofloxacin derivatives with anticancer properties, emphasizing key structural changes that improve their therapeutic effectiveness by modifying the basic group at position 7, the carboxylic acid group at position 3, or both. It further investigates the mechanisms by which these derivatives fight cancer, such as inducing apoptosis, arresting the cell cycle, inhibiting topoisomerase I and II, preventing tubulin polymerization, suppressing interleukin 6, blocking thymidine phosphorylase, inhibiting multidrug resistance proteins, and hindering angiogenesis.

Laminated Two-Terminal All-Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells with Transparent Conductive Adhesives.

Established sequential deposition of multilayer two-terminal (2T) all-perovskite tandem solar cells possesses challenges for fabrication and limits the choice of materials and device architecture. In response, this work represents a lamination process based on a transparent and conductive adhesive that interconnects the wide-bandgap (WBG) perovskite top solar cell and the narrow-bandgap (NBG) perovskite bottom solar cell in a monolithic 2T all-perovskite tandem solar cell. The transparent conductive adhesive (TCA) layer combines Ag-coated poly(methyl methacrylate) microspheres with an optical adhesive.

Resolving spatiotemporal dynamics in bacterial multicellular populations: approaches and challenges.

SUMMARYThe development of multicellularity represents a key evolutionary transition that is crucial for the emergence of complex life forms. Although multicellularity has traditionally been studied in eukaryotes, it originates in prokaryotes. Coordinated aggregation of individual cells within the confines of a colony results in emerging, higher-level functions that benefit the population as a whole.

A Novel, Cell-Compatible Hyaluronidase Activity Assay Identifies Dextran Sulfates and Other Sulfated Polymeric Hydrocarbons as Potent Inhibitors for CEMIP.

Hyaluronan (HA) levels are dynamically regulated homeostatically through biosynthesis and degradation. HA homeostasis is often perturbed under disease conditions. HA degradation products are thought to contribute to disease pathology.

Predicting hydrogen atom transfer energy barriers using Gaussian process regression.

Predicting reaction barriers for arbitrary configurations based on only a limited set of density functional theory (DFT) calculations would render the design of catalysts or the simulation of reactions within complex materials highly efficient. We here propose Gaussian process regression (GPR) as a method of choice if DFT calculations are limited to hundreds or thousands of barrier calculations. For the case of hydrogen atom transfer in proteins, an important reaction in chemistry and biology, we obtain a mean absolute error of 3.

Efficient and accurate determination of the degree of substitution of cellulose acetate using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and machine learning.

Multiple linear regression models were trained to predict the degree of substitution (DS) of cellulose acetate based on raw infrared (IR) spectroscopic data. A repeated k-fold cross validation ensured unbiased assessment of model accuracy. Using the DS obtained from H NMR data as reference, the machine learning model achieved a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.

Linking Research Data with Physically Preserved Research Materials in Chemistry.

Results of scientific work in chemistry can usually be obtained in the form of materials and data. A big step towards transparency and reproducibility of the scientific work can be gained if scientists publish their data in research data repositories in a FAIR manner. Nevertheless, in order to make chemistry a sustainable discipline, obtaining FAIR data is insufficient and a comprehensive concept that includes preservation of materials is needed.

Dynamic mechanical analysis of alginate/gellan hydrogels under controlled conditions relevant to environmentally sensitive applications.

Hydrogels are natural/synthetic polymer-based materials with a large percentage of water content, usually above 80 %, and are suitable for many application fields such as wearable sensors, biomedicine, cosmetics, agriculture, etc. However, their performance is susceptible to environmental changes in temperature, relative humidity, and mechanical deformation due to their aqueous and soft nature. We investigate the mechanical response of both filled and unfilled alginate/gellan hydrogels using a combined axial-torsional rheometric approach with cylindrical samples of large length/diameter ratio under controlled temperature and relative humidity.

Mechanistic insights into water-stabilized dye-neurotransmitter intermolecular complexes in zeolite channels.

Dye-zeolite nanomaterials are promising candidates for neurotransmitter detection, however, their sensing mechanism has remained speculative. Using molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations, we demonstrate that water molecules play a critical role in stabilizing complexes formed between the dicationic dye and cationic neurotransmitters within the zeolite framework. This interaction exhibits binding motifs akin to those in protein-ligand complexes rather than conventional host-guest systems.

Isolation of a planar π-aromatic Bi ring in a cobalt-based inverse-sandwich-type complex.

