Mechanism for Preserving Volatile Nitrogen Dioxide and Sustainable Redox Mediation in the Nonaqueous Lithium-Oxygen Battery.

Excessive overpotential during charging is a major hurdle in lithium-oxygen (Li-O2) battery technology. NO2-/NO2 redox mediation is an efficient way to substantially reduce the overpotential and to enhance oxygen efficiency and cycle life by suppressing parasitic reactions. Considering that nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is a gas, it is quite surprising that NO2-/NO2 redox reactions can be sustained for a long cycle life in Li-O2 batteries with such an open structure. A detailed study with in situ differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS) elucidated that NO2 could follow three reaction pathways during charging: (1) oxidation of Li2O2 to evolve oxygen, (2) vaporization, and (3) conversion into NO3-. Among the pathways, Li2O2 oxidation occurs exclusively in the presence of Li2O2, which suggests that NO2 has high reactivity to Li2O2. At the end of the charging process, most of the volatile oxidized couple (NO2) is stored by conversion to a stable third species (NO3-), which is then reused for producing the reduced couple (NO2-) in the next cycle. The dominant reaction of Li2O2 oxidation involves the temporary storage of NO2 as a stable third species during charging, which is an innovative way for preserving the volatile redox couple, resulting in a sustainable redox mediation for a high-performance Li-O2 battery.

Factors Associated with Frequency of Peanut Consumption in Korea: A National Population-Based Study.

Household peanut exposure via skin in infants with impaired skin barrier function is a risk factor for peanut allergy development. The aim of this study is to investigate the peanut consumption of Koreans using national representative data. We used data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2012-2016, consisting of data from 17,625 adults who complete the survey. Peanut intake was assessed using a 24-h recall method. Of the study population, 10,552 (59.9%), 6726 (38.2%), and 347 (1.9%) subjects were categorized into non-intake, intermittent intake, and frequent intake group, respectively. Ordered logistic regression models were used to examine the association between sociodemographic and dietary factors and the frequency of peanut intake. After adjusting for confounders, increasing age (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.03; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03-1.04), higher education (high school graduates: aOR 1.75, 95 CI 1.39-2.19; higher than college: aOR 2.11, 95% CI 1.65-2.70), and prudent dietary scores in the second (aOR 1.71; 95% CI 1.47-1.99), third (aOR 2.53; 95% CI 2.16-2.97) and the fourth quartiles (aOR 3.72; 95%CI 3.16-4.40) were associated with a high frequency of peanut consumption. This information may be helpful not only in public health research for nutrition but also in personal management for the prevention of peanut allergy in Korea.

High-Performance Lithium-Oxygen Battery Electrolyte Derived from Optimum Combination of Solvent and Lithium Salt.

To fabricate a sustainable lithium-oxygen (Li-O2) battery, it is crucial to identify an optimum electrolyte. Herein, it is found that tetramethylene sulfone (TMS) and lithium nitrate (LiNO3) form the optimum electrolyte, which greatly reduces the overpotential at charge, exhibits superior oxygen efficiency, and allows stable cycling for 100 cycles. Linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS) analyses reveal that neat TMS is stable to oxidative decomposition and exhibit good compatibility with a lithium metal. But, when TMS is combined with typical lithium salts, its performance is far from satisfactory. However, the TMS electrolyte containing LiNO3 exhibits a very low overpotential, which minimizes the side reactions and shows high oxygen efficiency. LSV-DEMS study confirms that the TMS-LiNO3 electrolyte efficiently produces NO2-, which initiates a redox shuttle reaction. Interestingly, this NO2-/NO2 redox reaction derived from the LiNO3 salt is not very effective in solvents other than TMS. Compared with other common Li-O2 solvents, TMS seems optimum solvent for the efficient use of LiNO3 salt. Good compatibility with lithium metal, high dielectric constant, and low donicity of TMS are considered to be highly favorable to an efficient NO2-/NO2 redox reaction, which results in a high-performance Li-O2 battery.

Dicondensed indolinobenzospiropyrans as precursors of thermo- and photochromic spiropyrans. Part II: Assignment of (1)H and (13)C NMR spectra.

The (1)H and (13)C NMR spectra of dicondensed indolinobenzospiropyrans as precursors of thermo- and photochromic spiropyrans, DC1-DC5, were completely assigned. Especially, the (1)H assignment and coupling characteristics of the diastereotopic protons at the carbon-3 position of the benzopyran rings were achieved by conducting (1)H-(1)H COSY and nOe experiments. The dihedral angles (theta(1), theta(2) and theta(3)) calculated from the experimental values of the vicinal coupling constants ((3)J) of DC5 are in good agreement with the observed values in the solid state. All of the carbons in the DC dye molecules were investigated through a combination of heteronuclear 2D-shift correlation spectroscopy (HETCOR) and DEPT135.