Monocyclic π-aromatic compounds are ubiquitous throughout almost all fields of natural sciences-as synthons in industrial processes, as ligands of metal complexes for catalysis or sensing and as bioactive molecules. Planar organocycles stand out through their specific way of overcoming electron deficiency by a non-localizable set of (4n + 2)π electrons. By contrast, all-metal aromatic monocycles are still rare, as metal atoms prefer to form clusters with multiply bonded atoms instead.

Identification of novel triazolylquinoxaline-based metal complexes supported by experimental and virtual screenings.

The formation of novel complexes from so far non-investigated ligands and different metal centers is important for the development of new functional materials such as (photo)catalysts or biologically active compounds. Still, promising strategies to quickly and systematically investigate the complexation behavior of selected ligands are rare. We developed an NMR-based screening approach to monitor changes within reaction mixtures containing metals and ligands on a small scale a simple but reliable protocol.

Deep learning for augmented process monitoring of scalable perovskite thin-film fabrication.

Reproducible large-area fabrication is one of the remaining challenges for the commercialization of perovskite photovoltaics. Imaging methods augmented with deep learning (DL) enable in-line detection of spatial or temporal inconsistencies and predict the impact of observed changes on device performance. In this work, we showcase three use cases of how DL augments complex experimental data analysis of the large-area perovskite thin film formation, even on moderate-sized datasets.

Unveiling the Werner-Type Cluster Chemistry of Heterometallic 4f/Post-Transition Metals: A {DyBi} Complex Exhibiting Quantum Tunneling Steps in the Hysteresis Loops and its 1-D Congener.

A new [DyBiOCl(saph)] () Werner-type cluster has been prepared, which is the first Dy/Bi polynuclear compound with no metal-metal bond and one of the very few Ln-Bi (Ln = lanthanide) heterometallic complexes reported to date. The molecular compound has been deliberately transformed to its 1-D analogue [DyBiO(N)(saph)] () via the replacement of the terminal Cl ions by end-to-end bridging N groups. The overall metallic skeleton of (and ) can be described as consisting of a diamagnetic {Bi} unit with an elongated trigonal bipyramidal topology, surrounded by a magnetic {Dy} equilateral triangle, which does not contain μ-oxo/hydroxo/alkoxo groups.

Low-Impedance Hybrid Carbon Structures on SiO: A Sequential Gas-Phase Coating Approach.

Carbon coating on SiO surface is crucial for enhancing initial Coulombic efficiency (ICE) and cycling performance in batteries, while also buffering volume expansion. Despite its market prevalence, the effects of the carbon layer's quality and structure on the electrochemical properties of SiO remain underexplored. This study compares carbon layers produced via gas-phase and solid-phase coating methods, introducing an innovative technique that sequentially uses two gases to develop a low-impedance hybrid carbon structure.

Ultrasmall α-MnO with Low Aspect Ratio: Applications to Electrochemical Multivalent-Ion Intercalation Hosts and Aerobic Oxidation Catalysts.

Hollandite-type α-MnO exhibits exceptional promise in current industrial applications and in advancing next-generation green energy technologies, such as multivalent (Mg, Ca, and Zn) ion battery cathodes and aerobic oxidation catalysts. Considering the slow diffusion of multivalent cations within α-MnO tunnels and the catalytic activity at edge surfaces, ultrasmall α-MnO particles with a lower aspect ratio are expected to unlock the full potential. In this study, ultrasmall α-MnO (<10 nm) with a low aspect ratio (c/a ≈ 2) is synthesized using a newly developed alcohol solution process.

All-solid-state Li-S batteries with fast solid-solid sulfur reaction.

With promises for high specific energy, high safety and low cost, the all-solid-state lithium-sulfur battery (ASSLSB) is ideal for next-generation energy storage. However, the poor rate performance and short cycle life caused by the sluggish solid-solid sulfur redox reaction (SSSRR) at the three-phase boundaries remain to be solved. Here we demonstrate a fast SSSRR enabled by lithium thioborophosphate iodide (LBPSI) glass-phase solid electrolytes (GSEs).

Legacies from early-season hot drought: how growth cessation alters tree water dynamics and modifies stress responses in Scots pine.

Tree responses to drought are well studied, but the interacting effects of drought timing on growth, water use, and stress legacy are less understood. We investigated how a widespread conifer, Scots pine, responded to hot droughts early or late in the growing season, or to both. We measured sap flux, stem growth, needle elongation, and leaf water potential (Ψ) to assess the impacts of stress timing on drought resilience in Scots pine saplings.